Ostianus the Priest
Acta Sanctorum, June 30
Source text: Public Domain. English translation/apparatus/encoding: CC BY-NC 4.0, Wroot Press.
https://actasanctorum.org/june/day-30/ostianus-the-priest.html
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CONCERNING ST. OSTIANUS THE PRIEST
IN THE TERRITORY OF VIVIERS IN GAUL.

[Commentary]

Ostianus, Priest, in the territory of Viviers in Gaul (St.)

BY G. H.

The tract of Viviers is a province of Gaul
in Occitania, on the Rhone river,
midway between the territory of Vienne and that of Avignon,
where of old the Helvii,
peoples of Narbonensian Gaul, dwelt.
The head of this tract is; situated on a hill,
Viviers, [Sacred cult.] an Episcopal city, under the Archbishop of Vienne,
and is believed to have grown from the ruins of Alba Augusta
of the Helvii, in the region of the Dauphiné. Usuard, in his
Martyrology on this June 30; "In the territory," he says,
"of Viviers, of St. Ostianus the Priest and Confessor."
Which same things are read in Bellinus and Greven,
and from them in the Roman Martyrology. In the Liège manuscript
of St. Lambert is added: "Whose Deeds are had": which
words, taken thence, Molanus had joined in his Additions
to Usuard of the first edition: but because
nowhere could he find those Deeds, he omitted to make
mention of them in the later editions. We
too have hitherto found none: but we doubt, whether
Saussay had any, when he formed this eulogy about him: "In the field
of Viviers, under Vienne the
first, [Whether a Bishop; and whether he preached after St. Andeolus?] the Birthday of St. Ostianus, Bishop and Confessor;
who to this town the precepts of the faith, first
after St. Andeolus, a follower of St. Benignus, and a disciple of blessed
Polycarp, and a sworn witness of Christ,
faithfully handed down: and all things there to the glory of the Lord
and the salvation of the people, piously and excellently
established, with a peaceful end at last fell asleep
in the Lord."

[2] These things Saussay, wont to extend the few words of prior writers
into a long paraphrase; but he followed
here, as far as we can judge, Peter de Natalibus,
who in book 11, ch. 130, no. 183, writes these things:
"Ostianus, Bishop and Confessor, in the territory
of Viviers, on the same day (June 30), in the Lord
fell asleep." The author of the manuscript Florarium, by his example, also
called him a Bishop. But a Priest he is called by others.
But whence Saussay had it, that he after St. Andeolus
there handed down the precepts of the faith, we would wish
to know. The Life of St. Andeolus we illustrated on the Kalends
of May, and said that he obtained the palm of martyrdom in the year
207: therefore St. Ostianus would be referred to the third century of Christ: [or whether of the Benedictine Order?] nor then could he be ascribed to the Benedictine Order,
as did Wion, Dorganius, Menard,
Bucelinus; no reason being added why they did so.
Ghini, playing on the name, adorns him in his Births
of the Holy Canons with this eulogy: "In
the territory of Viviers, of St. Ostianus the Priest and Confessor,
who devoutly offering victims [hostias] to God, found
the gate [ostium] of heaven open."

[3] Our John Columbi, among various historical
little works, published the deeds of the Bishops of Viviers, [The Body once in the church of St. Martin,]
and in book 1, no. 17, when he had indicated the churches which were
within the city; outside it, he says, there stood
altogether about six. The first, of St. Aulus, Bishop of Viviers;
the second, of St. Martin; the third, of St. Victor;
the fourth, of St. Alban; the fifth, of St. Victoret; the sixth, of St.
Julian. That second once kept the body of St. Ostianus
the Priest; the third, fifth, and sixth are demolished;
the fourth indeed half-ruined, even now through ignoble
masonry hangs, a sad argument of the mad
fury of the Calvinists. Whether by this fury
the body of St. Ostianus perished, or was carried elsewhere, is not added.

[4] Brautius Bishop of Sarsina, in his Poetic Martyrology,
from Ostianus the Priest of Viviers made
an Ostiary Priest in Holland, I know not whence
hither snatched, and composed this Distich for him.

The Priest, deceased, received the deserved honors,
A mortal life, which he fled, leading.

Desiring to learn more, [even now he is thought to lie hidden there.] I asked our old friend at Avignon,
Father Charles Faber, to write to Viviers;
to whom from there, from the Master of the Choir Lord
Megge, from the Archives of the church were sent these formal words: "On the day before
the Kalends of July, in the territory of Viviers, in the church
of St. Martin of the valley of Couspie (commonly called Couspie),
at one mile from the city, toward the North,
at the root of the Mount-Tower of St. Martin, lies, up
to the present day, the body of Hostianus the Priest,
with many others."

[4] To this the just-praised Master of the Choir [adds]: "Would,"
he says, "that it pleased God to reveal to us the very
precise place, where it remains hidden; that we might be able
to attend that sacred pledge with worthy honor,
equally as the other Saints, reposing therein!"
And he continues: "That church of St. Martin is rural,
and to it processionally the people of Viviers go
in time of drought, to obtain rain. Greater
and fuller notice if it were available, I would gladly
communicate all."
