ON ST. JUSTUS OF BEAUVAIS, BOY AND MARTYR, AT AUXERRE AND BEAUVAIS IN GAUL,
IN THE YEAR 287.
PRELIMINARY COMMENTARY.
Justus, a boy, Martyr, at Beauvais and Auxerre. (S.)
BHL Number: 4593, 4594
E. C.
§ I. The original narrative of the martyrdom of St. Justus is preserved in a threefold species of Acts.
As the Acts of one Saint are frequently adapted to another, That from one Saint two are sometimes feigned, so that one and the same, who is venerated in different places or times, is believed to have been different persons, is not so unusual in hagiological matters, as the learned know well enough; and in this very volume the same will be observed of St. Aquilinus. Similarly it is not very rare for the Acts of one Saint to be ascribed to another. Thus the same Acts are common to St. Martina and St. Tatiana; to St. Julian the hospitaller and St. Baldus; to St. Dorothy, V. and M., and St. Honorina of Conflans in the territory of Paris; to St. Frigidian of Lucca and St. Finnian of Moville; to St. Seznius among the people of Guic-Sezni in Armorica and St. Kieran of Saighir; to St. John, M., among the Venetians and St. Procopius; to St. Saturnina, patroness of the Herisienses, and St. Benedicta; to St. Symphorian, M., and St. Silvanus of Ahun, and indeed also St. Caprasius; to St. Odile in Alsace and St. Adela in Brabant; to St. Veranus and St. Florentius of Orange. For the rest, Papebroch has already spoken on this subject [Acta Sanctorum, volume V of May, p. 63, no. 5, and volume VII of May, p. 825, on St. Silaus.]; and indeed it is most difficult of all for us to avoid this rock, since it is not possible either to have read everything or to embrace everything with the keenness of the mind.
[2] so the Acts of St. Justus were adapted to St. Justin. Further, concerning St. Justus of Beauvais, of whom according to the Roman Martyrology we must treat today, it is asked before all things: first, whether or not he is different from St. Justin de Lupara (Louvre) in the territory of Paris: that he is different we shall show; secondly, whether the Acts of one were adapted to the other; which we shall wholly affirm; thirdly, whether the Acts of St. Justin were attached to St. Justus, or vice versa: the Parisians affirm the former, but we shall try to show that the Acts of St. Justus were accommodated to St. Justin.
[3] SS. Justus and Justin are distinct from each other; Further, that they are different was indeed doubted at one time, when the Parisians claimed for themselves the relics of St. Justus and confused him with their St. Justin. But the error has long since vanished. And indeed not only is the name different, but they are also venerated on different days, Justin on the 1st day of August, Justus on the 18th day of October: which ground of distinction, although it is sometimes deceptive, is nevertheless generally of much weight. Secondly, both Saints are distinguished in the very Martyrologies and old Calendars. To this effect, to mark only the most ancient codices, you have in the pure Usuard at the 1st of August: In the territory of Paris, of Justin, Martyr, and at the 18th day of October: In the territory of Beauvais, of Saint Justus, Martyr; in a Hieronymian copy of the 11th century at the 1st day of August is read Spicilegium, folio edition, volume II, p. 20.: In the territory of Paris, in the very place which is called of Lupera, the passion of St. Justin, Martyr; and at the 18th of October: And the deposition of Justus the boy. You see, therefore, in the 9th and 11th centuries the very names and feasts properly distinguished. Thirdly, the relics kept and inspected in each place, and also the translations, of which it will be spoken at length in the commentary, leave no doubt. And all these things have seemed so weighty to the more recent hagiographers that they have scarcely, or not even scarcely, raised doubt on the matter [Cf. Tillemont, Mémoires ecclésiastiques, volume XIV, p. 749; Baillet, Vies des Saints, 18 October; Giry, volume II, edition of 1719, column 461; Loisel, Mémoires du Beauvaisis; Louvet, Histoire du Beauvaisis, volume I, p. 500.].
[4] the fourfold fortunes of the Acts of St. Justus; But nothing is easier than to demonstrate that the same deeds, or the circumstances of the same passion, were transferred from one to the other, only the names of places and men being changed. In which writings this happens must now be explained. I shall distribute the Passions into four classes: of which the first retains the original narrative; the second, the older Parisian; the third, that of Pseudo-Bede and the more recent Parisian; the fourth, finally, the more recent ones of Auxerre and Beauvais. Receive here in a few words the original narrative from the lessons of the Breviary of Beauvais of the year 1618, in which, however, some words will have to be changed, which were brought in thither also from Pseudo-Bede.
[5] the original narrative concerning his birth, Lesson I. Justus, a boy, born at Auxerre of Justin and Felicia, honourable and Christian parents, devoted from infancy to divine worship, shone forth brightly with the spirit of prophecy. For when he was
nine years old, God revealing it, he told his father of the misfortune of his uncle Justinian, whom he had not even known by name, and of his long servitude under Lupus, a merchant of Amiens; and he inflamed him the more vehemently to render to his brother the duties of affection. The father, marvelling at the breath of the divine mind lying hidden in the boy, at once, by unknown byways, God as guide and his son as companion, took the road for the sake of searching out his brother. At Melun that little boy of nine, his father protesting and unwilling, took off his tunic, with which to clothe the nakedness of a poor man. Having departed from that city, hastening on the journey begun with all speed, at length, having crossed the river Oise, they happily arrived at Amiens.
[6] the occasion of his martyrdom, Lesson II. In that city, then agitated by the storms of persecution raging against the Christians, they go to Lupus: and they disclose the cause of the journey and of their turning aside to him. He, out of regard for the Christian religion, kindly invited them to lodge that night: and when they had entered he showed them twelve servants. Justus, carrying his eyes round to each one, divinely recognized, all being struck with amazement, his uncle, who was lighting them all with a lighted lamp, whom he had never seen and whom his father, of advanced age, did not know. Meanwhile their arrival is carried by swift report to Rictiovarus, prefect in the Gauls under Maximian, who orders them to be sought out forthwith: but they, roused rather quickly by their host, had departed in the dead of night with their kinsman Justinian, who had been presented with his liberty. The guards, when the dawn was already shining, bursting into the house of Lupus, as they recognize that they have been eluded and frustrated of their hope, pursue the fugitives with the horses' course urged on.
[7] the place of his slaying and burial Lesson III. They had already sat down in an ancient place of the territory of Beauvais, whose name was Synomovicus and afterwards Villa S. Justi, beside the spring Syrica, whose outflow the brook Araya receives, in order to refresh their weary limbs with food and drink. Justus, foreseeing with divine mind the coming of the guards, warns his parents to hide themselves quickly in a cave. But he fearlessly awaits the executioners sent; and being asked by them who he was, since beyond his age and human custom he discoursed prudently and constantly concerning the Christian faith, and could be induced by no threats of punishments to betray his parents, he is beheaded on the fifteenth day before the Kalends of November, about the year of Christ CCLXXXVII. At once Justus the Martyr, his trunk standing immovable before the torturers, receiving his head in his own hands, handed it to his parents to be carried to his mother at Auxerre. But he commanded his body to be buried in that very place Synomovicus: (where, the Christian religion having been propagated, a basilica was built by the faithful. From which, after the course of many years, the body of the Martyr was translated to Beauvais and placed in the basilica of Blessed Peter, where today it is religiously venerated by the faithful.) For the present argument in which we are engaged, the following are to be noticed: first, that the father of the holy Martyr is called Justin; then, that the servant sought at Amiens, Justinian by name, is reported to be the uncle, not the brother, of St. Justus; thirdly, that the arena of martyrdom and the burial of the body are placed in the district of Beauvais, not in that of Paris; finally, that the things which are enclosed in brackets towards the end were added to the Passion afterwards.
[8] it occurs in lectionaries of the 8th and 9th centuries. Further, this original narrative presents itself to me in manuscript codices in a threefold manner. The first species met me before all in a most ancient codex, which formerly came to our predecessors from the monastery of Wissembourg in Alsace, but now exists under no. 7984 in the royal Library of Brussels, commonly called the Burgundian. From the form of the letters it is to be referred at least to the 10th century, and indeed not far advanced; indeed, while I was writing these things, a man most skilled in antiquarian matters suggested to me that this codex seemed to him to be ascribed to the ninth rather than the tenth century. And these Acts are written in a rude and often gaping style. Whence, since in the 11th and 12th centuries, as letters revived, healing hands were commonly applied to the ill-composed Acts of the Saints, that they might be read more becomingly in choir, the style of this Passion too was corrected in many codices; so much so that there were with us six copies of this kind; from which we have taken those variant readings which it would be worth while to note. But the Passion itself, as it is written in the Wissembourg codex, was composed long before: for the same is found in the Saint-Germain Lectionary 1045, which belongs to the 8th century, as the distinguished Monsieur C. M. F. de Fontette is my witness Bibliothèque historique de la France, volume IV, p. 265, no. 4528.; of which Lectionary mention is also made in the New Treatise of diplomatics Nouveau traité de diplomatique, volume III, pp. 245, 312 and 316., where you also have specimens of the characters in plates XLVIII, LI and LII.
[9] in the Beauvais one To the second species belongs the Beauvais copy, which Monsieur Barraud, canon of Beauvais, sent to us in the year 1848, adding these things about that copy and about the codex of St. Michael which Tillemont had used in his ecclesiastical Commentaries: The Legendary of the collegiate church of St. Michael cited by Tillemont no longer exists at Beauvais. It is likely that in the overthrow of the year 1793 it was carried off from the church with the other things which could be taken away, and afterwards brought into the public library of Paris. But I have in hand a manuscript codex collected from various sources formerly by Étienne de Nully, canon of Beauvais, who was snatched from life in the year 1699. In it is read the Life of St. Justus, which the same canon testifies that he copied from the Legendaries of the cathedral church of St. Peter and of the collegiate church of St. Michael; and these legendaries, he says, easily count five or six hundred years; so that they belonged to the 11th or 12th century. Both these Passionals seem nowhere to have shown variant readings; for he noted none in the Acts of St. Justus, as he did accurately elsewhere.
[10] of the 11th century, which showed the way to many others, This Passion of St. Justus I judge to have been first written about the 11th century, both because mention is made in it of the basilica of his name, and of the bones which after the lapse of the course of many years were carried to Beauvais and deposited in the sanctuary of Blessed Peter, and because the name Sinomovicus is intimated as already antiquated in these words: There is a place by ancient appellation Sinomovicus, which, as we shall see below, was already called Villa S. Justi in the year 1015. This showed the way to Vincent of Beauvais in book XII of the Speculum Historiale, where you will find the same expressions brought together into a compendium. It likewise showed the way to Pietro de' Natali, and to almost all who have unfolded the deeds of St. Justus either in older Breviaries or in Legendaries. Bonino Mombrizio, in volume II of the Sanctuarium, printed at Milan about the year 1480, published the bare epitome of Vincent of Beauvais. But since the first Passion is written in a rather rude style, while this one is in a fairly good one; since moreover a great many will desire to have before their eyes this very text, about which there was formerly much controversy; we shall give below these Acts of St. Justus also. Whence there is no need for them to be described more fully in this place and for the discrepancies of less moment to be indicated: which will be done more easily in the annotations themselves.
[11] and in the Malmedy one, perhaps of the beginning of the 10th century. The third species, finally, is represented by the Malmedy Acts, which were written in the manner of a panegyric to be recited in choir on the feast of St. Justus. Father Gamans formerly copied these from a manuscript codex of the Patrons of Malmedy and sent them, with many others already edited [Cf. among others, volume II of July, p. 719; volume I of September, p. 687, and volume V of October, p. 550.] and to be edited in future, to our predecessors. The same Acts are contained in a manuscript codex of Saint-Trond of the 14th century, which is now marked no. 58 in the library of the university of Liège. Further, the writer of this Passion seems other than he who about the year 1095 wrote in metre the Acts of St. Agilulf and the miracles of St. Quentin found in the same codex Volume II of July, p. 720.. On account of the similarity of style I would readily bring myself to believe that this Passion was written by the same person by whom the instrument of the translation was written, namely by the true or false Liruthard. It must be noted moreover that the author speaks as an eyewitness of the things which are done every year at Villa S. Justi on his feast; he adds also: There shines an august church, both venerable for the memory of the holy Martyr and distinguished for the devotion of the people; and of the same church there is discourse in the history of the translation. But the name of Villa S. Justi, which was already in use in the year 1015, does not yet appear in that Passion; but it is designated in these words: Whose name is Synomovicus, where a most pure spring, fit for drinking, offers itself to those making the journey. Wherefore I should say it probable that it was written a little after the year 900, at which time it will be read below that some relics were translated to Malmedy; were not the very history of the translation entangled in difficulties grave enough, as will be said in its place. From that Passion, however, we shall cull only a few things.
§ II. The Acts of St. Justus are adapted to St. Justin of the Louvre, or of Paris; manifold confusion in the Breviaries arising from this.
to St. Justin of Paris We have said that the original narrative is preserved sufficiently entire in this threefold form of the Acts. But now the substitutions and introduced changes must be laid open, and first of all the older Parisian narrative, which I referred above to the second class, must be declared. As has already been said, St. Justin was already venerated in the time of Usuard in a village near Paris, by name Lupara (Louvre). Further (if it be permitted now to assert what I trust the reader will be persuaded of by an accurate consideration of the matters), they adapted the Acts of St. Justus to him; and indeed in this way: first, since the father of St. Justus in the original narrative was called Justin, in the Acts attached to St. Justin the name of the father was omitted; secondly, since in the same narrative Justinian the servant was the brother of Justin, Justinian remained in the altered Acts the brother indeed of Justin, but no longer of the father, but of the holy boy; thirdly, in these renewed Acts the names of places were omitted, if you except Amiens and Auxerre; fourthly, hence it came about that the Parisians were even at one time persuaded that St. Justin of Paris was the same as St. Justus of Beauvais.
[13] the Passion of St. Justus is adapted, almost nothing being changed; And you have traces of this adapted narrative first of all in the history of the translation of St. Justin into New Corvey from France, which is almost the centre of present Gaul. In it is read Acta Sanctorum, volume I of August, p. 33.: The blessed boy Justin suffered … under the most impious judge Rictiovarus… But the head of Blessed Justin was committed to burial at Autricum, which is now called Auxerre, but the body in the place which he himself had designated. This translation was made in the year 891, the history written quite a long while after the year 1018, since the books of Thietmar of Merseburg are cited in it. Similarly
in the very Breviaries of Paris from at least the year 1557 up to 1680, when a new alteration succeeded. For in the Breviary of the year 1557 you have Justin seeking his brother Justinian at Amiens, and the rest as in the original narrative, except that the proper names are omitted. In the Breviary of the year 1584 the same things occur, with the names of the castle of Melun and of Lupus, a citizen of Amiens, added, and with this somewhat enlarged ending: Accordingly, executioners having been sent to watch the roads, Justin was found in the territory of Beauvais: and, being asked who he was, since a boy of such tender age discoursed of the faith beyond human custom, he gave back his soul to Christ, beheaded. His severed head was carried to his mother at Auxerre. But his body, buried there, translated to the church of Beauvais, rests at last deposited in the church of Paris. And you have the same ending in the Breviary of the year 1607.
