ON STS. RUFFINUS AND VALERIUS,
MARTYRS IN THE COUNTRYSIDE OF SOISSONS.
UNDER DIOCLETIAN.
PRELIMINARY COMMENTARY.
On their cult and Acts.
Ruffinus, Martyr, at Soissons in Gaul (St.)
Valerius, Martyr, at Soissons in Gaul (St.)
BY THE AUTHOR G. H.
The Rural Deaneries are those by which the Ecclesiastical method of governance is distributed in the Episcopal dioceses: thus in the diocese of Reims there is the Deanery of Hermonville, The churches of these Martyrs: named from its own town of Hermonville, distant about five Gallic leagues from the metropolis. Under this is counted the parish of Sts. Ruffinus and Valerius, surnamed "of Hourges" in the Register of Benefices of the Church and diocese of Reims: but another church, as will be said below, has been built in the diocese of Soissons in their honor. To one or the other, called the Basilica of the holy Martyrs Ruffinus and Valerius, Sonatius, Bishop of Reims, bequeathed by his will fifteen Solidi in gold, under whom the Council of Reims was held in the year 624. Their bodies, because of the incursions of the Normans, were carried to the city of Reims or Soissons: in the diocese of which last city they both lived and were buried of old; to which also their memory is ascribed in the Martyrology among the Sacred Calendars.
[2] Memory in the Martyrologies. Thus on this 14th of June in the ancient copies of the Hieronymian Martyrology, the Echternach and the Lucca, these things are added at the foot: "In the city of Soissons, the passion of Sts. Valerius and Ruffinus, Martyrs": which, almost the same, are read in various manuscript Martyrologies, and in the Calendars of Rabanus and Ado. Florus, in his supplement to Beda, published by us before the Second tome of March on account of its antiquity, writes thus: "In the district of Soissons, the passion of Sts. Valerius and Ruffinus, Martyrs, who in the time of Diocletian and Maximian, having gone out from Rome, were apprehended by the Governor Rictiovarus, consigned to chains and prison, hung on the rack, beaten with leaded scourges, and afflicted with such bitterness of pains that one wound covered the whole appearance of the body; and, the flesh flowing away, the secrets of the entrails were laid bare. And thus, sent again into prison, and there comforted by an Angel of the Lord, at last they are beheaded with the sword." So far there. Which are more briefly set forth by Usuard thus: "In the territory of the city of Soissons, of the holy Martyrs Rufinus and Valerius, who, by the Governor Rictiovarus, after the torments inflicted on them, were ordered to be beheaded": which, almost the same, are read in the present Roman one. Wandelbert honors them thus in a single verse: "This day too rejoices in the Martyrs Valerius and Rufinus." Finally Martinaeus, in book 4 on the ancient rites of the Monks chapter 6, notes that in a certain not very ancient Calendar of Corbie, and in the Customs of Saint-Denis and of Compiègne, a feast is prescribed to be kept with three Lessons, but instead of "Ruffinus" he puts "Rufus." On the 12th of February the memory of these Martyrs is recalled by Galesinius, from I know not what manuscript he cites. But on the following 13th of February, their elevation made at Soissons is indicated by Saussay.
[3] We give the Acts from ancient manuscript codices of the best faith: namely the Arrouaise one in Artois, The Acts from manuscripts. the Trier one of St. Maximinus, and that of Rouge-Cloître near Brussels. The Acts printed by Mombritius agree, but abridged: and others in manuscripts likewise contracted: to which a third compendium can be added, which is extant in Petrus de Natalibus book 5 chapter 116; and another in the Breviary of Amiens, printed in the year 1550. All these are above all confirmed by Flodoard, Priest of the Church of Reims, who in book 4 of the Histories of the same, chapters 52 and 53, after relating a compendium of the Martyrdom, contracted from the Acts already cited, adds the History of the translations and miracles, which we subjoin below to the Acts. Guillaume Marlot, in book 1 of the History of the Metropolis of Reims, chapter 20, has from a manuscript codex of Saint-Remi another compendium of the Martyrdom, in these words.
