Symphorian

ON ST. SYMPHORIAN, MARTYR,

AT AUTUN IN GAUL,

ABOUT THE YEAR CLXXX.

PRELIMINARY COMMENTARY.

Symphorian, M., at Autun in Gaul (S.)

BHL Number: 7969

BY G. C.

§ I. The ancient cult of this Saint, and his posthumous glory as seen from churches, miracles, and relics.

This Saint made illustrious by his martyrdom Aedua or Augustodunum, the famous city of Burgundy, now commonly called Autun, The veneration of this holy martyr from the ancient Martyrologies, as St. Venantius Honorius Clementianus Fortunatus testifies, who in book 8, poem 4, reckons him among the renowned Saints of various regions in this pentameter: At Autun, Symphorian, you come. The ancient Hieronymian Martyrologies everywhere make mention of this noble athlete, and Usuard announces him today in these words: On the same day at Autun, of St. Symphorian, in the time of the emperor Aurelius, who, when he would not sacrifice to the idols, was first afflicted with stripes, then delivered to prison, and at last, his head being struck off, completed his martyrdom. Usuard transcribed these things to the letter from Ado, if you except the name of the emperor Aurelian expressed by Ado, for which Usuard rightly substituted the name Aurelius, as will appear from what is to be said below.

[2] The ancient veneration of this holy martyr is confirmed by the form of the Mass, and from the ancient Gallican liturgy which a thousand years ago was in use among the Gauls, and which Mabillon in book 3 of the Gallican Liturgy, page 280 and the following, published from the Gothic Missal in this manner: Having entered, most beloved brethren, upon a day hallowed with heavenly mysteries for the office of our devout solemnity, let us praise the Lord in his Saints, and let us venerate him in the honor of the most blessed martyr Symphorian, giving him thanks for his triumphs and his glory; whom, as he fought with the fortitude of the Spirit against the weakness of the body and the savagery of punishments, he strengthened with the powers of hope, enclosed within the wall of belief, and by the outcome of victory carried into the rewards of immortality. Let us pray also that in this world a like fortitude may not fail us, though we strive not in an equal contest; and as the exhortation of his pious mother raised him up to accomplish the victory of this struggle, so may the faith of the Catholic Church, kept blamelessly, lead us to pardon and advance us to a crown. Through our Lord Jesus Christ.

[3] There follows the Collect. God, the glorious protection of all Saints, who did not deny help to your blessed martyr Symphorian, and deigned to call him through the unjust mockeries of death to this glory: grant that a like faith may join to martyrdom us whom the time of persecution has not left in the arena; and as a hard and rocky path set him in paradise through the toils of sufferings, so may the contempt of present pleasures … Through our Lord. There follows the Collect. The names of the offerers having been recited, most dear brethren, let us entreat the mercy of Almighty God, that upon the people who pay their vows at the altars in honor of the blessed martyr Symphorian there may be poured the affection of divine belief, so that they may be strengthened by his ministry who are not joined to him by the merits of martyrdom; and as he, after the enclosures of prison, after the bonds of punishments, and after the starving of hunger, enjoys the infinite joys of eternity, so may the souls of the departed, the pressures of hell being loosed, be placed in the bosom of father Abraham. Which may he himself deign to grant, who … Collect at the peace. God, giver of all good things, who among those companies of martyrs shining with snow-white faith, spread through all the round world with flashing grace, have granted us blessed Symphorian the martyr as precious and our own: grant to the daily prayers of your suppliants that we may hereafter be joined in the fellowship of him in whose feast we exult with devout dancing; and that, being bound to men by bodily kisses, we may deserve to be bound by spiritual affections. Through.

[4] where also some of his deeds are touched upon. The Immolation of the Mass. It is meet and just, right and profitable, that we should offer to you sacrifices of praise in honor of your blessed martyr Symphorian, O Lord, eternal God; in whose solemnity we are strengthened both by the manifest reason of things and by the perfect learning of virtues; who merited to shine not only with the brightness of earthly birth, but also with the loftiness of heavenly virtues; and, glittering by the family of Faustus, he is raised on the summit of a fortunate martyrdom: who, following the blessed fathers Andochius and Benignus, being chosen for the ardor of martyrdom, attained the palm; who, while he undergoes the affliction of present things, has wrought the instruction of those to come: and by his mother's converse he is by piety carried over to the reward, when it is impressed upon him that he must not fear death, because for martyrs life is not taken away but changed. O wondrous faith of graces! which exults with glorious affection over the life of her blessed son, and which, being thought to mourn, is found to rejoice; secure of the rewards of your kingdom, she exhorts her son with mighty gladness, knowing that those who die in Christ live, and that the life which is lost is, by his restoring, received again. Worthily therefore is he honored here in your name who honored you in his blood; who was afflicted for you in torment, and was glorified by you in the sepulchre; who honored you at the sword's point, and reigns with you in heaven; who through the narrowness of present tribulations merited to attain the breadth of heavenly joys, through Christ our Lord. Through whom … In this ancient Mass certain deeds of St. Symphorian are related, which will be more clearly understood below from his Acts.

