Mathisen’s excellent work is a combination of his background explanation and Ruricius’ surviving letters translated. My combined summary of the contents follows:
Ruricius of Limoges was “Gallo-Roman:” his culture and citizenship were Roman but part of his ancestry was probably “Gallic”. He lived between about 440 and 510, in Roman Gaul (France), born into one Roman aristocratic family and married into another. He was gentle, unambitious and, began as a lawyer, pushed perhaps by friend and mentor Sidonius Apollinaris, who together with brother-in-law Ecdicius Avitus were the leaders of the
Gallo-Romans in the mid-5th century. Ruricius married a relative of Sidonius and Ecdicius. After serving as Urban Prefect of Rome, Sidonius returned to Gaul and, anticipating the future, became bishop of Clermont-Ferrand. Sidonius introduced his protégé Ruricius to renowned Britannic theologian Faustus of Riez. Ruricius, enthralled, quickly entered the religious life. Ruricius had a brother, Leontius, and 5 attested sons, Ommatius (later Bishop of Tours), Eparchius,
Constantius, Leontius and Aurelius.
Rome fell in 476, and briefly (476-511) southern Gaul was ruled by Visigoths following “heretical” Christian Arian doctrines, strongly opposed by their catholic Gallo-Roman subjects. As Imperial rule collapsed, Ecdicius and Sidonius raised a spirited but doomed resistance in Gaul. The first Visigothic King after Rome’s fall was Euric who exiled his non-Arian bishops from their districts. Euric was, however, conciliatory to Romans outside religion. The Visigoths weren’t so much a people as an army, originating in a Germanic tribe, but through centuries of war and mercenary service with the Romans, absorbing multitudes of non-Germanic peoples including Alans, Slavs, and runaway Roman slaves. Only the Visigothic nobility, the Balthi, maintained ancestral ways. Euric relied on Gallo-Roman nobility for competent civil officials and generals to rule his kingdom. After Euric died in 484, his son Alaric allowed Catholic bishops to be elected within his kingdom and Ruricius was chosen Bishop of Limoges, near his wife, Hiberia’s, native Clermont-Ferrand or Ruricius’ own Gurdon at Cahors.
Ruricius was a conscientious, uncontroversial bishop. Originally, Ruricius followed Faustus of Riez, known for his temperate but stubborn resistance to St Augustine’s doctrines of
predestination. Later, Ruricius became (spiritually) enamoured of a young, extremely intelligent priest named Iulius Pomerius, a disciple of St Augsustine (Pomerius somehow managed good relations with not only Ruricius but Faustus) Ruricius was intrigued by theological debate but didn’t participate or take strong positions. He believed in life we suffer just, loving reproves and instruction in righteousness from God and must learn to be thankful for our tribulations. Ruricius' correspondence encourages parishioners, colleagues, friends or relatives grieving a death, suffering an illness or bearing a hard burden. Though not ambitious as a secular legal advocate, apparently he was talented in legal matters:
Mathisen suspects he was deeply involved in drafting the Breviary of Alaric – laws based on Roman law that would influence the development of law in Western Europe for centuries. Ruricius was significantly overweight, making travel difficult, and, not surprisingly, fond of food including delicacies. He disliked or learned to abstain from “wine and girl choruses”. Though he never could stay angry, he often scolded his secular son, Constantius, who was prone to self-indulgence.
Ruricius father, whose name is lost to us, was probably a senator and Provencal in origin though he may have lived at Cahors in Aquitaine. Caesarius and Aeonius, contemporary bishops of Arles, appear related to Ruricius, and Caesarius’ kin later became Limoges’ comital family. Mathisen suggests Ruricius’ father was a Constantius, son of Felix Constantius, consul 428. C. Settipani argues that Mathisen relied on an incorrect reading of a consular diptych. Thus, consul Flavius Felix Constantius was, in fact, merely Flavius Felix, father, or uncle, of Arelat senator Magnus, consul 460. This resembles, in part, the proposal of T.S. Mommaerts and D. Kelley making Ruricius’ father the unnamed proconsul, father of Felix’ relative Camillus. See the link below. Mathisen and Settipani have suggested Ruricius’ mother was of the powerful Pontii Leontii of Bordeaux and possibly through them the aristocratic Anicii of Rome (eg Sex. Claudius Petronius (cos), Petronius Maximus (emp) and Anicius Olybrius (emp) Gregory the Great (pope ca 600)) Ruricius descent from these Anicii (paternal or
maternal) was verified by Venantius Fortunatus, Italian poet laureate of the Merovingian Frankish Court in an epitaph for Ruricius’ grandson, namesake and successor at Limoges, Ruricius Proculus. Mommaerts and Kelley have alternatively proposed a maternal connection between Ruricius and the Roman Caeonii, contemporaries of the Anicii.
Settipani has proposed that Ruricius had an unattested daughter married to Bishop Rusticus of Lyon whose progeny included certain maternal relatives of Gregory of Tours and the Carolingians (eg Pippin the Short, Charlemagne) whose known descendants are numerous today. It also appears that Ruricius’ grandson, Parthenius, was a key official of the Merovingian (Austrasian) Court, fathering children who in turn held many positions of power and influence in the nascent Frankish Kingdoms that would one day become the nations of Western Europe.