Library › St Gregory of Tours › History of the Franks
History of the Franks
St Gregory of Tours, tr. Dalton, 1927
Book 2, 16. Of Bishop Namatius and the Church in Auvergne
After the death of Bishop Rusticus, the holy Namatius became in these days eighth bishop of Clermont. By his own efforts he built the church which still exists, and is deemed the older of those within the town walls. It is a hundred and fifty feet long, sixty feet broad, that is across the nave, and fifty feet high to the ceiling: it ends in a rounded apse, and has on either side walls of skilled construction; the whole building is disposed in the form of a cross. It has forty-two windows, seventy columns, and eight doors.
There is felt the dread of God, and the great brightness of His glory, and verily there often the devout are aware of a most sweet odour as of spices wafted to them. The walls of the sanctuary are adorned with a lining of many kinds of marble. The building being completed in the twelfth year, the blessed bishop sent priests to the city of Bologna in Italy to bring him relics of the saints Vitalis and Agricola, crucified, as is known of all men, for the name of Christ our Lord.