ON ST. JUSTIN THE BOY MARTYR IN THE TERRITORY OF PARIS.
PRELIMINARY COMMENTARY.
Justin, Martyr, in the territory of Paris (S.)
BHL Number: 4581
J. B. S.
§ I. The cult of the Saint and the elogia of the Parisians.
In the territory of Paris, of Justin the martyr, Usuard first among the classic ones wrote, as you will find observed in its place: subsequently the more recent ones wrote, and also the Roman on this same day; so that about the cult more need not here be disputed. A most ancient cult If the Hieronymian Corbie codex is believed, his memory in the sacred Fasti must be called much more ancient; but since it is absent from the other copies, it is most probable that these words were superadded to the original list: In the territory of Paris, in the very place which is called Lupera, the passion of St. Justin the martyr, as we have shown was so often done by the Gallican librarians, especially in the Saints of Auxerre. This at least is certain enough from these, that already from the 9th century St. Justin the boy martyr was celebrated in the village of Lupera, as Castellanus also noted, and beyond doubt in the very city. In this I observe turns the hinge of a graver controversy, whether to him, or to St. Justus, also a boy martyr, of Beauvais, are to be fitted the metrical Acts which are circulated under the name of the venerable Bede. In which matter, that I may proceed in order, I shall give what is read about St. Justin in Saussay, in the Paris Breviary, and in the most well-known history of that church by Gérard Dubois, presbyter of the Oratory.
[2] This I would premise in a word, that the festivity of St. Justin is constantly commemorated in the Fasti on this day, 1 August, At Paris it is deferred to the 8th day. whatever at Paris—in whose church it is celebrated only with a semidouble rite, on account of the intervening feasts of a greater order—it be deferred, not to the Nones, as Saussay will have it, which perhaps was done in his time, but to the 6th of the Ides, or the 8th day of this month, as the Breviary of the edition of the year 1680 expressly expresses; which perhaps is also observed in the very church of Lupera dedicated to the name of St. Justin, although I find it nowhere expressed. That I may now pursue the elogia, those will wonder with me who know the accustomed elegance of the Gallican Martyrologist, that here the elogium of Saussay himself seems a little more meager; so that you would almost doubt whether he consulted the Acts themselves, which exist both in Bede, volume 3 of his works from page 367, and also in Surius on the 18th of October, not in prose, as the recent Gallican Legendist wrongly narrates, but the meter being plainly preserved, related on that day on which St. Justus of Beauvais recurs. More conformable to the Acts are the lessons of the said Breviary; but I will say more neatly, or more confidently, the praised historian of the church of Paris embraced the whole matter, to be dealt with by us below with the rest. Let us now pursue the matter, beginning from Saussay.
[3] Thus he himself on the said 1st day of August: In the territory of Paris, The elogium of Saussay on this day in the village of Lupera, the birthday of St. Justin, a boy and most valiant martyr, there crowned under Diocletian. This blessed boy, born in the city of Auxerre, his father Matthew, a man an excellent cultivator of Christian piety, while still nine years old prevented by heavenly benediction in the largess of graces, and so irradiated by the divine spirit that he already flourished with the gift of prophecy; having set out with his father to Amiens, to render an office of piety to a certain kinsman; (going whither, he clothed a poor naked man, his own tunic being taken off:) illumined by supernal power, he discerned the kinsman, unknown to him by face, from the rest, and restored the captive to liberty by supernal aid. And then, with his father received into hospitality in the house of a certain pious man, by name Lupus, when he accumulated much interest of the grace divinely bestowed on him, by Rictius Varus, a savage governor, he was ordered to be apprehended with his parent and companions.
[4] not accurate enough. But the same night the holy boy, escaped with the same companions, but on the next day intercepted by emissaries on the road which leads from Beauvais to Paris, and when, beyond the rest of those affected, a boy of so little age betrayed a religious fervor, being asked who he was, having answered most constantly and above human strength that he was both a Christian and prepared to suffer the utmost for the faith of Christ, bound by the executioners and struck by the deadly sword, by the cutting off of the head, which he intrepidly offered to be cut off, he consummated the glorious contest. Whose funeral the pious companions (whom the divine power preserved unharmed), providing with fitting religion, carried the head, as, foreknowing his martyrdom, he had forewarned, to Auxerre to his mother, but the body, not far from the place of the passion, to the village called Lupera, marked out beforehand by himself, they buried, carrying it there, where a sacred edifice built thereafter perpetuated his trophy, conspicuous to these very days. From which, however, on account of the more frequent incursions of the barbarians into the Gauls, carried down as far as Paris of the Parisians (in whose territory Lupera is placed), for the safeguard of a more secure protection, it was laid up in the high edifice of the holy Mother of God, where hitherto it rests, and on the anniversary birthday the Martyr himself is honored, on the Nones of this month; because by other solemnities that and the three following continuous days are hindered, as appears from the diptychs of that church.
[5] They are nearly equal in reading; And these things Saussay, mingling not a few things not sufficiently conformable to the Acts, as will manifestly appear from the following. Have now the lessons of the Paris Breviary: Lesson IV. Justin, as the venerable Bede relates, born at Auxerre of Christian parents, while still a boy endowed with the gift of prophecy, was the author to his father Matthew that they should set out together to Amiens, to redeem his brother Justinian, for many years reduced to servitude. As they went thither, there met them at Melun, at the gate of the city, a certain needy blind and lame man, naked and almost killed with hunger, to whom Matthew gave alms, but Justin his tunic, his father however much resisting. At Paris they were most humanely received by a certain man, by name Hippolytus. Thence they betook themselves to Amiens, to the house of Lupus, who was the master of Justinian: and there Justin obtained from Lupus the manumission of his brother. Lesson V. But when they had learned from Lupus that Rictiovarus, whom Diocletian and Maximian had sent as prefect into Gaul, had ordered inquiry to be made after them, they escaped by night. Of whose flight the prefect being made more certain, commanded four horsemen to bring them bound or to kill them.
