ON SS. JUSTUS OF ARRAS, ARTEMIUS, AND HONESTA, VIRGIN, MARTYRS, IN THE DIOCESE OF ARRAS IN GAUL,
AT AN UNCERTAIN TIME.
PRELIMINARY COMMENTARY.
Their varied day of cult; old Offices; time and place of their slaying; relics.
Justus, Martyr in the diocese of Arras. (S.)
Artemius, Martyr in the diocese of Arras. (S.)
Honesta, Virgin, Martyr in the diocese of Arras. (S.)
E. C.
On the 11th day of October in certain places, When above, at the present day, we were treating of St. Justus of Auxerre or of Beauvais, we came upon relics of St. Justus which were formerly kept at Zutphen, and then came partly to Antwerp; and there we noted that the Acts of St. Justus of Beauvais had been adapted to this St. Justus, although he was to be held the same as St. Justus of Arras, who formerly, no differently from the Zutphen one, was venerated on the 11th day of October. And indeed in the most ancient Calendar of Lier, to which Martène at the beginning of the century just past readily attributed an antiquity of 600 years, these words are read at the said 11th day of October Thesaurus Anecdotorum, volume III, column 1625.: Of Saint Justus, Arthemius; at the same day likewise in the Lübeck-Cologne edition of Usuard of the year 1490: Of the Saints Justus, Arthemius and Honesta, Virgin, Martyrs; while the manuscript Usuard of the church of Blessed Mary at Utrecht, which Du Sollier calls the Rosweydine, commemorates Honesta alone in these words: Likewise of Saint Honesta. And in the manuscript Florarium which our predecessors had, Justus and Honesta alone must have been indicated Cf. Acta Sanctorum, volume V of October, p. 493 e and 496 a.. You see that everywhere in these northern parts our Martyrs are celebrated on the 11th day of October: whence the argument grows that St. Justus of Zutphen is the same as the companion of SS. Artemius and Honesta.
[2] [on the 17th of October the holy Martyrs were formerly venerated in the Diocese of Amiens; but now on the 18th.] But in the diocese of Amiens SS. Justus and Artemius (for the name of Honesta is sometimes omitted) were venerated on the 17th day of October, as is gathered first from an old martyrological announcement which Chastelain set in the margin at this day: At Monticellum near Cuniciacum on the Canche, Justus and Artemius; similarly in the Calendar prefixed to the Breviary of Amiens of the year 1554: On the 16th day before the Kalends of November, of Justin (rather Justus, as is corrected in the body of the Breviary) and Arthemius, Martyrs, III lessons and Te Deum. Similarly at the 17th day of October the feast of SS. Justus and Artemius is marked in the manuscript Breviary according to the uses of the collegiate church of St. Wulfram of Abbeville in the diocese of Amiens, which was written in the year 1464 by Hugh de Bosco, priest of the diocese of the aforesaid church (of Amiens), licentiate in arts, from the exemplar of the venerable and also famous man Master Pierre Alou, priest, curate of St. Eligius in Abbeville, for the use of Jean de Boulenois, canon of the collegiate church sacred to St. Wulfram and gymnasiarch among the people of Abbeville. But why in the diocese of Amiens the feast of SS. Justus and Companions was celebrated not on the 11th day of October but on the 17th, no certain reason appears: since the 11th day would not be impeded, as only the commemoration of St. Venantius, abbot, would be made then. But from the year 1746 the memory of the holy Martyrs is commemorated no longer on the 17th day of October, and much less on the 11th, but on the 18th of October. For in the Calendar of the Breviary of Amiens published in that year by order of the Illustrious de la Motte is read at this day: Of Luke the Evangelist … with a Commemoration of the holy Brothers Justus and Artemius, Martyrs in Artois, about the 8th century. Whence it comes about that we must now speak of them at this day. As, therefore, at Antwerp in this century at last the most celebrated St. Justus of Beauvais drew St. Justus of Arras to himself, so the same had already been done a century before at Amiens, and now also among the people of Arras, as we understand from the Proper of the year 1817. But we cannot omit (lest at some time the two Justuses be confused) that formerly among the people of Amiens the distinction was carefully observed: for in the Breviary of the year 1554 not only is the feast of SS. Justus and Companions kept on the 17th day of October, but on the following day, within the office of St. Luke, memory is made of St. Justus of Beauvais.
