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croix Hic tua, uenerabilis Amate, requicunt membra

sepulcro, qui fuit insignis meritis Veseroncia prior

pr(es)b(yte)r, officio altarebus sacris prelictus adesit. Ver mag-

nus ac mente benignus, abstutus, passins, dulcissemus, aptus,

non et nouilior criscit ex mure parentum. Consili mag-

nas dum feneraris opis, rapuit inueda mors de corpo-

re uita. Hoc ergo frater, plenus amure, cum nimio tu-

mulavit dulure, cui sistint lacreme et cesint su[spiria]

f<l>etus. Vixit in pace an(nos) XXXXVIII; obiit XV k(alendas) [...],

ano V e rigno Da<g>oberti re(gis), (in)d(ictione) VII.

(Recueil des inscriptions chrétiennes de la Gaule: XV, 265)

cross Here in this tomb lie your limbs, venerable Amatus. He was, by his distinguished merits, the first presbyter in Vézeronce, [and] adhered as superior (prelictus = praelatus?) to the office of the sacred altar. A great man of kind mind, wise, patient, most sweet, benevolent; no one was more noble as far as parentage goes. While you accumulated a great wealth of wisdom, jealous death has snatched the life out of your body. Therefore, your brother, full of love, entombs you here with great sorrow, whose tears may stop and sighs leave him as he weeps. He lived in peace for forty-eight years; died on the fifteenth kalends of ..., in the fifth year of King Dagobert's reign, in the seventh [year] of indiction.

(trans. J. Szafranowski)

Discussion:

Of the eighteen epitaphs found in Briord, three are of the presbyters. For the two other presbyters, see [1847] and [1849]. The latter was ordered by the same Amatus whose epitaph is presented here. He styled himself there as antistes from Vézeronce.

Prior presbyter, "the first presbyter", is likely an indication that Amatus was an archpresbyter.

The fifth year of Dagobert's reign lasted from October 633 until October 634. The seventh year of indiction started on the 1 September 633 and lasted to the same date the following year. Hence, not knowing the month in which Amatus died, he could have passed away in either 633 or 634.

Place of event:

Region

Gaul

City

Briord

About the source:

Origin: Briord (Gaul)

The stone bearing this inscription was found at the beginning of the eighteenth century in Briord at château de Saint-André (Briord lies some 50 km east of Lyon). It was copied by de Veyle who did not provide any description of the material on which the inscription was engraved or of the place where it was found. The stone was then lost, but in the first half of the nineteenth century Allmer found at Briord a fragment of the original white marble containing the beginning of the first five lines (dimensions: 15 × 12 cm, with very small letters, see illustration). This small fragment along with the original de Veyle`s manuscript are now lost, and the inscription is known only from the manuscript`s copy made by Fevret de Fontette and the facsimile of the fragment found by Allmer.

Edition:

F. Descombes (ed.), Recueil des inscriptions chrétiennes de la Gaule, vol. XV, Paris 1985, no. XV, 265.

C. de Veyle, Explication des Antiquités romaines qui se trouvent dans le pays de Bresse, Valromey et Gex, manuscript lost; copy by Fevret de Fontette, ms. B. N., fonds Moreau 861, ff. 60 and 164 (of the lost original), f. 230 r (of the copy).

Trismegistos no. 487779

Epigraphik Datenbank Clauss/Slaby no. EDCS-10501455 (ill.)

O. Hirschfeld (ed.), Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum, vol. XIII, Berlin 1899, 2478.

E. Diehl (ed.), Inscriptiones Latinae christianae veteres, vol. 1, Berlin 1924/1925, no. 1076.

E. Le Blant (ed.), Inscriptions chrétiennes de la Gaule antérieures au VIIIe siècle, Paris 1856-1865, no. 373 A.

A. Allmer (ed.), Inscriptions antiques et du Moyen Age de Vienne en Dauphiné. Première partie, Inscriptions antiques antérieures au VIIIe siècle, vol. IV, Paris 1876, no. 1842.

Categories:

Social origin or status - Social elite

PR841.

Burial/Funerary inscription

PR841.

Functions within the Church - Archpresbyter

PR841.

Functions within the Church - Parish presbyter

PR841.

Functions within the Church - Rural presbyter

PR841.

Described by a title - Presbyter/πρεσβύτερος

PR841.

Friendship

PR841.

Relation with - Brother/Sister

PR841.

Age

PR841.

Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL: J. Szafranowski, Presbyters in the Late Antique West, ER1850, http://www.presbytersproject.ihuw.pl/index.php?id=6&SourceID=1850