ON SAINT CLAUDIUS APOLLINARIS, BISHOP OF HIERAPOLIS IN PHRYGIA.
TOWARD THE END OF THE SECOND CENTURY.
HISTORICAL COMMENTARY.
Claudius Apollinaris, Bishop of Hierapolis in Phrygia (Saint)
By I. B.
Section I: The Homeland and Public Veneration of Saint Apollinaris.
[1] The city of the Hierapolitans is placed in Phrygia Major by Ptolemy, Book 5, chapter 2, and it is the chief of those cities bearing the name "Hierapolis" -- so called, as Stephanus attests, "from having many sacred things," Of the city of Hierapolis, among which were perhaps counted the hot springs that abound there in great number. Some writers place it in Asia Minor, others in Phrygia, which is itself in Asia; Stephanus places it between Phrygia and Lydia; Strabo in Book 13, "opposite Laodicea," on the river Maeander.
[2] Saint Philip the Apostle is said to have been the first to illuminate it with the faith of Christ, converted by Saint Philip, whom the Roman Martyrology proclaims on the Kalends of May as having, "after converting almost all of Scythia to the faith of Christ, at Hierapolis, a city of Asia, been affixed to a cross and overwhelmed with stones, and having come to rest in a glorious end." After Saints Papias and Abercius, Distinguished Bishops then governed it: Saint Papias, a hearer of the elder Saint John and a companion of Polycarp, of whom below at the twenty-second of February; and Saint Abercius, who flourished under the Emperor Marcus Antoninus, as the Martyrology records on the twenty-second of October.
[3] After them, Saint Claudius Apollinaris, born in the same city, was elevated to the episcopate, as Photius in chapter 14 of his Library seems to indicate in these words: Apollinaris was Bishop there, born there, "The author is a Hierapolitan, made Bishop of Hierapolis in Asia." That he was called by the praenomen Claudius called Claudius: is clear from a fragment of the writings of Saint Serapion, Bishop of Antioch, in Eusebius, Book 5 of the Ecclesiastical History, chapter 18, where the following is found: "I have also sent you the letters of the most blessed Claudius Apollinaris, Bishop of Hierapolis in Asia."
[4] Baronius first inscribed his name in the Roman Martyrology on the eighth of January in these words: "At Hierapolis in Asia, Saint Apollinaris the Bishop, who flourished in holiness and learning under Marcus Antoninus Verus." [His name is in the Roman Martyrology on January 8; in many manuscripts on February 7.] He is unknown to the Greek Menaea and Menologion. Many manuscript Martyrologies record him on the seventh of February. Thus the ancient manuscript of Centula, bearing the name of Bede: "In Asia Minor, in the city of Hierapolis, Saint Apollinaris the Bishop, a most learned man." The same, in almost the same words, is found in the manuscripts of Saint Lambert at Liege, of the Carmelites at Cologne, of Trier, of Saint Gudula at Brussels, likewise in the Martyrology printed at Cologne in the year 1490 and in the additions of Hermann Greuen to Usuard, published in 1521. But the very ancient manuscript of the Professed House of the Society of Jesus at Antwerp, also titled under the name of Bede: "In the province of Asia, of Saint Apollinaris, Bishop of Hierapolis, a most learned man." The same is found in the ancient manuscript of the monastery of Saint Lawrence at Liege, which is that of Ado, though subsequently interpolated, and in the manuscript Florarium; and both add: "He flourished in the year 170." June 1. The same Florarium at June 1 reads: "At Antioch, the burial of Saint Apollinaris, Confessor and Doctor." Whether it treats of this or another Apollinaris, we do not know, nor of which Antioch. Could it perhaps be that this our Saint Apollinaris died at Antioch, a city of Caria, situated on the river Maeander not far from Hierapolis, which Stephanus writes was also called Pythopolis, built by Antiochus the son of Seleucus along with Laodicea and Nysa, and given those names from Antiochis the mother, Laodice the sister, and Nysa or Nyssa the wife? Finally, Canisius places the feast of Saint Apollinaris on the twenty-third of July, July 23, on which day Saint Apollinaris, Apostle of the Ravennans, is honored: after his eulogy, he adds: "Likewise the commemoration of another Saint Apollinaris, Bishop of Hierapolis, most famous for his holiness and learning, who left many writings on behalf of the Christian religion."
Section II: The Learning and Writings of Saint Apollinaris; His Zeal against the Cataphrygians; Their Heresy.
[5] What is commended in all the Martyrologies already cited
[9] Concerning these same heretics, Saint Augustine writes the following in volume 6, in the book On Heresies addressed to Quodvultdeus the Deacon, chapter 26: "The Cataphrygians are those whose authors were Montanus, as if the Paraclete, and his two prophetesses Prisca and Maximilla. The province of Phrygia gave them their name, because they arose there and lived there and even now have communities in those same regions. They assert that the coming of the Holy Spirit promised by the Lord was fulfilled in them rather than in His Apostles. Their errors; They hold second marriages to be fornication: and therefore they say the Apostle Paul permitted them because he knew in part and prophesied in part; for that which is perfect had not yet come. And they rave that this perfection came in Montanus and in his prophetesses. They are said to have deadly sacraments. And fatal mysteries, For they are reported to make their so-called Eucharist from the blood of a one-year-old infant, which they extract from its whole body by the wounds of tiny prickings, mixing it with flour and making bread from it. If the child dies, he is held among them as a Martyr; but if he lives, as a great priest." And a little later, speaking of the Pepuzians, he says: "They also make from the blood of an infant what we said above the Cataphrygians do: for they are reported to have sprung from them."
