Christian Gaul

The Gaul was an important early center of Latin Christianity in Late Antiquity and the Merovingian period. By the middle of the 3rd century, there were several churches organized in Roman Gaul, and soon after the cessation of persecution the bishops of the Latin world assembled at Arles, in AD 314. The Church of Gaul passed through three dogmatic crises in the late Roman period, Arianism, Priscillianism and Pelagianism. Under Merovingian rule, a number of "Frankish synods" were held, marking a particularly Germanic development in the Western Church. A model for the following Frankish synods was set by Clovis I, who organized the First Council of Orléans (511).

The first mention of Christianity in the context of Roman Gaul dates to the persecution in Lyon, the religious center of Roman Gaul where the Sanctuary of the Three Gauls was located, under Marcus Aurelius in AD 177. Positive information concerning the Church of Gaul is then not available until the 4th century.

The forty-eight martyrs at Lyon (ancient Lugdunum, "citadel of Lugus," the so-called Gallic Mercury) represented every rank of Gallo-Roman society. Among them were Vettius Epagathus, an aristocrat; the physician Attalus of Pergamus, of the professional class; from the Church, Pothinus, Bishop of Lyon, with the Maturus and the deacon Sanctus; and the young slaves Blandina and Ponticus.

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