'Remarques sur Flavius Florentius'.

Bookseller Notes

A manuscript account of the life of fifth-century Roman military tribune Flavius Florentius, who briefly became a cult figure in mid-1730s Lyon.The interest in this forgotten soldier was piqued by the discovery in 1736 of his tomb in the ruins of Lyon's Basilica of Saint-Just, which had been destroyed during the Wars of Religion some two hundred years before. When the tomb was opened, and Flavius' body found to be miraculously preserved, an improvised church quickly sprang up around the dead tribune. Miracles were cited - attributed to his supposed intercession - impromptu masses were held, and there was a general outpouring of religious ecstasy. The church's response was to suppress the nascent cult; worship was proscribed, the chapel walled up, and the populous castigated for its credulousness.This manuscript, by Jesuit priest Dominique Decolonia (1660-1741), is contemporary to this excitement. He transcribes the epigraph on Flavius' tomb, and attempts to provide some context for the life of the unearthed hero. He does so with reference to Sidonius, the Gallo-Roman poet, diplomat, and bishop who was a near contemporary of Flavius. The work is entirely in Decolonia's hand, with the exception of a contemporary drop-head title, and includes a prefatory note, pasted in, which presents the work to one 'Prsident Dugasz', likely Pierre Dugas (1701-67), president of the Cour des Monnaies of Lyon. The manuscript includes as a frontispiece an unsigned line engraving of Decolonia, likely taken from one of his many published works. Born at Aix-en-Provence, Decolonia lived most of his life in Lyon, where he both taught and wrote prolifically; amongst his output were various histories about his adopted city. See: Alphonse de Boissieu, Inscriptions antiques de Lyon reproduites d'aprs les monuments ou recueillies dans les auteurs (Louis Perrin, 1854).