[14] it is put into metre, many things being changed, The third class comprises before all the metrical Acts of St. Justin, falsely attributed to Bede. Herwagen, namely, in the year 1563 at Basle first inserted these into the works of the Venerable Bede; which was also done by the editors in the years 1612 and 1618. After Herwagen, Surius had the same printed among the Lives of the Saints in the year 1570; and since thenceforth they were often reprinted in the same collection, many no longer doubted the genuineness of this writing. But since Du Sollier has edited them in our work at the 1st day of August Volume I of August, p. 34 and following., there is no need for us to insert a part of them here; but it will suffice to indicate in a few words what principal alterations were introduced into the old narrative by them. Namely, the boy St. Justin here has as father Matthew, as brother Justinian; who, having been freed from servitude, the three come to Lupara, where St. Justin is impiously slain. His body is buried in the same place, his head is carried to his mother at Auxerre. If you wish to have a specimen of these little verses, take the following, in which the wretched state of the Christians under Diocletian is described:
Non illis emendi quidquam, Aut vendendi copia, Nec ipsam haurire aquam Dabatur licentia; Antequam thurificarent Detestandis idolis: [They had no means of buying anything, / or of selling, / nor was leave given them / to draw even water; / until they should offer incense / to the detestable idols:]
in which, in order that the metre may hold to some extent, I will not say with quantity but with accent, one would have to read: Dabatur, idolis, or Dabatur et idolis, according to the more recent manner of pronouncing.
[15] by a certain Pseudo-Bede And from this one observation alone the opinion of those who have adjudged these metrical Acts to Bede would be undermined. Add that Bede, as the distinguished Mr Giles rightly observes in the preface to the new edition of the works of this writer The complete Works of the Venerable Bede, volume I, p. CLXIX., being devoted solely to classical and scholastic studies, would not easily have abandoned the metre used by the Roman and classical writers. But arguments of even greater weight are at hand. First of all, Du Sollier observes Volume I of August, p. 32. that certain things are put together there which are as far apart from one another as the whole heaven, and that these are accordingly as far from the genuineness and historical skill of Bede as they are distant from the true reckoning of times most shamefully confused. Moreover, in none of the Martyrologies which are carried about under the name of Bede, not in that which was printed in our work at the beginning of volume II of March, and which Du Sollier rather judged to be that of Florus; not in the Annual Booklet of the Lord Bede the presbyter, edited by Martène Amplissima Collectio, volume IV, column 637 and following.; not in the Metrical one which d'Achery first brought to light Spicilegium, volume II, p. 23 and following. Folio edition., but J. A. Giles more correctly The complete Works, etc., volume I, p. 50.; not in the codex of Fleury, which we owe to Martène Amplissima Collectio, volume VI, column 650., although the feasts of Auxerre are inserted in it; nor finally in the Florentine codex, which Bandini put into print Bibliotheca Laurentiana, codices latini, volume I, p. 171.. Finally, Bede himself in the catalogue of his works, which he composed at most four years before his death, does not reckon this poem on St. Justin; nor does any of the older bibliographers, for instance Honorius of Autun, Sigebert, Trithemius and others, attribute this poem to the Venerable Bede.
[16] in the 15th century, as it seems; But it is now acknowledged that this work is not the Venerable Bede's. Wherefore it is rather now asked in what age at last those little verses arose. The historians of literature in France judge that they more probably belong to about the middle of the 10th century, since in the following century the fame of St. Justus (as is clear from Rodulfus Glaber) was very widespread Histoire littéraire de la France, volume VI, p. 205.. But this reason by no means concerns the metrical Acts, on which is inscribed not the name of St. Justus but of St. Justin, but the ancient Acts of St. Justus, of which we spoke at no. 8, and with which the statements of Glaber agree exceedingly well. For my part I think the metrical ones were written in the 15th century. For I find them noted in the Catalogues of Libraries very rarely and only in fairly recent codices. We have in our museum a copy lent by the most illustrious bishop of Bruges, Jean-Baptiste Malou; but, no differently from those which are kept elsewhere, it is recent, being written almost at the end of the 15th century in the monastery of SS. Thomas and Nicholas of Bursfelde, and bears no name of an author. Moreover, none of the old hagiographers, I mean Vincent of Beauvais, St. Antoninus, James of Voragine, Pietro de' Natali, Mombritius, etc., made mention of St. Justin of the Louvre: which they would surely have done if his Acts had been carried about in their age. Finally, it is a mere metrical paraphrase, not of the most ancient Acts of St. Justus, but of those of Beauvais, of which we spoke at no. 9 and following. But, what you may wonder at, we have found the first traces of the Louvre Acts (so I am pleased to call them for the sake of distinction) in the Breviary of Beauvais printed at Paris in the year 1554. For in it the office of St. Justus is composed for the most part with phrases taken from those metrical Acts; indeed whole antiphons are drawn hence word for word. Nevertheless the original history is preserved entire, if you except that Justinian is called the brother of St. Justus. Graver changes were made later; and of these, that is of the fourth class of Acts, we must now speak.
[17] hence a huge confusion arises in the Breviary of Beauvais and that of Auxerre From the time, therefore, when the metrical Acts under the name of Bede had so often come forth in this man's works and in the Lives of Surius, it was commonly believed that the name of the English historian had been rightly prefixed to them: whence the conclusion was ready that this writing of so great a man was far to be preferred to the anonymous Acts of St. Justus, and that all these things were to be measured according to the Venerable Bede. Everyone sees how great a confusion of minds must have arisen from this. The people of Beauvais first of all believed that the Justin who is celebrated in these verses was their St. Justus. But what of Lupara, where in these St. Justin is said to have been slain and entombed? They believed that this name was formerly synonymous with Synomovicus or Villa S. Justi. Wherefore they placed this fictitious Lupara in the territory of Beauvais, and made open mention of the little river Araja or Araga, which washes the Villa S. Justi. And these things first meet us in the Breviary of the year 1618. In the Breviary of the year 1670 the lessons on St. Justus (for the rest excellent) are disfigured by the same error: They had already, so they have it, sat down in an ancient place of the territory of Beauvais, whose name is Lupera, beside the spring Syrica, whose outflow the brook Araga receives, etc. Nothing was then changed in the remaining circumstances. Similar changes were introduced into the Breviary of Auxerre of the year 1670.
[18] greater in that of Beauvais of the year 1741 and in that of Roye, Why did the church of Beauvais not retain these lessons, recited by us above at nos. 5, 6 and 7, with Lupera sent away and Synomovicus restored? But in the new Breviary of the year 1741 (about which time so many wonders were wrought in reforming the Gallican Breviaries) the people of Beauvais admitted the Parisian Legend of the year 1680, Justin being changed into Justus, and with this ending added concerning the relics: But Matthew and Justinian, having come out of the cave, carried the Martyr's head to his mother at Auxerre, the body having first been buried at Lupara, which was translated thence into the church of Beauvais; while the Parisians in the year 1680 had written: Which was translated thence into the church of Paris. The Canons of Roye admitted in their proper offices the lessons of the Breviary of Beauvais of the year 1741.
[19] greatest in that of Paris of the year 1680. But now we must speak of the Parisian Breviary of the year 1680. We showed above at no. 13 from the Breviary of the year 1584 that the Parisians were formerly persuaded that their St. Justin was the same as St. Justus, who suffered in the territory of Beauvais or of Synomovicus, whose body, translated to the church of Beauvais, rested at last deposited in the church of Paris. But in the year 1680 Pseudo-Bede won. Here is the beginning of the new Legend: Justin, as the venerable Bede relates, born at Auxerre of Christian parents, endowed while still a boy with the gift of prophecy, persuaded his father Matthew that they should set out together to Amiens to redeem his brother Justinian. Here now is the ending: The body having first been buried, as he had wished, at Lupara; which was translated thence into the church of Paris. Du Sollier gave the whole Legend at the 1st day of August Volume I of August, p. 30..
[20] [The error is detected, but in the Parisian Breviary of the year 1736 it is dissembled.] But after it was commonly recognized that these verses were not Bede's, what did the writers of the Parisian Breviary do, under bishop Ventimille? The reader will learn this from the Legend inserted in the Breviary of the year 1736; take the beginning: The Passion of Justin the Martyr in the territory of Paris, in the place which is called Lupara, is reported at the Kalends of August in the most ancient Martyrology, which, distinguished by the name of St. Jerome, already began to be copied commonly in the churches before the end of the seventh century. (These words are read not in the Martyrology of St. Jerome, but among the Auctaria of the Corbie codex of the 11th century.) Hence among the works of the Venerable Bede, who flourished in the eighth century, is read a poem on Justin the Martyr, in which likewise an ancient village named Lupara is assigned as the place of the contest. Whence for several centuries already the church of Paris recognizes this its Justin in this little work. He then, according to the narrative there written out, was born at Auxerre of Christian parents, etc. How has the church of Paris recognized these things for several centuries, when this opinion was first introduced into the Breviary in the year 1680? Cf. above no. 13. What sincere lover of the truth would bear this phrase: Among the works of the Venerable Bede is read a poem, while the writers have in mind that that poem was erroneously inserted there and is by no means that holy man's? Is not a deception thus practised on those who have no suspicion, in sacred matters, of such wary words? Note also in that Legend these things
words: His companions, having come out of the cave, carried his head to Auxerre, by which it was signified that Justin of the Louvre, or of Paris, was the same as St. Justus, whose head was venerated at Auxerre. These were omitted in the Breviaries of the years 1787 and 1836; for the rest the legend of the year 1736 was kept.
[21] The arguments on which the Parisians relied in the year 1680 are torn down. The history of the Acts of St. Justus and St. Justin being known, everyone understands that the Acts of St. Justus were adapted to St. Justin, not those of St. Justin to St. Justus. But this can be shown from many other heads, which we shall at once lay open, once we have torn down the arguments by which the Parisians were led into the contrary opinion in the year 1680. These we have learned from a letter of Claude Chastelain of the 16th day of February of the year 1685, and they are three in number. The first is sought from the authority and antiquity of the poem on St. Justin, which they had believed without doubt to be Bede's; but how much they erred in this matter is already sufficiently clear from nos. 14 and following. The second argument is taken from this, that the village of Lupara lies close to Paris: from this indeed the Parisians could conclude that they had erred hitherto when they had thought that their St. Justin was the same as Justus of Beauvais, and so that it is likely that this same one is venerated at Lupara and at Paris; but nothing whatever follows from this against the genuineness of the Acts of St. Justus. The third argument, finally, is drawn from the narrative itself, namely that Paris lies on the road by which one goes from Amiens to Auxerre, but not Beauvais; and since the holy Martyr was slain while he was going from Amiens to Auxerre, he could have suffered at Paris, but not at Beauvais. But in the metrical Acts St. Justin is not said to have suffered at Paris, but at Lupara; and in the ancient Acts St. Justus is not related to have been slain at Beauvais, but in the territory of Beauvais at Villa S. Justi; which village the Premonstratensian Annals Annales Praemonstratenses, volume I, p. 941. teach is situated beside the royal highway by which one goes from Amiens to Paris, where they treat of the monastery which this sacred order had there. So that nothing weaker could be devised for this new opinion.
[22] From the more celebrated cult of St. Justus than of St. Justin, But now the arguments of the opposite opinion must be set out. First of all, it is a very well-known fact that the celebrity of the Saints depends very greatly on the existence of Acts; so that, if any Saint is commonly celebrated, it is an almost certain indication that his Acts were at the same time carried about. Further, it is a known fact that in the more ancient time St. Justin of the Louvre was celebrated only by Usuard, who wrote at Paris, and in one Hieronymian codex of Corbie of the 11th century; while on the contrary St. Justus of Beauvais is praised not only by Usuard and in this Hieronymian codex, but also in many others; namely in that of Gellone, which d'Achery records was written about the year 804 Spicilegium in folio, volume II, p. 25., and in which at this day is read: Of Justus, Martyr; in that of Auxerre of the end of the 11th century, where you have Martène, Amplissima Collectio, volume VI, column 726.: In the territory of Beauvais, the passion of St. Justus, Martyr, whose head rests in the basilica of St. Amator; in the Labbean Acta Sanctorum, volume VII of June, at the end, which has: Of Justus, Martyr; in that of Augsburg Ibid., place cited, where similarly: Of Justus, Martyr; in the Calendar of Corbie, which was copied in the 10th century from an older one of Arras Martène, Thesaurus Anecdotorum, volume III, column 1612., and which shows these words: In the district of Beauvais, of St. Justus, Martyr; finally in the Franco-Gallic Hagiology which Labbe edited Bibliotheca Manuscriptorum, volume II, p. 700.: In the territory of Beauvais, of Saint Justin (rather Justus), Martyr; in the Martyrology of Fulda of the 10th century In Giorgi, after the Martyrology of Ado, p. 671.: In the territory of Beauvais, the passion of St. Justus, Martyr, whose head was carried to Auxerre; and finally he is commemorated at this day in the Irish Martyrology composed in the middle of the 12th century by Marianus Gorman. Moreover, our predecessors found at the 4th day of September (as they noted among the Passed Over) the name of St. Justus of Beauvais written in their manuscript Florarium and in other sacred fasti: on which day some feast of his must formerly have been celebrated, since this day too is marked at the head of the older Acts, which we shall give in the first place. From which it is manifest that St. Justus was much more celebrated than St. Justin.
[23] from the Martyrologies alluding to the Acts of St. Justus, not of Justin, Secondly, none of the ancient martyrologists knew the Acts of St. Justin, but many the Acts of St. Justus. First of all, three Vatican codices, formerly of the queen of Sweden, marked 511, 512 and 514, of which the first seemed to Giorgi to have been written in the 11th century, the two others in the 12th Martyrology of Ado, preface, p. IX., attach to Ado this auctarium, manifestly taken from the Acts of St. Justus: In the territory of Beauvais, the passion of St. Justus, Martyr, in the time of Rictiovarus; whose head, when it had been carried to his mother at Auxerre, Saint Amator, who perhaps at that time presided as bishop, saw in the night-time an immense light shining; who, studiously inquiring what this was, when he learned what had been done in the Martyr, giving thanks to God, with hymns and praises entombed that most reverend head under the altar. Some likewise who added Auctaria to Usuard knew more about St. Justus of Beauvais than what Usuard himself had written: thus in the Matricula of the Charterhouse of Utrecht it is added that St. Justus was a boy; in the codex of Centula that he was a boy and suffered in the time of Rictiovarus; finally in the Lübeck-Cologne edition: In the territory of Beauvais, of Saint Justus, boy and Martyr, who in the times of the emperor Diocletian, under the judge Rictiovarus, was beheaded. The announcement of the Hagenau codex at the 22nd day of December is too long to be recited here. Of St. Justin nothing such: at the first day of August you have in Usuard barely: In the territory of Paris, of Justin, Martyr; and at the 8th day of August, on which he is celebrated at Paris, in the Auctaria of Munster and of Molanus: On the same day, of Saint Justin, Martyr, whose body rests in the great church of the blessed Virgin of Paris. Nothing more.
