CHROMATIUS OF AQUILEIA, ST.

Fourth-century bishop and spiritual director; d. Aquileia, 407. As a priest under Bishop Valerian of Aquileia (369–387), he was associated with the group of ascetics that included rufinus of aquileia and St. jerome. Chromatius probably assisted at the anti-Arian Council of Aquileia (381) presided over by St. ambrose of milan, who was also present at the election of Chromatius and consecrated him bishop in 387 or 388. Chromatius appealed to Emperor Honorius in favor of St. john chrysostom when the latter was deposed at the Synod of the oak (403). Jerome dedicated his Latin translation of the Book of Solomon to Chromatius; Rufinus likewise dedicated his continuation of the Church history of Eusebius to him.

Chromatius intervened in the quarrel between the two former friends, counseling Rufinus not to respond to Jerome's attacks. Of Chromatius's tractatus, one on the Eight Beatitudes, seventeen on the Gospel of St. Matthew, and the Prefatio orationis Dominicae in the Gelasian Sacramentary have been preserved. R. Étaix has claimed eight further sermons on St. Matthew's Gospel preserved among the works of John Chrysostom for Chromatius, and J. Lemarié believes he has discovered a corpus of fragments that are the notes Chromatius collected before the compilation of his tractatus on St. Matthew.

Feast: Dec. 2.

Bibliography: Chromatius episcopus, ed. centro di antichitÀ altoadriatiche (Udine 1989). Corpus Christianorum 9(1957) 371–447, ed. a. hoste, with bibliog. Varietas indivisa: teologia della Chiesa locale, ed. p. bertolla and a. moretti (Brescia 1983). p. de puniet, "Les Trois homélies catéchétiques du Sacramentaire Gélasien, " Revue d'histoire ecclésiastique 5 (1904) 505–521; 6 (1905) 15–32, 304–318. p. paschini, "Chromatius d'Aquilée et le commentaire Pseudo-Hiéronymien …, " Revue Bénédictine 26 (1909) 469–475. r. Étaix, "Tractatus in Matheum, "ibid. 70 (1960) 469–503. g. trettel, Mysterium e sacramentum in S. Cromazio (Trieste 1979). c. truzzi, Zeno, Gaudenzio e Cromazio: testi e contenuti della predicazione cristiana per le chiese di Verona, Brescia e Aquileia (Brescia 1985). j. lemariÉ, "Homélies inédites, " ibid. 72 (1962) 201–277; 73 (1963) 100–107, 181–243; "Trois nouveaux témoins de l'homélie VIII et une homélie de Noël, "ibid. 74 (1964) 147–155.

[g. orlandi]