Jonius

ON ST. JONIUS, PRIEST AND MARTYR, AMONG THE PEOPLE OF CHÂTRES

IN GAUL.

About the year 287.

PRELIMINARY COMMENTARY.

Jonius, Priest and Martyr, among the people of Châtres in Gaul (S.)

BY THE AUTHOR P. B.

This holy Martyr is reported in the Roman Martyrology on the XXII day of September, with his name bent aside a very little, in these words: Among the district of Châtres, He is announced in the Roman Martyrology on 22 September; of St. Jonas, priest and martyr; who, having set out with St. Dionysius into Gaul, was beaten with stripes by order of the prefect Julian, and consummated his martyrdom by the sword. Now the district of Châtres (so called from the city of Castrum or Castra or Castrolium, commonly Châtres) is in the Île-de-France on the river Orge, where one goes from Paris to Orléans, at about the eighth league. But whence did the XXII of September fall to him as his birthday in this Martyrology? This, indeed, Baillet says in his Legend at the V day of August, column 73, is not known; he would not have said so, I think, had he consulted Baronius' annotations, in which he cites for himself Peter de Natalibus, book 8, chapter 106, where St. Jonius is expressly said to have been beheaded on the X of the Kalends of October. And I am mistaken unless, led by the same authority, Greven and Walasser or Canisius announced him on the same day and month in their Martyrologies, before the reformation of the Roman; although they had already reported him earlier at this day, the V of August. Baronius moreover in the same place appeals to old manuscripts; but what these are, or where they lie hidden, we do not know.

[2] Certainly from the old Manuscripts, of which we have copies here, in others on the 2nd, 4th, and chiefly the 5th of August. we understand that he was formerly celebrated only in the month of August; and that either on the second day of that month, or the IV of the Nones of August (as the copies of his longer Acts have, written out by our Papebroch and by Chifflet in various places and from various Manuscripts); or on the IV day of August (on which he is reported in our Manuscript Florarium of the Saints); or lastly on the V day of August, on which all the Acts we have seen — both the succinct and the diffuse, both the published and the unpublished — hand down that he fell; if you except one compendium of the bishop of Equilio. And although among these some, as we have already noted, separate his solemnity from the day of his martyrdom (which in some place may have been done for certain reasons), yet this must be judged to have been peculiar to some one church, not common to many; since on the same V day of August the ancient Manuscript Passional of Böddeken, of which below, notes at once both his feast and his martyrdom; and various supplements of our Usuard (for Usuard himself, which is truly remarkable, makes no mention of St. Jonius, much less any Martyrologist older than he or nearly his contemporary); likewise Galesinius, Saussay, Castellanus, and others; finally, in the same month and day and no other he is celebrated with a simple Office throughout the whole diocese of Paris, as may be seen in the Breviaries of the years 1584, 1636, 1680, and 1700. Since therefore the churches more celebrated for the cult of this Martyr belong to this diocese, we have thought it fair, in keeping St. Jonius' birthday, not here to depart from its judgment and usage.

[3] But those churches are three in number: the first situated upon the very hill which from his martyrdom is named the Mount of St. Jonius, and consecrated in his name, and once distinguished by a monastery, now by a priory of the Cluniacs, on the testimony of Baillet at this day, and of Jacques du Breul in the Theatre of Parisian antiquities, book 4, page 1162; who adds that formerly our Martyr's miracles were there so frequent, and so great a devotion arose from these among the surrounding parishes, about twenty-five in number, that from everywhere they were accustomed each year to flow together in troops to that same church on the V day of August. Something similar Pegronet relates in his Catalogue of Saints, page 306, asserting that this was done in order to venerate the relics of St. Jonius. The second is the church of St. Clement at Châtres, where his body long rested entire; and even now so great a part of it survives, laid up in a silver shrine beneath the chief altar, that in the recent Parisian Breviary the body is said simply to be preserved there. Consult Baillet and Castellanus. The third is the church of the Virgin Mother of God at Corbolium, commonly Corbeil, which town sits in the same diocese of Paris upon the Seine, about six leagues from Châtres toward the east: and this, after the two former, has so exalted this Saint's veneration that in the supplements to Usuard it is designated as the primary seat of his cult: At Castrum Corbolium, of St. Jonius, martyr; and in Saussay in the Supplement at this same day: At Corbeil in the prelacy of Paris, the veneration of the sacred pledges of St. Jonius, priest and martyr, fellow-soldier of St. Dionysius.

