Saint Sixtus

The first opinion believes itself authorized to reject the apostolic origin of these two Churches as poorly founded. On the contrary, it would only be after the death of Saint Crispin and Saint Crispinian, martyred at Soissons at the end of the 3rd century, that Rome would have sent new missionaries to Belgic Gaul to gather the faithful dispersed by the persecution of the emperors Diocletian (284-305) and Maximian-Herculius (286-305). In this hypothesis, the mission of Saint Sixtus and Saint Sinicius would have been given to them between the years 288 and 310, following an apparition of the martyrs Crispin and Crispinian to Pope Marcellinus (296-304), or to Pope Marcellus (304-310), who would have immediately chosen other missionaries to replace those whom the sword had just harvested in Soissons, Reims, Fismes, Bazoches, and the neighboring countries. — Some archaeologists from Soissons believed they discovered, in the apse of the cathedral, in one of the five 13th-century stained glass windows, vestiges of this tradition. One can indeed see there, in very legible characters, the names Crispinus and Crispinianus, as well as the word Marcellus. A person lying on a bed is awakened by an angel. In a panel next to the first, another person, dressed as a monk, appears to be sending the three men standing before him on a mission. — These paintings, if they have been learnedly interpreted, would only attest to one thing: the local belief at that time regarding the era of the arrival of Saint Sixtus and Saint Sinicius in Soissons.

The authors who support the non-apostolicity of the churches of Soissons and Reims are based first on manuscripts that are no more than six hundred years old, and which were written much more to edify the faithful than to instruct them exactly on the facts and their dates. They further allege that, in the hypothesis of the apostolic origin of these two churches, it would be absolutely necessary to admit (which is extremely repugnant to them) considerable gaps between Sixtus, Sinicius, and Amantius, inscribed and recognized as having been in the 1st and 2nd centuries the first three bishops of Reims, and the Pontiff who is regarded as the fourth bishop of this metropolis, Betause, who subscribed in 314 to the first Council of Arles, in Provence, held against the Donatists. In a space of more than two hundred and sixty years, only the names of four bishops are actually known.

These various reasons have convinced neither the authors of the Gallia christiana, who, without specifying the era of the mission of Sixtus and Sinicius, place it well before the year 287; nor those of the Art of Verifying Dates, in whom we read: "Saint Xystus or Sixtus was the first bishop of Reims, around the year 290, according to Tillemont"; but others claim, with more plausibility, that Saint Xystus and Saint Sinicius, his colleague in the government of the churches of Reims and Soissons, are much older than the end of the 3rd century.

And indeed it is difficult, says Canon Lequeux, to reconcile the non-apostolicity of the churches of Soissons and Reims with the large number of Christians who lived in Belgic Gaul at the end of the 3rd century, a number proven by the very rigor with which the persecution was exercised there; for it must seem astonishing that Christianity had already made so much progress in this region, if these lands had not yet received their first form.

A second opinion, very imprecise but which is linked by an essential point to the first, is that which relies on a text by the scholar Hincmar, thirty-second archbishop of Reims (843-882): "The blessed Sixtus, it is said, was sent to the metropolis of Reims by Sixtus, pontiff of Rome.

One wonders first which Sixtus the illustrious prelate intended to speak of. Is it Pope Sixtus I of the 2nd century (117-127)? Or is it Pope Sixtus II of the 3rd century (257-259)? The ancient Bollandists, in 1746, thought it was Pope Sixtus II; which would place the foundation of the two Churches of Soissons and Reims in the middle of the 3rd century. We shall see hereafter what one should think of the accuracy of the transcription of Hincmar's text, and what meaning one must attach to this sentence, according to the goal the prelate proposed in his letter.

The third opinion, which is the oldest, is that which believes itself founded in maintaining that the Churches of Reims and Soissons date back to apostolic times; that Saint Sixtus was a disciple of Saint Peter, who h imself wishe saint Pierre Apostle mentioned for the setting of the procession date. d to consecrate him bishop and gave him his mission for the most important cities of Belgic Gaul, Reims and Soissons.