[6] Not far from Lupera, Justin with Matthew and Justinian was refreshing himself at a spring, Of the Paris Breviary: when, foreknowing the future, he gave them counsel that they should hide in a nearby cave, because the horsemen sent by the prefect were not far off; who, arriving a little after, found only the boy. Lesson VI. Being interrogated by them about his name, religion, companions, Justin answered that his name indeed was Justin, his religion Christian; but that by the law of the Gospel he was cautioned not to betray any of his companions. At which answer the soldiers being driven into fury, one of them cut off Justin's head. The trunk of the body, taking the head with both hands, stood immobile before the lictors: who, terrified by the prodigious spectacle, withdrew. But Matthew and Justinian, having come out of the cave, carried the Martyr's head to Auxerre to his mother: the body being first buried, as he had wished, at Lupera: which was thence translated into the church of Paris. Now let us hear the Paris historian treating also of St. Justin in few words, page 32, after he had somewhat fortified the way in the preceding page toward the end, where, treating of the persecution of Maximian, to explain a most difficult chronological point, he thus speaks:
[7] To the same times I think the martyrdom of the boy Justin should be referred. then what, a little otherwise That this one suffered under the rule of Diocletian and Maximian, but in the governorship of Rictiovarus, in the territory of Paris, Bede writes; the time, I say, of that contest is to be ascribed to the first years of these princes, nor is it easy to reject it to another time. For Bede in his Acts, which he composed in meter, made no mention of Constantius, who nevertheless, when he was first created Caesar, began to govern the Gauls, and under which prince it is said that the Gallican churches rested. Wherefore he should here summon Constantius, I do not see; the whole difficulty, as I shall soon say, consists in this, that the times of Rictiovarus cannot be composed with St. Amator bishop of Auxerre, the predecessor of the great Germanus. Lo now the elogium: Justin, born at Auxerre of a Christian father, was straightway adorned in a wonderful manner with virtues and spiritual gifts. A boy of nine years, he thought about redeeming his brother, whom the barbarians had captured, and for that cause sets out with his father to Amiens, where he had been divinely admonished that he was living among the services. On the journey many things happened which greatly commend the boy's sanctity.
[8] he hands down At the Melun fort a beggar perishing of nakedness and hunger, he himself, his tunic taken off, his father rather admiring than approving, covered; at Paris of the Parisians by Hippolytus, a most distinguished man, though unknown, he is kindly received into hospitality; when he thought to cross the Oise, and there was no little boat, Justin prayed to God; and suddenly a ferryman stood by, who carried him across in a skiff without fare; and when he had come to Amiens, he went to the house of Lupus, where his brother was held, alone recognized him lurking among the servants, and without price obtained his liberty. Rictiovarus, governor of the province at that time, at Maximian's command, harassed
the Christians: he, hearing that foreign Christians were staying in the city, orders Justin with his companions at once to be hurried to punishment. But secretly dismissed by their host Lupus, they consult for their safety by flight, and hasten immediately to return to their fatherland. Stealthily therefore they go out from Amiens; they returned, having together entered the road by which one goes to Paris. Now they had nearly reached Lupera, which is a village of the territory of Paris; they, wearied from the journey, and killed with hunger, sit down together at a spring, and prepare to refresh their body, when lo, four satellites, whom Rictiovarus had sent to pursue them.
[9] The Paris historian. Justin awaits these intrepidly, while his companions seek hiding-places at a nearby rock. Being asked by the satellites who he was? whether he worshipped the Gods? whither his companions had fled? he answered without hesitating that he was called Justin, and was a Christian, and moreover execrated the worship of the Gods, nor would he betray his companions. When they received nothing else from the youth, they cut off his head, and immediately depart. The father, the lictors being gone, collects the sacred relics of the Martyr; the body indeed he buries in the village of Lupera, but the head, as a sacred pledge, he carries to Auxerre to the mother; which remained laid up in the house many years, until Amator bishop of this city learned that the sacred deposit was hidden there, which with great solemnity he translated into the church. His body was translated from Lupera into the greater basilica of the Parisians, where in a reliquary of gilded wood it is kept with great honor. His memory is celebrated in the ecclesiastical tables on the Kalends of August.
§ II. Various difficulties of the elogia and the Acts.
