Quentin: the Second Finding of his Body

THE SECOND FINDING OF ST. QUINTINUS, MARTYR.

c. A.D. 647.

Quintinus (St.), Finding at Vermand. BHL Number: 2476

By St. Audoenus. From manuscripts.

[1] In the Church the days of the Finding and of the Translation of sacred relics have always been religiously observed. This is clear both from the Martyrologies and from various sermons of the holy Fathers.

[2] Concerning this second Finding of St. Quintinus I have found the following in a very ancient Martyrology of the monastery of St. Martin at Tournai: "In the district of Vermandois, the Finding of the body of Blessed Quintinus the Martyr by Eligius the Bishop, and his Translation." The same is given by Molanus in his Additions to Usuard, and by Galesinius, and by the German Martyrology. Ferrarius, in his General Catalogue of Saints: "At Augusta Veromanduorum, the Finding of the body of St. Quintinus."

[3] Concerning Vermand, the town of St. Quintinus, and the Finding of his body, Papirius Masson writes the following in his description of the rivers of Gaul: "The Somme rises in the village of Fervaques in Vermandois, whence it makes for the municipality of St. Quintinus: The river Somme. of which Usuard, an old writer, speaks thus in his Martyrology: 'In Gaul, in the town of Vermand, of St. Quintinus, The municipality of St. Quintinus. who suffered martyrdom under the Emperor Maximinus, whose body was found after fifty-five years by the revelation of an Angel.' These are his words on the day before the Kalends of November. In the Life of this Martyr also I find written the following: 'His venerable body, although it had been sunk by the impious in the river Somme together with lead, nevertheless lay hidden for very many years, and was found incorrupt.' Sigebert the historian, at the year nine hundred and sixty-four, says: 'The church of St. Quintinus the Martyr is situated on an island in the river Somme; The first and second finding of St. Quintinus. his martyrdom took place in the three hundred and second year of Christ.' Sigebert adds that his body was laid by the matron Eusebia in the upper part of the prominent town which in antiquity was called Augusta Veromanduorum, and was again discovered by Eligius, Bishop of Noyon."

St. Audoenus records this Finding in the Life of St. Eligius, which we shall give entire on December 1; Whence this history has been transcribed. but this part we have transcribed from four manuscript codices: of Rouge-Cloître, of Louvain, of the most illustrious Balthasar Moretus, and of St. Mary of Bonnefontaine; and it reads thus:

[4] St. Eligius searches for the bodies of the Saints. To Eligius, a most holy man, among the other miracles of his virtues this also had been granted by the Lord: that the bodies of the holy Martyrs, which had been held hidden from the peoples through so many ages until then, were disclosed and brought to light by his searching and his tracking with exceeding ardor of faith. For some of them were formerly venerated by the people in places where they were not, and yet in what place they lay more certainly buried was altogether unknown. From the time, therefore, when Eligius was consecrated Pontiff and given as Shepherd, certain relics were found by him and made known to the peoples. Of these, first and foremost, at the beginning of his Episcopate, he brought forth openly into public view the holy Martyr Quintinus, sought with great urgency * and long concealed.

[5] Now before Eligius was given as Bishop of that place, there arose a certain wicked man named Maurinus, religious in habit, as it seemed to the peoples; a cantor, moreover, praised in the King's palace, and on this account, The rashness of Maurinus divinely punished. as the outcome of the matter showed, swollen in mind, insolent in heart, and dissolute in conduct: who, deceived by the audacity of his presumption, began to boast in words that the body of the Martyr Quintinus could be both searched for and found by him. But in order that the Lord might at once declare his insolence and in the end the merits of Eligius, as soon as he began to scrape ** the earth with a hoe, the handle of the digging tool stuck to his hands: and so the wretch, abandoning the work he had presumed to undertake, on the following day also miserably expired, his hands seething with worms. From this deed so great a fear grew up among the people that no one thereafter, however approved his life, except Eligius, dared to seek after an undertaking of this kind.

