S. SERGIUS, M.
(A.D. 304.)
[Roman and German Martyrologies, and those of Bede, Usuardus, Ado, &c. Authority:—The Acts, apparently not in their original form, but trustworthy.]
S. Sergius lived a retired, hermit life, near Cæsarea, in Cappadocia. When he heard of the breaking out of persecution, under the Emperors Diocletian and Maximian, his zeal led him to come into the city, and appear before Sapricius, the governor, and proclaim his abhorrence of the gods of Rome. The governor at once ordered him to execution.
His relics were translated to Ubeda, in the diocese of Taragona, in Spain.
S. PRÆTEXTATUS OF ROUEN, B. M.
(A.D. 586.)
[Roman Martyrology. Authority:—S. Gregory of Tours, Hist. Franc. lib. ix. c. 39, 42, and the zealous champion of Prætextatus in the Council of Paris.]
On the death of Clothair, sole king of the Franks, (a.d. 561), his dominions were divided amongst his four sons, Charibert, who became king of Paris and the adjacent country; Guntram, of Orleans; Chilperic, of Soissons; and Sigebert, of Austrasia. The reign of Charibert was unattended by any important event; he died at the expiration of eleven years from the date of his accession, leaving an only daughter, Bertha, who married Ethelbert, king of Kent, and converted him to Christianity. The brothers Sigebert and Chilperic were engaged in bloody wars with each other. Sigebert had espoused Brunhild, daughter of Athanagild, king of the Visigoths. Chilperic was married at three several periods to as many wives: first, to Audovera, by whom he had three sons; Theodebert, Meroveus, and Clovis; secondly, to Gailesuinth, sister of Brunhild, by whom he had a daughter. During the lifetime of his second queen, Chilperic became enamoured of Fredegund, and his passion led him to put Gailesuinth to death, and elevate her rival to the throne. This barbarous action induced Sigebert to take up arms against his brother, urged thereto by the vehement Brunhild, desirous of revenging the murder of her sister; and a destructive war ensued, in the course of which Chilperic and his guilty consort were driven from their country, and became exiles in a foreign land.
At no very distant interval of time, in 575, Sigebert was assassinated by the directions of his unnatural brother. Brunhild, his widow, sued for protection to Meroveus, son of Chilperic by his first wife, who was at Rouen, where Chilperic had imprisoned her. Meroveus, dreading the power of Fredegund, who wished to secure the succession to the crown for her son, took up arms against his father, and making common cause with Brunhild, his aunt, married her.
At that time, Prætextatus was bishop of Rouen. His position was difficult. The insurgent son had made Rouen his head-quarters, and expected, or exacted contributions from the Church, which Prætextatus was unwilling to grant, but which the prince was strong enough to obtain. To make the case more difficult, Meroveus was the spiritual son of this bishop, that is, Prætextatus had baptized him, and this spiritual relationship was then regarded as a sacred and dear tie. Chilperic heard exaggerated accounts of what the bishop had done, and hastily concluding that Prætextatus was privy to the revolt of Meroveus, ordered a council of prelates to meet in Paris, to try and sentence Prætextatus either to have his episcopal habit rent in twain, and to have Psalm cviii. (A. V. 109), said over him, in token that his bishopric was taken from him, or that he should be excommunicated. Prætextatus was first charged by the king with having broken the canons by marrying Meroveus to his aunt, and with having fomented rebellion by giving large contributions to the prince. The bishop denied both charges. The king in person pressed the charge. S. Gregory, bishop of Tours, who gives us a full account of the affair, and Aetius, archdeacon of Paris, were the only two who had courage to take the part of the bishop, on whose destruction the king was resolved. Gregory steadfastly refused to condemn Prætextatus on charges which could not be substantiated. Then the king sent for him privately, and endeavoured by flattery to break his resolution, but in vain. Then bursting out in a passion, he exclaimed, "Hah! bishop, you who have to dispense justice, will not show justice to me. True, by my faith! is the proverb, Hawks will not peck out hawks' een. Here is a collation I had prepared for you," pointing to a table on which were roast fowl and other delicacies. Gregory refused to eat, till the king had sworn that he would not violate the laws of the realm and the canons of the Church, by forcing the council to condemn an innocent man. After that he took, so he tells us, some bread, and even a little wine; and so departed. That night queen Fredegund sent to his lodgings a large sum of money, in hopes of bribing him to consent to the sentence on Prætextatus, but Gregory refused the bribe.
The king next raked up another charge against the bishop of Rouen, of having stolen some handsome birds he valued at three thousand sous, but this charge broke down also. Then some false friend urged Prætextatus to deliver the bishops who tried him from their perilous predicament, by confessing himself guilty, assuring him that this would satisfy the king, who would not press further punishment on him. Prætextatus was weak enough to yield to this treacherous advice,[66] and thus to remove it out of the power of his two defenders to maintain their opposition to the majority. The bishop of Rouen was at once condemned and banished to a little island off Coutances, probably Jersey.