But thus he speaks That I may begin from the last-related, whoever compares the Acts themselves, to be given below, with the narration of the Paris historian, will immediately observe that he said what he wished, not what he had found in the rhythm, so that he does not loose the knots of the difficulties, but cuts them at mere pleasure. Attend, I beseech, to those words, where about the head of the holy Boy carried to Auxerre to the mother the historian thus roundly pronounces: Which remained laid up in the house many years, until Amator bishop of this city learned that the sacred deposit lay hidden there, which with great solemnity he translated into the church. What is it to twist the Acts to one's own sense, as it were with wrenched neck—I would say to wrest them—if this is not it? I have already insinuated that this especially vexes the learned, that the writer of the Acts so institutes the narration, and adorns it with such adjuncts, that willy-nilly you are compelled to admit that the sacred deposit did not, as Dubois says, lie hidden there a hundred years and more, and then first was translated into the church; but that in the very lifetime of St. Amator it arrived there, who received the deposit with great solemnity, and even then honorably and with great solemnity exposed to the people for cult and veneration that sacred head of the blessed Martyr, as is most manifestly given to be understood from the very rhythm. Lo the little verses reckoned in order from number 24:
[11] so that the Life, such as it is But his head they had brought to his mother; which she received rejoicing, giving thanks to God, because he had taken to himself his innocent soul: saying, To thee, O Christ, honor, praise and jubilation, because thou hast deigned to take up this boy, and to associate him with thy blessed Martyrs. But thou, blessed Justin, my sweetest son, who hast entered the kingdom of Christ with the palm of victory, there be mindful of me in thy intercessions. As his mother prayed these things with tears, soon a great light shone over the dwelling in which his holy head was held placed. And this light had illumined all things round about, so that those who were present in the city marveled: and it was night when this miracle was done. In those days Amator, a man of the Lord, had ruled the episcopal see at Auxerre, whom the gifts of divine charisms adorned. He, when he beheld the splendor sent from heaven, ordered three presbyters to go to the house of Matthew, who should studiously inquire about that portent.
To whom Matthew related all in order, that he may invert the text: how the matter had happened concerning St. Justin, both about his passion, and about his buried body. He subjoins also about the head brought to his mother, how a light from heaven at the third hour of the night illumined that whole house in which it was. These things the presbyters report to their pontiff, who had straightway ordered all the clergy to be present: they give thanks to the Almighty for the miracle. Finally this deed is made known through the people; all run together rejoicing, they glorify the Martyr, nay the Lord who had so magnified him. Meanwhile, at the command of the holy prelate Amator, the holy head, worthily placed in a bier, is carried with honor and hymns to the church; and in the place which the bishop prepared for himself, he had provided that it be there reverently laid up, where the holy Martyr affords many benefits. The last number, or the 27th, narrates a memorable miracle about a blind girl sixteen years old, who through the patronage of the most holy Martyr obtained the light of her eyes.
[12] There is altogether no need of an interpreter, that from these you may most clearly perceive which is not easy to reconcile; what I have already forewarned about that historian; so that he would have spoken much more sincerely, if he had said that this biographer wandered from the truth by the whole heaven, when he unskillfully connected incompatible things: which accordingly are as far from the sincerity and historical skill of Bede as they are distant from the true reckoning of the times, most basely confused there. But Dubois wished to defend the matter as done under Maximian, and so, Rictius Varus persecuting, St. Justin crowned with martyrdom, being compelled accordingly to corrupt the end, that he might better fit it with the beginning. But what if with equal right someone should contend that Rictius Varus was badly intruded there, and that rather some barbarian should be substituted, whether an Alan, or a Sueve, or a Vandal, whom we know at the beginning of the fifth century to have depopulated those parts of Gaul, no account being had of sex or age, raging against every kind of men, especially against the Christians, in which way all things will most rightly agree which are so expressly mentioned by the biographer as done by St. Amator, then bishop of Auxerre. Neither do I please to assert, but I think even this single article suffices, that I should adjudge those Acts, such as they are, away from the Venerable Bede, whom it is not probable to have slipped into so enormous an anachronism.
[13] Nor is it this alone in the Life so often mentioned—which we also have converted into prose from the Bodecen codex of the canons regular of the diocese of Paderborn, as neither to combine the rest: described by our Father Gamans; nor is it this alone, I say, that displeases in that marvelous history; for, to run through a few things in few words, to a boy of nine years are attributed things which far surpass his age, unless he was wholly a miracle from his tiny nails—or, if you prefer, miraculous—and from then a prophet and apostle, as you have in number 4 and following. Then indeed in numbers 8 and 9 he acts the doctor, wise above his parent. Nor less marvelous are the things which there follow, especially the crossing of the Oise, and then the recognition of his brother Justinian, whom some name a paternal uncle, others a maternal uncle, others merely a kinsman. What is then narrated from number 16 about the flight of the father and sons from Amiens toward Paris, and indeed as far as Lupera, altogether twenty-two leagues, how the same could be accomplished on that night on which they had fled from the hospitality of Lupus, without a new crossing of the Oise, I am mistaken if anyone can easily conceive; to say nothing of the rest, equally, nay even more, astonishing, which I could wish confirmed by a little greater authority, before I altogether embrace them.
[14] much less to discern And granting now that these things could have been done, nay even were done, there remains the capital controversy between the Parisians and the people of Beauvais, these long contending for their Justus, those for Justin, of whom we here treat, since to both (inasmuch as both boys of nine years) altogether the same Acts are attributed, and under the same name of the venerable Bede, to such a degree that Surius related his Legend not on 1 August, but on the 18th of October, on which Justus is certainly celebrated at Beauvais, and indeed with far greater solemnity than Justin at Paris. I have before my eyes the very metrical Life translated into Flemish under the express title: The Life of the holy martyr Justus, a boy of nine years, written by the venerable Bede, which was printed at Antwerp in the Plantin office in the year 1629, where to a scruple the interpreter pursued whatever he found handed down under the name of Bede, with this only exception, that for Justin he substituted Justus, thinking both the same, since at the beginning he says he was called Justin or Justus, which last name everywhere thereafter he carefully keeps; for the rest calling the father Matthew, and the brother Justinian.