[10] Saint Augustine seems to have drawn these latter details from the Catalogue of Heresies of Saint Philastrius, where he writes about the Cataphrygians after other matters thus: "These baptize the dead, celebrate the mysteries publicly, call Pepuza, their village so named in Phrygia, Jerusalem; where Maximilla and Priscilla reported by certain Fathers, and Montanus himself are known to have spent a vain and fruitless lifetime. Where also the mystery of the Cynics and the execrable impiety regarding an infant is celebrated: for they say that they mix infant blood into their sacrifice at Easter," etc. Our Peter Halloix, in the Notes on chapter 2 of the Life of Saint Apollinaris, contends that Saint Augustine did not believe those unspeakable things and therefore did not affirm that they practiced them, but said that they were reported to do so. The Praedestinatus of Sirmond, at heresy 26, not believed by Saint Augustine, after having related most of the foregoing in the very words of Saint Augustine, adds: "Thus far let me speak of the Cataphrygians. The rest that is said, I pass over as uncertain -- that they take from the blood of an infant. And others, This we say lest we seem to be ignorant of everything that is said about them. For those who have written against them have made no mention of this at all." But Saint Epiphanius, who at length refutes the pseudo-prophecy of Maximilla which they held sacrosanct, does not touch upon those matters.
[11] Theodoret, who was nearly a contemporary of the author of the Praedestinatus, writes as follows about their errors in the passage cited above: "The first author of the heresy which is called 'According to the Phrygians' was Montanus, originating from a certain village located there called Ardaban. Driven by the desire to preside, he called himself the Paraclete and created two prophetesses, Priscilla and Maximilla: and he called their writings Prophetic Books; and he called the village of Pepuza 'Jerusalem.' He also decreed that marriages should be dissolved and introduced new fasts contrary to the custom of the Church. However, he did not undermine the doctrine of the divine Trinity, and he taught the same things as we do about the creation of the world. Those who followed his teaching were called Montanists after him; and from the nation, they were called 'According to the Phrygians'; and finally Pepuzians from the village which he called Jerusalem. Moreover, the prophecies of Priscilla and Maximilla are honored among them above the divine Gospel. Concerning their mysteries, some people spread certain allegations: but they themselves do not confess them, and call that accusation a calumny. Nor acknowledged by them. Some of them, moreover, deny the three Persons of the Divinity in conformity with Sabellius, saying that the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit are the same." So much from Theodoret.
Section III: The Writings and Struggle of Saint Apollinaris against the Cataphrygians, from Eusebius.
[12] But it is better to hear Apollinaris himself, declaring the origin and doctrines of that heresy and refuting them, in Eusebius, Book 5 of the Ecclesiastical History, chapter 15. We shall distinguish the words of the holy Doctor from Eusebius's own narration.
EUSEBIUS: Against the heresy called that of the Cataphrygians, divine power and might, the champion of truth, raised up Apollinaris, Bishop of Hierapolis Saint Apollinaris given by God to the Church as a champion against them, (of whom mention was made in our previous account), as a firm and impregnable bulwark, together with many other most eloquent men of his age. From whose books very many testimonies suited to this history of ours have been collected by us. For a certain one of those whom we have just mentioned, in the beginning of the work which he wrote against the Cataphrygians, first shows how he had been engaged against them without writing and had refuted their errors: He confutes them by word of mouth: for he begins his writing in this manner.
[13] APOLLINARIS: "Although for a long and very protracted space of time, most dear Abercius Marcellus, I have been urged by you to write something against the heresy of the Cataphrygians, I have nevertheless until now restrained myself from that undertaking, not so much because I doubted whether I could convict the false inventions of their errors and strengthen the truth with firm testimonies, long asked to do so also in writing, as because I feared and carefully guarded against seeming to some people to add or establish something to the word of the Gospel of the New Testament (to which it is permitted neither to add nor to take away anything, especially for one who has resolved to lead his life according to the Gospel) that is not entirely comprehended in it. But when recently I was at Ancyra, a city of Galatia, and found the Church in Pontus being tossed by the storms of contention stirred up by this new and unusual -- not, as they call it, At Ancyra he refutes them, Prophecy, but rather (as will be demonstrated afterwards) pseudo-prophecy -- I disputed as much as I could, with God's help, about these very errors of theirs, which are now spreading everywhere, and about the things proposed by them, continuously for many days in the church: He strengthens the Catholics, to such a degree that the Church was not only filled with very great joy but was mightily strengthened in the truth: and those who defended the opposing side, refuted by me at that same moment, lost heart, and all the adversaries of the truth were afflicted with the greatest pain. And when the Presbyters who were in that place, in the presence of Zoticus of Otrenum, our fellow Bishop, demanded that we leave some written record of those things which had been disputed in that discourse against the adversaries of the truth, we by no means did this on the spot, but firmly promised them he finally promises to write, that, the Lord granting us His grace, we would commit it to writing in this place and send it to them without delay."
[14] EUSEBIUS: Having prefaced these and other words at the beginning of the book and having progressed a little in his discourse, he commemorates the author of the heresy of which we have spoken in this manner.
