Palladius or more often in French Pallais was a 6th-century bishop of Saintes. According to Gregory of Tours, the family of Palladius was wealthy,Gregory of Tours, De Gloria Confessorum 40; Bennett, DCBLSD4, p. 177. and had produced several bishops and teachers throughout the 5th century in Gaul.Raymond van Dam, Saints and Their Miracles in Late Antique Gaul (Princeton University Press, 1993), p. 288.
Palladius plotted against the Merovingian king Guntram, whose territory included Saintes, and sided with his rival Gundoald. He consecrated Faustianus as bishop of Dax in 584, at Gundoald's behest.Gregory, History of the Franks 7.31, 8.2; Bennett, DCBLSD4, p. 177. He was chastised by Guntram, who shunned having mass with him, and both the clergy under him and the metropolitan bishop withdrew their support.Van Dam, Saints and Their Miracles, p. 288. At the Second Council of Mâcon in 585, the assembled bishops agreed to depose Faustianus, and fined Palladius and two other prelates an annual amount to support him. Two years later, Palladius plotted with Fredegund.Bennett, DCBLSD4, p. 177.
Palladius worked effectively toward building churches and obtaining relics for his diocese.Bennett, DCBLSD4, p. 177. He procured relics of Martin of Tours, built a church in his honor, and reported several healing miracles to have occurred within the first two or three months.Van Dam, Saints and Their Miracles, p. 288. Palladius also promoted saints' cults for Eutropius, the first bishop of Saintes, and for the Abbot Martinus who may have studied with Martin of Tours.Van Dam, Saints and Their Miracles, p. 288.
In 573, Palladius was a signatory to the canons of the Fourth Council of Paris, and hosted a council within his own diocese in 573. He is last mentioned in 595.Bennett, DCBLSD4, p. 177.
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