[4] notable beyond the rest. But at what time, or on what occasion, did these pledges at length come from Châtres to Corbeil? It is not known, says Baillet; but the translation is celebrated there on the same day as his chief feast, that is, on the V of August. Du Breul, however, in the place cited before, affixes its anniversary memory to the Sunday after the Ascension. But a very notable part of his pledges must have been translated thither, since in the Parisian Breviary of the year 1680 it is read absolutely: His body in the basilica of St. Mary at Corbeil is frequented with the cult and veneration of the whole neighborhood. I had already written these things when I received the Parisian Martyrology, published at Paris in the year 1727; in which at the V day of August these things are announced concerning our Saint and his relics: On Mount Cèbre, in the territory of Yerres, near Châtres, the birthday of St. Jonius, martyr; whose body is honored in the very basilica of St. Clement at Châtres; but certain bones at Corbeil in the church of blessed Mary, behind the altar in a casket. To these Du Breul adds moreover a fourth basilica among the Santones, of which in the same place he makes mention thus: There was until the year 1572 another church in the city of La Rochelle dedicated in honor of this same holy martyr Jonius; but now (he was publishing these things in the year 1612) it is profaned by the preaching of those, namely, who profess the reformed religion. Whether it has by now recovered its former dignity and use, after the Calvinists were driven out of the kingdom, there is no leisure to inquire; the name of St. Jonius certainly neither it nor the street next to it ever seems to have lost. I pass over Tamayo, who teaches in the Spanish Martyrology that the annual solemnity of this same St. Jonius or Jonas is observed on the XXII day of September at Castra Caecilia, commonly Cáceres, in Portugal, which place he is supposed once to have subjected to Christ by his apostolic labors: for whatever is brought forward there for this purpose is pseudo-Dextrine, that is, resting on no credit at all.

[5] The Acts of St. Jonius are found composed in two ways in the old Manuscripts; His Acts are twofold: longer, and abridged; namely in a briefer and in a diffuse form: of the first kind are those which we received from our Gamans out of the notable Manuscript Passional on parchment of the monastery of Böddeken, of the Order of Canons regular of St. Augustine, in the diocese of Paderborn, month of August, folio 168. The same are read published in Vincent of Beauvais in the Speculum Historiale, book 10, chapter 23, and in Mombritius, volume 2, folio 44. These same, further abridged by themselves, Peter de Natalibus, bishop of Equilio, published in the Catalogue, book 8, chapter 106, and St. Antoninus in his History, part 1, title 6, chapter 28, §2. The longer ones we have seen not yet printed; but they are preserved in various Manuscript places; a copy of these Tillemont says he found, in Monuments of the Church, volume 4, page 452, where he reports a few things about St. Jonius. We have obtained two copies from various codices: one by the kindness of our Father Peter Francis Chifflet

from the Manuscripts of the monastery of Acey, and of Val-des-Lucent, and of Carneolum; the other written out by the hand of our Papebroch, from the Cistercian Manuscripts, volume 4, number 23, and volume 6, number 23. But whether these long Acts or the abridged ones be weighed in any way whatever, they cannot be approved; nor are they rejected undeservedly by modern critics.