APOLLINARIS: "The origin, the rashness, and the new and recent sect of those heretics, which has stirred up so much dissension and contention in the Church, had the following cause. A certain village is said to be in Mysia of Phrygia, The author of the Cataphrygians was Montanus, which is called Ardaban. There they say that a certain man named Montanus, who had recently come to the faith, while Gratus was then Proconsul of Asia, first burning with a certain insatiable desire of soul in striving for primacy, as soon as he had opened a way for the adversary devil to reach him, a neophyte and ambitious man, seized by a demon, began to be seized by some evil spirit, and suddenly, driven by frenzy and madness of mind, to rave, and soon not only to chatter rashly but to pour forth certain strange utterances and to prophesy contrary to what the custom of the Church, he utters foolish prophecies: both in tradition and in succession handed down from ancient times until that day, required. Of those who at that moment in time received those shadowy and adulterated utterances by hearing, some sternly rebuked him as one endowed with an insane spirit, he is reproved by some, agitated by a demon, driven as if by the wind of false error, and finally greatly disturbing the multitude of people,
[17] And as for Montanus himself and Maximilla, they are said to have perished by a wholly different kind of death. For it is reported that, driven by the impulse of an insane and ruinous spirit, Montanus and Maximilla hang themselves with a noose: they took their own lives by a noose: not at the same time, indeed; yet at the time when each of them perished, there was much talk among the people that they had died, as we said, and had met the same end of life as Judas the traitor. In like manner also concerning the remarkable Theodotus, [Theodotus, a supporter of their cause, is snatched up into the air by a demon and cast down and perishes,] who first undertook what amounted to the management of that counterfeit prophecy, the report was very widespread that, driven out of the power of his mind and having entrusted himself to a deceitful spirit, he was once lifted aloft into the air by it and suddenly hurled headlong down, and perished miserably and utterly. They deny that it happened thus. But since we ourselves did not see it, what can we think we know of these things, O blessed one? For Montanus, Theodotus, and that woman mentioned above perhaps died thus, perhaps otherwise.
[18] Eusebius: Again in the same book he says that the holy and pious Bishops of that time attempted to refute and restrain the spirit of Maximilla: but were prevented by others, namely those who were eager to defend that spirit. For he writes thus:
Apollinaris: Let the spirit of Maximilla no longer speak, as Asterius Urbanus in his book introduces her speaking: The lying spirit of Maximilla is restrained by the Bishops, "I am pressed by the persecution of all, and I am driven away from the sheep like a wolf. I am not a wolf: I am indeed the word, the spirit, and the power." But let that spirit effectively demonstrate its power, and let it convict and compel to confess through the spirit those who were then present to examine and dispute with that garrulous spirit -- men of repute and Bishops, Zoticus from the village called Comana, and Julian from Apamea: who are hindered by certain persons: whose mouths Themiso and his associates stopped, and would by no means allow that lying and crafty spirit to be refuted and rebuked by them.
[19] Eusebius: In the same book again, with other things interposed, in order to disprove those fabricated prophecies of Maximilla, she predicts wars, he both indicates the time at which he himself wrote, and recalls her predictions by which she prophesied that there would be wars and uprisings, whose fictions he refutes in this manner:
Apollinaris: How can it be that this falsehood of hers is not already sufficiently clearly discerned by all? For from the time when that woman departed this life, which did not follow. it is already the fourteenth year, and we have not yet heard of any war waged separately in any region, or generally throughout the whole world: on the contrary, by the bounty of God's mercy, a stable peace has remained even for the Christians.
Eusebius: So much from the second book. From the third I shall also produce a few words, in which he attacks the rivals of Montanus, who boasted with vain ostentation that they had many Martyrs, in this manner:
[20] Apollinaris: Since all their arguments which we have set forth above have now been completely refuted, and they have nothing more to say, they take refuge in Martyrs, and affirm that they have many Martyrs: the Cataphrygians falsely boast of having Martyrs, and that this is a sure proof of the power and might that is hidden in their prophetic spirit. But this, as it seems, is utterly alien from the truth. For not a few champions of other heresies also claim to have very many Martyrs: yet we shall not on that account agree with them, nor confess that they possess the truth. Those who were first called Marcionists from the heresy of Marcion like the Marcionists; proclaim that they abound in very many Martyrs of Christ: but yet they by no means confess Christ Himself as the truth requires.
Eusebius: Not long after he adds the following.
Apollinaris: As soon as men who were truly Churchmen and Catholics, during times of persecution, together with some who were blinded by the heresy of the Cataphrygians (whom those heretics regarded as Martyrs), were by chance called to the testimony of the faith which is from the truth, Catholic Martyrs shun the company of both groups, they disagreed with them very greatly: and lest they should seem in any way to consent to the spirit of Montanus and those women, they absolutely refused to communicate with them to their very last breath. And that this is true, and was done in our times at Apamea, which is situated near the Maeander, Gaius and Alexander, born at Eumenia, who were then undergoing martyrdom, declared with sufficient clarity.
[21] Eusebius, chapter 16: In the same volume the same author mentions the writer Miltiades, Saint Apollinaris cites the writings of Miltiades: as one who himself also wrote a book against the aforesaid heresy. For having produced certain of his words, he adds thus:
Apollinaris: Having found these things in a certain treatise of the brother Miltiades, where he demonstrates that a Prophet ought not to speak in ecstasy, I reduced them to a compendium.
[22] Eusebius: Then, having proceeded somewhat further, he enumerates those who prophesied in the New Testament, among whom he numbers a certain Ammia and Quadratus, speaking thus:
Apollinaris: But this false prophet, whose prophesying in ecstasy is accompanied by shamelessness and audacity, having begun with willful ignorance, would lapse into an involuntary insanity of soul, as was said before. He says Montanus prophesied in a frenzy, which is not customary for a Prophet; But they will be unable to show that a Prophet was agitated by the spirit in that manner either in the Old or the New Testament; they will not boast that Agabus, or Judas, or Silas, or the daughters of Philip, or the aforesaid Ammia of Philadelphia, or Quadratus, or finally any others except those of their own number, prophesied in this way.
Eusebius: Again, after a few words, he writes thus:
Apollinaris: For if after Quadratus and Ammia of Philadelphia those women of Montanus received the grace of prophecy, as they say, nor did they have successors of their prophecy, let them demonstrate who among them succeeded Montanus and the women. For the Apostle considers that the Spirit of prophecy ought to endure until the last coming of Christ. But not even now, when the fourteenth year is passing since the death of Maximilla, are they able to show this.