[5] Meanwhile we shall gather some things which pertain to the posthumous glory of this holy martyr, Various churches among which may be reckoned the church which St. Euphronius built in his honor about the middle of the fifth century, as St. Gregory of Tours in the History of the Franks, book 2, chapter 15, testifies in these words: At that time also the basilica of blessed Symphorian, martyr of Autun, was built by Euphronius the priest. And that same Euphronius thereafter obtained the bishopric of this city. The Acts of this holy prelate of Autun we have illustrated as best we might on the III day of August, or in volume 1 of that month, pages 227 and 228. In the same St. Gregory of Tours, book 8 of the History of the Franks, chapter 30, we find another church of St. Symphorian which existed in the sixth century in Auvergne, and in which king Guntram celebrated the solemnity of this martyr. Besides, that holy historian of France, in the book On the Glory of Confessors, chapter 80, mentions the basilica of St. Symphorian which the said pontiff (namely Probianus, bishop of Bourges) had built before the face of the wall of Bourges.

[6] We do not doubt that in Gaul many churches or chapels were built in honor of this holy martyr, of which no notice has come down to us. built in honor of St. Symphorian, At least Ruinart in the Admonition to the Life of St. Symphorian among the Genuine Acts of the Martyrs, page 68, indicates to us two other churches of his in this manner: The little cell in which the Acts record that blessed Symphorian was buried was after some time changed into a famous basilica; to which, when a monastery had been joined, there presided as abbot St. Germain, who, as Venantius Fortunatus testifies in his Life, was carried by so great a devotion toward this most blessed martyr that he passed almost every night, as long as he stayed at Autun, near his sepulchre. He himself, being afterwards made bishop of Paris, ordered a chapel to be built in honor of the same blessed martyr, in which, as he himself had directed, his sacred body was buried after his death, and it still exists today, adjoining the lower part of the greater basilica of our monastery of St. Germain-des-Prés toward the south. … That a church also under the name of St. Sinfurian or Symphorian existed in the district of Meaux under the first line of our kings is evident from the testament of Ermentrudis, which was published by the same Mabillon in the appendix of the book On the Gallican Liturgy.

[7] To the posthumous glory of St. Symphorian belongs also the remarkable miracle certain miracles, which St. Gregory of Tours in his work On the Glory of the Martyrs, book 1, chapter 52, thus relates: Symphorian the martyr completed his martyrdom at the city of Autun. And from that place where he was struck with the sword and his blood flowed out, a certain religious man took up three small stones with the blood itself, and, having laid them up in a silver casket, placed them upon the holy altar in a church built of wooden boards at the castle of Thiers in the region of Auvergne. But at the time when Theodoric, king of the Franks, overthrew that region, this castle is burnt down by the enemy with fire. And when, amid the burning of the other houses, the house of God — which, as we have said, was made of wooden boards — was caught by the fire and consumed, the people, lamenting, said: "Would that at least the blessed relics had not perished!" Meanwhile, when a great heap of embers had been made by the fire, suddenly, as the north wind blew and scorched, the ashes left by the fire were violently scattered in all directions; and behold, that silver casket, gleaming unharmed, appeared like a brilliant star. And those clerics who were then present, gathering it up and examining it, and finding nothing diminished of the blessed pledges, marveled that amid so violent a fire so slight a thing had been so preserved; in which, so to speak, not only these, but even a thousand pounds of silver or of iron might have been melted without delay. Truly a great power appeared there, which strengthened the people to the worship of God and to the honor of his name; and they, another basilica being afterwards built in the same place, placed the holy relics upon the altar.

[8] wrought by the intercession of the same martyr, Peter Louvet in the History of Beauvais, book 3, chapter 16, relates in French three miracles which occurred in the tenth century near Beauvais through the intercession of St. Symphorian. And he excerpted them from a Latin manuscript codex of the monastery of St. Symphorian,

which is situated not far from the city of Beauvais. If a copy of that Latin manuscript codex were at hand, we should perhaps find in it more miracles of this martyr, and would faithfully publish them in print. Since therefore this is lacking to us, we shall indicate only the chief heads of those three miracles. The first benefit of St. Symphorian was conferred upon a certain poor man who had labored under paralysis for a year, and who, being carried to the chapel of the holy martyr, at once obtained perfect health. The second befell a certain blind man who firmly hoped that he would be given light by the intercession of St. Symphorian. Being led therefore to the church of this holy martyr, and prayers being poured forth, to the astonishment of many citizens of Beauvais he suddenly recovered his sight. The third benefit of the Saint a certain young husbandman experienced, who, afflicted with erysipelas, after great pains of three days obtained entire health in the chapel of St. Symphorian. If anyone desires to know other miracles or benefits of this Saint, let him go to the Life of St. Germain, bishop of Paris, which has been illustrated on the XXVIII day of May, that we may not do here what has been done already. Now we shall record a few things concerning his sacred relics which have come to our knowledge.

