ON STS. EPIPODIUS AND ALEXANDER, AND THEIR THIRTY-FOUR COMPANIONS, Martyrs at Lyons in Gaul.
IN THE YEAR 177.
PrefaceEpipodius, Martyr, at Lyons in Gaul (Saint)
Alexander, Martyr, at Lyons in Gaul (Saint)
Thirty-four Companions, Martyrs, at Lyons in Gaul (Saints)
G. H.
[1] Eusebius, in book 5 of Ecclesiastical History, about to describe this persecution stirred up in Gaul, indicates the time first by the Roman Pontiffs, and thus begins the Preface of the said book: "Therefore, Soter, The persecution stirred up after the death of Saint Soter the Pope, Bishop of the city of Rome, having died after the eighth year of his episcopate, the twelfth (indeed the thirteenth) from the Apostles, Eleutherus, succeeded in his place." We give on this very day the Acts of Saint Soter the Pope, whom, from the most ancient Catalogues of the Roman Pontiffs, we have shown to have sat from the consulship of Rusticus and Aquilinus to that of Cethegus and Clarus. The former consuls were in the year of Christ 162, the latter in the year 170. But Saint Soter had these last consuls in a full year of his life, who died in the year 171, and survived until this day, April 22, of the following year 171: and then, from the consulship of Verus and Herennianus, Saint Eleutherius the Pope sat until the consulship of Paternus and Bradua, who held that dignity in the year 185, under his successor Saint Eleutherius beyond which he seems to have lived until the 26th of May of the following year, for that day is considered his natal day. Another and more accurate reckoning of the time when the persecution was stirred up is indicated in the same place by Eusebius in these words: "At that time there was passing the seventeenth year of the empire of Antoninus Verus; then a more violent persecution was stirred up, and in the 9th year of Antoninus Verus especially, as he continues in chapter 1, in Gaul, in which, beyond the others, two notable and eminent mother-cities are celebrated, Lyons and Vienne." The 17th year of the empire of Antoninus Verus falls in the year of Christ 177, when on June 2 there suffered at Lyons, of Christ 177. Saints Photinus the Bishop, Sanctus the Deacon, very many other saints, together with the illustrious heroine Blandina, whose Acts of martyrdom were soon transmitted to the Churches of Asia and Phrygia, inserted by Eusebius into his history, and to be more broadly illustrated on the said second of June. It was then the seventh year of the pontificate of Saint Eleutherius, whose virtues were known to the said Martyrs; and therefore some of them commended Saint Irenaeus, then still a Presbyter of the Church of Lyons, to the aforesaid Pontiff by letter, and set forth a catalogue of the earlier martyrs: concerning which letter Eusebius treats in chapter 4.
[2] In the year 178 suffered Saints Epipodius and Alexander, In this same persecution, but in the following year 178, there suffered at Lyons Saints Epipodius and Alexander, the former on this April 22, the other two days later, on April 24. The ancient Acts of both Martyrs, plainly joined, were written by one and the same author, and were divided into Lessons for the use of the Church of Lyons in two parts, so that the first part could be recited on April 22, the later on April 24. We give them together: for the first and last part pertains to both, the second to Saint Epipodius, and the third to Saint Alexander. We have the said Acts in our ancient MS. and partly in a MS. codex of the monastery of Saint Maximin at Trier, The Acts are given from MSS. and Surius. partly from a Passional of Lyons from the church of Saint Just the Bishop, transmitted to us by Pierre-François Chifflet: and we have collated them with the Acts published by Laurence Surius on the said days, who judges them to have been gravely written and testifies that they are held in excellent ancient MS. copies.
