ON SS. CASSIUS, VICTORINUS, MAXIMUS, AND SIX THOUSAND, TWO HUNDRED, SIXTY-SIX MARTYRS AT CLERMONT IN GAUL.
ABOUT 264.
CommentaryCassius, Martyr at Clermont in Gaul (S.)
Victorinus, Martyr at Clermont in Gaul (S.)
Maximus, Martyr at Clermont in Gaul (S.)
6,266 Martyrs at Clermont in Gaul
BY THE AUTHOR G. H.
[1] Gregory of Tours in book I of the History of the Franks, chapters 30 and 31, about to treat of these Saints, premises these things: In the thirty-seventh place Valerian and Gallienus obtained the Roman Empire, who in their time stirred up a grave persecution against the Christians. In their time also that Chrocus, King of the Alamanni, Under King Chrocus laying waste Auvergne, his army being set in motion, roamed through the Gauls… But coming to the Arvernians he burned, demolished and overturned that shrine which in the Gallic tongue they call Vasso Galatae… Near this city the Martyrs Liminius and Antolianus rest. That is, slain in that persecution of Chrocus, as we have at length said on their birthday, S. Cassius is crowned, and S. Victorinus converted by him Antolianus indeed on February VI, but Liminius on March XXIX. Which things being related, the Turonensian proceeds: There Cassius and Victorinus, in the love of Christ joined by brotherly affection, through the shedding of their own blood obtained alike the kingdoms of heaven. For antiquity relates that Victorinus was the slave of the Priest of the aforesaid temple. Who, while he frequently goes to the village which they call the Christians', to persecute the Christians, finds Cassius a Christian: by whose preachings and miracles moved, he believed in Christ, and the fanatical filth being left, and consecrated by baptism, he shone forth great in the working of virtues. And not long after, through martyrdom, as we have said, joined on earth, they migrated alike to the heavenly kingdoms. Thus S. Gregory of Tours.
[2] That a basilica was erected to this S. Cassius by the Christians we gather from the same Turonensian, while he asserts in book 4, chapter 12, their basilica. that by Cautinus, a most wicked Bishop, Anastasius the Presbyter was buried alive at the basilica of S. Cassius the Martyr, in a most ancient and most hidden crypt, in a great sepulchre of Parian marble, and was wonderfully freed. Which things described from the Turonensian, Aimoinus also relates in book 2, chapter 36. John Savaro, President and Prefect of Auvergne, published a treatise on the holy churches and monasteries of Clermont by an anonymous author, whom he judges to have flourished about the year 950, in which, in book I, chapter 9, these things are read: In the church of S. Cassius the altar of S. Peter: the altar of S. Julian, the bodies at Clermont where S. Cassius, and S. Victorinus, and S. Leogontia and S. Georgia rest. The Acts of S. Georgia, a Virgin devoted to God, we gave on February XV. The birthday of S. Leogontia has hitherto been unknown, and therefore by Saussay was cast into the Appendix. But by Arturus in the Sacred Gynaeceum she is commemorated on this day, and in the Illidian Table she is called a Virgin. Julian the Martyr is venerated under Diocletian on August XXVIII, whether he be treated of here, then it will have to be inquired. In the Ritual book of S. Illidius cited by Savaro, chapter 5, these things are enjoined: When we go to the processions, we make a commendation of the Saints, before whose churches we pass through. And so in the procession of the second day of the Rogations one proceeds to the church of S. Bonitus, making a commendation of S. John the Baptist, S. Peter, S. Hilary, S. Cassius, S. Christopher. The Acts, moreover, of S. Bonitus the Bishop we gave on January XV, and of S. Illidius also the Bishop we are to give on July VII.
[3] The MS. Martyrology of Chambéry in Savoy of the monastery of the Conventuals, memory in the Calendar, on the V day of May recalls these Martyrs in this phrase: At Auvergne SS. Cassius and Victorinus. But the old Calendars and the Martyrology of Clermont add the Companions in this manner: At Auvergne the birthday of SS. Cassius and Victorinus Martyrs, as of 6266 Martyrs, with six thousand two hundred sixty-six others. Molanus adds Maximus. At Auvergne of the holy Martyrs Cassius, Victorinus, Maximus and their Companions, whose Acts S. Praejectus the Bishop wrote, and of S. Maximus, Molanus being cited, the same three are inscribed in the present Roman Martyrology; and Gregory of Tours being alleged they are commemorated by Galesinius, but no mention is made by him of Maximus: whom Saussay in the Gallican Martyrology separates from the others, and adds to him two in this manner: At Clermont of the Arvernians the birthday of SS. Cassius and Victorinus, with a eulogy in Saussay, who in the love of Christ joined by brotherly affection through the shedding of their own blood obtained alike the kingdoms of heaven. With whom Maximus, Anatholianus and Austremonius, and six thousand two hundred sixty-three others (whose names God knows) by this savage
slaughter laid low, in an illustrious contest for the faith and glory of Christ, sundered neither in spirit nor in body, fell. Whose memorable trophies B. Praejectus the Bishop consigned to the monuments of letters. But the sacred bodies (partly in the place where now the church of S. Cassius is seen, partly where afterwards the temple of S. Venerandus was constructed) buried together, God adorned and glorified with marvelous tokens of the glory wherewith He crowned the blessed spirits of these in heaven. Thus Saussay.