[9] and his sacred relics preserved at Reims Doubtless the sacred bones of this martyr were of old shared with various churches and monasteries which took their name from him. Certainly at Reims some of his relics are preserved, as Marlot in volume 2 of the History of Reims, book 2, chapter 21, or page 241, proves from the following instrument: To all who shall inspect the present letters, we, Hugh de Chantemerle, knight of the lord king, bailiff of Cadrelle for the lord Count of Clermont, and appointed keeper of his seal in the aforesaid bailiwick of Cadrelle and in the castellany of Creuserocke, greeting in the Lord. Let all know that we, at the inquiry and instance of our beloved kinsman master William of Perreciacum, clerk of the lord king, Canon of St. Symphorian's of Reims, considering the devotion which the said William had toward the said church of St. Symphorian, have granted and delivered to him, for the use of the said church of Reims, some of the relics of St. Symphorian, namely one fragment of the bones of the said Saint, hoping that in the said church, by the merits and intercession of the aforesaid martyr, with the Lord's help, the whole people of the faithful may be aided. In testimony whereof we have delivered the present instrument to the aforesaid master William, strengthened with our seal. Given on the Monday before the feast of St. Michael the archangel in the year of the Lord MCCCI, in the presence of Hugh Leobold of Pared, priest and public notary of the said bailiwick, of the lord William Choat, priest, and of the said Viant de Chamberlin, called and requested in the premises.

[10] In Giles Gelenius, in the work On the Greatness of Cologne, page 267, among other relics of the Saints in the twenty-sixth reliquary, mention is made of a rib of St. Symphorian the martyr. and preserved in other places And Raisse in his Belgian Hierogazophylacium enumerates the sacred treasure of the cathedral church of Arras, where on page 305 the relics of the holy martyrs Symphorian and Leodegarius are enumerated. The praised collector of Belgian relics in the same work, page 452, assigns to the Charterhouse of Ruremonde on the bank of the Meuse the bones of the holy martyrs Symphorian, Sebastian, Smaragdus, Valentine, and Vincent. We do not know whether these relics pertain to today's St. Symphorian, since there have been several martyrs of the same name. If therefore those churches think that they possess the relics of this most celebrated martyr of Autun, let them not be reluctant to prove their possession by clear and solid documents.

[11] Augustine Lubin in the Geographical Tables to the Roman Martyrology, page 41, asserts that the body of today's St. Symphorian was carried to Creil (it is a small city of the diocese of Beauvais, which in the vernacular is called Creil), declare his posthumous glory, and was there laid up in the collegiate church. Saussay in his Gallican Martyrology on the XXII day of August also mentions that translation, and sets forth the lamentable loss of this sacred treasure, when he thus ends his eulogy of St. Symphorian there: Whose body, when it lay lifeless in the field exposed to the beasts, pious men, secretly removing it, carried to the spring which is outside the public field, and laid it up with spices in a small cell, out of which afterwards the flashing lights of divine glory smote the heathen with much astonishment, heaped up benefits of healing upon the faithful, and made illustrious the blessed martyr with a great renown of power and glory. Moreover the body of that glorious athlete, being afterwards carried to a town of the diocese of Beauvais and placed in the collegiate church of Creil as a monument of piety, the heretics — striving to blot out the tokens of ancestral piety, and pursuing with monstrous hatred, in the relics of their bodies, the Saints whose religion they had forsaken (after their pure spirits had been taken up by Christ into heaven) — impiously cast it into the flames and turned it to ashes, and scattered the ashes to the winds. But both those writers are silent about the time and occasion of this translation, and neither of them distinctly describes those relics of St. Symphorian as translated to Creil. Hence we rightly doubt whether the heretics reduced the greatest part of these relics to ashes, however much they are called by the general name of the body: for at Paris in the parish church of St. Symphorian some parts of his bones are still said to be preserved. Now we proceed to examine the time of the martyrdom and the Acts of this same holy champion.

§ II. The Saint's Acts, the common judgment of the learned concerning them, the probable time of the martyrdom assigned, and a scruple of Tillemont removed.

Ruinart published the Acts of this Saint, Ruinart, among the Genuine and Select Acts of the Martyrs of the Paris edition, page 67, in the admonition to the Life of St. Symphorian thus prefaces: We have found the Acts of blessed Symphorian in several manuscript codices, even very ancient ones, but genuine and pure in two only, of which one belongs to the abbey of Conches near Évreux in Normandy; the other is kept in our library of St. Germain-des-Prés. By their help we have recalled to their original state the style and words which Surius had everywhere altered; and so we bring forth those Acts which Baronius judged genuine, collated with Mombritius, with the fragments of the same Baronius, and with the manuscript codices, even those in which they are found interpolated; which we do not doubt to be the same as those which were cited by Gregory of Tours in the book On the Glory of Confessors, chapter LXXVII. Gregory of Tours indeed, on the occasion of St. Simplicius, bishop of Autun, in the place just cited, intimates that he had seen certain Acts of St. Symphorian; but he does not express what sort they were, as is evident from these words of his: They say that in this city also there was an image of Berecynthia, as the history of the passion of the holy martyr Symphorian declares. Hence we do not yet know whether that holy historian had before his eyes the original or the interpolated Acts of that martyr: for Tillemont in volume 3 of the Ecclesiastical Memoirs, page 609, denies that the Acts of St. Symphorian which Ruinart published are the original ones, and yet from certain conjectures judges that they were written about the middle of the fifth century.