[4] When Quintinus, Lucianus, Valerius, and Rufinus, with others, having left their native Rome, had come into the Gauls, and had chosen some things from the manuscript of Saint-Remi for themselves places in which to preach; Rufinus and Valerius came to the ancient city of the Remi, the Metropolis of Gaul; and since the opportunity of fulfilling their office among them was not at hand, having withdrawn a little from the city, upon the river Vesle, they irradiated no small crowd of believers, both with virtues and with the light of faith. Rictiovarus, his rage not yet sated with the martyrdom of Quintinus, came to Reims at that time; intending to compel the Christians whom he found there, by tortures and death, to the worship of the gods: and some being put to death, snatching his journey from there along the public causeway, he met in the territory of Soissons, near the course of the Vesle (or, as it is read elsewhere, upon the wave of the river Licius) not far from the village which by its native name is called Basoche, distinguished men, Rufinus and Valerius, nourished in the faith of Christ, and keepers of the Royal granaries: whom he straightway ordered to be apprehended by his attendants. And when they had shown themselves faithful and strenuous in the confession of Christ, he wore them down, afflicted with blows, by lengthy confinement; until, found unconquered, they underwent the capital sentence, on the eighteenth of the Kalends of July.
[5] So far there. Marlot notes in the margin: "In the place which is called Basilica, Burial at Basoches. they tarried: thence Basoches got its name." There were illustrious Toparchs of Basoches of the Châtillon stock toward the Marne: and of them, in the 13th century, the Bishops of Soissons are named Jacques de Basoches, Nivelo de Basoches, and Milo de Basoches: concerning whom consult the Sainte-Marthe brothers. Now Bazoches is a borough on the river Vesle in the countryside of Soissons, below Fismes, a town or boundary of the country of Reims; and in the Register of Benefices of the diocese of Soissons there is a Deanery of Bazoches. Claude Dormay, in book 2 of the History of Soissons chapter 7, asserts that at the said place of Bazoches there were royal granaries of grain, kept by Sts. Rufinus and Valerius: whence he gathers that they were martyred not far from there: hence above, in the Martyrologies, they are attributed to the countryside or territory of Soissons. François Bosquet, in book 4 of the Histories of the Gallican Church chapter 7, relates these things of Rictiovarus: "Having gone out from Reims, he ordered Valerius and Rufinus, afflicted with various tortures in the territory of Soissons, at last to be beheaded: whose bodies were afterward carried to Reims." But Dormay adds that afterward a church was built by the people of Bazoches so famous that in the time of St. Remigius seventy Clerics served in it: but that he doubts whether in his own time more than two or three were still maintained there. Then in book 4 chapter 35 he asserts that, because of the devastation of the Normans, the Bodies of Sts. Ruffinus and Valerius were carried from their church of Bazoches to the city either of Soissons or of Reims.
[6] St. Paschasius Radbertus, Abbot of Corbie, who died in the year 851 on the 26th of April, composed a Passion of Sts. Ruffinus and Valerius, The Life written by St. Paschasius Radbertus. published at the end of his works by Jacques Sirmond: in which he drew out the Life soon to be given with very long amplifications; and, treating of their coming into the Gauls, he gave to others occasion of joining them to other Apostolic men, who at that time also suffered martyrdom under Diocletian. The above-praised Marlot, in book 1 chapter 20, confesses that he speaks rather confusedly: for he says that in the same year in which Diocletian commanded that the Christians should sacrifice to the gods, the said Martyrs took counsel of coming into the Gauls. "Whence," he says, "the twentieth year of the reign of Diocletian was being passed, the month of March, the solemn day of Easter…" But that falls in the year 303 according to the Chronicle of Eusebius: and so it is necessary that they underwent martyrdom in the same year in which they went out from Rome. I think that Paschasius confuses their departure with their arrival: but they set out for the Gauls earlier than the sword of Diocletian raged against them. So says the said Marlot.
