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History of the Franks
St Gregory of Tours, tr. Dalton, 1927
Book 1, 34. Of the Holy Privatus, Martyr
During the irruption of the Alamanni into Gaul, the holy Privatus, bishop of Javols, was found in a cave of the mountain near Mende, where he was devoting himself to prayer and fasting, the people having shut themselves up within the defences of the strong place of Grèzes. As the good shepherd refused to abandon his sheep to the wolves, they sought to make him sacrifice to demons. With execration he refused the foul deed, whereupon he was beaten with rods until he was believed to be dead; and indeed within a few days he breathed his last from the effects of these shattering blows. Chroc was captured at the city of Arles in Gaul, and tortured in divers ways; he perished stricken by the sword, justly making retribution for the sufferings that he had inflicted on the saints of God.