[3] Their Passion from the old Concerning St. Justus and his Companions no older documents have come into our hands than the lessons of the Breviary of Abbeville and of Amiens of the year 1554, which in both places, no differently from the rest of the Office and the Mass, are the same, and sound thus: Lesson I. There was in the region of Toulouse a certain king, whose name is not found written in the book of life, and therefore it is to be kept silent. For he was a Gentile: who had two sons and one daughter, a virgin promised to God. Nor is it believed strange which is constantly seen by wonderful usage. For the earth brings forth dung, and the lowly herb lilies, the bramble flowers, the thorn the rose, Judaea Mary. Lesson II. And on the firstborn was imposed the name Justus, on the second Arthemius; but to the Virgin was given the name Honesta. These three, therefore, going out of their father's house and their kindred, having traversed many boundaries of lands, at length came in the bishopric of Amiens to a certain place beside a little town which is called Conchiacum. Now, the spaces of many years having rolled by, the said king, growing old, commanded it to be inquired where his three children were: he added also that, if when found they would not return, they should be punished with capital sentence. Lesson III. The spaces of many lands having been searched, the king's spies found the aforesaid two brothers in a grove, continually occupied in prayer. And they asked them to come to their father and to possess the dominion of the kingdom in peace and by inheritance. They, answering, affirmed that they would by no means return. And when the messengers had heard these things they said: Since you despise the king's edict, we will punish you within the circuit of this place by cutting off your heads. And these things said, the ordered ones submitted their heads to beheading.
[4] and the more recent Breviary of Amiens; Since some things in these pleased less, a new lesson was prepared for the Breviary of the year 1746, which is also now read in the Proper of Arras of the year 1817, a few things being taken out, which we shall enclose in brackets. Receive this lesson, which is the ninth in the Office of St. Luke: Justus and Arthemius, brothers, bravely met a glorious death for the name of Christ in the village (of that Diocese of Amiens) which is called Mons-coeli, on the river Canche. It has been handed down to memory that they, born of a heathen father, a very powerful man, imbued with the Christian faith without their father's knowledge, that they might freely serve God, fleeing from their father's house, came into Gaul, and settled in those places where they were slain: that men were sent by their father to search for them, and, having found them, either to bring them back home to him, or, if they would not return, to kill them. Seized by these, the brothers, because they refused to return into that region which did not know the true God, were killed by the impious, in the eighth century, as is believed. Their bodies were buried in the same place; and over their sepulchre (which is visited even today) a parish church was built, consecrated to God under the name of Saint Justus, where the holy Martyrs are venerated. Their names are read in the ancient Martyrology of the Church of Amiens. It is premised that these things were taken from the Records of the church of Amiens; but these are no longer found at Amiens: and indeed I think that nothing else showed the way to the writers than the old Martyrology and Breviary, and also the writing of Malbrancq, to be given below.
[5] they are reported by Malbrancq to have been Persians by homeland, They abstained, however, from proposing Malbrancq's conjectures about very many circumstances of the passion of the holy Martyrs. For he, having commemorated Aaron's
embassies, monarch of the Saracens in Persia, to Charlemagne: To this unexpected embassy, he says De Morinis, volume II, p. 109., must be referred by us the excellent contests of three young men in the fields of the Morini for the more safely preserving of the practice of the catholic faith: which a priest of our Society of Hesdin (there was a house of the Society at Hesdin) copied for me from a very old and plainly torn Breviary of the church of Amiens: but since there neither the certain times of the event, nor the expressed place of the barbarous nation from which they came forth, nor the name or rank, however very noble, of their parent are reported, but certain (as we call them) circumstances are intimated which are wont to accompany embassies of this kind, I do not see to what these things, to be narrated more fully than that Breviary bears, may more opportunely be referred. In these Malbrancq alludes (as is established from a marginal note) to the embassy which Einhard committed to memory in the Life of Charlemagne Dom Bouquet, Recueil, volume V, p. 95.. But two others are recorded in the Loisel Annals Ibid., pp. 53 and 56., at the years 801 and 807: the last of which would surely have been the final one, since Aaron departed from the living in the following year, the 192nd of the Arabian era, the 808th of the Christian.
