Martyrs Agrippanus

ON THE HOLY MARTYRS AGRIPPANUS, BISHOP, AND URSICINUS, AT LE PUY IN GAUL.

After A.D. 650.

Agrippanus, Bishop and Martyr, at Le Puy in Gaul (St.) Ursicinus, Martyr, at Le Puy in Gaul (St.)

I. B.

[1] Vellava, ^a city of Aquitaine Prima, mentioned by Gregory of Tours in book 10 of his History of the Franks, chapter 25, capital of the territory of the Velauni, which the French now call "le pays de Velay"; also called Anicium from the hill or slope Anicius, on which it is situated; St. Agrippanus, of the city of Anicium or Le Puy: by Papyrius Masson, Avicium; commonly, for many centuries past, Podium, which means ^a hill or mountain. For just as many towns of the Gauls, formerly built on hills, ended in "-dunum," which in their ancient language signified an ascent, so afterward, with nearly the same meaning, the word "Podium" was added to the names of cities, which the Franks pronounce "Puy" and the people of Toulouse "Pech" -- as Podium-Laurentii, Puylaurens, Pech-Laurens. William Catel observed these things in book 2 of his History of Languedoc.

[2] Now Anicium, or Le Puy-Sainte-Marie, is the greatest of all the cities of Languedoc after Toulouse, as the same Catel and Francis Ranchinus report. It has an Episcopal See from the most ancient times past, among the Velauni in Aquitaine, either placed there when the Velauni were first imbued with the faith, or (as many hold) translated there by St. Euodius from the town of St. Paulien, which they think is the Ruesium (Ῥύεσιον) celebrated by Ptolemy, book 2, chapter 7, in his third map of Europe. The Bishop of that city, moreover, although in the List of Cities he is placed under the Archbishop of Bourges, being exempted from his jurisdiction, obeys the Roman Pontiff alone.

[3] The fifteenth Bishop of that city was St. Agrippanus, as the authorities are Catel, the fifteenth Bishop: Claude Robert, Jean Chenu, and our Odo Gissey. He is venerated on the Kalends of February; on which day Philip Ferrarius has: "At Le Puy in Gaul, St. Agrippanus, Bishop of that city and Martyr." his feast: Saussay has embraced his deeds in ^a more prolix encomium, as has Gissey in book 1 of his History of Anicium, chapter 32, where he reports that in French he is called St. Aggreve. Our Jean-Baptiste Bellus sent us his double Acts from Le Puy, both far too brief. The former, his Acts: divided into nine very short readings, he took from ^a MS. codex of our Society's college in that city, bearing the title: "Here begins the ferial according to... of the Church of Blessed Mary, of the diocese of Anicium." The latter Acts are transcribed from "The Office of the Saints peculiar to the holy, august, and illustrious Cathedral Church of Blessed Mary of Anicium, immediately subject to Rome, reduced to the form of the Roman Breviary." This is the title of ^a book published in 1624. These are three readings of the second, as they call it, Nocturn.

[4] Both these Acts indicate the age of St. Agrippanus, since they report that he was sent as Bishop to the Velauni by St. Martin the Pope, his age; who, as we shall say in his Life on November 12, entered the pontificate in the year of Christ 647, and died in exile in 655. How long Agrippanus held his see is nowhere indicated. He was killed, while returning from Rome, in the diocese of Viviers on the borders of the Velauni, his martyrdom, by worshippers of idols: at which some may perhaps wonder that such people existed in the middle of Gaul at that time, and conjecture rather that he was slain by other wicked men whose crimes he was rebuking; whether inflicted by pagans? and that posterity, reckoning so monstrous ^a deed could not fall upon Christians, attributed it to pagans: although, as Gregory of Tours relates in book 10, chapter 25, in the time of St. Aurelius, the thirteenth Bishop of the Velauni, about sixty years before the slaying of Agrippanus, there was ^a certain sorcerer of Bourges who commanded that he be worshipped as Christ, leading about ^a certain woman whom he caused to be called Mary: and when both had been killed, nevertheless those people, says Gregory of Tours, whom he had disturbed by diabolical deception into believing in him, never returned to sound judgment; but always professed that he was as it were Christ, and that the woman Mary had ^a share in the Divinity. And many fanatics, as he adds in the same place, driven by ^a similar frenzy, emerged throughout the Gauls. Perhaps those who laid hands on the holy Bishop were infected by this plague, and were the more provoked to his murder because their pseudo-Christ had been killed in the territory of the city of Velay by those whom Aurelius, the predecessor of Agrippanus, had sent to restrain him. There could have existed there another rabble of impious persons bound by magical and idolatrous deceptions.

