Mamerto (+477)

Biography

That is to say, his entire ecclesiastical career took place in the midst of the barbarian invasion. He was bishop of Vienne from the year 463, among the Burgundians, who had settled in the Rhône Valley. These, like their cousins ​​the Visigoths of Toulouse and Spain, were Arians. It is wonderful that, under such conditions, this Gallo-Roman prelate of perfect orthodoxy should have enjoyed such a tranquil episcopacy. Without a doubt it was due to the prestige of his science and his holiness. It does not seem, however, that it led many Burgundians to the true faith. It was their king Sigismund and his successors who later forced them to convert. Saint Mamertus became famous for having instituted numerous rogations. There were then in the Vienne region frequent earthquakes, mysterious fires, floods and droughts, not to mention wild animals that threatened domestic animals, and sometimes the owners themselves. The bishop of Vienne had the idea of ​​making a procession through the fields for three days to ask heaven for an end to these calamities. His project seemed so good that very soon processions and prayers increased throughout Gaul, trusting that Pope Leo II would make them obligatory in the Universal Church. They were established in the three days preceding the Ascension. Our saint had a younger brother, Mamerto Claudiano, who was his main collaborator. Saint Sidonius Apollinaris, a contemporary and friend, considered him “the greatest genius of his century.” What remains of him is his treatise “Of Nature and the Soul”, and the beautiful “Pange lingua lauream” that has been sung for fourteen centuries during Lent.