§ 151. The Burgundians and Their Relations to the Church.

(Plancher.) histoire de Bourgogne, Dijon, 1739. Collatio episcopor. praesert. Aviti Vienn, coram rege Gundebaldo (ďAchéry, Spicileg. T. III. Migne, ser. lat. T. 59.) Rettberg, Ch. H. of Germany, Vol. I., p. 253 sq. Gelpke, Ch. H. of Switzerland under Roman, Burgundian, and Alemannian rule, Berne, 1856. Derischweiler, Hist. of the Burgundians until their incorporation into the Frankish kingdom, Münster, 1863. Binding, The Burgundo-Roman Kingdom, Lps. 1868.

The Burgundians, who dwelt between the Oder and the Vistula, issuing from their northern home, followed the route over which the Goths had passed, till they came as far as the Danube, where they encountered the Gepidae and the Romans. Retreating before the superior strength of these two peoples, they settled on the banks of the upper Main and the Neckar, and were here thrown into contact with the Alemanni (A. D. 406), with whom they were continually at war. They were forced by the terror of Attila's arms to break up their settlement on the Rhine, and, retreating in a southwesterly direction, they entered the country of the Jura, about a. D. 412, and founded a kingdom in Gaul, extending from the Alps to the Rhône and the Saone, of which Lyons became the capital. It is thought, but the opinion rests on very questionable authority, that they became converts to the Catholic Church as early as the year 417. Be this as it may, it is certain that no great reliance could be placed on the sincerity of their conversion, otherwise it would be difficult to account for the readiness with which they embraced the Arian heresy, about the year 444, during the reign of Gundobald.1

This prince, unable to resist the cogency and strength of the arguments of Patiens, Bishop of Lyons, but particularly of those of Avitus, Bishop of Vienne, expressed a wish to enter the Catholic Church, but desired to have his conversion kept a secret, from fear of drawing on himself the enmity of his son Theodoric. His son Sigismund exhibited greater resolution and more character than his father, and, at the desire of the Franks, returned to the Catholic Church. After

1 Oros. hist. adv. Pagan. VII. 32, 38. Socr. h. e. VII. 30, III. 30. Conf. Pagr crit. ad a. 413, n. 13, and Prosper in Chron. ad a. 435.

the year 517, his example was followed by many of the Burgundians, among whom Arianism entirely disappeared, once they had passed under the dominion of the Franks, during the reign of Godomar (A. D. 534)..

§ 152. Ravages of the Huns in Germany, Gaul, and Italy.

Thierry, King Attila and his Age, Lps. 1852. Neumann, The Nations of Southern Russia and their Historical Development, 2d ed., Lps. 1855. John von Müller, Journeys of the Popes. See also Vol. I., p. 676, note 4.

The nations of which we have just spoken had suffered more from the attacks of the Huns than from those of any other people, and were at length obliged to retire before their advancing columns. The Huns were the rudest of all the Slavic nations of which we have any knowledge. Attila, their leader, whose name is indissolubly associated with devastation and ruin, marched through Germany and into Gaul at the head of a vast multitude, composed of nations which he had reduced to subjection and forced to follow his standard, and with this incongruous army commenced an attack upon the united kingdom of the Visigoths and Franks (A. D. 444).

The Rhenish cities of Cologne, Mentz, Worms, Spire, Strasbourg, and the neighboring cities of Treves, Metz, and others, were almost entirely destroyed, and their churches demolished. Checked by the doubtful results of the battle of Châlons-surMarne (451), and awed by the commanding presence and resolute attitude of Lupus, Bishop of Troyes, Attila directed his course toward Italy, and by the might of his arms added to the disasters with which this unfortunate country was already so severely scourged (A. D. 452). He stormed and sacked Aquileia, burned and plundered many other cities, and was only stayed in his career of blood and fire, and prevented from carrying the terror of his arms to the walls of Rome, by the great St. Leo, who undertook an embassy to his camp. As the resolution of Lupus and Leo had proved more effectual in curbing the anger of this ferocious barbarian than either armed resistance or mercenary tribute, the fact gave rise to the saying that "only a wolf or a lion could withstand Attila."

Attila, it is said, returned to the Danube, and died in the following year, A. D. 453. His numerous and terrible army, destitute of the only man who possessed sufficient ability and resolution to make his authority respected among its anomalous masses, broke through all the restraints of discipline and wandered over the face of the country, carrying destruction wherever they went. It required a higher than a human power to protect Christendom against so terrible a scourge. And, indeed, it would seem that Divine grace, which flowed in upon the Church in abundant streams during this age, was more than sufficient to overcome the power of sin and wickedness which lay like a foul mist upon the face of the earth. It was then that God raised up in defense of his cause those great lights of the Church and pillars of truth, St. Leo the Great, St. Lupus of Troyes, St. Germanus of Auxerre,1 St. Severin,2 that mysterious person whose origin and early his1 Conf. Stolberg-Kerz, Pt. XVII., p. 421 sq.

Eugippii, Vita St. Severini (Bolland. Acta Sanctor. mens. Jan., Tom. I., p. 483) ed. Kerschbaumer, Scaphus. 1862; in Friedrich's Ch. Hist. of Germany, Vol. I., Appendix, p. 439–489, according to Munich manuscripts, transl. into German, with Introduction and Annotations by C. Ritter, Linz, 1853. Conf. Friedrich, 1. c., p. 358–383.

