ON ST. FERREOLUS OF VIENNE, MARTYR, IN GAUL,
About the year 304.
PRELIMINARY COMMENTARY.
Ferreolus, martyr, at Vienne in Gaul. (S.)
BY J. S.
§ I. The saint commemorated by the ancients, and honored with an ancient cult: churches dedicated to him: his relics translated.
[ ] Among the martyrs of Gaul, Julian and Ferreolus are much celebrated by the ancient writers, St. Ferreolus celebrated together with St. Julian by the ancients, joined no less by friendship before their martyrdom than by soldiering and by the Christian faith, and both of them suffering in the same persecution. Julian obtained his crown on the twenty-eighth day of August at Brioude in Auvergne, as may be seen in his Acts published on that day; but the birthday of Ferreolus, who consummated his martyrdom near Vienne of the Allobroges, or perhaps also at Brioude, is unknown. St. Sidonius Apollinaris commemorates them both together in book 7, Epistle 1, to St. Mamertus of Vienne, whom he compares with St. Ambrose, the discoverer of the holy martyrs Gervasius and Protasius, because Mamertus had found and translated the entire body of St. Ferreolus together with the head of St. Julian. His words, praised by St. Gregory of Tours, will be given below. St. Venantius Fortunatus, in book 8, poem 4, likewise numbers them both, together with St. Privatus, among the foremost martyrs, in this distich:
Gévaudan bears Privatus, rich Auvergne bears Julian, and lovely Vienne bears Ferreolus likewise.
St. Gregory of Tours celebrates SS. Julian and Ferreolus in several places as most closely joined in friendship and as outstanding martyrs. But we shall more conveniently produce his words below, where we treat of the deeds before the martyrdom and of the cult of St. Ferreolus. For now, however, let us see what the older Martyrologies have concerning St. Ferreolus; for we are not at present treating of Julian.
[2] In the Hieronymian copies the memory of St. Ferreolus is announced not on this day but on the following, the nineteenth of September. and assigned by the ancient Martyrologies to the nineteenth of September, Florentinius rendered the text from his own codices thus: In Gaul, in the city of Vienne, the birthday of St. Feriolus, and the dedication of his basilica, and the translation of many bodies of saints, when the head of St. Julian the martyr from Brioude was placed beneath the altar. These things are read somewhat differently in the Corbie codex: In the city of Vienne, the birthday of Saint Ferreolus; and the dedication of his basilica, and the translation of many bodies with the head of Saint Julian the martyr from Brioude placed beneath the altar. The dedication indicated is perhaps that of the basilica which we shall see was built in the fifth century by St. Mamertus. For it is agreed that at that time the body of St. Ferreolus and the head of St. Julian were translated from the old basilica to the new one; and this passage teaches that at the same time certain other relics of Saints were translated. But I should not wish the reader to believe for certain that that translation from Brioude to Vienne was then made; for those words from Brioude may have been added to the name of St. Julian the martyr in order to explain where Julian had suffered, not to suggest from what place the translation was made. The Epternach codex, omitting the dedication of the basilica and the translation of the relics, has only: In the Gauls, in the city of Vienne, of Ferreolus the martyr. The Reichenau Martyrology agrees, in these words: And at Vienne, of saint Feriolus, M. On the same day the Gellone, Labbean, and Augsburg Martyrologies make mention of St. Ferreolus without the place of his martyrdom, as also does the first of those in Martène, volume 6 of the Amplissima Collectio, column 646. But in the same place, at column 721, the Auxerre Martyrology has thus: In the Gauls, in the city of Vienne, the birthday of St. Ferreolus the martyr.
[3] in others on this eighteenth day, as having suffered at Brioude; Ado of Vienne, who beyond the rest would seem to have been bound to know what pertains to a saint of Vienne, honors St. Ferreolus with such an elogium on this eighteenth day of September: At Vienne, the birthday of St. Ferreolus. Who, in the time of the persecution, when he was of tribunitian rank, was seized by order of a most impious governor, first most cruelly beaten, then laden with a heavy weight of chains, and thrust into a most foul prison. Whence, his bonds being loosed at God's nod and the doors of the prison thrown open, he went out upon the public highway and came as far as the river Jarez. There, being seized again, with his hands bound behind his back, he was led as far as the territory of Brioude, and there received the palm of martyrdom by the striking off of his head. His body, together with the head of the blessed Julian, was carried back to the city of Vienne, and was laid with fitting honor in the basilica which Castulus, a man of distinguished name among the leading men of the city of Vienne, while still a catechumen, had built in honor of the same Martyr with as much labor as faith, on the farther bank of the Rhône. The place of martyrdom assigned by Ado does not please today's learned men, as we shall presently see. Usuard passed it over, announcing the Saint in these words: At Vienne, of saint Ferreolus, who, when he was of tribunitian rank, was seized by order of a most impious governor, and first most cruelly beaten, then laden with a heavy weight of chains, was thrust into a most foul prison, and afterwards received the palm of martyrdom by the striking off of his head. Notker, however, assigns to St. Ferreolus the same arena as Ado, commemorating him thus: At Vienne, of saint Ferreolus, who, when he was of tribunitian rank, was most cruelly beaten for the faith of Christ, was bound with chains and thrust into prison, whence, his bonds being loosed at God's nod, he was led forth, and afterwards, being brought by his pursuers to the territory of Brioude, was beheaded.
