Victricius

c.330-c.407. Bishop of Rouen. At the age of seventeen he enlisted in Roman military service, but renounced this when he was converted shortly afterward. He was flogged and sentenced to death, but following a miraculous delivery he later studied philosophy and theology, and was chosen bishop about 380 while still a layman. He founded many churches in rural areas, encouraged the monastic life, and brought many relics from Rome to the Rouen cathedral. He preached among the heathen in Gaul, Flanders, Hainault, and Brabant. When his orthodoxy was impugned, he went to Rome to defend himself. He met Emperor Honorius and Innocent I, who sent him a famous decretal relative to disciplinary matters. He died before 409, as a letter to Augustine from Paulinus does not name him in a list of living eminent bishops of Gaul.