[6] And the greater ones indeed are attributed to St. Jonius by a notable plagiarism; but both are exceedingly suspect; since they are the very Acts of St. Lucian, martyr and apostle of Beauvais, long ago published in our Work at the VIII day of January from page 466, except that that plagiarist, whoever he was, substituted everywhere for the name of St. Lucian the name of St. Jonius; in number 3, for the name of Quintinus the name of Caraunus; in number 4, for these words, "to the city of Beauvais," these: "the district of Châtres"; and a very few other things so proper to Lucian that they could in no way fit Jonius: and then that he prefixes to the opening of St. Lucian's Acts another in these words: After the blessed and glorious resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, in the time of Julian, a most cruel tyrant, the most blessed Yonius came together with blessed Dionysius from the parts of the Athenians; then they came together with seventy-two disciples through Gaul as far as Paris, preaching and teaching that all should believe there is one God in the heavens, and should cultivate the unity of faith and adore our Lord in Trinity; not mute idols, deaf and made by hand, which the most savage tyrants adore in honor of those gods of theirs, Mars, Mercury, and Jupiter, and the goddess Venus. And so, as those tyrants pursued them with cruel swiftness and butchered them with a strong sort of torments, the aforesaid men without doubt received the palm of martyrdom. Therefore let us venerate with worthy homage, dearly beloved, the most holy martyrs Dionysius and Yonius, together with blessed Rusticus and Eleutherius, and the other seventy-two, who went round all Gaul, running through also the sacraments of the blessed Martyrs: for while their — and the rest, which follows in the assigned Acts of St. Lucian down to the end.

[7] Even from this beginning it is plain how inept the author is, inasmuch as they were snatched from St. Lucian, M., and how far removed from the style of him from whom he pilfers all the rest. There is, however, another argument also from which you may recognize the man's stupidity and his theft: for in the Acts of St. Lucian, number 11, that martyr is thus brought in answering the guards: What I speak, you neither perceive with your ears, nor are you able to retain in mind: for your unbelief has blinded you; and your prince Julian the most savage, by whom you were sent, eternal blindness and the gloom of darkness possesses. The soldiers therefore, bearing impatiently the insult to Caesar, seizing him, etc. Where observe that no word injurious to the tyrant Julian was uttered by St. Lucian except these: And your prince Julian the most savage, by whom you were sent, eternal blindness and the gloom of darkness possesses: which words accordingly ought to have been judged wholly necessary, so that in a sound sense there might be subjoined: The soldiers therefore bearing impatiently the insult to Caesar, etc. See, then, with what accurate judgment our man copied out this passage thus, and adapted it to Jonius: What I speak, you neither perceive with your ear, nor are you able to retain in mind. The soldiers therefore, bearing impatiently the insult to Julian, etc. And yet here there is not a single word smacking of insult to Julian. It is plain therefore (to say nothing of more and worse things) that these Acts of St. Jonius were not only copied out from those Acts of St. Lucian, but were copied out drowsily and without sense: they are therefore not the Acts of St. Jonius, but of St. Lucian, wrongly transferred to Jonius; which is enough for them to be rejected in this place — however much they might otherwise be infected with no faults, as they are suited to Lucian, which we by no means believe: for we shall bring forward more when a return is made to January with a freer criticism than was once permitted; or perhaps also when St. Piatus or Piato is treated of at the 1 day of October: for there too many things are common with these Acts, not only in substance but even in words.

[8] and then accommodated to St. Jonius, The lesser Acts of St. Jonius are nothing better; since they are both later than the already mentioned Acts of St. Lucian, and compiled in compendium from those same (perhaps for the use of some Breviary or ecclesiastical lesson). The first is gathered from this, that in the assigned Acts of St. Lucian no confusion is made of St. Dionysius the Athenian with the Parisian; which confusion began chiefly through abbot Hilduin, before the middle of the ninth century, to gain strength among the French: whence those Acts seem to be older than Hilduin. But the compendium of the Acts of St. Jonius indicates that confusion of the Dionysii from the very beginning: it can therefore deservedly be judged later than Hilduin, and accordingly than the Acts of St. Lucian which we have mentioned. The second anyone will easily detect who is willing to compare that same compendium of the Acts of St. Jonius with the so often mentioned Acts of St. Lucian: for the same things are found everywhere expressed in both by the same words and sentences. That this may be plain to anyone, I shall subjoin that compendium to the Commentary: the Acts of St. Lucian in our work I have already assigned above at number 6.