[4] [more recent writers also commemorate him today; but they disagree about the place of martyrdom.] The more recent martyrologists likewise announce St. Ferreolus on this day, on which he is venerated at Vienne, but they have gone off into differing opinions about the place of his martyrdom. For some assert that he was killed at Brioude, others that he was killed near Vienne by his pursuers. To pass over others, the French themselves do not agree. Saussay announces Ferreolus thus: At Brioude in Auvergne, the birthday of saint Ferreolus the martyr, who, under the emperor Diocletian, being powerful with tribunitian authority in the city of Vienne, … was arrested by order of Crispinus, a most impious governor, etc. After relating his escape from prison, he says that he was arrested again near Brioude and killed, adding about his body the assertions of Ado just given. On the contrary, the author of the Paris Martyrology has the following: At Vienne, the birthday of saint Ferreolus, tribune of soldiers, who, after scourging and prison, from which he had been delivered by divine power, fell struck down by the henchmen pursuing him. Baronius in the Roman Martyrology seems to incline rather to the latter opinion, since he proclaims the Saint in these words: In the territory of Vienne, of saint Ferreolus the martyr, who, when he was of tribunitian rank, was seized by order of Crispinus, a most impious governor, and first most cruelly beaten, then laden with a heavy weight of chains, was thrust into a most foul prison: whence, his bonds being loosed at God's nod and the doors of the prison thrown open, going out, he was captured again by his pursuers and received the palm of martyrdom by the striking off of his head. From these things, and still more from the Acts of the Saint, the place of the martyrdom appears quite doubtful, as I shall show below. Meanwhile, passing over the remaining martyrologists, I only observe that the finding of SS. Julian and Ferreolus is commemorated in several calendars on the fifteenth of February, as was said in that place among the Passed Over, and that Ferreolus is also found in a certain Martyrology on the seventh of September, as we likewise observed there. Ruinart, either by a lapse of memory or by a printer's error, assigned St. Ferreolus to the eighteenth of October, which someone or other has copied.
[5] Now, since many things have been passed over in the Acts of St. Ferreolus, [Ferreolus was tribune of soldiers, and a friend of St. Julian, whom he advises to flee:] we shall supply them from elsewhere in the order of time in which they were done. That Ferreolus was tribune of soldiers and a friend of St. Julian the martyr of Brioude we have from the Life of St. Julian, given in volume VI of August, page 173, in which these things are read at number 2. Therefore at that time a persecution of the Christians arose in the city of Vienne under a certain governor Crispinus. But Saint Ferreolus, himself also approved by the Lord as a martyr, was then wielding the tribunitian power in the aforesaid city. Yet he so exercised the office of soldiering that he fulfilled the purpose of holy religion. And he kept the blessed Julian at his side for his comfort, because he was a most faithful Christian. And when saint Ferreolus had learned of the persecution of the Christians, he said to St. Julian: I have learned that a persecution of the Christians is about to come upon this city; and therefore I beg you to remove yourself from this place, until the persecution of the Christians ceases. The same things are related more fully in the second Passion of St. Julian, page 174, where it is said: But the blessed Ferreolus, in the time of the consular Crispinus, being already a soldier of Christ, though not yet betrayed, was discharging in the aforesaid city the office of tribunitian authority, in dress but not in heart, in appearance but not in affection. To him St. Julian, now grown to manhood, soon to be his colleague in heaven, by divine providence afforded comfort in the world. For, set together in the fellowship of a temporal soldiering, they loved one another more by zeal for the faith than by military affection, and amid public labors a holy love had knit the fellowship of the Saints with faithful bonds. To these things it is added that Ferreolus by counsel and entreaty brought it about that Julian departed secretly into Auvergne, and, himself surviving for the consolation of the surviving Christians, avoided for a little while the onset of that mad fury.
[6] Nevertheless St. Julian was arrested at Brioude in Auvergne [he is said to have received the head of St. Julian the martyr, which was buried with his own body.] and beheaded. In the Passion just praised, at number 5, it is said: Leaving the trunk of the body (the executioners) carry to St. Ferreolus that head which their parricidal hands had washed; so that he might not doubt that he had been slain whom, with truth attesting, he saw cut down by the sword: and that he might recognize that he would himself receive in his own death what he beheld in the body through that man's passion. But if Ferreolus received the head of St. Julian at Vienne, as many believe, it is more probable that it was first brought to the tyrant Crispinus, since St. Sidonius Apollinaris clearly asserts this in the Epistle already praised, to Mamertus, book 7, epistle 1, where he says: And because to you alone has been granted … the entire translation of the martyr Ferreolus, with the head of our Julian added, which the bloody hand of the executioner once brought back from there to the raging persecutor. This indeed, as I have said, is far more probable. Yet it is believed that the head of St. Julian came to St. Ferreolus. And this could have come about through Crispinus himself, who may have sent the head to Ferreolus, either to strike fear into him, or
or to test his mind, because he held it suspect with regard to the Christian religion. Ferreolus could also have procured the head of St. Julian for himself by giving money to those who had it, after it had been seen by Crispinus. In what manner St. Ferreolus received it, St. Gregory of Tours does not declare; but that he did receive it, and that it was buried with him, he asserts in his book on the Miracles of St. Julian, chapter 1, writing thus: His head too the martyr Ferreolus received, and, the contest being completed, both the limbs of the one and the head of the other are laid in the receptacle of a single tomb.
[7] A church raised to St. Ferreolus on the bank of the Rhône, The place of the martyrdom, since it is doubtful, we shall examine below. But that St. Ferreolus was buried near the bank of the Rhône, opposite Vienne, all the Acts agree together with Ado and the Breviary of Vienne. Most manuscript copies of the Acts add that a church was built in that place by Castulius, whom Ado, relating the same thing, calls Castulus. In the Breviary of Vienne, which, printed in the year 1522, has nine lessons on St. Ferreolus for this day, the matter is narrated in these words: And lest the illustrious Martyr should long lie hidden in an unhonored sepulcher, Custulius, a man of distinguished name among the leading men of the city of Vienne, still a catechumen and not yet having obtained the grace of baptism, made a basilica in honor of the Martyr, founding it with as much labor as faith, sending this gift ahead to God, that he might come to the completion of baptism with the patronage of the martyr. That church stood until the times of St. Mamertus, who after the middle of the fifth century administered the church of Vienne, and built a new basilica for St. Ferreolus, as St. Gregory of Tours reports in his book on the Miracles of St. Julian, chapter 2, where, concerning his own pilgrimage to the sepulcher of St. Ferreolus, he prefaces these things: Now at a certain time, when I had gone as far as Lyons to meet the blessed bishop Nicetius, it pleased my mind, for no other cause than prayer, to go to Vienne, and above all to visit the sepulcher of Ferreolus, the glorious martyr. For it had settled in my mind, on account of the ancient love between them, that I was his foster-son as much as Julian's.
