Saint Firmin of Pamplona

Firmin also became an ardent propagator of the faith; he strove, through gentle exhortations, to submit to the yoke of the Lord all those over whom he had any authority. In the course of time, always a Catholic in faith and action, he entrusted the young Firmin, who was already his son through baptism, to Saint Honestus, so that he might instruct him in letters and religion; wishing that the priest to whose zeal he and his own owed the grace of Christianity should be the master charged with forming the heart and mind of what he held most dear in the world, the firstborn of his children. The choice of the master presaged in some way the high destinies of this child of blessing. Under the direction of such a guide, the young Christian could only advance by leaps and bounds on the path of perfection. Firmin made rapid progress in science and virtue. From day to day his conduct became more exemplary, at the same time as his love for the divine profession he wished to embrace increased; as the rest of his life showed in a striking manner, he preciously gathered the teachings he drew from such a pure source, and he was a model of good works.

At the age of about seventeen, he was already instructed in letters and in Catholic doctrine. He went with assiduity to the church to sing, at every hour, the praises of God and His Saints. At such an early age, he gave himself entirely to study and prayer. He loved to remain for a long time in the holy place and often went there to pray. Insatiable in the fulfillment of the divine precepts of religion, he did not cease to meditate upon them. Finally, everything in his conduct breathed such a perfume of holiness that Saint Honestus, who was beginning to age, was not long in appreciating the happy dispositions of his pupil. His paternal heart rejoiced at all the hopes they made him conceive, and, desirous of making him advance even further on the degrees of virtue, he not only soon began to have Firmin accompany him on his apostolic journeys, but he even later had him preach in his place in the suburbs and in the villages. The young Christian was thus serving his apprenticeship in the apostolate. He was testing himself in that great combat that he was one day to wage against idolatry, in his glorious evangelical conquest of Picardy. It was a joy for him to fulfill these holy functions; he discharged them with all the zeal of which he was capable, and, despite his youth, with a pious and admirable gravity; strengthening the weak and exciting those who were already firm in their faith to even better things. He knew, when necessary, how to confound the incredulous with his reasoning; and at the same time his word, as sweet as it was persuasive, brought to Jesus Christ those who were still in the darkness of paganism.

Seven years had passed; Firmin had continued to advance in this way in the science of religion and on the degrees of wisdom. He had reached the pinnacle of virtue. He continued to help his pious master in his laborious ministry and even went to preach the Gospel in places that distance and old age prevented Honestus from visiting often, when, at the age of twenty-four, he was judged worthy of being raised to the priesthood. By then Saint Saturninus was no more; his apostolic virtues had earned him the palm of martyrdom. Irritated by the silence of the oracles, rendered mute by the presence of the Christian bishop, the inhabitants of Toulouse had tied him to a furious bull, which had torn him to pieces in the streets of his episcopal city. It was therefore Saint Honorat saint Honorat Founder of Lérins and spiritual master of Eucherius. us, his successor, who conferred the priestly anointing upon Saint Firmin.

The priesthood was for our Saint but a new spur that further excited his zeal for the glory of God and the salvation of souls. His venerable master continued to have him preach in his stead; he fulfilled this duty with admirable piety and constancy and was highly esteemed by the people, who were very religious. Thus, Saint Honestus, seeing with happiness the eminent holiness of his pupil, undoubtedly foresaw that he was destined to become one of the first laborers in the vineyard of the householder, and he sent his disciple, now his collaborator, once again to Saint Honoratus, so that he might lay hands upon him and consecrate him bishop.

When Firmin had arrived before the bishop of Toulouse, the latter recognized that he had been predestined to the episcopate and chosen by the Lord to announce the word of life and the grace of salvation to the nations. He therefore gave him episcopal consecration so that he might go and preach the true God in the West. "Rejoice, my son," he said to him publicly, "because you have merited to be a vessel of election for the Lord. Go, therefore, throughout the extent of the nations; you have received from God the grace and the function of the apostolate. Fear nothing, for the Lord is with you: but know that in all things you will have to suffer much for his name, in order to arrive at the crown of glory."

How the heart of Firmin must have palpitated with joy while listening to these beautiful, these holy words. Henceforth his mission is assigned; he will leave the country that saw him born, he will abandon his goods and his parents to go and found a Church far from his homeland, and make Jesus Christ reign over a land where the demon reigned as absolute sovereign. During the course of this apostolate he will have to "suffer much for the name of the Lord"; far from discouraging him, this thought excites and inflames him. He does not fear sufferings; on the contrary, he desires them; for for him who has not fought there is no victory. And then these struggles, Saint Honoratus has just told him, he will sustain against hell only "to arrive at the crown of glory."

After having received the fullness of the priesthood, Firmin said goodbye to the bishop of Toulouse and his priests, and returned with joy to Saint Honestus, his master and one might say his foster father. He told him what had happened to him during his journey and repeated to him the words that Saint Honoratus had addressed to him; telling him how and in what manner he had charged him to announce the name of the Lord throughout the extent of the nations; which foreshadowed a coming separation of master and disciple, of father and son.

Saint Firmin stayed for some time in Pamplona, before accomplishing the mission that Saint Honoratus had given him for the regions of the West. This stay, although not very prolonged, may authorize to a certain point the Navarrese tradition that considers Saint Firmin as the first bishop of Pamplona. But, strictly speaking, he was never anything but a regionary bishop, and the diocese of Amiens itself could not consider him its first Pontiff, had he not shed his blood within the walls of that city and received, by that very fact, a sort of special consecration that the cult of posterity was to acclaim.

While meditating on the Holy Books, Firmin was especially struck by these passages: "Go, teach all nations and baptize them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit." — "Do not worry about how you will speak, for it will not be you who speak, but the Spirit of God who will speak through your mouth." — "How beautiful are the feet of those who announce peace and salvation!" He resolved to follow these counsels of Christian perfection, and, at the age of thirty-one, he abandoned his homeland, his father, his brother, his sister, and all his relatives to come and preach the faith in the Gauls.