[3] The Acts are supported by the ancient Martyrologies, among which the first place deservedly belongs to the Auctarium of Florus, Subdeacon of the Church of Lyons, to the genuine Martyrology of Bede, and published with it by us before the second volume of March; where under April 24 you have the following from the MSS. of Arras, Tournai, and Laetiensis: "In Gaul, in the city of Lyons, Cult in the Martyrologies of Florus of Lyons, the passion of Saints Alexander and Upipodus with thirty-four others: of whom Alexander, stretched upon the cross, was so torn by the cruelty of those beating him, that, the framework of his ribs being dissolved, his entrails laid open, the secrets of his soul were revealed, and so, breathing his last, he gave up the spirit. Upipodus, however, his whole face being broken by leaded whips, was suspended on the rack, and afterwards struck with the sword." Let another be our witness, Saint Ado, Archbishop of Vienne, to whom the affairs of Lyons were very well known. He writes thus on April 22: "And at Lyons in Gaul, the birthday of Saint Epipodius Martyr, who, in the persecution of Antoninus Verus, after the glorious contests of forty-eight Martyrs who suffered in the same city, being seized with his dearest companion Alexander, of Ado of Vienne, the latter meanwhile being thrust into prison, was first struck on the mouth with fearful blows of fists, then tortured by the stretching of the rack, and completed his martyrdom by the cutting off of his head." Then on April 24 he reports: "At Lyons in Gaul the birthday of Saint Alexander, who on the third day after the passion of blessed Epipodius, being led out of prison, was first so torn by the cruelty of those beating him, that, the framework of his ribs being dissolved, his entrails laid open, the secrets of his soul were revealed, then, fastened to the gibbet of the cross, and of many others: dying, he gave up his blessed spirit. There suffered with him also others to the number of thirty-four. Both were buried on either side of the altar, in a crypt, which on the hill above the city was built with a beautiful and ancient work." So Ado; and similar things Usuard, Notker, the Author of the supposititious Bede, Bellinus, Maurolycus, Galesinius have, along with the modern Roman Martyrology: and everywhere are added the thirty-four Companions, who then suffered martyrdom together, of whom however no mention is made in the Acts.
[4] A eulogy from Gregory of Tours. What we have reported concerning the burial of Saints Epipodius and Alexander seems to have been taken from Gregory of Tours, who in the book On the Glory of the Martyrs, chapter 50, writes as follows: "Therefore, when the glorious Bishop Photinus, who presided over the city of Lyons as Priest, had been perfected by martyrdom, by the merit of his noble struggle he was borne into heaven: to whom, both worthy in merit and in holiness, Irenaeus succeeded as Bishop, himself also ending by martyrdom. He is buried in the crypt of the basilica of blessed John, beneath the altar: and on one side Epipodius, on the other Alexander the Martyr, is entombed. Of whose monuments, if the dust be faithfully collected, it straightway heals the sick: for a great brightness is contained in that crypt, which, as I believe, signifies the merit of the martyrs." These same Martyrs had already been celebrated by Saint Eucherius, Bishop of Lyons, and by Saint Eucherius of Lyons, in a homily delivered on their veneration and cult, which is wrongly found ascribed to Eusebius of Emesa. "The double trophies," he says, "of Epipodius and Alexander, the faith of our Church, with the interval of two or three days between, celebrates together,
not as feasts with foreign relics, but as feasts with the inviolate monuments of our native bosom. We possess the whole and entire illustrious gift of the Blessed; and what could suffice for the whole world, we hold specially enclosed within the bosom of this city: and we raise twin palms to our city, rivals of the Apostolic triumph; and we, also having our Peter and Paul, comparing them to Sts. Peter and Paul, two intercessors, contend with that sublime See. And indeed the blessed Martyrs, whose precious dust is scattered through diverse regions everywhere for the salvation of the peoples, receive also the full cult of that place from the honor of God with devotion paid to them: and the richer the faith with which they are celebrated, the more acceptable to them will be the grace of the celebration. But without doubt it is much more grateful, and stirring their own people to veneration, much more pleasant to them, if the fervor of piety honors them most of all in that place where the fury of their passion came upon them; if there are offered to them the sacrifices of supplication, where they fell in a sacrifice to God; if there posterity, to be preached, pours out its vows, where the deadly savagery poured forth their innocent blood; if, in short, that enemy of the Christian name, where he believed them slain, sees them there consecrated. Sweeter, I say, is the service rendered to them, if there the blessing of praises celebrates them together, where the greatness of tribulations raged over them: if thence they are invoked for intercession, whence at the first sign of the resurrection they shall be called forth to their reward." These and many other things Saint Eucherius, who was called from this life at Lyons about the year 454. To these might be added the eulogies of both in the Indiculus of the Saints of Lyons published by Rainaud Theophilus; but since these are more recent, the reader may find them there.
