History of the Franks, Book I

Here begins St. Gregory of Tours's Historiae Francorum. This is the earliest written source on the Merovingian dynasty that exists today. Gregory introduces himself and provides the reasons he writes the work. He introduces himself as a Catholic, makes his creed known, renounces the Arians, and explains his purpose in writing is to show how many  years have passed since the creation of the world. "[O]f that day and that hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels which are in heaven, neither the son, but the Father. ... They should understand that by this Son is meant the Christian people." (I) The coming of Christ will not occur unless the Antichrist shows up first introducing circumcision in the Temple of God. This is what St. Gregory understands Antichrist will do. It is certainly not an infallible position but we ought to consider this when we think on coming Antichrist. St. Gregory is living in a time period in which people have been ravaged by plague, persecution of the True Faith, and apostasy. Many people thought the world was ending in his day just as many people believe the world to be ending now. His intention is to show that the world has existed much long this far, and there have been much worse days leading up to the current day.

St. Gregory begins his history by going through the Scriptures, all the way through the Roman Empire and Gaul as it existed under the Roman Empire. We see in St. Gregory a Christocentric hermeneutic throughout his coverage of the Scriptures. In fact, this is how St. Gregory goes through his entire history. This shows for a Christian, not just sacred history, but also secular history, is Christ-centered, looking toward the Incarnation, Passion, and Resurrection, and having this focal point of the telos of history. This Christocentric hermeneutic permeates his introduction and his entire coverage of the Old Testament. Christocentric hermeneutics are a hermeneutical method that understands Sacred Scriptures in light of what is revealed in the revelation of Christ in the New Testament. This seems only one-sided in that it focuses only on the incarnation but a proper sense of Christocentric hermeneutics is all-encompassing. While for Evangelical Protestants, the Christocentric hermeneutic is limited to the life of Christ and after the Resurrection and for liberal Protestants, it is limited to the words of Christ only, for a Catholic, Christocentric hermeneutics point us toward the Divine Liturgy, the sacrifice of the Eucharist, the Church, and the ultimate eschatological goal for all humanity.

God's wrath is conceived of in the writings of Scriptures but it is something understood much differently in the Traditional theology of the Church. The Lord has anger but it is not to be thought of as a man. How could God wipe out all of humanity in anger as He did in Genesis 6. As an Anglican, this text always confused me. In fact, this text confused me until I read the narrative of St. Gregory of Tours on the Old Testament's Sacred History. "[God] is moved to anger so that He may fill us with awe, He drives us forth so that He may call us back. He is enraged that He may reform us. ... [T]he shape of the Ark represented the concept of the mother Church, which moves forward between the rocks of life here below, protecting us from the evils which threaten us, and defending us in her loving embrace and guardianship." (I.4) St. Gregory sees the Church at the center of the narrative of the Deluge for it is in the Church where men are saved. Outside the Church, the men drown in the deluge of evils, pestilences, heresies, idolatries, and various immoralities. God's wrath is not directed at people but is directed at actions. It is directed in order to reform. It is directed at the oppressors, whether they be the chains of sin and corruption or the demonic forces that seek to pursue us and hold us captive.

The flight from Egypt through the parting of the Red Sea is seen with the New Testament revelation of baptism in mind (I.10). "Some pass through in the first hour: these are they who are reborn by baptism. ... Those who are converted later in life pass through at the third hour. Those who control the lust of the flesh pass through at the last hour." St. Gregory also sees Zerubbabel as a Christ-like figure in the Old Testament. The captivity that the Israelites were under "is a symbol of the enslavement that the soul of a sinner is led...unless some Zerubbabel, that is Christ Himself, can rescue it" (I.15). St. Gregory's Christocentric reading of the New Testament is nothing new. This is a common theme in the Church today as we look to baptism as being what frees us from the captivity to the Devil and sin. We are led into the Ark of the Church. The very area where the Faithful stand during the Liturgy is called the "nave" a word which comes from the Latin for "ship" or "ark". Just as Zerubbabel rebuilt the physical Temple, so does Christ build the spiritual Temple.

On events concerning ancient history, St. Gregory understands Chus, the son of Ham, as the founder of the Zoroastrian religion (I.5). The Pharaoh who perished during the pursuit of Moses and the Israelites he states was Cenchris (I.17). Controversially, he calls Julius Caesar the first Emperor of the Romans (I.18). This is also where he first describes the founding of Lyons in Gaul. The forty-fourth year of the reign of Octavian Augustus from whom the name of the month of August is derived, is the year in which Christ was born (I.19). St. Gregory describes the persecution of Christians in Gaul specifically but also throughout the Roman Empire. Beginning with the Emperor Nero and going through to Diocletian in chapters 25-35. St. Gregory's view is consistent with what the classicists conclude of today's repertoire though these same classicists refuse to consider it an actual persecution. The persecutions against orthodox Christians were from the inside as Christians contended against heresies and from the outside as they contended against the Pagan Romans and the Pagan Alemanni who would take over the Gallic region.