Firmin, after crossing the Pyrenees, began his apostolate in that vast part of our current France, then known as Aquitaine, which was subdivided into Aquitania Prima, Aquitania Secunda, and Novempopulania. The part of Aquitania Secunda that later bore the name of Guyenne was the first theater of his exploits. Firmin, having arrived at Aginnum (Agen), where paganism was then very flourishing, strengthened the people in the faith that Saint Martial of Limoges had preached there a few years earlier. He met there a Christian priest, named Eustache or Eustage, who was evangelizing this country. Our Saint stayed some time with him, to help him in his apostolic ministry, preaching to the people, announcing the true God to them, and instructing them in the Catholic faith.

From Agen, the Saint headed toward Aquitania Prima; he arrived among the Arverni, and, passing near the capital of this country, he converted the greater part of the inhabitants of the region to Christianity, which would lead us to suppose, with the Bollandists, that he made a fairly long stay in the vicinity of Augustonemetum, today Clermont-Ferrand. The Arverni at that time had already received seeds of faith; Saint Austremoine, first bishop of Clermont, announced the Gospel in this city as early as the 4th century.

The apostolate of Saint Firmin in this country was marked by the conversion of two figures who occupied, it seems, a rather distinguished position. The holy Bishop met two ardent followers of idols, named Arcade and Romule; he did not disdain to engage in a controversy with them on the falsity of their gods, and, after long discussions, he ended up converting them. "They laid down their arms, embraced our religion, and detested their own, thus bringing many people under the banners of the Cross." Thus, already every step of Firmin was a defeat for idolatry. From the moment he had crossed the mountains that separate France, his second homeland, from Navarre, error retreated and seemed to flee before him; as if the infernal powers had feared to enter into a struggle with this formidable adversary, certain in advance of being defeated. The conversion of Arcade and Romule contributed much to that of a large number of their compatriots. After these last conquests, our Saint, abandoning Aquitaine and heading toward the West, went to the Andes, later Anjou, to continue his fruitful apostolate. He stopped at Juliomagus, capital of the region (Angers). The bishop of this city, whom several manuscripts and ancient Breviaries of Amiens name Auxilius, happy to have such a cooperator to work in the Lord's vineyard, wanted him to help him announce the Gospel to his still pagan flock. Our Saint therefore remained fifteen months in this country, preaching, baptizing, confirming. God continued to pour out His blessings on his labors, and when, wanting to carry the torch of faith further and face greater perils for Jesus Christ, Firmin separated from Auxilius and resumed his apostolic journey, he had brought most of the inhabitants of Anjou to God.

In the midst of all these conquests, Firmin had not yet "suffered much" for the name of the Lord. However, he ardently desired those sufferings which, according to the prediction of his holy consecrator, were to lead him "to the crown of glory." Learning therefore that Valerius, governor of the city of the Bellova ci in Gaul, was viol cité des Bellovaques City and diocese of the saint's origin. ently persecuting the Christians and that a great number of them were being tormented there with various tortures because of their religion, he resolved to head toward that city, in the hope of experiencing his share of the persecution. Leaving the land of the Andes, the missionary bishop headed toward the North-East. Our Saint arrived in that part of Gallia Lugdunensis, since called Neustria or Normandy, which formed, before the revolution, the diocese of Lisieux. The surroundings of Pont-Audemer, in particular, were the scene of his apostolic exploits, and local tradition says that Saint Firmin was arrested by the pagans not far from the latter city.

Delivered from captivity, where tradition tells us he was briefly plunged, the Saint, whose zeal it had only excited, walking in a straight line toward the North, crossed the Seine and arrived among the Caletes (the Pays de Caux), at the place where the village of Sommesnil now exists (in the canton of Ourville, arrondissement of Yvetot, department of Seine-Inférieure), in the green valley crossed by the small river Durdent; a land which, in that remote era, was already the seat of a fairly advanced civilization. It was not far from the banks of this river that, a few years earlier, Saint Denis of Paris had probably baptized the first Christians and that Saint Mellon of Rouen was to come, nearly two centuries later, to also announce the words of eternal life. We do not know the duration of the time spent by our Saint in evangelizing the Caletes and that which he spent on the banks of the Durdent. Finally, always eager to suffer for the God he preached and moved by the account of the persecutions in Beauvais, he left these enchanting shores, which his presence had sanctified, and saying farewell to this region, he crossed the limits of Gallia Lugdunensis and Belgica Secunda, penetrated into the land of the Bellovaci at the beginning of the second century, and was soon in their capital. He came there not only to convert an idolatrous people, but also to console and strengthen in the faith those who had already embraced Christianity. As soon as he had entered, he began his apostolate. His ardent charity embraced with fervor the care of these poor sheep, abandoned and surrounded by enemies. He encouraged them, fortified them, and went wherever a soul might need him; and, taking no rest day or night, he ceaselessly announced the Gospel. He devoted himself entirely to strengthening the faithful in the midst of the snares of persecution, and to snatching new souls from the cult of idols.

It was impossible that the news of our Saint's preaching and the conversions he was effecting would not reach the ears of the Roman authorities. Indeed, the governor Valerius soon learned that a new Lucian had suddenly appeared to console and fortify his desolate children. It was in vain that they had put to death the companion of Saint Denis and his two disciples; another bishop had come again to preach his doctrine, and this Christian sect, which they thought destroyed forever, threatened to fill the entire city. Such news could not leave Valerius indifferent: he ordered Firmin to be arrested and had him brought before him. The Saint generously confessed Jesus Christ; his reward was not long in coming: he was violently beaten with rods, loaded with chains, and thrown into prison in a fort near the city. Firmin, in his dungeon, had to suffer for a long time from hunger and filth. The God of the Martyrs, for whose love he endured these torments with patience, did not abandon him, and a consoling Angel came from the heights of heaven to visit the imprisoned Saint, who, even in irons, did not cease to announce the Gospel to all those who could approach him and became dearer to them day by day.