[15] whether the Acts are of Justus of Beauvais. Not so speak, at least not uniformly, the various other manuscript Lives of the same St. Justus, collected from diverse codices by Rosweyd and by our Elders, on which I find it observed that another exists in Mombritius, which seems more recent, which it is not of this place to weigh at more length: further, a compendium of the Life represented by Peter de Natalibus book 9, chapter 80. Finally, that the chief difference is that the metrical one calls Justinian the brother of Justus (to us, of Justin), but the prose one places Justinian as the brother of the parent, and the paternal uncle of Justus. They could add that the name of Justin was there transferred to the father, but Justinian is also named a maternal uncle, and so three in order are called Justus, Justin and Justinian, although even in that they vary not once, as it were at the discretion or unskillfulness of the librarians: so that in all these not a few traces of a freer wit, nothing sufficiently firm or solid, can be found; nay rather new arguments occur by which the sincerity of the Legend is more and more impugned.
[16] or of this our Justin. Almost another seems to have been, the matter not yet weighed attentively enough, the opinion of our Elders: for by chance I lit upon the observation of Papebroch in the Appendix after volume VII of May, page 825, where he thus speaks: But Claudius Castellanus suggests St. Honorina of Confluentia (commonly Conflans) in the diocese of Paris on the 27th of February, to whom the Acts of St. Dorothy virgin and martyr had been fitted, as our Henschenius long ago noted: likewise St. Justus, martyr in the diocese of Beauvais on the 18th of October, to whom similarly are accommodated the Acts of St. Justin at Lupera, to be referred to 1 August. Certainly—but are they to be approved? are they to be vindicated to Justin rather than to Justus? To me in this matter it pleases no more to act as arbiter than where there is controversy about the relics. Here we give St. Justin with his Acts to the Parisians, about to give in its own time their Justus to the people of Beauvais, whether they were two different ones or a single one, whose relics were shared with both churches; unless perhaps translated elsewhere, as the instruments soon to be related will teach, when we shall have forewarned a few things about this new edition of our Acts.
[17] The metrical ones are given. It was at first doubtful whether it were better here to reprint the prose Acts from the manuscript, as we have already said, of the Bodecen monastery; or rather to imitate Surius, who, the meters being preserved, so consequently edited them as if in prose
were read, which we said deceived the Gallic Legendist, otherwise so keen-nosed; or finally to render the original text, in bound speech in whatever way; which last we thought should be preferred, although the badly twisted little verses sometimes sound something barbarous, betraying openly enough the poet's unskillfulness, on which head too it is a scruple to ascribe them to Bede. We have distinguished them by numbers, that they may more easily be cited, but we have not judged them such as would deserve to be illustrated with observations. The whole history is plain and intelligible enough, far to be more pleasing if it rested on a more solid authority. And let these things about the Legend, such as it is, in relation to St. Justin of Paris, be enough said; the things which pertain to St. Justus, whose head they will have kept here at Antwerp among the Annunciate nuns, we remit to their proper place, to be examined anew on the 18th of October. Lo now another knot equally entangled about the translation first of the body of St. Justin, then of the head, to which matter will serve:
§ III. The translation of St. Justin to Corvey in Saxony.
The sacred body of our holy Boy, now translated from the first place of burial at Lupera into the church of Paris, now metropolitan, And here all things are entangled, exposed in a gilded reliquary, and there today honored also with an ecclesiastical Office, we have already seen, while the Annals and Chronicles of New Corvey speak no otherwise than as if the sacred little body, already from the 9th century, had been translated into that celebrated monastery, in the sixty-eighth year after the foundation, as the history will soon teach. Here from the Annals edited by Leibniz, volume 2 of the Brunswick Writers, page 299, we premise these few things, expressly designating the very year, namely 891, in which the body of St. Justin the martyr was carried from France into our monastery with a great procession. Which same things the Syntagma of Christian Franz Paulinus relates exactly, page 375: so that it is plainly consequent that a most-received opinion once existed there, that the body of St. Justin of Paris had been deposited there for so many centuries; to which, as the same history subjoins, the head itself also afterward accrued. Before which I proceed, I have judged that the judgment of Mabillon about that whole history should here be set before the learned, from the Acts of the Saints of the Benedictine Order, fourth century, part 1, from page 526, whose words are these:
[19] About the translation of the relics of St. Justin or Justus the boy, which Mabillon left untouched. who under the emperors Diocletian and Maximian, under the governor Rictiovarus, suffered martyrdom in Gaul, it would have to be treated at the year 891, in which his relics were translated from France to New Corvey by abbot Bovo on the 6th of the Kalends of April, as is read in the history written on this matter at the end of the Chronicle of New Corvey in Meibom after Witichind. But since in that history few things worthy of memory are found, I have prudently here passed it over, as also the translation of the head of the same Saint, which Gubernus, tenth abbot of the people of Corvey, obtained from the emperor Otto in the year 949. What Mabillon thinks about the truth of the whole matter, unless I am greatly mistaken, he leaves to be divined; inasmuch as what at last he should determine, he did not easily dare to define. And this same reckoning must here be kept by us: so that accordingly it is enough to have exhibited the controverted matter, the power of inquiring or disputing more being left to others; since we have already so often protested that it is fixed for us wholly to abstain from settling litigations of this kind. Have therefore, as for what remains, the history itself, edited not once, and most recently by Meibom volume 1 of the German Writers, page 769.