ACTS
Revised from very ancient MS. codices.
Epipodius, Martyr, at Lyons in Gaul (Saint)
Alexander, Martyr, at Lyons in Gaul (Saint)
Thirty-four Companions, Martyrs, at Lyons in Gaul (Saints) BHL Number: 2574, 2575
FROM MSS.
Part I.
[1] If the deeds of brave men, who have fallen for earthly liberty or for their country with empty purpose, The triumphs of the Martyrs are to be written to stir posterity leaving brief monuments of carnal virtues while they perish, are rightly committed to annals for the incitement of posterity, with how great praises should the death of the Martyrs be celebrated, who, by an admirable and glorious shortcut, while they stretch forth their hands to heaven, leave to the earth examples of faith and devotion, propagating the life of men by their deaths. For they pour out their spirit not for an earthly emperor, but for the heavenly King: not for a a country which brings forth and receives; not for a b country which is held and lost; but for that heavenly Jerusalem, the eternal country, which is built by the merits of the Saints, whose summits touch heaven; whose inhabitants know not how to die, whose liberty is ignorant of the yoke of infernal captivity, whose liberty endures together with immortal glory and blessedness. And although few things are touched upon concerning the rewards of the Martyrs (because the sufferings of this present age are by no means worthy to be compared with the greatness of the heavenly glory, which shall be perpetual and everlasting), yet these are the perpetual triumphs of the Saints, which are rightly handed down in writings for posterity; so that if they should not have the opportunity of suffering, their minds nevertheless, kindled with the ardor of emulation, may obtain an unspotted life by the contrition of the body and the imitation of the martyrdom of those saints. Therefore we relate the conflicts and victories of the most blessed Epipodius and Alexander, Christ triumphing in them: so that the faith of believers may both desire and follow the example placed before them.
[2] Therefore, in the seventeenth c year of the empire of the Emperor Antoninus Verus, when the fury of the Gentiles was raging through the provinces, Sts. Epipodius and Alexander it raged especially in the city of Lyons: in which, according to its greatness, the greater the peoples who dwelt there, the more copious also was the rage of the Gentiles that seethed there. Judges, Officials, Tribunes, soldiers, denounced, are sought out, the common people, vied in tearing the Christians with manifold cruelty, even without distinction of sex: of whom very many, with distinct sufferings and names, have come down to the memory of succeeding generations, while innumerable others, who were either cut down in indiscriminate slaughter or perished bound in workhouses, are contained only in the inscribed Book of celestial life. For after the most vast slaughter of Martyrs and d the cruelty of raging sufferings, concerning which the servants of Christ, whom the most illustrious cities of Vienne and Lyons then held, sent writings to the Churches of Asia and Phrygia; when the name of Christ was almost entirely believed extinguished by the Gentiles; through a domestic betrayal, Epipodius and Alexander were reported to the Governor as secretly giving service to the Catholic cult of the faith: joined in faith and love: whom he, with solicitous search, wishing to extinguish in them the remnants of the detested Religion, ordered to be sought out.
