AUNACARIO (AUNARIO), Saint. — Of noble family, educated at the court of King GONTRAN of Burgundy, he was admitted to holy orders by Siagrius, bishop of Autun. Elevated to the episcopal see of Auxerre in 561, he took part in the Synod of Paris in 573 and in those of Mâcon in 583 and 585, and himself convened a council in his own see (c. 578), of which 45 important canons remain (PL 72, 761-68), aimed at restoring clerical discipline and eradicating pagan superstitions. He died in 605. A letter of his to an African priest Stephen survives, in which he urges him to imitate the lives of his predecessors Amator and Germanus. There are also two letters addressed to him by Pelagius II in 580 and 585 (Jaffé-Wattenbach, 1048, 1058). Toward the end of his episcopate, a cleric of Auxerre gave the Hieronymian Martyrology the form it still retains today. Feast: September 25.
AURELI, HYPOGEUM OF THE — Plan of the hypogeum of the A.