[20] They will have the body of St. Justin It is subjoined to the narration about the translation of St. Vitus and the institution of New Corvey, under this proper title: On the translation of St. Justin to New Corvey. But the writer, whoever he was, thus begins: The blessed boy Justin suffered in the times of Diocletian and Maximian, under the most impious judge Rictiovarus. Whence, according to the faith of the Chronicles, we gather that he suffered in that most atrocious and incomparable persecution, the tenth after Nero: which, more monstrous even than the earlier persecutions, while it sent a venerable multitude of Martyrs to the heavens, among whom also the excellent college of St. Maurice, and the mirror of innocence, Vitus the martyr of Christ with his coevals, nobly triumphed. But the head of blessed Justin at Autricum, which is now called Auxerre, and the body in the place which he himself had designated, was given to burial. If the account should stop there, and should nakedly assert that St. Vitus as well as Justin suffered in such a persecution, and that the sacred bodies of those names were brought from wherever, it is wonderful from how many disputes it would preclude the way. But both St. Vitus had to be held a Sicilian, and Justin of Lupera, as you will plainly understand from the following. Thus the writer proceeds:
[21] translated to Corvey in Saxony After many courses of years, the faith now flourishing, when the very lords of affairs preferred the cross to the diadem, the emperor Charles, whose fame will not fail even with the age, ennobled Saxony, subdued to the Romans by war, with the faith and service of Christ. When his progeny had ruled the Roman kingdom after him for a hundred and sixteen years, Arnulf succeeded by hereditary right: for to Charles succeeded Louis the Pious, to Louis the Pious Louis the Second, to Louis the Second Louis the Third, to Louis the Third Charles the child, to Charles Arnulf. In whose third year, to Bovo abbot of Corvey, who was called pious and a lover of the brethren, deceased, succeeded Godescalc, sixth abbot of that place; who, in the second year of his ordination, consulting for the safety of the fatherland, placed the body of the blessed boy and martyr Justin, translated from France into Saxony, in the Corvey monastery in the year of the Lord 891, the sixty-eighth from the founding of the place, on the sixth of the Kalends of April, with the other bodies of the Saints, to our perpetual peace.
[22] from things marvelous enough About which abbot, with how merciful a correction in this life he was cleansed, which we find in the writings of Thietmar the venerable bishop of Merseburg, we have inserted for the utility of readers. Further, the history which follows about the monk Alfrius, or Alfrid or Alaric, since it is wholly referred to St. Vitus, I know not why it is here intermingled, where there is discourse about the translation of St. Justin alone. There is narrated in that digression a horrible vision of demons insulting the sick monk, where the most lying spirits pretended to enumerate the errors of his past life in thirty-seven volumes, whom the patronage of St. Vitus marvelously put to flight: then indeed, through the same monk, now plainly restored to health, the Saint wished various things to be intimated to the abbot for a serious emendation of morals; which if he neglected, he would be despised by God, and, still surviving, would see another lord in his own see. He had said these things standing by, and soon the child disappeared; but that the things which had been foretold so came to pass, and that another abbot was set over Godescalc while yet living, the sequel of the history teaches, which can be read at more length there; we shall pursue the other, the part of the translation which follows.
[23] Thus he goes on: Arnulf the emperor being taken from the midst, the histories being there related. Louis, who was called the child, reigned. After whom Conrad, and the kingdom ceased from the house of Charles. Then Henry the Saxon is chosen, by the designation of the dying Conrad, the first of his race and name. When he died, his son Otto succeeded, who with wonderful holiness and devotion established an archbishopric on the bank of the Elbe, in the place which is called Parthenopolis; about which, while he was wholly intent, he enriched it with estates, buildings, gold, silver, gums , and the beauty of exquisite things; and, what is more venerable than all, with the relics of the Saints, above all the churches of this region. Among which he kept the head of the blessed boy Justin, which he himself, cut off, directed to the mother, brought to him from Autricum, and he thought to translate the body from the place where it seems to rest. But Gerbernus, tenth abbot of Corvey, with all the congregation, by prayers with God and with whatever men he could, prayed that the head be joined to the body. But because the assiduous prayer of the just avails much, the instance of the servants of God prevailed, and the emperor, admonished by divine clemency, gave the head to be joined to its body to the venerable abbot Gorbernus. But the abbot and his brethren brought it into the monastery in the year of the Lord 949, on the 3rd of the Kalends of August, the peoples too rejoicing, and crying out in the praise of God. If we shall have believed that we are aided by the prayers of so great a patron, we shall see; our Lord Jesus Christ granting it, who with the Father and the Holy Spirit reigns through all things.
[24] You have the most ancient tradition of Saxon Corvey, What is to be thought of these things. about which what you determine, let it be your own judgment: this I would say securely, that there exist so many Justins and Justuses in our Acts, that if the history now given does not in every way agree with the Paris or Beauvais one, other relics of synonymous Saints will not be lacking, to which the whole matter can conveniently be ascribed, the Acts being set aside, wrongly attributed to this or that one. Such once was, and perseveres today, the piety of good Catholics—shall I say, the zeal and fervor sometimes too excessive—that they wish the relics of the Saints which they honor to be ascribed, even somewhat contentiously, to the more celebrated of that same name; who ought to acquiesce on this sole and just title, that they venerate the true and genuine sacred remains of some Saint, whether synonymous or any other, with lawful and approved cult; which even today both in New Corvey, and at Paris, and at Beauvais is religiously done, no one truly Catholic could deservedly disapprove: which in our work has been demonstrated by innumerable examples, and further will have to be demonstrated more often than one would wish henceforth. Not to go far from New Corvey, what is to be thought about its chief patron St. Vitus can be seen on the 15th of June. Here let there be an end of a web so entangled and gloomy: now the Acts themselves must be exhibited.
Notes* Read sumptu.
* Read gemmis.
