ON ST. SIDRONIUS, MARTYR,
AT MESSINES IN BELGIUM.
Perhaps in the Year 270.
PRELIMINARY COMMENTARY.
The cult of the Saint; Sidronius of Messines and of Sens, are they the same or different? The Passion brought to the balance; a copy of it, which is here given; a brief notice of the monastery of Messines.
Sidronius, Martyr of Sens, at Messines in Belgium (S.)
BY THE AUTHOR J. P.
Messines, a town of Flanders, called by the Flemings Meessene, by the French Messines, Sanderus in his Flanders Illustrated, page 401, exhibits it written under more than one Latin name: For whether, he says, from the rescript of Robert the Frisian you call the town Misenis; At Messines in Flanders, from Meyer Mescinas; from Marchantius Meessenam; from Oliver Mercano Meschinam, or, as I read elsewhere, Mesinas; add also, as it is written in the Codex of Donations in Miraeus, Mecinas; you will have expressed one and the same place; which we prefer to call Messines with the Sanctologist of Thérouanne in the praised Sanderus, there treating in a few words of the etymology of the place. It lies almost midway on the route between Ypres and Armentières; somewhat nearer to the latter than to the former city. To the point Meyer thus records, in book 3 of the Annals of Flanders, in the reign of Baldwin the Pious: In 1062 Athela, wife of the Pious, established at Messines a college of twelve priests, and a nunnery of thirty Benedictine virgins; and she is said to have brought thither from the city of Rome the body of the blessed Martyr of Christ Sidronius. And this translation gave occasion to the solemn cult of Sidronius among the people of Messines.
[2] Moreover St. Sidronius is not announced in the Martyrologies in the same place, and at Sens in Gaul, and on the same day, the more ancient ones together with the modern Roman making mention not of the one of Messines, but of the one of Sens. Usuard has on this day: In the territory of Sens, of Blessed Sidronius the Martyr. The Lübeck-Cologne edition reckons him on May 15; as also does Greven. The Usuardine codex of Luxeuil refers him to the 3rd of this month with the addition: In the district of Sens, of St. Sidronius the Martyr, brother of St. Beata the virgin, resting in the village of Menrora. To which add from the Breviary of Sens a commemoration with a prayer from the Common of one Martyr, placed on the same third day: on which Molanus likewise commemorates him, not indeed as of Sens, but as of Messines, speaking thus: The birthday of St. Sidronius the Martyr, under the Prince Aurelian, whose body Adela, wife of Baldwin the Pious, Count of Flanders, translated from Rome to Messines. Miraeus also wove him into the Belgian and Burgundian Fasti. But the modern Roman announces St. Sidronius on this day, the 11th; which reason alone sufficed for us to transfer him hither, having been placed on the 3rd of this month among the Passed Over.
[3] Nor will it be out of place to hear what Saussay says of the holy Martyr, asserting Rome as the arena of the passion, St. Sidronius is venerated; but Messines as the place of his cult: On the same day (the third of July) the birthday of St. Sidronius the Martyr, whose sacred bones, crowned at Rome today under Aurelian Caesar, Adela, wife of Baldwin the Pious, Count of Flanders, brought from that city, the chief of the world, to Messines: where, a college of canons having been established, in the convent of Benedictine nuns which she founded, after the death of her husband she took the sacred veil, and, the arena of the religious life excellently run through, at last rested in a pious end. Raissius in the Belgian Hierogazophylacium, page 353, also mentions St. Sidronius of Messines, rightly observing that no Sidronius Martyr is treated in the Roman Martyrology except the one of Sens, on July 11.
