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History of the Franks

St Gregory of Tours, tr. Dalton, 1927

Book 6, 15. Of the Death of Bishop Felix

Felix, bishop of Nantes,¹ succumbing to this malady, fell grievously sick. Thereupon he summoned to him the neighbouring bishops and besought them to support by their signatures the agreement which he had drafted in favour of his nephew Burgundio as his successor. This done, they sent the young man to me. At this time Burgundio was about twenty-five years old. He arrived with the request that I should go to Nantes, give him the tonsure, and consecrate him bishop in the room of his uncle, who was yet alive. I refused, because I knew that his proposal contravened the canons. Nevertheless I gave him advice, saying: ‘We find it written in the canons, my son, that none may attain the rank of bishop unless he have first passed through the ecclesiastical grades in regular order.² Therefore, dearly beloved, return to Nantes, and demand the tonsure of him who hath chosen thee. When thou hast received the dignity of the priesthood, be assiduous in the service of the Church. And when it shall be God’s will that he pass away, thou shalt easily attain the rank of bishop.’ He returned, but neglected to follow the counsel which I had given him, because Bishop Felix seemed to be growing better. But when the fever departed, as a result of malignant humours, pustules came out upon his legs. He applied too strong a plaster of cantharides, and his legs festered, so that he ended his days in the thirty-third year of his bishopric and the seventieth of his life. Nonnichius, his cousin, succeeded him by the royal ordinance.

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