[13] of which we have various copies, Whatever may be said of that judgment of Tillemont, we shall enumerate some other copies of the Acts which we have received from various places. Among them the first place would be held by that which exists in the ancient codex of our Museum marked ✠ Ms. 74, were it not mutilated in its last part. But the middle part of the Acts in that codex (the rest are wanting) agrees with the Ruinartian edition. Another copy has been taken from the Saint-Omer manuscript, which is entire and comes very close to the Ruinartian edition. A third we received at Trier from the codex of St. Martin, which has been collated with the manuscript of St. Maximin of the same city, and which differs from the others already enumerated only in its manner of writing and in a fuller phrasing. Chifflet sent to our predecessors a fourth copy of these same Acts, gathered from various Burgundian manuscripts, whose beginning differs from all those hitherto enumerated: for in it the baptism and pious boyhood of St. Symphorian are recorded, while the rest almost agrees with the published Acts.

[14] in which the beginning of two copies Nevertheless with this last copy agrees the eighty-first codex of the Queen of Sweden, whose opening runs thus: Under the emperor Aurelian, when the storm of a dread persecution was thundering against the Christian name, and he himself for the cause of that crime was ranging through nearly all Gaul, and was turning the decrees of his empire to the destroying of the religion of the Catholic law, at length, having set out for the city of Sens to lay waste everywhere the Christians whom he could find, he betook himself, driven by the spirit of wickedness, into the borders of the Aedui. There was then in the city of Autun the son of Faustus, a noble man, named Symphorian, of a Christian family, well instructed in letters and in morals, so that, though he bore the years of an early nature, he anticipated the life of old men. His father asked that, when he was three years old and set in the years of infancy, he should be made a Christian by the worshippers of the divine law who came thither, namely Benignus, Andochius, and Thyrsus, and asked that he presently be baptized under the name of that same religion together with the company of his whole household; and they, assenting to his petitions, gave back the boy baptized in the name of the holy Trinity; to whom St. Benignus stood as baptizer in the divine rites, and blessed Andochius came as sponsor to receive him from the sacred font. These things being duly performed, and the sacred mysteries of the Lord celebrated, the aforesaid boy began truly to believe in Christ, and to abide in the pursuits of the divine law.

[15] And when the most wicked emperor was inflicting the punishments of his wickedness upon the aforesaid worshippers of God, differs from the others. and had left them, crowned with martyrdom in the place which is called Saulieu, living in spirit and dead only in body, he at once sends to the city of Autun a certain Heraclius, a consular of profane spirit, the partaker of his own perdition and the associate of his sacrilegious mind, whom he so instructed with deadly edicts and strengthened with profane laws that, unless a man sacrificed to the idols, he should permit no Christian to remain alive. So this man of God Symphorian, as has been said, while growing in adolescence he passed beyond infancy, and while his age, happily begun, passed into manly vigor, established the purpose of his mind in the love of the Godhead with so great a hope that all men now judged, in admiration of his merits, that he had fellowship in every good with the powers on high: for heavenly wisdom illuminated him, and a simplicity adorned with spiritual gems; and, keeping the straight path of life, preserved by the happy defense of his Governor, he escaped from the shipwreck of a world falsely alluring. Although the things which are related in this beginning of the Acts concerning the emperor Trajan do not cohere with history, yet the baptism and the spiritual masters of St. Symphorian here named are favored by the ancient Gothic Mass, in which that holy martyr is said to have followed the blessed fathers Andochius and Benignus.* Since moreover all the copies of the Acts agree among themselves as to the substance of the matter, except for that beginning of the twofold copy, we shall again submit to the press the edition of Ruinart, which is more correct than our copies and has been collated by the editor with various manuscript codices.

[16] Tillemont in volume 3 of the Ecclesiastical Memoirs, page 609 and the following, raises certain difficulties against the Ruinartian Acts and others like them, To Tillemont, who carps at these Acts which at most prove that those Acts were written nearly three centuries

after the martyrdom of St. Symphorian and somewhat embellished. We readily grant that they are not proconsular, as they are commonly called, nor written by a contemporary author: for we too are not pleased by the longer dialogues in them and other ornaments, which the original Acts of the martyrs are wont to lack. But we think that they are at least drawn from genuine sources and afterwards slightly enlarged. Perhaps the church of Vienne in Gaul had before its eyes an original copy of the Acts, since in the proper lessons of that church concerning St. Symphorian there are not found most of those things which offend Tillemont and other learned men.

