Saint Montan of Toledo

Montanus was the metropolitan bishop of Toledo between 523 and 531, a contemporary of King Amalaric. He presided over the Second Council of Toledo, held in 527. According to Saint Ildefonsus, who briefly recorded his life in De viris illustribus, Montanus was accused of having engaged in sexual relations during his episcopate. To prove his innocence, he placed burning embers inside his vestments while officiating Mass, emerging from the ordeal unharmed. Some authors suggest that this episode may have later inspired the custom of subjecting certain accused persons to the ordeal by fire. Two letters written by Montanus have been preserved. In the first, addressed to the clergy of the Diocese of Palencia, he condemns the attraction of some of the faithful to Priscillianism and denounces the blessing of chrism by priests, who were thus assuming a function proper to bishops, as well as the consecration of churches by bishops from other dioceses. In the second, addressed to a monk named Toribio, he reiterates the previous issues and demands the restitution of Segovia, Buitrago, and Coca to their former dioceses, as these had been ceded to the Bishop of Palencia by a privilege confirmed by his predecessor in the Toledan see. The mention of this privilege was later used as evidence of Toledo's antiquity as the metropolis of Carthaginensis in disputes regarding its primacy over other Iberian sees.