St. Eucharius
First Bishop of Trier. According to an
ancient legend, he was one of the seventy-two disciples of Christ, and was sent
to Gaul by St. Peter as bishop, together with the deacon Valerius and the
subdeacon Maternus, to preach the Gospel. They came to the Rhine and to Elegia
(Ehl) in Alsace, where Maternus died. His two companions hastened back to St.
Peter and begged him to restore the dead man to life. St. Peter gave his
pastoral staff to Eucharius, and, upon being touched with it, Maternus, who had
been in his grave for forty days, returned to life. The Gentiles were then
converted in large numbers.
After founding many churches the three companions
went to Trier where the work of evangelization progressed so rapidly that
Eucharius chose that city for his episcopal residence. Among other miracles
related in the legend he raised a dead person to life. An angel announced to
him his approaching death and pointed out Valerius as his successor. Eucharius
died 8 Dec., having been bishop for twenty-five years, and was interred in the
church of St. John outside the city. Valerius was bishop for fifteen years and
was succeeded by Maternus, who had in the meantime founded the dioceses of
Cologne and Tongres, being bishop altogether for forty years. The staff of St.
Peter, with which he had been raised to life, was preserved at Cologne till the
end of the tenth century when the upper half was presented to Trier, and was
afterwards taken to Prague by Emperor Charles IV.
In the Middle Ages it was believed that the pope
used no crozier, because St. Peter had sent his episcopal staff to St.
Eucharius; Innocent III concurs in this opinion (De Sacrif. Missæ, I, 62). The
same instance, however, is related of several other alleged disciples of St.
Peter, and more recent criticism interprets the staff as the distinctive mark
of an envoy, especially of a missionary. Missionaries in subsequent centuries,
e.g. St. Boniface, were occasionally called ambassadors of St. Peter, the pope
who sent them being the successor of Peter.
Moreover, in medieval times the foundation of a
diocese was often referred to as early a date as possible, in order thereby to
increase its reputation, perhaps also its rights. Thus Paris gloried in
Dionysius Areopagita as its first bishop; similarly ancient origins were
claimed by other Frankish dioceses. In time, especially through the ravages of
the Normans, the more reliable earlier accounts were lost. When at a later
period the lives of primitive holy founders, e.g. the saints of ancient Trier,
came to be written anew, the gaps in tradition were filled out with various
combinations and fanciful legends. In this way there originated in the
monastery of St. Matthias near Trier the famous chronicle of Trier (Gesta
Treverorum, ed. Waitz in Mon. Germ. Hist.; script., VIII, 111-174) in which
there is a curious mixture of truth and error. It contains the account of the
life of St. Eucharius given above. An amplification thereof, containing the
lives of the three saints in question, is said to have been written by the monk
Goldscher or Golscher, who lived in that monastery about the year 1130. From
the “Gesta” the narrative passed unchallenged into numerous medieval works.
More recent criticism has detected many contradictions and inaccuracies in
these ancient records, and it is almost universally believed at present that,
with few exceptions, the first Christian missionaries came to Gaul, to which
Trier then belonged, not earlier than about 250. Following Hontheim, Calmet and
others, the Bollandists, with Marx, Lütolf, and other historians refer these
holy bishops of Trier to a period following 250, though not all of them
consider this as fully established. The feast of St. Eucharius is celebrated on
8 Dec.
St.
Eucharius
First Bishop of Trier (Treves) in the second half of the
third century. According to an ancient legend,
he was one of the seventy-two disciples of Christ, and was sent to Gaul
by St. Peter as bishop, together with the deacon Valerius and the subdeacon Maternus,
to preach the Gospel. They came to the
Rhine and to Elegia (Ehl) in Alsace,
where Maternus died. His two companions
hastened back to St. Peter and begged him to
restore the dead man to life.
St. Peter gave his pastoral staff to Eucharius, and, upon being
touched with it, Maternus, who had been in
his grave for forty days, returned to life.
The Gentiles
were then converted in large numbers. After
founding many churches the
three companions went to Trier where the work of evangelization
progressed so rapidly that Eucharius chose that city for his episcopal
residence. Among other miracles related in the legend
he raised a dead person to life.
An angel
announced to him his approaching death and pointed out Valerius as his successor.
Eucharius died 8 Dec., having been bishop for twenty-five years, and was interred in the church of St. John outside the city.
Valerius was bishop for
fifteen years and was succeeded by Maternus,
who had in the meantime founded the dioceses of Cologne
and Tongres, being bishop
altogether for forty years. The staff of St.
Peter, with which he had been raised to life,
was preserved at Cologne till the end of
the tenth century when the upper half was presented to Trier, and was afterwards taken to Prague
by Emperor Charles IV.
In the Middle Ages it was believed
that the pope used no
crozier, because St.
Peter had sent his episcopal staff
to St. Eucharius; Innocent III concurs in this opinion (De Sacrif.
Missæ, I, 62). The same instance, however, is related of several other alleged disciples
of St. Peter, and more recent criticism
interprets the staff as the distinctive
mark of an envoy, especially of a missionary.
Missionaries in subsequent centuries, e.g. St. Boniface, were occasionally called
ambassadors of St. Peter, the pope who sent them being the successor
of Peter. Moreover, in medieval times the foundation
of a diocese was
often referred to as early a date as
possible, in order thereby to increase its reputation,
perhaps also its rights. Thus
Paris gloried
in Dionysius Areopagita
as its first bishop;
similarly ancient origins were claimed by other Frankish dioceses. In time,
especially through the ravages of the Normans,
the more reliable earlier accounts were lost. When at a later period the lives
of primitive holy founders, e.g. the saints of ancient Trier, came to be written anew, the gaps
in tradition were filled out with various
combinations and fanciful legends. In this
way there originated in the monastery of St.
Matthias near Trier the famous chronicle of Trier (Gesta Treverorum, ed. Waitz in
Mon. Germ. Hist.; script., VIII, 111-174) in which there is a curious mixture
of truth and error. It contains the account of the life
of St. Eucharius given above. An amplification thereof, containing
the lives of the three saints in question, is said to have been
written by the monk Goldscher
or Golscher, who lived in that monastery about the year 1130. From the
"Gesta" the narrative passed unchallenged into numerous medieval works. More recent criticism
has detected many contradictions and inaccuracies in these ancient records, and
it is almost universally believed at
present that, with few exceptions, the first Christian missionaries
came to Gaul, to
which Trier then
belonged, not earlier than about 250. Following Hontheim, Calmet and others, the Bollandists, with Marx, Lütolf, and other historians
refer these holy bishops of Trier to a period following 250, though not
all of them consider this as fully established. The feast
of St. Eucharius is celebrated on 8 Dec.
Sources
The lives of
the three saints may be found in the Acta SS. Jan., II, 917-22 (feast
of St. Valerius), and in the Mon. Ger. Hist., Scriptores, VIII,
111-174. See also RETTBERG, Kirchengeschichte Deutschlands, I, 74-82;
HAUCK, Kirchengeschichte Deutschlands, 2d ed., I, 4 sqq.; MARX, Geschichte
des Erzstifts Trier (Trier, 1858), I, 32-60; BEISSEL, Geschichte der
Trierer Kirchen (Trier, 1888), I, 10 sqq.