[8] and when this was falling into ruin, bishop St. Mamertus founded another, Then, prayer being made, I raise the gaze of my eyes to the tribunal, and I behold on it verses written in this manner:
This hall contains twin heroes of Christ, Julian by his head, Ferreolus by his body.
And when, reading these, I asked the sacristan why they had been so written, he answered: The basilica of the holy martyr Ferreolus had been set by the ancients upon the very shore of the Rhône. Then, when, under the driving violence of the river, the portico which was situated on that side was falling down, the provident priest, Mamertus by name, who then ruled the church of Vienne, forestalling the ruin to come, built another basilica of elegant workmanship and of the very same measure with sagacious purpose, wishing to translate thither the body of the holy Martyr. Now there came to this work a great number of abbots and monks, and, the night having been passed in vigil, they took the hoe and began to dig. And when they had descended into the depth, they find three sepulchers, and at once astonishment invades the minds of those looking on: nor was anyone certain which might be the tomb of the blessed Martyr. Therefore, when all were standing thunderstruck in dullness of mind, by the inspiration, as I believe, of the Divinity, one of the bystanders cries out, saying: It used to be reported from of old, and was spread abroad in frequent talk among the peoples, that the head of Julian the martyr is kept in the sepulcher of the martyr Ferreolus: if, the lid being removed, each one be examined, it can be found at once which are the limbs of Ferreolus the martyr.
[9] Hearing these things, the priest orders all to prostrate themselves in prayer. who translated to it the body of St. Ferreolus and the head of St. Julian. This being fulfilled, he proceeds to the tombs, and, having uncovered two, he finds single men resting in them. And when he had opened the third also, he found in it a man lying with his body unharmed and his garment whole, who, his head having been cut off, held another head embraced in his arm. For he was as if lately buried, neither changed by pallor of face, nor disfigured by the falling of his hair, nor dissolved by any putrefaction; but so whole and unharmed that you would think him still held in bodily sleep. Then the bishop, filled with great joy, said: That this is the corpse of Ferreolus, that this is the head of Julian the martyr, is held beyond doubt. Then with great psalmody, the people applauding, he is conducted, with the Lord's assent, to the place where he is now venerated. These things, moreover, as I learned them from the sacristan himself at the Martyr's sepulcher, I have faithfully reported. Yet our Sollius (Sidonius) provides testimony to this work, writing to Mamertus himself in these words: To you alone in the regions of the Western world has been granted the entire translation of the martyr Ferreolus, with the head of our Julian added. Whence in compensation we ask that a part of the patronage may come to us from there, since a part of the patron has returned to you from here. So far St. Gregory, who so praises the words of Sidonius that he cuts out some intervening matter. In the Breviary of Vienne already praised, on the thirteenth of December the festivity of St. Lucy is celebrated, but at the same time the translation of the holy martyrs Julian and Ferreolus is noted: IX lesson and commemoration. These things have also been reported in St. Mamertus, of whom we treated on the eleventh of May. But whether that festivity of the translation was instituted on account of the translation made by St. Mamertus, or rather on account of the other, which we shall see was made in the eighth century, is not expressed in the Breviary.
[10] There existed in the time of St. Gregory of Tours in Auvergne another basilica of St. Ferreolus also, near that spring [Another church in Auvergne dedicated to St. Ferreolus in the sixth century, another in a less certain place:] in which the head of St. Julian is said to have been washed. For in his book on the Miracles of St. Julian, chapter 25, Gregory reports that he was in those parts and labored under a severe pain of the head, continuing thus: And when for two days I was consumed by this pain, on the third day we came to the basilica of saint Ferreolus, to which that spring, of which we made mention above (namely in chapter 3, where he says that the head of St. Julian was washed in it), is adjacent. Now the basilica is distant from the village of Brioude about ten stades. He soon adds that he was freed from the pain of his head when he had poured over his head water from the spring mentioned. Of the same basilica of St. Ferreolus he makes mention in chapter 48, where it is said to be situated far from that village, but Ruinart believes that we ought to read, not far. That at the same time the name of St. Ferreolus was terrible to the demons, Gregory teaches in chapter 30, writing these things: But the possessed, when they have come (to the festivity of St. Julian), for the most part vomit out reproaches against the Saint of God, asking why he summons other Saints to his feasts, and, confessing them by name, they acknowledge their powers and merits. For they say: Let it be enough for you, Julian, to torment us by your own power; why do you provoke the rest? why do you invite strangers? Behold Martin the Pannonian, our perpetual enemy, who drove three dead men back from our caverns… Ferreolus your colleague has come from the people of Vienne, who has sent us punishment in you, and protection to the inhabitants, etc. Venantius Fortunatus, a contemporary of Gregory, mentions another basilica, dedicated in part to St. Ferreolus, writing thus in book 3, poem 7:
Another part is Ferreolus's, who by the wound of the iron shines a proud gem by the gift of martyrdom.
The editor Brower believed that this poem was written concerning Felix of Nantes. Yet it can be doubted on that head because of this little verse contained in the same poem, as Tillemont has already noted:
An apostolic splendor visits the Allobroges.
For the Allobroges were far distant from Brittany, so that the place remains uncertain. But the church was sacred to SS. Peter and Paul, its right-hand part to SS. Hilary and Martin, its left to St. Ferreolus.