[4] From the different place of the announcement, in which the Martyr is referred to, you might doubt, whether he is the same or different, as was noted on the 3rd of this month among the Passed Over, whether two Sidronii are to be posited. This controversy, touched there but remitted hither, warns us that we have fallen upon the proper place to explain this difficulty, as far as can be done. Of St. Sidronius of Sens, on which authority he may be founded among the classic Martyrologists, besides Usuard I know none: who perhaps received him from more ancient Acts; since here he is deserted by his guide Ado, who makes no memory of this Saint. I said from more ancient Acts: for those which survive, and which are here given, do not deserve such a name, at least as to the greatest part of themselves; stuffed indeed with many things which seem altogether alien from genuine truth and sincerity, as will be shown at greater length a little later; and therefore they ought to be reckoned of no or of slight authority. But the one of Messines rests, so far as I know, on no other authority than that Adela, as we have just related, wife of Baldwin the Pious, having journeyed to Rome, received his body by the gift of Pope Alexander II, and on her return to Belgium carried it to Messines in the year, as Malbrancq marks, book 8, chapter 56, page 782, after the birth of Christ 1069.
[5] But if that body was truly the body of St. Sidronius, it is not easy to determine. and not another, taken from the catacombs under the name of Sidronius; who would at once reconcile how that Martyr, slain under Aurelian in the territory of Sens, then buried at Rome, afterward dug up from the tomb by Alexander II, given as a gift to Adela, and carried from Italy to Messines in Belgium? Therefore, the announcement of Usuard standing, together with the arena of the Martyr, the territory of Sens, there expressed, and his Acts being admitted up to that point, although, as I hinted above, most of the rest are exceedingly suspect, it seems to be said, that of the two Martyrs, called by the same name of Sidronius (if indeed both of them truly existed in the nature of things) the one of Messines was either not Sidronius, who suffered under Aurelian; but only baptized, as they say, with the name of Sidronius, after he was taken from the catacombs; or, if he was truly Sidronius, then it will be fitting to fix the arena of his martyrdom not in the territory of Sens, but in the city of Rome, in which he died, was buried, dug up from the tomb, and finally carried to Belgium. Certainly I shall not easily be led to double St. Sidronius, until, besides the often-mentioned translation made by Adela, I have seen some other monument (which, if I rightly suspect, I despair of seeing) from which such a doubling may in some way be persuaded; the Sidronius of Sens, asserted by Usuard, remaining in his possession before the one of Messines, until it be permitted to learn something better.
[6] But now, how utterly worthless, or at least of very slight value, are the Acts of this holy Martyr, Certainly from the Acts will be made plain from the few points which I subjoin; for to bring forward all is not necessary. Therefore, not to touch the author's hallucination, at the very beginning of the Passion wrongly combining the year of Christ 252 with the reign of Aurelian, who according to the sounder chronology is only reckoned to have begun to hold the scepter in the year 270; it appears little credible, that which he has at number 7, about 190 soldiers sent by Aurelian to St. Sidronius, who, having caught sight of him praying, are said soon to have prayed together with him: And at number 8 you have seventy judges in the consistory; at number 10 the sudden conversion of eighteen soldiers, casting away their arms, and answering Aurelian, who had promised gold and honors if they would worship the gods: Let your money be with you in perdition. Nor can that seem less credible which occurs at number 13, where, when Aurelian ordered our holy Champion to be afflicted with dreadful torments, three of the consuls object: You would have been blessed, Aurelian, if you had not been born: who ordered such torments to be done to the servant of God. And the enraged King ordered their heads to be cut off. Why do I linger with many words? Whom will the Emperor not displease, having seen the Martyr unharmed by the flames, falling on his face from great fear from the first hour to the ninth; as is related at number 15. Again at number 18 fabulous are the arrows with which the Martyr is assailed, suspended by the wind, on the right and on the left; of which not even one touched his body;
one of which, as follows at number 19, leaped forth and entered into the eye of Aurelian, and blinded him.