A second time, the missionary seemed on the point of crowning his beautiful life with martyrdom; but God, who watched over him, did not allow him to leave so soon a battlefield where he still had other victories to win. During this time, Valerius unfortunately died, killed, it is said, in a popular sedition, and Sergius succeeded him. This new prefect did not change the system adopted by his predecessor; he did not have the doors of Firmin's dungeon opened, and the outcome of his captivity could not be foreseen, when suddenly Sergius was struck dead in a manner that could appear as a punishment from above. Then the Christians, flying to the prison, hastened to restore liberty to the captive Bishop, who was able to resume the exercise of his laborious apostolate.

The persecution had not cooled the Saint's zeal; his courage, on the contrary, had grown in irons, and, if it were possible, he emerged from his dungeon even more devoted to the salvation of all. As soon as he had crossed the threshold, he began his preaching again, confirming the faith of the Christians with miracles and converting new ones every day. He had a church built in Beauvais which he dedicated to Saint Stephen, the first of the Martyrs. It was, it is said, built on the very spot where our Saint had been imprisoned. The persecution, calmed for a moment by the death of the governor Sergius, resumed with new force. As new enemies were still seeking the holy Apostle to put him to death, the Christians forced him to flee by an underground passage; but he did not cease for that to announce the faith to the Bellovaci and, going through the towns and villages, he always evangelized.

During the fruitful apostolate whose main circumstances we have just retraced, Firmin had not yet had that much-desired happiness of shedding all his blood for the faith he preached. He had indeed seen the immortal crown suspended above his head, but it had always eluded him. There were nations further North that needed to be evangelized, and he could hope to finally find there the palm of martyrdom. He did not hesitate to go and make them hear the good news as well. "Let us go further," he said to himself, "towards the Ambiani, among the Morini, those last of men, whose cruelty will make my blood flow." Leaving then the Bellovaci, where his passage was to leave an imperishable memory, our Saint headed towards Namarobrica Ambianorum (today Amiens) where he was to, after new evangelical conquests, finally gather that palm of martyrdom so ardently wished for.

It was in the first years of the second century. Trajan, surnamed the Very Good, reigned over the Empire. Sebastian and Longalus were governors of Belgic Gaul. Still young in age, but already very old in his works, the illustrious Apostle entered the city that was to be his episcopal s ee, and the bisho l'illustre Apôtre First bishop of Amiens and martyr originally from Spain. pric of Amiens was founded. Seventeen centuries have passed since that forever memorable day and the work of Saint Firmin still subsists. The Roman Empire, then at the peak of its glory, has disappeared; the ancient French monarchy, less ancient however than the bishopric of Firmin, has perished in the abyss of 1793; kingdoms and republics have succeeded one another on our soil, and the bishopric of Amiens is still standing; like the Church, immutable on this earth where everything passes, it alone does not pass, because it is not of this world.

It was therefore on the tenth of the month of October that Saint Firmin entered the city of Amiens which he was to beget to Jesus Christ; it is thus, says an ancient Breviary, that he reached it, by preaching the Gospel since his departure from Pamplona, to receive there the palm of martyrdom. He entered it, says tradition, by the Beauvais gate, that is to say by the Longue-Maisière gate, located at the Place Périgord, and was received there with great joy by Faustinian, one of the first s enators of Faustinien Senator of Amiens converted by Firmin who buried his body. the city. The holy Bishop received Faustinian among the number of catechumens, after having baptized his whole family, from which was to come, about two centuries later, a child who received at baptism the name of Firmin, in memory of the Apostle of his native city, was one of his successors and now shares his glory in the heavens. An ancient tradition holds that upon entering this city, Firmin stopped at the place where the Place Saint-Martin is now, and that there, dominating in a way the Gallic city of Samarobrive, which stretched at his feet; having in view, to his left, the Fortress in which he was to end his life by the sword, and the sacred wood of the Rue des Orfèvres, not far from the prison where, many years later, Saint Quentin, the second apostle of Amiens, was to be confined; and defying the temple of Jupiter, which one can believe to have existed at the place where the basilica of Notre-Dame now stands, he announced for the first time the God of the Christians to the astonished Ambiani.

As soon as Firmin had entered the Amiens city, he began his preaching there. Far from wanting to rest from the fatigues of his laborious apostolate, he sought new ones by hastening to teach all its inhabitants the salutary doctrine of Christianity. Without having for a single instant the thought of escaping, through silence and inaction, a new persecution, he loudly announced the Gospel; showing, always and everywhere, that intrepid courage and that indefatigable zeal of which he had already given so many proofs. The Amiénois came in crowds to listen to this stranger who preached such an astonishing doctrine. Divine grace did not take long to touch their hearts, and soon a great number of conversions came to reward the apostolic labors of the holy missionary. Not only did a large part of the people ask for baptism, but the First of the city also wanted to embrace the faith of Firmin. The Acts of his life have preserved for us the names of the senator Ausence Hilaire with all his house; of Attilia, of an illustrious Roman family, widow of Agrippinus, with her children, her servants and her maids, who received baptism the same day, from the hands of the great Bishop, and, add his Acts, "nearly three thousand people of both sexes were baptized in three consecutive days." At about the same time, the senator Faustinian, whom Saint Firmin had received among the number of catechumens upon his arrival in Amiens, was admitted to receive baptism, to the great joy of the Christians.

