Namatius

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Namatius
Stained glass window showing Saint Namatius, from the Church of Saint-Eutrope in Clermont-Ferrand.
Born	?, place of birth unknown
Died	After 462, place of death unknown
Venerated in	Roman Catholic Church
Feast	October 27
Saints Portal

Saint Namatius (French - Sainte Namace) is a saint in the Roman Catholic church. He was the eighth or ninth bishop of Clermont (then called Arvernis) from 446 to 462, and founded Clermont's first cathedral, bringing the relics of Saints Vitalis and Agricola to it from Bologna. Of this construction project, Gregory of Tours writes:

“

He undertook the task of building the older church which is still standing and is contained within the walls of the city, one hundred and fifty feet in length, sixty in width,-that is, the nave, fifty in height to the vault, with a round apse in front and on each side aisles finely built, the whole building is laid out in the form of a cross; it has forty-two windows, seventy columns, eight doors. The fear of God is in it and a great brightness is seen, and in the spring a very pleasant fragrance as if of spices is perceived there by the devout. It has near the altar walls of variegated work adorned with many kinds of marble. The blessed bishop on finishing the building in the twelfth year, sent priests to Bologna in Italy, to procure relics of saints Agricola and Vitalis, who we know very certainly were crucified in the name of Christ our God.^[1]

”

Another Saint Namatius was archbishop of Vienne in Dauphiné, dying in that office in 559.