View source for Valerius of Trèves

{{Other uses|Valerius}}

{{more citations needed|date=March 2015}}

{{Infobox saint
|name= Saint Valerius of Trier
|birth_date=
|death_date=c. 320 AD
|feast_day= January 29 
|venerated_in= [[Roman Catholic Church]],
[[Eastern Orthodox Church|Orthodox Church]]
|image= GravesEuchariusValeriusStMatthiasAbbeyTrier.jpg
|imagesize= 250px
|caption= Tombs of Saints Eucharius and Valerius.  St. Matthias Abbey, Trier.
|birth_place= 
|death_place=
|titles= 
|beatified_date=  
|beatified_place=
|beatified_by=
|canonized_date=
|canonized_place=
|canonized_by=
|attributes=
|patronage=
|major_shrine= 
|suppressed_date=
|issues= 
}}

Saint '''Valerius of Treves''' (†320) was a semi-legendary [[Bishop of Trier]]. His [[Calendar of saints|feast day]] is 29 January.

==Legend==

According to an ancient legend, St. Valerius was a follower of [[Saint Eucharius]], the first bishop of Trier. Eucharius was sent to [[Gaul]] by [[Saint Peter]] as bishop, together with the [[deacon]] Valerius and the subdeacon [[Maternus of Cologne|Maternus]], to preach the [[Gospel]].<ref name=Meier>Meier, Gabriel. [https://archive.org/stream/07470918.5.emory.edu/07470918_5#page/n667/mode/2up/search/eucharius "St. Eucharius"], in Charles Herbermann (ed.) (1909). ''The Catholic Encyclopedia'', Volume 5. New York: Robert Appleton Company. {{nobreak|p. 594.}}</ref>

They came to the [[Rhine]] and to [[Ellelum]] in [[Alsace]], where Maternus died. His two companions hastened back to St. Peter and begged him to restore the dead man to life. St. Peter gave his pastoral staff to Eucharius, and, upon being touched with it, Maternus, who had been in his grave for forty days, returned to life. The [[Gentiles]] then converted in large numbers. After founding many churches the three companions went to Trier where evangelizing progressed so rapidly that Eucharius chose that city for his episcopal residence. An [[angel]] announced to him his approaching death and pointed out Valerius as his successor.<ref>[https://catholicsaints.info/book-of-saints-valery/ Monks of Ramsgate. "Valery". ''Book of Saints'', 1921. CatholicSaints.Info. 29 December 2016]{{PD-notice}}</ref>

Valerius was bishop for fifteen years and was succeeded by Maternus, who had in the meantime founded the dioceses of [[Cologne]] and [[Tongeren]], remaining Bishop for forty years. The staff of [[St. Peter]], with which he had been raised to life, was preserved at Cologne till the end of the tenth century when the upper half was presented to Trier and was afterwards taken to [[Prague]] by [[Charles IV, Holy Roman Emperor|Emperor Charles IV]].<ref name=Meier/>

==Traditions==
In medieval times the foundation of a diocese was often referred to as early a date as possible, in order thereby to increase its reputation, perhaps also its rights. In time, especially through the ravages of the Normans, the more reliable earlier accounts were lost. When at a later period the lives of primitive holy founders, e. g. the saints of ancient Trier, came to be written anew, the gaps in tradition were filled out with various combinations and fanciful legends. In this way there originated in the monastery of St. Matthias near Trier the famous chronicle of Trier, the ''[[Gesta Treverorum]]'', in which there is a curious mixture of truth and error. It contains the account of the life of St. Eucharius given above. An amplification thereof, containing the lives of the three saints in question, is said to have been written by the [[monk]] Goldscher or Golscher, who lived in that monastery about the year 1130. From the "Gesta" the narrative passed unchallenged into numerous medieval works. Later criticism has detected many contradictions and inaccuracies in these ancient records, and it is almost universally believed at present that, with few exceptions, the first Christian missionaries came to Gaul, to which Trier then belonged, not earlier than about 250.<ref name=ncd>[http://catholicsaints.info/new-catholic-dictionary-saint-eucharius/ Saint Eucharius”. New Catholic Dictionary. CatholicSaints.Info. 8 December 2012]</ref> Following [[Hontheim]], [[Calmet]] and others, the [[Bollandists]], with Marx, [[Aloys Lütolf]], and other historians refer these bishops of Trier to a period following 250, though not all of them consider this as fully established.

Valerius appears in the ''Calendar of Willibrord'' among the saints of January.<ref>[http://csla.history.ox.ac.uk/record.php?recid=E05840 Savill, Benjamin. "The Calendar of Willibrord", The Cult of the Saints in Late Antiquity, University of Oxford, 2021]</ref>

==Notes==
{{Reflist|30em}}

{{Catholic|wstitle=St. Eucharius}}

{{s-start}}
{{s-rel|grt}} 
{{s-bef|before=[[Eucharius]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Bishop of Trier]]|years=250 &ndash; 300}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Maternus of Cologne|Maternus]]}}
{{s-end}}

{{Catholicism||collapsed}}
{{History of the Roman Catholic Church|collapsed}}
{{History of Catholic theology|collapsed}}

{{authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Valerius Of Treves}}
[[Category:320 deaths]]
[[Category:Saints of Germania]]
[[Category:Burials at St. Matthias' Abbey]]
[[Category:4th-century Christian saints]]
[[Category:Roman Catholic bishops of Trier]]
[[Category:Year of birth unknown]]
[[Category:3rd-century bishops in Germania]]