[23] So far Eusebius, and in him Apollinaris, as we shall prove in the following section, since our Halloix brought this into dispute. Those who are here named by him, Gaius and Alexander, Saints here named by Apollinaris, crowned with martyrdom at Apamea on the Maeander, not far from Hierapolis, are venerated on March 10; Saint Julian, Bishop of Apamea (whether of this one, or of the one in Syria, we shall then inquire) on December 9; Saint Zoticus, Bishop of Comana in Pontus, on July 21; whether the latter is the same as Zoticus of Otrus, whom Apollinaris above at number 13 calls his fellow-priest or co-Bishop, I shall not easily determine: for if they are the same, why is he now called of Otrus, now from the village of Comana? Could it perhaps be that, born at Otrus, a city of Phrygia, he was Bishop of Comana? But he who is called "Otrenus" by Eusebius is called "Ostrenus" by Nicephorus, book 4, chapter 43; making mention, he says, of a certain Zoticus, Priest of Ostrenus.
Section IV. The Writings Already Cited, Attributed to Saint Apollinaris. The Sanctity of the Cataphrygians Before Their Secession Refuted.
[24] Our Petrus Halloix, in chapter 3 of the Life of Saint Apollinaris and in his Notes, [whether the writings cited are those of Apollinaris, our P. Halloix doubts, bringing five arguments:] calls into question whether what has already been cited from Eusebius was written by Saint Apollinaris; and pronounces that it does not seem that he wrote them. For, he says, Eusebius does not assert this, but only that a certain one of those he had previously named thus begins his work; and never uses here the formula he employs elsewhere, "Thus says Apollinaris"; and consequently did not consider him to have been the author of that work. Second, that Apollinaris, as shown from Eusebius and Saint Jerome in section 2, number 7, wrote against the Cataphrygians when they first arose; but the author cited by Eusebius wrote only in the fourteenth year after the death of Montanus and Maximilla. Third, that it does not seem likely that Apollinaris, a Phrygian by nation and a Bishop in Phrygia, would have spoken so ambiguously and doubtfully about the homeland of Montanus, a village, that is, of the same Phrygia: "There is said to be a certain village in Mysia near Phrygia, named Ardaba. There, they say, a certain man..." etc.; but would have written plainly: "There is a village in Phrygia," etc.; "there a certain Montanus," etc. Fourth, that Eusebius, when reviewing the writings of Apollinaris, was ignorant of the number of books against the Cataphrygians, or at least did not publish it; yet he enumerated three books of that anonymous author. Fifth, and finally, that this author professes to have reduced certain writings of Miltiades against that heresy into a compendium: which is not characteristic of one who was greater than Miltiades in age, dignity, learning, and authority.
[25] Such are the arguments of Halloix: which have very little solidity. For the first and fourth arguments might perhaps seem to establish only this, [the first and fourth are refuted, that Eusebius did not report this; the second, that these were written later:] that to Eusebius the work of Apollinaris against that sect did not seem to bear the author's name prefixed: and therefore he did not know the exact number of books when he was enumerating the writings of Apollinaris; nor the name, when he was excerpting from those same books what we have cited. This was supplied by Rufinus, who could have known it from other sources. For as to the argument that Apollinaris is said to have written against the sect when it first arose, nothing else follows from this than that it was refuted by him not as by Saint Epiphanius and others, two hundred or more years after the unhappy origin of that heresy, but at its very beginnings, whether the author was still alive or had already died. Are not some sects still considered new, even when the founders have died, if they did not have a long enough life to disseminate their poison? Were not certain works published after the death of the authors in our own age, and as it were posthumous? Baronius considers that Maximilla died in the last times of Marcus Aurelius, and that Apollinaris wrote those things in the last years of Commodus. Is it so remarkable that he flourished in reputation for learning, with works already published, in the year of Christ 171, the eleventh of Marcus Aurelius, and then in 190 or 191, the eleventh or twelfth of Commodus, published still other books? Eusebius also, in the passage cited above, having reviewed his other commentaries, adds that after these he wrote against the heresy of the Phrygians; when, that is, for a long time Abercius Marcellus had been urging him to do so, as was said above at number 13.
[26] But from what does it follow that Apollinaris was greater than Miltiades in age and learning? Because the former is said to have flourished under Marcus Aurelius, fifth, that he cites Miltiades, who was younger than Apollinaris: the latter under Commodus? Apollinaris did indeed write under Marcus Aurelius, but he could also have written a few years later under Commodus. Miltiades may have flourished in reputation for learning under Marcus Aurelius and only finally written under his son. Dignity, and the authority that derives from it alone, is no obstacle preventing a Bishop from citing or even reducing to a compendium and inserting in his own commentaries the writings of a private person, even one younger, even one holding a lesser third, that he seems to doubt about the homeland of Montanus, reputation for learning than himself. For as to the fact that he writes, "There is said to be a certain village," etc. -- does Halloix think that any one Bishop in a very extensive region that numbers fifty bishoprics is not permitted even to be ignorant of the smallest village? What if someone here writes, whether a Bishop or some other learned man, "There is said to be a certain village in Frisia named Blessum," will he be considered to have betrayed inexcusable ignorance, even if he has never visited Frisia? But how much farther did Mysia, situated near the Hellespont, lie from Hierapolis than the village of Blessum, which Ortelius places near Leeuwarden the metropolis of Frisia, lies from Antwerp? I myself have sometimes inquired of a learned man writing the history of Liege concerning certain villages situated in that diocese and province. But he knew neither where they were nor whether they belonged to the diocese. What fraction of Phrygia would the diocese of Liege be, however extensive? We impose too harsh a law upon writers if we allow them to be ignorant of nothing. But he who speaks thus is not even ignorant, but does not wish to affirm what he says except on the basis of report. How often does Cicero and others use that formula?
