GRATUS, Saint. - Bishop and patron of the diocese of Aosta, much venerated in the surrounding Alpine regions, he is identified with the presbyter Gratus who subscribed, in the name of the proto-bishop of Aosta, Eustasius, the acts of the Synod of Milan of 451. He took part in the solemn translation of the Theban martyr St. Innocent to Agaunum, described in an account from the end of the 5th century (cf. ed. B. Krusch, in MGH, Scriptores rerum Merovingicarum, III, Hannover 1896, p. 40). The year of his death is unknown; known instead is the day of his deposition, from the sepulchral inscription, September 7 (cf. P. Barocelli, Inscriptiones Italiae, vol. XI, Regio XI, fasc. I. Augusta Praetoria, Rome 1932, p. 24), a date that would become traditional in the Valdostan liturgical books beginning with the oldest Aostan calendar (not properly liturgical), inserted in a missal of the 11th century: «VII id. Sept.: Augusta depositio sancti Grati» (cf. A.-P.

GRATUS, saint - Sepulchral inscription (5th century) - St-Christophe (Aosta), parish church.(from Inscriptiones Italiae, edited by P. Barocelli, vol. XI, regio XI, fasciculus I: Augusta Praetoria, Rome 1932, p. 24)

Frutaz, Un missel noté du XIe siècle, in Revue grégorienne, 14 [1929], p. 134).

The cult of St. G. received a strong impulse in the 13th century with the translation of his relics from the Collegiate Church of St. Orso to the Cathedral, commemorated on March 27, in a Martyrology of the Cathedral from the end of the 13th century. He is honored as protector of the countryside and its produce. The relics of the Saint are preserved in the Cathedral in a sumptuous Gothic reliquary chest (v. plate LXXI), in silver and gilded copper, with half-round figures, the work of the goldsmith Giovanni di Malines (1421-58).

The legendary and anachronistic account that the Aostan canon Giacomo de Curtis (d. 1285) inserted into the office of the Saint, composed on behalf of the Cathedral Chapter, and which constitutes the source of all later accounts, merits no credence. According to this account and later amplifications, commonly accepted by local historians, St. G., of Greek origin, would have been bishop of Aosta at the time of Charlemagne (ca. 775 and 810) and would have participated in the invention of the head of the Precursor in Palestine and would have brought a notable part of it to Aosta.

Bibliography14 works

BIBL.: Acta SS. Septembris, III, Venice 1761, pp. 72-78 (cf. also ibid., Februarii, I, ibid. 1735, pp. 98-99; Iunii, IV, ibid. 1753, pp. 761-62; complete the text relating to the invention of the head of the Precursor, with P. Poncelet, Catalogus cod. hagiographiorum lat. Bib. capituli eccl. Cath. Epistediensis, in Analecta Bollandiana, 41 [1923], pp. 327-28 [legendary of the 14th century] and Septembris, VI, Antwerp 1757, p. 349); P.-E. Duc, Culte de St Grat, 8 fasc., Turin-Aosta 1802-97 (work of great interest); F. Savio, Gli antichi vescovi d'Italia dalle origini al 1500. Il Piemonte, Turin 1898, pp. 72-76; J.-A. Duc, Histoire de l'Église d'Aoste, I, Aosta 1901, pp. 78-88, 166-203 and passim in the other 9 vols.; L. Duchesne, Fastes épiscopaux de l'ancienne Gaule, 2nd ed., Paris 1907, pp. 228, 247-48; Lanzoni, pp. 1053-55; G. B. Curti-Parini, Il culto di s. G. e le pratiche religiose contro le intemperie di s. Colombano al Lambro, Lodi 1924; V. Leroquais, Les bréviaires mss. des bibliothèques pub. de France, I, Paris 1934, p. 32 (Geneva, 15th century); II, p. 196 (Mâcon, 15th century); IV, p. 96 (Rosanne, 15th century); id., Les Psautiers mss. des bibli. pub. de France, I, Mâcon 1940-41, p. 238 (Mâcon, 15th century); II, p. 139 (Aosta, 15th century).

A. Pietro Frutaz

@incollection{ec6_grato_santo, author = {Frutaz, Amato Pietro}, title = {Grato, santo}, booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica}, volume = {VI}, pages = {1007--1008}, note = {Cited by column}, publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico}, address = {Città del Vaticano}, year = {1951}, url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/grato-santo} }

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Gratus, Saint

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