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History of the Franks
St Gregory of Tours, tr. Dalton, 1927
Book 2, Of the Episcopate of Eustochius of Tours, and of Perpetuus, and of the Basilica…
In the city of Tours, upon the death of Eustochius in the seventeenth year of his episcopate, Perpetuus was consecrated as fifth in succession from the blessed Martin. Now when he saw the continual wonders wrought at the tomb of the saint, and observed how small was the chapel erected over him, he judged it unworthy of such miracles. He caused it to be removed, and built on the spot the great basilica which has endured until our day, standing five hundred and fifty paces from the city. It is one hundred and sixty feet long by sixty broad; its height to the ceiling is forty-five feet. It has thirty-two windows in the sanctuary and twenty in the nave, with forty-one columns. In the whole structure there are fifty-two windows, a hundred and twenty columns, and eight doors, three in the sanctuary, five in the nave. The great festival of the church has a threefold significance: it is at once a feast of the dedication, of the translation of the saint’s body, and of his consecration as bishop. This festival you shall keep on the fourth day of July; the day of the saint’s burial you shall find to fall on the eleventh of November. They who keep these celebrations in faith shall deserve the protection of the holy bishop both in this world and the next. As the ceiling of the earlier chapel was fashioned with delicate workmanship, Perpetuus deemed it unseemly that such work should perish; so he built another basilica in honour of the blessed apostles Peter and Paul, and in it he fixed the ceiling. He built many other churches, which are still standing to-day in the name of Christ.