[4] But from these we separate S. Antolianus, commemorated on February VI, and S. Austremonius, to be referred to the Kalends of November. But S. Maximus, already joined to Cassius and Victorinus in the Calendar of the Roman Church, we so leave, that, if so it seem to the reader, the number of the anonymous companions may be reckoned less by this one named. The Author concerning the Churches of Clermont mentions these in chapter 10 of the first book in these words: In the church of S. Venerandus, the altar of S. Julian, and of S. Basilica of Antioch, the bodies of the additional Martyrs in the church of S. Venerandus. the altar of S. Quintinus and S. Dionysius, the altar of S. Mary, where S. Venerandus, and S. Linguinus, and S. Nepotianus, and S. Avitus, and S. Clara, and six thousand two hundred others rest in the body, whose names God knows. Thus there, the lesser number Sixty-six of the additional ones being omitted. Gregory of Tours, in the Glory of the Confessors, chapters 35 and 36, mentions the Basilica and Venerandus. There are there, he says, men of illustrious merits, whose names unknown to the inhabitants, yet written, as we believe, are retained in heaven. The Acts of S. Venerandus we gave on January XVIII, and SS. Julian and Basilissa, Married Martyrs, to whom the first altar was consecrated, we illustrated on the IX day of January. Of S. Linguinus we treated on March XXIX, and whether he ought to be distinguished from S. Liminius we doubt. But there were two holy Bishops of Clermont named Avitus, of whom the elder is venerated on September XX, the younger on January XXI. The names of Nepotianus and Clara Saussay cast into the Appendix, because their birthday is unknown.
[5] The Acts written by S. Praejectus are not extant, We gave on January XXV double Acts of S. Praejectus, Bishop of Clermont and Martyr, and in the latter at number 9 these things are read: He elaborated in glorious style the Passions of the Martyrs Cassius, Victorinus, Anatolianus and Astrebodius (by others Austremonius) and of the other Saints, who in that same city shed their blood for Christ. But hitherto we have not been able to obtain those Acts: but the Passion of SS. Cassius and Victorinus which our Peter Francis Chifletius sent to us, is assuredly of small moment: for since in them mention is made of Charles the Bald and Louis, Kings of the Franks, who lived nearly two hundred years after the slaughter of S. Praejectus, Praejectus could not have written it. There are, moreover, in it most things taken from Gregory of Tours and approved above: we have others, but here unworthy to be published, others are transcribed from the Acts of S. Desiderius, Bishop of Langres and Martyr, slain under the same King Chrocus, which we elucidate on the XXIII day of May: others finally are read added concerning the first Apostolic men of the Gauls, as if these had been sent by S. Peter, whom others refer to the third century of Christ, and that on the occasion of S. Austremonius added to them, who in these Acts is said to have turned aside for the sake of lodging to the house of a certain man, adorned with the splendor of birth, named Cassius. [in these S. Cassius is said to have been freed from leprosy and made a Presbyter,] But this man was struck with the elephantine disease together with his brothers to such a degree that they disfigured their faces: and B. Austremonius, having delivered them from that languor, ordered them to accompany him… and adorned B. Cassius with the dignity of the Presbyterate, and led him with him as far as the Arvernian city: to whom moreover he committed the care of his Church, and constituted him as it were his Vicar and the heir of his virtues. Thus there: which things could truly have happened, if S. Austremonius with the other Apostolic men be said to have been sent by S. Sixtus II the Pope into the Gauls, but of the Presbyterate of S. Cassius, or even of the elephantine disease, we read nothing elsewhere. Meanwhile from these Acts James Branche published much in the Saints of Auvergne. In the monastery of Manglieu, in the Clermont diocese of the Order of S. Benedict, worship on May 19, that SS. Cassius and Victorinus Martyrs are venerated on the XIX day of May we gathered from the MS. Usuard, augmented for the use of the Priory of Chanteuges.