[6] [in other records they are Toulousans; they are said to have been Saracens by origin and slain in the 8th century; Honesta is wrongly called Constantia.] But I would rather adhere to the Breviaries of Amiens and Abbeville, where the region of Toulouse is indicated as the homeland of the holy Martyrs, than with Malbrancq devise Persia, which is designated nowhere at all. Then, as to Malbrancq, and the more recent Breviary of Amiens following him, referring the slaying of these Martyrs to the 13th century, so far am I from wishing to deny it that I set it at the head of this Commentary. Nevertheless I cannot but confess that this time is very doubtful to me. In very truth the Saracens, whom Malbrancq introduces, first burst into Gaul about the year 719, and two years later were routed near Toulouse by duke Eudo Cf. Histoire du Languedoc, volume I, p. 694 and following.; in the year 732 they were again slain by Charles Martel between Tours and Poitiers; nevertheless they still remained long in Septimania, without, however, seeming to have approached Toulouse. But although these things somewhat favour Malbrancq's opinion concerning the time of death, they do not establish the very foundation of this opinion, namely that the holy Martyrs were Saracens: which, however, would have to be proved before all things. On the contrary, Justus and Honesta are Latin names, Artemius Greek, but used by the Latins also. Whence, if an author better than I should at some time refer these Saints to the times of the Roman domination in the Gauls, I should willingly have gone over to his opinion. Meanwhile it does not please me to depart from the beaten track. Concerning the sister's name something must be added here. In the places adduced she is everywhere called Honesta; but Malbrancq calls her Constantia, which, however, was not in his torn Breviary. On which account surely one must not depart from the Martyrologies cited at the beginning, from the old Breviaries of Amiens and Abbeville, from the instruments of recognition of the relics and from the inscription of the reliquary (of which below): Saints Justus, Artemius and Honesta, pray for us, placed beside the carved images of the three Martyrs which stand above the coffer.
[7] The place of martyrdom Monticellus, not Mons Coeli, Concerning the place of martyrdom, namely Monticellus, no dispute has arisen. And it is a very small village of the former province of Artois, on the stream Quantia (the Canche), between Old Hesdin and Ferventum (Frévent), having not a parish church, but one annexed to the neighbouring parish of Cuniciacum (Conchy-sur-Canche), situated on the other bank of the Canche. In French Malbrancq called this village Monciel, from which he forged the Latin name Mons-Coeli; which thence crept into the Breviaries. But, as the Reverend Monsieur Parenty, canon of Arras, to whom I owe most of this information, informed me, in a charter of the year 1079 kept at Arras, by which the restoration of the monastery of Alciacum (Auchy-les-Moines) is confirmed, Moncels is read; but in instruments contemporary with Malbrancq Monchel; and in Latin in the Martyrology cited by Chastelain, Monticellus; which name is common to several places in France [Cf. Mabillon, De re diplomatica, pp. 302 and 469; Félibien, Histoire de l'abbaye de Saint-Denis, proofs, p. LXIX. Du Cange, Glossarium, under Monticellus, Moncellus, etc.]. Lest, therefore, phantasms be mixed with piety, let Monticellus keep its old name, that which was devised later being bidden to go away.
[8] their cult, As regards the cult, at Monticellus even now the feast of these Martyrs is celebrated on the same day which has been assigned in the more recent Breviaries of Amiens and Arras, namely the 18th of October; for so writes the Reverend Monsieur Véniel, parish priest of Cuniciacum and Monticellus, in a letter given in the year 1845 to his Eminence the cardinal bishop of Arras, a copy of which has been sent to me. Yet the principal solemnity is transferred to the following Sunday, as a letter of the same Monsieur Véniel, written on the 3rd day of November 1849, testifies; which, since it also contains other things to our purpose, deserves to be recited here, translated from the French tongue into Latin.