[9] and rejected by the church of Paris. From what has been said it is understood that it is by no means to be wondered at, if the church of Paris, whose interest it much was to defend the Acts of St. Jonius, both used them so sparingly and timidly in her old Breviaries of the year 1584 and 1636, and at last eliminated them entirely from the more recent ones (from at least the year of Christ 1680). What, then, you say, can now be safely believed concerning this holy Martyr? His martyrdom, says our Longueval in his recent History of the Gallican church, volume 1, page 106. Add what the Parisian Breviary of the year 1680 sets forth concerning his deeds at this day in the proper Lesson, in these words: Jonius, when he was earnestly carrying through the Lord's work in the district of Châtres near Paris, and converting very many to Christ by his words and examples, was crowned with martyrdom on account of his unmovable constancy in confessing the faith. Besides, whatever is asserted by the tradition of the places no less than by the Acts, and bears no appearance of falsity from any other quarter: as that he was a companion of St. Dionysius, apostle of the Parisians; that he was ordained priest by him and sent to imbue the district of Châtres with Christ, and there on the hill which today still retains his name consummated his martyrdom, and, buried not very far thence, shone with miracles. Then those things which we have proved a little before concerning his cult and relics. Finally, neither would I charge with rashness those who place his mission about the middle of the third century, but his martyrdom either under Aurelian toward the year of Christ 275, or rather under Maximian Herculius about the year of Christ 287. Consult Tillemont, Monuments of the Church, volume 4, page 442 and following, until we ourselves shall have discoursed concerning St. Dionysius of Paris, upon whose chronology the times of his Companions depend. Now I subjoin the briefer Acts which I promised; in which observe that whatever is enclosed in brackets is read expressed in almost the same words in the Acts of St. Lucian, which at the VIII of January we gave in the second place.

THE BRIEFER ACTS

By an anonymous author, from the Manuscript codex of Böddeken, collated with the printed editions.

Jonius, Priest and Martyr, among the people of Châtres in Gaul (S.)

BHL Number: 0000

FROM A MANUSCRIPT.

Blessed Jonius came with blessed Dionysius from the parts of the Athenians ^a: then associated with St. Caraunus [b, having gone forth from the city of Rome together with blessed Dionysius, he went to the Gauls, and received the office of priest from blessed Dionysius,] and, hastening to the district of Châtres, preached the Gospel. [He had no other constant food than the eating of green herbs, and he allowed a cup of cold water as drink for his weary body. But on the days of Lent he ministered food to his body twice in the week.] Now three lictors, sent by the prefect Julian to search him out, came near Paris, to which the district of Châtres, which is called the Mount of St. Jonius, is nearer, and there they [found him on the Nones of August teaching the people. In which place a very great throng of people rejoiced, converted through him to Christ.] But when [he saw the persecutors coming from afar, he did not cease from preaching; but exhorted the people with saving admonitions, and, lifting pure hands to heaven, said with all his strength: I give you thanks, Lord Jesus Christ, who have deigned to call me to the title of your dignity, and to make me a partner of your blessed Martyrs.] Having gone forth, then, from the city of Paris, he came undaunted to Mount Jon ^c. But the impious men, arriving and seizing the holy Man, addressed him with indignation. And when they could not turn him from the faith of Christ, [with hands bound they slew * him.

[2] But the holy man is neither shaken with terror, nor overcome by pain of body; but trusting in the Lord, sustaining the weak limbs of old age with youthful vigor, he did not fear to confess Christ's name. Then one of the soldiers, his sword drawn, the holy neck being now uncovered, cut off the precious head. And while the holy Man's corpse lay lifeless, in the sight of the soldiers a light was sent forth from heaven upon the holy body, and a voice came together with the light, saying: Well done, my servant Jon, who did not hesitate to pour out your blood for me on earth; rejoice with the Saints among the stars. But it was done by the counsel of God, who proves his Saints with measure and glorifies them without measure, that, the wicked ministers withdrawing from the place, the holy Man's lifeless body, raising itself and taking with its own hand the severed head, began with steady step to pursue its way on most firm feet, and, carrying it about one mile from the hill, came to the place which the holy Man had chosen to be given to burial; where the Saint rested in peace with the palm of victory. And when they were laying away the holy body of the man of mercy, their nostrils were opened, and they perceived the fragrances of the angels who had been sent by the Lord for the holy Man's obsequies.]

ANNOTATIONS.

* rather, they fell upon [him]