[3] But, the order of the passion being interrupted a little, it is fitting to make known briefly what sort and what manner of men they were. Alexander indeed was by nationality a Greek, while Epipodius was a native of the city of Lyons. Moreover, while they were little boys, the fellowship of school, and later a love already manly, had joined them in their earliest age: and so, most learned in letters, with concord growing, they advanced toward God; so that, though they were Christians, and instructed by the most noble parents, they yet mutually stirred each other to the incitements of religion. For by sobriety, frugality, chastity, faith, works of mercy, they so prepared themselves as victims worthy of God, that the glory brought on by martyrdom would be of profit to the merit of their consummation. They were both conspicuous in the flower of youth, and not yet entangled in conjugal bonds: but when the persecution was raging, fulfilling the Gospel precepts, since they could not withdraw to another or even third city, they sought a hiding-place there. Going out secretly from the enclosure of the walls, in that village which is situated near e the Cut Rock, they hid themselves, without any companions, in the cottage of a certain religious and faithful widow. And when for some time they had lain concealed there, they are found in their hiding-place, covered by the faith of the little woman and by the humility of the place; at length a keen inquisitor found them; and a hostile hand seized them as they fled through the narrow entrance of the little cell: who so trembling rushed out among those leaping in, that Saint Epipodius, in his fear springing forth, lost the shoe of one foot: which afterwards the faithful woman hid as though she had found a treasure.
[4] And so, captured, even before examination, the prison received them: for the very name "Christian" was held to be the name of a manifest crime. Then after three days, with their hands bound behind their backs, they were set before the tribunal of the Governor: whom the most cruel Judge, with the multitude of Gentiles standing by and f roaring, interrogated concerning their name and profession. confessing Christ in judgment, They both betrayed their own names, and clearly testified that they were Christians. The Judge therefore is inflamed, and a popular outcry is raised, and at once the madness of all rises against the innocent. The magistrate rebukes them, attests his fury with a cry of this kind: they are terrified with threats "Does human rashness still persevere against the immortal gods? Are the sanctions of the princes still torn to pieces; and in one and the same crime of majesty, the emperor and the gods assailed? Where are the torments we have inflicted? where the crosses? where the swords? where the beasts? where the red-hot plates? where the severity procured even beyond the bounds of death? Men have been extinguished, their tombs do not remain, and yet the memory of Christ persists. O you to be punished, with what daring have you persisted in a forbidden religion? Now you shall pay the penalties for the rashness of your presumption."
PART II.
[5] Lest they should encourage one another or fortify each other with speech or nods, Alexander, who was stronger in age, is thrust aside, Saint Epipodius is tempted by flatteries, and Epipodius is brought forward: whom, separated and alone, while he was making game of him in his mind from conjecture of his tenderer age, using the craftiness of the ancient serpent, he plies with the poisoned art of flatteries: "I see you," he says, "are a youth: and it is wrong that you should persevere in the intent of an evil purpose and perish. We worship the immortal gods, whom the whole body of peoples, whom even the most sacred Princes venerate with their proper names. We worship the gods with joy, banquets, songs, games, feasting, and lasciviousness: but you worship a crucified man, who cannot be pleased by those who enjoy all these things: who spurns license, who delights in fasts, who, condemning pleasures, loves a sad and barren chastity. But what benefit can he confer on anyone, who could not defend himself from the assault of the vilest men? All of which things I have woven together for you, so that, as a young man, fleeing austerity, you may enjoy the blessedness of this world with delight and with joy."
[6] To this the blessed Epipodius: "The affection of Christ and of the Catholic faith has not so armed me, that the fictions of your mercy should move my sense. he answers nobly: For this piety of yours is cruelty; to live with you is eternal death: but to perish at your hands is glorious. Of our eternal Lord Jesus Christ, whom you mention as crucified, you know not that he has risen again, who, by an ineffable mystery, both man and God, has instituted for his servants the path of immortality, and leads them to the heavenly kingdoms. But to speak with you in a common way, since you do not receive lofty things; is your mind so blinded that you do not know that man consists of the double substance of soul and body? We rather use the command of the soul and the service of the body. The base things, by which you worship your demons, delight the members of the body, and destroy the minds. What sort of life is that where the better part suffers loss? We undertake wars against the body for the soul: we fight against the vices for the soul. Your god is the belly, and after the prodigal gluttony of cattle, you judge the end of the present life as the end of death. But we, whoever of us perish by your persecution, while we leave behind temporal things, enter upon the life of eternity."
