Eleutherius (456-531/2 AD) : Bishop of Tournai : Sermon, Confession on the Trinity

Steven Avery

Administrator
Eleutherius of Tournai (d. 532) Eleutherius Tornacensis
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eleutherius_of_Tournai


Corpus Corporum
Works by Eleutherius Tornacensis
http://www.mlat.uzh.ch/MLS/?viaf=264992460
SERMO, SEU CONFESSIO DE SS. TRINITATE.
http://www.mlat.uzh.ch/MLS/xfromcc.php?tabelle=Eleutherius_Tornacensis_cps2&rumpfid=Eleutherius_Tornacensis_cps2, Sermones, p1&id=Eleutherius_Tornacensis_cps2, Sermones, p1&level=3&corpus=2&current_title=

Migne Latina PL 65, col 85-86 [86C]
https://books.google.com/books?id=zBERAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA85

Documenta Catholica Omnia
http://www.documentacatholicaomnia....utherius_Tornacensis__Epistolae__MLT.pdf.html
SERMONES S. ELEUTHERII.(1847)
SERMO, SEU rO.NFESSIO DE SS. TRINITATE.
https://books.google.com/books?id=zBERAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA83

“S. Fulgentii, episcopi Ruspensis, Felicis IV et Bonifacii II summorum Pontificum, SS. Eleutherii et Remigii Tornacensis Remensisque episcoporum, Prosperi ex Manichaeo conversi, Montani episcopi Toletani,” opera omnia: ex memoratissimis editionibus Mangeantii, Mansi, Gallandii, Margarini de la Bigne, Francisci de Lorenzana diligenter expressa (1861)
https://books.google.com/books?id=cZ_BTx1JJMoC&pg=PA85

I John 5 7 : Eleutherius (456-487 AD) : Bishop of Tournai : Sermon, Confession of SS. Trinity : CITATION

(0086C) Tres quidem sunt qui testimonium dant in coelo, Pater, Verbum et Spiritus sanctus: hi tres unum sunt.

(0086C) have three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost are three in one.


SERMO, SEU CONFESSIO DE SS. TRINITATE.
(PL 65 0083A)
http://mlat.uzh.ch/MLS/xfromcc.php?...sis_cps2&rumpfid=Eleutherius_Tornacensis_cps2, Sermones,%20%20%20%20 p1&id=Eleutherius_Tornacensis_cps2, Sermones,%20%20%20%20 p1&level=3&corpus=2&current_title=Sermone

===SOURCE:
Sermons, Seu Confessio De SS. Trinitate

Et ideo, licet dicatur quod per hominem facta est resurrectio mortuorum, tamen intelligere debetis hominem factum, verbum quod ex Deo est, et per eum mortis imperium esse destructum. Ut autem Scriptura attestatur, Veniet novissimis temporibus unus Filius et Dominus in gloria Patris, ut iudicet orbem in aequitate. Necessarium quoque est ut credatis incarnationem Domini nostri Iesu Christi, nativitatem, circumcisionem, apparitionem, Evangelia, passionem, mortem, resurrectionem, et in coelos ascensionem. Haec est enim fides recta. Sed quoniam Deum carne unitum iuxta subsistentiam virgo concepit, virgo peperit, idcirco eam Christi genitricem profiteamini: non quod verbi natura existendi principium de carne sortita sit. Erat enim in principio Verbum, et Verbum erat apud Deum, et Deus erat Verbum: et ipse est conditor saeculorum, Pater universitatis. (0086C) Tres quidem sunt qui testimonium dant in coelo, Pater, Verbum et Spiritus sanctus: hi tres unum sunt. Igitur omnium creatorem unum in substantia, Trinitatem in personis confitemini, ut ad coelestia gaudia pervenire mereamini, ubi florent merita sanctorum, quorum gaudium et exsultatio non desinet usque in sempiternum, regnante Domino nostro Iesu Christo, cum Patre coaeterno, cooperante gratia Spiritus sancti, cui sit laus, imperium, per omnia saecula saeculorum. Amen.


===Google Translate removed
[Confession on the Trinity] And for that reason it is allowed to state that through the deeds of man is the resurrection from the dead, yet so must you understand this deed of man that it is the Word of God, and by Him the reign of death is destroyed. And how is this attested in Scripture! In the last of times one Son and Lord will come in the glory of the Father, to judge the world in equity. Necessary is also that you believe the incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ, his birth, circumcision, preparation, Gospel, passion, death, resurrection and ascension in heaven. For this is the orthodox faith. But because a virgin conceived him, a virgin bore him, the only God in flesh, with regard to nature, so you must also profess her the mother of Christ. Not that the Word obtained it’s existence starting with the birth from flesh, for in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God; and He is the founder of the heavens, the Father of universe. Certainly, there are Three who give testimony in heaven Father, Word and Holy Spirit: and these Three are One. Therefore there is in nature but one Creator of all, a Trinity in Persons you must confess, so you may serve well to arrive in the heavenly happiness, where the merits of the saints flourish, which happiness and joy will not end in all eternity, reigning with our Lord Jesus Christ, co-eternal with the Father, united in the grace of the Holy Spirit, to whom be praise and power for all ages and ages. Amen. (Eleutherius Bishop of Tournai, Confession on the Trinity; Migne Latina, PL 65.086; Translated by Jeroen Beekhuizen, correspondence, April 2020)
Historically, the question of the authenticity of the specific Sermons as being by Eleutherius was brought up by:

Alban Butler (1710-1773)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alban_Butler

As in this notation in:

The Lives of the Fathers, Martyrs and Other Principal Saints: Compiled from Original Monuments and Other Authentic Records; Illustrated with the Remarks of Judicious Modern Critics and Historians, Volume 2 (1866)
https://books.google.com/books?id=ZVs3AAAAMAAJ&pg=PA169
https://www.bartleby.com/210/2/203.html

ST. ELEUTHERIUS, MARTYR.
BISHOP OF TOURNAY
A.D. 632.
He was bom at Toumay, of Christian parents, whose family had been converted to Christ by St. Piat, one hundred and fifty years before. The faith had declined at Tornay ever since St. Piat’s martyrdom, by reason of its commerce with the heathen islands of Taxandria, now Zeland, and by means of the heathen French kings, who resided some time at Toumay. Eleutherius was chosen bishop of that city, in 486; ten years after which King Clovis was baptized at Rheims. Eleutherius converted the greater part of the Franks in that country to the faith, and opposed most zealously certain heretics who denyed the mystery of the Incarnation, by whom he was wounded on the head with a sword, and died of the wound five weeks after, on the first of July, in 532. The most ancient monuments, relating to this saint, seem to have perished in a great fire which consumed his church, and many other buildings, at Toumay, in 1092, with his relics. See Mineus, and his life written in the ninth century, extant in Bollandus, p. 187.* Of the sermons ascribed to St Eleutherius, in the Library of the Fathers, t. 8. none seem sufficiently warranted genuine, except three on the Incarnation and Birth of Christ, and the Annunciation, See Dom Rivet, Hist. Liter, t. 3. p. 154, and t. 5. p. 40, 41. Galia Christ. Nova, t. 3. p. 571. and Henschenius, p. 180.

and he was referencing older studies, including one by:

Godfrey Henschen (1601-1681)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Godfrey_Henschen

and an early volume, likely #1, of the

Histoire littéraire de la France
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Histoire_littéraire_de_la_France

written by:

André Riveto (1572-1651)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/André_Rivet.

Nothing is specified as to any negatives in our Sermon on confessing the Trinity, and there are no visible problems in the work being early 500s. Or its being by Eleutherius, and its being in volumes that include the learned Fulgentius.

On the plus side, there is a very strong reference , where S. A. Bennett, BA, of Lincoln's Inn says there is a specific indication of this Trinity sermon being presented to Symmachus in 512 AD.


A Dictionary of Christian Biography, Literature, Sects and Doctrines: Being a Continuation of 'The Dictionary of the Bible (1880)
https://books.google.com/books?id=qGsvAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA78

The following writings have been assigned to him: Sermo, seu Confessio dc SS. Trinitate, said to have been presented by him to pope Symmachus in the fourteenth year of his episcopate

(pope) Symmachus
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Symmachus
Pope Symmachus (d. 19 July 514) was Pope from 22 November 498 to his death in 514. His tenure was marked by a serious schism over who was legitimately elected pope by the citizens of Rome.


Eleutherus of Tournai
Paola Marone
https://www.academia.edu/15059822/Eleutherus_of_Tournai

He also went to 'Rome, first to Pope Symmachus and then to Pope Hormisdas, and held a synod in 527. Died 30 August 531. Six sermons (Sermo, seu confessio de SS. Trinitate; Transitus S. Eleutherii episcopi; Sermo de Trinitate; Sermo de incamatione Domini; Sermo de natale Domini; Sermo in annuntiationis festum) and a prayer (Oratio Beati Eleutherii) have been erroneously attributed to Eleutherus.

CPL 1004; PL 65, 83-102; P. Rutland, Les Monumenla hisloriae Tomacensis saec. XII: Annuaire de (’Academic Royale d’Archeologie de Belgique 73 (1926) 255-313; Id., Les origines legendaires de Tournai: RBPli 25 (1946-1947) 555-581; A. Lumpe, Die Quellen von Ps. Eleutherius, sermo de Trinitate: RhM 100 (1957) 199-200; BS IV, 1012; DHGE XV, 150-153; Patrologia IV, 300.