"This opinion," says M. Ravenez, "has always been very widespread in Reims and in all the neighboring churches. In all centuries, distinguished writers have adopted it as the only true one, as the only admissible one. It has always enjoyed great favor, and it has appeared worthy of consideration even to the most severe critics." — "If this opinion," says Canon Lequeux, "does not have all the desirable certainty, we believe it has many probabilities in its favor." Here are the authorities upon which it relies.

Emperor Lothair (840-855), writing to Pope Saint Leo IV (847-855), spoke to him of the preeminence of the Church of Reims, as having been founded by Saint Sixtus, disciple of the Apostles.

In the 6th century, the Church of Châlons traced its origin back to Saint Peter. Now, the Church of Châlons is most certainly contemporary with the Church of Reims.

Foulques (883-900), successor to Hincmar, wrote in 887 to Pope Stephen V (885-891), "that the see of Reims was particularly honored by the Popes, because Saint Peter gave it Saint Sixtus as its first bishop." — Foulques would not have wished, without stating the motive, to contradict his illustrious predecessor Hincmar. From which one concludes that he was reading the aforementioned text of Hincmar differently than Father Sirmond read it; that there is consequently a mistake in this text, and that instead of *a Sixto*, one must read *a Petro*. This copyist's error seems all the more probable as Hincmar's goal, in writing to the bishop of Laon, was to highlight the antiquity, dignity, prerogatives, and jurisdiction of his metropolis over the other Churches of the region. His argumentation would be weak if one held to Father Sirmond's reading. Thus, Father Gilles Boucher, the contemporary and friend of Father Sirmond, editor of Hincmar's works, says in his *Belgium Romanum ecclesiasticum et civile*, published in 1655: "It results from Hincmar's opinion that Saint Sixtus was sent to Reims by Saint Peter, at the same time that the Prince of the Apostles directed Eucher and his companions to Trier." (Now, the Church of Trier has always been regarded as the sister of the Church of Reims.)

According to the exact and judicious Flodoard (894-966), canon of Reims a nd paris Flodoard Historian of the Church of Reims and hagiographical source. h priest of Cormicy, "the blessed apostle Saint Peter, having ordained Saint Sixtus archbishop of our city, and feeling the need to have him assisted by suffragans, gave him as companions and assessors in the province Saint Sinice, first bishop of Soissons and then of Reims, as well as Saint Memmie, pastor of Châlons."

Descending the course of the centuries, we still encounter the Benedictine Hugh of Flavigny (1065-1115) who says in his chronicle of Verdun: "The first pastor and apostle Peter sent Saint Sixtus and Saint Sinice to Reims; to Châlons, Saint Memmie." — In the middle of the 13th century, Vincent of Beauvais speaks no differently in his *Speculum*.

By these passages, and many others that we cannot transcribe here, one senses how unfounded are the pretensions of the recent editors of Dom Marlot, who, while taking glory in bringing out of oblivion and publishing the French manuscript of his *History of Reims*, have attached themselves, in a very long note, to contradicting the sentiment of the illustrious Benedictine on the apostolic origin of the Churches of Soissons and Reims.

To the authority of books one can add that of monuments. In 1738, a monument was discovered in Reims, under the tower of the church of Saint-Martin, and at a depth of 20 feet, dating from before the year 260, and which represents several facts of the Old and New Testament, for example the paralytic carrying his bed, the sacrifice of Abraham, etc. Very ancient tombs were also found containing corpses that bore marks of torture; the head and arms are pierced by large nails. It is presumed that these are the remains of martyrs.

All these testimonies combined determined Cardinal Gousset to openly profess his sentiment on the apostolic origin of his Church, and since the year 1858, one reads in the brief of the diocese of Reims these words printed by his order: "Reims, metropolis, counts, since Saint Sixtus, disciple of Saint Peter, prince of the Apostles, and consecrated by him first bishop of Reims, ninety-nine archbishops, of whom thirteen are revered as saints." Such had been, for long centuries, the generally accepted opinion. Reims and Soissons, and many other Churches of France, traced their origin, without any opposition, back to apostolic times.