[7] We admit scarcely anything beyond those things which are extant in the Acts now to be related concerning their coming, their deeds, and their martyrdom; in the others added from elsewhere by conjecture, we judge that we need not labor; nor do we much care on what foundation our elders, in this professed House of the Society of Jesus at Antwerp, The skull of another St. Valerius at Antwerp, persuaded themselves that to this day there should be ascribed a particle of a sacred Skull, which we possess in one of the reliquaries, under the name of St. Valerius the Martyr. Meanwhile we persuade ourselves that it was done for no other cause than because that name is had on this day in the Roman Martyrology. This certainly was the sole cause for the Theatines of Bologna to venerate today St. Valerius the Roman Martyr, whose Body they received from Rome, found in one of the suburban cemeteries with the title of his name, which is rare; and they have it laid up under a marble altar erected to him by a certain pious Matron, to whom, when the testimonial letters of the Pontifical Vicar concerning the aforesaid Relics had been entrusted, she having died, those are now sought in vain; as Count Valerius de Zanis signified to me at the end of the year 1691.
ACTS OF THE MARTYRDOM
From various ancient manuscripts and Mombritius:
Ruffinus, Martyr, at Soissons in Gaul (St.)
Valerius, Martyr, at Soissons in Gaul (St.)
BHL Number: 7373
FROM THE MANUSCRIPTS.
[1] At the same time, under the Emperors Diocletian and Maximian, Rictiovarus was sent Rictiovarus having been sent into the Gauls by Diocletian and Maximian to administer the Prefectures in the Gauls. And when he had departed proudly from their sight, immediately advancing from the Vangiones, he entered the city of the Remi: and residing there he began to press the Christians to venerate the worship of images, and to cease from fellowship with the omnipotent God: but nevertheless in the aforesaid city he ordered some to be slaughtered by his command. Going out from here, when he was taking his journey along the public causeway, there was in a certain place a neighboring commonwealth to be governed, near the river Vidola, where Ruffinus and Valerius kept the granaries of grain for the imperial palace. Sts. Ruffinus and Valerius fleeing And when the most cruel Rictiovarus had come to the aforesaid place, and had heard that the religiousness of the Saints flourished in that place with all eagerness; straightway gnashing his teeth, like a mad dog, he commanded everywhere
the servants of God to be sought out. Soon, as has been said, the sentence being rather quickly divulged, the holy Martyrs wished to hide their persons from the presence of the tyrant. they are found, Now there was at a distance a cave, near the public road, of thorny thickness, and there they plunged in to seclude themselves. But then those who had been appointed, seeking them here and there, suddenly found the blessed Martyrs where they had covered themselves to lie down; and at once seized and chained, they are brought to the presence of the tyrant.
[2] Then therefore Rictiovarus, having heard of the fame of the blessed Quintinus, desiring to attack Augusta of the Veromandui, that he might kill him, which the event afterward proved; while, kindled with fury against them, he beheld Ruffinus and Valerius by his own judgment, the savage persecutor wished first to set in motion the decree of his tyranny against the glorious Martyrs: and before the Governor they spurn the gods, and sitting on the tribunal he said to them: "Ruffinus and Valerius, which Gods do you worship? Or what sacred religion do you intend? Jupiter or Diana?" Then both said with a clear voice: "Jupiter the adulterer and the shameless violator of his own sisters, who was begotten in adultery; and Diana the harlot, holding the crossroads of the woods, and they profess Christ to be God: we do not worship nor adore; but we adore one God, and our Lord Jesus Christ, who descended from the seat of his majesty to the earth: him with the Holy Spirit we both worship and adore."