[7] things exceedingly suspect, nothing can be solidly established. Add at number 20 the blinded soldiers, and the broken chains; at number 21 the revelation which the Saint asks, that he may reach the place in which he had been baptized; the river made like a stone; at number 22 the blood of the Martyr, collected by his own order, and commanded to be carried to the Emperor Aurelian; who, as is had at number 23, applied it to his eye, and it healed him of the wound inflicted by the arrow, crying out with a loud voice: How great and glorious is the Lord God of the Christians, who does not forsake those who hope in him; but governs them among fierce persecutors, and does his will in those who keep his commandments. But the cry of the executioners: Holy Sidronius, intercede for us, sparing our sins: since we have been baptized with your holy blood, to whom will it not appear suspect? To which is added the carrying of his own head, already cut off by the sword, to the distance of fifty paces. All of which breathe the vein of Metaphrastes, or certainly of another, whoever he was, aiming rather from a hodgepodge of marvelous things to exhibit a pious drama, than the sincere Acts of a Martyr: of whom scarcely anything else is certainly established, than his cult alone.
[8] Certain things are noted about the copy. The copy which we here give was taken from a Manuscript of Messines, and indeed the same one, so far as could be gathered from certain characters agreeing mutually with each other, which Castellanus, passing through Messines in the year 1686, in the month of July, noted to have been written on parchment, already inscribed from the year 1000; would that it were sufficiently worthy of that age and of the deeds of the holy Martyr. But such as that copy was, we compared it with another, transcribed from the Manuscript codex of Troyes; and we found both to agree, if you except a very few things, which were perhaps omitted or altered in copying.
[9] A brief notice is given Since this convent of nuns, professing the rule of St. Benedict, among the other nunneries of Flanders holds a place not the last for the celebrity of its name; and here the opportunity conveniently offers itself, perhaps never elsewhere to be offered so conveniently, of treating of it in our Acts, it seemed good to exhibit to the reader a brief notice of it, by which he may discern more than merely in name the state of this most flourishing abbey. To what person, and to what time the origin of the place is to be referred, we gave at number 1. Moreover that it was not sparingly endowed with immunities, privileges, and donations, is clear from the Codex of pious Donations in Miraeus. There in chapter 56 Drogo, Bishop of Thérouanne, in the year 1065, gives such liberty to the church of Messines, as Bertefridus, Bishop of Amiens, about the year, as is there said, 662, had given to the church of Corbie; in what it consists is there explained; nor is it of this design to describe it at greater length.
[10] of the nunnery There in chapter 57 Philip, King of France, confirms in the year 1066 the estates assigned to the monastery of Messines by Baldwin of Lille or the Pious, and his wife Adela. Finally Robert the Frisian, Count of Flanders, confirms in the year 1080 the possessions of the often-mentioned monastery, founded by his mother Adela; saying, both because the bones of my mother are buried in the same church … and because, having seen so many signs of miracles in the same place, he most evidently reports it to please him, that he had found there something belonging to almighty God. And hence it is gathered that this place, already from its very cradle, shone with no obscure fame of name. Why should I mention that, as is read in Sanderus, page 402, the lordship of the town and of a small circuit of land, by the donation of Adela the Countess, belongs to the Abbess (as he himself calls her) of the Vestal virgins there, who, according to the custom of the people of Ypres and by the decree of Count Guy, administers the commonwealth and justice through the great Bailiff (which office was then held by the Lord d'Authin, toparch of Baillon), and through the perpetual port-Bailiff and Scultetus, and seven annual aldermen, wont to be renewed on the recurring feast of the Archangel Michael.
[11] The praised author also appended a list of the abbesses of the often-mentioned nunnery, of Messines taking his beginning from Frisilda, who is set as having died in the year 1075, up to Anna d'Anthin, still in that same year 1640, in which the Author was writing, set over the governance of the same monastery, into which, as the same Sanderus hands down, virgins, unless sprung of illustrious birth, are scarcely received. I pass over in silence its tragic vicissitudes, by which, as in human affairs sad things are wont to succeed joyful ones, it felt the various chances of alternating fortune; as may there be seen. But of these enough for now. It remains that, returning to the holy Martyr, we now exhibit the very exemplar of the Passion.
PASSION
From the Manuscript of Messines, collated with another of Troyes.
St. Sidronius converts many to Christ; monstrously tortured, he is beheaded; a woman is given sight at his tomb.
Sidronius, Martyr of Sens, at Messines in Belgium (S.)
BHL Number: 7702
FROM THE MANUSCRIPTS.
