Tajus, Samuel

Tajus, Samuel bishop of Saragossa, lived in the 7th century. In the year 646 he went to Rome at the command of king Chindaswinth, and with the sanction of the seventh Council of Toledo, for the sake of bringing back the long-missed Expositio in Hiobum s. Moralium, lib. 35 of Gregory I. According to tradition, he was shown in a vision the place where it was hidden. Tajus was also present at the eighth and ninth councils of Toledo. Besides an

Epistola ad Eugenium Toletanum episcopum, he also wrote Sententiarum lib. 5 (Migne, Patrol. vol. 80), containing extracts from Gregory's work on

(a) God, creation, creature, government of the world; (b) incarnation, Church, Church government; (c) moral life, virtues; (d) sins and vices; (e) sinners, prince of this world, Antichrist, judgment, condemnation.

Wherever Gregory failed him, he supplied his work from Augustine's writings. The work is preceded by a Praefatio ad Quiricum Barcinonensem Episcopum, to whom the work is dedicated, together with the Responsio Quirici. See Regensburger Conversations Lexikon, s.v.; Theologisches Universal- Lexikon, s.v. (B.P.)