Firmin supported his preaching with numerous miracles. Castus, son of a notable inhabitant of Amiens named André, had had an eye put out; the holy Bishop healed him and restored his sight. Two men living in the vicinity of the Clypean gate were sick with leprosy; he healed them. People suffering from fever or other illnesses came to find him; he invoked over them the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, and health returned to them. By his prayers he drove out demons, made the paralyzed walk, restored sight to the blind, speech to the mute. Finally, add his Acts, the Lord performed through him an innumerable quantity of other wonders. "Those who believe," says Our Lord Jesus Christ, "will drive out demons in my name, will speak in new tongues, will handle snakes; if they drink any deadly poison, it will not harm them; they will lay hands on the sick and the sick will be healed." The wonders accomplished by Saint Firmin were the realization of these promises.

However numerous the conversions effected by Firmin within the confines of the city of Amiens may have been, they did not suffice to satisfy the ardent zeal that inflamed the heart of the holy Bishop. Seeing these privileged souls embrace the Christian faith with love, he thought of those of the other inhabitants of Ambianum, still wrapped in the darkness of paganism like a corpse in its shroud. He therefore did not wish to remain forever confined within the walls of Samarobriva, and leaving it only for a time, he went to announce Jesus Christ also to the people of the countryside. Tradition, which has preserved for us the memory of this part of his apostolate, indicates several places in the diocese of Amiens that were witnesses to his preaching: such are Picquigny, Vignacourt, and the surroundings of Boves. Picquigny, a town located on the Somme, three leagues from Amiens, dates back to a fairly remote antiquity. One can see there the ruins of the old castle of the vidames of Amiens, the original construction of which dates back to the eleventh or twelfth century. It is a tradition in Picquigny that Saint Firmin preached the faith there. One can still see there, at the entrance to the Rue des Chanoines, on the left, a small stone monument placed at the spot where the holy Apostle announced the word of God.

Vignacourt is one of the largest villages in France, in the canton and two leagues northeast of Picquigny; it has nearly four thousand inhabitants.

Undoubtedly, in the midst of his evangelical journeys, Firmin returned frequently to Amiens; then, after having announced the truths of Christianity for some time to his attentive listeners, he would return to the inhabitants of the countryside, with whom his task was to be more difficult. The people of the cities, whom the conquerors had forced to abjure Druidism to embrace Greco-Roman polytheism, were less attached and were indeed less attached to their religious beliefs. It was not the same in the countryside, where Druidism, banished from the cities, had anchored itself with the energy of despair, and where we will find it still, more or less hidden and disfigured, for several centuries. For, violently shaken in the 4th century by Saint Firmin the Confessor, it did not disappear entirely until around the 6th, thanks to the monks, whose preaching contributed powerfully to erasing its last vestiges in the hearts of the inhabitants of the Picard villages and hamlets.

Our Saint did not limit himself to evangelizing only the surroundings of his episcopal city. He advanced further and carried the torch of the faith to the Morini. The extent of the land of the Morini was considerable. According to the most admissible opinion, it included the Ponthieu and the ancient and immense diocese of Thérouanne, which, after the destruction of this city by Charles V in 1553, formed those of Boulogne, Saint-Omer, and Ypres. The boundaries of Morinia were therefore: to the north, the Germanic Ocean; to the east, the Menapii; to the south, the Atrebates and the Ambiani; to the west, the British Sea. Ancient local traditions have him evangelizing Boulogne-sur-Mer, Thérouanne, Montreuil, and part of the Ponthieu.

Back in Amiens, his city cherished above all others, Firmin continued to announce the God of the Christians there. When he made the word of life heard to the Amiénois, says an ancient tradition reported by the old Breviaries, he often repeated: "My grandchildren, know that God the Father, Creator of all things, sent me to you to purify this city of the worship of idols, and to preach to you Jesus Christ, and Jesus Christ crucified according to the weakness of the flesh, living by the power of God." This divine seed fell on well-prepared ground, which made it bear fruit a hundredfold and filled the heart of the fervent missionary with sweet joy. The Christian faith was established in his country, and took root there with such strength and depth that seventeen centuries have only strengthened it, which have survived all revolutions, all upheavals, and which still make it shine in our days with an eternal youth. These wonders were performed to the great despair of the idolatrous priests, who saw the Ambiani day by day abandon their gods for the religion of Firmin, to the point that eventually not a single worshiper appeared in the temples of Jupiter and Mercury. The oracles of the false gods, rendered mute by the presence of Saint Saturnin in Toulouse, had by their silence caused the death of that holy apostle of Gaul; the desertion of their temples in Amiens was to cause that of Saint Firmin. Our Saint did not content himself with announcing Jesus Christ only to the inhabitants of the capital of the Ambiani, but he traveled through, evangelizing a large part, if not the entirety, of their territory. To the places we have already cited as designated by tradition to have been witnesses to his apostolate, we will add an eminence that can be seen near Boves, between the road from Amiens to Péronne and that from Amiens to Montdidier, and which is called in the region the Mount of the Gospel, because, says local tradition, Saint Firmin, from the top of this elevation, announced the Gospel to the surrounding populations, who had rushed to hear this marvelous stranger. The same tradition adds that Saint Firmin came several times from Amiens to announce Jesus Christ in this place.

However, the temples of the idols of Samarobriva remained empty and the pagans themselves were forced to acknowledge the eloquence of our great Apostle. The rumor of his preaching and the numerous conversions he brought about finally reached the ears of the governors of the province, Longulus and Sebastian, w ho were t Sébastien Roman governor who ordered the execution of Saint Firmin. hen in Trier, the metropolis of Belgica Prima. They hastened immediately to come to Amiens and arrived there soon after. It was in the course of the month of September. As soon as they entered the city, they ordered that all the inhabitants should gather within three days at the praetorium, called Gimilien. The storm was brewing; soon it would burst over Firmin's head. The three days passed, and all the Ambian people, the troops, and the tribunes went to the praetorium. The pagan priests had not failed to be there either; they finally saw the moment arrive to get rid of a man whom they regarded as a rival who had been bothering them for a long time, and as a formidable adversary of their gods. According to the account that follows, it is even permissible to suppose that they had provoked this summons.