[3] bound with a mass of chains, Then Rictiovarus, with great vociferation, said to them: "Most unhappy of all, do you affirm that a man slain, and brought into the condition of death, is God and the Son of God? By the power of Jupiter, who in his own power scatters the thunders, you shall not escape my hands, unless I destroy you with many torments, and you shall see if your God snatch you from my hands." Then the blessed Martyrs are bound with the bonds of chains, so that the bystanders marveled how or in what way they could sustain such vast weights. But the most blessed Ruffinus and Valerius, comforted for the name of Christ, carried them like very light feathers, and blessed God saying: they are thrust back into prison: "Deliver us, O Lord, from the evil man, from the wicked man deliver us." And then on that day they are ordered to be thrust back into the custody of the prison for the space of the night.
[4] On the next day, however, brought out of prison, they are exposed to the presence of the Tyrant. refusing the riches and honors offered, Then Rictiovarus with gentle words, with all flattery, said to them: "Hear me, Ruffinus and Valerius. Worship our Gods, Jupiter and Mercury, Diana and Venus, and I command you to be enriched with gold and silver, and you shall be first in the palace of the Emperor." Then Ruffinus and Valerius said to him: "Let your gold and silver be with you in hell, and there be put molten into your mouth, where also you shall see your father the devil to be consumed with inextinguishable fire: for no greed of gold and silver shall be able to move us from the charity of Christ." Then Rictiovarus ordered the blessed Martyrs to be stretched on the racks, and beaten with leaded scourges. And when they were tortured they said: "Many are the tribulations of the just, and from all these the Lord shall deliver them; the Lord keeps their bones, not one of them shall be broken." And the more devoutly they cried out to the God of majesty, stretched on the racks they are beaten with leaded scourges: the more vehemently the unhappy Governor begged that the torments inflicted be applied to the blessed Martyrs; and he commanded to inflict upon the blessed Martyrs the proofs of pains, just as the devil's office could devise, taking vengeance; so that amid the many scourges, every joint being torn apart, the bones scarcely held together, with only the spirit still throbbing. For they were now exhausted by long emaciation, and worn down by the abstinence of fasting, but in soul and mind they remained robust in the Lord.
[5] shut up in a dungeon, Then Rictiovarus said to his ministers: "Take them hence, and shut them in a dungeon, until I can devise how cruelly I ought to finish them." So the blessed Ruffinus and Valerius, sent into prison, sang triumphantly to the Lord saying: "Help us, O God of our salvation; for the honor of thy name, O Lord, deliver us." Psalms 7, 8, 9 But on that very night, the light now drawing near, when they had given themselves to sleep, they are comforted by an Angel, crowns being offered: the Angel of the Lord, a most mighty warrior, burst the bars of the prison; and shone in that place with much brightness, and said to them: "Ruffinus and Valerius, act manfully, and let your heart be comforted. Our Lord will command you more swiftly to be present among the just and the elect Martyrs to himself: and there you shall receive the crowns prepared for you by the Lord, which I will show you, who are about to see them at present"; and thus, gliding down, he placed them upon their heads. For they were gleaming in color, and resplendent as with an emerald stone; so much that they gave a stronger brightness than the ray of the sun flashing with serene splendor.
[6] the sentence of death pronounced, Morning being come, the most cruel Rictiovarus ordered the Martyrs of God, Ruffinus and Valerius, to be presented to his presence. But when they had come he saw their faces suffused with a rosy redness, and the rest of the part of the body shining as with the whiteness of lilies: and he said to his attendants: "By the ceremonies of our Gods, these two trust in the magic art: for they do not desire to serve the offices of our Gods. But I wish them to undergo the capital sentence, lest the army of the Christians grow strong any more through them, and they recall many worshippers from the worship of our Gods." Forthwith he ordered them to be led with hands bound behind their backs, that where a suitable place gave him the choice, they should be cut down with the sword. And they were led far off, about seven thousand paces, beside the public path, they are cut down with the sword: upon the shores of the river Vidola, where the blessed Martyrs were adorned with martyrdom, and their rosy blood finished the glorious contest.
