Hierarch St. Reticius, Bishop of Autun

CRITICAL: category corrected from "righteous" to "hierarch" — Reticius was a bishop, not a layman. The template artifact in the life-years field, "I-XV century," has been replaced with the correct "c. 310-334" (the period of his episcopate). The date is given as Western (May 15), without a split into Old/New Style — no separate Orthodox liturgical correspondence was found; he is a pre-Schism Western (Gallic) saint, included in Orthodox veneration on a case-by-case basis, like other Gallic saints in this database.

Reticius was the first historically documented bishop of Autun (Augustodunum) in Roman Gaul. He represented the Gallic church, on behalf of Emperor Constantine the Great, at the Council of Rome (313), convened to examine the Donatist controversy (the Caecilian-Donatus dispute in North Africa). He also attended the Council of Arles (314), which likewise addressed Donatism.

Blessed Jerome, in "On Illustrious Men," praises him: "Bishop of Autun, among the Aedui, had a great reputation in Gaul in the reign of Constantine" — and mentions having read two of his works: a commentary on the Song of Songs, and a large treatise against the Novatianists (a rigorist schism over the treatment of lapsed Christians). Both works are now lost, known only through references by Jerome and Blessed Augustine (who quotes a sentence, apparently from the anti-Novatianist treatise, touching on original sin). He was also praised by St. Gregory of Tours. He was succeeded as Bishop of Autun by St. Cassian of Autun.