Marius Aventicensis

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Marius (Marius Aventicensis or, popularly, Marius Aventicum) (532–December 31, 596) is a Swiss bishop remembered for his terse chronicle.

What is known of him, aside from his chronicle, is from the inscription on his tomb in the church of St. Thyrsius in Lausanne (published in Monumenta Germ. Scriptores, XXIV, 795). He came of a distinguished, rich family, probably Gallo-Roman in their culture. In 574 he was made Bishop of Aventicum, took part in the Second Council of Mâcon in 585, and shortly afterwards transferred his episcopal see from Aventicum, which was rapidly declining, to Lausanne.

His metrical tomb inscription of unknown date, published in Gallia Christiana, extols him as an ideal bishop; as a skilled goldsmith who made the sacred vessels with his own hands; as a protector and benefactor of the poor who ploughed his own land; as a man of prayer, and as a scholar. In 587 he consecrated a proprietary church built at his expense on property of his own at Paterniacum (Payerne).

After his death in Lausanne, he was venerated in that city as a saint, and his feast was celebrated on 9 or 12 February. The church of St. Thyrsius received at an early date the name of St. Marius.

His brief chronicle is a continuation of the chronicle of Prosper of Aquitaine or rather of the Chronicon Imperiale. It extends from 455 to 581, and is a valuable source for Burgundian and Franconian history, especially for the second half of the sixth century, "and serves to correct the bias of Gregory of Tours against the Arians of Burgundy" (Wace). It has been frequently published — first by Chifflet in André Duchesne's "Historiæ Francorum Scriptores", I (1636), 210-214; again by Migne in Patrologia Latina, LXXII, 793-802, and finally by Theodor Mommsen in Monumenta Germ., Auctores antiqui, XI (1893), 232-9.