[24] [from the historians who knew the Acts of St. Justus, not of Justin, from the Acts of St. Justin being unknown to the Parisians,] Thirdly, no ancient historian or hagiographer is brought forward who knew the Acts of St. Justin; which we have already sufficiently explained at nos. 15 and 16: on the contrary the Acts of St. Justus were commonly known. Namely Rodulfus Glaber, in the Histories of his time at the year 1029, relates some things about false relics which had been placed in a monastery of the city of Susa in Piedmont, and Hugh of Flavigny has comprised the same more briefly Chronicon Virdunense, in Labbe, Bibliotheca Manuscriptorum, volume I, p. 165.. Most of the things pertaining to St. Justus of Novalesa we shall examine a little below at his Acts; only the following belong here Bouquet, Recueil, volume X, p. 46.: These things therefore happened to be done on the 16th day (rather the 15th) before the Kalends of November. For this reason, namely, because the promoters of this error asserted that they were the same bones of Justus the Martyr who on that day suffered at Beauvais, a city of the Gauls; whose head too was brought back to Auxerre, where he had been born and brought up, and is kept there. Similarly Vincent of Beauvais, a writer of the 13th century, Pietro de' Natali, one century more recent, Mombritius and others published abridged Acts of St. Justus of Beauvais. Fourthly, the Parisians themselves were formerly ignorant of the Acts of St. Justin and adapted the Acts of St. Justus to him in such a way that they even held their St. Justin to have died in the territory of Beauvais. Of which matter we have already said more above at no. 13.
[25] [and finally from many circumstances which cannot fit St. Justin and rightly suit St. Justus, it is demonstrated that the latter's Acts were adapted to St. Justin.] Fifthly, finally, the matter is proved from a more inward inspection of the Acts themselves: namely, first, several things are related in the metrical Acts of St. Justin about Lupara which agree with the Villa S. Justi, by no means with the topography of Lupara; on the contrary, these same things, which are also read in the Acts of St. Justus, can still be seen with the eyes at his Villa. For you have in the metrical Acts several things about a spring and about a cave, which would be at Lupara:
There is held an ancient place, Lupera by surname… Then Justinian addresses the holy Justin: You see, he says, an opportunity at hand here, whereby water may be drawn and we be refreshed with food… To whom Blessed Justin… But do you go in, and in the hollow of the present cave hide yourselves.
Further, Louvet testifies that none of these things is to be found at Lupara Histoire du Beauvaisis, volume I, p. 500.; and certainly in the topographical Maps of Cassini no indication of a spring appears. But in the Passion of St. Justus these things are referred to the spring Sirica, which is also named the brook Aragga *: all of which you still have at Villa S. Justi. Another trace of substitution also is detected in the metrical Acts. For it is plainly gathered from these Acts Cf. Acta Sanctorum, volume I of August, p. 36, no. [ and following.], no differently than from the prose Acts of St. Justus, that the holy Martyr was beheaded on that same day on which he departed from Amiens with Justinian and his father. Now Lupara is distant from Amiens twenty-six leagues; which journey no one on foot would accomplish in one day; on the contrary the Villa S. Justi is distant only ten leagues from Amiens; which journey, since they are read to have set out by night, nothing prevents their having accomplished. Finally, since they were proceeding from Amiens to Paris and thence to Auxerre, it must be observed that Lupara was not situated on the road by which one goes from Amiens to Paris; on the contrary we have already noted above at no. 21 that the Villa S. Justi stood upon this road. And very much light will be shed on all these things from the history of the relics.
Annotation* the Arre.
§ III. The genuineness of the Acts of St. Justus; his relics and cult at Auxerre and in New Corvey.
[In the Acts there is detected a grave chronological slip and the miracle of the carrying of the head;] Although we have disputed so laboriously hitherto concerning the Acts of St. Justus, in order (so far as in us lay) to pave the way for the people of Beauvais, of Auxerre and others to arrange their liturgical books again according to the old tradition of their churches; yet it is far from our holding these Acts to be altogether genuine or of the first rank. First of all they are by no means contemporary, since St. Amator, who at the end is written to have translated the head of St. Justus, died in the year 418 Acta Sanctorum, volume I of May, p. 59., a whole century after the times of Maximian or Rictiovarus. Then, even in the most ancient Acts, St. Amator and Rictiovarus are related to have lived at the same time: which chronological blunder recurs in all the Acts, if those of Pietro de' Natali
writing you except. In all the Acts likewise it is read that the trunk of the holy Martyr's body received its head in its hands and carried it to its companions of the journey: concerning which kind of miracles I shall warn again, with one of my colleagues Volume VII of October, p. 819, nos. 9 and 10., that one must deal most cautiously; both because a similar opinion easily springs up among the common people from a wrong interpretation of the images of the holy Martyrs, and on account of the huge number of Saints to whom that miracle is ascribed, although to me also are unknown the Acts of any Saint which are of such credit as to vindicate this wonderful carrying of the head from all doubt: and that by these things this kind of miracles is somewhat weakened Ibid., p. 816.; which no one will rightly judge to have been said too immoderately, after Papebroch [Papebroch's reply to the exhibition of errors, article IX, accusation V, no. 31 and following.] defended against Sebastian of St. Paul this proposition: Once a false principle is recognized, nothing can prudently be believed of any saint whose Acts are not altogether most firm.
[27] according to all the Acts St. Justus was slain under Rictiovarus. But everyone sees that the Lives and Passions of the Saints are not to be wholly rejected on account of some difficulties. These warnings given, it must be investigated before all things when St. Justus suffered: namely whether in the time of Rictiovarus or of St. Amator. And indeed, if we must go back to the age of St. Amator, who held the see of Auxerre from the year 388 to 418, you have the Alans, Suevi and Vandals laying waste the northern regions of Gaul about the year 407 and the following years; and so some make them the authors of the martyrdom of St. Justus, assigning no certain year. And so Tillemont, weighing that the head of St. Justus was carried into the church at Auxerre with honour and hymns by the whole clergy, and that these things fit less well with the times of Maximian, seems to incline to this opinion. But if the slaying of St. Justus is to be ascribed to Rictiovarus, it seems to be referred to the year 287, in which, from the Acts of St. Quentin of Vermandois, it is likely that that governor was staying at Amiens in the month of October of this year: for in the month of October of the preceding year he was staying at Trier Acta Sanctorum, volume II of October, p. 353 and following.. But indeed it seems that one should by no means depart from this opinion. For all things flow in the narrative of Pietro de' Natali, for whom perhaps better documents shone than those we have. He places the martyrdom here under Rictiovarus; and then concerning the burial: They therefore, he says (the father and the uncle Justinian), carrying the body to the territory of Beauvais, buried it there; and, having returned to Auxerre, offered the head to the mother, and narrated all that had been done. Which she, receiving as the head of a Martyr, reverently laid up in a worthy place and kept it as relics for devotion. But Saint Amator, bishop, AFTER THE LAPSE OF TIME, placed the head of Justus the Martyr in the place where he himself had decreed to rest.
[28] the head of St. Justus is first carried to Auxerre; And since nothing remains to be illustrated except the Martyr's cult, it is pleasing to take our beginning from the relics of Auxerre, which we were just touching on. That the head of St. Justus was deposited by St. Amator in the church in which he himself had decreed to rest, the Acts commonly relate. And this church St. Amator himself had founded under the title of St. Symphorian on the Mons Autricus, a suburb of Auxerre. The name of St. Amator was afterwards given to this church, which was also an abbey Gallia Christiana, volume XII, column 357.: whence no one will wonder if afterwards we hear that relics of the head of St. Justus are kept in the church of St. Amator. But in the 10th century the people of Auxerre lost a great part of the head. For when New Corvey, as we said at no. 13, had received the body, or part of the body, of St. Justin of the Louvre, or of Paris, in the year 891, the monks of this abbey applied their zeal to obtaining the head of St. Justin as well. And since at that time the Passion of St. Justus was already being adapted to St. Justin, and it was read there that his head was kept at Auxerre, hence it came about that in the 10th century the emperor Otto I gave them a great part of the head of St. Justus. I have already mentioned the History of this translation, which Meibom edited Scriptores Germanici, volume I, p. 769. and of which Du Sollier also gave a fragment in the Acts of St. Justin Volume I of August, p. 34.. Wherefore, although these things pertain chiefly to St. Justus, yet scarcely anything is to be brought in hither from there.
[29] part of it is fitted in the year 949 at New Corvey to the body of St. Justin; There first of all the piety of the emperor Otto is praised in adorning the archbishopric of Parthenopolis, or Magdeburg, and in furnishing the church with relics: Among which, the author continues, Otto was keeping the head of the blessed boy Justin (rather Justus), which he himself, having been cut off, directed to his mother, kept for himself from Autricum, and he was thinking of transferring the body from the place (New Corvey) where it is seen to rest. But Gerbern, tenth abbot of the Corveyans, with the whole congregation, besought with prayers before God and whatever men he could that the head might be added to the body. But because the assiduous prayer of the just availeth much, the insistence of the servants of God prevailed, and the emperor, admonished by divine clemency, gave the head to the venerable abbot Gerbern to be joined to its body. And the abbot and his brethren brought it into the monastery in the year of the Lord 949, on the third day before the Kalends of August, the people also rejoicing and crying out in praise of God. To the same year these things are referred by the briefer and older Annals of Corvey, edited by Pertz Monumenta Germaniae, volume III, p. 4., and by the greater Annals printed by Leibniz Scriptores Brunsvicenses, volume II, p. 299.: whence collapses the conjecture of Lebeuf Mémoires sur l'histoire ecclésiastique et civile d'Auxerre, volume I, p. 236., writing of Hugh of Chalon, who sat at Auxerre from the year 999 to 1039: One of these pontifical ornaments (which Hugh ceded to his church) had been given to him by the emperor Otto, by whom he was much esteemed and to whom … he is believed to have sent in particular some relics of St. Justus. And these things, moreover, would have to be referred to Otto III. It must therefore by all means be held that in the year 949 the translation of the head of St. Justin (rather Justus), Martyr, was made from Magathaburg to New Corvey, as the Briefer Annals speak, and accordingly that in this way a great part of the head of St. Justus was added at New Corvey to the body of St. Justin. And Otto must be judged to have obtained these sacred remains when in the year 946 he came to the help of Louis d'Outremer and indeed crossed over as far as Paris; whence he is read to have set out to besiege Rouen. The Corveyans and the Praguers, with whom they shared their treasure, venerated their Martyr on the 1st day of August, sacred to St. Justin.
[30] another part is honourably kept at Auxerre, Nevertheless not the whole head of St. Justus had been given to the emperor Otto; for part remained with the people of Auxerre. Hence in the Martyrology of Auxerre of the 11th century at the 18th of October is written Amplissima Collectio, volume VI, column 726.: In the territory of Beauvais (do you see again the arena among the people of Beauvais?) the Passion of St. Justus, Martyr, whose head rests in the basilica of St. Amator. But when the monastery which had been instituted there had gone to ruin, this church was given with its possessions to the church of St. Satyrus of Bourges in the year 1163 Gallia Christiana, volume XII, column 357.: at which time perhaps (for the certain year is not known Lebeuf in a manuscript note and in the History of the taking of Auxerre.) the surviving relics of St. Justus were translated into the cathedral church of Auxerre, namely lest they should be carried off to Bourges. Hence in the Inventory of the relics, sacred vessels, etc., of the cathedral church of Auxerre, which was drawn up in the year 1531 [Archives of the Prefecture of the Yonne, fonds of the great chapter, bundle XVIII.], there is noted the reliquary case of the head of St. Justus, which is there described in French in this manner: Item the head of my Lord St. Justus, enclosed in a head of silver-gilt; on the neck it bears a collar, from which hangs a crown of the Blessed Virgin Mary of gems, and a little boss adorned with an enamelled image of St. John and with little white and blue flowers. The collar adheres to the shoulders and is composed of intermixed little stones of moderate value and little silver balls having the form of little gems. On the said little head there is a crystal circle, on which is written: The Head of Saint Justus. The case is supported by four little lions of silver-gilt, and weighs twenty bes and two ounces. But although it is called the head of St. Justus in the Martyrology of the 11th century and in this inventory, this was said, according to the custom of the time, of a part of the head enclosed in a silver head. Whence in a more recent copy of that inventory, written by the hand of canon Lebeuf, it is read that through the crystal circle there is seen a fragment of the head of the holy boy enclosed there. On the testimony of the same canon Lebeuf In a manuscript note and in the History of the taking of Auxerre., this reliquary was built at the expense of the cathedral chapter in the year 1425, as the registers, he says, testify; in which also were noted the public supplications or processions in which it was carried about.
[31] where in the years 1576 and 1739 it is most badly treated; This case was kept at Auxerre until in the year 1567, as the Breviary of Auxerre of the year 1580 relates, they despoiled the city of the relics of the Saints and other sacred things, and, as Louvet writes Histoire du Beauvaisis, book I, p. 500., burned the head of St. Justus. Yet something was withdrawn from their fury, since Lebeuf, treating of a certain confraternity of Auxerre, writes thus Mémoires sur l'histoire d'Auxerre, volume I, p. 815.: The confraternity of the canons of Auxerre and of Beauvais has as its foundation the relics of St. Justus the boy… What survives of the fragments of his head is kept today in the cathedral church. And indeed there exists an instrument of recognition Lebeuf, Mémoires sur l'histoire d'Auxerre, volume II. of bishop Séguier, drawn up in the year 1636, in which an excellent testimony of the ancient cult of St. Justus is also met with; there exists also a similar instrument [Archives of the Prefecture of the Yonne, fonds of the bishopric of Auxerre, bundle IX.] which bishop de Caylus drew up on the 14th day of August of the year 1751. There is therefore no ground for raising doubt that some particles were kept at Auxerre after the dreadful devastation of the year 1567: of which it has already been spoken in our work, where it treats of the relics of St. Germanus and St. Aunarius, bishops of Auxerre [Volume VII of July, p. 187 and following; volume VII of September, p. 99 and following.]. The new reliquary, which had been prepared after the Calvinist slaughter, must have perished in the midst of the overthrow of sacred things in the year 1793. Nevertheless, adds the distinguished Monsieur Quantin, keeper of the archive of the prefecture of the Yonne and not so long ago so excellently deserving of diplomatics, and to whom we owe most of these Auxerre matters, nevertheless I know someone who has a particle of the relics of St. Justus. But since
in the past century a little round box (rotula) of St. Justus was also kept at Auxerre, and it may be that that particle was taken from it, I would not dare to assert that anything of the head still survives. Of this rotula it will be spoken, for certain reasons, after the fortunes of the relics of Beauvais have been narrated.