[27] But Rufinus, nearest in time to Eusebius, translated him into Latin thus in book 5, chapter 15: But against the heresy of the Cataphrygians, Apollinaris of Hierapolis, Saint Apollinaris is attributed these writings explicitly by Rufinus; whom we mentioned above, brought forth a most powerful shield, and many other most learned men from those same regions fought against them in defense of the truth: who also left us most powerful defenses for the weaving of our history. Meanwhile, as we said, Apollinaris, writing against this heresy and indicating in his preface that traveling through the Churches of Galatia and the neighboring provinces, and seeing very many entangled by them, he had corrected many both in person by disputing with them; yet being asked by the Brethren, he also transmitted these written works to them. This and other things Rufinus says; but what was related at number 18 concerning the Bishops Zoticus and Julian, and which in Greek reads thus: "whose mouths those around Themiso stopped and would not allow the false and people-deceiving spirit to be refuted by them," he himself draws to a different meaning, as if Themiso had been an assistant to Julian and Zoticus, who was a Montanist: Zoticus, he says, from Cumana and Julian from Apamea, having undertaken to restrain the spirit that spoke in Maximilla, ordered Themiso to stop her mouth and exclude the voice of the false and wandering spirit, which was also done.
[28] Nicephorus Callistus, book 4, chapter 23, goes in the same direction as Rufinus: Splendidly indeed, as we previously reported, Nicephorus Callistus, Apollinaris of Hierapolis wrote against this sect, who immediately at the beginning of his work shows that he had also fought against it with arguments and refutations without writing. He wrote that book, moreover, to a certain Abercius, beginning thus: "Dearest Abercius Marcellus," etc. This Abercius seems to have been an honored man, and perhaps a relative of Saint Abercius, who, as we said, was the Bishop of Hierapolis before Saint Apollinaris, and, as Halloix reports in his Life, was born at Hierapolis. Whence a not unfounded conjecture would arise that the writer not named by Eusebius was Apollinaris, even if the testimony of Nicephorus and Rufinus did not sufficiently establish it: Baronius, to which Baronius subscribes under the year 173, number 9, ascribing to Apollinaris everything that we have cited from Eusebius, whom he also cites.
[29] Whether Montanus and his followers initially lived in a holy and chaste manner? Halloix reports something else about the Montanists in the Life of Saint Apollinaris that we can by no means approve. It is credible, he says, that they were in the Catholic Church of a holier and more severe discipline, and likewise of more upright chastity, and richer in the true gifts of prophecy than most others: and that they did not condemn second marriages but discouraged them: and likewise that from a zeal for abstinence, not for glory, they chose three Lenten seasons. All of which things were therefore of a greater and singular perfection, and not at all to be censured ... But indeed when in the course of time, ungrateful for God's gifts and puffed up by the wind of pride and ambition, they declined to worse things, then prophecy began to waver, and they themselves to utter false things in place of true; then to condemn second marriages; then to defend their customs against the judgment of the Church; then finally to fall headlong and be wrapped up in errors, etc.
[2] His feast is observed on February 7. Concerning which, Molanus in his additions to Usuard: At Comines, the feast of Saint Chrysolius, who came hither sent by Pope Marcellus to preach. Galesini: venerated on February 7. At Comines on the Lys, of Saint Chrysolius, Bishop and Martyr. He, having set out with Quintinius, Crispinus, Piatus, and others from the city of Rome into Gaul for the sake of preaching the Gospel, after he had propagated the faith at Tournai and other places of the Belgae, for that reason suffered martyrdom under the Emperor Diocletian. Ferrarius in the General Catalogue of Saints: At Comines in Flanders, of Saint Chrysolis, Bishop and Martyr. In his notes, however, he calls him Chrysolius. Other Martyrologies also mention him: those of Ghini, Boetius, and Willot. Saussaye disagrees with the others about the place of martyrdom: At Comines on the Lys, he says, in the diocese of Tournai, of Saint Chrysolius, Bishop and Martyr, who, as a companion of Saints Quintinius, Piato, and Eubert setting out from Rome into Gaul for the sake of preaching the Gospel, announced the name of Christ to the people of Tournai and other peoples of Flanders: and when he had illuminated many places with the saving light, having entered Tournai after the triumphant struggle of Saint Piato, while he was striving there to consolidate the foundations of religion that had been shaken by a recent storm and to enlarge the edifice of the house of God, he was seized by the ministers of Diocletian and cruelly tormented; since he could in no way be restrained from the confession of Christ and the proclamation of the faith, he was first mocked, spat upon, and scourged, and at length, on account of his steadfast testimony to the Divine glory, condemned to death; with the crown of his precious head cut off together with his brain, he flew to the heavenly triumphs and received the diadem of honor and the robe of glory from the hand of the Lord. He rests at Comines in the temple of the Canons of the Most Holy Mother of God, to which place he himself, relying on the Divine will and guidance, bore his severed head in veneration. But the temple at Comines is sacred not to the Mother of God, in the church of Saint Peter: but to the Prince of the Apostles: and it was not the severed head but the upper part of the head that Saint Chrysolius carried; nor did he come to Tournai after the death of Saint Piatus, but labored strenuously there with him and with Saint Eubert, as we said on February 1, and especially in the neighboring region of the Menapii, which is enclosed by the Scheldt on one side and the Lys on the other, about which we have spoken elsewhere: finally, the death was inflicted upon him not in that city, nor (as Meier writes under the year 484) at Comines, but at Verlinghem, or Vrelingehem.