[11] The church founded by Mamertus continued to flourish in the seventh century; Further, the church of St. Ferreolus near Vienne continued to flourish in the seventh century, in which St. Clarus, afterwards abbot of Vienne, whose Life is given on the first of January, was a youth. For in it, at number 2, these things are read to our purpose: They (Clarus and his mother) came to the most holy monastery beyond the Rhône, where at that time the bones of the most blessed Ferreolus the martyr were resting. And when the woman, set there in compunction with her Clarus, had prolonged many hours, and now toward evening wished to return to her lodging, the Rhône, at the driving of the winds, began most perilously to rise in waves. The mother had already entered the boat with the boy Clarus: and, the sailors despairing, the boat being all but sunk by the waves, the boy Clarus is said to have stretched out his hands toward the church of the blessed martyr Ferreolus and, pouring forth tears, to have cried out: God, for whose name the martyr Ferreolus underwent death, come to our aid, set as we are in peril. Presently the Rhône, rendered gentler, set the boat with a short thrust upon its own shores. These things were written after the body had been carried to Vienne.
[12] [but it was destroyed in the eighth century, and then the relics were carried to Vienne.] For in the eighth century that church of St. Ferreolus was destroyed by the Saracens, and his sacred relics were translated to Vienne, as Ado of Vienne teaches in his Chronicle, page 504, producing the following: Wilcarius succeeds the venerable bishop Austrebert at Vienne. He, on account of the disaster of the Saracens, since the most illustrious house of the martyrs on the near side of the Rhône had already been burned by them, translated the bones of the blessed Ferreolus with the head of Julian the martyr within the city, and with hastened work, at no great cost, built a church for them; where he also reverently laid the relics of the same martyrs. This translation seems to have been made not long before the middle of the eighth century. For the Sainte-Marthes fix the beginning of Wilicarius's episcopate about the year 742; and Maupertuy, in his recent History of the church of Vienne, in the year 740. Further, on the occasion of this translation the people of Brioude say that they received the head of St. Julian together with the arm of Bl. Ferreolus, says Ruinart in his Annotations on Gregory of Tours, column 851. But the words of Ado given above are against it, unless those relics were afterwards sent to the people of Brioude. Baronius in his Annotations on the Roman Martyrology observes that Aimoin in his History, book 2, chapter 20, treats of the relics of St. Ferreolus. But those are not the relics of our Ferreolus of Vienne, but of Ferreolus of Besançon, of whom we treated on the sixteenth of June. Tillemont, in volume 5, on SS. Julian and Ferreolus, affirms that in the diocese and territory of Paris there is also some church sacred to St. Ferreolus of Vienne.
§ II. Some Acts already published, others in manuscript: both to be given: the place of the martyrdom doubtful.
[ ] [The Saint's published Acts: those we have in manuscript assert that the Saint was killed at Brioude,] The Acts of St. Ferreolus were first published by Surius on the eighteenth of September, then reprinted by Ruinart among the genuine Acts of the martyrs, page 509, where the editor says: The passion of Ferreolus is had entire, which we produce from various manuscript codices collated with the edition of Surius. We too have the Acts of the same Martyr in several manuscripts, partly our own, partly received from elsewhere, which agree well enough with the edition of Surius and Ruinart as regards the history, if we except the place of the martyrdom. For in the printed editions the place of the martyrdom is set somewhere along the road; but in all our manuscripts he is asserted to have been crowned at Brioude, just as Ruinart noted of certain of his own in these
words: Here in several manuscripts Ferreolus is said to have been led to Brioude, and there beheaded by the governor together with Julian. This, I say, is read in all our manuscripts. First, in our excellent and very ancient manuscript codex marked Q Ms. 6, the final arrest of the fleeing Ferreolus, and his killing, is narrated thus: Then, having entered the public highway at a hurried pace, he runs as far as the river Jarez: where, being arrested and seized by his persecutors, with his hands bound behind his back he was led until he should come to the village which is called Brioude: where the governor ordered him to be brought before him together with the holy martyr Julian: and, examining them with an interlocution not known to us, he decreed that, because they scorned to sacrifice, they should be beheaded according to the law. There the earth received the blessed blood of them both. With these things our other codex, marked Q Ms. 2, plainly agrees; but the river to which the Saint is said to have come in his flight is there written Zarez.
[14] A third manuscript, which Peter Poussines of the Society of Jesus sent hither from Toulouse in the year 1643 from the codex of Moissac, and they are enumerated: in the same is narrated also plainly agrees with the preceding. Two copies sent hither by our Chifflet conspire equally in that place of the martyrdom, the one from the codex of the monastery of Acey, the other from the Legendary of St. Theuderius; but in this latter the river is again written Zarez, or ad Zarem. In the same way the name of the river is expressed in the sixth, which is from Utrecht; and in the seventh, which is from Trier, from the monastery of St. Maximinus, which agree altogether with the aforesaid in the rest; as does the eighth also, which John Gamans transmitted from the codex of the monastery of Böddeken in the diocese of Paderborn. There is added the Breviary of Vienne of the year 1522, in which precisely the same things are read, except that, the name of the river being somewhat altered, he is said to have come to the Jaira, and there to have been captured. The words of Ado, asserting the same things about the place of the martyrdom, I have already given at number 3. But all the codices agree with the published Acts as to the place of burial; only they add that a church was built over the sepulcher. Now from this addition, although it be true and certain, it would be gathered by a quite probable reasoning that the published Acts are older, since nothing about that church is read in them; if it were sufficiently established that they were found in ancient and unmutilated codices such as those which are published. Nevertheless from the end of the manuscript Acts it is likewise gathered that they were written before the construction of the second church, which St. Mamertus built about the year 460, since the Saint is said to be invoked in the earlier church, and no mention is made of the other.
