Desiderius of Vienne
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Desiderius of Vienne (died 607) was bishop of Vienne and a chronicler.
In conflict with Brunhilda of Austrasia, the legitimacy of whose children he had attacked[1], he was deposed in 603 when she combined forces with Aridius, bishop of Lyon. He was stoned to death, some years later.[2]
He was rebuked by Gregory the Great for his interest in the pagan classics, in a letter provoked by the schooling he was providing for his clergy[3].
He is a Catholic saint, with feast day February 11[4], also May 23. A hagiographical work was written about him by the Visigothic king Sisebuto, during the seventh century[5]. A later life was written by Ado of Vienne.
[edit] Notes
- ^ Edward James, The Origins of France (1982), p. 139.
- ^ Jo Ann McNamara, John E. Halborg, E. Gordon Whatley, Sainted Women of the Dark Ages (1992), p. 121.
- ^ Gian Biagio Conte, Latin Literature: A History (1994 translation), p. 718.
- ^ On-line Calendar of Saints Days, February
- ^ E.g. Bryan Ward-Perkins, The Fall of Rome: And the End of Civilization (2006), p. 166; Jacques Fontaine, "King Sisebut's Vita Desiderii and the Political Function of Visigothic Hagiography." in Visigothic Spain (1980). ed. Edward James