In the two hundred and fifty-second year of the Lord's Incarnation, in the reign of the most impious Aurelian a, St. Sidronius intent on the salvation of souls, when the most blessed Sidronius was born in the city of Samon b of his father Serenius and his mother Beatia, and was solicitous in prayer, prompt in fastings, generous in almsgiving; and would relate to everyone willing to hear the glory which is prepared in the end for the Saints, namely the recompense of eternal reward: his sound went out into the whole world, and it was announced to the Emperor Aurelian that blessed Sidronius persevered in an angelic revelation, and with most glorious utterances preached to the unbelieving people, that they should be converted to him who dwells in the heavens; that is, to the Lord Jesus Christ.
[2] Hearing these things, the Emperor Aurelian, moved to great wrath, while Aurelian the Emperor vainly plots the destruction of Christians, said to Crispinus the governor: Let the chariot go forth in its fury, and let the courier-soldiers pour out through all the borders, and wherever they find Christians, let them destroy them. And he commanded them, saying: Wherever you find them, and they do not sacrifice to our gods, heap these penalties upon them, which are the brazen wheels, and the iron hooks, and cut off their heads. When many, who once professed that they would be Christians, had heard this report, they went back, and began to deny the Lord.
[3] desirous of martyrdom, he journeys elsewhere. But holy Sidronius did not despair of the protection of God's mercy, but fasted and prayed continually, and gave food to the hungry. Then there came forth a man, named Julianus, and said to him: Most sacred Sidronius, do you not wish to prepare your soul for battle, or have you not heard what is prepared for the Christians? Forsake these our enemies, that your praise may speak in the praise of Christ, the Son of God. Then blessed Sidronius, with a humble heart and a soul set free, trampled desire underfoot, and visited the regions, beseeching the just Lord with many prayers, that he might deserve to find for himself a place where he could receive the crown of martyrdom.
[4] He comes to Sens: whence departing After a little time, urged on by praying and fasting, he came to the city of Sens, and traversed it for some while; and thinking in his heart that it was not fitting for him to dwell there, he withdrew thence, going about the province. And when he had come to a village which is called Hebrola, upon a little river which is called Orbanus c, he found for himself a place prepared, most precious and suitable. And he gave thanks to God. And he prostrated himself upon his face on the ground, and poured out this prayer, saying: Lord Jesus Christ, who placed many kinds of things in the Ark of Noah and set them in the snares of the waters, and washed the world defiled with filth: Give to me your servant the grace of baptism, that my sins may be washed away. And when he had prayed, a cloud descending from heaven shone upon him, and likewise a voice came from heaven, saying to him:
[5] he hears a voice from heaven: Sidronius, servant of the Most High God, you have found the grace of your Lord, and are loved by him, because you have wished to remain in his commandments: for you have both been baptized in the name of the Lord and of the holy Trinity, and through you many shall be baptized in the name of the holy Trinity. But holy Sidronius, hearing these things, filled with great joy, said: Glory to you, O Christ, who convert all the ignorant, and lead them to the way of truth. When therefore he had been baptized, taking a reed in his hand, he fixed it in the ground, and poured out this prayer to the Lord, saying: Lord God, in whom I believe, make this rod flower, and bring forth branches, and generate most beautiful leaves, so that the multitude of this people may believe in you through the name of your holy Son.
[6] And immediately that rod flowered, and brought forth branches and leaves. by a miracle he converts many to Christ: But many, seeing that rod flowered and having brought forth branches and leaves, believed in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, blessed Sidronius interceding: and the number of them was eighteen thousand, and believing they were baptized in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, by the hand of the Saint himself. Now the Emperor Aurelian was at that time in the city of Vienne: and hearing that a great part of the people was coming to the faith of Christ through the preaching of the most holy Sidronius, he ordered Crispinus the governor to go to him with ninety soldiers, and to present him bound before him. But when they came to the village of Hebrola to St. Sidronius, they found him praying; and seeing him praying, they feared to approach him.