METRICAL LIFE
From volume 3 of the works of the Venerable Bede, from column 367.
Justin, Martyr, in the territory of Paris (S.)
BHL Number: 4580
From Bede.
[1] When Christ our God was born of a Virgin, an imperial edict sounded through the world, that of the whole earth a registration should be made: doubtless because in the flesh then he appeared, who in heaven would enroll all the elect, whom the profession of the sacred faith had commended. Which they who shall have worthily observed, with good works, which are as it were a certain census pleasing to the Lord, are enrolled as citizens of the heavenly city. Which census both sexes, every age, exhibits, as the army of very many Martyrs testifies, consisting not only of men, but also of women: Nor only those mature in age underwent martyrdom, but also many, for Christ and the catholic faith, we read to have suffered in tender age:
[2] Of whom the holy Justin, a little boy of nine years, how through his passion he passed to the Lord, the following text will demonstrate to those desiring to know. While the cruel Diocletian of the Roman empire together with Maximian held the monarchy,
such a persecution was stirred against the Christians, that all kinds of penalties were dealt out, wherever it happened that anyone was apprehended whom the title of this profession bound. And lest anyone could protect himself with hiding-places, everywhere in this manner ambushes were laid, which would compel those going into the law of idolatry. To them was no means of buying anything, or of selling, nor was even license given to draw water, before they burned incense to the detestable idols.
[3] At that time there was a certain prefect in Gaul, perfidious, fierce, harsh, hating the name of Christ, and raging against the Christians, Riciovarus by name: Whom, when the above-named princes directed to persecute the saints placed in Gaul, he is straightway made desirous of the slaughter of the saints. And having entered the city by name Basel, where the river Aar carries its courses into the Rhine, he had ordered many Christians there to be drowned. So through all places he gives an impious edict that no one of the Christians should be allowed to live, from whom he decreed life to be taken away through torments. There was at that time in Auxerre a certain good and just man, Matthew by name, and to him Justinian and Justin were sons.
[4] But Justinian in carnal birth had gone before: Justin, however, in the age of his morals had gone ahead, putting on old age through an immaculate life. Who, consummated in a short time, fulfills long times, the praise of his merits remaining unto the ages: because it is established that his soul pleased God. Before this one was born, his elder brother, already named Justinian, is captured by enemies, and from the paternal home is led farther away. But blessed Justin, soon from boyhood, had incessantly given his mind to divine things, the grace of God giving daily progress. Who, when he was strong in the gifts of spiritual virtues, among the rest God conferred this first upon him, that he often had the foreknowledge of future things.
[5] Then through revelation he is instructed by God about his brother's servitude, and about his master, who was called Lupus, dwelling at Amiens: When this had been revealed to him by the Lord, he had straightway striven to narrate this to his father, exhorting that the journey be undertaken for the redemption of his brother: To which his father had thus answered: O son, he said, I know not by what way there is a passage thither: and on account of this what we should do, I confess I know not. Then the holy boy Justin is kindled in mind, and soon traversed all Auxerre, to see if anywhere a guide of the journey might be found for them. But when he was not found who had been sought, the blessed boy, returning, announces this to his father, saying nevertheless that there should be no ceasing from the journey.
[6] Let us go on, he said, father, with Christ as our companion, who will not allow us to be defrauded of our desire, which about redeeming our brother we have in mind. But with Christ also as guide of the way we must traverse: nothing opposes us, nothing will be contrary, but that we walk unharmed, and return safe. To these addresses of his son the father returned these things: I perhaps, he said, could, O sweetest son, endure so great a journey, who am relying on my strength. But for thee, since thou art a boy, I fear that thou canst not, lest perhaps the tenderness of thy body being injured, weary thee, so that of thyself it make thee fail. Answering, holy Justin replied to his father: I am, he said, a servant of Christ, in whom, that I trust, and that I commend myself to him always, father, know thou.
[7] Let us go therefore in his adorable name, committing to him the whole effect of the journey; and what pleases him therein, let it be lovely to us. The father acquiesced in these exhortations of his son, and the things necessary for this journey being taken up, they soon began to set out from Auxerre. And when the day had begun to decline toward evening, received into hospitality in the fort of Melun, they rested there for the space of that same night: To whom at the gate of the fortress a certain poor man meets, who both limped in his gait, and had lacked sight; whom black hunger vexed, and nakedness likewise: To whom, as the presence of Justin became known, he begged that he would give him alms, that he might restore his soul almost wrung out by hunger.
[8] Then the blessed Boy suggests to his father that food should be given to the same hungry man, and food being obtained from the father, he amends his hunger: But he himself, stripping himself of his tunic, studied at once to cover his nakedness, thus affording to the needy man a twofold help. Then the father, moved somewhat against him, began to rebuke him, why he had done so: and calls his so pious deed a loss. Do not, said holy Justin, call this a loss, on account of which blessedness is promised to us, the Holy Spirit saying through David the Psalmist: Happy is he who considers over the needy and the poor man, how in the evil day God frees him, nor is he compelled to fear from an evil report.
[9] Evil for the reprobate is the day on the day of judgment, when they are condemned by God to eternal destruction, to burn with eternal fire together with the devil. They fear from an evil report, to whom in the judgment the voice from the tribunal of Christ sounds terribly: Go from me, accursed ones, into the perpetual fire. But in this evil day, on which the impious are condemned, he deserves to be freed who gives alms, that that evil report may not terrify him: But rather let it be said to him by the mouth of Christ the judge, that he approach the kingdom of God, on account of the alms which Christ himself bestowed on the least brethren. Thou seest, he said, father, with how great a good we shall be recompensed, when from these things which we have we succor the needy: and therefore what to the beggar was given, do not complain.