[15] The whole passage concerning the burial and the church founded over the sepulcher I here transcribe from our earlier codex: the construction of a church over the Saint's sepulcher, But when he (namely St. Julian) had been granted to that region by divine dispensation, the faithful, and those who had followed from Vienne, carried back the most blessed martyr Ferreolus for the protection of their own city with commendable faith, laying him on the farther bank of the Rhône, which elsewhere, "which" in the feminine looks toward the city, not * far from the river. There, lest the illustrious Martyr should long lie hidden in an unhonored sepulcher, Castalius elsewhere Castulius or Castulus, a man of distinguished name among the leading men of the city of Vienne, of a family always illustrious in its fathers and its posterity, or rather of the very best nobility along whatever line is traced from him in any direction, still a catechumen and not yet having obtained the grace of baptism, made a basilica in honor of the Martyr, founding it with as much labor as faith, sending this gift ahead to God, that he might come to the completion of baptism with the patronage of the Martyr, as elsewhere "where" today the people, prayers being poured forth to God, rejoices in the Martyr, and the blessed Ferreolus commends the people's devotion to the Lord. These things are read in absolutely all the manuscripts without any notable variation. Ado also agrees, and the Breviary of Vienne, those things alone being abridged which are read in the codices about the family of Castulius. These very things too raise in me no small doubt, both about the place of the martyrdom and about the Acts themselves, published by Surius and Ruinart.
[16] which are not in the published Acts, perhaps because they were cut out. That doubt grows because Ruinart names no codex in which he found the Acts without those things which are narrated about the place of the martyrdom and about the church built. For from that silence I am forced to suspect that the last part of the Acts, namely from the arrest of the fleeing Ferreolus to the end, was taken by Ruinart from the edition of Surius alone. Certainly that whole part agrees so exactly with the Surian edition that I have not been able to find even the smallest little word altered; whereas nevertheless in the first part of the Acts the discrepancy of words is frequent and quite notable. Who then would not suspect that Ruinart borrowed that whole passage of the Acts from Surius alone, because he believed his own codices interpolated, and the Surian edition to be preferred to them in that part? Indeed he cites no codex which agrees with the Surian edition, although elsewhere he alleges at least three different codices on account of annotations of far less moment. This suspicion will nevertheless cease if even one codex of good repute be shown that conforms to the Surian or Ruinartian edition. But now, if that part of Ruinart's Acts flowed from the edition of Surius alone, who would not rightly judge that the ancient codices are to be preferred to the Surian edition, and that all those things which are read in the ancient codices, but not in Surius, were not added by an interpolator to Acts previously written, but rather were cut out or omitted in Surius, whether because there was a lacuna in his codex, or because he believed them not to be true and better omitted? Whatever the case may be, I discuss these things solely for the sake of investigating the truth, ready easily and gladly to change my opinion as soon as I learn that ancient codices are found agreeing with the Surian edition.
[17] Tillemont and others believe that Ferreolus was crowned near Vienne, Tillemont, in SS. Julian and Ferreolus, and Baillet, in his Critical Table for this day, assert that the Acts of St. Ferreolus, such as they were published by Surius, seem excellent, yet not entirely authentic. Baillet adds that those in which the Saint's martyrdom is fixed at Brioude are of no worth. But to me it seems more doubtful which of the two is to be preferred, and I think Baillet's judgment is to be reckoned as nothing, since he seems to have delivered it about Acts he never saw. Assuredly all those things which can commend the credit of the Acts, or render it suspect, are found equally in both; indeed they are rather to be reckoned the same Acts than different ones; but either they have been interpolated in the codices, or mutilated and corrupted in the editions: and to this the whole difficulty comes back. Tillemont discusses the place of the martyrdom prudently and probably in Note 5, judging that it should rather be set near the Rhône than at Brioude, because that opinion is more conformable to the assertions of St. Gregory of Tours and of St. Sidonius, bishop of Auvergne; and because he supposed that it is also found in some manuscript Acts. If this last were established, I should believe that opinion of Tillemont's sufficiently certain, since the words of Sidonius given at number 6 do in some measure favor Tillemont.
[18] and they have Sidonius and Gregory of Tours in their favor. For Sidonius affirms that the head of Julian was carried from Auvergne to Vienne to the persecutor; nor does he assert this of the body of St. Ferreolus. Gregory of Tours likewise favors Tillemont, since in the words given at number 6 he says that St. Ferreolus received the head of St. Julian, so that both seem to have supposed that St. Julian suffered some time before Ferreolus. Tillemont adds that St. Julian is called by Sidonius ours and our patron, but not so Ferreolus, and he believes this comes about because Julian suffered in Auvergne, and Ferreolus did not. But this observation has no force: for St. Julian could be numbered among the Saints of Auvergne because he had not only suffered there but was also buried there; because he was venerated there and had a church dedicated to him. But Ferreolus belonged rather to the people of Vienne, among whom he had both begun his martyrdom and among whom he was buried, and was venerated in a church dedicated to him. And so the words of Sidonius favor Tillemont for no other reason than that he says the head of St. Julian was carried to Vienne to the persecutor, and that Gregory of Tours asserts that it was received by Ferreolus. But it may be asked whether Sidonius and Gregory were sufficiently certain about the manner in which the head of St. Julian had come to Vienne. For they certainly knew that it was there. But they are not so near to the times of St. Julian that they could not have followed uncertain conjectures about the manner in which his head had come to Vienne.