[5] The history of the Translation calls the place of martyrdom Chinacum; Saussay calls it Chiviacum; Gissey writes that it was formerly called Chiniacum, the place of martyrdom, and is now called the town of St. Agrippanus, commonly St. Agreве: and that there stood on the ridge of the neighboring mountain ^a church dedicated to this Saint, which, like countless others, the Calvinists destroyed within the memory of our fathers. A little below the castle, on the slope of the same mountain (as I believe), ^a place is seen where he was beheaded, and it is called "at St. Ursicinus," now at St. Ursicinus; who was his companion in glorious martyrdom, deservedly recorded by us on this day, although we have not yet found his name in any martyrology. It is probable that the place received its name from him because some of his relics were left there for the veneration and protection of the local inhabitants, when those of St. Agrippanus were transferred to Le Puy.

[6] Bellus transmitted to us the history of the Translation from the same Office of Le Puy. That sacred treasure was first placed in the chapel of St. Stephen the Protomartyr, which is now underground, the Translation; with the church of St. George built above it. Hence Saussay says he was deposited in the crypt of St. George. Thence it was carried to the Cathedral basilica of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and finally to ^a church built in his honor, by the same Dulcidius, as Gissey writes: in whose high altar it is preserved together with the body of St. Ursicinus.

[6] In the year of Christ 1522, on the 6th of April, Antoine de Chabannes, the 74th Bishop of Le Puy, through his Suffragan Stephen de Pressures of the Order of Friars Minor, the relics inspected; Bishop of Troad, caused the casket to be opened and the relics of St. Agrippanus to be inspected. He therefore, after solemnly performing the sacred rites at his altar and delivering to the people an eloquent oration on his virtues, brought forth from ^a stone monument, which was most fittingly enclosed in the same high altar, ^a wooden case in which the relics were enclosed, and it had lost so little of its freshness with age that it appeared completely new. The head was placed within ^a round lead box, wrapped in ^a linen cloth and linen fabric, so clean as if they had been placed there that very day. All these things were publicly displayed for several days, so that the piety of the people might be satisfied: and at that time several persons were freed from various diseases. In the same stone repository another small wooden chest was found, in which

were relics of St. Saturninus, St. Gertrude, St. Fuscus, St. Gerard, Count of Aurillac among the Arverni, St. Martin, St. Magdalene, and others, and ^a particle of the life-giving Cross. Bishop Antoine subsequently decreed on October 15 of the same year the anniversary celebration of the Translation that the Translation of St. Agrippanus, which had previously been observed on October 25, should henceforth be celebrated on November 6: although on neither day, as far as we have seen, has the record of this event been noted in any Martyrology. Gissey cites that of Le Puy. Those sacred treasures were deposited again within the same stone monument. Only the head and one arm were kept separately, so that they might be enclosed in silver caskets.

LIFE

from the MS. of the College of Le Puy of the Society of Jesus.

Agrippanus, Bishop, Martyr, at Le Puy in Gaul (St.) Ursicinus, Martyr, at Le Puy in Gaul (St.)

BHL Number: 0171

St. Agrippanus ^a Spaniard, learned, When therefore Blessed Agrippanus had drawn his origin from most noble parents, and had been ^a native of Spain, he was nevertheless imbued with the liberal arts. When, however, he had reached the age of adolescence, he was strongly pressed by his parents toward marriage, since he was their only child. avoiding marriage, he goes to Rome: becomes Bishop of the Velauni. And when this had come to his knowledge, without consulting his parents he went to Rome, and so occupied himself in the service of God that he was seized upon by the love of the Pope. And so Blessed Agrippanus obtained the rank and dignity of the episcopate, and was there consecrated by the Supreme Pontiff as Bishop of the Velauni. Having received so great ^a dignity of office, he strove with all his might to uproot heretical depravity. And when he had long contended with pagans and profane persons, he overthrows errors: ^a certain noble woman was convening the people to worship the images of the gods. When she saw that she was deceived, she persuaded the pagans and profane persons that he should be punished with ^a cruel death. Then, when they had contended with the same Martyr of Christ in many ways, and could overcome him neither by entreaty nor by bribe, he is killed. he was condemned to capital punishment. This man of God consummated his martyrdom, and his head, leaping forward onto the plain, his severed head produces ^a spring. fell into ^a spring, from whose water the righteous were baptized.

ANOTHER LIFE

from the Office of the Church of Le Puy.

Agrippanus, Bishop, Martyr, at Le Puy in Gaul (St.) Ursicinus, Martyr, at Le Puy in Gaul (St.)

FROM MSS.