[32] the site of the paternal house of St. Justus at Auxerre. But although the people of Auxerre have lost the most precious pledge of their holy Patron, there yet remains among them a constant stimulus to his cult. For there flourishes among them a tradition, which Giry Vies des Saints, 8 August., Lebeuf and others record, concerning the site of the paternal house of St. Justus in the street of the temple (commonly rue du temple). Even now the gable of the house is occupied by a statue representing a boy clothed in a long tunic, holding a palm in his right hand and a book in his left, with the year 1780 written beneath. When formerly the canons of the cathedral church instituted a supplication to the church of St. Amator, which is two hundred paces distant from here, they were accustomed to halt their step there and recite the prayer of St. Justus. Simon Tribolé, prior of St. Eusebius of Auxerre, since this place was included in the circuit of the parish entrusted to him, laboured with praiseworthy zeal for this reason, that the office of St. Justus might be celebrated in his church. He died in the year 1583 Lebeuf, Mémoires sur Auxerre, volume I, p. 848.. Concerning the office and the lessons recited in the cathedral church we have said something at no. 17. And we finally close these Auxerre matters with the memorial which (on account of the feast of St. Luke) is read at the 19th day of October in the Martyrology of Auxerre, published in the year 1751 by the authority of Charles de Caylus: At Auxerre, the feast of Saint Justus, Martyr, born in this city, who, when, still a boy, he had answered his persecutors that he was a Christian, was slain with the sword in the territory of Beauvais, on the eighteenth day of October.
§ IV. His relics and cult at Beauvais, Poitiers, Centula and at the Villa S. Justi.
The body of St. Justus is buried at Synomovicus; a church is built, As we pass on to explaining the fortunes of the trunk of St. Justus's body, the Acts themselves come before all to be considered by us. In the most ancient ones the severed head of St. Justus is introduced speaking thus: Go to the cave, seek an ancient building covered with ivy, and diligently sedulo lay up my body there… Who, placing his body in that same place, which was surrounded with ancient walls, etc. In the Beauvais Acts: For the parents, gathering the holy body, buried it how and where he had ordered, the head being reserved. There was a cave, within which lay hidden the foundations of an ancient building, in which they hewed out a fitting tomb, and in it diligently laid the sacred clay of the Martyr; where afterwards, the Christian religion increasing, a basilica of his name was built: in which divine benefits abound through his patronage. But in order that it might be frequented by a greater confluence of people, after the lapse of the course of many years his bones were carried to Beauvais with due honour and honourably enclosed in burial in the sanctuary of Blessed Peter.
[34] and every year the brook is related to be tinged with blood; The Malmedy Acts follow the most ancient ones and make mention of the cave and of the ancient building covered with ivy. But they add the following: He rested therefore there a long time. And how much he availed with God he made known by the frequent healing of the blind, the lame, or those held by any infirmity whatever. Of which it has not irked me to insert one into this little schedule, truly exceedingly wonderful and perhaps less credible to the incredulous. But while it is renewed every year, the vows of believers are increased by the ardour of faith into love of God and the Martyr, and, the truth being confirmed, the lukewarm hearer is refuted. While, therefore, the votive joy of the solemnity of this our patron is always shining forth, the brook itself, which is drawn off from the bosom of the spring mentioned above, shows as it were veins of blood not indeed mixed with the water, but yet flowing through the little channel itself; where the inhabitants of the place, and many solemnly running together from every side, faithfully pour out their vows to God and to the holy Martyr, and testify, as far as can be done or is possible, the fire of love with which they burn in faithful breast, by innumerable candles lighted round the spring itself. For there shines an august church, both venerable for the memory of the holy Martyr and distinguished for the devotion of the people. So much concerning the place of burial and the primitive piety of the people towards it.
[35] about the year 851 it is carried to Beauvais; When these things were written at Malmedy after the year 900, and perhaps much later, the body of St. Justus no longer rested at Synomovicus, but at Beauvais in the cathedral church. For Louvet writes in the ecclesiastical part of his work Histoire du diocèse de Beauvais, book III, chapter XI. that at the approach of the Northmen the bodies and relics of SS. Ebrulf, Justus, Geremarus and Angadrisma were carried to Beauvais. Since, therefore, the bodies of these four Saints are related to have been translated to Beauvais at one time, it follows that, if we learn at what time one of these was carried hither, we shall at the same time understand the time of the translation of the others. Further, from the History of the translation of St. Geremarus, or of the bringing back of his body from Beauvais to Flay, we know that the monks of Flay fled with the bones of their patron to Beauvais before their monastery was destroyed Acta Sanctorum, volume VI of September, p. 704, no. 2.: nor is there reason for doubts to be raised about this information, although otherwise the writer offends rather gravely against chronology Ibid., p. 696.. And the Chronographer of Fontenelle relates that Flay was destroyed by the Northmen in the year 851 In Duchesne, Scriptores Historiae Francorum, volume II, p. 387 and following.. But since in the same year Beauvais itself was taken by the Northmen and in great part burned, no lesser dangers remained there for these sacred remains. Yet they were withdrawn from the fire, as will be sufficiently manifest from what is to be said.
[36] about the year 942 particles are granted to the people of Poitiers; Louvet Histoire du Beauvaisis, p. 437. would have it that the bodies of SS. Justus and Geremarus were carried in the year 940 to an abbey of the territory of Poitiers for fear of the Northmen, relying on the Annals of Aquitaine of Bouchet Cf. Acta Sanctorum, volume VI of September, who at the year 940, where he narrates the restoration of the monastery of St. Cyprian in the suburb of Poitiers, subjoins these words: In the said abbey there are several bodies of Saints… There are kept there also … the body of St. Geremarus … and of St. Justus, Martyr, a native of the land of Auxerre; which bodies the aforesaid counts of Poitou, namely Ebles and his son William, ordered to be carried into the said abbey. On which it must first be observed that Ebles departed this life in the year 932, as has been shown from certain testimony L'Art de vérifier les dates, volume II, p. 352.; for which reason the restoration of the monastery and the donation of the relics are rather to be referred to the year 930; then, that there, according to custom, bodies are spoken of in place of particles of bodies: and indeed that these words are to be so understood is clear from the imprecations added to the instrument of donation of the bishop of Poitiers, Frotier, who contributed most to the restoration of the monastery: But if he shall have presumed, he says Gallia Christiana, volume II, appendix, column 328., first of all let him incur the wrath of God and of St. Mary, the Mother of God, and of St. Peter the Key-bearer, and of Saint Mary (rather of Saint Martin), and also of St. Severian and of the others whose relics are contained there. You see that SS. Justus and Geremarus are not even named. Moreover, if the whole sacred bodies with the name of St. Justus or St. Geremarus had been kept there, this would surely not have been omitted in the Gallia Christiana, which enumerates the principal glories of this monastery Ibid., column 1231.. I will readily grant, therefore, that some relics of SS. Justus and Geremarus were obtained by Ebles, count of Poitou, for the abbey of St. Cyprian, very dear to him; but by no means that the bodies were truly translated thither. For the rest, in establishing his assertions Louvet sins in many things against chronology and the names of places; but it is not worth while to tear these down.
[37] [in the year 1069 the body is carried to the dedication of the church of St. Quentin;] It is pleasing to weave here also the remaining history of the relics of Beauvais. In the Acts of St. Romana, who suffered at Beauvais, the following occur concerning the church of St. Quentin dedicated by Guy, bishop of Beauvais Acta Sanctorum, volume II of October, p. 134.: Meanwhile, they say, the Lord's day arose, and by the bishop's command the whole congregation of clerics and monks proceeded to dedicate the church with the pledges of the bodies of the saints and the other insignia of the sacred warfare. Here, then, the bodies of the holy companions Quentin and Lucian met one another; here those of the holy boy and Martyr Justus, and of the Saints Geremarus and Ebrulf and Constantian, Confessors; here those of the Saints Romana and Angadrisma, Virgins, were gathered together. From the chronological notes attached Bue showed that this solemnity was celebrated on the 4th day of October of the year 1069. And the Saints who are enumerated here are venerated with special honour at Beauvais: St. Lucian on the 8th day of January, St. Ebrulf on the 25th day of July, St. Geremarus on the 24th day of September, St. Romana on the 3rd day of October, and in the same month on the 14th day St. Angadrisma and on the 31st St. Quentin, and finally St. Constantian on the 1st day of December: the Acts of all of whom, if you except SS. Quentin and Constantian, have been illustrated at their days in our work.
[38] in the year 1132 it is placed in a new shrine, with much celebration, In the year 1132 the relics of St. Justus were laid up in a new shrine, in which they were still enclosed in the times of Louvet. Here is the instrument which is read in the same author Histoire du Beauvaisis, book I, p. 502.: Peter, bishop of Beauvais, to all the orthodox, present and to come, perpetual felicity in the Lord. Let your love know that we have placed the holy body of Justus, boy and Martyr, in this shrine, in the presence and with the attestation of honourable persons, namely Goislen, bishop of Soissons, Serlo, abbot of St. Lucian, Ralph, abbot of St. Quentin, Garin of Breteuil, Baldwin of Senlis, Bartholomew, abbot of Ham., Roger the dean, Theobald and Henry the archdeacons, Ursio the succentor, Robert and Oger the priests, Fulk the chancellor, and the whole convent of St. Peter and of all the churches of the city of Beauvais. There were present also many honourable persons, Ausculf the provost, Adelard, archdeacon of Soissons, Odo, dean of Compiègne, and other clerics of Soissons, Amiens, Senlis and Paris. We summoned moreover the vassals of Beauvais, Manasses of Bulles, Odo the Castellan, Hugh of Anodium, Drogo Bretesca, Sansuualo, Hugh the brother of Ursellus, Peter the brother of Adam. And this was done in the year of the incarnate Word 1132, in the tenth indiction, on the natal day of the most blessed Peter and Paul, King Louis reigning by the grace of God. Amen. On the same day and year and with the same witnesses a similar instrument was drawn up concerning St. Geremarus, which Perier recited in his Acts Volume VI of September, p. 697..
[39] [it is afterwards often recognized, and is not found entire; it is badly treated in the 18th century, and now lies confused with other relics.] The relics of St. Justus were recognized again in the year 1204, in the month of March, by Philip, bishop of Beauvais, and he drew up a diploma, in which also the memory of the preceding
recognition he introduced. Tillemont writes that the same were visited in his time by a man worthy of credit Mémoires, volume IV, notes 6 and 8 on St. Justus., and that it was found that not only the head but also many other parts of the body were missing, and that small bones of a boy of eight or nine were seen. I think this service was rendered to Tillemont by canon Hermant, the historian of the diocese, whose manuscript codices consist of five large volumes and are kept in the Great Library of Paris. The remains of St. Justus remained in the cathedral church until the whirlwind of the last century, when the impious burst into it, and, the precious reliquaries having been carried off, burned the sacred pledges on the very spot. Yet very many remains of the Saints were snatched away, which, collected together in a case, are still kept, without its being certainly established, however, that relics of St. Justus are found among them. These things the Reverend Monsieur Barraud wrote to us. But let me be permitted to suggest that nothing can be more easily recognized than the little bones of a boy of nine: whence it would suffice for the people of Beauvais to open the reliquary itself, in order to be able to lay aside their doubt and again venerate the relics of their St. Justus. Recall what the people of Malmedy did below in the year 1698.
[40] The former and present cult of St. Justus among the people of Beauvais. Louvet, publishing in the year 1621 his first book on the territory of Beauvais, where he treats of the reliquaries of St. Geremarus, St. Justus and St. Ebrulf, has this concerning the custom of his time: On Palm Sunday, he says Histoire du Beauvaisis, book I, p. 438., the shrine of St. Geremarus is carried in procession by the curates of St. Margaret and St. Giles; that of St. Justus by the curates of St. Thomas and St. Martin; and finally that of St. Ebrulf by the curate of St. Andrew and the chaplain of St. Honoratus. Other rites are indicated in the Ceremonial of the cathedral church put into print in the year 1721, in which we read: On the 18th day (of October), the feast of St. Justus, Martyr, whose office is done with triple rite with an octave of the third class, and a procession is made in the morning after terce, in which, by the outer circuit of the distinguished church, the reliquary of the same holy Martyr is carried, with the same rite which is designated on the feast of SS. Geremarus and Ebrulf, and after the procession a sermon is made to the people on behalf of the chapter. At the choir Mass, which is celebrated immediately after the sermon, the Lord Succentor carries the staff and holds the choir with two great vicars. And these things persisted until the year 1793. In the present Breviary of the year 1828 the office of St. Justus is marked with greater double rite without an octave: so that the cult of St. Justus seems to have suffered very much. God grant that it may flourish again, and that the people of Beauvais, who formerly made his memory in the very ordinary of the Mass, may restore (so far as is permitted) his former honours! For why should he now be less venerated who, according to the Pontifical of Roger I of Blois, or of Champagne, written about the year 1000, was invoked daily at the sacred altars with the very apostles? To which purpose it will help that this very document too be made known to all: Deliver us, we beseech Thee, O Lord, from all evils, past, present and to come, and the blessed and glorious ever Virgin Mary interceding, and Thy blessed Apostles Peter and Paul and Andrew, and Thy holy Martyrs Lucian, Maximian, Julian, Justus, and all the Saints, etc.
[41] In the year 866 the people of Centula receive part of the relics of St. Justus; That the relics of St. Justus were shared by the people of Beauvais with others is undoubted. For, to pass over what I set forth above at no. 36 concerning the people of Poitiers, the people of Centula received something of the same in the year 866. For these things are read in the Chronicle of Centula D'Achery, Spicilegium, volume II, p. 318, in folio.: In the year also of the Incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ DCCCLXVI, in the XIIIth indiction, the often-mentioned custodian (of the church of St. Richarius of Centula, Odulf) obtained from Hugh, bishop of the Bellovaci, through the intercession of Hilmerad, provost of St. Lucian the Martyr, that he would deign to pay out to him something of his relics. The envoy, therefore, coming thither, received from the already mentioned bishop relics of the hair of St. Lucian and of his garment, and also a certain bone from the little body of St. Justus, and brought them to the monastery of Centula on the 2nd day before the Ides of June; which the brethren received, adoring them with hymns and praises, and laid them up with the head of St. Richarius, father of the people of Ponthieu. For two years before, on the 6th day before the Kalends of November of the year 864, Guelfo or Welfo, of royal blood, abbot of Centula, had caused the head of St. Richarius to be transferred from a wooden case into a silver one, wreathed with gold and gems Gallia Christiana, volume X, column 1247.. And Centula lay in the diocese of Amiens.
[42] in the year 1674 the canons of the Villa S. Justi, Only in the year 1674 were some relics of St. Justus carried from Beauvais to the place of martyrdom. But before that the cult of the holy Martyr had long since flourished in that place, as will be manifest from what is to be said. First of all we find that this village (surely because the most holy boy was the titular patron of the church of which it was spoken at no. 34) was already called Villa S. Justi at the beginning of the 11th century: for it appears with this name in a charter of Robert, king of the Franks, of the year 1015, by which all the exactions and revenues and whatever in it belonged to the county, given by count Odo to the church of Beauvais, are confirmed by the king Ibid., among the instruments, column 243. And in order that God might be worshipped more earnestly in this place and the veneration of the holy Martyr be greater, the bishops of Beauvais founded a monastery there, which Hugh, abbot of Stivagium, records was formerly in the hands of nuns Annales Praemonstratenses, volume I, p. 941.; but the writers of the Gallia Christiana desired proof Volume IX, column 849.; and (as it seems to me) rightly indeed. For in the charter of Odo II, or rather III, bishop of Beauvais, first bringing in thither Premonstratensian canons in the year 1147, is written Annales Praemonstratenses, volume I, instruments, column DCCXXVIII.: I have also conferred on the same place and confirmed whatever our venerable predecessors, bishops of Beauvais, the Lord Godfrey, the Lord Peter and the Lord Odo, conferred, namely the ecclesiastical jurisdiction after the bishop, the archidiaconal right, the entire chaplaincy of the whole chaplaincy.