[6] Eligius, therefore, having taken up the pastoral charge, at once at the beginning of his ordination began to apply himself assiduously to that place. For it is not far from the city of Vermand, namely in that place where the Martyr, raised from the river, had once been buried by Eusebia on the hill. Eligius, therefore, prompted by the divine will, was turning over in his mind, and was moreover openly proclaiming to the people, that the body was not kept in the place where they venerated it, but rather lay in a part further on. And when for a long time a conviction of this kind spurred his mind, he at length began, with shrewd inquiry, to probe here and there through the pavement of the basilica, to see whether he could anywhere detect the sacred tomb. But when he found no trace whatever of the tomb, he began to be abandoned by the brethren, who recalled with trembling the destruction of that man who, having lately conceived such a search with a proud mind, had ended his life by a mournful death; St. Eligius searches for the tomb of St. Quintinus. and objecting also the antiquity of the body, consumed now by the length of time and reduced to nothing, to dust, they tried to call him back from the purpose he had begun in his mind. And when such hindrances were put in his way by the brethren, he, groaning more deeply, said: "Do not, brethren, I beg you, do not hinder my devotion: for I trust in my Creator that He will not deem it fitting to defraud me of so great a treasure and of an exchange so much desired by me."

[7] He fasts for three days, vowing not to eat unless it is found. Then, persisting more attentively, he undertook a three days' fast, and, imploring the divinity of Christ the Lord more earnestly with tears, he vowed that he would not take any nourishment before he should deserve to obtain the wish he desired. For so great was his faith and so great his constancy that very often he anticipated things to be done as though he believed them already done, and sometimes he spoke with God as with his earthly lord, and believed without doubt that he would accomplish the purpose which he had resolved upon in God. Hence too, when he was being dissuaded by many, he said: "Thou, Lord Jesus, who knowest all things before they come to pass, Thou knowest that unless Thou show me plainly the body of this Thy witness, who suffered for Thy holy name, unworthy though I am, I will never hold the Episcopate of this people, but will rather go far away from this province as an exile, where, as is fitting, I shall die among the beasts."

[8] Why say more? Persisting in the work he had begun, when his helpers ran about through the various places of the church probing, and conceived no hope of finding it, he gently restrained them all and pointed out to them one place to be dug, in the rear part of the church, where there could be no suspicion. Then, turning the labor of all to that spot, they willingly obeyed his commands: and when the earth had now been dug to a depth of ten feet or more, they were again bereft of hope of finding the body. And when the middle of the third night had now passed *, Eligius, seizing a hoe and throwing off his amphibalus, began with all his strength, with tapers and lamps, to dig the earth with his holy hands; He himself finds it. and when, turning a little aside at the bottom of the pit, he had begun to scrape the soil in the side of the hollow, he soon found a tomb, very ancient indeed, covering the sacred body.

[9] Then, filled with great joy, when with the hoe that he carried in his hand he had struck the side of the sepulcher most eagerly *, at once, the tomb being pierced, there flowed forth from it so great a fragrance of odor together with an immense light A sweet odor and light from the tomb of St. Quintinus. that even St. Eligius himself, struck by the brightness of the light and by the indescribable odor, could scarcely stand. For the globe of splendor which came forth from the tomb at the stroke of the one striking spread so great a force of its brightness that, the gaze of the eyes of all who stood by being blunted, it changed the greatest part of that region into the brightness of day. Whence all who happened to be awake at that same hour, and who did not know the cause of the matter, judged it to be some great sign given from heaven. For midnight had passed, and the night was indeed very dark and murky: but as the brightness came forth, a light as of day shone out for a time, and in time the brightness withdrew.

[10] He takes some relics from it for himself. Then Eligius, with tearful joy, kissed the sacred body that had been found, and, when it had been raised from the deep earth, he set apart for himself relics from wherever he desired; he also took teeth from the holy jaw for the healing of the sick, and from the root of a tooth a drop of blood came forth: the nails also, of wonderful size, which the persecutors had fixed in his body at the time of his passion, he drew out from the brain and the other limbs and set apart for himself as relics: he also assigned the most beautiful hair, set apart as relics. Then, having wrapped the body in most precious silk and laid it out most becomingly, he transferred it with the greatest diligence behind the altar. Finally he fashioned above it a tomb of gold and silver and gems with wonderful workmanship: the church also, He honorably lays up the body. which seemed small for the gatherings of the people, he enlarged and adorned with excellent craftsmanship. He himself, finally, from the relics which he had set apart from the holy body, enriched many places, He heals diseases with the sacred relics. and by imparting these same relics he provided manifold healing for the various afflictions of sickness.

* MS. Mor. quasi tumulum quoque.

** MS. Lou. and Mor. cavare.

* MS. Mor. indicia.

** MS. Mor. fulsisset.

* MS. Mor. audacissime.

alt. citra.