[10] So at Melun they had rested by night: morning being made, their journey they straightway hasten: and Christ leading them, they came to Paris. Where, received by a certain man by name Hippolytus, they disclosed to him the whole cause for which they had come, namely that they were seeking their captive brother. Accordingly Hippolytus becomes humane enough to them, and when he had refreshed them, had dismissed them in peace, that they might carry out the begun journey with the help of God. Then they, having set out, reached the river Oise: and when it behooved them to cross over it, they found there no little boat. Which when the father of the holy boy had borne with annoyance, the blessed Justin himself uttered to his troubled father a presage shown from heaven.
[11] Although, he said, now at hand no vessel is present, yet we must not be anxious about the journey: because to me by Christ a solace has been shown. For a certain man approaches us with a boat, whose service will be bestowed on us without delay, that we may be able to cross this present river. While the boy was still speaking such things to his parent, behold, a certain boatman comes with his little boat, just as the saint foretold in a prophetic spirit. Then approaching him who had come with the boat, they asked to be helped to cross the river, offering the just price of the passage. The boatman therefore assented readily enough to their request, but when they wished to give the due fare, he accepted nothing, affording the service for free.
[12] But they, hastening, come to Amiens, and inquire for the house of Lupus, the master of their brother: which being soon found, to him they bear suppliant prayers. Whom holy Justin first addresses with these words: We come to thy clemency, saying, O Lupus, that thou mayest give back to us our captive brother free. For it has been ascertained by us that he lives under thee, and to redeem him we have brought our little substance to be given now for thy favor. Then Lupus began to inquire who they were: and learned that they were not feigned worshippers of Christ: and that they were dwelling in Auxerre. But our brother, they say, on account of whom we came hither, and whom from captivity we try to redeem, is called Justinian, and is thy household servant.
[13] I, said Lupus, will provide you hospitality, and I will show all the servants whom I have: and if your brother is here, let him be redeemed for a price. So when they had entered the house of Lupus in the evening, he showed them his twelve servants, among whom was not found the one whom they had sought. But blessed Justin, casting his eyes about, saw a certain boy standing apart from them, in whose hands a lit lamp was carried. This was the brother of Justin the glorious boy, captured, however, before the beginning of his birth, never before that time seen by him. But blessed Justin, full of the Holy Spirit, no man teaching, [him] hitherto unknown, his own brother recognized at once.
[14] For indeed the mind of the Saints, while it cleaves to the Lord, about inner and hidden things is instructed by him, is taught unknown things by a prophetic spirit. This the book shows, narrating the Apostolic acts, where it is frequently read: The Holy Spirit said either to Peter, or to Paul, or to some disciple. In this manner holy Justin, while he recognized his brother, straightway disclosed this to Lupus who held him: He is my brother, he said, who carries the lamp in his hand. To redeem this one, to thee my father had come: be thou benevolent to us henceforth, as thou didst promise, that, accompanied by our brother, we may seek again our own home. These things heard, his brother is rendered astonished, that, never seen by him, he was so recognized:
Those who were present marvel at the unusual thing.
[15] The faithful congratulated one another, rejoicing in the Lord, and for so great a power they give thanks to God, and with praise the name of Christ they frequently redouble. There were there, established at the same time, net-men of the aforesaid judge: who, when they had recognized that they were Christians, Stirred, announced that to their master, if perhaps he wished to command anything about them, according to the laws promulgated against the worshippers of Christ. Then the judge straightway sent those who should bring them, whom, if they had been unwilling to follow, he ordered to be shut in prison, until they could opportunely be presented to him. Meanwhile Lupus, who had received them into hospitality, in the very nocturnal hours had roused them, and exhorted them to depart thence before daybreak.
[16] The prefect's men, he said, were here in the evening, who, when they first learned that you were Christians, hastened to announce this to the prefect, and went off. Therefore the brother whom you sought, lead away with you: the price of redemption I will not exact from you; only flee from here from the persecutors. They having set out, as he exhorted, swiftly there came upon them those sent by the judge himself: who, if they could find them, should apprehend them. And when those were not found who had been sought, they returned to the prefect, those whom he had directed thither, relating that they had already departed from this house. Then the prefect quickly orders that four horsemen should strive to pursue them with most swift course: and to his tribunal should soon bring them.
[17] If they should resist at all, he ordered them to be killed. So, their horses seized, they pursue in haste, whither the holy boy Justin with his own had gone. There is an ancient place, Lupera by name: to which, when they drew near, not far off were the cruel executioners sent by the prefect to them. Then Justinian addresses holy Justin: thou seest, he says, an opportunity to be here at hand, where water can be drawn, and we refreshed with food: If it please, let us sit down to break a little bread, and with a draught of water to extinguish the ardor of thirst, and so afterward we shall be able to set out better. To whom blessed Justin, already foreknowing the future, if, he said, you dispose to taste anything here, this must altogether be done by you more quickly.
[18] For behold, the judge's envoys draw near hither, who, if they shall be able, must lead us to the judge, and to undergo penalties hand us over to him. You therefore, I pray, if you wish, hasten to be refreshed: I, standing by, will watch, if anyone shall come who lies in wait for us by the mandate of the judge. And if anyone for this perhaps shall come upon us, I will converse with him: but you enter, and in the cavern of the present cave hide yourselves. These things in prophetic manner the holy boy speaks, when lo, soon are fulfilled his words, which he foretold about the executioners sent against him. For indeed during the speaking there appeared four, whom the prefect had sent to apprehend them: or if they could not do this, then to kill them.