[17] we set forth from the Breviary of Vienne Now those lessons are recited in the Breviary of Vienne of the year 1522, folio 360, in this manner: Under the prince Aurelian, when the dread storm of persecution was thundering against the Christian name, and he was turning the decrees of his empire to the destroying of the religion of the Catholic law, there was then in the city of Autun the son of Faustus, a noble man, Symphorian, of a Christian family, well instructed in letters and in morals, so that, though in the flowering years of an early nature, anticipating the life of old men, he surpassed them by the sincerity of an unstained mind. Aedua was then a city filled with the titles of ancient nobility and with the ceremonies of a sacrilegious religion, in bondage to error: it was held by love of vain superstition with its various temples of idols. It venerated with special affection the worship of Berecynthia, of Apollo, and of Diana. To the profane solemnity of Berecynthia, the mother of demons, a multitude of peoples had assembled. Heraclius, the consular of that time, was residing in that same city, anxious with keen inquiry to seek out and examine the Christians.

[18] The lessons, or a compendium of the Acts Symphorian was present, and because he refused to adore the statue of Berecynthia, he is seized and held and brought before Heraclius the consular, being set in order. To whom he, sitting on the tribunal, said: "Declare your name and condition." He answered: "I am called Symphorian; I am a Christian." The judge said: "Why did you refuse to adore the image of the mother goddess?" Symphorian answered: "A little while ago I said it: I am a Christian; I adore the living God who reigns in heaven. But the image of demons I not only do not adore, but, if you permit, I will by my own authority break it in pieces with hammers." The judge said: "Unless you sacrifice to the mother goddess, this day I will lay you low, torn with all punishments, by the condemnation of a capital sentence." Symphorian said: "I fear the almighty God who made me, and I serve him alone. You have my body for a time in your power, but you do not have my soul." As holy Symphorian spoke these things, the judge, kindled with wrath, said: "Let Symphorian, guilty of a public crime, who, refusing to sacrifice to the gods, has committed a sacrilege against majesty, and has moreover offered insults with wicked words to the sacred altars, be smitten with the avenging sword, so that, while deadly crimes are cut away, the injury alike of the gods and of the laws may be avenged."

[19] which can offend him and the other learned men The sentence being thus given, while the blessed man was being led to the sacrifice, his venerable mother earnestly admonished him from the wall with her voice, saying: "Son, son Symphorian, keep your God in mind. Take up constancy again, my son. We cannot fear a death which without doubt leads to life. Lift up your heart on high, my son. Look upon him who reigns in heaven. Today your life is not taken from you, but is changed for the better: and however narrow the path shows a hard road and a rough way of toilsome tribulation, this is the life in which, being laid low, you slay your slayer. If you endure today, my son, you shall pass by a happy exchange to the nobility on high." So St. Symphorian, being led outside the wall and laid low by the persecutor, was thence secretly taken up by religious men. Thus the martyr, being carried to the spring which is outside the public field, and there buried at that time in a small cell, yet always made himself known by his powers, so that, the heathen being amazed at the wondrous gifts of healings, he was held in the greatest honor even in those times.

[20] nothing, or little, This close of the lessons is also found in most of the Acts; and from it Tillemont in the place cited above infers that these Acts were first composed long after the superstition of the heathen was extinguished (namely in the middle of the fifth century). But this argument of his seems frivolous to us, since heathen and other unbelievers not rarely venerate the sepulchres of the Saints if they hope to obtain health or other temporal goods, as has often been shown in our Work. So too today, for that same end, Mohammedans and heretics go to the wonder-working sepulchres of the Saints or to other sacred places of Catholics, as those testify everywhere who have made pilgrimages in the East. It is not therefore so much to be wondered at if the heathen held in honor a place in which they saw health restored to the sick or other benefits conferred. Add that the Acts or these lessons sufficiently intimate that those miracles occurred in the time of flourishing paganism: for they expressly assert that St. Symphorian was held in great honor even in those times, which expression not obscurely designates the times of heathendom. Finally, the heathen are not said to have venerated St. Symphorian, but to have been amazed at the wondrous gifts of healings which were conferred upon the faithful who held him in the greatest honor, and which were not so hidden that they could escape all the heathen. However that may be, nothing can rightly be censured in these lessons except the name of the emperor Aurelian, of which we shall now treat.

[21] The most eminent Baronius in the Ecclesiastical Annals at the year of Christ 273, number 2, places the martyrdom of St. Symphorian under the emperor Aurelian, Certain chronologists place his martyrdom under Aurelian, and there writes thus to our purpose: But that those who were slain by Aurelian are called by Vopiscus the authors of sedition — that Christians were commonly defamed with that charge, namely of sedition, in these very times, the Acts of Symphorian, which are held to be genuine, signify, in which it is said: "Symphorian also was present, and since he would not through contempt adore the statue of Berecynthia, which was carried in a chariot attended by throngs of peoples, he is seized and held on the pretext of public sedition and offered to Heraclius the consular." Indeed, we do not much wonder that the most learned Baronius attached the martyrdom of St. Symphorian to the reign of Aurelian, since in the ancient Martyrologies and Acts this martyr is said to have suffered under Aurelian — if you except Usuard alone, who rightly changed the name of Aurelian into Aurelius, as we noted at the beginning of this preliminary Commentary.