When all were gathered, the governors ordered the members of the city curia and the priests of the temples to approach, and, when they were before them, Sebastian harangued the crowd in these terms: "The most sacred emperors have decreed that the honor and worship of the gods be preserved for them in all the regions of the world, by all peoples and all nations. They want incense to be offered on their altars and for them to be venerated, according to the ancient customs of the princes. If anyone therefore attempts to go against the decrees of the most sacred emperors, or to bring the slightest opposition to them, let him be tormented with various tortures, and, according to the decrees of the senators and princes of the Roman Republic, let him suffer capital punishment." When Sebastian had ceased speaking, Auxilius, a curial and priest of th e temple Auxilius Pagan priest of Jupiter and Mercury in Amiens who accused Firmin. s of Jupiter and Mercury, spoke to answer him. "There is here," he said, "a Pontiff of the Christians, who not only turns the city of Amiens away from the worship and religion of the gods, but who seems to separate the entire universe and the whole Roman Empire from the worship of the immortal gods." — "Who is it," replied Sebastian, astonished, "who is it that dares to commit such a great crime and such a profanation?" — "He is named Firmin," replied the pagan priest, "he is a Spaniard, very clever and very eloquent and of great sagacity. He preaches and teaches the people that there is no other God, nor any other power in the heavens and on the earth than the God of the Christians, Jesus Christ, whom he names of Nazareth. He calls him all-powerful above all the gods; as for our gods, he calls them demons and denounces them loudly to all as idols and vain simulacra, deaf, mute, and insensible. He turns the people so much away from their religion that no one comes anymore to offer incense or to pray in the venerable temples of Jupiter and Mercury, and he seduces the hearts of all the senators in favor of the Christian sect. If you do not put him to death and if you do not make him undergo various tortures, for the example of others, a great danger will grow for the Republic, and he will strive to overturn the stability of the Empire down to its foundations. But listen to our advice, most excellent governor; to save the Republic and to remove our gods and goddesses from such a great peril, order that he be brought to your tribunal in the presence of all."

The speech, or rather the indictment of Auxilius, produced on Sebastian the effect that the pagan priest expected. "The most excellent governor," desirous of saving the gods and goddesses from the great peril that threatened them, ordered his soldiers to seize Firmin and bring him to him, two days later, at the theater games near the Gypéenne gate. Auxilius triumphs, the hour of martyrdom is about to strike for the first bishop of Amiens; a few more days, and his eloquent voice will no longer proclaim the vanity of the gods of the empire and the greatness of the God of the Christians.

Firmin soon learned of the decree issued against him. Without fearing death and without having the thought of escaping by flight the torments with which he was threatened, he went of his own accord to present himself to the judges. Twice already he has been near to dying for his God; today he hopes that his pilgrimage here below will soon end. When he was in the praetorium, he did not fear to proclaim there the omnipotence of Jesus Christ and the obligation to overthrow the sanctuaries of the idols.

Sebastian then subjected him to an interrogation: "Are you not that evildoer who overturns the sacred temples of the gods and who turns the people away from the religion of the most sacred emperors?" The Apostle answered him with assurance: "If you wish to know my name, I am called Firmin; born in Spain, I am a citizen of Pamplona and descended from a senatorial family. I belong to the Christian faith and am invested with the episcopal dignity. I have received the mission to preach the gospel of the Son of God, so that the nations may learn that there is no other God, in heaven and on earth, than the one who made everything from nothing and by whom everything subsists. He holds in his hands life and death, and nothing escapes his power. In heaven, on earth, and in the underworld, every knee bends before him. Surrounded by the Angels and the Virtues of the heavens, he lowers kingdoms and breaks the scepters of kings. While times and generations flow before his eternity, he remains always immutable in the face of the mobility of the centuries. But the gods that you adore, under the influence of the demon, are only vain simulacra, deaf, mute, and insensible, who abuse their victims and precipitate them into the underworld. I come to declare to you that these idols are the work of the demon: renounce them therefore, if you do not wish to fall into the eternal abysses, where the infernal power groans."

At these words, Sebastian, transported with anger, threw out an exclamation that found a rapid echo in the audience. He then cried out: "In the name of the gods and goddesses, in the name of their invincible authority, I adjure you, Firmin, to renounce your madness and to submit to the religion of your fathers; sacrifice immediately to the gods and goddesses, if you do not wish to incur tortures of all kinds and the torment of an ignominious death." Far from letting himself be intimidated by these threats, Saint Firmin replied: "I do not fear your tortures: what afflicts me at this moment is the madness that makes you believe that a servant of God could let himself be shaken by a guilty fear. Accumulate the tortures, God will proportion his help to them to make me obtain, at the end of the battles, the crown of imperishable glory. I do not want to escape the sufferings with which you threaten me, by sacrificing the eternity of happiness that the Son of God reserves for me in his kingdom. But you, you will be condemned to the perpetual flames of hell, because of the cruelties that you exercise against the servants of God."

The governor, as well as the whole assembly, was struck by the constancy of Firmin and the firmness of his answers. The Amiénois, who remembered his brilliant prodigies, wanted to deliver him. Thus, Sebastian did not dare to clash with the popular sentiment by ordering public tortures that could have provoked disturbances. He feigned to leave Firmin in liberty, but he ordered his soldiers to arrest him shortly, to lead him to prison, to cut off his head, in secret, in his dungeon, during the night, and to take care to hide his body, after having cut it into pieces, for fear that the Christians would render him a cult of veneration.

