Autun No. 4

Corblet (1881-1882) reported that on 25 June 1839, in the ruins of an ancient cemetery near the place known as St-Pierre-l'Estrier, the fragments of a marble plaque were discovered. A young seminary student, the future cardinal Pitra, studied the Greek inscription contained therein. There is no agreement even on the date of the inscription, estimates ranging between the 2nd century to the 6th, and even less on the translation which, according to Corblet's own favourite, that of Davin, contains "un vrai symbole de foi", a "catéchèse encyclopédique". (Corblet, 1881, v. 2, p. 53-59). [NB: the variants of the Greek text and the translations are too long to be included in this record but can be found gathered in Corblet's op. cit., on pages 54 through 59]. Corblet cites l'abbé Manoury's "L'Inscription d'Autun" in the Revue de l'enseignement chrétien, oct. 1875, and several other sources as references for the many and varied translations resulting from the fragments of the inscription.