But in the 16th century, the Nor man Jean de La Jean de Launoy Seventeenth-century theologian who challenged the apostolic origin of the Gallican churches. unoy (1603-1678), a doctor of the Sorbonne known for the boldness of his writings, twenty-nine of which were placed on the Index and reproved by Pope Benedict XIV, endeavored to overturn this belief. He claimed that the introduction of Christianity into the Gauls had only taken place in the 4th century. He drew into his sentiment Le Nain de Tillemont, Baillet, and, among recent authors, Amédée Thierry, Henri Martin, the editors of the French version of Dom Marlot, and the Abbé Pêcheur in his *Annales du diocèse de Soissons*.

Doctor Launoy relied mainly on a text by Gregory of Tours and one by Sulpicius Severus. According to Gregory of Tours, it was under the Emperor Decius (249-251) that missionaries were sent from Rome to the Gauls: Saint Gatianus to Tours, Saint Trophimus to Arles, Saint Martial to Limoges, etc. According to Sulpicius Severus, it was during the fifth persecution under Marcus Aurelius that Gaul saw martyrs for the first time, the Christian religion having been received late beyond the Alps.

These two texts are no longer authoritative. The second is, moreover, susceptible to a favorable interpretation. But understood in the sense of Launoy, it would not today withstand examination before the monuments of history studied more seriously. This first text was contradicted and refuted by the famous Cordelier Pagi, in his critique of the *Annales* of Baronius, year 834. "The error of Gregory of Tours," says Abbé Faillon, "comes from the fact that he took the names of the bishops sent by Rome from the acts of Saint Ursinus of Bourges; and the time of their mission from those of Saint Saturninus."

Here are other documents that refute Gregory of Tours and Sulpicius Severus, and testify in favor of the apostolicity of the Churches of Soissons. In 440, nineteen bishops of Gaul wrote to Pope Saint Leo the Great: "All the provinces of Gaul know, and the Roman Church is not ignorant of it, that the city of Arles was evangelized by Saint Trophimus, sent by Saint Peter." We refer to M. Ravenez to read texts by Saint Justin, Saint Irenaeus, Tertullian, and Saint Hilary of Poitiers, which attest that, from the beginning of the Church, the preaching of the Gospel was universal, and that the whole land of the Gauls was not forgotten by the head of the Apostles.

In 1854, the Congregation of Rites, by declaring Saint Martial of Limoges an apostle, and consequently a disciple of the Savior, thereby invalidates the alleged text of Gregory of Tours and strips it of all authority.

The gaps found in the catalogues of the bishops of the first centuries, in Reims and elsewhere, do not appear to be a very strong objection against the apostolicity of the Churches of Reims and Soissons, since similar voids are found in these same catalogues at times when, by the admission of all historians, these Churches had already existed for several centuries. "These gaps," says M. Ravenez, "demonstrate, not that the bishops did not exist, but only that their memory has perished. A book with a torn page is no less a book."

The silence of history regarding these early times is also very well explained. The missionaries did not know the language of the country; they hid themselves to announce the good news little by little and more surely; they forgot themselves and did not think for a moment of perpetuating the memory of their labors through history. Hence the few documents that remain to us on the first centuries of the Gallic Churches.

M. Ravenez, whose scholarly *Dissertation on the Origin of the Churches of Reims and Soissons* we have partially analyzed, summarizes his entire argument with these lines: "The apostolic origin of the Church of Reims is therefore proven: 1° by the tradition peculiar to this Church; 2° by the texts of the Church Fathers who wrote in the first three centuries; 3° by the refutation of the texts of Sulpicius Severus and Gregory of Tours; 4° by the opinion of Archbishop Hincmar, to whose text the true reading has been restored."