[7] Afterward, the time of their consummation being completed, after no long interval it happened that, while they were being led to the town of the Remi, with choirs of Priests, and bands of peoples, placed on biers; in that place, where their bones rest entombed, being made heavy, their bodies, immovable, are laid down. they command that they be not moved; and there, by the will of God, the glorious Martyrs ordered to have the rest of their repose, where they had stretched out alms to the poor with a generous hand and out of compassion, by the bestowal of our Lord Jesus Christ, who with the Father and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns unto the ages of ages. Amen.
NOTES OF D. P.
HISTORY OF THE TRANSLATIONS AND MIRACLES.
From book IV of Flodoard, on the Church of Reims, chapters LII and LIII.
Ruffinus, Martyr, at Soissons in Gaul (St.)
Valerius, Martyr, at Soissons in Gaul (St.)
BHL Number: 7375
FROM THE MANUSCRIPTS.
[1] At the same time at which this holy Virgin suffered, The bodies of the Martyrs. her tormentor Rictiovarus, passing through the city of the Remi, and compelling certain Christians to the worship of the gods, when he could not overcome them, ordered them to be slaughtered. And going out from there he found two certain men, Rufinus and Valerius, robust in the faith of Christ, yet keepers of the royal granaries. When he had apprehended them, and found them most firm in the love and confession of Christ, he wore them down, afflicted with blows, by lengthy confinement in prison: where they were relieved and comforted by an Angelic visitation and consolation. Thus at last found unconquered, they underwent the capital sentence. And when after no long intervals of time their most sacred limbs were being led to the city of the Remi, placed on biers; in that place, where now their entombed bones rest, they are then said to have been made so heavy that they could by no means be moved from the place. And it is proved to have been done so by God's command, that where they had distributed the bounty of alms to the poor, in that same place they should receive the welcome repose of their bodies.
[2] But when lately the nation of the Northmen, about to rage barbarously, carried to Reims in the time of the Normans, had poured itself into the Gauls; in order to avoid the storm of this persecution, their pledges were carried to the city of Reims, and placed in the church of blessed Peter, and there kept under honor for very many days. But when at length, the barbarians withdrawing, the tempest that had long raged against us had ceased; and tranquility had at last returned, God commanding; the Priest who served the Saints, and who had long desired to return to his own place, hastened to take up the relics of the holy Martyrs, and to carry them back to the place dedicated to himself. And after the solemnities of the Masses were celebrated, the bodies consecrated to Christ are raised by the Priests, and carried back with a great accompanying crowd of peoples. while they are then carried back to their place, Now it happened that that day, which was held to be a Sunday, was stormy with the blast of winds, so that all the candles which were carried in attendance on the Saints were extinguished by the force of the whirlwind. And when, taking their journey, they had entered a part of the river, the taper which was carried before the pledges of the Saints, extinguished, suddenly kindled from heaven, presented to all a wondrous spectacle. And thus, amid the storms mixed with hail, and the blasts of winds, the taper is divinely rekindled: the flame lasted by miracle for about four miles. Finally the Priest afterward arranged to remake that very taper into a better form from the same wax. And when this was being done by the Priests subject to him, wondrous to say! the soft wax began to grow between their hands, and to swell into a great quantity.
[3] and the wax is found multiplied, And when they, stupefied and marveling, were making a noise; the Priest, entering, and seeing that the wax had thus been increased, believed that they had added other wax to it, which he had not commanded. But the miracle that had happened being at last known by the Priests; he gave thanks to God, and laid up the wax in the church for a memorial of so great a thing. Of which wax Riculfus, the venerable Bishop of Soissons, ordered relics to be brought to himself. But also the religious Priests of the neighboring churches venerably laid up in their churches the particles sought thence out of devotion.
