John of Biclaro

John of Biclaro was a Visigothic Catholic bishop of Girona in Spain, born around 540 and falling asleep in the Lord after 621. The Church remembers him as a confessor of the right faith who endured exile for it and left an important chronicle of his age.

Youth and studies

According to Saint Isidore of Seville, John was born in Lusitania, in the city of Scallabis (today Santarém in Portugal), of Gothic parents. How and when he came to the Catholic faith is not known. While still young he was sent to Constantinople to study and stayed there for many years. The sources differ on how long: some say seven years, others seventeen. There he learned Greek and Latin and became a man of great learning, the only Goth of the sixth century known to have published books.

Exile

Back in Spain, around 576, John came into conflict with the Gothic king Leovigild, who wished to unite the kingdom around Arianism. According to Isidore, John refused to join the Arian Church and was sent into exile at Barcelona, where he remained for ten years. Modern historians note that some contemporary sources do not attest a general persecution of Catholics, and that his long stay in Constantinople may also have made him suspect of ties with the Byzantines. At Barcelona, the sources say, he stood at the head of the local Catholic community, in dispute with the city's Arian bishop.

Monastery and episcopate

After King Reccared I renounced Arianism and made the Catholic faith the religion of the realm, John was recalled from exile, around 589. He founded a monastery at Biclar and wrote a rule of life for it, now lost. Its exact site is unknown, but many scholars look for it at Vallclara in Catalonia, where the remains of a sixth-⁠century church were found. Between 589 and 592 he was made bishop of Girona. As bishop he signed the acts of the synods of Saragossa (592), Toledo (597) and Barcelona (599), and, it seems, of Egara (614).

The Chronicle

Of the works Isidore attributes to him, only the Chronicle survives, completed soon after 590. It covers the years 567 to 590 and is regarded as the earliest historical work of early medieval Spain to come down to us complete. John set the affairs of the Church beside secular events and spoke with respect of the Gothic kings, both Arian and Catholic. The Chronicle is the fullest source for the reign of Leovigild and for King Reccared's turn to the Catholic faith. It also holds news of Byzantium and, among other things, two mentions of the Slavic tribes raiding Thrace and Illyricum. It was first printed at Ingolstadt in 1600.

The saint is believed to have reposed at Girona around 621. His name remains bound to his Chronicle and to his steadfastness in the faith.