Dictinius of Astorga

Holy Hierarch Dictinius of Astorga was bishop of Astorga in north-⁠western Spain between the 4th and 5th centuries (about 350 to around 430). He was the son of Symphosius, bishop of Ourense, a defender of Priscillianism, a heresy widespread in north-⁠western Hispania. Like his father, Dictinius was a prominent defender of this teaching in numerous writings, the best known being the Tractatus de libra; these were lost or destroyed by the author himself when he returned to the right faith.

With Symphosius and the bishops of Braga and Celenes he proclaimed Priscillian, put to death at Trier, a saint. Symphosius appointed him bishop of Astorga. Summoned in 396, he and the others renounced Priscillianism at the Council of Toledo in 400, and Dictinius gave up his see. The people of Astorga, however, did not want to lose their bishop, for his piety and good shepherding, and the council accepted that he remain. From then on he kept ecclesiastical discipline and defended the Nicene creed in his writings. He founded a monastery near the cathedral.

He was soon venerated as a saint: his veneration is attested in the 10th century and may have begun earlier. The place of his tomb is not known; his relics were not found in the monastery he founded, but they may have been moved in the mid-8th century to San Martín de Turieno in Liébana, with those of Turibius of Astorga. His commemoration is on 2 June. He is honored as a saint of the undivided Church.