The holy bishop was therefore able to continue his preaching for some time longer to strengthen the new converts in the faith; but the governor's soldiers, faithful to the orders they had received, executed them in all their rigor, by arresting Saint Firmin; they led him to the prison of the castle, which was later designated under the name of Castillon. They shuddered with rage upon hearing their prisoner celebrate without ceasing, during the journey, the praises of Jesus Christ: so they hastened to lock him in an obscure dungeon whose door they sealed, and before which they stationed guards.

When Samarobriva was buried in the shadows of the night, soldiers armed with swords went to the prison to carry out the orders of Sebastian. As soon as the holy bishop had perceived them, he guessed his fate and, shedding tears of joy, he cried out: "I give you thanks, O sovereign rewarder of all goods, that you deign to join me to the society of your elect. O merciful and most clement king, watch over those whom you have called to you by my voice, and deign to hear all those who will invoke you in my name." This prayer finished, a soldier drew his sword from the scabbard and cut off the head of the apostle.

Thus died the first bishop of ancient Samarobriva, on the twenty-fifth day of the month of September, in the first years of the second century, under the reign of Trajan. The blood of Saint Firmin, spilled on the damp ground of his underground prison, was the first blood shed by paganism, in the capital of the Ambiani. If it had been given to the executioner, who had just made it flow, to raise his gaze above this world, he could have seen it rise, like a sweet incense, to the foot of the throne of the all-Merciful who reigns in the heavens, to fall back then, in a sweet dew of grace and sanctification, on the hearts still arid and dried up of those of the inhabitants of Samarobriva, whom the zeal and devotion of the holy apostle had not been able to bring to the knowledge of the faith. God accepted the holocaust, blessed the prayer of the martyr, and the city, consecrated by the blood of its first bishop, later became one of the most Christian cities of the most Christian France.

Saint Firmin is represented in bishop's vestments, but rarely holding his head in his hands. He was sometimes given the sword that consummated his martyrdom as an attribute. It is only at the portal of Saint-Riquier that we see two unicorns at his feet: this is what is said to have led to the adoption of these animals as supporters for the coat of arms of the city of Amiens. It is known that the unicorn is the emblem of purity, according to a tradition that may have its origin in the ancient religion of the Persians.

One of the portals of Amiens Cathedral (on the north side of the facade) is dedicated to Saint Firmin. His statue dominates the trumeau of the door. The figure that the Saint tramples underfoot has the type and costume of a Roman; we believe that it should be recognized as Sebastian Valerius, rather than the emblem of idolatry. Below, one sees, on one side, the beheading of Saint Firmin in his prison, and, on the other, a scene that perhaps represents Sebastian, meditating on the loss of the missionary. Four other subjects, inscribed in trefoil arches, depict details of the invention of the relics. The statue of the apostle is accompanied by a procession of fourteen saintly figures, among whom one recognizes Saint Gentian, Saint Salvius, Saint Domicius, Saint Honoratus, Saint Ulpha, Saint Fuscien, Saint Victoricus, and Saint Firmin the Confessor. In the tympanum, the two upper levels of sculptures, composed of sixty-eight figures, represent the Invention of the body of Saint Firmin and the triumphal procession of his relics.

The choir screens, on the epistle side, are dedicated to glorifying the founder of the Church of Amiens. We will limit ourselves here to simply indicating the subjects of the medallions.

The thirteen medallions, containing in all one hundred and seven figures, represent the following details: 1st baptism of Saint Firmin; 2nd his education by Saint Honestus; 3rd Saint Saturninus baptizes the father of Saint Firmin; 4th preaching of Saint Firmin; 5th he is consecrated by Saint Honoratus; 6th the holy Bishop converts Arcade and Romulus; 7th he evangelizes Angers; 8th he has a church erected in Beauvais to Saint Stephen; 9th he heals the infirm; 10th healing of two lepers; 11th Caste sees with an eye he had lost; 12th healing of a sick person; 13th possessed delivered.

The martyrdom of Saint Firmin is sculpted in the round in the cloister of Amiens Cathedral, which leads to the great sacristy. One sees his statue at the north tower; on the left flank, between two windows; at the base of the gilded bell tower; in the chapel of Saint-John-the-Baptist (work of Poultier, 1710) and in that of Saint-Firmin (work of Vimeu). At Notre-Dame d'Amiens, a beautiful painting by Mr. Lécurieux, representing Saint Firmin baptizing the first Christians.

A 15th-century manuscript book of hours, kept at the Library of Boulogne-sur-Mer, shows us Saint Firmin holding a burning heart in his right hand. This is an attribute for which we know of no other example. Stained glass windows from the 15th century, at Saint-Firmin-en-Castillon, represented the history of our Apostle. One sees him, holding his head in his hands, in a 13th-century stained glass window at Amiens Cathedral.

The breviary of Fr. Faure (1667) is adorned with an engraving by Sanson, representing Saint Firmin kneeling in his prison. An executioner, illuminated by his assistant, prepares to cut off his head. Three spectators contemplate this scene behind a barred window. — In the missal of Fr. Faure, Saint Firmin beheaded, engraving by Noblin. — At the head of this missal and that of Mr. de La Motte, another engraving by Noblin, where Saint Firmin is found next to Saint John the Baptist. Mr. Guénébaud (Iconographie des Saints) describes a wood engraving as follows, after Burgmaier, for the series of Saints of the family of Maximilian of Austria: « Saint Firmin standing, holding a crozier and a book; on the ground, before him, a severed bishop's head, near which is a sword; various instruments of torture are attached to a column ».

At the bishop's palace of Amiens, a tapestry (1612) is preserved representing the entry of Saint Firmin into Amiens; and, at the Poor Clares, a carpet from the same period depicting the Decollation. Saint Firmin appears on some ancient seals of the bishops of Amiens. On that of Jean de la Grange, he is next to the Virgin who holds the child Jesus.

