Epistolae Quatuor

To the Sirmondian Edition of Avitus, a Supplement. The Four Epistles of Saint Avitus of Vienne. [First published by John Ferrand, priest of the Society of Jesus, from an old manuscript codex of the most distinguished man Peter Marnasius, senator of Grenoble; again, more correctly, by the most distinguished man Stephen Baluze from the same manuscript codex, in the first book of his Miscellanies.] EPISTLE ONE. To King Gundobad of the Burgundians. Bishop Avitus to the lord king. The question which your Piety has proposed for discussion is to be referred entirely to the inner figure by spiritual consideration. For that which one has contributed by a pious profession of alms for the poor is not promised to be restored with a hundredfold interest; because even in this very eleemosynary largesse, in which the intention of the giver is regarded rather than the amount, it is not the quantity of the gift that is to be weighed, but the zeal. Whence it came about, through the Gospel reading, that the poor offering of a widow is preferred to the gifts of gold and silver, however adorned. For if that were to be returned to the unique widow at the measure of a hundredfold, without doubt she would receive less than all those who had contributed less than everyone else. Whence also Saint Peter, when he had said: "Behold, no...

We left everything and followed you (Matt. 19:27), who, as the reading certainly teaches, had left nothing other than the nets by which he sustained his meager livelihood through the art of fishing. The response to him was: "Everyone who has left home, or brothers, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or fields for my name's sake will receive a hundredfold and will possess eternal life." For since in the Holy Scriptures the number one hundred is consecrated with every perfection, discern that what is rendered a hundredfold is not what is given for the name of Christ, but what is left behind for the name of Christ: because, although the great and salutary reward of almsgiving is beneficial, it is incomparably greater to abandon everything than to distribute very much. Therefore, let your glory define that this is proclaimed only about martyrdom, whose crown is absolutely equaled by no merit of human work. This is the hundredfold fruit which, in the future, indeed awaits eternal life, but in the present age as well compensates the insults inflicted upon martyrs with a wondrous honor. Whence also in another place in the Gospel, the Lord's word testifies that the seed of the nourished sowing, falling into good ground, has come forth to a hundredfold yield. Therefore, parents, wife, or children, or brothers are to be left behind only when consecrated for the name of Christ, that is, when for the sake of asserting the confession of the name, not only such ties of kinship, but also of souls and bodies, a sacrifice must be made.

Concerning this division, the Lord says elsewhere: "I have come," he says, "to separate sons against parents, daughter-in-law against mother-in-law" (Matt. 10:35): that is, so that persons of any affections whatsoever, if they are unwilling to accompany us as we strive toward Christ, are to be abandoned. Apart from this sense, however, it is gathered from both examples and reason that these relationships are not always to be dismissed as prejudicial to us. For neither are those relatives to be abandoned who hasten toward heavenly crowns by trampling death through contempt of the world; nor can we persuade the faithful to cast aside marriages or parents, since the Lord proclaims that it is not lawful for a man to dismiss his wife. And "what God," he says, "has joined together, man shall not separate" (Matt. 19:6; Mark 10:9). And the Apostle testifies (1 Tim. 5:8) that he who provides for his own, and especially for his relatives, denies the faith and is worse than an unbeliever. The Lord was followed by Peter, Peter by his own wife. With carnal use set aside, spiritual solace remained. And with his brother Andrew accompanying him, he had dismissed neither brother nor wife, in whose company he clung to the footsteps of Christ. Therefore, it is to be feared that persons of this kind do not hinder us, but impede us.

For although the divine word proposes the heavenly kingdom to be obtained for the entire human race, for every rank and dignity, there is a rash preacher who, if he has suggested that all the things we have mentioned above are to be abandoned, imposes a necessity upon princes by which the kingdom is administered according to divine will; yet even for persons of this high station, contempt for the world is suggested, and the kingdom of heaven is promised, as the Apostle, you recall, testifies to the rich (1 Tim. 6:17-19), that they may be rich in good works and lay up for themselves a good foundation, so that they may grasp the true life. For them, according to this opinion, the use of fields or revenues can be beneficial, if the desire for them does no harm. There is, however, another kind of sanctity, in which, if the time of persecution is at hand, a full confession can imitate a kind of martyrdom. For if someone, by believing better, changes the ancient custom or sect of his parents, and is not bound by the privilege of custom, when truth summons him to the love of salvation, he usefully abandons his parents, brothers, and sisters: like the rich Abraham, who, enjoying all heavenly gifts, rightly using his children, servants, gold, silver, patrimony, and marriage, nevertheless shook off his homeland and his kinship by a vow to change his religion, and, with old age already imminent, receiving the sign of circumcision by which Christianity was prefigured, he warned that those already advanced in age could become children through conversion. Concerning these, the prophetic word says: "A boy of a hundred years will die" (Isa.