0[3] On the day before his feast, Molanus had recorded in his earlier edition these words: The feast of Saint Chrysolius, who, known to Dionysius, came hither sent by Pope Marcellus to preach. In the margin he explains "hither" thus: did he preach at Bruges? To Bruges, where he rests at Saint Donatian's, and at Comines near Courtrai. Canisius followed Molanus in the second edition of the German Martyrology, writing thus: Likewise the feast of Saint Chrysolius, who, known to Saint Dionysius, was sent by Pope Marcellus to preach at Bruges (he erroneously has "Burgas"), where he rests at Saint Donatian's. But whether the name of Bruges, which is known to have been derived from a bridge, had been given to any fort or village in that age, we have found no monument from which it might be conjectured: five hundred and sixty years later it began to be more densely inhabited: still less can it be proved that seeds of the Christian religion were sown there at that time. Concerning the relics of Saint Chrysolius that were brought there, we shall speak presently.
Section II. The Acts of Saint Chrysolius. His Companions.
[4] Our confrere John Buzelin testifies in his Gallo-Flanders, book 1, chapter 10, that the old account of the martyrdom of Saint Chrysolius is preserved at Verlinghem and at Comines. We give it from a manuscript codex of the Church of Comines, in which it was distributed into very short Lessons to be recited throughout the entire Octave. The Life from the Office of Comines: We have collated it, however, with a manuscript copy of the Canons Regular of Rouge-Cloitre. Buzelin cites some passages from it at the place mentioned, and Cognatus in volume 1 of his History of Tournai cites more, which are found here in the same words. We shall append another Life of Saint Chrysolius published by Arnold Raisse, a Canon of Douai, in 1623 from a manuscript Lectionary of Lens. another from Lens: That it was not interpolated by him is evident from the fact that in section 4 he annotated in the margin: "for 'intellexit' perhaps read 'intelligens'": which is an indication that he faithfully counted every word he found. And indeed Buzelin in Gallo-Flanders, book 1, chapter 28, cites some passages from the lessons of the old office of the Church of Lens, which are the same as those found in that Life.
[5] Buzelin also treats of him, as we have already mentioned, in Gallo-Flanders, book 1, chapter 10, and book 2, chapter 2, and much more extensively in the Annals, book 1, where he reports that he was sent into Gaul by Pope Caius together with Dionysius, Quintinius, Piato, Eubert, and other apostolic men in the year 286, and again, as above, records that he was descended from the Kings of Armenia, but that having spurned the inheritance of so great a kingdom, which was meant for him, he hastened to the law and poverty of Christ: a summary of the Acts: that he was made an Archbishop; that when the persecution of Diocletian and Maximian then raged, he was forced to leave his homeland and came to Rome: that in the city of Tournai he also lent his services to Saint Piato, together with Eubert, in cultivating the minds of men and performing the duties pertaining to the pontifical office: but that he extended his labor more widely outside the walls, and particularly cultivated the region which lies under the name of Lille: that God favored his efforts, especially since, on account of the constant storms of wars, the Emperors raged less against the Christians in Belgium. At length, in the year 303, at Verlinghem,
formerly a town, now a village, he was captured at the command of a cruel judge, subjected to atrocious injuries, his limbs beaten with rods, and when he relaxed nothing of his steadfastness, and rather smiled sweetly amid his torments, the top part of his head, which was marked with a tonsure, was cut off and his brain poured out on the ground: but the Martyr gathered up his brain and the top of his head: and as he thus made his way toward Comines, and was burning with a tremendous thirst, at his prayers a spring suddenly burst forth and provided water to quench his burning: after he arrived at Comines, he there placed the crown and brain upon the altar, with many looking on: then, resembling one who smiles, he gently breathed forth his soul: his body, buried in that place, was once famous for many wondrous healings of men: and was therefore chosen as Patron by the people of Comines and Verlinghem. These are the words, nearly verbatim, of Buzelin.
[6] Miraeus also treats of him in the Belgian Annals, Molanus in the Feasts of the Saints of Belgium, and in his Index and Chronicle; the Life of Saint Piato, to be given on October 1. Anthony Sander in book 2 of his Hagiography of Flanders. William Gazet in his Ecclesiastical History of Belgium; writings about him. James Meier in the Annals of Flanders, book 1, under the year 484, where he writes that he was killed for his piety under the Emperors Diocletian and Maximian above the river Lys, where Comines now is, which is refuted from the Acts and other writers. Our confrere Heribert Rosweyde also treats of him in his Ecclesiastical History of Belgium; John Cognatus in the History of Tournai, volume 1, chapter 22.
[7] Molanus, our confrere Andreas Boetius, and Anthony Sander write that he was sent into Gaul by Pope Saint Marcellus. This is less approved by John Cognatus and others, because he is said to have completed his martyrdom under Diocletian and Maximian, by whom and when was he sent to Belgium? although in the last year of those Emperors, that of Christ 304, Saint Marcellinus was killed; to whom Saint Marcellus succeeded when Maximian Galerius and Constantius Chlorus were already in power. Cognatus therefore holds that Chrysolius and his companions were sent by Marcellinus: Buzelin by Caius. Those must agree with the latter who acknowledge that he was compelled to leave Armenia by the persecution of Diocletian. But once this is established, those things which are commonly reported by others must fall, namely that he was a companion of Saints Dionysius, Quintinius, and Crispinus along with Piatus; and of Piatus, Chrysolius and Eubert were companions: unless they are said to have been companions in the sense that they were sent by the same Apostolic See to the same sowing of the Gospel which others had already begun from the time of the Emperors Decius or Valerian, they themselves being sent in the times of Claudius, Aurelian, Carinus, or Diocletian. Just as the helpers and companions of Saint Xavier in the Indian vineyard will rightly be called those who, even though they did not sail to India with him, nevertheless followed afterward and entered into partnership in the noble labor.
[8] Just as with Saint Piato, besides Eubert and Chrysolius, several others are believed to have suffered martyrdom at Tournai, so also with Chrysolius others were killed at Verlinghem, although no monument of them survives. This is asserted in the Life published by Raisse: companions in martyrdom. Very many others are also reported to have been crowned with martyrdom together with him. And Buzelin in book 1 of the Annals: I understand that many others as well, whose names are not at all recorded, were afflicted with torments for the name of Christ at Verlinghem together with this most holy Pontiff.
