BRICE OF TOURS, ST.

5th-century monk and bishop; b. Touraine, France, c. 370?; d. Tours, 444. A disciple of St. martin of tours at Marmoutier, Brice was at first noted for his violence and indocility. On the death of Martin in 397, Brice was elected bishop of Tours. His previous irregularities caused him to be delated before several local synods by Lazarus, later bishop of Aix (Jaffé K, Regesta pontificum romanorum ab condita ecclesia ad annum post Christum natum 1198, 330–331), but both the Council of Turin in 401 and Pope zosimus (2 Epist. dated September 21 and 22, 417) upheld Brice. Dispossessed of his see on a morals charge (see sidonius appolinaris Epist. 4.18), he was replaced by Bishop Justinian, then by Armentius. In 430 he pleaded his cause in Rome and in 437 was restored. He was buried in the chapel of St. Martin, which he had constructed. In the Middle Ages his cult spread throughout the West, particularly because of his biography by gregory of tours.

Feast: Nov. 13.

Bibliography: gregory of tours, Historia Francorum, ed. w. arndt, Monumenta Germaniae Scriptores rerum Merovingicarum (Berlin 1826–) 1.1:36–38; Eng. The History of the Franks, tr. o. m. dalton, 2 v. (Oxford 1927). sulpicius severus, Dialogus III, Patrologia Latina, ed. j. p. migne (Paris 1878–90) 20:220–222. s. hanssens, Dictionnaire d'histoire et de géographie ecclésiastiques, ed. a. baudrillat et al. (Paris 1912–) 10:670–671. l. duchesne, Fastes épiscopaux, de l'ancienne Gaule, 3 v. (2d ed. Paris 1907–15) 2:303. a. poncelet, Analecta Bollandiana 30 (1911) 88–89. h. delehaye, ibid. 38 (1920) 124–125. r. aigrain, Catholicisme 2:262–263. w. bÖhne, Lexikon für Theologie und Kirche, ed. j. hofer and k. rahner, 10 v. (2d, new ed. Freiburg 1957–65) 2:685. Saint Martin et son temps: Mémorial du XVI ^e centenaire des débuts du monachisme en Gaule (Rome 1961).

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