Saint Viventiolus (french: Saint Vivientol) (460 – July 12, 524) (also known as Juventiole) was the

Archbishop of Lyon The Archdiocese of Lyon (Latin: ''Archidiœcesis Lugdunensis''; French: ''Archidiocèse de Lyon''), formerly the Archdiocese of Lyon–Vienne–Embrun, is a Latin Church metropolitan archdiocese of the Catholic Church in France. The Archbishops ...

(ancient

Lugdunum Lugdunum (also spelled Lugudunum, ; modern Lyon, France) was an important Roman city in Gaul, established on the current site of Lyon. The Roman city was founded in 43 BC by Lucius Munatius Plancus, but continued an existing Gallic settlem ...

) 514–523. Later

canonized Canonization is the declaration of a deceased person as an officially recognized saint, specifically, the official act of a Christianity, Christian communion declaring a person worthy of Cult (religious practice), public veneration and enterin ...

and venerated as a

saint In religious belief, a saint is a person who is recognized as having an exceptional degree of Q-D-Š, holiness, likeness, or closeness to God. However, the use of the term ''saint'' depends on the context and Christian denomination, denominat ...

within the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

, ⁣re
Archdiocese of Lyon, France
at Catholic Saints.info. his

feast Day The calendar of saints is the traditional Christian method of organizing a liturgical year by associating each day with one or more saints and referring to the day as the feast day or feast of said saint. The word "feast" in this context d ...

is July 12. He is recognised in the Orthodox Church and the True Orthodox Church, including amongst the Tikhonites, as a pre-Great Schism Western Saint.

Family

Viventiolus and his brother

Rusticus Rusticus is a Latin adjective meaning "rural, simple, rough or clownish" and can refer to: Animals * ''Aedes rusticus'', a European mosquito * Rusty crayfish (''Orconectes rusticus'') * ''Urozelotes rusticus'', a ground spider * a synonym of the b ...

were the sons of Aquilinus (c. 430-c. 470), a nobleman of Lyon, and friend of

Sidonius Apollinaris Gaius Sollius Modestus Apollinaris Sidonius, better known as Sidonius Apollinaris (5 November of an unknown year, 430 – 481/490 AD), was a poet, diplomat, and bishop. Sidonius is "the single most important surviving author from 5th-century Gaul ...

(c. 400). Aquilinus was a ''

vicarius ''Vicarius'' is a Latin word, meaning ''substitute'' or ''deputy''. It is the root of the English word "vicar". History Originally, in ancient Rome, this office was equivalent to the later English " vice-" (as in "deputy"), used as part of th ...

'' of a province in

Gaul Gaul ( la, Gallia) was a region of Western Europe first described by the Romans. It was inhabited by Celtic and Aquitani tribes, encompassing present-day France, Belgium, Luxembourg, most of Switzerland, parts of Northern Italy (only during ...

between 423 and 448 under Apollinaris, the father of Sidonius. Through his paternal grandmother, Tullia, Viventiolus was the great-grandson of Saint Eucherius and his wife Gallia. His paternal grandfather was the son of

Decimus Rusticus Decimus Rusticus (sometimes Rusticus Decimus) of Treves (then ''Augusta Treverorum'') and Lyon (''Lugdunum'') (c. 370 – before 423) was a Master of the Offices and the praetorian prefect of Gaul between 409 and 410 or 413. He was one of those ...

and his wife Artemia.

Career

Viventiolus was a

monk A monk (, from el, μοναχός, ''monachos'', "single, solitary" via Latin ) is a person who practices religious asceticism by monastic living, either alone or with any number of other monks. A monk may be a person who decides to dedica ...

of St. Oyend ( St. Claude), in Jura, where he was elected prior.

Avitus of Vienne Alcimus Ecdicius Avitus (c. 450 – February 5, 517/518 or 519) was a Latin poet and bishop of Vienne in Gaul. His fame rests in part on his poetry, but also on the role he played as secretary for the Burgundian kings. Avitus was born of a promi ...

recommended him for the See of Lyon.''Avitus of Vienne''
(Danuta Shanzer, Ian N. Wood, trans.), Liverpool University Press, 2002, , p. 266 In 517, he and Avitus presided over the

Council of Epaone The Council of Epaone or Synod of Epaone was held in September 517 at Epaone (or Epao, near the present Anneyron) in the Burgundian Kingdom. It was one of three national councils of bishops held around that time in former Roman Gaul: the council ...

. He is also the author of a book ''

Life of the Jura Fathers The ''Vita patrum Iurensium'' ("Life of the Jura Fathers")According to , the full title as it appears in manuscripts is ''Vita vel regula sanctorum patrum Romani, Lupicini et Eugendi monasteriorum Iurensium abbatum'' ('Life and Rule of the Holy Fat ...

'', which described the beginnings of

monasticism Monasticism (from Ancient Greek , , from , , 'alone'), also referred to as monachism, or monkhood, is a religious way of life in which one renounces worldly pursuits to devote oneself fully to spiritual work. Monastic life plays an important role ...

in that region.Mélanges d'archéologie et d'Histoire, 1898, vol.18 (M. l'abbé Duchesne sur Persee. 1898).fr

References

Bibliography

* Bishop of Tours Gregory, Historia Francorum (The History of the Franks) (London, England: Penguin Books, Ltd., 1974). *

, The Letters of Sidonius (Oxford: Clarendon, 1915) (orig.), pp. clx-clxxxiii; List of Correspondents, Notes, V.ix.1. {{authority control 460 births 524 deaths 6th-century Burgundian bishops 6th-century Christian saints Archbishops of Lyon Gallo-Roman saints 6th-century archbishops Year of birth unknown 6th-century Latin writers