[19] Wherefore it is fitting also to weigh the reasons which make for the contrary opinion, [But against these stand the manuscript Acts, which are not indeed excellent, but probable:] namely for fixing the death of St. Ferreolus at Brioude in Auvergne. This opinion is favored first by all our manuscript Acts, and certainly by some of Ruinart's, indeed, as I suspect, by all of them, since he alleged no codex to the contrary. Now those Acts seem altogether older than the church built by St. Mamertus, both because they do not mention it, and because they clearly assert that the Saint was then venerated in the earlier church. Those Acts, therefore, were written in the fourth century, or in the fifth before the translation which was made after the middle of that century. But that they were not composed immediately after the Saint's martyrdom is abundantly gathered from their very beginning. And what is said about the church built for the Saint by Castulius intimates that same thing no less certainly. Yet we find nothing in those same Acts by which we are compelled to call them later than the fourth century: but neither does anything occur in them which persuades more strongly that they were written about or after the middle of the fourth century than at the beginning of the fifth, or nearly its middle, so that it appears to me remarkable that they should seem so excellent to Tillemont, especially since they contain a number of things which are wont to displease Tillemont everywhere in the Acts of martyrs, such as miracles, longer and freer speeches, a prison excessively frightful into which the Tribune of soldiers is said to have been cast. Such things, I say, are wont elsewhere to displease Tillemont and Baillet; but in these Acts they do not displease. To me, Acts in which I find such things seem neither excellent, unless such things can be approved from the age of the authors, nor do I think them to be rejected out of hand, but I judge that they should be held among the probable, and as such I shall give them, first as first published by Ruinart, then as they are had in the manuscripts, so that the studious reader may choose.
[20] and the authority of the church of Vienne, and some other things, A second reason which persuades that St. Ferreolus was killed at Brioude is drawn from the authority of the church of Vienne. Who persuaded Ado, bishop of Vienne, that St. Ferreolus was killed at Brioude, if he did not find it in the Acts preserved at Vienne in his time? Who inserted that opinion into the Breviary of Vienne, if it was not the opinion of the people of Vienne? The authority of Ado and of the people of Vienne, conformable to all the manuscript Acts, chiefly moves me not to acquiesce in the opinion lately received by the moderns about the Saint's being killed near Vienne
as though it were sufficiently certain. For if the people of Vienne had once been persuaded that St. Ferreolus had been killed in their own neighborhood, they would not easily have departed from that opinion, nor would they have interpolated the Acts so as to banish the place of his martyrdom far from themselves. And so the Acts do not seem to have been interpolated in this part, but to have been written so from the beginning. There is added a third reason, from the church which was built for St. Ferreolus in Auvergne, as Gregory of Tours witnesses at number 10, and that near the spring in which the head of St. Julian is believed to have been washed. I see no more fitting reason for building a church to St. Ferreolus in that same place than if we say that the people of Auvergne believed that he was crowned with martyrdom there. Thus we shall easily understand what is said in the second Acts of St. Julian at number 5: Leaving the trunk of the body (of St. Julian), they carry to St. Ferreolus that head which their parricidal hands had washed. For since they are said to have done this by way of insult, it is more probably believed to have been done when Ferreolus had been captured in Auvergne and destined to death, than while he was living free at Vienne.
[21] which seem sufficient for holding the place of the martyrdom as doubtful. Thus again it is set forth with a more likely reasoning how the head of St. Julian came to be buried with the body of St. Ferreolus. For the Christians would have carried both together toward Vienne, and buried them together. But if the head of St. Julian was already at Vienne beforehand, I do not sufficiently grasp on what occasion it would have been buried with the body of St. Ferreolus. Certainly Ferreolus did not carry it with him to prison, and consequently did not have it with him in his flight from prison. Wherefore I do not find for what cause the people of Vienne should have carried that head beyond the Rhône, especially since the burial of St. Ferreolus had to be carried out secretly for fear of the persecutor. But let us not linger longer over matters exceedingly obscure and doubtful. For I do not propose to establish anything certain; but the arguments given seem to me sufficient for holding the place of St. Ferreolus's martyrdom as at least doubtful. As regards the time, the Saint is believed to have suffered in the general persecution of Diocletian and Maximian, or about the year 304. I alleged the reasons on the twenty-eighth of August in the Commentary prefixed to the Acts of St. Julian.
Annotata* not
ACTS
From the edition of Ruinart, collated with the edition of Surius.
Ferreolus, martyr, at Vienne in Gaul. (S.)
BHL Number: 2911
From the printed editions.
[ ] When throughout all the provinces the race of the Christians, dear to God, hateful to the devil, was being compelled to serve a sacrilegious rites, a certain Crispinus, the governor of that time, in the city of Vienne, according to the command of the emperors, began to compel the Christians to sacrifice. The Saint, arrested and interrogated Sitting therefore before the tribunal, with a detestable purpose he decreed to honor b those who complied, but to punish those who refused. And while his office was raging most bitterly against all the servants of God through the minister of his fury, it happened that among others he also compelled the most blessed martyr Ferreolus, who was a soldier in dress alone and not in duty, to sacrifice, because he had been betrayed as a Christian, saying: It is necessary, Ferreolus, that you before all others obey the laws of the most invincible princes, to whom you owe both fidelity for the pay of your soldiering, and reverence for their majesty, and, for the increase of your honor, an irreproachable devotion in obeying. Wherefore it behooves you to comply with counsel, lest punishment chastise your dissembling . You have been ordered, therefore, to sacrifice to the gods c; why do you delay? Saint Ferreolus said : I am a Christian, I must not sacrifice to the gods. I served the emperors as long as it was permitted with my religion safe. My works, when I obeyed you, I owed to just laws: I have never served sacrilegious ones; I proposed to fight against the guilty, not against Christians. The pay which you mention I do not seek. Let a sacrilegious emperor feed a sacrilegious soldier. I do not seek the gains of a temporal life: it is enough for me if it be permitted to live a Christian with my religion safe. But if that be not permitted, I am prepared to die.