[9] sufficiently celebrated, In the territory of Monticellus, he says, beside the road which leads thence to the village of Flers, about half a kilometre from the church of the former place, there is seen in the midst of the fields a certain little mound, which has the name of the tomb of St. Justus (tombe de Saint-Just) and on which a cross has been erected. This place, which seems always to have remained free of cultivation, the people have at all times greatly venerated, and have always judged that the Saints whose relics are kept at Monticellus were originally buried here. On the Sunday after the 18th day of October, which is sacred to Saints Justus, Arthemius and Honesta, a multitude of the faithful from the neighbouring villages run to Monticellus to venerate the precious relics of the Martyrs, which in the afternoon, Vespers having been sung, are carried in procession, with the chanting of the litanies of all the Saints, to the tomb of St. Justus; in which procession the modesty and piety of the faithful are conspicuous.
[10] relics Of these three Martyrs, Justus, Artemius and Honesta, a good many relics are kept at Monticellus, as the same Monsieur Véniel testifies in the letter of the year 1845 already praised. They are deposited in a portable and elegant little coffer, which is exposed to the veneration of the faithful throughout the whole year in the middle of the altar in a certain second tabernacle closed by a glass door. In this little coffer are found various instruments of recognitions, of which the most ancient is written on two slates, as they call them, and is of the following tenor: In the year of the Lord one thousand five hundred and nineteen, on the seventh of February, were laid up again these relics, which, as we have heard from our fathers, we hope are from the bodies of the Saints Justus, Arthemius and Honesta, in the presence of Sir Philippe Cressent, Chaplain, brother Jean de le Warde, prior of Caricampus (the abbey of Cercamps), Sir Jean Matthieu, Jean Attagnant and Jeanne Dorion, and other priests, Guillon Le Cointre, Walrin Le Cointre and Reginald Lamiot. On the smaller slate only these few words are read: It is most firmly to be believed that at the opening of this tomb a most sweet odour burst forth and consoled many.
[11] often recognized, Another recognition was made on the 15th day of October 1617 by Antoine Perotin, parish priest at Auxi-le-Château and dean of Labroye; there being present Messieurs Toussaint de Bomy, parish priest at Monchel, and Pierre Danthon, parish priest at Conchil (now Conchy), and very many others. In which instrument, as also in the following, those which are written on the two slates are inserted word for word. The third instrument was drawn up on the 12th of July 1737 by Monsieur Antoine Devis, parish priest at Monchel, on the occasion of the translation of the relics to the monastery of Caricampus, whence they were brought back and delivered by the most illustrious De la Motte, bishop of Amiens, himself to the noble man de Gargan Rollepot, lord of Monchel, as the instrument drawn up on this matter on the 26th day of October 1737 testifies, furnished with a seal with the subscription of the lord de Rollepot himself. Three years after, the pastor and inhabitants of the place asked the same prelate of Amiens that they might be allowed to expose to the public veneration of the faithful the bones of St. Justus, Martyr, patron of the said place, where at all times they had been in honour; for which cause Monsieur Romain Ducrocq, parish priest at Bernatre and Dean of Auxi-le-Château, was sent to examine the remains, who, having recognized the instruments, testifies that he saw above the altar of the Blessed Virgin a receptacle prepared, in which the case of relics was to be laid up, and that he ordered that the same wooden case should be furnished inside with silk tapestry, and covered outside with gold.