[43] whose origin and fortunes are indicated: Further, Godfrey, who is reckoned first among the donors or founders of this house, obtained the see of Beauvais only in the year 1105 Gallia Christiana, volume IX, column 718.. He placed there first secular canons, to whom on the 15th day before the Kalends of September of the year 1107 he gave a diploma, in which: I grant, he says Louvet, Histoire du Beauvaisis, book I, p. 503., and confirm with the corroboration of my seal, that the canons of St. Justus may obtain in perpetuity the functions of archdeacon in my village at St. Justus, and may remain immovably in the place of my chaplain as regards the things which pertain to St. Justus. Before them, therefore, the bishop's chaplain lived there; and it must equally be observed that the bishop still calls it his village. In the year 1113 or the following Peter of Dammartin succeeded Godfrey, and he in the year 1119 substituted regular canons at St. Justus. Here is the beginning of the diploma Ibid., p. 504, and Gallia Christiana, volume X, instruments, column 250.: Since the church of Blessed Justus among us was fit for divine service, it pleased us to place regular canons in it, so that they might both serve God more devoutly and incite others by the example of good conversation. As we therefore considered the various congregations of this congregation, the church of Blessed Quentin shone forth, by whose venerable religion the place of the aforesaid Martyr might be made illustrious… The houses and revenues which the secular clerics possessed we have granted to be held freely and without challenge after their decease … confirming to the same church the ecclesiastical jurisdiction after the bishop, the archidiaconal right and the entire chaplaincy in the same church and in the parish belonging to the same church. (There was therefore already then there a parish, or parish church, distinct from the church of St. Justus.) But what Odo II conferred is to be learned from no surviving diploma. But these things suffice to show that nuns seem never to have lived there; but first the bishop's chaplain, then secular canons, after them the regulars of St. Quentin, and finally from the year 1147 until the end of the 18th century the Premonstratensians: of whose monastery, as the Reverend Monsieur Costenoble, parish priest and dean, informed me in the year 1848, not even a trace any longer survives, while the church was demolished twenty years ago. In passing I will add that in the same town, namely in the year 1572, a monastery of nuns of St. Clare was founded under the title of St. Justus, of which more is read in volume IX of the Gallia Christiana.
[44] [the veneration of the common people for St. Justus as patron in the 12th century;] But not only the clerics pursued St. Justus with the greatest veneration, but also the common people themselves; so much so that the people of Beauvais thought they could be calmed by the presence of his relics. Witness is Guibert, abbot of St. Mary of Nogent, whose works d'Achery edited: And because, he says Book III, chapter XVII., we have begun to speak of the reverence to be shown to the Saints, there is a township in the same district of the bishopric of Beauvais which is called of Saint Justus. In which, when a sedition had been stirred up, and all the base little retainers were rioting with enormous insolence together with the burgesses, the clerics carried the relics of the holy boy and Martyr Justus in a coffer to calm the people. And when a certain man, more forward than the rest, truly a parasite, had presented himself in its way, he irreverently and wickedly brought a sword against the most sacred coffer. Who, falling to the ground quicker than speech, rotted away, like him above (the provost of Compiègne), with a fetid flux of the belly. This carrying of the relics must have been done before the year 1124, since in this year Guibert died Histoire littéraire de la France, volume X, p. 438.. It appears that the relics were carried by the clerics of Beauvais to the Villa S. Justi, for at that time there seem to have been none in the Villa itself. Certainly in the diplomas which I have just cited none are mentioned; and next, here is a diploma from which it is sufficiently established that even in the year 1674 none existed there, but that then at length some were granted.
[45] the diploma of the year 1674 concerning relics granted to the Villa S. Justi. Nicholas, by divine mercy bishop and count of Beauvais, vidame of Gerberoy, peer of France, to all who shall inspect the present letters, greeting in the Lord. There have been delivered to us and to our venerable brethren the dean, canons and chapter of our cathedral church, by brother Robert Cahier, prior of the abbey of Saint Justus of the Premonstratensian Order of our diocese, one and another letter of the reverend Lord Michel Colbert, abbot of Prémontré and general provost of the whole Order, and of the other abbots and definitors assembled in the abbey of Joyenval on the fifth day of June last past, in which they earnestly pray that of the body of the most blessed martyr Justus, which in our said church
is kept and venerated from before the memory of men, some notable part may be granted to the church recently restored in the said abbey, which place is far illustrious by his name, by victories and in glory from his birth, declaring that they would hold this gift in the place of a great benefit; which matter having been deliberated by the aforesaid canons and chapter in a full assembly, there were chosen by them as colleagues the masters Claude Duval, doctor and fellow of the Sorbonne, succentor, Maurice Tiersonier and Étienne Leroy, priests, who caused a silver reliquary cast in the form of an arm to be brought to us; which, having been opened in the presence of the same chosen men, we found the BONE OF THE UPPER ARM wrapped in silk, with a slip showing the name of the most Holy Martyr Justus, and a note of the time at which it was inserted there, which year is the 1543rd; a particle of which having first been cut off, after it had been laid up again in the same silk, we duly and becomingly closed the remaining part of the sacred bone in a reliquary prepared for the purpose, and with the counsel and consent of the aforesaid dean, canons and chapter we have granted, and grant by these presents, that, given to the aforesaid abbatial church, it be transferred thither by two of the same college of canons and by the aforesaid Cahier, into whose hands it has been consigned, and there exposed to the public veneration of the faithful. Given at Beauvais under our sign and seal and the subscription of our ordinary secretary, in the year of the Lord one thousand six hundred and seventy-four, on Wednesday the 25th of the month of July. — Signed † Nicholas, Bishop and Count of Beauvais — Duval — Tiersonier and Leroy — in the minute of the presents, Gontier.
§ V. Confusion in the relics; the Translation to Malmedy is called into examination.
Before I put forward anything concerning the sacred pledges which are kept, or have been kept, elsewhere under the name of St. Justus the boy, [Confusion in the relics of the Saints named Justus, and the opinion of Lippomano and Leibniz concerning doubtful relics;] I may safely say with Du Sollier Acta Sanctorum, volume I of August, p. 34 that there exist in our Acts so many Justins and Justuses that other relics of Saints of the same name have not been lacking. For such was formerly, and remains today, the piety of good Catholics, shall I say, or their sometimes excessive zeal and fervour, that they wish the relics of Saints which they venerate to be ascribed, even somewhat contentiously, to the more celebrated ones of that same name; whereas they ought to acquiesce in this sole and just title, that they venerate with a lawful and approved cult the true and genuine sacred remains of some Saint, whether of the same name or of any other whatever. The opinion also pleases me of the most learned bishop of Verona, and at one time president of the Council of Trent, Luigi Lippomano, by whom, before certain rare Veronese relics were described, an admonition was made through the archpriest concerning the authenticity of those relics; … that it is not to be wondered at to be too scrupulous in honouring holy relics, since the honour of God in holy relics is all the greater, which also, those that were not truly relics, the faithful peoples embrace out of love of God and zeal for devotion In Biancolini, Dei Vescovi di Verona, dissertation II, p. 163.. To the same effect the words of Leibniz himself please me; who, after he had approved the cult of holy relics, wisely subjoins this Systema theologicum, no. 40, p. 116, Louvain edition of 1845.: But since it is a matter only of pious affection, it matters nothing even if it should perhaps happen that relics which are held for true are supposititious. Meanwhile care must be taken that by imprudent devotion we do not expose ourselves to ridicule and the church to contempt among those who are without. And these things we have thought should be premised, since we must now speak of relics of whose origin either nothing is established, or at least doubts arise.
[47] in the year 1042 the relics of the Saints are recognized at Malmedy; Among these the relics of Malmedy come in the first place. Malmundarium, in French Malmedy, often named in this Commentary, lies in Germany, on the borders of the Rhenish duchy and the province of Liège, and was formerly a celebrated monastery, whose origins were declared in the Acts of St. Remaclus, its founder Volume I of September, p. 680., and whose buildings are now usurped for profane uses. Further, from the Chronicle of Malmedy the Reverend Monsieur Leloup, parish priest and dean of Malmedy, copied for us the following: Of the relics kept in the church of Malmedy. From of old there were at the high altar five silver shrines, wonderfully wrought with gems and adorned with gold, filled with very many relics of various Saints, which in the year 1042, on account of the incredulity of certain persons, were visited by St. Poppo, the abbot; and the relics which were found in those shrines are thus specified in old parchments: In the shrine of St. Quirinus, M.: the entire body of St. Quirinus, Priest and M. In the shrine of St. Justus, M.: the body of the same boy of nine years, whom the guards of Rictiovarus slew for the name of Christ, and there were also found there many relics of other Saints. Ignace Roderique Disceptatio de abbatiis Malmundariensi et Stabulensi, p. 151 contends that those incredulous ones were the monks of Stavelot, who envied Malmedy its relics, and who already in the year 1040, at the dedication of their church, had carried round false remains of St. Justus: and indeed, at the dedication of the church of Stavelot, which was made in the year 1040 under the abbot St. Poppo, it is read that the bodies of the blessed patron Remaclus and also of Justus the Martyr were carried in going round its circuit Martène, Amplissima Collectio, volume II, column 61.. These things, however, do not make Roderique's accusation certain, since the sacred remains could have been carried thither from elsewhere and from Malmedy itself; of which custom you have an example above at no. 37.
[48] and among them is found the entire body and the head of St. Justus; However that may be, our eyes must meanwhile be cast upon an old charter, not, however, contemporary, which Bolland edited at the 25th of January Volume II of January, p. 638., and in which is read: There arose concerning the relics of SS. Quirinus and Justus, through the ignorance of the people, who maintained that we did not have them, a confused error, some murmuring one thing, others another, now secretly, now in public: which the aforesaid father of venerable memory (St. Poppo) learning, at the request and by the common counsel of the brethren and of the faithful laity, opened the shrines of the Saints on the day before the Ides of June: and found, we standing by, not only the relics which were hoped for, but several others which were unknown… And these relics were two teeth of St. Peter the Apostle, the entire bodies of the Saints Quirinus and Justus with their heads, and very large relics of St. Nigasius and Blessed Scuviculus and St. Melantius and St. Audoenus and his chasuble, and of other Saints unknown to us: in which words it is worthy of observation that the bodies of the Saints Quirinus and Justus were found ENTIRE with their HEADS, and only very large relics of the other Saints: although Bue has shown at the 11th of October Volume V of October, p. 542, nos. 119 and 120. that it cannot be that the entire body of St. Quirinus was there. But as to what pertains to the entire body and head of St. Justus; who will reconcile these things with the history of the relics of Auxerre and Beauvais?
[49] whence the credibility of the history of these relics wavers; And until this is done, the reader's mind will be troubled by some fear lest, while he runs his eyes over the old history of the Translation of St. Justus, the boy of nine years and Martyr, he have before him a narrative little certain. For the rest, if anyone examines it more severely, he will find a twofold miracle of spontaneous light or fire, which, as may be understood from the writings of Flodoard, was in much favour in that age; he will detect that money was given in order that it might be permitted to steal the relics, without its appearing, however, to whom it was given; he will meet in the kingdom of Charles a certain district, the village of Konia, which is marked nowhere else and could hardly have been fashioned by a copyist out of Vicus Synomus or Synomovicus, which appears in the Passion of St. Justus; for the rest, no conflict in topography, none in Chronology, could be detected by me: which, however, is of less weight here, since few places are noted, and Liruthard, provost of Malmedy, the author of this writing and of the theft of the relics, is not known to me from elsewhere; whence it is not possible to reconcile his age with the time of Stephen, bishop of Cambrai, who is there designated by name, and who held the see at the beginning of the 10th century Gallia Christiana, volume III, column 14 and following.; other names do not appear. But here is that instrument, which Martène refers to about the year 900 Amplissima collectio, volume VI, column 833 and following..
[50] which Liruthard wrote, In the name of the holy and undivided Trinity, to all the sons of the catholic church established in the regions of this fourfold world, Liruthard, provost of this church, though the most unworthy of all, wishes to all worshippers of Christ honour and gladness, salvation and life through the ages. All the faithful know that they will render account to the Lord of the talent entrusted to them, and will receive from Him, in the most just balance, for the talent well dispensed, the reward of perpetual life, but for the talent ill employed (which God forbid) the curse of eternal fire. Always revolving these things, therefore, in my mind, I have not wished, as one envious, to hide certain, though very few, great works of the precious holy martyr Justus, which the Lord granted me to see with my own eyes, but to bring them forth to many and make them common, certain that the more of them magnify God, the greater the reward that is acquired for me: who, since I considered myself slight for this narration, chose to disclose this, that I am of small speech and sluggish wit: whence I beseech that I, who wished to avoid the fault of silence, may not incur the offence of presumption.
[51] [narrating that they were taken away by him by theft in an unknown village, with miracles of spontaneous light,] This, then, our most blessed martyr of Christ, illustrious in life and name, while he was still busied with infancy, consecrated his times to the Lord by martyrdom. For, by the order of the furious Rictiovarus, constantly confessing the name of Christ, struck with the sword by the soldiers, he departed, to receive an eternal crown from the Lord. When, therefore, I, with ardent desire, had sought the sacred pledges of this holy Martyr in a certain district in the parts of the Gauls, in the kingdom which is called that of Charles, in the village of Konia, the money being given which was then necessary, and he had granted assent to my wishes, we set out by night, alone together, for we did not dare by day for fear of the neighbours, to hasten to the church in which the sacred little body stood honourably buried. And so, while, according to the most loving disposition of the divine goodness and the purpose of your will, we were placing the holy body, taken out of the mausoleum, upon the altar, divine signs appeared to us. For the blessed Martyr, to declare himself inserted into the heavenly light, removed from us the darkness of the densest night. For while one candle was sufficient for us, soon all the candles throughout the church were lighted by divine light.
[52] and at Cambrai Which having been seen, at once astounded by so great a miracle, and struck with fear, we rendered great thanks to God and to the holy Martyr, because to us, though unworthy, he disclosed his wonders, which to others, for the praise of His name and the honour of the holy Martyr, with truthful
report we ought to relate. Receiving, therefore, the sacred relics from the aforesaid, we began hastily to take the road with soldiers. After a few days we came to the city of Cambrai, in which, being about to stay for a little while, by order of the Lord Stephen the bishop we went to a certain citizen of the same city, to lodge with him for those days; who led us with exultation into his house. To us, then, beholding great kindness that very night, being also altogether wearied by such length of journey, he supplied fodder abundantly. And he had a son, a cleric, who, when he learned that we were spending the night in his father's house, came and began to take delight with us. But I, going to sleep, laid up the sacred body in a certain chest, then secured it with a key, which, since I would by no means entrust it to the father of the household, I hung from my own girdle.
