(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.
The ferocious Fredegund now cleared the way for her own son to the
throne of her husband, by causing Meroveus, Theodobert, and Clovis,
the sons of Chilperic by his first wife, Audovera, to be put to death.
The only remaining obstacle to the accession of her child, was
Chilperic, her husband; but that impediment was speedily removed by
his assassination, (584), after which his son ascended the vacant
throne. On the death of Chilperic, Prætextatus returned to Rouen, with
the sanction of Guntram, second son of Clothair, king of Soissons,
much against the wishes of Fredegund. A council was assembled at
Macon, and the Bishop of Rouen was reinstated, against the protest of
Fredegund, who asserted that it was indecent to overthrow the sentence
of deprivation pronounced against him by forty-five bishops. In 586
the queen was at Rouen, where words passed between her and
Prætextatus. Seeing him on her arrival, she greeted him with, "The
time is coming when thou shalt revisit the place of thine exile." "I
was a bishop always, whether in exile or out of exile," answered
Prætextatus; "and a bishop I shall remain; but as for thee, thou shalt
not for ever enjoy thy crown;" and then he earnestly besought her to
abandon her wicked life, and seek reconciliation with God. This was
shortly before Easter. On Easter morning he went after midnight to the
church to sing Matins; he precented the antiphons, and then during the
psalms rested in his seat; an assassin, sent by the queen, approached
at this time, and stabbed him under the armpit. He rose with a cry,
and staggered to the altar, on which he placed his hands, dabbled with
blood, and received the Holy Sacrament. He was then carried to his
bed, where he died. His death took place on April 14th, 586; but
Feb. 24th is observed in his honour, as being probably the day of his
translation.