The lapidary deposit which occupies the old sacristy of the crypt of Saint-Victor contains a marble slab found in XNUMX on which appears a famous inscription, incomplete on both sides. The most recent works of historians confirm this active presence of Christians from the XNUMXth century in Marseilles, and place the citations of the visit of Mary Magdalene, Lazarus or the martyrs of the first and second centuries to the rank of legends. According to Grégoire de Tours, the beginnings of the Christian mission in Gaul go back to the middle of the 1839rd century. On this site, occupied by this vast necropolis, is established an early Christian foundation partly rock which could have received the bodies of martyrs. The complete history of the abbeyĮpitaph of Volusien and Fortunatus found in the crypts The abbey is the subject of a classification as historical monuments by the list of 1840. This transfer makes the Abbey of Saint-Victor the most important museum of Christian art of the first millennium in Provence after that of Arles. These sarcophagi were previously on display at the Musée du Château Borély. In 1968, the mayor of Marseille Gaston Defferre replaced in the abbey crypts the rich collection of sarcophagi from the end of the XNUMXth century to the first half of the XNUMXth century that the church contained. For more than 500 years, Saint-Victor has been one of the centers of Catholicism in the south of France, and although the monastery was dismantled during the Revolution, the church is still in use. From the 1th century, the abbey began to decline irreparably. One of its abbots, Guillaume de Grimoard, was elected pope in 1362 under the name of Urban V. The abbey took on considerable importance at the turn of the first millennium through its influence throughout Provence. They are a precious testimony of the Christian art of the 4th and 5th centuries.Saint-Victor de Marseille abbey was founded in the 303th century by Jean Cassien, near the tombs of the martyrs of Marseille, including Saint Victor de Marseille († in 304 or XNUMX), who gave it his name. You can explore Saint-Victor’s multi-layered sarcophagi (up to 7 layers in some areas!), some of which have never been opened. The invaluable relics of the basilica and quarry are today mistakenly called ‘the crypts of Saint-Victor’. Understandably, a basilica emerged in the 5th century. During the persecution, he was quartered, crushed by a millstone, and his body thrown in the Vieux-Port.Ī pilgrimage was organised very early on around Victor’s tomb and many inhabitants of Marseille wished to be laid to rest near his body as he represented the intercessor to reach salvation faster. Victor was a Roman soldier who refused to sacrifice to false idols. The body of Victor, the Christian martyr, was laid in this quarry. Therefore, several necropoleis were created outside the city, among them was Saint-Victor. In Antiquity, it was prohibited to sully the city by burying the deceased inside the city walls. Marseille was nestled on the North Bank of the Vieux-Port while the South Bank was uninhabited. The quarry was located outside the city walls and sheltered a necropolis very early on. In ancient times, an open-air quarry stood on the site of the abbey, whose excavated blocks were used to build the Ancient Port.
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