Justus of Lyon

Saint-Just Lyon statue atop Church of St just, Lyon

Justus of Lyon (Latin: Iustus, lit. '"one who helps"') was the 13th bishop of Lyon.^[1][2] He succeeded Vérissime in the mid-4th century. He is venerated as a Saint by both the Catholic^[3] and the Orthodox Church and celebrated on 2 September.

Biography

Early life

He was born in the first half of the 4th century in Tournon-sur-Rhône^[4] and came from an aristocratic family. He would follow the religious teaching of St. Paschase, the Archbishop of Vienna at the time and became a deacon of the Church of Vienna.

Bishop of Lyon

He was later elected bishop of Lyon (374-381) by the popular election the city at an unknown date in the mid-fourth century.^[2] As bishop of the capital of Gaul, he is among the participants of the Valencia Council of 374 of religious discipline of the clergy and the faithful.

In 381, we find the council of Aquileia. A general council had been asked by Arian bishops Palladius and Sécondien supported by the Empress Justina to review the Church's position on Arianism. Ambrose refused to hold a general council, agreeing only to a provincial council, but the Emperor Gratian allows the arrival of other bishops. Gaul bishops sent delegates including Just who was one of 32 bishops of the council. There clearly expressed its rejection of Arianism and condemned Palladius and Sécondien.

At that time, he maintained a correspondence with Ambrose of Milan of which there remain only two letters of explanation of Scripture addressed by Ambrose to Justus.

As a hermit

Some time after the Council of Aquileia, there took place an incident involving the lynching of a criminal who had found refuge in the cathedral. The legend goes that despite the immunity conferred by the Cathedral Justus was unable to save the man from the mob, whom Justus had assured of protection.

It appears that there followed for Justus a crisis of faith or conscience and indeed self blame.

The chronicles record his resignation: "He handed the insignia of his episcopal office and left, accompanied by his clerk, St. Viator, do penance in Egypt in the desert of Skete, where he retired to a monastery as a simple monk." However, his vita says he stole away in secret at night.^[4]

Bacilica of St Just in 1550.^[5]

The story is told then of a pilgrim in North Africa who some years later recognized Justus and reported this on his return to Lyon. The city folk being eager to regain their bishop, sent a delegation led by Antioch, a priest of Lyons, to find him and bring him back to his diocese.^[4] Antioch found but could not convince the hermit Bishop to return, so Antiochus returned to Gaul and was later himself appointed Bishop of Lyon.

On the death of Justus, Antiochus now himself Bishop of Lyon made arrangements to repatriate the body of their bishop and that of his companion Viateur, who died shortly after, and interred them in the Basilica of the Maccabees which Antiochus renamed the Saint-Just basilica.^[4]

Veneration and posterity

At the end of the 4th century, a Vita Sancti Justi, Lugdunensis Episcopi, retracing in a hagiographic style the life of Justus, was written by a Lyon priest.

The Lyon Church celebrated a service for St. Justus once to four times a year: his ordination on 14 July, the translation of his relics in Lyon August 4, his death on 2 September and his visit to Egypt on 14 October. The feast of the translation of his relics is still celebrated in the diocese of Lyon, in addition to his feast, until the twentieth century.1.

In Lyon, the Basilica of Saint Justus, now destroyed and replaced the Church of Saint Just, remembered him. Around the basilica developed a village of the same name which became in the 19th century a arrondissement of Lyon. Saint-Just (pronounced Saint-Ju) is today a quarter in the 5th arrondissement of Lyon, on the Fourvière hill.

The chapel of the school of Tournon (Lycée Gabriel Faure) also bears his name.

References