[7] Finally the Emperor Aurelian, hearing that they had availed nothing to harm the servant of God Sidronius, [vainly deterred by the governor: who sent 190 soldiers, then interrogates the Saint.] again sent another hundred and ninety soldiers to him, and coming to him, they saw him standing and praying, with whom they too began to pray; and he himself, the Saint, completing his prayer, rose and spoke to them. Crispinus the governor said: Sidronius, have you perhaps been cast out of your country, that you dwell in this place? Answering, St. Sidronius said: I have not been cast out of my country, but I have sought the Lord, whose power I have recognized, and whose grace I have found. But the soldiers said to him: Sidronius, our Lord Aurelian desires to see you. St. Sidronius answered them: If the Lord shall will, I will go; but if not, I do not come; nevertheless I will go with you. And he commended his petition to God, and set out to the Emperor.
[8] And when he had come into the city of Vienne, he entered the palace. He is led to Vienne to the Emperor Aurelian, But when the Emperor Aurelian saw him, that he was great and a Christian, he feared and immediately fell down from the consistory, where seventy-two Judges sat, to whose counsels he had recourse, and by whose crimes he perpetrated these evils. And after a little, rising, he sat before the tribunal. Then the King questioned him, saying: Who are you, or whence are you, or what is your name? St. Sidronius answered him: I am of the city of Samon, begotten of my father Serenius and my mother Beatia, sweetly reared, and from my birth I am called Sidronius. But the Emperor said to him: Evil beast, and foul face,
do you not sacrifice to my gods in whatever place you dwell? St. Sidronius answered: You have spoken well, Aurelian, because you are a portion of death, and the consort of your father the devil; but your gods, to whom you say I should sacrifice, are vain: they have eyes and see not, they have ears and hear not; nor can they help even those who adore them: since they are of gold, and of silver, and of wood: but the gods who did not make heaven and earth shall perish. But you, like a fool, adore them. Would that you would hear me, and adore God, who made heaven and earth, who has the power to free you from the fire, and to remit all your sins.
[9] But he himself, like a foolish King, thinking within himself, said: by whose order he is sent to prison. how can I overcome this man, who has been reared among wild beasts, unless I find for him torments more untried than the sand of the sea is. Then the Emperor ordered St. Sidronius to be cast into prison, and eighteen soldiers to guard him. And the soldiers did as it had been commanded them.
[10] And behold, when they saw St. Sidronius to be of steadfast soul, the soldiers, having seen the Saint's constancy, converted they came before the consistory of Aurelian, and cast their arms upon the ground, saying: We too believe in the God of St. Sidronius, and adore him. But the Emperor said to them: Are you too evildoers, that you wish to follow him? Come and adore my gods, and I will give you gold and silver, and set you in great honor.
[11] and put to death by martyrdom. But the soldiers said to him: Let your money be with you in perdition: for we have been baptized together, and believe in the holy Trinity. And they, rejoicing on account of the grace of God which they had obtained, and of blessed Sidronius, their master, completed their martyrdom. At last the enraged King said in his heart: If I do not destroy this evildoer from the face of the earth, by his evil arts he is like to draw the whole age to himself, so that all may believe in him.
[12] Again the Martyr is set before the tribunal, Then the King ordered St. Sidronius to come before his presence, and said to him: Evil beast, foul face, how long do you persevere in this obstinacy of faith, and how long shall I be able to endure you? Sacrifice to my gods. To this St. Sidronius answered: I wish to lead you into the good faith, that you may forsake the demons, and adore my Christ, who has your life and death in his power. And the King said to him: Do you still stand in this folly? And answering, St. Sidronius said: I am not a fool, but a servant of my Lord Jesus Christ; but you are foolish and senseless, who confess not my God, but confess Satan your father.
[13] and is afflicted with torments, But the enraged Emperor ordered his hands and feet to be bound, and him to be beaten with iron rods, and a fiery helmet to be placed on his head. Then three of the consuls said to him: You would have been blessed, Aurelian, if you had not been born, who ordered such torments to be done to the servant of God. And the enraged King ordered their heads to be cut off: they indeed, on account of the grace of St. Sidronius, and lifted up by the mercies of Christ, were led to the heavenly kingdoms.
