Venantius of Viviers, St.

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VENANTIUS OF VIVIERS, ST.

Bishop of Viviers, date and place of birth and death unknown. He attended synods at Epaon in 517 and at Clermont in 535. According to an 11th-or 15th-century panegyric, not based on sources, he was the son of King St. sigismund and became a monk, then bishop. The vita, composed perhaps for his feast, recounts his virtues with rhetorical embellishment.

Feast: Aug. 5.

Bibliography: Vita, Acta Sanctorum Aug. 2:107110. Monumenta Germaniae Historica: Concilia (Berlin 1926) 1:30,70. Bibliotheca hagiographica latina antiquae et mediae aetatis (Brussels 18981901) 2:8528. Histoire littéraire de la France 8:473474. p.h. mollier, Saints et pieux personnages du Vivarais (Privas, Fr.1895). l. duchesne, Fastes épiscopaux de l'ancienne Gaule 1:238. g. allemang, Lexikon für Theologie und Kirche ed. m. buchberger (Freiburg 193038) 10:524525. j. l. baudot and l. chaussin, Vies des saints et des bienheureux selon l'ordre du calendrier avec l'historique des fêtes (Paris 193556) 8:87.

[g. m. cook]