[53] of astounding thunder, While we, therefore, were sweetly taking sleep, the father deceives his own son, urges him to the crime, orders him to take away our horses and lead them to a nearby neighbour, so that when morning came he might receive the price, they being distributed. Then they set about breaking open the chest in which the little body of the innocent boy had been laid up by me, thinking another treasure was hidden in it. But almighty God … of His Saint, would not cheat us of our own patron. For just as the chest was on the point of being broken, it gave forth a very great crash, so that we were all roused from sleep stupefied. The fire also, which had already been covered with ashes, shone forth again, as though the whole house had been set alight. Seeing these men standing close by, we could not be ignorant of the matter. I confess, therefore, that thanks are most worthily to be rendered to God in all things, who among the flashing strokes of swords, which had come forth from both sides, not only kept us unharmed, but also, as human malignity (the envy of all good things inciting) had made us sad by the taking away of the horses, so His most loving benignity gladdened us enormously by their recovery.
[54] and in Condroz the river being happily crossed, illustrating the translation. Another thing also, joyful indeed to me, but venerable to the others, not unlike this one, I shrink from keeping silent, and I insert it into this little narrative, to declare his power in all dangers when his name is invoked. Directing our steps from the aforesaid city with the help of the holy relics, we had our road through the middle of Condroz, in which district we had to cross by ship a certain river, called by the inhabitants the Ourthe. And when we saw that this had overflowed the banks of its bed through excessive rains, we by no means dared to enter it for fear of death; it had also become impassable for all the horses. But at length, placing my courage and hope in the help of God and of the holy Martyr Justus, I place the half of the sacred body's clay in a little boat, and so we crossed securely the flood of that river. Afterwards, taking the road with prosperous success, we made our arrival known to our brethren established at Malmedy, who, coming forth to meet us with huge exultation, we with hymns and praises honourably placed the body of the Blessed Martyr in its place, where through the merits of the Saint, to the praise and glory of His name, God daily works miracles; who lives and reigns, God through all ages of ages. Amen.
[55] [Flórez the Spaniard adapts this translation to St. Justus, companion of St. Pastor. The fortunes of these relics up to the present time.] But behold how wonders succeed wonders: Flórez, treating of the Martyrs of Alcalá, Justus and Pastor, held that this translation is to be adapted to them España Sagrada, volume VII, pp. 194 and 103.. He only notes that there not Dacian, who raged in Spain under Diocletian, but Rictiovarus is named, faultily (as it seemed to him), and that nine years, not seven, as in the Acts Volume II of August, at the 6th day., are attributed to St. Justus. Behold a more recent example of the Acts of one Saint being ascribed to namesakes! But let us return to Malmedy. From the time when these relics were kept there, the memory of St. Justus was in great honour there. And indeed in the Malmedy Passion mention is twice made of miracles and benefits. Up to the year 1587 the Malmedy relics were kept in the five precious shrines mentioned; but at that time the Calvinist heretics, led by Martin Schenck, burst into Malmedy by night, plundered the monastery and carried off the sacred reliquaries, the relics being scattered. These the monks gathered and enclosed in new cases of carved and gilded wood. Manuscript codices report that the Reverend Dom Fabri, prior of the monastery, in the year 1698 visited the relics of SS. Quirinus and Justus, which since the time of the Calvinist devastation had lain mixed together; and, with the help of the physician Limbourg, distinguished them and laid them up in two cases: which was not so laborious, since St. Quirinus was a man of advanced age, and he who was venerated under the name of St. Justus a little boy. The reliquary of St. Quirinus is still kept in the former church of the monastery, since the year 1819 a parish church; but the coffer of St. Justus in the chapel of the Resurrection, which Ignace Roderique (whom I mentioned above) built at his own expense almost a hundred years ago. The monks of Malmedy, as is established from the Passion, venerated St. Justus as patron, yet not as titular: and indeed on the same day as the people of Beauvais and the Roman Martyrology, as the Reverend Monsieur Leloup wrote to us, having before his eyes the Monastic Collectorium printed at Malmedy in the year 1713.
§ VI. His relics and cult among the people of Einsiedeln, of Zutphen, of Antwerp, again at Auxerre, and in England.
Eichhorn doubts concerning the relics of St. Justus at Einsiedeln; Ambrosius Eichhorn, priest of the congregation of St. Blasien, seems to proceed doubtfully when, treating of Hartmann, bishop of Chur, he comes to the Relics of St. Justus kept in Switzerland: Hartmann, he says Germania Sacra, Episcopatus Curiensis, p. 61., sent as envoy into Gaul by Conrad, on what occasion I do not know, brought back from the city of Auxerre relics of the holy Martyrs, or the heads of SS. Justus, the boy of nine years, and Sigismund, as Murer Theatrum Helvetiae, Hartmann of Einsiedeln Annales Eremi, p. 126. and Leo of Zürich relate, on whose credit I report these things. The people of Einsiedeln claim these relics for themselves; yet it is read Proper of Chur at the 20th of October that the head of St. Justus is kept in the parish of Flums. Hartmann, called of Planaterra, formerly monk and dean of the Hermitage of the Blessed Virgin Mary, then abbot of Pfäfers, sat at Chur from the year 1026 to 1039. From what causes doubts arose for Eichhorn he himself does not disclose; but those which trouble me, receive in a few words.
[57] some say the body, others the head, was translated thither; First of all there is conflict among the old instruments, since in some the head, in others the body, of St. Justus is reported to have been carried to the Hermitage. From the old Necrology and the Book of foundations the Einsiedeln writer, who at the end of the past century published the Chronicle of his monastery in French, plucked these things Chronique d'Einsidlen, volume III, p. 239.: Hermann, so it is read there, bishop of Chur, formerly a monk here, delivered to this place Saint Justus the Martyr, whom he brought hither from the territory of Beauvais, and the head of St. Sigismund, king of the Burgundians. But in the Annals of Einsiedeln at the year 1143 mention is made of the head of St. Justus, which has been more than sufficiently ascertained never to have been at Beauvais. Here are the words [Ibid., volume I, pp. 83 and 116, note c; volume III, p. 239, note t; and in Pertz, Monumenta Germaniae, volume III, p. 147.]: The head of Saint Justus the Martyr the people of Alpirsbach, by order of the venerable cardinal Theodwin (from the year 1138 legate of Innocent II throughout Germany [Ciacconius, Historia Romanorum Pontificum et Cardinalium, volume I, column 989. Edition of 1677.]) and of Hermann, bishop of the church of Constance, and of very many abbots, scarcely compelled, restored to our lord abbot Rudolf the second; which about thirty years before, living peaceably with us in guile, they had carried off furtively. Similar things are read in Tschudi in the book on the Hermitage. But of the first reception of the body or head of St. Justus there is no mention in the Annals.
[58] [the head of St. Sigismund would have been translated thither at the same time: which is hard to believe; the people of Einsiedeln vary as to the time of the translation;] A doubt next arises for me, in that Hartmann would have carried the head of St. Sigismund, king of the Burgundians, to the Hermitage at the same time. On the contrary, in our Henschen I read these things concerning that head Acta Sanctorum, volume I of May, p. 88.: Concerning the sacred head of the holy Martyr all will also readily agree that it is kept at Prague in Bohemia, brought from Agaunum by the emperor Charles IV about the year MCCCLXVI: which he then confirms with several testimonies, from which it is established that it was received from Agaunum, not from the Hermitage of the Blessed Virgin Mary (as the people of Einsiedeln would have it Chronique, volume III, p. 240.). From which observation, if the testimony of the necrology concerning the head of St. Sigismund totters, that concerning the body of St. Justus, brought from the district of Beauvais, must equally totter. Someone perhaps will likewise be moved by the inconstancy of the Einsiedeln tradition. First of all the Necrology of the monastery at the 3rd day of June has this Chronique, volume I, p. 143, note o.: There died the Most Reverend Lord Hermann of Eschenbach, our monk, afterwards abbot of Pfäfers, and finally bishop of Chur. He gave us the heads of SS. Justus and Sigismund. Similarly Tschudi, who also wrote on the Hermitage of the Blessed Virgin Mary, relying on another old document, which the Chronographer of Einsiedeln also recites Chronique, volume I, p. 144, note p., referred the arrival of the relics to the year 1320; and Bucelin Rhaetia Sacra et profana, at the year 1028. seems to have been involved in nearly the same error, who wrote that Hermann, or Hartmann, returning from an embassy to the pontiffs at Avignon, brought these sacred pledges with him; nay, the author of the Chronicle himself Chronique, volume I, p. 144. refers a certain reception of relics of SS. Justus and Sigismund, from the authentic index of relics and from the Book of Life of his monastery, to Hartmann of Eschenbach. But we must distinguish two Hartmanns or Hermanns, bishops of Chur: of whom the one, of Planaterra, sat from the year 1026 to 1039; the other, of Eschenbach, from the year 1324 to 1325 Eichhorn, Episcopatus Curiensis, p. 104.. Wherefore, since all these things could easily have arisen from a confusion of names and from attributing to one the deeds of the other, I do not think one should dwell on them.
[59] the head is said also to be kept in the village of Flums. But what of the fact that the head of St. Justus is related to be kept in the parish of Flums? It is worth while to hear on these matters the chronographer of the Hermitage himself: Flums, he says Chronique, volume III, p. 239 and following., is an ancient parish of the bailiwick of Sargans beyond the lake of Walenstadt. To prove their possession of the relics of St. Justus, they adduce an ancient tradition; then the feast of the Saint, which in the year 1520 the bishop of Chur ordered to be solemnly celebrated; thirdly an old reliquary case, on which the history of St. Justus is depicted; finally the ruins of an ancient chapel, where the relics of the same Saint are said to have halted while they were being translated… He then appeals to the reader's judgment, and finally proceeds thus: We confess, however, that not with certainty
is it established for us that true relics of this Saint were formerly restored to us by the people of Alpirsbach; for the head kept among us does not bear certain signs from which it may be recognized as truly the aforesaid Martyr's; nor have we therefore ever exposed it for veneration on our altars. Barnabas Saxo, administrator of our goods, in the year 1494 or thereabouts caused the head to be placed in a silver figure; and so it remained until the year 1784. (What happened then the Chronographer does not relate, whose book saw the light in the year 1788.) It could also have happened that these relics were brought back not to our abbey but to the parish of Flums. We inquire no further into this, and it is enough for us if the sacred remains of our patrons are surrounded with worthy honour and veneration… We have always venerated and invoked St. Sigismund and St. Justus as patrons: for in the year 1039, when the dedication of our church was made, we already possessed their precious bones. So far he. To which we subjoin that in the Rhaetia sacra et profana of Bucelin it is reported of Hartmann of Planaterra, whom we said was at one time abbot of Pfäfers, that he granted part of the relics of St. Justus to his former monks; and that from that time up to the time when that book was written the holy Martyr was held and venerated among the patrons of Pfäfers: which, however, the Einsiedeln Chronographer does not approve Volume III, p. 239..
[60] [Formerly the people of Zutphen thought they had the body of St. Justus, and that his head was at Trier:] But from Switzerland a step must now be made to the Netherlands and Belgium. Le Mire in the Fasti Belgici et Burgundici at the 18th day of October writes thus: At Sutphania (commonly Zutphen), which is a town of the former diocese of Deventer, situated on the river IJssel, there was formerly held in great veneration the body of St. Justus, an Auxerrois by homeland, boy and Martyr, whose festival was celebrated there on the 11th of October, that is, on the day after SS. Victor and Gereon, Martyrs. Of whom it was sung thus, among other things, in an ecclesiastical Hymn:
His head is now kept with great reverence at Trier; but his body is held with care in Zutphen; let the clemency of God be praised for this.
His body is thought to have perished in our age through the Calvinist devastations: but the head, brought from the region of Trier, is kept at Antwerp by the canon and parish priest Egbert Spitholdius, to be placed afterwards with the Annunciate nuns in the same city. So Le Mire.
[61] The memory of St. Justus at Zutphen had been wholly obliterated, nor was anything else found of him in the public archives except the announcement of the Epistle and Gospel of St. Justus, Martyr, in a manuscript Evangeliary of the 14th century, which was in use on the more solemn feasts, when those words of Le Mire, repeated by Heussen Episcopatus Daventriensis, p. 70., were recently collected in a little work on Zutphen: as the Reverend Mr Steenhof, lector in the major seminary of Warmond, informs me. It will help, therefore, to have taught the people of Zutphen a little more about the former cult of St. Justus among them. To this end the Bollandian Museum supplies me with a parchment codex in which an old Breviary of the canons of Zutphen is contained, written before the year 1471, as is clear from the table of the concurrence of Septuagesima, and formerly used by Peter of Suchtelen, canon of Zutphen and pastor of Weesp, and afterwards, in the year 1550, Dean of Zutphen Ibid., p. 71.. And in its Calendar at the 11th of October is read: Of Justus, Martyr, a feast of the canons.
[62] whence a celebrated feast among them; At Vespers there is a proper responsory, versicle and hymn; which sound thus:
℞. O God almighty, true lover, Justus, comely, this boy, Your servant, accomplishing justice, merited Your gifts as a wayfarer. Hence we ask that You, merciful, be our justifier.
℣. For You are a just God, You therefore love those like You, You see all things equally, but You are without ferocity, giver of justice. Hence we ask that You, merciful, be our justifier.
H. Let us sound forth a hymn to God with gladness of voices, and with the mind let us ask His benefits, that we may observe what He commands by the justice of our acts. This memorial keeps the holy Justus, martyr of God; he serves God with a mind of hope, the glory of the world despised: God therefore renders him peace for his victory. Loving Jesus with his whole mind, Justus from infancy paid his vows, and, devout, by abundance of prayers pleases God, and by his unmoved constancy. God therefore rendered him wonders: for he foretold things to come, he put vile things behind him, doing well he brought back the captive to his dwelling. Him whom living he loved above all, by the apostolic law, dying he did not deny, spurning the things of idols. A savage people beheaded him for the catholic faith. The head is presented to his mother; the flesh being returned to the earth, a light was seen in the night, shown forth to the whole city; while the head is carried to the church, light is given to a blind man. That same head is now kept with great reverence at Trier, but the body is held with care in Zutphen; let the clemency of God be praised for this. Be praise therefore to the Trinity, glory of the unity, of the Father, the Spirit and the Son, power and victory; may there be a watchful memory of this one's humanity. Amen.
AT THE MAGNIFICAT. Saint Justus, home-born servant of God, took this name from his parents; now it is given him for his manifest merits: for he was an imitator of justice in all things, a pious servant of God, and a trampler of wickedness, full of faith, serene in hope, he accomplished the passages of charity and subdued all the contagions of the flesh. O loving just Jesus, protect us from the devouring of death, in Your justice, through his suffrages.
Collect: O God, who didst lead blessed Justus, little in age but great in faith, through the trophy of his passion to everlasting glory, grant us, we beseech Thee, to be helped by his venerable intercession and to be made partakers of eternal glory. Through.