[14] which he despises. Then St. Sidronius said to him: If you can do me greater torments, do them: for to me they are life, and sweeter than honey and the honeycomb. Then the Emperor ordered an iron bench to be made, and a furnace according to his stature. At last the craftsmen came, and took the measure of his body, and made it according to the Emperor's command, and placed them in the midst of the city, and he ordered St. Sidronius to be bound there, and much wood to be brought and to cover him, and fire to be set beneath. And he ordered forty jars d of oil to be brought, and cast upon the flame of the fire.
[15] triumphing amid the flames: But St. Sidronius cast himself into the midst of the flame, saying: These torments which you inflict upon me, I do not fear: but you shall be consumed in your foulness, and in your snares. I have already told you, that I do not fear the torments, nor your wrath. And when he had said these things, on account of the greatness of the flame, that bench became like melting wax. And the King, coming, saw St. Sidronius standing and praying in the midst of the flame, and his face was like a lily, or like a rose descending from heaven. And when the Emperor had looked upon him and seen him, he fell upon his face from great fear, from the first hour until the ninth hour.
[16] he is rebuked by the tyrant But after he had risen, he said to the Saint of God: Evil beast, do not the sins of the souls which you have made to err suffice you; and you have not allowed them to sacrifice to my great gods, but have drawn all the people after you. St. Sidronius answered, saying: Still many souls are to believe in the Lord, through my preaching, and you yourself. And the foolish Emperor blasphemed him, saying: Do you wish to lead even me into your evil arts? So may my gods suffice me, and so may they add, if I do not, on the morrow, at the hour which now is, destroy your soul, that I may make you perish as an example to all. But on the next day he ordered him to stand before his tribunal. And when he had been led before his presence, he said to him: Now sacrifice to my gods, and understand my words, that I may not add greater torments to you.
[17] The man of God answered: I have told you, but with a vain attempt. that I do not fear the torments nor your threats, since I have my faith in Christ, through whom I have obtained the grace of baptism. Then the Emperor ordered a great beam to be brought forth according to his stature, and to be set before the palace. And the soldiers were called, and he commanded the servant of God Sidronius to be bound there. He ordered also three arrows at a time to be cast upon him, so that, his body being torn, he might the more quickly breathe out his soul.
[18] And the King said: Let us see whether his God can free him from our hands. He is assailed with arrows, also in vain. And they shot at him from the first hour until the twelfth hour. And the Emperor thought that all the arrows were fixed in his body. But the arrows were suspended by the wind on the right and on the left, of which not even one touched his body. And after sunset he ordered him to be guarded by the soldiers, lest he should suddenly be loosed by the Christians in the night, since indeed many Christians were waiting to take away his body, and to see the power of God. But on another day the King said: Let us go and see that evildoer. And the Emperor, coming, called him and said: Sidronius, where is your God? Let him come and free you from my hands and from these arrows.
[19] And when the King had said this, immediately one of those arrows leaped forth, He is given to ninety soldiers to be guarded. and entered into his eye, and blinded him. Then holy Sidronius said to him: O foolish and tyrant Emperor, who forsake the Creator and adore idols, nevertheless if you believe in my God, you shall see the light of the Lord. At last the enraged King ordered ninety soldiers to cast him into prison, and to bind his body with iron chains, and to watch him diligently, that on the morrow his head might be cut off. But while St. Sidronius was being led to prison, he poured out this prayer, saying: Lord Jesus Christ, who led your people out of the Red Sea, and freed them from the workhouse of Pharaoh: rescue me your servant from these fetters, and make me come to that place where I deserved to obtain the grace of baptism.