[2] The governor said: Whence comes to you, Ferreolus, this great confidence in dying? he answers steadfastly: Perhaps, after the injury to the laws, after the insult to the princes, it comes from despair of living d. But our humanity suffers that to be plainly abolished which you have contumaciously uttered either against the gods or against the princes; only let you repent of your words, and satisfy the laws by repudiating the sect of the Christians and by sacrificing to the deities. Ferreolus answered: Let your humanity, and the indulgence which you promise, be awaited by one who is henceforth to serve you or your emperors: to whose laws he does no injury who prefers the law of God to them. He rather is guilty who disparages the Divinity, who venerates insensible and perishable things. I adore the Creator, not the creature. That God is not to be sought in things made by hand, He himself declares who formed all things, whose witnesses are heaven, earth, and whatever things either lie below or shine above. All those things serve Him, which, creating them for our sake, God appointed in all things to be of profit to us, not to have dominion over us e. You rather disturb what has been rightly ordered, by setting temporal things before eternal, dead before living, brute before knowing, falsehood before truth: and therefore you have fallen into pride, and are damned for ever with the malignant spirits. But God, who is the Lord of all things and the eternal Emperor, has given to his servants through Jesus Christ his Son the confidence of dying. Through whom also he grants us the hope of rising again, so that we may believe that the losses of the present life will profit us toward the increase of a fuller life.
[3] The governor said: As I see, you have already made a loss of your life. But it is fitting, nevertheless, severely beaten, he is cast into a frightful prison: that he who is not bent by the humanity of counsel should also despise torments. And unless you forestall these by sacrificing *, you shall learn how bitter they are. But when he perceived that the most blessed Ferreolus was in no way moved by threats, he ordered him to be set up and beaten more sharply. And when not even so, with torturers succeeding one another after the custom, could he see him bent, he ordered him to be laden with iron and shut up in prison, saying: Let a squalid prison exceeding every punishment shut up this rebel. Let him feel himself guilty of treason: let the despiser of the gods be deprived of light. Let it not be allowed him, being fettered, to stand; let the weights of iron press him down when sitting also; and when he lies down, let the vaster binding of the very chains that grip him consume him, until, being prepared for a stronger examination f, he may run through all the torments which are appointed for criminals. Which said, at once the governor's ministers cast the most blessed Ferreolus, laden with iron, into prison, and, guards being set, they began to keep him to be presented again.
[4] freed from prison by divine power, he flees; but, captured again, he is killed. But there, two days being spent, on the third day in the morning, as happens, the guards being oppressed with a deeper sleep, his bonds loosing of themselves, the Servant of God knew * himself free, and, approaching with a slow step to the door, he sees that it stands open to him. And so, fleeing persecution according to the Gospel, he was hastening to a foreign region. Having gone out beyond the gate g toward Lyons, he stopped, fixed in doubtful counsel, asking himself which road he should best take, and how he might leave no traces for those who would pursue him. And so, prayer being first sent up, he resolved to cross the Rhône by a difficult swim. But what elements do not serve the servants of God? or when do any adversities not grow mild at a Martyr's prayers? Armed therefore with faith, and secure of the Lord's promise, he faithfully enters the stream. And as it pressed upon him, the wave, its eddies gently drawn aside, held him up more solidly on its smooth back: and so the blessed Martyr crosses it with a few thrusts in his effort at swimming, and comes out safe on the farther bank h. Thence, having entered the public highway at a hurried pace, he ran as far as the river Jarez i; where, when he was arrested by his persecutors and was being led with his hands bound behind his back into that place in which we venerate the sepulcher of his holy body, he fell, struck down by a sudden impulse of cruelty k. Him the faithful devotion of religious citizens buried with the highest veneration, for the protection of the city, not far from the Rhône. Whose benefits, as they are sought throughout the cities by vows, so are they attested by frequent favors l, our Lord Jesus Christ granting it, to whom is power unto ages of ages, amen.
ANNOTATIONS.
* Sur. to compel
* Sur. it behooves therefore
* the same: the dissembler
* the same: answered
* Sur. unless you sacrifice
* Sur. feels
OTHER ACTS
Or rather the same, from the manuscripts.
Ferreolus, martyr, at Vienne in Gaul. (S.)
BHL Number: 2912
From the manuscripts.
[ ] Ferreolus is interrogated: While throughout all the provinces the race of the Christians, dear to God, hateful to the devil, was being compelled to serve sacrilegious rites, as has been related, a certain Crispinus, the governor of that time, in the city of Vienne, according to the command of the emperors, began to compel the Christians to sacrifice. And, sitting before the tribunal, with a detestable purpose he began a to honor those who complied, but to punish those who refused; and while his office was raging most bitterly against all the servants of God through the minister of his fury, it happened that he compelled the most blessed martyr Ferreolus, a soldier in dress * only, not in heart, in outward show, not in duty, to sacrifice, because he had been betrayed as a Christian, saying: It is necessary that you first of all obey b the laws of the most invincible princes, to whom
you owe both fidelity for the pay of your soldiering, and reverence for their majesty, and, for the increase of your honor, an irreproachable devotion in obeying. Wherefore it behooves you to comply with counsel, lest punishment chastise your dissembling. You have been ordered, therefore, to sacrifice to the gods; why do you delay? Ferreolus said: I am a Christian; I must not sacrifice: I served the emperors as long as it was permitted with my religion safe. My service, when I obeyed you, I owed to just laws; to sacrilegious ones I never pledged it c. I proposed to fight against the guilty, not against Christians. The pay which you mention I do not seek. Let a sacrilegious emperor feed a sacrilegious soldier. I do not seek the gains of a temporal life. It is enough for me if it be permitted to live a Christian with my religion safe. Certainly, if that is not permitted, it is enough to die d.