St. Agrippanus devoted to piety from boyhood, flees marriage: becomes ^a Bishop: Agrippanus, the only Martyr among the Bishops of Le Puy, born in Spain, attended schools as ^a boy with such felicity of talent that he easily surpassed his fellow students. When sought by his teacher for ^a meal, he was more often found kneeling in prayer in the church. When his parents, to whom he was their sole offspring, attempted to entangle him in marriage, he secretly went to Rome. At Rome, ^a learned man could not remain hidden, he is sent as Pastor to the Church of Le Puy by Pope Martin I, and when the Church of Le Puy was deprived of its Pastor, he was sent to it by the Supreme Pontiff Martin I himself, having been consecrated Bishop of the Velauni by the same Pontiff. At that time Velay was still defiled by pagan rite, and the Arian and Helvidian heresies contaminated it. To battle against these three monsters Agrippanus fortified himself with the defense of abstinence, he practices abstinence: attacks errors: forbidding himself meat and wine, arming the Catholics with frequent preaching of the Word of God, assailing heresy, attacking paganism. Broken by these efforts of Agrippanus, his adversaries plotted ambushes against the holy Bishop: he divinely perceives that ^a barber is preparing death for him: they hired ^a barber who, while shaving his hair and beard as was customary, might cut his throat and kill him. The barber-assassin arrived: "You will not be able," said Agrippanus, "to perform today what you are plotting in your mind; I must proceed further. But by all means do not cease trimming my beard and hair." Struck by these words, the barber refrained from the crime, and reverently kept for himself the shaven beard of Agrippanus; which, when later given to the Church of Grenoble, became famous for miracles, miracles performed by the hairs of his beard: especially in driving away diseases growing about the face. Having traveled to Rome to see the Pontiff, Agrippanus, as he was returning to his flock, fell upon worshippers of idols about twenty miles from the city of Le Puy: he inveighed against their sacrilegious rites. Whence he was cast into chains, and on the third day afterward, at the urging of the pagan lady of the place, he was beheaded, together with his servant Ursicinus. he is killed by the impious together with St. Ursicinus: When the head of Agrippanus had rolled down into the valley below, ^a spring leapt forth from the very spot where it came to rest; which afterward served abundantly for the healing of illnesses and for baptism. At his sacred limbs committed to burial, Catholics frequently kept vigil, where they were refreshed by heavenly consolations. his severed head produces ^a miraculous spring. He is reported to have suffered martyrdom on the Kalends of February.

TRANSLATION OF ST. AGRIPPANUS

from the same Office of Le Puy.

Agrippanus, Bishop, Martyr, at Le Puy in Gaul (St.) Ursicinus, Martyr, at Le Puy in Gaul (St.)

BHL Number: 0172

FROM MSS.

miracles at his body. Where Blessed Agrippanus suffered martyrdom and his body was given to burial, it wrought healing for frequent diseases, for he restored so many who were ill by his protection that frequent vigils and many pilgrimages were made at his tomb: whence the town in which his remains rested, having rejected its ancient name, which was Chinacum, a lame man cured. took its name from St. Agrippanus. They report that ^a certain crippled stranger with ^a broken leg made his way with great toil to his tomb; and that the moment he touched it, he stood whole, and with ^a firm step, no longer limping, returned to his home. Likewise ^a certain man who had long been tossed by fever scarcely clung to his bones, another with fever: but by the merit of the blessed Martyr all feverish heat was driven away, and the sick man was restored to his former health. A chapel was already standing over the tomb of Agrippanus, when Dulcidius, the next Bishop of Le Puy after St. Agrippanus, eager for so great ^a treasure, asked the Bishop of Viviers (for Chinacum is in the territory of Viviers, he is transferred to Le Puy; where the remains of Blessed Agrippanus had been deposited) that he be permitted to transfer the body of the blessed Martyr, raised from his sepulcher, to Le Puy, since he had formerly been Bishop of the See of Le Puy. The Bishop of Viviers consented: the sacred body of Agrippanus was carried from Chinacum to Le Puy; he becomes famous for miracles, and at Le Puy it was placed in an underground chapel dedicated to Stephen the Protomartyr, where it repeated its former miracles. Among others, the following is noteworthy. Before the casket of relics ^a wax candle fixed in an iron holder was burning: iron burning like wax, oil of lamps not failing: when the wax of the candle was consumed by the fiery light, the iron that was underneath burned just as the candle itself had. In the same place, the oil that was poured into the burning lamps was not consumed by the flames of the lamps. From the chapel of St. Stephen the body of Agrippanus was afterward carried to the high altar of the Blessed Virgin; thence, after various vigils held at it and various forms of worship and prayer, it was transported to ^a church recently built and dedicated in the name of Agrippanus, it is brought to its own church, where it is still venerated and invoked.

The Translation of this glorious Martyr was formerly celebrated on the twenty-fifth of October, recurring each year: however, when in the year one thousand five hundred and twenty-two, on the sixth day of April, the casket of the Martyr had been opened and lay exposed, it is inspected and the relics had been publicly displayed for several days, not without benefit to the sick, Antoine, then Bishop of Le Puy, decreed by edict that henceforth on the sixth of November the Translation of the body of St. Agrippanus should be ^a feast day each year; which has been observed since.