I know indeed with what great devotion you wished me to go to the common festivities, but nevertheless you should have believed that I would only rejoice with you, not be of any use. For when priests, both great in merit and many in number, have worthily and eagerly met you, I alone am struck with loss, who do not deserve to be present at the joys of a singular patron. If my presence had come about according to your desire, as I had hoped, I would hear from anyone of worthy speech concerning the praise of such a great work, who, after inspecting all the members of the sublime edifice, could fittingly ascribe to the builder elegance in the quality of the arrangements, extravagance in the profusion of expenses, harmony in the proportion of the dimensions, expanse in the spaces, loftiness in the heights, stability in the lowliness, and polish the dignity of the marbles with praises, from which the envy of size alone takes away the name of gems, and the day, in a way collected and enclosed by industry, is enlivened by the light of shining metals, and to all these pomps the relics, of which the world is unworthy, are worthily brought in.

Therefore, I had rightly conceded that these matters should be amplified by better men. Yet my own speech was to claim its particular reward, recalling, of course, that time amid the most savage storms of upheavals, when you, like invincible pilots, steered the firm solidity of the completed work to the harbor of dedication, with shipwrecks resounding all around with impunity, while I, as you recall from common necessity, paid out tears for joys. To this, with the ardor of premature innovation, weighed by the balance of causes, I urge no less to heap up than to lament: because, as for a bride who was to be joined to such a bridegroom to whom she had been betrothed, even if the instruments of worship were sufficiently desired, the weapons of the raiders had to be feared more. Therefore, having weighed all these things in counsel, you changed the kind of courage of a strong man, and, laying aside the audacity of secular leadership in which you flourish most bitterly, you conquered whatever danger had threatened from the opposing side by fear. For this reason, whoever sees the joy placed before him should praise the past haste. The security snatched from adversity suits your arrangements. It was fitting that it become ours, which had pleased to be adorned in such a way. As for me, that I do not enjoy the sight of this knot, you perceive both what cause makes it so, and the noble patrons, and what kind of judges, even if it is kept silent. For the feast of the Apostles lives among your Viennese with particular zeal on the annual day of martyrdom.

I have a presence at the time when the dedication of the men seems to have been imposed on the day of the passion of the little building you know, because there is nothing to which your affection cannot direct my mind. Excusing the absence of the little congregation, I would set my own singularity before custom, were it not, as you know, that in these very penitents of ours a fervor seeking a neighboring vice long formed a din; when ambition has drawn some of ours, a more youthful anxiety others, gluttony many. I feared lest, if I gathered even the few who were there, shunning others' concerns and joining more to the zeal of their own festivity, that movement, as often happens in such disturbance, might be thought, through absence, to omit the course of our devotion on that day on which different parts seemed to be instituted. Hence we deserve an excuse. If you have acknowledged my reasoning, forgive; recognize the common festivity by recollection of the past, by the fullness of the present, celebrated by the offices of both the absent and the present. I trust in the mercy of our God that He will grant me a more opportune access to the word in this place whenever, and He has granted a more ornate effect to the double consecration.

LETTER III. From the Blessed Bishop Avitus to Bishop Stephen. Bishop Avitus to Bishop Stephen. After the holy festival, which, though eager and anxious, we nevertheless passed through with your intervention and divine protection, we serve with the due obedience of service and the devotion of constant solicitude, desiring that whatever of deserved harshness there is with us be alleviated by the recognition of your prosperity, which may God always increase. LETTER IV. From Bishop Avitus to Bishop Gregory. Bishop Avitus to Bishop Gregory. I ascribe it rather to my own sins that an inequality of the body hindered you from the arrangement of your most pious intention, although your customary kindness has accompanied us with prayer and offering. Hence, discharging the offices of greeting through the service of this page, I give thanks beyond what I can express in speech, because you have refreshed our festival, thirsting for you with full desire, even if you did not satisfy it with your presence, you have restored it with your expenditure.