AMATOR, SS.

Amator of Auxerre, also known as Amatre and Amadour, bishop; d. May 1, 418. The details of the sixth-century biography written by an African priest named Stephen, are quite fabulous. There is, however, ample evidence of Amator's historical existence as an early bishop at Auxerre. He is said to have been married to a woman locally venerated as St. Martha prior to his ordination.

Feast: May 1.

Amator, priest and martyr; d. April 30, 855. He had gone to study at Córdoba, and with SS. Peter and Louis he was killed there by the Mohammedans, according to the Memoriale Sanctorum (Patrologia Latina 115:814) of eulogius of cÓrdoba.

Feast: April 30.

Amator of Lucca, hermit. He is considered a saint in San Michele in Borgo San Lorenzo. Another (the same?) St. Amator is honored the same day in Quercy and in the Limousin. Probably the two are identical, but the historical existence of either is most improbable.

Feast: Aug. 20.

Bibliography: Amator of Auxerre. Acta Sanctorum May 1:51–61. l. duchesne, Fastes épiscopaux de l'ancienne Gaule (Paris 1907–15) 2:430. m. besson, Dictionnaire d'histoire et de géographie ecclésiastiques, ed. a. baudrillart et al. (Paris 1912) 2:981–982. Amator, Martyr. Acta Sanctorum April 3:815. p. si-cart, Dictionnaire d'histoire et de géographie ecclésiastiques, ed. a. baudrillart et al. (Paris 1912) 2:982. e. p. colbert, The Martyrs of Córdoba, 850–859 (Washington 1962). Amator of Lucca. Acta Sanctorum Aug. 4:16–25. e. albe, "La Vie et les miracles de s. Amator," Analecta Bollandiana 28 (1909) 57–90; Dictionnaire d'histoire et de géographie ecclésiastiques, ed. a. baudrillart et al. (Paris 1912) 2:920–922, 990.

[w. a. jurgens]