Adolf Lumpe
Die Quelle von Pseudo-Eleutherius, Sermo de trinitate 1 (1957) - AVAILABLE ONLINE
https://www.jstor.org/stable/41244047?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents
(here it is hard to see)
http://www.rhm.uni-koeln.de/100/M-Lumpe.pdf

004 Berardino Patrologia I Padri Latini Dal Concilio Di Calcedonia 451 A Beda Vol 4 Marietti 1996
Eleutherius di Tournai
https://archive.org/details/004Bera...lcedonia451ABedaVol4Marietti1996Pdf/page/n301
 
Last edited:

Steven Avery

Administrator
Henschen, G. (editor) 1658. Eleutherius, Episcopus Tornacensis in Belgio. Acta Sanctorum (AA SS). Februarius. III. Antwerp, 180-208.

(Rivet, "Hist. Lit. de la France", iii. 154; "Gall. Christ." i. 863.)

(S.A. Bennett, "Eleutherius" in A Dictionary of Christian Biography, Literature, Sects and Doctrines, vol 2, 1880, p. 78) [Hefele : Synod of Tournai (520 AD)] Sec 234
https://archive.org/details/adictionarychri07wacegoog/page/n98/mode/2up
1622379176519.png


ELEUTHEBIUS (10% ST., commemorated
Feb. 20, was the third bishop of Tournai, succeed-
ing Theodorns and followed by St. Medardus. The
authorities for his life are of a late date, the
•earliest of them an anonymous one (to be found
in Boll. Acta SS., Feb. iii. 187), being probably
of the 8th or 9th century, and the recital is
overlaid with legend. He was born at Tournai
in the year a.d. 456, of Christian parents named
Serenas and Blanda, whom the legends, ignoring
the interval of about 150 years, call converts of
St. Piatus. While he was still a young man a
persecution of the Christians arose in Tournai,
and the Franks, who were not yet converted,
expelled the whole of them from the city. Eleu-
therius and bis family, with many others, settled
at Blandinium (presumably Blandain), a village
a few leagues distant, where a church was built
and Theodoras consecrated bishop. Upon his
death Eleutherius, having first been sent by the
Christians to Rome to obtain the sanction of the
pope, was consecrated to the see. The date is
variously given in 470, 483, 484, 487, 501, and
502. The weight of authority seems, however,
in favour of the year 487. The first nine years
of his bishopric were spent at Blandinium, but
the conversion of Clovis and his followers en-
abled him to return to Tournai. His episcopate
which lasted forty-five years, seems to have
been chiefly passed in struggles with the pagans
and heretics. The latter belonged to sects of the
Arians, whose doctrines at this time influenced
tbe greater part of Christian Gaul except the
Franks. ' He is said to have visited Rome
three times in all : first, on the occasion already
mentioned, and twice when bishop during the
pontificates of Symmachus and Hormisdas, the
two latter visits being in connexion with bis
efforts against heresy. With the same object
he convened a synod about the year 527, in
which he expounded the true faith and confuted
his opponents. These efforts entailed much
persecution, and finally in a.d. 531 or 532 his
enemies lay in wait for him as he quitted
a church, and so maltreated him that he was
left for dead. Seven weeks later he died of the
injuries received on that occasion. He was buried
at Blandinium, and his remains are said to have
been translated twice.' Among the miracles
ascribed to him are the raising of a girl from
the dead (see the somewhat romantic account in
the first of the Lizes, Boll. Acta S3, ut sup.)
and the cures of a cripple, a blind man, and
a leper. The following writings have been
assigned to him : Sermo, seu Confessio de SS. Trin*
itate, said to have been presented by him to pope
Symmachus in the fourteenth year of his epi-
scopate ; Iransitus S. Eleutherii Episcopi ; Sermo
de Trinitate ; Sermo de Incarnations Domini;
Sermo de Natali Domini; Sermo in Annuntia-
tionis Festum ; and Orotic Beati Eleutherii (see
Migne, Patr. Lat. lxv. 83-102), but without
sufficient authority. (Rivet, Hist. Lit. de la
France, iii. 154 ; Gall. Christ i. 863.)

[S. A. B.]
 
Last edited:

Steven Avery

Administrator
Eleutherius of Tournai, in the past was considered to be just invented Saint writings. However, there is much evidence now that the person was real and so was the place and synod (council). I present that evidence in my paper.
 

Steven Avery

Administrator
Section used for Shorter Summary:

Eleutherius (AD 456-531)

[Confession on the Trinity]
Necessary is also that you believe the incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ, his birth, circumcision, preparation, Gospel, passion, death, resurrection and ascension in heaven. For this is the orthodox faith. But because a virgin conceived him, a virgin bore him, the only God in flesh, with regard to nature, so you must also profess her the mother of Christ. Not that the Word obtained it’s existence starting with the birth from flesh, for in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God; and He is the founder of the heavens, the Father of universe. Certainly, there are Three who give testimony in heaven Father, Word and Holy Spirit: and these Three are One.
(Eleutherius Bishop of Tournai, Confession on the Trinity; Migne Latina, PL 65.086; Translated by Jeroen Beekhuizen, correspondence, April 2020)
 
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