## CULT AND RELICS.

The body of the glorious Martyr having been left in the prison, the senator Faustinian managed to remove it secretly during the night, and buried it in his family tomb, located near his farm of Abladène, at the current site of the church of Saint-Acheul. A new sepulcher, where no one had yet been buried, received the remains of the Martyr, wrapped in aromatics and precious fabrics. Numerous miracles were performed at this tomb, which would later house a church erected by Saint Firmin the Confessor.

His cult soon spread to neighboring dioceses, even to some provinces far from ours, and then penetrated into Spain and England. Under the episcopate of Saint Salvius, the Baron of Picquigny sought to recover the arm of Saint Firmin. Pope Alexander III, in 1164, granted an indulgence of forty days to the faithful who would visit the tomb of the holy Martyr during the octave of his feast. This same favor was granted in 1248, by Innocent IV, for the octave of the Invention. Renault of Amiens, lord of Vignacourt, founded in that locality, in 1216, a chapter of Saint Firmin the Martyr, which, in the 18th century, counted twelve canons, one of whom was the parish priest.

Thibaud of Amiens, Archbishop of Rouen, who died in 1229, founded the feast of Saint Firmin in his cathedral, and obtained that the Church of Amiens celebrate, for its part, the feast of Saint Romanus, Bishop of Rouen. The Church of Amiens still celebrates the feast of the latter pontiff; but the Church of Rouen, at the time of the introduction of the Roman liturgy, abandoned the feast of Saint Firmin, although a cult of more than three centuries had led it to preserve its ancient usage.

In 1490, a small chapel was dedicated to Saint Firmin under an arch of the rood screen of the cathedral. An architect of Notre-Dame de Paris, a native of Amiens, Jean de Courcelles, founded in the 15th century, in that metropolis, an annual procession on Saint Firmin's Day. It was at the same period that a chapel of Notre-Dame de Caudebec was dedicated to our bishop: it has since been placed under the patronage of Saint Peter.

The general procession of Saint Firmin's Day was instituted on September 14, 1598; starting from the previous year, the election of the members of the municipal council took place on September 24. The next day, two of the municipal magistrates, leaving office, carried the reliquary of Saint Firmin in the procession.

The Church of Amiens formerly celebrated five special feasts in honor of its founder: 1st, the Invention and Translation of his relics, on January 13; 2nd, his Decollation, on September 25; 3rd, the octave of this feast, on October 2; 4th, the Entry of Saint Firmin into Amiens, on October 10; 5th, the feast of the Reposition of his relics in a golden reliquary, on October 16.

The feast of the Invention, transferred from January 13 to 14 by M. de la Motte, because of its coincidence with the octave of the Epiphany, has been maintained at this latter date in the liturgy of Amiens, and is celebrated very solemnly at the church of Notre-Dame de Saint-Acheul. Formerly, several neighboring dioceses celebrated this Invention on different dates. The Decollation of Saint Firmin has always been celebrated everywhere on September 25, except in Spain where it is transferred to July 7.

In 1747, a mandate from M. de la Motte maintained only the feast of September 25 as a holy day of obligation in honor of Saint Firmin. Following the Concordat of 1801, this solemnity was transferred to the nearest Sunday, and the fast of the eve was suppressed. The current Mass of the Decollation, like that of the Invention, was composed according to ancient liturgical monuments of the diocese: the beautiful preface of the 1752 missal was preserved there.

The collegiate church of Saint-Quentin celebrated, on May 19, the special feast of the Advent of the relics of Saint Firmin, Saint Victorius, Saint Fuscian, etc., which it had possessed since the 9th century. We find one or more feasts of Saint Firmin in the Propers of the abbeys of the diocese of Amiens, in the current breviaries of Spain, in those of all the Premonstratensian convents, in the ancient breviaries or the current Propers of Amiens, Agen, Arras, Boulogne, Bourges, Bayeux, Beauvais, Cambrai, Châlons-sur-Marne, Evreux, Laon, Le Puy, Lisieux, Meaux, Nancy, Noyon, Orléans, Pamiers, Paris, Reims, Rouen, Saint-Omer, Senlis, Thérouanne, Troyes, Toulouse, Tulle, and Verdun. Since the introduction of the Roman liturgy, the office of Saint Firmin has disappeared from some of the dioceses we have just named, which had borrowed it from the Paris breviary during the 18th century.

The cult of the holy pontiff was introduced by the Navarrese into the Spanish possessions of America.

Pilgrimages are made in honor of Saint Firmin: to Saint-Acheul-lès-Amiens, whose crypt is widowed of its tomb; to Tully (Somme), to be preserved from boils; to Saint-Pierre-du-Chastel (Eure), against tingling, designated under the name of "anthill"; to Morbecque (Nord), where one goes to drink water from the well of Saint Firmin, to be preserved from fever, cramps, and rheumatism; to Cormeilles (Eure), to help children walk; to Saint-Firmin-sur-Loire (Loiret), for pains in general; in various churches of Normandy, against tremors; to Saint-Martin-Saint-Firmin (Eure); to Saint-Firmin-des-Bois (Loiret); to the chapel of Saint Firmin of Pamplona, etc. In the Middle Ages, he was invoked especially for erysipelas and scurvy.

In Sommesnil and Greuville (Seine-Inférieure), there is still today a confraternity of Saint Firmin. Similar congregations existed formerly in Madrid and Zaragoza.

