Augustalis ('' fl.'' 5th century) was the first

bishop A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is c ...

Toulon Toulon (, , ; oc, label= Provençal, Tolon , , ) is a city on the French Riviera and a large port on the Mediterranean coast, with a major naval base. Located in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region, and the Provence province, Toulon is th ...

, according to some authorities. He was appointed in 441. He attended the Council of Orange that year, and the

Council of Vaison The Council of Vaison refers to two separate synods consisting of officials and theologians of the Catholic Church which were held in or near to the Avignon commune of Vaison, France. The first was held in 442 and the second in 529. First meeti ...

the following. He is associated with the '' civitas'' of

Arles Arles (, , ; oc, label= Provençal, Arle ; Classical la, Arelate) is a coastal city and commune in the South of France, a subprefecture in the Bouches-du-Rhône department of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region, in the former province of ...

( ancient Arelate) by the ''

Martyrologium Hieronymianum The ''Martyrologium Hieronymianum'' (meaning "martyrology of Jerome") or ''Martyrologium sancti Hieronymi'' (meaning "martyrology of Saint Jerome") is an ancient martyrology or list of Christian martyrs in calendar order, one of the most used a ...

'', which honors him on September 7. He is also named by the ''

Martyrologium romanum The ''Roman Martyrology'' ( la, Martyrologium Romanum) is the official martyrology of the Catholic Church. Its use is obligatory in matters regarding the Roman Rite liturgy, but dioceses, countries and religious institutes may add duly approv ...

'' on that day, with his location noted as ''in

Gallia 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 Rep ...

''. An Augustalis, most likely this man, appears among a group of bishops addressed by

Pope Leo I Pope Leo I ( 400 – 10 November 461), also known as Leo the Great, was bishop of Rome from 29 September 440 until his death. Pope Benedict XVI said that Leo's papacy "was undoubtedly one of the most important in the Church's history." Leo was ...

in letters dated 22 August 449 and 5 May 450, the latter of which addresses issues of jurisdiction between Arles and

Vienne Vienne (; Poitevin-Saintongeais: ''Viéne'') is a landlocked department in the French region of Nouvelle-Aquitaine. It takes its name from the river Vienne. It had a population of 438,435 in 2019.Computus and Epact.'' The bishop, or another churchman named Augustalis in Gaul of the 5th century (possibly the 3rd) was the author of a tract ''De ratione Paschae'', a table or laterculus on calculating the

Paschal cycle The Paschal cycle, in Eastern Orthodox Christianity, is the cycle of the moveable feasts built around Pascha (Easter). The cycle consists of approximately ten weeks before and seven weeks after Pascha. The ten weeks before Pascha are known as ...

. He is referenced in the Carthaginian Computus of 455, preserved in an 8th-century chronographical

manuscript A manuscript (abbreviated MS for singular and MSS for plural) was, traditionally, any document written by hand – or, once practical typewriters became available, typewritten – as opposed to mechanically printed or reproduced in ...

in the cathedral library at Lucca. The table itself is not extant and the description of it is insufficient for reconstruction. Augustalis reckoned that the

Crucifixion Crucifixion is a method of capital punishment in which the victim is tied or nailed to a large wooden cross or beam and left to hang until eventual death from exhaustion and asphyxiation. It was used as a punishment by the Persians, Carthagi ...

took place on 25 March in the year 28, on the 14th day of the moon. The dating of the Passion to 28 agrees with that of Prosper Tiro. The base date of Augustalis's laterculus was the year 213. It covered a hundred years, ending in 312. Augustalis worked with, or is thought sometimes even to have originated, the 84-year

Metonic cycle The Metonic cycle or enneadecaeteris (from grc, ἐννεακαιδεκαετηρίς, from ἐννεακαίδεκα, "nineteen") is a period of almost exactly 19 years after which the lunar phases recur at the same time of the year. The rec ...

usually associated, like the date of March 25 for

Easter Easter,Traditional names for the feast in English are "Easter Day", as in the '' Book of Common Prayer''; "Easter Sunday", used by James Ussher''The Whole Works of the Most Rev. James Ussher, Volume 4'') and Samuel Pepys''The Diary of Samuel ...

, with the Celtic tradition of

Christianity in Gaul Gaul was an important early center of Latin Christianity in late antiquity and the Merovingian period. By the middle of the 3rd century, there were several churches organized in Roman Gaul, and soon after the cessation of persecution the bishops of ...

and the Celtic Islands, including ''

Hibernia ''Hibernia'' () is the Classical Latin name for Ireland. The name ''Hibernia'' was taken from Greek geographical accounts. During his exploration of northwest Europe (c. 320 BC), Pytheas of Massalia called the island ''Iérnē'' (written ). ...

'' (

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

) and ''

Britannia Britannia () is the national personification of Britain as a helmeted female warrior holding a trident and shield. An image first used in classical antiquity, the Latin ''Britannia'' was the name variously applied to the British Isles, Great ...

'' (

Britain Britain most often refers to: * The United Kingdom, a sovereign state in Europe comprising the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland and many smaller islands * Great Britain, the largest island in the United King ...

). This cycle is characterized by a 14th-year ''saltus lunae'' ("leap" of the moon), a day added to the epact to reconcile the

lunar year A lunar calendar is a calendar based on the monthly cycles of the Moon's phases ( synodic months, lunations), in contrast to solar calendars, whose annual cycles are based only directly on the solar year. The most commonly used calendar, the Gr ...

to the solar (compare

leap year A leap year (also known as an intercalary year or bissextile year) is a calendar year that contains an additional day (or, in the case of a lunisolar calendar, a month) added to keep the calendar year synchronized with the astronomical year or ...

). Although the author of the Carthaginian Computus takes note of Augustalis as a man "of most sainted memory," he points out several errors in his computations. The 19th-century German scholar Bruno Krusch placed Augustalis in the 3rd century and thought that the '' supputatio Romana'', an 84-year Roman table, was derived from the table of Augustalis, which he further identified as the "old table" (''vetus laterculus'') referenced in a Paschal prologue in a manuscript at Cologne. The "old table" is more often assumed to be the 112-year table of Hippolytus.

Eduard Schwartz Eduard Schwartz (22 August 1858 – 13 February 1940) was a German classical philologist. Born in Kiel, he studied under Hermann Sauppe in Göttingen, under Hermann Usener and Franz Bücheler in Bonn, under Theodor Mommsen in Berlin and under Ul ...

criticized the views of Krusch, asserting that the table of Augustalis was never used in Rome and that it represented an "eccentric version" of the 84-year cycle used by the insular Celtic churches. He places Augustalis in the 5th century.

References

{{Easter 5th-century bishops in Gaul Lunisolar calendars Easter date 5th-century Latin writers

See also

References