Nero launched the first campaign against Christianity in the Roman Empire (1.25). After him, Domitian. It was under Domitian that John the Apostle would be exiled. After Domitian, the persecution temporarily ended yet again and "climbed into the tomb while still alive. It is said that John will not experience death until our Lord shall come again at Judgment Day, for he himself said in his Gospel: 'I will that he tarry till I come.'" (I.26) Under Trajan, Clement, the Bishop of Rome suffered (I.27) and under Antoninus, Justin and Polycarp suffered (I.28). Photinus, the Bishop of Lyons was martyred and St. Irenaeus who was sent by Polycarp converted the whole city of Lyons to Christianity. There, the Devil resumed his tyranny and began a persecution so fierce that "rivers of Christian blood ran through the streets" (I.29).

He describes several martyrs, including the Bishop Dionysius of Paris, under the brutal persecution of the Roman Emperor Decius. Saturninus of Toulose, when he was put to death, exclaimed to two of his priests, "Now I am about to be sacrificed and the moment of my immolation is at hand. Stand by me, I beg you, until I meet my end." (I.30). Valerianus and Gallienus were twenty-seventh in the succession of Roman Imperial rule and they would begin a fierce persecution of Christians. I was here that King Chroc of the Alemanni moved in and subdued Gaul but as when Satan casts out Satan, another demon moves and brings friends with him. Chroc "destroyed down to its very foundations every single building which had been put up in ancient times" (I.32). Privatus refused to sacrifice to the devils of the Alemanni and Chroc had him beaten to death with sticks, after which, Chroc was captured in Arles, "submitted to various tortures and then died by a blow from the sword, paying the penalty for which he deserved for the sufferings which he had inflicted on God's people." (I.34) Under Diocletian, Quirinus had a millstone tied to his neck and was thrown into a river yet remained afloat for no sin weighed him down. Quirinus yielded himself up to God saying, "Lord Jesus, You who sit in glory on the right hand of the Father, do not allow me to be taken from my course, but receive my soul and deign to add me to Your martyrs in eternal rest." (I.35)

Here is a difference between humanistic "pro-life" doctrine and the Christian's outlook on life. The Christian views life with a teleological goal of eternity. Thus, repentance is what is most important, not a consistent position to extend life as long as possible. We see this reflected later in St. Gregory the Great's response to the pandemic breaking out in his own time frame. The response from the Pope was not to quarantine everyone but to call Christians to repentance, to reflect on the life they've been given, and to gather all the Christians together in prayer of repentance together. Much different than today's world in which the solution is to isolate all men from each other in order to hopefully tack on a couple extra days to one's life which is mortal at any rate and assume we hold control over all events in the course of history. The former is truly a commitment to the beauty of life and the beauty of living. The latter is narcissism.

Under Constantine, Christianity was legalized but struggles would ensue amongst his successors, some of them being Arians. It is after Constantine II that St. Gregory seems more observant to the Western half of the Empire. In fact, he skirts over many Eastern Emperors but begins a focus on Gaul. St. Martin comes to Gaul during the reign of Constantius, performs many miracles, destroys pagan temples, raises the dead, converts men to Christianity and reposes in Tours. St. Hilary went to Heaven in the town of Poitiers under the fourth year of Emperors Valentianus and Valens (I.39). Rome was a diarchy after Diocletian, reverted back to a monarchy under Constantine and after Constantine went back to a diarchy. Valens attempted to conscript monks into his military and perished in battle from the Goths (I.41). Gratianus succeeded Valens as the sole monarch and made Theodosius his colleague in the East (I.42). The Roman commander Maximus made a coup against Gratianus after conquering the Britons through his tyranny. His soldiers viewed him as Emperor. He captured Gratianus and put him to death. Theodosius, a God-fearing man and devoted to God, with the help of God, stripped Maximus of his imperial authority and had Maximus put to death. Rome was once again a monarchy. (I.43) St. Gregory then describes Bishop Urbicus's fall into temptation, and then the successors Legonus, Illidius, and Nepotianus (I.44-46).

St. Gregory concludes this chapter with the feud that broke out between the monks of Poitiers and the people of Tours over the burial of the body of St. Martin. The monks of Poitiers argued that St. Martin should be buried in their city since he had received his clerical orders from Poitiers and the people of Tours had his miracles. The people of Tours argued that he should be buried in their city since he was their shepherd and that he performed more miracles while in Poitiers than he did while in Tours. During the night, the Poitiers party supposed to be guarding the body fell asleep and the Tours party was able to seize the body and by the will of God allowing this to happen, the body of St. Martin now sleeps in the city of Tours. (I.48)