Section III. The Relics of Saint Chrysolius. The Spring.
[9] Concerning the relics of Saint Chrysolius, Meier writes thus: Comines is still famous for his relics. Miraeus likewise: The relics formerly at Comines, He rests at Comines in the temple of the Canons of the Blessed Virgin. Sander has the same, and Saussaye above. But by the more reliable testimony of Buzelin and Cognatus, we have shown that the basilica of Comines is sacred not to the Virgin Mother of God but to Saint Peter. Nevertheless that his relics still rest in it, elevated by Saint Eligius: and that they were elevated by Blessed Eligius a thousand years ago, Molanus is our authority, and Ghini after him. The elevation of his body by Saint Eligius is indeed mentioned in the Life, and its venerable and honorable placement in a silver casket.
[10] thence removed: But Cognatus writes that this casket and the relics were taken from the people of Comines during wartime, and that there is no one among the inhabitants, however old, who remembers having seen them: nevertheless there is great veneration of him there, as the Apostle of the place: his help is reverently implored in difficult matters: the feast is celebrated on February 7 and for the following seven days, with great solemnity: in solemn processions his silver statue is carried about: but the casket of Saint Chrysolius is now at Bruges in the church of Saint Donatian; a part exists at Bruges, and in the catalogue of relics of that church he testifies that he read the following: A great part of the body of Saint Chrysolius, Archbishop of the Armenians. This catalogue exists in volume 1 of the Illustrated Flanders of Anthony Sander, on the Affairs of Bruges, book 2, chapter 1. Miraeus also acknowledges that a portion of the bones was translated to Bruges to the cathedral basilica of Saint Donatian. The feast was formerly accustomed to be celebrated by the Church of Bruges with a semi-double office; now it is a double.
[11] Thence a portion was given to the Church of Tournai in the year 1611, concerning which Buzelin writes in book 12 of the Annals: In the month of October, some honor and glory were given to the relics of Saints Chrysolius and Eleutherius among the people of Bruges and Tournai. The Canons of Bruges had at Saint Donatian's no small portion of the bones of Blessed Chrysolius, a Martyr among the Gallo-Flemings, a part at Tournai, most famous throughout this region for his cult and Patron of the people of Comines: they lacked the relics of the holy Bishop Eleutherius, Patron of the people of Tournai. On the other hand, the Canons of Tournai had nothing of the Blessed Chrysolius. Therefore an agreement was made between both Bishops and Chapters that a certain exchange of those bones should take place: and when those relics were being conveyed to their new resting places, each Church should accompany them with no small honor, to win the souls of the Saints over to granting their aid. Cognatus also mentions this Translation and recites the words of Charles Philip
[1] the testimony of Rodoan, Bishop of Bruges, by which he certifies that he took from the bier of the relics of Saint Chrysolius, Bishop and Martyr, resting in the Cathedral Church of Saint Donatian, a notable portion of a rib of the same Saint, and this in the presence of the Right Reverend and Venerable Lords the Dean, Cantor, and Archpriest, and other Canons of the said Cathedral Church, and sent the same to the Right Reverend, Venerable, and Distinguished Lords the Dean and Chapter of the Cathedral Church of Tournai ... in the year 1611, on the 28th day of the month of September. They were received at Tournai on October 7, with distinguished reverence and honor, as the same Cognatus testifies. A commemoration of him is now made in the Ecclesiastical Office at Tournai on February 7, as is evident from the Offices printed in the year 1626. Arnold Raisse mentions both Translations of Saint Chrysolius in the Belgian Sacred Treasury.
[12] At Lens also, a town of Artois, in the collegiate church of Saint Mary, Raisse reports in the Sacred Treasury and in his Notes on the Life of the same Saint that a part of the body of Saint Chrysolius is preserved. a part at Lens: "And the bier itself with the sacred head in a very ancient silver casket," he says, "which the Canons still today religiously and piously preserve, testifies to this." He also recites some verses about the relics resting in that church, which read as follows:
The church of Lens, the cell of Mary, contains Bodies of Saints concealed beneath illustrious biers; Of the exalted Vulganus, who was once born of the English, And of Willibrord, the nourishing Bishop of Maastricht, The body of Chrysolius, the distinguished Martyr, etc.
Concerning the relics of Saint Willibrord, we shall treat in connection with his Life on November 7.
[13] a chapel, The Church of Comines, as Buzelin writes in book 1, chapter 10, of Gallo-Flanders, obtained no small fame from the once most famous chapel of Saint Chrysolius, Patron of the town. a temple, At Verlinghem, moreover, the parochial church is dedicated to him, and next to it, as the same author writes in chapter 28, there springs the fountain a spring salutary against fevers. which God suddenly supplied to the same holy Martyr as he was making his way after his head had been cut off and was burning with violent thirst: and many seek a remedy for fevers by drinking its water. This spring is mentioned in the Life published by Raisse, section 6. Cognatus writes that it is enclosed by walls, and says it is established as certain that James Philip de Rasseghem, Count of Iseghem, upon returning from the French expedition which he had undertaken under the command of Alexander Farnese, Governor of Belgium, after he had been afflicted with a troublesome fever for six weeks in his castle of Lomme, or Ulm, drank water drawn from this spring, although the physicians advised against it, and soon recovered his health.
ACTS
from the manuscripts of Comines and Rouge-Cloitre.
Chrysolius, Bishop, Martyr, at Comines and Verlinghem in Flanders (Saint) Companion Martyrs, at Comines and Verlinghem in Flanders
BHL Number: 1798
By an Anonymous Author, from manuscripts.
Lesson 1.
