Eugenius I

Eugenius I

Archbishop of Toledo, successor in 636 of Justus in that see; d. 647. Like his predecessor he had been a disciple of Helladius in the monastery of Agli. He is famous as an astronomer and astronomical mathematician. As a bishop he was virtuous and intelligent. At this period, under the Gothic kings, the councils of Toledo were national diets convoked by the monarch, attended by lay lords; they regulated, to some extent, not only spiritual but temporal affairs. Of these councils Eugenius presided at the fifth, convoked in 636 by King Chintil to confirm his elevation to the throne; he assisted at the sixth, convoked by the same king to take precautions against the disorders of royal elections. This council, contrary to the principles later put in practice by St. Ildephonsus, banished all Jews who did not embrace the Catholic Faith. Eugenius attended the seventh council of Toledo, which was summoned by King Chindaswith and decreed that the bishops of Toledo should reside one month every year in that city.

GOSCHLER, Dict. encycl. de la théol. cath. (Paris, 1860); LABBE, Sacrosancta Concilia (Paris, 1671), V, 1738, 1749,1841.

MARK J. MCNEAL