From all this discussion, inevitably a bit dry and arid, we draw the conclusion that the faithful of the dioceses of Reims and Soissons, knowing better the origin of their particular Churches, will henceforth be all the more attached to the Roman Church, the head and mother of all the Churches of the world, to that apostolic see from which the faith and the divine morality of the Gospel came to them directly. Consequently, they will profess the deepest veneration for the successors of Saint Peter, who are, like him, the vicars of Jesus Christ on earth, and watch over the preservation of the deposit of doctrines taught by the God-Man, and preserved in the Scriptures and in tradition. They will always be grateful for these sovereign Pontiffs who, for a thousand years, by sending or confirming the successive bishops of our Churches, have developed and supported in the ecclesiastical province of Reims, as in the whole universe, the true principles of true civilization and the morality of peoples and sovereigns; have often repressed abuses; have taken up the cause of the weak and the oppressed, and have justly deserved to be called, as they truly are, the Popes or the Fathers of all Christendom.

We know little about the life and labors of Saint Sixtus and Sain Sixte First bishop of Reims and founder of the local Church. t Sinicius, the first bishops of Soissons and Reims. It appears that, while Saint Peter was confined in the Mamertine prison, this Apostle, always occupied with the desire to make known afar the name and law of his divine Master, consecrated as bishop one of his disciples named Sixtus, gave him as a companion a priest named Sinicius, and sent them both into Belgic Gaul to work for the conversion of its inhabitants. The two missionaries first stopped in Reims, where Sixtus conducted himself with great wisdom. Withdrawn to the side, and avoiding the stirring up of popular commotions, he watched for the favorable moment to insinuate little by little, into the souls of the less rebellious, the principles of our faith. The demons, who saw the worship of idols threatened by the evangelical law, stirred up obstacles of every kind for this zealous missionary. After some time, Sixtus, noticing that his efforts among the Remi remained without result, remembered the words of the Savior to his Apostles: "If they will not receive you or listen to you, leave that place, shake the dust off your feet as a testimony against them."

He turned his sights to Soissons, the second city of Belgic Gaul, and went there with his faithful companion. The people of Soissons showing themselves more docile than the Remi, Sixtus fixed his episcopal see among them, and soon he saw himself surrounded by a numerous Christendom. Those of Reims, learning of the wonders worked in Soissons, regretted having forced, by their obstinacy, Sixtus to abandon them: they called him back into their midst. The holy Pontiff allowed himself to be touched by their repentance and their entreaties; he conferred the episcopal cha racter Sinice Companion of Saint Sixtus, first bishop of Soissons and subsequently second bishop of Reims. upon Sinicius, who thus became the second bishop of Soissons.

Upon returning to Reims, Sixtus found hearts better disposed. Thousands of pagans renounced their superstitions, and the number of the faithful increasing day by day, the apostle believed that the favorable moment had arrived to establish also, in Reims, an episcopal see of which he was the first bishop. On certain days, the faithful left the city to hear the exhortations of the holy Prelate, in a small oratory that he had erected in the suburbs, and which for a long time bore his name. It was there that they attended the sacrifice of the altar and participated in the holy mysteries. This oratory was first consecrated to the memory of the prince of the Apostles. Sixtus lived thus for ten years in the exercises of piety and zeal, in the midst of a people whom he cherished and by whom he was cherished. When he felt that the end of his pilgrimage was approaching, he had Sinicius come to him, to assist him in his final moments; and, after having recommended that he take care of the church of Reims, he died full of merits on September 1st; and, according to Dom Marlot, under the reign of Trajan, without it being possible to specify the year of his passing. His body was buried in the oratory of Saint Peter.

After the death of Saint Sixtus, Sinicius consecrated as bishop of Soissons Divitianus, who is believed to have been his nephew, at least by adoption; he then returned to Reims, and took possession of that see, of which he was the second bishop. He continued and perfected the work that his predecessor had so well begun; and after some years of a happy episcopate, the Lord called him to make him enjoy the eternal rewards.

The body of Saint Sinicius was buried next to that of Saint Sixtus, in the same oratory of Saint Peter.

