Hesychius I (bishop of Vienne)

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Saint Hesychius or Isicius (French: Isice or Hésychius; died c. 490) was a bishop of Vienne in the Dauphiné, France. He is venerated as a saint by the Catholic Church.

Life[edit]

Origins[edit]

Hesychius or Isicius (occasionally also Isique[1] or Ysile[2]) is mentioned in the first extant list of the bishops of Vienne, the Catalogue of bishop Ado of Vienne (799-875)[3][4][5][6]

He married Audentia, with whom he had two sons, Avitus, his successor in the episcopal seat of Vienne, and Apollinaris of Valence, who became bishop of Valence.[1][7] He was apparently related to Sidonius Apollinaris,[7] prefect of Rome and later bishop of Clermont.

According to the historian Bernard Bligny (1979), Hesychius belonged to "one of the principal Gallo-Roman families of 'Bourgogne', the Hesychii, a branch of the Syagrii", of whom several members were bishops of Vienne (three) and Grenoble (four).[8]

Episcopacy[edit]

According to tradition, confirmed at least in part by the historian Ulysse Chevalier in his Notice chronologico-historique sur les archevêques de Vienne (1879), Hesychius was a senator before governing the diocese of Vienne.[1][3] The Dictionnaire historique de la Suisse states that he was descended from a family of the senatorial nobility and was closely related to the Emperor Avitus.[7]

In his Chronique (VI) Bishop Ado mentions Hesychius as the reigning bishop when Saint Severus of Vienne dedicated a church in Vienne at the time of the death of Saint Germanus of Auxerre.[5][3] Lucas however maintains that whereas the dedication must have taken place in 448 and Severus' death in 450, Hesychius' episcopacy was later, probably between 475 and 490.[6]

Hesychius seems to have died in about 490;[3] his son Avitus succeeded him as bishop of Vienne.[7]

Cultus[edit]

Saint Hesychius occurs in the Martyrologium Hieronymianum under the date of 16 March.[5][3] (The website Nominis.cef.fr gives for Saint Ysile the date of 15 March).[2] He is also celebrated in the diocese of Grenoble-Vienne on 1 July , together with Saint Martin and all the bishop saints of Vienne.[9]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b c Charvet 1761, p. 807.
  2. ^ a b Nominis.cef.fr: Saint Ysile
  3. ^ a b c d e Chevalier 1879, p. 7.
  4. ^ Duchesne 1894, p. 146.
  5. ^ a b c Duchesne 1894, p. 186.
  6. ^ a b Lucas 2018, pp. 247–270.
  7. ^ a b c d Dictionnaire historique de la Suisse: Avit (saint) by Catherine Santschi
  8. ^ Bligny 1979, p. 22.
  9. ^ Diocèse de Grenoble-Vienne: Histoire

Sources[edit]

  • Bligny, Bernard (1979). Histoire des diocèses de France:Grenoble (in French). Vol. 12. Paris: Éditions Beauchesne. p. 22.
  • Charvet, Claude (1761). Histoire de la sainte église de Vienne (in French). Lyon: Chez C. Cizeron.
  • Chevalier, Ulysse (1879). Notice chronologico-historique sur les archevêques de Vienne: d'après des documents paléographiques inédits (in French). Vienne: E.-J. Savigné.
  • Duchesne, Louis (1894). Fastes épiscopaux de l'ancienne Gaule. Provinces du Sud-Est (tome premier) (in French). Paris: Thorin et fils.
  • Lucas, Gérard (2018). "Adon de Vienne, Chronique, especially the 'Tableau récapitulatif de la liste des évêques de Vienne jusqu'à Avit'". Vienne dans les textes grecs et latins: Chroniques littéraires sur l'histoire de la cité, des Allobroges à la fin du Ve siècle de notre ère (in French). MOM Éditions. p. 247-270. ISBN 9782356681850.

Further reading[edit]

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