Menelphalus

Menelphalus (Menelphale) was, in the 5th century, metropolitan archbishop of Aix, in southern Gaul. He seems to have followed Maximus, who in 419 received from Pope Boniface the order to investigate, with other bishops, the charge of Manichean heresy against Maximus, bishop of Valence. Menelphalus would therefore have served in the 420s, and historians place him around 420 or 425. Duchesne questioned this dating, the only sure mention of the saint dating from the 9th and 10th centuries, but the necropolis from which he was moved seems to be of Late Antiquity, and the see of Aix was founded or restored in the 5th century. Albanés places him towards the end of the century.

He is said to have guided his people and been "a great consolation" to his flock in the troubled time when the Visigoths under Theodoric I, considered heretics, frequently besieged the cities of Gallia Narbonensis. He is said to have led an exemplary life, and at a time when Roman and church power waned, this gave him the ability to govern his people well. He was canonised by popular acclaim not long after his death and buried in the first Christian cemetery of the city of Aix. Venerated locally, from the time of the undivided Church.