[APPENDIX: CULT AND RELICS.]

In 920, Herveus or Hervée, thirty-fourth archbishop of Reims (900-922), removed the bodies of the two Saints from the vault where they had been deposited, and had them transported to the church of Saint-Remi, where they were placed near the altar of Saint Peter and Saint Clement. Their relics were subsequently moved to the metropolitan church, and the chapter enclosed them in a very rich shrine. If, as is presumable, this reliquary is the same as the one mentioned in the revolutionar y inventory of 1782, it was made o inventaire révolutionnaire de 1782 Period during which the saint's relics were hidden and lost. f silver-gilt and weighed thirty-eight marcs, two ounces, and four gros. The whole was sent to the mint, and the bones were profaned, without any portion being saved. It is true that in the current treasury of the cathedral of Reims, there still exists a reliquary of Saint Viate and Saint Sinice, a charming jewel that recalls the end of the Romanesque style. It is a box in the shape of a rose; the sides are silvered; the top is enameled in blue and gold. In the center is a figure of the Magdalene surrounded by three beautiful emeralds and three amethysts; on the back of the box is engraved in intaglio the figure of Jesus Christ. Inside is a piece of violet silk containing bones which an inscription says are those of Saint Sixte and Saint Sinice (according to Abbé Cerf). But, as can be seen, there is nothing authentic there.

For more than a thousand years, the head of Saint Sixte was kept in the church, now destroyed, of Saint-Nicisse, with the arm of Saint Sinice, on which was written in Gothic letters: *bracétum sancti Sinicii confessoris*. All of this also disappeared at the time of the French Revolution.

In the 9th cent ury, Ebbo, thirty-fi Révolution française Period during which the saint's relics were hidden and lost. rst archbishop of Reims (816-835), had given to Anscharius, first archbishop of Bremen and Hamburg, his friend and a German like himself, a portion of the relics of Saint Sixte and Saint Sinice. They were first deposited in Hamburg, in 833, and the church was consecrated under their name. The fear that they might fall into the hands of the Danes caused them to be transported beyond the Elbe, to a place named Rainsol (Ramsolam), in the parish of Verdun. It appears that the abbey of Fulda also possessed some fragments of the bodies of the first two bishops of Soissons and Reims.

The city of Soissons had long desired relics of its first two pontiffs. Finally, Simon II le Gras, eighty-third bishop of Soissons (1624-1656), obtained from the chapter of Reims, in 1629, some portion of the bones of the founders of his church; the solemn translation took place on April 26 of the same year. Nothing remains of this precious deposit nor of the shrine that contained them; it was broken in 1792. But if the relics of our first bishops can no longer be exposed each year to our veneration, their memory is not entirely erased from the minds of the faithful. Their feast is celebrated in Soissons and Reims on September 1st. So that the people may always be witnesses to this homage rendered to their apostles, the diocese of Soissons recently obtained from the Holy See an indult which allows it to move the solemnity of the feast of Saint Sixte and Saint Sinice to the Sunday following the day on which it is marked in the calendar. Furthermore, by a happy inspiration, Mgr de Simony, eighty-third bishop of Soissons, fixed on the first free day after the feast of our holy apostles the solemn and annual service that he founded in 1849, at the cathedral of Soissons, for the repose of his soul and that of all the pontiffs, his predecessors, a foundation which still contributes to not leaving in oblivion these courageous and zealous missionaries to whom we owe the benefit of the faith. In our days, religion is attacked on all sides by incredulity and rationalism. Indifferentism has also cooled many hearts. Let us pray to our holy apostles to cast a look of compassion on their former flock, on these lands that have become arid, which they had watered with their sweat and which they were disposed to fertilize with their blood, if the Lord had asked them for this sacrifice, or rather if He had granted them this favor.

We owe this notice to the kindness of M. Henri Conguet, canon of Soissons. — Cf. Dom Mariat; F. J. Jourd; the *Gallia Christiana*; Dormay; Abbé Pêcheur.