Presbyters Uniwersytet Warszawski
ID
ER 1796
Presbyter Eparchius from Périgueux (Gaul) is a recluse living in Angoulême (Gaul) with some monks. He dies ca AD 581. Account of Gregory of Tours, "Histories", Tours (Gaul), AD 581–594.
VI.8
 
Obiit et Eparchius reclausus Ecolesinensis, vir magnificae sanctitatis, per quem Deus multa miracula ostendit; de quibus, relictis plurimis, pauca perstringam. Petrocoricae urbis incola fuit; sed post conversionem clericus factus, Ecolesinam veniens, cellulam sibi aedificavit. In qua, collectis paucis monachis, in oratione morabatur assidue; et si ei aliquid auri argentique offerebatur, aut in necessitatibus pauperum aut in redemptione captivorum distribuebat. Panes in cellula illa, eo vivente, coctus numquam fuit, sed a devotis, cum necessitas exegisset, inferebatur. Magnam enim catervam populorum de oblationibus devotorum redemit; pusularum malarum venenum crucis signum saepe compressit, daemonas de obsessis corporibus oratione abegit et iudicibus plerumque, ut culpabilibus ignoscerent, dulcedine profusa imperavit potius quam rogavit.
 
Gregory tells the story of one criminal, guilty of many crimes, including murder, who was sentenced to torture and death. People were eager to see him dead, and ordered the count to refuse Eparchius, who was pleading for his life. Eparchius sent one of his monks to bring the culprit to the hermitage after the rope on which he was hanged had miraculously snapped thanks to Eparchius' prayer.
 
Tunc monachus adprehensum eum abbatis conspectibus incolomem repraesentat. At ille gratias Deo agens, comitem arcessiri iubet, dicens: "Semper me benigno animo solitus eras audire, fili dilectissime; et cur hodie induratus hominem, pro cuius vita rogaveram, non laxasti?" Et ille: "Libenter te", inquid, "audio, sancte sacerdos; sed, insurgente vulgo, aliud facere non potui, timens super me seditionem moveri".
 
Seeing that the man he sentenced to death was safe and sound, the count pardoned his life.
 
Haec ego ab ipsius comitis ore cognovi. Sed et alia multa fecit, quae insequi longum putavi. Post XLIIII vero annos reclusionis suae parumper febre pulsatus tradidit spiritum; protractus que a cellula, sepulturae mandatus est.
Magnus autem conventus, ut diximus, de redemptis in eius processit exsequiis.
  
(ed. Krusch 1937: 277–278)
VI.8
 
Eparchius, the recluse of Angoulême, a man of great sanctity, by whom God performed many miracles, also died [at that time, i.e. ca 581]. I will now recall some of these [miracles], omitting a great many more. He was an inhabitant of the city of Périgueux, but having been made a cleric after the conversion, he moved to Angoulême, where he built himself a cell. Joined by several monks, he devoted himself to constant prayer. Whenever gold or silver was offered to him, he would distribute it among the needing poor or [spend it] on ransoming the captives. As long as he lived bread was never baked in his cell [cellula, i.e. hermitage], for, as need arose, it was supplied by the faithful. [With the help of] the offerings of the faithful he ransomed a great number of people. With the sign of the Cross he subdued the poison in the malignant blisters, and with prayer he cast daemons out of the possessed, and many a time he commanded (rather than asked) the judges with lavish sweetness to pardon the guilty.
 
Gregory tells the story of one criminal, guilty of many crimes, including murder, who was sentenced to torture and death. People were eager to see him dead, and ordered the count to refuse Eparchius, who was pleading for his life. Eparchius sent one of his monks to bring the culprit to the hermitage after the rope on which he was hanged had miraculously snapped thanks to Eparchius' prayer.
 
The monk picked him up and brought him unharmed to the abbot. Eparchius gave thanks to God and ordered the count to be summoned, saying [to him], "My dearest son, you used to listen to me always with kind soul. Why were you so adamant today when you did not release the man for whose life I asked you?" "I gladly listen to you, saintly priest (sacerdos)", said the count "but, as the mob had risen, I could have not done otherwise, fearing the riot would move against me."
 
Seeing that the man he sentenced to death was safe and sound, the count pardoned his life.
 
I have learned this story from the count himself. Eparchius did many other things which would take a long time to relate. After forty-four years [of living] as a recluse, he died following few days of fever. He was carried from his cell to the grave. A great crowd of people whom he ransomed, as we have described, walked in his funeral procession.
 
(trans. Thorpe 1974: 338–339, altered and summarised by J. Szafranowski)

Place of event:

Region
  • Gaul
City
  • Angoulême
  • Périgueux

About the source:

Author: Gregory of Tours
Title: The History of the Franks, Gregorii episcopi Turonensis historiarum libri X, Histories
Origin: Tours (Gaul)
Denomination: Catholic/Nicene/Chalcedonian
Gregory of Tours (Gaul) wrote his ten books of Histories (known commonly in English as the History of the Franks) during his episcopal reign in Tours between 573 and 594. The books vary in scope and length. The first book covers 5,596 years from the creation of the world to AD 397, that is the death of Saint Martin of Tours, Gregory`s predecessor in bishopric. The second book deals with the history of Gaul between 397 and 511, the latter being the year of death of King Clovis I. The third and fourth books cover the next 64 years till the death of Austrasian King Sigibert II in 575. Finally, the following six books describe exclusively the sixteen years from 575 to 591. Probably in 594, Gregory added the list of bishops of Tours in the end of the Histories, with brief accounts of their actions.
Edition:
B. Krusch ed., Gregorii Episcopi Turonensis Historiarum Libri X [in:] Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Scriptores rerum Merovingiciarum 1.1, Hannover 1884 (repr. 1951): 1­-537.
 
Translation:
Gregory of Tours, The History of the Franks, trans. L. Thorpe, London 1974.

Categories:

Travel and change of residence
Ecclesiastical transfer
Described by a title - Sacerdos/ἱερεύς
Described by a title - Abba
Monastic or common life - Hermit
Monastic or common life - Monastic superior (abbot/prior)
Ritual activity - Exorcism
Relation with - Secular authority
Relation with - Noble
Devotion - Supernatural experience
Pastoral activity - Ransoming and visiting prisoners and captives
Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL: J. Szafranowski, Presbyters in the Late Antique West, ER1796, http://www.presbytersproject.ihuw.pl/index.php?id=6&SourceID=1796