[2] The governor said: What is this great confidence of yours in dying, Ferreolus? and he answers the governor steadfastly. Does it perhaps come, after the injury to the kings and the insult to the princes, from despair of living? Our humanity suffers that to be abolished which you have contumaciously uttered either against the gods or against the princes, if, bearing repentance for your words, you make satisfaction e, by repudiating the sect of the Christians, by consenting to our * laws, or by sacrificing to the deities. Ferreolus said: Let your humanity, or the indulgence which you promise, be awaited by one who is henceforth to serve you or your emperors. To whose laws he does no injury who sets God's law before them. He rather is guilty toward the Divinity who venerates insensible and perishable things. I have proposed to adore the Creator, not the creature: that God, not made by hand, is to be sought by me, He himself declares who formed all things; whose witnesses are heaven, and earth, and whatever things either lie below or shine above. All those things serve Him, which, creating them for our sake, God appointed in all things to be of profit to us, not to have dominion over us. You rather disturb what has been rightly ordered, by setting temporal things before eternal, dead before living, brute before feeling f, falsehood before truth, and on account of g pride the fallen spirits, damned for ever, before God, who is the Lord of all things and the eternal emperor, and who has given to his servants through Jesus Christ his Son the confidence of dying, through whom, with sure hope of rising again into a fuller measure of life, the losses of the present life advance us.
[3] afflicted with scourges, he is shut up in prison: The governor said: You have already, as I see, made a loss of your life. It is fitting, nevertheless, that he who is not bent by the humanity of counsel should also despise torments. And unless you forestall these by sacrificing, you shall learn how bitter they are. And when he perceived that the most blessed Ferreolus was not moved by these threats, he ordered him to be set up and beaten more sharply. And when he perceived that he could not be bent, with torturers succeeding one another after the custom, he ordered him to be laden with iron and shut up again in prison, saying: Let a squalid prison exceeding every punishment shut up this rebel; let him feel himself guilty of treason, let the despiser of the gods be deprived of light. Let it not be allowed him, being fettered, to stand; let the weights of iron press him down when sitting also; and when he lies down, let the vaster joining of the very chains that grip him hold him up h, until, being prepared for a stronger examination, he may run through all the torments which are appointed for criminals. Which said, at once the governor's ministers, shutting the most blessed Ferreolus, laden with iron, into prison, with guards appointed beforehand, began to keep him to be presented again.
[4] freed from prison by divine power, he swims the Rhône and flees. Where, two days being passed, on the third day at dawn, the guards being sunk deeper in sleep, as happens, his bonds loosing of themselves, the servant of God knew himself freed. And approaching with a slow step to the door of the prison, he perceives that a free exit lies open to him. According to the Gospel he prepares to flee persecution into a foreign region. Having gone out beyond the gate toward Lyons, he stopped, fixed in doubtful counsel, asking himself which road he should best take, or how he might not be able to furnish traces to those who would follow. And so, prayer being first sent up, he prepares to cross the Rhône by a difficult swim; which, washing the walls of the city of Vienne, adorns it by the very channel along which it runs, and fortifies it, offering a useful passage to the citizens, but repelling the enemy by its headlong depth. But what elements do not serve the servants of God? or when do any troubled and adverse things not grow mild at a martyr's prayers? Armed therefore with faith, and secure of the Lord's promise, he faithfully enters the stream: and as he was cast upon it, the wave, its eddies gently drawn aside, held him up more solidly on its smooth back: and the blessed Martyr crossed it with a few thrusts by the effort of swimming, and comes out safe on the farther bank.
[5] He is captured again, and, killed at Brioude, is buried near the Rhône, Thence, having entered the public highway at a hurried step, he ran as far as the river Jarez i; where, being arrested and seized by his persecutors, with his hands bound behind his back he was led until he should come to the village which is called Brioude k, where the governor l ordered him to be brought before him together with the holy martyr Julian. Examining them with an interlocution not known to us, he decreed that they should be beheaded according to the law. There the earth received the blessed blood of them both, and, with the illustrious monument of a basilica standing there, it is frequented to this day m from the surrounding regions. Which was built in honor of the holy martyr Julian, because he had been slain and buried there n: where by evident miracles even to this day the merit of the martyr and the confusion of the persecuting devil is fully taught. But when he had been granted to that region by divine dispensation, the faithful, and those who had followed from Vienne, carried back the most blessed martyr Ferreolus for the protection of their own city with commendable faith; laying him on the farther bank of the Rhône, which looks toward the city, not far from the river.
[6] There, lest the illustrious Martyr should long lie hidden in an unhonored sepulcher, where a church was afterwards founded for him. Castalius, a man of distinguished name among the leading men of the city of Vienne, of a family always illustrious in its fathers and its posterity, or rather of the very best nobility along whatever line is traced from him in any direction, still a catechumen and not yet having obtained the grace of baptism, made a basilica in honor of the Martyr, founding it with as much labor as faith; sending this gift ahead to God, that he might come to the completion of baptism with the patronage of the Martyr. Where o today the people, prayers being poured forth to the Lord, rejoices in the Martyr, and the blessed Ferreolus commends the people's devotion to the Lord [p].
ANNOTATIONS.
p. In one manuscript is added, Our Lord Jesus Christ reigning, to whom is power and honor unto ages of ages. Amen. And a similar conclusion is found in three others. But it is absent from our codices, and from the Trier one. You have, studious reader, twin Acts, or, as I rather believe, the same Acts published in different ways. These latter have nothing from the edition of Surius alone; but they come from seven manuscripts, agreeing with one another everywhere, excepting only errors, or slighter changes of words, such as are wont to creep into codices through the ignorance or negligence of copyists. But the former Surius published more freely after his manner, changing the style from time to time: which I believe he did chiefly where he found the wording corruptly expressed in the codices. Further, I do not doubt that Ruinart took much from Surius, because in the collation I detected that his edition agrees in words with the Surian where it differs from our codices; but agrees with ours, at least with some of them, when it diverges from Surius.
* elsewhere, alone
* of the emperors