The Life of St. Severin, by his disciple Eugippius, is of inestimable value, as it contains information of the condition of things in that age which could be obtained from no other source; for the Danubian provinces may be said to have been shrouded in utter darkness during the period immediately preceding and the period immediately following the life of these two men. From no other source could we obtain so abundant information of the then flourishing condition of Christianity, and the complete organization of the Church in the Roman provinces to the south of the Danube. It is certainly providential, that, just on the eve of the decline of these provinces, a work should be left us which describes so graphically, and with so much detail, the state of the country and the characteristics of its inhabitants. (Wattenbach, Germany's Sources of History, p. 34.)

That St. Severin was of noble extraction, there can be no doubt, and it is not unlikely that he belonged to the last of the ruling houses of Rome. Inspired with the desire of laboring in the cause of Christ among the oppressed inhabitants of Noricum, he withdrew into solitude and obscurity. He practiced the most extreme austerities, went barefoot during the most inclement seasons, and, though he observed excessive fasts, quite forgot himself in his desire to supply the food of life to the famishing souls of those about him. He went up and down the country exhorting and preaching penance, comforting the distressed, and alleviating, as best he could, the wants of the needy. He regularly exacted tithes of those who could pay them, for the support of the poor and the redemp

tory no one seemed to know, and those other great men who rivaled the zeal and the glory of St. Severin-St. Honoratus and St. Hilary of Arles, Eucherius of Lyons, and others no less distinguished. All these exercised an influence which Attila and the other leaders of barbarous hordes found it impossible to resist.

§ 153. The Ostrogoths and Lombards in Italy.

Jornandes, de rebus Geticis. Procopii Caes. historiar. libb. IV-VIII. (in Germ. by Kannegiesser, Vols. 3 and 4.) Aurel. Cassiodor Variarum (epistolarum) lib. XII. et Chronicon (consulare). Pauli Warnefrıdı de gestis Longobardor. libb. VI. (Muratori, scriptor. Ital. T. I. Gregor. M. epp. opp. Paris, 1705, T. II.) Manso, Ilist. of the Ostrogothic Empire, Breslau, 1824. Sartorius, Hist. of the Ostrogoths, transl. into German, Hamb. 1811, from the French of du Roure, histoire de Théodoric le Grand, Paris, 1846, 2 vols. Gregorovius, Hist. of Rome during the M. A., Vol. I., p. 278 sq. v. Reumont, Hist. of Rome, Vol. II., p. 1–127. Dahn, Germanic Kings. Koch-Sternfeld, The Kingdom of the Lombards in Italy, according to Paul Warnefr., Munich, 1839. Flegler, The Kingdom of the Lombards in Italy, Lps. 1851.

Even Odoacer, the leader of the Heruli,' the conqueror of Italy, and the destroyer of the Roman Empire (A. D. 476), was subdued by the presence of the mysterious St. Severin. His reign came to an end after the Ostrogoths, under the leadership of Theodoric, had issued from Pannonia (A. D. 488), and conquered Italy and Sicily, Rhaetia and Noricum, Vindelicia and Dalmatia, and established a vast empire, whose authority extended over all these countries. But, for the space of eleven years, during which the reign of Odoacer lasted, the Catholic Church enjoyed, through his indulgence, the blessings of comparative peace; and this notwithstanding that he was himself an Arian.

Although both Theodoric and his people embraced the Arian heresy, his policy toward the Catholic Church was characterized by humanity and moderation, and not unfre

tion of captives. His authority was great in the land, and it was said that the elements and the lower orders of beings were obedient to his command, and that the wrath of God overtook all who would not hearken to his words. Kraus, Ch.. Hist. of the Middle Ages. (TR.)

1 Stolberg-Kerz, Pt. XVII., p. 474 sq. Eugippii Vita Severini, c. 14.

VOL II-3

quently by justice and impartiality. In pursuing this course he was guided by the prudent counsel of Cassiodorus, his wise and learned chancellor.

During the reign of Theodoric, Italy enjoyed a measure of her former prosperity; the clouds that had so long darkened the land were broken, and for a season her fair fields bloomed as of old, and Rome herself was called the Happy City (Roma Felix). Theodoric's treatment of the Romanians was considerate and just. He protected them against the oppression of the Goths, and secured to them the benefits of their ancient rights, laws, and institutions. But toward the close of his reign, which lasted thirty-six years, incensed at a law passed against the Arians by Justin, the Roman emperor of the East, he revenged himself upon the Catholics of his own dominions, whom he pursued with tyrannical severity. He cast Pope John into prison, where the latter languished for awhile, and finally died, A. D. 526. He also put to death, for crimes of which they were declared guilty on the testimony of suborned witnesses, Symmachus, his father-in-law, and Boëthius,1 both men of consular dignity. While in confinement, Boëthius enjoyed as best he could the consolation afforded by science and religion, and has left his thoughts on these subjects to posterity, in his admirable work entitled "On the Consolation of Philosophy."

Theodoric died A. D. 526, and under his successors the persecution against the Catholics in a great measure ceased. Amalasuntha, the daughter of Theodoric, who governed in the name of her son, Athalaric, a minor, succeeded to her father; but after the death of her son, she shared the throne. with her cousin, Theodotus, by whom she was murdered. The emperor Justinian, under pretense of avenging this murder, sent his general, Narses, at the head of an imperial army, into Italy, and after an eighteen years war (A. D. 535–553), destroyed the Ostrogothic empire. Italy became a Roman province, and was governed by exarchs who resided at Ravenna, of whom Narses was the first and Longinus the sec

1On Boëthius and Cassiodorus, see Alzog's Patrology, 2d ed., p. 413–418; and, on the latter, also Montalembert, Monks of the West, Vol. I., p. 348–356, German Transl., Vol. II., p. 77–88.