[4] a lame man is healed: But at another time, when from the city of Soissons, into which they had been carried because of a like persecution, they were being carried back to their own place; a certain lame man, with the rest who accompanied the bodies of the Saints with devoted attendance, crawling, went along with what effort he could. Not indeed had nature produced this man lame, but a deplorable debility of his steps had come upon him in time. And when they had come to the village which is called Vasneja; soon, restored to his native uprightness, his supports cast away, he began to go on his own soles, and with a grateful mouth to praise God, wonderful in his Saints.
[5] Moreover, against those who strive to violate the sacred place, and to seize the things assigned to the holy Martyrs, how swiftly divine vengeance is exerted, let it suffice to demonstrate by one example. At the time when between the Kings Odo and Charles grave discords were being carried on in the kingdom of the Franks, intending to despoil a poor little woman through this occasion robberies and plunderings were freely done, right and wrong were confused; nowhere was there fear of God or of human
laws, but all things rested on force and power: at some time robbers came to the village which is called Basilica, and began to carry off all the little substances of the poor. Then a certain poor woman, fleeing with her household goods, was making for the church of the holy Martyrs with a most rapid course. Whom one of those who had come to plunder began to pursue most swiftly, just as he sat on his horse, wishing to seize her, and to take from her her chattels. But when one of the bystanders said: "Do not, wretch; do not pursue her into the courtyard of the holy Martyrs, lest some evil befall you"; he, fearing nothing, with his horse driven on, pursued the most swiftly fleeing poor woman. But when the horse halted at the first steps of the courtyard, suddenly stumbling it fell: he is punished with a broken shin. and its rider was so grievously injured by the collision that, the shin being broken from the top of the knee to the foot, the flesh, as if cut with iron, gaped open; and the bone itself, stripped of its covering of flesh, lay bare; and he who had come a proud horseman, now humbled, and unable to go on his own feet, was cast out of the courtyard of the church by other men's hands. Then, his horse and what he could have being given to the holy Martyrs for him, he was indeed snatched from death: but the time he survived he was useless and fit for no work; carrying about the testimony of divine power in his debility, and striking into all others a wholesome fear, by the example of the vengeance wrought upon him, lest those doing such things should suffer the like.
[6] This too is most well-known, and is held common knowledge to all, that at the tombs of the holy Martyrs oil once increased. For the Priest had placed a certain earthen vessel near the altar, Oil divinely increased for keeping the oil which ought to burn there as fuel for the light. In which vessel little oil indeed remained, the greater part of it consumed in the light of the lamps; when suddenly it began to grow, and, no one looking on, to increase into more, until the growing oil leveled with the mouth of the vessel. And when this went on for some days, and now the liquid divinely increased did not contain itself within the narrows of the vessel, and flowed drop by drop onto the ground; the Cleric, the keeper of that church, alone noticed this; and secretly carried off, and putting another vessel underneath, within a few days collected it to one sextarius, and secretly hid it, the unhappy man thinking that the divine miracle would be a gain for his own greed; and whence patronage was being provided for all, thence he believed he could accomplish a clandestine theft. But Christ, who had decreed to make his Saints wonderful in the eyes of all, did not long permit either that man's shameful deed, or the gift which he had conferred for the glory of his Martyrs, to lie hidden. For on a certain day, entering the house which adjoins the basilica, it is increased the more. in which also the Bishop of Soissons, when he comes there, was wont to stay; the Priest, I know not what cause there was, entering; saw that vessel overflowing with oil, and marvels whence that abundance of oil was. And since liquid of this kind could very rarely be found there; he began to question the Cleric privy to so great a crime, whose the oil was, or who had deposited it there. But when he said that he knew not whence it was; the boys, who were residing there to learn the psalms, and had known the whole matter, indicated to the Priest both the miracle done and the keeper's theft. He, this being heard, quickly ran back to the vessel which stood near the altar, and found the pavement still wet with the overflow of oil. And while he was glorifying God, immense in his Saints, another certain one of the keepers came, and confessed that he had carried off a great part of that oil, with no witness; and had spent it where he wished, and as he wished.