[22] But the more exact critics contend that that martyrdom occurred nearly a whole century earlier, others under Aurelius and the most illustrious Bosquet in the Histories of the Gallican Church, book 2, chapter 27, relates the following upon this matter: That this last persecution of Aurelius, having first arisen from a sedition of the people, was afterwards decreed by rescripts of the emperor, is established from the Letter of the people of Lyons. The words of the edict against the Christians are reported by the Acts of Symphorian written in a more elegant style, whose martyrdom was famous in this very persecution of Aurelius: for he could not have reached the times of Aurelian, having been baptized by Benignus. Now Symphorian was three years old when he received the grace of baptism, and was in his fifteenth year when with his father Faustus he paid the due rites to Benignus the martyr; and at last in his twentieth year he suffered for the faith of Christ, as is evident from the Acts of those martyrs. Therefore, Benignus having been condemned by Aurelius in the year of Christ CLXXVIII, Symphorian must have fallen at last in the year of Christ CLXXXIII.

[23] From this chronology Ruinart differs little, when before the Acts of St. Symphorian, on page 68, he thus advises upon the same matter: Further, we refer this Saint's death to about the year CLXXX, place his martyrdom, since he is said to have been baptized by blessed Benignus, a disciple of St. Polycarp. Whence we judge that in the Acts the name of the emperor Aurelius should be restored for Aurelian. Certainly in manuscript codices Aurelius and Aurelian, Fabius and Fabian, Valerius and Valerian, and other similar names are often confused; which it would be very easy to prove by six hundred examples. Antony Pagi in the Critica on the Annals of the most eminent Baronius at the year 272, number 13, and Tillemont in the Ecclesiastical Memoirs, volume 3, pages 609 and 610, and other learned men commonly embrace this opinion of Ruinart. We too have followed that more probable opinion, and therefore at the beginning of the preliminary Commentary we placed in the margin the martyrdom of this Saint about the year of Christ 180.

[24] and on that occasion, But on that occasion we shall form against Tillemont an argument ad hominem, as it is commonly called: for although that severe critic admits that St. Symphorian underwent martyrdom under Aurelius, yet he holds the edict of that emperor, which will be recited below in the longer Acts, to be fictitious, and affirms that Aurelius never issued any decree against the Christians. Hence the credit of the Acts is not a little weakened, which nevertheless are everywhere reckoned genuine by the learned: for if the author of those Acts invented an imperial decree which never existed, what credit shall we give to the rest of his narratives? If therefore we shall show such a decree in other ancient records, the whole scruple of Tillemont will vanish. And this we shall try to prove thus.

[25] certain examples being brought forward, In the first place, Melito, bishop of Sardis, offered to the emperor Aurelius an apology for the Christians, in which, in Eusebius, book 4 of the Ecclesiastical History, chapter 26, these things are read: For what had never before been done, the race of pious men now suffers persecution, harassed by NEW DECREES throughout Asia. For most shameless informers, greedy for other men's goods, taking occasion from the IMPERIAL EDICTS, openly plunder day and night and despoil harmless men. These things cannot be referred to the ancient Roman decrees which Cicero mentions in book 2 On the Laws, and by which all foreign religion was forbidden: for Melito expressly complains before the emperor that the Christians are harassed by new decrees. This testimony is so evident that even the hypercritic Elias du Pin in the New Library of Ecclesiastical Writers, volume 1, in our copy page 62, asserts that Melito in this apology or petition asked of the emperor Aurelius that he would stop the persecution begun by revoking the edict which he had promulgated against the Christians.

[26] we shake off a slight scruple of Tillemont. Besides, Tillemont in volume 2 of the Ecclesiastical Memoirs, page 400 and the following, places the martyrdom of St. Justin the philosopher under the emperor Aurelius, and there and on page 657 acknowledges that his Acts are most genuine. Nevertheless in those very Acts which Tillemont so greatly praises, mention is made several times of the emperor's edict. This is clear from the words in which, in the praised Ruinart, page 43, Rusticus the governor thus addresses St. Justin: Come, be obedient to the gods themselves and to the EDICTS of the emperor. Then near the end of the Acts, in the same place, page 45, the said prefect pronounces this sentence against St. Justin and his companions: Let those who have refused to sacrifice to the gods and to obey the EDICT of the emperor be scourged and led away to capital punishment, as the laws prescribe. That certainly was the edict of the emperor Aurelius, under whom St. Justin the philosopher obtained the palm of martyrdom, as Tillemont confesses. These things seem to me sufficient to dispel Tillemont's scruple. If, however, anyone desires more, let him consult Honoratus a Sancta Maria, the Carmelite, in the Animadversions on the rules and use of Criticism, dissertation

4, article 10, or volume 2 of that French work, page 58 and following, where he treats this matter more fully and closes off every escape to Tillemont. It now only remains that we reprint the Ruinartian edition and illustrate it with the customary annotations.

elsewhere gubernaculi*

LIFE

From the Genuine and Select Acts of the Martyrs which Ruinart published at Paris in the year 1689, collated with other manuscript codices.

Symphorian, M., at Autun in Gaul (S.)

