In Roman law, the word came to designate a minor court official who went out to summon people to appear before the magistrate.

[3] By the fifth century four feast days were celebrated annually in Lyon in honor of Sts Just and Viator.

Shortly after returning from the Council of Aquileia, Bishop Just confided to Viator intention to abandon the See of Lyons in order to take up the ascetical life a monk in the desert of Scete in Egypt.

This decision seems to have motivated by a number of factors: his character, that of a mild studious and contemplative man; his age, for he had been a bishop many years and it seems he was already in his sixties; and by a sad event which had occurred in Lyons a short time before.

A mad man had raced through the market place of the city, slashing wildly with a sword, and wounding and killing many citizens.

The bishop came to believe that his failure to adequately protect the murderer had made him unworthy to continue to lead the Christian community, and he resolved to devote the remainder of his life to doing penance.