Apostle and Bishop of Auvergne (c. 314). All that is certainly known of Austremonius is deduced from a few brief sentences in the writings of St. Gregory of Tours (Hist. Franc., I, xxx, and De Gloriâ Confessorum, c. xxix). According to this authority he was one of the seven bishops sent from Rome into Gaul about the middle of the third century; he laboured in Auvergne and is said to have been the first Bishop of Clermont. But from a study of the episcopal lists as given by St. Gregory himself, St. Austremonius could hardly have antedated the commencement of the fourth century, since his third successor died in 385. It is more likely, therefore, that he was the contemporary of the three Bishops of Aquitaine who attended the Council of Arles in 314. He was not a martyr. His cult began about the middle of the sixth century, when Cantius, a deacon, saw a vision of angels about his neglected tomb at Issoire on the Couze. His body was afterwards translated to Volvic, and in 761 to the Abbey of Mauzac. Towards the middle of the ninth century, the head of the saint was brought to St.-Yvoine, near Issoire, and about 900 was returned to Issoire, the original place of burial.

The Catholic Encyclopedia is the most comprehensive resource on Catholic teaching, history, and information ever gathered in all of human history. This easy-to-search online version was originally printed in fifteen hardcopy volumes.

Designed to present its readers with the full body of Catholic teaching, the Encyclopedia contains not only precise statements of what the Church has defined, but also an impartial record of different views of acknowledged authority on all disputed questions, national, political or factional. In the determination of the truth the most recent and acknowledged scientific methods are employed, and the results of the latest research in theology, philosophy, history, apologetics, archaeology, and other sciences are given careful consideration.

No one who is interested in human history, past and present, can ignore the Catholic Church, either as an institution which has been the central figure in the civilized world for nearly two thousand years, decisively affecting its destinies, religious, literary, scientific, social and political, or as an existing power whose influence and activity extend to every part of the globe. In the past century the Church has grown both extensively and intensively among English-speaking peoples. Their living interests demand that they should have the means of informing themselves about this vast institution, which, whether they are Catholics or not, affects their fortunes and their destiny.

Copyright © Catholic Encyclopedia. Robert Appleton Company New York, NY. Volume 1: 1907; Volume 2: 1907; Volume 3: 1908; Volume 4: 1908; Volume 5: 1909; Volume 6: 1909; Volume 7: 1910; Volume 8: 1910; Volume 9: 1910; Volume 10: 1911; Volume 11: - 1911; Volume 12: - 1911; Volume 13: - 1912; Volume 14: 1912; Volume 15: 1912

Catholic Online Catholic Encyclopedia Digital version Compiled and Copyright © Catholic Online