Priscus of Lyon

Priscus was bishop of Lyon in Gaul from the year 573 until some time between 585 and 589. The sources at hand give no day of commemoration for him and do not say how he came to be venerated as a saint.

He succeeded Saint Nicetius of Lyon in 573. His predecessor had advised King Guntram to give the see to Etherius, but the king named Priscus. Little is known of his character, and there is no evidence either of unworthiness or of particular pastoral zeal. His epitaph in verse shows that he was of noble birth and held political office before becoming a bishop.

One of his few known acts is the holding of a provincial council at Lyon in 583. The bishops Evantius of Vienne, Syagrius of Autun, Isicius of Grenoble, Isaac of Valence, Eusebius of Mâcon, Agricola of Nevers and Veranus of Cavaillon were present. Among the decisions, the sixth and last canon ordered that a leprosarium be opened in each city at the bishop's expense.

He lived before the separation of the Churches, and so he is venerated as a saint of the undivided Church.