[12] and adorned with a new church. The instrument from which these things are taken was drawn up on the 12th day of December 1740; and in the following month of January, on the 28th day, the often-mentioned prelate of Amiens wrote on the same instrument the faculty requested. The cult of the Martyrs grew cold, as I think, from the time when, the 18th century already declining, sacred things were turned upside down in all France; the church of Monticellus was then sold and demolished, so that the one which is now seen there was begun to be built only in the year 1828, and then in the year 1840, a nave and bell-tower being added, was very greatly enlarged. In the preceding year Monsieur Jean-Baptiste Loire, who then served the churches of Cuniciacum-on-the-Canche and Monticellus, had requested a new recognition of the relics; for which cause there was sent to Monticellus the Reverend Monsieur Robitaille, parish priest and dean of Paulopolis (Saint-Pol-sur-Ternoise) and vicar general of the diocese of Arras, who on the 16th day of October 1830 inspected the aforesaid instruments laid up in the reliquary, recognized the authentic seals, and permitted the parish priest to continue to expose these relics to the veneration of the faithful. Of the relics of St. Justus which were formerly kept at Zutphen, and now partly at Antwerp, enough was said above in the Commentary on St. Justus of Beauvais See above, p. 337.. Now follows the Passion, somewhat adorned by Malbrancq according to his genius.
PASSION OF SS. JUSTUS, ARTEMIUS AND HONESTA,
By Jacques Malbrancq, from book v De Morinis.
Justus, Martyr in the diocese of Arras. (S.)
Artemius, Martyr in the diocese of Arras. (S.)
Honesta, Virgin, Martyr in the diocese of Arras. (S.)
The holy Martyrs, converted to the faith, Therefore a in the midst of a depraved nation, and indeed in a paternal court teeming with the filth of idols and courtly delights, the twin brothers Justus and Artemius with their sister Constantia b were leading a youthful life, or rather, although it was granted them to indulge their inclination and sumptuous tables more than enough, although their purses swelled abundantly with gold, although most illustrious marriages and most opulent dowries were proposed, nevertheless they dragged it on most wearily: for from the time when they had been dipped in the waters of baptism by some pious priest without their father's knowledge, nothing of these things had any savour at all for them; their only delights were in divine things, the only savoury dishes those which were received by stealth from the sacred discourse of some Christian. Which things, however, could not be accomplished in so secret a manner but that their parent, the most impious of heathen princes, and hating the Christian manner of life worse than a dog or a snake, noticed some change in his children: then he began to watch more seriously, lest by day from the house
of their father they should slip away, and lest they should frequent the gatherings of any others than worshippers of the idol: because, when they had formerly spurned those empty statues, he himself attributed it to youthful carelessness and to a mind more inclined to hunting and things of that kind.
[2] they ask to come into Gaul with an embassy: And so, when their parent was now gradually enticing his children to his superstitions with many promises, and these falling on deaf ears, was holding out graver threats, Justus and Artemius take counsel about taking to flight. They hear that the affairs of the Christians are going well in the Gauls; that there they would rather seek the hiding-places of the groves and feed on herbs than be most sumptuously kept in their father's house with the loss of the Christian name. And behold, they now see a very opportune occasion offering itself of transferring themselves into Gaul. For since their parent was exceedingly greedy of honours, they did not shrink from addressing him in words of this kind: There is no reason, most loving parent, that you should provoke your sons, aspiring to greater things, about the trifles of religions; we meditate higher and more heroic things: but there is a way by which you may gratify our king very greatly and obtain that we be polished in courtly education, if you allow us to be associated with the envoys passing into foreign regions: so beautiful are the daughters of princes reported to be in the Gauls, perhaps there will be some means of drawing them into nets and snares: then, when we return, you, parent, will perform whatever shall please you.
[3] the father consents: the sister goes as companion; The suppliant petition pleased the man, but it seemed good not to dismiss them from him before he had commended them in the best manner to the envoy and the other companions, whom he knew all to be most devoted to the Saracen sect and most hostile to the Christians, that they should not allow them to depart from their side even a finger's breadth. The twin brothers had a sister Constantia, who, weeping day and night, could not bear the departure of her brothers: and lest perhaps those tears should lead to a fatal end, she was given as companion to the wife of the envoy, who clung to her husband as he set out, the father fearing no danger from the company of an impious woman; nothing was feared either on the whole journey from those three, who held no conversations at all about the affairs of the Christians, but displayed a cheerful countenance at all courtly discourses whatever, and rendered a thousand thanks to the envoy and his wife, that by much asking they had obtained for them the opportunity of seeing such flourishing regions, an immortal memory of which thing would cling to their minds.
