Avitianus

{{Infobox saint | honorific_prefix = Saint |name=Avitus of Rouen |birth_date= |death_date= 325 |feast_day= December 2 |venerated_in= Roman Catholic Church |image= |imagesize= |caption= |birth_place= |death_place= |titles= Bishop |beatified_date= |beatified_place= |beatified_by= |canonized_date= Pre-Congregation |canonized_place= |canonized_by= |attributes= |patronage= |major_shrine= Church of Saint-Gervais |suppressed_date= |issues= |prayer= |prayer_attrib= }}

'''Avitus of Rouen''' (died 325), also known as '''Avitien''' or '''Avidien''' was the third Bishop of Rouen. He is venerated as a Saint in the Catholic Church.

==Biography== He was the third bishop of Rouen in Normandy, however his two predecessors are accepted as legendary.<ref>Elisabeth Deniaux, Claude Lorren, Pierre Bauduin et Thomas Jarry, La Normandie avant les Normands : de la conquête romaine à l’arrivée des Vikings, Rennes, Éditions Ouest-France, coll. « Université », 2002 ({{ISBN|2-7373-1117-9}}), p. 319</ref> He is the first historically attested bishop by his presence, with Materne II, Bishop of Cologne, at the first Council of Gaul in Arles in 314.<ref>Richard Allen, « The Acta archiepiscoporum Rotomagensium: study and edition » dans Tabularia « Documents », n° 9, 2009, p. 1-66.</ref><ref>Elisabeth Deniaux, Claude Lorren, Pierre Bauduin et Thomas Jarry, La Normandie avant les Normands : de la conquête romaine à l’arrivée des Vikings, Rennes, Éditions Ouest-France, coll. « Université », 2002 ({{ISBN|2-7373-1117-9}}), p. 319</ref> He succeeds Mellonius and settles in Rouen from 314.<ref>François Neveux : Les Diocèses normands aux XIe et XIIe siècles; in Les évêques normands du XIe siècle, Caen 1995, p. 13.</ref>

The ''Acta archiepiscoporum Rotomagensium'' tell us that "This blessed pontiff was an honest spirit, impeccable in his manners, and attentive to the salvation of souls under his charge".<ref>Richard Allen, « The Acta archiepiscoporum Rotomagensium: study and edition » dans Tabularia « Documents », n° 9, 2009, p. 1-66.</ref>

He is buried in the crypt of the Church of Saint-Gervais in Rouen, and his feast day is celebrated on 2 December.

==References== {{reflist}}

Category:French Roman Catholic saints Category:3rd-century births Category:4th-century bishops in Gaul Category:Gallo-Roman saints Category:325 deaths