The lessons, which you have there conformed to the Utrecht codex designated below by the letter U, end at the martyrdom; but there is added: The rest is known from above, namely from the hymn.
[63] but these relics seem to belong to St. Justus of Arras. But it is easily detected that all these things labour under some difficulties. First of all, it is scarcely credible that some copyist fashioned Trier out of Autissiodorum or Autricum, which was read in the Passion; but it must nevertheless be held, both because the Passion which was carried through the Netherlands had it so, and because at Trier no other Justus seems to have obtained a cult than some Justus, a confessor, whose life is unknown and of whom it may even be doubted whether they can claim him for themselves by full right Cf. Du Sollier at the 14th of July, volume III, p. 650.. Then how does it come about that the 11th day of October is here assigned to St. Justus? For my part I think that the people of Zutphen formerly venerated a wholly different Justus, namely of Arras, the companion of St. Artemius; but afterwards adapted to him the Acts of St. Justus of Beauvais. How firm this opinion of mine is the very feast day of the 11th of October discloses. For on this day St. Justus of Beauvais was never venerated, but St. Justus of Arras; who is now indeed venerated on the 18th day of October, but formerly not so in these northern parts, as we shall show below in his Acts.
[64] Part of them has long been kept and venerated at Antwerp. But although the canons of Zutphen sang that the head of St. Justus was kept at Trier, yet within their walls a part of the head of St. Justus, inserted into a waxen head, was venerated among the Friars Minor: whence it was called by the popular name the head of St. Justus. This sacred pledge was translated to Antwerp, where today it is kept in the church of St. Charles, formerly of the Professed House of the Society of Jesus, now a parish church. His cult was formerly well enough promoted among boys at Antwerp: in favour of which the metrical Acts of St. Justin were turned into Dutch under the title of St. Justus. Monsieur Léon de Burbure collected and communicated to me several things which pertain to these relics. Among which comes in the first place an extract from the Inventory of the house of death of the Lord Egbert Spitholdius, of Zutphen, parish priest of the collegiate church of the Blessed Virgin Mary at Antwerp, who died on the 15th day of April of the year 1627 and was buried before the altar of the Circumcision. There, further, we read From the Archive of the collegiate church of the Blessed Virgin Mary at Antwerp that in the aforesaid house of death was found a little cupboard of very hard wood, in which were enclosed the head of St. Justus, youth and Martyr; five heads of the eleven thousand Virgins; two teeth of St. Apollonia, V. and M.; a notable bone of St. Bartholomew the Apostle; and other anonymous relics: all which remains, with their proper cases and with a letter of the Lady Abbess of Burbach N. D. in the diocese of Cologne, written on the 26th day of March of the year 1594 concerning three Ursuline heads, were handed over by the aforesaid Lord Parish Priest to the Annunciates of Antwerp, on this condition, that they should be restored to the church and town of Zutphen if ever this region should be reconciled to the catholic church and the king of Spain, the Provincial of the Friars Minor, Mother Ancilla, Vicaress of the aforesaid convent of the Annunciates, the Notary de Witte and witnesses summoned for the purpose subscribing. These sacred pledges came into the hands of the Annunciates, as they themselves testify From the Archive of the Annunciates, on the 16th day of June 1628; on the 20th day of the following July an attempt was made to arrange the relics of St. Justus more becomingly; but it was given up lest particles should fall off Ibid.. And in the following year, on the 23rd day of February, Jan Collaert, who had been of the household of Spitholdius, testified among many other things before the notary De Witte that the head of St. Justus had been received from the Friars Minor of Zutphen, who had withdrawn it from the burning of their convent when they had to flee from the heretics; and that the Parish Priest was accustomed on the feast day of St. Justus to place it in the church of the Blessed Virgin Mary upon the altar at which he offered the sacrifice on this day; and that he himself had twice carried it to the altar; and he renewed the same testimony on the 5th day of April of the same year before the canon penitentiary of Antwerp, the Reverend Mr Zeger Van Hontsum From the Originals.. The festival is still celebrated every year, not indeed on the 11th day, as formerly at Antwerp Cf. Acta Sanctorum, volume V of October, p. 495 f., but on the 18th of October, with an indulgence granted by Pope Pius VIII.
[65] Some relics at Auxerre of unknown origin. Cult in England. It remains to speak of the pledge at Auxerre, which I have reserved for this place in the order of time, since its origin is hidden from me. This is venerated even in these times in the former cathedral church of Auxerre; and when the most illustrious prelate of Sens had understood that information was being sought by us concerning the relics, with singular zeal towards us he ordered the seal of the last bishop of Auxerre, Jean-Baptiste de Cicé, to be removed and the reliquary to be opened: in which was found an extract of the record of the translation of the relics of SS. Justus and Hippolytus, made on the 28th day of October of the year 1789 in the abbey of Our Lady of the Isles at Auxerre by the vicar general of the bishop, the Reverend Mr Joseph
Marie Closet, and then a small bone of St. Justus which seemed to be the bone of the kneecap. But by what way it came hither from Beauvais I have not found indicated there. These things we close, adding a few things about the most ancient cult of St. Justus among the English. In an English Missal of the beginning of the 11th century Cf. Martène, De antiquis ecclesiae ritibus, in the Syllabus of works., given to the monks of Jumièges by Robert, bishop of London and afterwards of Canterbury, was read: On the 15th day before the Kalends of November, the Natalis of St. Justus, Martyr. First prayer: O God, who didst grant to Blessed Justus such fortitude that in the members of a boy's little body he stood forth victor over monstrous torments, propitiously grant that, his merits interceding, Thou mayest absolve us from all sins. Through. Preface: It is truly meet … eternal God, glorying in the martyrdom of Blessed Justus, to whom, in a body still tender and not yet mature after the manner of a man, Thou didst grant admirable grace, the virtue of faith and the fortitude of patience; so that his boyish conscience should not yield to the cruelty of the persecutor, and amid bitter torments he could neither be terrified in sense nor broken by age, that the crown of martyrdom might be made more glorious. And therefore, etc. And these things, however dislocated, wonderfully show how widely the cult of St. Justus formerly extended. It remains for us, putting an end to these matters, to render singular thanks to the noble Count de l'Escalopier; who, having himself collected many things for his own use concerning SS. Justus and Justin, boys, communicated them with us most liberally. Concerning the Passions to be edited it was said above at nos. 8 and following.
PASSION OF ST. JUSTUS THE BOY,
From a manuscript of the Burgundian library of Brussels of the 10th century, collated with the codices in which the style was emended, that of Saint-Omer (A), of Saint-Bertin (B), the Colbertine (C) and that of Utrecht (U).
Justus, a boy, Martyr, at Beauvais and Auxerre. (S.)
BHL Number: 4590
aFROM MANUSCRIPTS.
Sole chapter.
St. Justus goes with his father Justin to Amiens to free his uncle; on the return he is crowned with martyrdom. His burial.
The captivity of his uncle Justinian is revealed to St. Justus; Here begins the Passion of saint Justus, martyr; that is, on the 2nd day before the Nones of September b. When almighty God permitted the number of the Saints to be multiplied; then Justus, when he was nine years old c, and Justinian his uncle d had been led away captive, said to his father Justin: My father, I have seen a vision, that a good man named Lupus keeps Justinian my uncle in the city of Amiens e in his service. The father says to the son: What then are we to do? While Justin himself was seeking in the city of Auxerre f to offer money so as to find a man who would go with him to seek out Justinian, and was finding one, Justus says to him: I am disposed to go with you. His mother Felicia says: Son Justus, how could you undertake so long a journey, and lest perhaps something happen to you? He, answering, said: If God commands, I will go, and if it please Him, I will return . And he said: Take up the money and take a morsel of bread, and let us walk the journey we have arranged with Christ as leader.
[2] to redeem whom, by way of Melun and Paris, They, going out of the city of Auxerre about the third hour, it happened that they came to the castle of Melun g as the day declined towards evening. Where a blind and lame man at the gate of the same castle cried out, saying: O blessed Justus, refresh my soul, for I suffer the injury of hunger. The boy says to his father: Take a morsel h and refresh him; and moreover, stripping himself of his garment, he clothed the poor man; and his father began to rebuke him. And answering : For it is written: Blessed is he that understandeth concerning the needy and the poor; the Lord will deliver him in the evil day. And going out in the morning they began to take the road. And coming to the city of Paris i, they found there an excellent man named Hippolytus . He asked them from what province they were; and they said: From the city of Auxerre; we are seeking a captive; and Hippolytus said to them: Go into my house and I will refresh you with wine and strong drink *.
[3] crossing the Oise, he reaches Amiens: When they had been satisfied, having taken the road, they came to the river Oise k, but they did not find a ship, and Justus said first to his father Justin: Behold, by the command of God's mercy a certain man comes down with a ship ; let us ask him to put us across to the other side. And while they are speaking , he came with the ship , and they say to him: Friend, do a charity, that you may take us across the river, and that you may receive the fare from us, and may acquire a remedy for your soul. And he, asking who they were or whence; and when they disclosed to him the account, that they were going to seek a captive, he also put them across to the other side, and the boy said to his father: Take a morsel and render him his reward. But he, not asking for money, only let them go in peace. And they, hastening the journey which they had begun, came to the aforesaid city of Amiens, and asked for Lupus the merchant, or where his house was. And when they had found him, they say to him: Our kinsman was led captive into this region , whom we have heard dwells with you. And he asked whence he was, or who, or what name he had whom they were seeking; to which Justin, answering *: We are Christians from the city of Auxerre, and my brother, whom we seek, is called Justinian. And Lupus said to them: Come to my house and I will give you hospitality and will show you my servants, and if you recognize him whom you seek, money being paid, you will take back your brother.
[4] [where he finds Justinian in the House of Lupus. The horsemen of Rictiovarus, pursuing them,] And when at the evening hour they had come to the house of Lupus, he brought out to them his twelve servants. But when he was not found among them, Justus, looking, saw Justinian, whom he was seeking, holding a lamp of fire, and said: Behold, here is our servant who is lighting the light. But he said: Whence do you know me, for I did not see you born in the region? And while he was saying these things, there was there a young soldier of Rictiovarus the persecutor, who, rising very early, carried the tale to the tyrant himself, saying: There are certain men in the city of Amiens given to magic arts, who confess themselves Christians; what is to be done about them? And he said: Go, bring them quickly to me, and if they disdain to come, let them be thrust into custody until they be presented to our sight. The officers, going out to the aforesaid city and seeking the house of Lupus, no longer found them there; because Lupus had earlier, in the night-time , said to them: Rise and take your man and the money which you brought, and return quickly to your homeland, lest perhaps the judges of the prefect seize you. And when the officers had reported thus to the prefect Rictiovarus , that they had already departed from the aforesaid city, the tyrant says to them: Rise, four young men, with horses l, swiftly pursuing them, that they may be compelled to return, and if they gainsay, let them be slain.
[5] at the spring Sirica, or the brook Aragga, they cut off St. Justus's head. They, when they had pursued them, found them at the spring Sirica m, which is also named the brook Aragga n. And Justinian said first to his brother Justin: Resting a little, while we have the opportunity of water, let us take food, that we may be better able to take the road. And Justus says to them: Eat quickly, for Rictiovarus the prefect is directing four of his young men with horses, who are to bring us back or kill us; and while you take food I will look out, and if they come plainly, I will speak with them; and do you go into the cave , hide yourselves. And while he was saying these things, looking from afar, he saw them coming, and his kinsfolk themselves withdrew into the entrance of the cave. And the King's officers, coming up, asked Justus where his kinsfolk were, or to what gods they sacrificed. But he answered that he was a Christian; and when he would not betray his kinsfolk, one says to the other : Draw your sword and cut off his head, and let us carry it to the prefect: and when his head had been cut off, the body, raising itself, stood immovable, and, taking the head in its hands o, placed it in its entrance , and his soul prayed to the Lord: God of heaven and earth, receive my spirit, for I am innocent and clean of heart. And when the officers had seen the great wonders which his body had done, terrified with dread they feared exceedingly . Fleeing, they report to Rictiovarus the tyrant how these things had been done.
his body being buried there, the head is carried to his mother Felicia. And when the kinsfolk of blessed Justus, who had been shut away in the cave, had heard the prayer which he had poured out to the Lord, the persecutors withdrawing, going out of doors, they saw his corpse holding . And Justin says to his brother Justinian: What shall we do with this body? and so it is said that the tongue spoke from the head, saying to them: Go to the cave, seek an ancient building covered with ivy, and diligently ; there lay up my body. Carry the head to my mother, that she may kiss it in the love of affection , and if she wishes to see me, let her seek me in paradise. They, placing his body in that same place, which was surrounded with ancient walls , and hastening on the journey , on the third day entered the city of Auxerre. And Felicia his mother says: Where is my son Justus? And Justinian his uncle said: It has happened that he is dead. She says: I give thanks to Thee, God, Father of heaven and earth, who hast received an innocent and pure soul; and she added also: O blessed son Justus, pray for me, you who have merited to attain martyrdom. But while amid these things, praying, she wept, the head of the Martyr had been hanging in their house wrapped in a linen cloth. When it was indeed night-time *, by the command of the divine power, not only the house but also the whole city shone.
[7] In those days, moreover, the Pontiff of that city was a priest of God named Amator [p]. And he rose very early for the course of matins [q], and says to his brethren: I have seen great lights over the house of Justin, from which the whole city shone; go quickly and search out what this was . Whither three presbyters coming, asking Justin what this power of light had been which * in the night over his house
had appeared. And Justin said to them: My son Justus died in a distant region , because the young men of the prefect Rictiovarus the persecutor, pursuing us likewise , while we went off in flight, seized my son himself, cut off his head and returned. And we, burying his body in the same place, beside the spring Sirica , in the territory of Beauvais , and taking up his head that his mother might kiss it *. And when it had been brought into our house, at the third hour of the night a light came from heaven, whence both the house and the whole city shone at God's command.
[8] he is honourably buried; a blind girl is healed. Which the presbyters who had been sent by the Pontiff, wondering, reported to the brethren, and to Saint Amator himself , and, exulting at so perfect a mystery, they gave thanks to almighty God. And the Pontiff ordered that, taking a bier and lamps with candlesticks, they should bring him to the holy church, and that he should be entombed in the sacristy of the house of God, where the Pontiff himself had also decreed to rest. And to complete the testimony of the good work, there was in that city a girl of sixteen years, blind from birth, and she cried out, saying: Saint Justus, pray to * the Lord your God, in whom I too believe and confess, that He may give me the light of my eyes. And at once, the divine power favouring, her eyes were opened, and the priests saw the glory of God and all praised and blessed God; because a great miracle had been shown to them. In whom the nations believe, to whom be honour and glory for ages of ages. Amen.
ANNOTATIONS.
p. Rictiovarus was at Amiens in the year 287, but St. Amator held the see of Auxerre from 388 to 418. How these things seem able to be reconciled, see in the Commentary, no. 27.
q. Cursus matutinus, since a little below there is speech of the third hour of the night, would seem to signify the nocturnal office; but more often it was used for that part which we call Lauds. The cursus matutinarius of Blessed Mary is read in Hugh of Flavigny at the year 951. In the other Passion matin hymns, in the Malmedy one matin lauds, are indicated. Cf. Martène, De antiqua Ecclesiae disciplina, chapter 7.
