Gaudiosus

Bishop of Tarazona (Turiasso), Spain; died about 540. Our information concerning the life of this holy bishop is scant, and rests on comparatively late sources. On the occasion of the translation of his remains in 1573, a sketch of his life was discovered in the grave, written on parchment; apart from the Breviary lessons of the Church of Tarazona, this document contains the only written details we possess concerning the life of Gaudiosus. His father, Guntha, was a military official (spatharius) at the court of the Visigothic King Theodoric (510-25). The education of the boy was entrusted to St. Victorianus, abbot of a monastery near Burgos (Oca), who trained him for the service of the Church. Later (c. 530) he was apoointed Bishop of Tarazona. Nothing more is known of his activities. Even the year of his death has not been exactly determined. After his death he was venerated as a saint. According to the manuscript life found in his grave he died on 29 October, but the Church of Tarazona celebrates his feast on 3 November. He was first entombed in the church of St. Martin (dedicated later to St. Victorianus), attached to the monastery where he had spent his youthful years. In 1573 his remains were disinterred and translated to the cathedral of Tarazona.

Acta SS., I, Nov., 664-65; DE LA FUENTE, La Santa Iglesia de Tarazona en sus Estados Antiguos y Modernos (Madrid, 1865).

J.P. KIRSCH