Phaebadius of Agen

Phoebadius of Agen
A reliquary bust of Saint Phoebadius (Saint Phébade), venerated in the Basilica of Saint Sernin in Toulouse.
Bishop and Confessor
Born	Aquitania, Gaul
Died	ca. 392 Agen, Aquitania, Gaul
Venerated in	Diocese of Agen
Feast	April 25

Phoebadius of Agen (also, Phaebadius, Foegadius, or, in French, Phébade; died ca. 392) was a Catholic bishop of the fourth century. At the Council of Ariminum in 359 and other councils, he was a supporter of Nicaean orthodoxy. He wrote several works, including a treatise against the Arians which still survives.

Phoebadius was a Gaul by birth. It seems likely that he was born in the province of Aquitania, since Sulpicius Severus refers to him as Foegadius noster ("our" Foegadius, a variant spelling of Phoebadius's name). He may have even been born in Agen, where he was bishop. When he became bishop is not known. It was very likely after 347, since he is not listed among the Gallic bishops who were present at the Council of Serdica in that year, a fact noted by Tillemont. He was certainly a bishop by 357, however, which was the year that he and other bishops rejected the so-called second Sirmian Confession, a pro-Arian creed endorsed by Constantius II.Alban Butler notes that Phoebadius's opposition to that confession was so successful that "in Aquitan it was universally rejected."

In 357 Phoebadius published a treatise against the Arians. Commenting on this Liber contra Arianos, Butler remarks that it is "written in so masterly a manner, with such solidity, justness, and close reasoning, as to make us regret the loss of his other works." Phoebadius figured prominently at the Council of Rimini in 359, where, along with Servatius of Tongeren, he advocated for the Nicaean position against the Arians. The words of the confession of faith which was produced from that council were twisted by the Arians present, and when the ambiguity was later discovered by Phoebadius, he disavowed the council and advocated against its authority.

He was a friend of Hilary of Poitiers, with whom he collaborated in fighting the influence of Arianism in Gaul.