[7] his mouth being smashed with fists, he is more emboldened But the Judge, fixed with envy and astonishment at this reply, and stirred by the prick of anger, orders the dwelling-place of his admirable eloquence, that is, the mouth of the Martyr, to be crushed with blows of fists. he is killed with the sword. And thereupon Saint Epipodius, made more steadfast by the pain inflicted, with his teeth mingled with blood, poured forth these words: "I confess Christ to be God together with the Father and the Holy Spirit, and it is right that I should give back my soul to him who is both my Creator and Redeemer. For thus my life is not taken away, but is changed for the better. Nor does it matter in what manner the weakness of the body is dissolved; provided that the soul, k borne into the heavens, may return to its Author." When the blessed Epipodius spoke these things with steady assertion, by the order of the savage judge he is hung on the rack, with lictors standing on either side, so that his sides might be furrowed by the pressed claws. Then suddenly there arose a terrible shout of the people, asking that he be given to them, either to be overwhelmed with a shower of stones, or to be torn limb from limb and mangled in the madness of those raging. Thus through the fury of all the cruelty of the judge was slow. But the Governor, fearing lest he should further suffer violence, and the reverence of authority and judgment be disturbed by sedition, in order to quiet the precipitous and insane fury of the surrounding multitude, he is suspended and torn with claws, and to extinguish the cause of the commotion, orders him, led outside the tribunal, to be hastily struck with the sword. And so, the more hostile was the tumult of the enemies, the more quickly, by divine disposition, was the consummation of his martyrdom hastened: so that Christ the rewarder might the more swiftly receive his child, triumphing over the passion and over the persecutors, who is blessed forever.
PART III.
[8] The blessed Martyrs Epipodius and Alexander
infancy first joined, then adolescence instructed in the fear of God, l youth confirmed; until, joined in spirit and merits, they came to martyrdom, which by the gift of God they received together. But while our Lord Jesus Christ so dispenses the victorious crowns of his soldiers, that those who were joined to him by temporal confession Saint Alexander called three days later, doubles the triumph and the feast. should be separated in death, we judge it rightly granted to us, that we should enjoy a double solemnity in them. For while their feasts come on alternate days, and we venerate them with inseparable affection; not on single days, but with twofold observances we honor both twice. And as the solemnity of the day before yesterday celebrated Saint Epipodius enrolled in heaven, so by today's festivity we rejoice that the blessed Alexander has come to the heavenly kingdom. For this reason let us now return to the history of the passion.
[9] Therefore, when the Martyr Epipodius had been slain, the persecutor, still sprinkled with fresh blood, brought before the Governor, thirsted for the blood of blessed Alexander. Whom, received from prison, after a delayed examination and a day interposed, he commanded to be offered to his fury; so that by his sufferings he might temper not only his own rage, but also the madness of the stirred and raging people. Yet even now he tempted him with this inquiry: "Still it is in your power to escape by the m examples of your predecessors, and to see what you hold. He is tempted to apostasy: For we have so persecuted the worshipers of Christ n that I think you almost alone have remained. For besides the other bands of the slain, the very partner of your folly has succumbed: and therefore, if you take counsel for yourself, venerate the immortal gods with the burning of incense."
[10] Blessed Alexander said: "I give thanks to the Lord, that while you unfold the glorious triumphs of the Martyrs, and recall the torments inflicted, he refutes the Governor's sayings: you also confirm me in devotion by your examples. Do you think, then, that the souls you have poured out are extinguished? They indeed possess heaven: but on the contrary, the persecutors have perished in that contest. For your opinion deceives you: the Christian name cannot be extinguished, which is so firmly established by God's founding, that it is both preserved by the life of men, and propagated by their deaths. Our God possesses the heavens which he made; he holds the earth, he rules the underworld: and the souls which you judge slain, the heavenly kingdom has received: but you with your gods, the underworld will keep. And because I know my dearest brother has been placed in supreme joy, o the more secure I enter upon the way of devotion. For I am a Christian, and always have been, and will be unto the glory of God. But you, exercise the body, which from earthly weakness seems addicted to [p] the lots of the world; for the rest, let him who bestowed them keep and receive our souls."
