Biography
Austromoine
About Austromoine
Austromoine, also known as Austremoine, is remembered as Clermont’s first bishop. The cathedral’s episcopal list places him broadly in the third or fourth century.
Gregory of Tours places Stremonius among missionaries sent into Gaul under Decius. He remembers him as dying peacefully.
Gregory also describes a neglected grave at Issoire. Cautinus reportedly saw white-clad figures singing around it and ordered the tomb honored. Gregory says he heard this account from Cautinus himself; he does not claim to have witnessed the vision.
Later accounts considerably enlarged his story. The Catholic Church in Norway’s biography distinguishes successive medieval Lives and their added episodes from the earlier remembrance. It rejects the claim that he belonged to the first-century disciples and the later story of his martyrdom. These traditions should not be combined into a single dependable chronology.
His death has been placed in the third century or around 314, while Clermont’s episcopal list gives only a broad period. This record therefore leaves birth and death years unset. A reported tomb is evidence of burial tradition, not proof of where he died. The surviving accounts also do not establish his birthplace.
Catholic commemoration marks 1 November. His remembrance centers on the beginnings of Christian ministry in Clermont, while the uncertain chronology and later storytelling remain part of the history of that memory.
Wondering how to weigh the stories and sources? Learn how to read a saint biography.