Desiderius of Vienne

Desiderius of Vienne (died 607) was archbishop of Vienne and a chronicler.

In conflict with Brunhilda of Austrasia, the legitimacy of whose children he had attacked,^[2] he was deposed in 603 when she combined forces with Aridius, bishop of Lyon. He was stoned to death, some years later,^[3] at the order of King Theuderic II of Burgundy.^[4]

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.^[5]

He is a Catholic saint, with feast days on February 11^[6] and May 23. A hagiographical work was written about him by the Visigothic king Sisebuto, during the seventh century.^[7] A later life was written by Ado of Vienne.

Notes

1. ^ (Greek) Ὁ Ἅγιος Δεσιδέριος ὁ Ἱερομάρτυρας Ἐπίσκοπος Βιέννης. 23 Μαΐου. ΜΕΓΑΣ ΣΥΝΑΞΑΡΙΣΤΗΣ.
2. ^ Edward James, The Origins of France (1982), p. 139.
3. ^ Jo Ann McNamara, John E. Halborg, E. Gordon Whatley, Sainted Women of the Dark Ages (1992), p. 121.
4. ^ May 23. The Roman Martyrology.
5. ^ Gian Biagio Conte, Latin Literature: A History (1994 translation), p. 718.
6. ^ On-line Calendar of Saints Days, February
7. ^ 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