BHL Number: 7967

The holy youth Under the prince Aurelian ^a, when the storm of a dread persecution was thundering against the Christian name, and he was turning the decrees ^b of his empire to the destroying of the religion of the Catholic law, there was then in the city of Autun the son of Faustus ^c, a noble man, named Symphorian, of a Christian family, well instructed in letters and in morals, so that in the flowering years of an early nature, anticipating the life of old men, he surpassed them by the sincerity of an unstained mind.

[2] So then, while growing into adolescence he passed from infancy, leading a pious life at Autun, and his age, happily begun, was passing into manly vigor, he raised so great a hope of his virtues in all men that all good men judged, in admiration of his merits, that he already had fellowship with the powers on high. For heavenly wisdom illuminated him, and a simplicity adorned with spiritual gems; and, keeping the straight path of life, preserved by the defense of a happy helm, he escaped the shipwreck of a falsely alluring world.

[3] Aedua was then a city filled with the titles of ancient nobility and with the ceremonies of a sacrilegious religion, and refusing to venerate the statue of Berecynthia, and, in bondage to the error of the heathen, was held by its various temples of idols and by love of vain superstition. For it venerated with special affection the worship of Berecynthia ^d, of Apollo, and of Diana. And so to the profane solemnity ^e of Berecynthia, mother of demons, a multitude of peoples had assembled. Heraclius, a man of consular rank residing in that same city at those times, was anxious with keen inquiry to seek out and examine the Christians; before whom St. Symphorian appeared. And when he refused to adore the statue of Berecynthia, which was carried in a chariot attended by throngs of peoples, but despised it, he is seized and held on the pretext of public sedition, and is presented to Heraclius the consular to be arraigned.

[4] Heraclius, a man of consular rank, sitting on the tribunal, said to blessed Symphorian: he is seized by the heathen; "Declare your name and condition." He answered: "I am a Christian; I am called Symphorian." The judge said: "You are a Christian? So far as I see, you have lain hidden from us: for among us there is no great profession of this name. Why, despising the image of the mother goddess with profane abuse, did you refuse to adore it?" St. Symphorian answered: "I have already told you: I am a Christian. I adore the true God who reigns in heaven; but the image of a demon I not only do not adore, but moreover, if you permit, I will by my own authority break it in pieces with hammers."

[5] and by Heraclius the judge The judge said: "This man attempts to be not only a sacrilegious man but a rebel. Let the Office ^f declare whether he is a citizen of this place." From the Office it was said: "He is from here, and indeed of a noble family." The judge said: "You jest with yourself, Symphorian, on the strength of a glorious birth. Rumor has begun to persuade you of this lie under an ambiguity. Perhaps you do not know what the decrees of our princes have sanctioned? Let the Office read them out and make them known." From the Office it was read out: "The emperor Aurelian to all his administrators and governors. We have learned that the precepts of the laws are violated by those who in our times call themselves Christians. Seize these, and unless they sacrifice to our gods, punish them with various torments, so that the severity set forth may have justice, and that in the cutting away of crimes vengeance, being fulfilled, may now have an end."

[6] in various ways The imperial ordinances being read, the judge said: "What do you answer to this, Symphorian? Can we tear up these decrees? A twofold charge hangs over you. You are seen both to commit sacrilege by your contempt of the gods, and to stand forth as a despiser by your abuse of the laws. Wherefore, unless you satisfy the ordinances, the shedding of your blood shall appease all this." St. Symphorian answered: "I shall never judge this image to be anything but the unhappy simulacrum of a diabolical persuasion and an accursed demon of public perdition. Whatever Christian, condemned by his passions, looks back turned around to the evils of a worse life, falls down into chaos with his path ever sloping; and straightway, being flung by a devious step from the path that wanders astray, and forsaken by the grace of the gift prepared for him, he lies open to the nets of the ancient enemy. Our God, as he knows how to reward merits, so he knows how to punish sins. He gives life to those obedient to his name, he slays the rebellious; and while I endure in the confession of him with firm steadfastness, it is safer for me to hold the harbor of the eternal King than to enter the deadly shipwreck of the raging devil."

[7] he is urged to the worship of idols; When the judge saw that St. Symphorian would render no service to his orders, he ordered him to be beaten by the lictors and delivered to prison; and when, after some days' adjournment, he had ordered him to be presented to his sight, there was brought forth out of the darkness a son of light; from that vestibule of a deadly workhouse, one who was to live for ever in eternity with the eternal King. The wasting of the skin, grown thin, had loosened the tighter bonds upon his livid arms; and while he lifted his mind to the joys of the eagerness on high, amid those blessed torments it was no less to have consumed his blood than to have shed it.

[8] but when neither by flatteries, Then the judge: "How much better you would do, Symphorian, if, serving the immortal gods, the splendor of a noble office should raise you up, rewarded out of the public treasury ^g. And unless today you shall adore, prostrate on your knee, the venerable image of the mother goddess, and shall declare ^h yourself a reverent worshipper also of Apollo and Diana, the lofty deities — wherefore, if you will, we bid you wreathe the altars with garlands; with frankincense and the fragrances of incense pay sacrifices worthy of the gods." Symphorian said: "A judge to whom the commonwealth has been committed ought not to bring forth a sentence subject to frivolous chatterings of words. If it is perilous not to add something daily to the profit of the soul, how much more perilous is it for one departing from salvation to be dashed in shipwreck upon the rocks of sins?"