[11] amid fearful lashings At these things the Governor, raging with mingled shame and fury, ordered Saint Alexander, spread out, to be beaten by three men taking turns who, cast down by no humble reply amid the torments, always implored the protection of God. And when for a very long time, as his beaters took turns in succession, he was not broken; the Governor asks whether he still continues in this confession. To his question with unshaken authority he answered, that the gods of the Gentiles are demons, not deities: he zealously professes the faith but that God almighty, invisible, eternal, was the guardian of his purpose.
[12] Then therefore the Judge said: "The Christians have burst forth into such madness, that by the length of their punishments they think to gain glory for themselves, and judge that they have overcome their persecutors, whom it is right to consume by a swift end. The Martyr dies on the cross. Since therefore it is wrong both to hear and see them in their obstinacy, let Alexander therefore, fixed to the cross, pour out his soul as he deserves." After which sentence the ministers and savage executioners took the blessed Alexander, and with his arms and hands stretched in opposite directions, bound him with the saving sign. Nor, however, were the torments of the blessed Martyr long prolonged: for so torn was his body by the cruelty of the beaters, that, the framework of his ribs being dissolved and his entrails laid open, the secrets of his soul were revealed. For while he was wholly in Christ, [q] and now, already weary, was invoking him with his last words, dying he gave up his blessed spirit.
PART IV
[13] These therefore, always concordant and companions, because death had divided them, Both are buried in a cave of the valley: burial joined them, when the Christians stealing the bodies, drew them secretly outside the city and buried them hidden. For there was on a hill above the city [r] a place thickened with close-set stems, and there, in the manner of a cave, a valley enclosed by shrubs and briers lay hidden, and, as it happens where flowing moisture is poured in by natural service, an uncultivated fruitfulness. In that recess the venerable bodies were buried by religious provision; because the fury of the Gentiles, denying a final burial, raged even against the lifeless bodies. But afterwards the cult of the religious preserved the venerable place, and the reverence handed down through posterity made it known, and very many miracles which proclaimed the power of the Saints.
[14] Through the shoe of Saint Epipodius a fever is cured: For when, in the succeeding time, the people of Lyons were suffering widely from a raging disease; a certain young man, noble by birth, greatly inflamed by the force of fevers, was admonished by a vision to seek a remedy from the woman [s] who had the shoe of the Martyr. She answered that she knew nothing of medicine: but by the mercy of the Lord, with help brought through the relics of the Martyr by her hospitable care, she did not deny that she had cured very many: and immediately Lucia offered him a blessing and the [t] cup of salvation of her hospitality. Who, when he received the drink and the remedy of his thirst, immediately so recovered with the ardor extinguished, that he was said to have been restored to life and health not by human aid, but by the marvelous help of divinity, very many miracles are wrought. This virtue of faith and of the Saints is spread throughout the whole city, and an innumerable multitude, while they received the health of the body, received also the increments of faith; and there was made a present and eternal medicine of limbs and of minds. [v] But also afterwards in those places these marvels are shown: the casting out of demons, the curing of the weak, the restoration of health: which so nearly daily and greater than these are happening, that credulity, though it be spontaneous, is extinguished by the existing miracles. Therefore it is fitting that faith be applied to words and deeds: because the friendly power, virtue, and dignity of God, as it loves the faithful and believing, so it abandons the doubters. Therefore let us not doubt that those things are true, [x] which we have considered manifest by hearing and see, our Lord Jesus Christ reigning, to whom be glory forever and ever, Amen.