Saint Patroclus

But a cruel whim of the E mperor Aurelian, wh l'empereur Aurélien Gallo-Roman nobleman and ambassador of Clovis. o was then in the Gauls, was soon to deprive the earth of one of its benefactors and enrich heaven with an intercessor. After having allowed the Church to live in peace for some time, and even after having rendered it a service by an imperial rescript against the heresiarch Paul of Samosata, condemned by the Fathers of the Council of Antioch, Aurelian, as if seized by a sudden madness, incited, in the last year of his reign, the most violent persecution against the Christians. The edict he published on this occasion can still be read in the acts of Saint Symphorian, martyr. How crucial this persecution was, however short, one can get an idea of it by the horrible tortures to which he subjected his pagan soldiers. Flavius Vopiscus recounts that a soldier, for having violated the rights of hospitality, was tied by his feet and hands to tree branches bent with effort and then released to their natural movement, which thus tore the unfortunate man in two. If he invented such tortures against his own soldiers, what must he not have done against the Christians, whom he considered impious, enemies of the divinity, and traitors to the empire and the emperors? The acts of Saint Parre report that the martyr was interrogated by Aurelian himself, that the prince, irritated by his answers, delivered him to the executioners with orders to behead him in a swamp on the banks of the Seine, so that his body would remain buried there without honor; but that the Saint having prayed to God not to leave him in this mud, the eyes of the executioners were suddenly darkened and blinded, so that Saint Parre, taking advantage of this circumstance, escaped from their hands, and, miraculously crossing the Seine, went to a nearby hill, where the executioners arriving a little later, while he was praying with his face to the ground, struck him with their swords and cut off his head. The priest Eusebius and the deacon Liberius collected his remains and gave him burial. When the persecution, which was short, had passed, they built a small oratory over his tomb. After the acts of the martyr were brought from Rome, during the expedition to Italy of Theodebert, King of the Franks, a g reat basilica soon replace Théodebert, roi des Francs King of Austrasia in whose service Romaric began his career. d the small chapel.

On the left of the road to Sa int-Parre-aux-Tertres, Saint-Parre-aux-Tertres Site of the martyrdom and principal pilgrimage center. at some distance from the houses, an iron cross placed on a stone base indicates to travelers and pious pilgrims the place where Saint Parre received the mortal blow.

From time immemorial, the church of Saint-Parre-aux-Tertres, dedicated to the first Trojan martyr, two kilometers from the city, has been the destination of a pious and edifying pilgrimage.

A fairly considerable portion of the head and arm of Saint Savinian saint Savinien Brother of Saint Sabina, martyr at Troyes. is exposed at the same time as the relics of Saint Parre. Furthermore, several other powerful protectors are venerated there in particular: Saint Badagonde, Queen of France; Saint Eugene, martyr; Saint Euphemia, virgin and martyr, whose relics come from the abbey of Foicy; Saint Lupus, Saint Bernard, Saint Edme, Saint Vorles, Saint Syra, etc.

Three days in the year, January 19, Easter Monday, and Whit Monday, call the faithful to this pious gathering. But it is especially on Whit Monday that the attendance is most considerable.

A confraternity is established at Saint-Parre-les-Tertres in honor of the glorious patron of the country; the associates can gain a plenary indulgence if they fulfill the ordinary conditions. From the morning of Whit Monday, the churchwardens are at their desk and keep open the register where they record the names of all those who come to ask God for some grace and to join the confraternity. After a low mass, the Pilgrims' Mass, the priest imposes the stole on the people who visit the holy relics, and he recites at the same time the following invocation:

"May the almighty and merciful Lord grant you all that you have piously asked of Him through the intercession of Saint Parre and the other Saints whose memory we honor today. Amen."

At La Saufsotte, near Nogent-sur-Seine, a similar pilgrimage takes place in honor of Saint Parre, and the neighboring localities go there with as much devotion as eagerness.

In the 10th century, his relics were transferred from Troyes to Cologne, and th en fr Soest Meeting place in Westphalia before the assassination. om Cologne to Soest, in the County of the Mark, of which he is the principal patron.

Saint Parre is the patron of the parish of Onjon, in the diocese of Troyes. Not all the relics of this holy martyr were removed from the land that was the scene of his martyrdom; portions of them are venerated at Saint-Mards, at Lusigny, and at Fralignes, which also recognize him as their patron. Several localities in the diocese of Troyes bear his name, such as Saint-Parre-aux-Tertres and Saint-Parre-les-Vaudes; Chalantre-la-Grande formerly possessed a church dedicated to Saint Parre.

Surius provides the authentic acts of Saint Patro saint Patrocle Recluse of Berry and founder of the monastery of Colombier. clus, or Par re. Gregory of To Grégoire de Tours Bishop of Tours, contemporary historian, and friend of Palladius. urs speaks of them. He says that these acts, brought from Italy, were compared and found to be similar to those possessed by a French ecclesiastic. The persecution of the Emperor Aurelian is placed as the ninth by Orosius, as well as by Saint Augustine; but the historian Sulpicius Severus lists it as the eighth.