[9] The judge said: "Sacrifice to the gods, that you may enjoy the honors of the palace." nor by threats, Symphorian answered: "The judge defiles his own tribunal who is glued to the swords of the laws in public, and brings to his own soul the death of perpetual calamity, and his life is torn to pieces by the curses of everlasting reproach. Why should we not pay by vow the life which we must pay to Christ as a debt? Repentance is too late which has feared under the gaze of the judge: for your gifts, mingled with the sweetness of counterfeit honey, bring forth poisons for minds ill credulous; but our riches are always in Christ, which no perishable age corrupts through time by the decay of long duration. But your covetousness, having all things, possesses nothing, since, made over to diabolical resources, it is beguiled by desires of unhappy gain. But from us the falling condition of human frailty takes nothing away in this world. Your joys fly apart like glass cracking at the splendor of the sun. Whatever an end destroys, chance envelops, when greedy time overspreads the eternal whirling of the world. Our God alone claims blessedness. The beginning of his glory antiquity does not know, because it was not privy to those things; his end, because there will be none, the aged succession of ages will not be able to know."

[10] The judge said: he could be called away from the profession of the Christian faith, "Too long, Symphorian, have I borne with the constancy of my patience while you disputed about the greatness of some Christ or other. Unless you sacrifice to the mother goddess, this day I will lay you low, torn with all punishments, by the condemnation of a capital sentence." Symphorian said: "I fear the almighty God who made me, and I serve him alone. But you have my body for a time in your power; my soul, however, you do not have. [But now, in the worship of this idol, consider your monstrous superstition, which you venerate to your own reproach and destruction: in whose rites castrated youths, exulting, dash the cut-away strength of their bodies upon the unhappy image; and you, sacrilegious priests, count an execrable crime for a great sacrifice, so that what is a monstrous wickedness may be veiled under the pretext of religion. There the boxwood pipes and flutes are shrieking, swollen with the madness of fanatical frenzy; there the Corybant beats the cymbals. But as for that Apollo of yours, who does not know that he was the shepherd of king Admetus by the river Amphrysus? He, recalling the enticements of his pleasures, loves crowns of laurel garlands. Where, through entangled riddles, in a cave bellowing with dread, he uttered diabolical voices — where he has frequently deceived, he is said to have sung true things now and then. Diana too the diligence of the Saints has traced out to be a noonday demon, who, running through the crossroads and ranging the secret places of the woods, sows by the craft of her wickedness the thistles of tares in the unbelieving minds of men, and has obtained for herself the surname of Trivia, since she lies in wait at the three ways ⁱ.]"

[11] As holy Symphorian spoke these things, the judge, kindled with fury, said: he is condemned by a capital sentence, "Let Symphorian, guilty of a public crime, who, refusing to sacrifice to our gods, has committed a sacrilege against majesty, and has also offered insults to the sacred altars, be smitten with the avenging sword, so that, while the deadly things of crime are cut away, the injury alike of the gods and of the laws may be avenged." The sentence being thus given, the blessed man of God was being led to the sacrifice. But his venerable mother admonished him from the wall with her well-known voice, saying: "Son, son Symphorian, keep the living God in mind. Take up constancy again, my son. We cannot fear a death which without doubt leads to life. Lift up your heart on high, my son; look upon him who reigns in heaven. Today your life is not taken from you, but is changed for the better. Today, my son, you shall pass by a happy exchange to the life on high ^k."

[12] his mother exhorting him to martyrdom. So St. Symphorian, being led outside the wall, was laid low by the executioner. Being bathed in the flood of his own purple blood, he was thence secretly taken up by religious men. Thus the martyr, being carried to the spring which is outside the public field, and there buried in a small cell, yet always made himself known by his powers; so that, the heathen themselves also being amazed at the miracles and benefits of healings, he was held in the greatest honor at that time — not far from his own basilica, which by the utmost zeal of our prelate ^l raised on high the lofty summit of a church when it was built; it shines adorned by more than one privilege of his bounty, filled with the powers of our patron Symphorian the martyr, who shut out the shipwrecks of this fleeting life while he triumphed over the devil, and became the defender of his own country while he hastened to the true country: and he appeared as a tower of strength against the face of the opposing enemy, which he built by the shedding of his blood. As mediator of a perpetual patronage he raises an impregnable wall by the aids of his body, and grants innumerable cures by the power of his merits. In short, through him an evident way of mercy is opened to us with the Lord Jesus Christ, so that a happy entrance is opened into the fullness of all our prayers, by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, who is the life of all Saints without end, and reigns with the Father in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, through all ages of ages. Amen.

ANNOTATIONS.

elsewhere urgente*

elsewhere jactantem*

elsewhere latrocinatur*

elsewhere divulgata*

elsewhere virtutem*

elsewhere diu te*

elsewhere tripodum*