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| Saint Germanus of Auxerre | |
|---|---|
| Bishop | |
| Born | c. 378 |
| Died | c. 448 |
| Venerated in | Catholic Church, Orthodox Church |
| Feast | July 31 |
Germanus of Auxerre (c. 378 – c. 448) was a bishop of Auxerre in Gaul. He is a saint in both the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches, commemorated on July 31. He visited Britain in around 429 and the records of this visit provide valuable information on the state of post-Roman British society. Scholars have argued, based on the scanty evidence, that his death should be dated to 445, 446, 447 or 448.
The principal source for the events of his life is the hagiography written by Constantius of Lyon around 480. Constantius was a friend of Bishop Lupus of Troyes, who accompanied Germanus to Britain, which provided him with a link to Germanus.
Early life
Germanus was ordained bishop of Auxerre by his predecessor in this post, Amator. Prior to this he had also practised law and held a post of provincial governor.
Visit to Britain
Around 429, shortly after Britain had thrown off Roman rule, a Gaulish assembly of bishops chose Germanus and Lupus, Bishop of Troyes, to visit the island. It was alleged that Pelagianism was rife among the British clergy, with a British bishop's son named Agricola leading. Germanus went to combat the threat and satisfy the Pope that the British church would not break away from the Augustinian teachings of divine grace.
Germanus and Lupus confronted the British clergy at a public meeting before a huge crowd in Britain. The Pelagians were described as being 'conspicuous for riches, brilliant in dress and surrounded by a fawning multitude'. The bishops debated and, despite having no popular support, Germanus was able to defeat the Pelagians using his superior rhetoric.
Germanus and Lupus then visited the shrine of Saint Alban, promoting his cult. Constantius also recounts the miraculous healing of the son of 'a man with tribunician power'. This use of the word tribune may imply the existence of some form of post-Roman government system. However, in Constantius' lifetime tribune had acquired a looser definition, and often was used to indicate any military officer, whether part of the Imperial army or part of a town militia.
Germanus led the native Britons to a victory against a Pictish and Saxon army, at a mountainous site near a river, of which Mold in North Wales is the traditional location. After baptising his troops he ordered them all to cry 'Alleluia!' The sound apparently so terrified the invaders that they fled before battle could be brought. That Germanus took command may mean that British military leaders had been discredited as Pelagians or that these had themselves enlisted the Saxons and Picts.
The possibly contemporary British ruler described as a "proud tyrant" by Gildas, and identified with the 'Vortigern' of Welsh tradition, is said to have made use of Saxon mercenaries. The political aspects of Germanus' battle against Pelagianism have been much discussed. It has been suggested by Peter Salway that the battle was fought to ensure that Britain remained sympathetic to Aëtius and support his bid for control of the Western Roman Empire. However many scholars would see this as highly speculative to say the least and the 'battle' may have been no more than a skirmish inflated by tradition and / or the saint's hagiographer. It is not possible to know what impact Germanus's visit really had on Pelagianism in Britain. The link with Saint Patrick, traditionally portrayed as his pupil, is also contested in recent scholarship.
Later life
Germanus may have made a second visit to Britain in the 440s, though this is contested by some scholars who suggest it may be a 'doublet' or variant version of the visit that has been mistaken as describing a different visit and erroneously included as such by Constantius, according to whom Germanus was joined by Severus, Bishop of Trier and met Elafius, described by Bede as 'a chief of that region'. Germanus is said to have cured Elafius' enfeebled son by a miracle that served to persuade the population that Gaulish Catholicism rather than Pelagianism was the true faith.
He died in Ravenna while petitioning the Roman government for leniency for the citizens of Armorica, against whom Aëtius had dispatched the Alans on a punitive expedition. Germanus had famously confronted Goar, the king of the Alans, so Constantius's Life relates.
Cult
Saint Germanus's tomb continues to be venerated in the church of the Abbey of Saint-Germain d'Auxerre, which although now part of municipal museum remains open for worship at stated times. There is a tradition of a panegyric on the Sunday nearest to or preceding his festival in July.
The cult of Saint Germanus of Auxerre spread in northern France, hence the church Saint-Germain l'Auxerrois facing the Louvre in Paris. His cult is clearly distinguished from that of the homonymous Saint Germanus of Paris. He is associated with the church at Charonne in the east of Paris and the cult of Saint Genevieve (Genoveva) in Nanterre to the west of the city, both situated on the late Roman road network. His journey to Britain is commemorated in his dedications at Siouville and at Saint-Germain-les-Vaux in the Cotentin (Manche).
In Great Britain
The former priory church at St Germans in Cornwall bears his name and was in late Saxon times the seat of a bishop. A few other churches in Cornwall are also dedicated to the saint as is the church at Germansweek in west Devon. More recently a church by Bodley dedicated to this saint was erected in Adamsdown, Cardiff. There are at least four churches dedicated to St Germanus in north Wales, where an alternative form of his name is used. These are Capel Garmon, Llanarmon, Llanarmon Dyffryn Ceiriog and Llanarmon-yn-Ial.
Germanus is traditionally credited with the establishment of the Diocese of Sodor and Man on the Isle of Man, though this may have been a different man of a similar name. There was widespread conflation of the two in mediaeval tradition, but scholars have contested the traditional identification with the Welsh Saint Garmon, commemorated in the North Welsh placename Llanarmon. If the name Germanus had been taken up into the British language early then, according to the regular sound changes in the Brittonic languages, it would have appeared as "Gerfen" in Middle Welsh.
Fictional portrayals of Germanus
- Germanus figures in the 2004 movie King Arthur, although his second and final mission to Britain took place twenty years before the year the movie is set in. He is portrayed by Italian actor Ivano Marescotti.
- His visit to Britain is the subject of a Welsh radio play by Saunders Lewis entitled Buchedd Garmon.
- Germanus appears many times in the Jack Whyte series "A Dream of Eagles'" and "The Golden Eagle" .
In addition, Hilaire Belloc referred to Germanus in his humorous poem, The Pelagian Drinking Song:
- And with his stout Episcopal staff
- So thoroughly whacked and banged
- The heretics all, both short and tall --
- They rather had been hanged.
References
- Hoare, F. R. (1965) The Western Fathers. New York: Harper Torchbooks (A translation of the "Life of St Germanus" appears on pp. 283–320)
- Catholic Encyclopedia article
- Bowen, E. G. (1954) The Settlements of the Celtic Saints in Wales. Cardiff: University of Wales Press
Further reading
- Thompson, E. A. (1984) Saint Germanus of Auxerre and the End of Roman Britain. Woodbridge: Boydell
- Wood, I. N. (1984) "The End of Roman Britain: Continental evidence and parallels", in M. Lapidge & D. Dumville (eds.) Gildas: New Approaches. Woodbridge, Suffolk: Boydell; pp. 1 – 25.