[19] These being seen, the others snatch themselves into the cave: but blessed Justin stands intrepid, destined by Christ for the glory of martyrdom. To whom the judge's officers, approaching, inquire who he was, what his profession, and who, or where, were the companions he had. To whom he related all in order: I, he said, Justin called by name, that I am held a Christian I exultingly profess: And because you are persecutors of this name, therefore I cannot betray my companions to you, lest on account of me they be subjected to kinds of penalties. Unless, they say, thou betray them to us more quickly, know that thou art now to be slain by our sword, both because thou refusest this to us, and because thou art a worshipper of Christ.
[20] Answering, holy Justin said to the executioners: The holy Gospel indeed promises to us, that whoever for Christ shall have lost his soul, Shall truly keep the same unto eternal life, and therefore to suffer penalties for him I do not fear, by love of him preferring to die, than to live by offending him. But that you order my companions to be betrayed by me, this the holy Gospel nonetheless forbids, the Lord himself showing that he would not have this done. For when in the passion which he endured for us, he himself was demanded to betray his disciples, by no means did he wish to be their betrayer: And when he was apprehended by the persecutors, he commanded that the disciples be allowed to depart: lest, as he had already foretold, he should lose any of them.
[21] Now therefore know, that I do neither: neither that I deny the holy name of Christ from fear of death, nor betray my companions against the Gospel. Against these lessons the messengers grow angry, and by mutual exhortation prepare death for the Saint, whom their wrath forbids even to wait a little. So, his sword drawn at last, one cut off his head, the rest exhorting: thus with glory and praise the Martyr ascended the heavens, With a twofold property having a twofold prize, because he had persevered in the confession of Christ, and had loved his neighbors even unto death: Delighted in the sweet precepts of Christ himself, that he ordered us to be in nothing afraid before those who kill this body, woven of feeble veins:
[22] In this persuaded by the holy apostle John, who, as Christ for us had laid down his soul, so says that we too ought to do for the brethren. Accordingly, to declare of how great glory the same venerable martyr, slain for the Lord, was, a glorious miracle is straightway shown. For his sacrosanct head being cut off, the trunk of the body, taking it in its own hands, had stood immobile before its own lictors: At whose sight, soon astounded by the terror of the prodigy, the persecutors flee, not daring to remain, when they saw the Saint do so great a miracle. But his kin, having come out of the hiding-places, see his holy body standing immobile; and marveling that it bore the severed head in its hands,
[23] They turn various things in mind about his martyrdom, while they judged that he should rejoice in such glory, and again nature suggested to weep about him: But most of all about that they become anxious thence, where the consecrated little body should be buried: and thence they mutually confer colloquies with each other. While they did these things with diverse motion of mind, the head of blessed Justin, which the body carried in its hands, wonderful to say, began freely to address them: And teaching them about the burial of his body, Going, he said, to the place which is called Lupera; and bury my little body there: But to my mother carry this my head, that she may show natural affection toward it, and have with her this pledge of my love:
[24] But if she is held by desire of me, let her strive to follow me, placed in paradise, where the souls of the Saints rest happily. Then they, as the holy martyr Justin had commanded, embalming his body, had buried it there, where he himself had marked the place for this by name. But his head, to his mother they had brought: which she received rejoicing, giving thanks to God, because he had taken to himself his innocent soul: Saying, To thee, O Christ, honor, praise and jubilation: because thou hast deigned to take up this boy, and to associate him with thy blessed martyrs. But thou, blessed Justin, my sweetest son, who hast entered the kingdom of Christ with the palm of victory, there be mindful of me in thy intercessions.
[25] As his mother prayed these things with tears, soon a great light shone over the dwelling, in which his holy head was held placed. And this light round about had illumined all things, so that those marveled who were present in the city: and it was night, when this miracle was done. In those days the episcopal see at Auxerre Amator, a man of the Lord, had ruled, whom the gifts of divine charisms adorned. He, when he beheld the splendor sent from heaven, ordered three presbyters to go to the house of Matthew, who should studiously inquire about that portent. To whom Matthew related all in order, how the matter had happened concerning holy Justin: both about his passion, and about the buried body:
[26] He subjoins also about the head brought to his mother, how a light from heaven at the third hour of the night illumined that whole house in which it was. These things the presbyters report to their pontiff, who had straightway ordered all the clergy to be present: they give thanks to the Almighty for the miracle. Finally this deed is made known through the people: all run together rejoicing, they glorify the Martyr, nay the Lord, who had so magnified him. Meanwhile at the command of the holy prelate Amator, the holy head, worthily placed in a bier, is carried with honor and hymns to the church: And in the place which the bishop prepared for himself, he had provided that it be there reverently laid up: where the holy Martyr affords many benefits.
[27] For to prove his power with God, while they celebrate worthy obsequies for the sacred head, a girl who came blind returned seeing clearly. Who, being of the age of sixteen years, coming amid the obsequy borne for the Martyr, Help, she said, blessed Martyr of Christ, help, That the sight long denied, by thy patronage, the Lord Christ granting it, I may deserve to obtain,
that his name may be praised in thy martyrdom. She spoke, and before all the people, forthwith the light of her eyes being restored, as she asked, in the glorification of the Martyr she dances for joy. Again all the people, rejoicing, redouble thanks, saying praise to the Savior the Lord Jesus Christ, to whom be honor and power through the eternal ages. Amen.