[20] While he prayed these things, the soldiers were blinded and the iron chains broken, He is sought unto death and swiftly making his way, he came to a place which is called Calosenagus upon the river Igona e, at the eighth milestone from Hebrola, where he had received the grace of baptism. Hearing these things, the Emperor ordered a multitude to pursue him, and said: Wherever you find that magician, behead him. And the soldiers going out met an old man, but not a Christian, to whom they say such things: O man, has any of the Christians come in your way? But he said to them: yesterday at the fourth hour a man was seen running the path toward the East like the winds. But the soldiers did not cease to pursue him.
[21] and when, God granting, he had come to the place where he had been baptized, Holy Sidronius therefore, when he had come to the river Igona, as we said above, and wished to cross it, looked back and behold, a multitude of enemies was drawing near to him. But St. Sidronius, prostrating himself in prayer, said: Lord Jesus Christ, since I see the assembly of the malicious, to whom I have related your power, rising up against me: grant to me your servant a secret revelation, that I may deserve to reach that place, where I deserved, by your bounty, to receive the grace of baptism. While he prayed these things, the river became like a stone, and walking upon it, the Saint himself came to the place shown to him. But the soldiers, seeing him cross the great deep, feared and were troubled. But St. Sidronius, seeing these things, prostrated himself in prayer, saying: Lord Jesus Christ, who have deigned to govern me from my youth until the present, show your power, and now command me the more quickly, as it pleases you, to be crowned, and grant to me your servant, that whoever in the place where you shall deliver me to the crown pours out a prayer, and invokes my name, for the reverence of your name may deserve to be heard in his prayers, and to be saved.
[22] he is beheaded, and carries his severed head: When he had prayed these things, he lifted up his eyes, and saw certain soldiers running swiftly with drawn swords to behead him; but they feared to approach him. Then blessed Sidronius thus addressed them, saying: Come, and as it is commanded you, do it. Gather therefore of my blood and bind it in a cloth, and carry it to the Emperor Aurelian, that he may see the power of God. And when he had been beheaded, drops of blood fell upon the executioners, and they were converted, and cried out with a loud voice, saying: Holy Sidronius, intercede for us, sparing our sins, since we have been baptized with your holy blood. Then holy Sidronius, taking up his head, Christ governing, carried it forty-nine paces. And the soldiers, seeing these marvels, were astounded. And they gathered of the blood of the most blessed Sidronius, and brought it to the Emperor Aurelian.
[23] Aurelian's wound is healed by the application of the Martyr's blood: And the King sent for some of that blood, where the arrow had been fixed, and deserved by his intercession to receive his former light, and cried out with a loud voice, saying: How great and glorious is the Lord God of the Christians,
who does not forsake those who hope in him, but governs them among fierce persecutors and does his will in those who keep his commandments. But a certain woman, named Syria, who having passed seventy years sat without eyes, hearing this miracle, called her kinsfolk, and said to them: Lead me to the inestimable miracle and joy, where the most sacred Sidronius deserved to acquire heavenly grace. But her kinsfolk left her, and were unwilling to go with her: while she indeed persisted in grief, there came forth a certain little boy of her kindred, and came in to her, and taking her hand said: Rise, I will come with you, and lead you where your heart desires.
[24] And they went out onto the road, but they did not know the blind woman given sight at the tomb of St. Sidronius. where the passion of the holy man was being proclaimed. But when they came to the place where the body of St. Sidronius lay buried, their feet, fixed fast, could not make the journey farther; because they had come to a holy place. But she, understanding this, with a bent and humble heart, her knees fixed in that same place, poured out this prayer, saying: Lord God of the Christians, who gave to your holy Sidronius a precious crown, adorned with jewels, show your power through his intercession in me. And when she had thus prayed, in the same hour her eyes were opened, and she saw the light of the Lord and the tomb of St. Sidronius. And a great people flowed together, that they might see the power of God. Then Syria thus spoke to them: Let us love the tomb of the most blessed Sidronius, who did not lay down his life, but changed it; and let us build there a little cell. These things were done under the Emperor Aurelian, on the fifth day before the Nones of July, in the reign of our Lord Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with the Father and the Holy Spirit, God through the endless ages of ages. Amen.
ANNOTATIONS.
* al. let it be placed.
* al. Urbanus.
* the lakes.