* A. B. tempore illo cum…
* Codex: permittitur. U.
* C. vide
* A. B. eum in are lacking. C. h. n. in Ambiensium.
* A. servum
* A. B. apud Authisi civitatem. C. Autiss.
* A. B. U. et non inveniret. C. et inveniret
* C. ei F. quom. f. J.
* Codex: aggredere
* others: revertar
* A. B. Anthisi. C. Autiss.
* A. B. sic. C. U. it is lacking
* A. B. melledunum. C. milidone. U. melidonem
* C. r. ait
* so all the codices
* C. hypolithum. Ille vero int. A. B. apolitem. U. Ipol.
* U. cicera.
* A. B. Isera. C. U. Isare
* C. loqueremur
* C. requiras
* A. B. C. interrogavit
* C. requisivit
* A. B. U. nisi omitted.
* A. B. C. U. cum p.
* A. B. C. in hanc r.
* A. B. conversari. C. versari.
* Codex: interrogans
* C. r. ait
* A. B. C. lampadem
* C. est is absent.
* Codex: Et
* A. B. C. … ntur
* A. B. ex junioribus.
* C. Rict.
* C. nensi. A. B. mag. a. d. is lacking
* C. detr. A. B. reclud.
* others: noctis tempore.
* A. B. C. Judices
* C. O. Rict. A. B. it is absent
* Codex: cum eo quos
* A. B. Siricam qui. C. Syrica. U. Syriacam
* A. B. Arausia. C. Araga. U. Aragga
* C. U. Rict.
* Codex: loquar
* others: speluncam
* C. atrium.
* A. B. Rictiovari
* Codex: quorum diis
* Codex: noluit
* Codex: alium
* Codex: eum
* C. in humerum s. A. B. in atrium speluncæ. U. omitted.
* Codex: a pav.
* Codex: valde timore magno
* Codex: videntes; C. et videntes
* C. et t. c. s. dicit
* Codex: patrem
* A. it is absent
* U. omitted. C. et sedulo ibi … A. B. et bene recon.
* Codex: eum
* A. B. C. U. maceriis
* A. it is absent
* Codex: Autissiodori civitate S. aggressi
* C. pat. is absent
* A. B. hæc or. compleret. C. U. or. fleret
* U. … rant. A. B. et cap … … linteamine … penderet. C. pendebat.
* Codex: tempore Dum caput Autissiodori a S. Amatore
* Codex: ejus
* C. matutinum
* A. B. sit
* C. Justinianum. A. B. Justinum interrog.
* C. quod
* C. mortuus
* A. B. longinqua
* A. B. missi
* C. persecuti sunt, dum enim
* A. B. C. j. Syricam f. U. Syriacam
* C. … cense attulimus. A. B. Belloac.
* C. illud.
* Codex: qui
* C. et i. episcopo. A. exult.
* C. illud
* A. B. oculis cæcata.
* C. is lacking.
ANOTHER PASSION OF ST. JUSTUS THE BOY,
According to three Legendaries of Beauvais.
Justus, a boy, Martyr, at Beauvais and Auxerre. (S.)
BHL Number: 4591
aFROM MANUSCRIPTS.
Sole chapter.
The homeland and parents of St. Justus; the freeing of his uncle Justinian; his martyrdom; burial; church.
Prologue. The contests of the Blessed Martyrs are set before the faithful for the edification of morals and the incitement of virtues, that those whom they know to live through temporal torments they may more devoutly follow, through the exercises of labours, to eternal joys. Nor in a contest of this kind is an example of its own lacking to any sex or age, since not only men but also women and boys are read to have run to the palm of martyrdom; of whose number we venerate the natal day of the blessed boy and martyr Justus, how mother Church brought him forth to the Lord through martyrdom, and how, escaping victor from the straits of the bloody world, he entered the true light, to live for ever.
[2] St. Justus, an Auxerrois by homeland, with his father Justin He, at the city of Auxerre, of a sufficiently illustrious lineage b, flourished in tender age with ripeness of virtues; to whom, intent from infancy on spiritual things, while the grace of God granted progress daily, he merited among other things to obtain that he was even often foreknowing of future things. His father was called Justin, his mother Felicia, worthy to have begotten such a one as merited to be named Justus. This Justin, then, had a brother named Justinian, who as a boy had been stealthily carried off from that city and led to Amiens, a city of Gaul, and sold as a servant to a certain merchant named Lupus. Which matter at that time both the distant region and the multitude of years had so utterly effaced that none of the natives brought forth any indication of it. But when the clemency of God was now disposing to lead the innocence of the most holy boy Justus through works of piety to the crown of martyrdom, in the ninth year of his age he is taught by a heavenly vision how he should seek out his uncle and, having redeemed him, restore him to his people.
[3] he proceeds to Amiens to redeem his uncle Justinian, When he had related this to his parents and had resolved to accomplish what had been enjoined on him from heaven, his father and mother began to oppose him, lest, if they entrusted their only son to an unknown journey, he should be endangered by some chance occurring, as is wont to happen. To their dissuasions the boy of the Lord does not apply his ear, but urges his father to lead him, confident that God would be present to him as guide, who never ceases to help those who hope in Him. And the father, perceiving that the matter was being done divinely, at length not unwillingly assents to his son, and after some days, having taken things necessary for the way, committing themselves to the providence of Christ, they set out together. And when they came to the castle of Melun, blind and lame men at the very entrance of the gate begged food of them, crying aloud. When these had been refreshed with food, the kindly boy took off his tunic and, having compassion on his poverty, clothed one whom he saw among the others lacking a garment. And when for this he was reproved by his father, because, not having another, he had given his garment to a needy man, he softened his indignation with a prophetic testimony: Blessed is the man that understandeth concerning the needy and the poor; the Lord will deliver him in the evil day.
[4] serving Lupus, a Christian man. Having departed from the town, hastening the journey begun, they came to Paris, where a certain Hippolytus, a religious man, having received them in hospitality, treated them with kindly attentiveness; thence, having taken the path again, when they had come to the waters of the Oise, being put across without charge by the ferryman, they arrived by a hastened journey at Amiens. In this city a certain tyrant Rictiovarus, having obtained a prefecture from the Roman princes, so exercised his tyranny against the worshippers of God that his cruelty thirsted for nothing more than the blood of Christians; wherefore he had also commanded his men that wherever they found a worshipper of Christ he should either be brought straightway before his hearing or slain with the sword. There were nevertheless in the same city Christians, but hidden on account of fear of him, of whom one was the aforementioned merchant Lupus, to whom the most blessed boy and his father, coming, set forth why they had come; praying that, money being received, he would loose their brother from the yoke of servitude and allow him to return to his homeland. Then Lupus, when he had learned that they had served the Christian religion, made kindly towards them by divine will, bade them turn aside to his lodging that night, promising that he would show them the whole household of his house, and that if he whom they sought were among them, they should count out to him the price of the servant and have the means of taking him back.
[5] they recover Justinian; but the spies of Rictiovarus Having entered the house, therefore, he showed them all his servants as he had promised, and allowed them to look which of them was their kinsman; and when the boy and future holy martyr carried his eyes round, he saw a certain one standing by with a lighted lamp, and recognized that this was the brother whom he was seeking. Whence a vehement amazement seized all who were present, how it had been revealed to him, when even his father, who was of advanced age, did not know it. Meanwhile spies who happened to be present suggested to the prefect that strangers living in the Christian manner had come into the house of Lupus; on hearing which: Watch, he said, that they do not depart from the city until they be brought before my sight to be punished. But Lupus, solicitous for the safety of his guests, in the night-time roused them and secretly warned them, and persuaded them to hasten their flight, saying that he feared they would be betrayed to the tyrant by the work of informers if they waited for the morrow's dawn; and, that they might not knit longer delays, he released to them the kinsman whom they were demanding without redemption and permitted him to return to his homeland. Having recovered the brother, therefore, entering the path quickly, they deceived the governor's watchers; who, when morning came, bursting into the house of Lupus, violently demanded of him those whom they had seen there late; but after they held it certain that they had fled, full of confusion they reported to their prince.
[6] pursue them, and at Sinomovicus, at the spring Sirica, At this the tyrannical rage roared, and he groaned vehemently, as though they had been snatched from his jaws. Why do you stand, he thunders? Why do you not press on their footsteps with most swift course? The diabolical command is therefore obeyed, and the reins of the persecutors are loosened after the servants of Christ. But the Christian men had passed beyond the borders of the Ambiani and had already set their steps in the territory of Beauvais. There is a place by ancient appellation Sinamovicus c, where a spring called Syrica rises, whose outflow the brook Araja receives. Here, on account of the pleasantness of the place and the convenience of water, they decided to refresh their weary limbs and take food. But the most blessed boy, breathed upon by the sacred Spirit, foresaw what was threatening him, nor could the pursuit of the executioners be hidden from him who bore in his heart Him who sees all things; and, being wholly now in heavenly things, he would not refresh with bodily food the limbs soon to perish, he whose inner man was nourished with heavenly dew; and so he said to his kinsfolk: Without delay recall your strength with food; for the torturers of the judge are pursuing us with violence, to bring us back bound in chains or expose us to be struck with the sword; meanwhile I, standing on a higher place on the lookout, if I see them rushing on, will signal that you hide yourselves in the cave which lies near.
[7] St. Justus He had said these things, and behold, the persecutors being seen, he compelled them with persuasive words to hide themselves. Without delay the furious executioners arrive and ask where the others are, and order the boy, threatening torments, to disclose their hiding-places. To whom, with calm breast, unterrified, he said: What you command me is forbidden in the holy gospel, for the Lord, when held by the Jews, wished to free His disciples rather than lose them; but of myself I answer you, a Christian, I confess Christ, whose servants and worshippers your madness does not fear to persecute and afflict. Boy, they say, be silent, lest for your folly you be beaten or perhaps fall by our swords. Not folly, said Justus, but wisdom I seek; but they are fools and guilty who, obeying your prince, adore idols lacking all sense, and, fleeing their maker, venerate the things which they themselves have fashioned, on whom worthy vengeance will be brought when for such great wickedness they will be burned with perpetual fire, so that, ever burning, they do not fail, but rather are renewed for punishment.
[8] they behead him: While he was pleading thus, one of the executioners, the others urging him to take vengeance on the insolent boy who reviled the Gods and the governor, fits his hand to the hilt and prepares himself for the slaying of the innocent. Then a voice is reported to have been heard from the sky, which, strengthening the boy devoted to Christ to the endurance of the passion, promises him the glory of retribution. Then, when he had given thanks to the Lord who strengthened him, the executioner, raising his sword, cut off the neck held ready for the stroke d. The head of the Saint having therefore been cut off, the trunk of the body, taking it in its hands, remained immovable; and the tongue, quivering, as if it were vigorous in an entire body, spoke, beseeching God to look upon him. He also taught his companions, who were hidden and wondering beyond what can be said, after the horror of this miracle had driven the persecutors away in flight, where they should bury him, and warned them to carry the head to his mother for consolation and to tell her that, if she desired to see her son, she should strive to follow him to the heavenly Jerusalem. Forthwith a flash of heavenly light shone round him, and together with the light he departed to the heavens.
[9] his body is laid up there. Released by this precious death, clothed with the robe of virginity and innocence, distinguished by an angelic escort, he is presented to the sight of the eternal king, to reign with him without end, associated without doubt with the company of those who have not been defiled with women and are without spot before the throne of God and follow the lamb whithersoever he goeth. For the parents, gathering the holy body, buried it how and where he had ordered, the head being reserved. There was a cave, within which lay hidden the foundations of an ancient building, in which they hewed out a fitting tomb, and in it diligently laid the sacred clay of the martyr; where afterwards, the Christian religion increasing, a basilica of his name was built, in which divine benefits abound through his patronage e. But in order that it might be frequented by a greater confluence of people, after the lapse of the course of many years his bones were carried to Beauvais with due honour and honourably enclosed in burial in the sanctuary of Blessed Peter. After the funeral and obsequies of the martyr of Christ had been celebrated as the means at hand dictated, his kinsmen carried the holy head, wrapped in clean linen cloths, with them to their homeland.
[10] But the head is carried to Auxerre to his mother Felicia And as they were entering the house, Felicia
the Saint's mother, rejoicing, comes forth to meet them and asks for her son, whom she does not see. After they had narrated to her the matter as it had been done, scarcely able to contain herself for joy, having reverently taken the head, bathed in a flood of tears, she at length uttered these words: To Thee, O Christ, be praise and jubilation, who hast deigned to receive my son, and you, Blessed Justus, my sweetest son, who have entered the kingdom of Christ, be mindful of me there in your suffrages. These things said, they had wrapped the most sacred pledge in a white linen cloth and laid it in a suitable case, and, night bringing its shadow upon the earth, had hung it from the ceiling of the inner house, and, lamps being lighted, passing a sleepless night, they were engaged in sacred vigils, when suddenly an exceeding brightness, gliding down from heaven, driving away the nocturnal darkness, lit up with its clearness the building in which that great treasure hung, and not the building only, but also the circuit of the whole city, so that it was given to those beholding these things to understand with how great splendour he shone in the heavens whose members were revealed on earth by divine light.
[11] and there, while by St. Amator, bishop, In those days a pontiff, Saint Amator by name, presided over the people of God in the city; this venerable bishop, when he had risen rather early to chant the matin hymns, saw how such a light had shone forth over the house of Justin and spread itself through the city, and, ignorant of the matter, was vehemently amazed: having therefore called together the brethren, he related what he had seen and commanded them to go quickly and investigate the cause of the light; they went at once, and the precious pearl is disclosed to the ministers of the church, because the light could not be hidden in darkness, but shone forth to those dwelling in the hall of Christ. And when they had learned what had been done on the way, returning with huge wonder they indicated it to the venerable prelate, who with the greatest eagerness of heart paid his thanksgiving to the Lord, who had adorned the time of his priesthood with such great wonders. Then, accompanied by a great throng of people and clergy, he went forth with the banner of the cross, censers and lights and the rest of the apparatus of holy religion, and carried the Martyr's head, placed on a bier, to the bosom of the mother church f.
[12] it is honourably laid up; a blind girl receives her sight And this priest of God had built for himself a tomb in the same basilica, which, embalmed with many spices, he dedicated to the burial of the holy Martyr. But almighty God, as they were placing the holy relics, put forth another indication that he lived in heaven whose head they were covering in the sepulchre. For there was a certain girl sixteen years of age, known to almost all the inhabitants of the place, who, enlightened by the rays of faith amid the throng of the people standing round, approaches the Martyr's tomb and thus begs his indulgence: Enlighten, holy Martyr, by your intercession my darkness, you who have merited to enter the delight of eternal brightness. At this voice her eyes were opened, and her enlightened face showed how great faith she had had in her heart. Then all the people, together with her, cried out in the praises of God and confessed the great works of Him who thus makes His Saints wonderful, to the glory and honour of His name, which is blessed for ages of ages. Amen.