[4] [in Gaul, to provide for their faith, they flee into a forest; their father orders them to be sought] But when they had been received by the king of Gaul into a rural palace and had offered the gifts of the Saracen king, they were refreshed with a very sumptuous supper. When afterwards these were buried in sleep and wine, Justus, Artemius and Constantia (they had agreed with one another on the time and the hour), having made ardent prayer to those above, slipped away I know not by what means, or what road they took. I know, however, from their history that they came to a shady hill which rises from the river Quantia c of Hesdin and lifts its ridge where the road is to Thérouanne or Saint-Pol, between Hesdin and Frévent. There they live as hiddenly as they can; until the envoys returned to their homeland, who, surely dismayed in mind at so headlong a flight of the brothers, returned not without fear to their king. But the parent, when he saw that he must do without that trio of his children, dearest to him above the rest, fills the house with much wailing: then, coming to himself, and blazing up against the fugitives, he sent all the most faithful of his followers, furnished with ample provision for the road, to traverse all Gaul, until, by the manifold description of the three young people, they should reach their hiding-places: and that they should not spare a lavish largess of money, or, if they refused to return, should threaten grave things; if they did not obey threats either, they should punish the perfidious and parricides with an evil death; for they would without doubt announce that they would cause the speedy death of their father and mother.
[5] and orders them to be killed. They retrace, therefore, the road of the former envoys, and, reaching the royal court, learn that among the Morini, amid the forests, there dwell a pair of young men who breathe something very noble from their countenance, using a foreign tongue; and on what they feed or live scarcely becomes known; that they raise their minds to those above for whole hours, abstain from the company of almost all mortals. The envoys wish for nothing clearer, and, having crossed the rivers Samara or Somme and Altheia d, they fly quickly, but with silent step, to the Canche, climbing that shady hill where they had learned that they fixed the seat of their prayers. Caught, therefore, they by no means deny their race, they pray much health in Christ for father and mother, they say that these groves are preferable to their father's house, which brought forth nothing but a foul demon and empty Gods. They, on the contrary, oppose the prayers, tears, sighs and near death of both parents, unless they should return: that the most powerful offices among the chiefs of the court had been obtained for them, that the most select virgins of the kingdom, scarcely second to any in beauty, wealth and race, were awaiting marriage with them. Let our parents keep for themselves, they say, both their wealth and dignities, and rich marriages for their other children; it is fixed for us, so long as they cling to their futile gods, to go on over a trampled father, that we may fly to the standards of Christ. And when they threatened every most dreadful thing from the father's commands, they bare and offer their neck, which the impious do not fear to mow off, seeking again their barbarous nation in headlong flight. A thing surely worthy of more attentive consideration: behold, among the Morini, where now there is the highest tranquillity of Christian life, God summons Martyrs from the midst of barbarism.
[6] They are venerated at Monticellus. The matter, brought by the Christians to the prelate of the Morini, procured for the brothers an honourable tomb, a twin church being built on that very spot; even now there is seen before the high altar the upper stone of the sepulchre f standing one foot out of the earth; there are seen, I say, two youths in the dress of nobles wrought in relief work g: every year during a novena there is a concourse thither of strangers with great ardour, and for protection against sicknesses. The name Mons Coeli (commonly Monciel h) seems to have been given to the village. In the windows of the church there appears painted Constantia, their sister, of whom, however, the lessons of that torn breviary made no mention. But (said the curé of the place) the Recollects of Valentinus near Old Hesdin assert that she was laid in their sanctuary, who seems to have come into these regions in the manner described above: since she is believed to have arrived with her brothers. For the rest, these things will perhaps be able to give occasion for finding many and more certain things for the profit of pilgrims.