RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
Authority Auxilius
Bibliography: Exhaustive articles are to be found in P. Larousse, Grand dictionnaire universel, i, 980-981, Paris, 1866, and in Bertholet, La Grande Encyclopedic, iv, 756- 758; consult also H. C. Lea, History of the Inquisition, i, 389-391, ii, 200, New York, 1888; L. Tanon, Histoire des tribunaux de Vinquisition de France, Paris, 1893. The article in JE, ii, 338-342, is very full and is most valuable for the abundant literature there cited.
AUTPERTUS, AMBROSIUS: Abbot of St. Vincent at Benevento; d. probably in 781, though the date 778 has generally been accepted. He is chiefly memorable for his comprehensive commentary on the Apocalypse, which also gives the most reliable information as to his life. The brief autobiography which terminates it states that he was born in the province of Gaul, and that he began and finished his commentary in the days of Pope Paul I (757-767), Desiderius, king of the Lombards, and Arichis II, duke of Benevento. In this work, for which he obtained the special protection of Stephen III (752-757) against the attacks of the ignorant, he follows the Fathers, especially Augustine and Jerome; his principal purpose is the attempt to discover the mystical sense of the apocalyptic imagery. He is as much attracted by the method of spiritual interpretation offered by the Donatist Ticonius as was his predecessor, the " obscure " Primasius (q.v.), in working over this heretic in an orthodox sense; Ticonius's seven rules [cf. DCB, iv, 1026], especially the sixth, de recapitulations, governed the ecclesiastical exegesis of the time. But Autpertus added moral and devotional considerations of his own, and aimed at imitating the transparent clearness of Gregory the Great. The commentary as a whole made such an impression on Alcuin that in his own exposition of the Apocalypse he scarcely attempted to do more than make extracts from it. An uncritical eleventh century biography of Autpertus, contained in the Chronicon Vulturnense, mentions a number of other writings — commentaries on Leviticus, the Psalms, and the Song of Solomon, a treatise De conflictu vitiorum, homilies on the Gospels, and lives of the founder and first abbots of his monastery; these lives are poor in historical material, and are really an ideal picture of monastic life as a stimulus to the zeal of his fellow monks. Autpertus's own rule as abbot did not last long. His election provoked a schism in the monastery; he was the choice of the Frankish monks, while one Potho was elected by the Lombards. The contest was referred to Charlemagne through an accusation of treason brought against Potho. The king asked Adrian I to decide, and both competitors were summoned to Rome; Autpertus died on the way, and Potho was acquitted. Both the letters written by Adrian to Charles on the subject are addressed " nostro spiritali compatri," which seems to fix their date after Adrian had baptized Charles's youngest son in Rome (April 15, 781), and thus to place the death of Autpertus later than the date given by the Chronicon Vulturnense, July 19, 778. His works are in MPL, lxxxix. (J. Hatjssleiter.)
Bibliography: C. TJ. J. Chevalier, Repertoire des sources historiques du moyen-dge, pp. 96-97, Paris, 1877; Histoire litteraire de France, iv, 141-161; J. C. F. Bahr, Geechichte der romischen Litteratur im karolingischen Zeitalter, pp. 191-192, 293-295, Carlsruhe, 1840; Hauck, KD, ii, 133, 138.
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AUTUN, 6"tun': A town of France, department of Saone-et-Loire, 160 m. s.e. of Paris. It is the old Bibracte, the capital of the ^Edui in Caesar's time, whose name was changed under the emperors to Augustodunum. It was one of the principal towns of Gallia Lugdunensis; its walls had a circumference of over two miles. The few inscriptions preserved from its early Christian period show that the Greek language was used in the Christian community there, side by side with the Latin, as late as the fourth century. The first bishop of whom we have certain knowledge was Reticius, who was present at the First Synod of Aries (316). In the seventh century Bishop Leodegar held a provincial synod there, whose decrees have only in part survived. The first canon contains one of the earliest distinct mentions of the Athanasian Creed; the fifteenth shows the progress already made in the Frankish kingdom by the Benedictine rule.
(A. Hauck.)
Bibliography: MGH, Legum, Seetio III, Concilia, vol. i, Concilia cevi Merovingici, i (1S93), 220; Hefele, Conciliengeschichte, iii, 113, Eng. transl., iv, 485.
AUXERRE, o"sar', SYNOD OF: A diocesan synod held by Bishop Aunachar in the Burgundian city of Auxerre, the old Autessiodorum or Altisiodorum in Gallia Lugdunensis, 105 m. s.s.e. of Paris. Thirty-four priests, three deacons, and seven abbots were present. Its date can be only approximately fixed, since all we know of Aunachar is that he took part in the Synod of Paris in 573 and the two Synods of Macon in 583 and 585. It must accordingly have been held between 570 and 590. Forty-five canons were passed, which have a certain importance as contributing to our knowledge of the pagan superstitions still surviving at the period and condemned in several canons.
(A. Hauck.)
Bibliography: MGH, Legum, Seetio III, Concilia, vol. i, Concilia cevi Merovingici, i (1893), 178; Hefele, Conciliengeschichte, iii, 42-47, Eng. transl., iv, 409-414.
AUXIL'IUS: German clerical author; d. after 911. He went to Rome in the pontificate of Formosus (891-896) to receive holy orders from him, as, he tells us, was common custom at the time. He remained in Italy, perhaps at first in Rome, but probably later in or near Naples, with whose bishop Stephen and archdeacon Peter he appears in relation. It is at least not impossible that he finally became a monk at Monte Cassino. We still possess four treatises of his, which all bear directly or indirectly on the controversy about Pope Formosus (q.v.). That In defensionem sacra ordinationis papa Formosi, written in 908 or 909, describes the events leading up to the pontificate of Formosus, to show that these afford no ground for contesting the legitimacy of his episcopate, and those which followed his death, to prove how unjust was the sentence upon him. The aim of Auxilius is to prove the validity of orders conferred by Formosus, and the object of the three other treatises is the same. The second, Libellus in defensionem Stephani episcopi, gives not a little information about the checkered career of the Stephen mentioned, proving the validity of his Neapolitan episcopate, though he was enthroned by Benedict IV (900-903), who was or-
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