As the historians relate, to whose words it is pious to lend benevolent ears Saint Chrysolius was of royal birth, and to accord faith, Blessed Chrysolius was a native of the regions of Armenia. For the King and Queen of Armenia are said to have truly been the parents in the flesh of the same Blessed Chrysolius.
Lesson 2.
While still in the years of boyhood, Blessed Chrysolius was entrusted by his parents to the study of letters, he studies letters: to be truly imbued with their nectar.
Lesson 3.
In which he advanced so greatly, and applied such great diligence in his studies, he becomes a Bishop: that both on account of his most illustrious learning and his most holy life, as well as his most fervent faith, he at length deserved to become Archbishop in Armenia.
Lesson 4.
While Blessed Chrysolius was Archbishop there, and living piously and holily, on account of persecution, there arose a most violent persecution of Christians.
Lesson 5.
For by the command of Caesar, then Emperor of the whole world, those who worshipped Christ, wherever they were found, were compelled to worship idols, and were pressed by his officers to offer them victims and sacrifices.
Lesson 6.
But those who refused to do these things were deprived of their own possessions and were put to death by the infidels through various torments. Seeing this, Saint Chrysolius, and knowing by divine revelation that he would receive the palm of martyrdom in the regions of Gaul, left Armenia,
[3] Having received the authority to preach, Blessed Chrysolius, first distinguished with the Pontifical blessing, left Rome and betook himself to the regions of Gaul. into Gaul When he was leaving the City, he was joined with the Blessed Martyrs of Christ, Dionysius, Quintinius, Piatus, Lucianus, and very many others, with other Saints. whose names are written in the book of life. That Dionysius preached at Paris, Piatus at Tournai, and Lucianus at Beauvais, there is no ambiguity among the moderns. For whatever each of them accomplished in the said places by preaching the Crucified One, their deeds and the outcome of the matter more fully make manifest.
[4] But lest a long discourse weary the ears of the listeners, let us briefly see how and where Blessed Chrysolius obtained the palm of martyrdom. When the Diocletian persecution raged against Christians, a certain Prefect Fescenninus was sent to Paris to search for the Martyr of God, Dionysius, together with his companions: to Beauvais, however, three most ferocious men, Latinus, Jairus, and Antor, were sent to destroy the man of God, Lucianus: and to the lower regions, a certain Prefect of no less cruelty and malice, by the name of Decius, was sent to remove the holy Archbishop Chrysolius. But Decius, rejoicing in the power given to him to rage against Christians, learned that the blessed man of God, Chrysolius, had by his exhortations and most salutary admonitions led very many back to the light of truth and subjected them to the faith of the most holy Trinity and the will of God; his intrepid preaching of the faith, and that the holiness of his life was made known by report; and he hastened thither at a swift pace. But Chrysolius, most acceptable to God, in no way feared to face the ferocity of the unbelieving people: he more often meditated in his heart on that precept of the Lord: "Do not fear those who kill the body, but cannot kill the soul." Matthew 10:28
[5] Decius immediately, with his soldiers and cruel executioners, pursued the blessed man and found him preaching fearlessly near a certain pagan shrine, in the place commonly called Verlinghem. This blessed Martyr, imbued with the virtue of charity, stood like an immovable column: by the raging officers he was bound with little chains like a most gentle lamb, beaten most harshly with scourges like a slave, and struck most savagely with clubs like the most wicked of all; although he was the exemplar of all virtue and honesty, his tortures, the model of good morals and of living well. But the man filled with God, in all the injuries inflicted upon him, like another patient Job, said with the royal Prophet: "You are my patience," and remembered the word of the Lord: Psalm 70:5 "Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone: but if it dies, it bears much fruit." John 12:24 The ministers of the devil led him to the western side of the shrine, and drew the impious sword against the most pious man, the top of his head amputated, and amputated the precious crown of his head, scattering his brain upon the ground. Very many others are also reported to have been crowned with martyrdom together with him.
[6] his companions. When, therefore, the crown of the holy Bishop's head had been amputated, divine miracles began to shine forth: for a most beautiful spring burst forth from the earth. A wondrous thing, indeed, and worthy of a great miracle: after the crown of the blessed Martyr had been amputated by the enemy's sword, with the brain dashed and scattered on the ground, a miraculous spring, he himself, rising up, gathered the brain together with the crown with his own hands. Then, departing from the place where he was made a Martyr of God, with steady step he came to the town now called Comines, carrying the sacred relics with his own hands, the carrying of the crown of the head, namely, the crown stained with blood
together with the brain, and the noble little vessel of the Blessed Apostle Peter before his breast: where he had very often and most diligently sown the word of God, and had consecrated the church of that place in honor of the relics of the Blessed Apostle Peter, which he had brought with him when coming from Rome.
[7] Then, having entered the church of Comines, the man of God approached the high altar, upon which he offered the aforesaid relics, by which and by his martyrdom he would distinguish the place of Comines, his death, and at last, having bent his knees, his prayer completed, having commended himself and his own to God, suddenly this blessed Martyr, falling asleep to the world, living in Christ, released into a glorious death, sweetly breathed forth his holy soul.
[8] his elevation, The most blessed Confessor of Christ, Eligius, Bishop of Noyon, having heard of the life of Blessed Chrysolius and his venerable triumph, ordered the little body of the same Martyr, after many years, to be raised from the earth and to be placed venerably and honorably in a silver casket. Which was also done: for the glorious bones of the same Martyr are elevated in a silver bier, which is displayed in the aforesaid Church of Comines to all who wish to see it at the present time. In which place, through the relics of Blessed Peter, miracles. and also through the merits of the blessed Martyr, many miracles are performed daily, in Him who lives and reigns with God the Father and the Holy Spirit through infinite ages of ages. Amen.
AnnotationThe manuscript of Comines also read thus. We have left it here because Raisse had also published it so.