Saint Firmin is the patron of Navarre, of the dioceses of Amiens and Pamplona, and secondary patron of Notre-Dame of Amiens, of Saint-Germain of Amiens, and of the diocese of Arras; thirteen churches are dedicated to him in the diocese of Amiens: those of Crocquoison, Crouy, Eramecourt, the faubourg of Rem in Amiens, Saint-Firmin (canton of Rue), Hocquincourt, Millancourt, Sourdon, Thieulley-la-Ville, Tully, Vaux-en-Amiénois, and Vignacourt. The village of La Neuville-les-Amiens celebrates his feast on January 14; nine in the diocese of Arras: Bouin, Brévillers, La Calotterie, Fontaine-l'Étalon, Henneveux, Marles, Nempont-Saint-Firmin, Reclinghem, Sempy; six in that of Beauvais: Doméliers, Saint-Firmin, Hainvillers, Le Mesnil-Saint-Firmin, Le Soulchois, La Vacquerie; four in that of Rouen: Euteville, Greuville, Sommery, Sommesnil; three in that of Orléans: Saint-Firmin-sur-Loire, Saint-Firmin-des-Bois, Saint-Firmin-des-Vignes; two in that of Blois: Concriers, Saint-Firmin-des-Prés; one in each of the dioceses of Cambrai, Gap, Nancy, Nevers, and Sées: Morbecque (Nord), Saint-Firmin en Val-Gaudemard (Hautes-Alpes), Saint-Firmin (Meurthe), Saint-Firmin de Bussy (Nièvre), Normandie (Orne); one in England: North Crawley, in Buckinghamshire; and a certain number in Spain.

The fire brigade of Amiens has a solemn Mass sung at the cathedral on Saint Firmin's Day, his patronal feast. In Amiens and Abbeville, the corporations of coopers, merchants, and wine criers had also chosen him as patron. The coopers of Abbeville alone have persevered in their patronage.

It was under his name that two parish churches of Amiens, now destroyed, were formerly dedicated; a collegiate church of Montreuil; the church of the faubourg of Thoule, in Roye, later dedicated to Saint Médard; the church of the Bons-Enfants, located on Rue Saint-Victor, in Paris; a hospital in Amiens, which occupied part of the current Rue des Écoles-Chrétiennes, etc. The constitutional parish erected in the church of the Cordeliers of Amiens (today Saint-Remi) was placed for some time under the patronage of Saint Firmin.

The students of the Picard nation, at the universities of Orléans and Paris, had chosen the first bishop of Amiens as their patron. The university statutes of June 1331 prescribe that students from the diocese of Amiens, upon entering the faculty of Paris, must swear an oath to pay their share of the religious feast of September 25. This solemnity took place, in the 17th century, in the chapel of the Cardinal Lemoine college. In Orléans, this feast was celebrated at the parish of Saint-Pierre-le-Puellier, on January 13.

It would be too long to enumerate the chapels that were dedicated to Saint Firmin; let us note only those that were consecrated to him: at Saint-Éloi of Dieppe, at the abbey church of Saint-Denis, at the leprosarium of Saint-Riquier; and those that still keep his name today, at Saint-Vulfran of Abbeville and in the cathedrals of Amiens, Rouen, and Pamplona.

A certain number of localities bear the name of Saint-Firmin. Besides those we have already designated, we will mention, as being under this patronage, an annex of Le Crotoy, an annex of Eppeville, a faubourg of La Fère, a river that has its source north of Roye, a street in that city, a square in Amiens, and one of the towers of Saint-Vulfran of Abbeville.

The name of Saint Firmin is inscribed in ancient litanies of the Middle Ages; in martyrologies of Rome, Amiens, Cologne; in those of Florus, Saint Jerome, Rabanus Maurus, Usuard, Wandelbert, etc.

At the beginning of the 8th century, the location of the tomb of Saint Firmin was unknown. A miraculous ray pointed it out to Saint Salvius, while he was celebrating the holy mysteries in the church of Notre-Dame des Martyrs; the body brought to ligh t exhaled a saint Salve Possible predecessor of Berchon to the see of Amiens. sweet odor that spread even to the neighboring dioceses; these relics were then transported to the new church, dedicated to Saint Peter and Saint Paul, and deposited, to the east of the building, in a crypt that was decorated with admirable art in honor of Saint Firmin. The same bishop then splendidly adorned the reliquary with gold and pearls. This translation took place on January 13.

Odolphus, treasurer of Saint-Riquier, obtained, in 864, from Hilmeradus, Bishop of Amiens, a fragment of the garment that Saint Firmin was wearing when he was martyred. In 860, Otger, Bishop of Amiens, offered some relics of the holy bishop to the collegiate church of Saint-Quentin, of which he had been a canon. In the first half of the 11th century, Alix of Crépy, wife of Thibaut III, obtained from her cousin Fulk, Bishop of Amiens, a piece of the arm of Saint Firmin, which she deposited in the underground church of Provins that was dedicated to him. One can still see the ruins of this church, as well as those of the church that was above it, which was dedicated to Saint Peter. Around the same time, a rib of the Saint was given to the collegiate church of Saint-Martin of Picquigny. Saint Geoffrey, whose devotion to the holy Martyr was great, had a new, extremely rich reliquary made, to which the relics of Saint Firmin were transferred around 1116.

A violent fire had devoured part of the city of Amiens on August 3, 1137. To rebuild the churches, it was decided to collect alms throughout the diocese; and, in order to excite the pious generosity of the faithful, it was decided to transport the reliquary of Saint Firmin to various places. On the appointed day, the inhabitants of the city went to the cathedral to attend the departure of the relics, which most considered with deep sorrow; the faithful naively addressed their complaints to the reliquary, carried on the shoulders of the priests, and conjured the Saint not to abandon them. The procession continued its way; but, upon arriving at the Grand-Pont gate, which was located on the Chaussée Saint-Pierre, the reliquary became immobile, and those who were carrying it could not fight against the supernatural force that stopped them. The relics were brought back triumphantly to their sanctuary, amidst the outbursts of popular joy which, on this occasion, awarded its Patron the nickname of "the Beloved."

Around 1180, they began to collect offerings for the construction of a new reliquary. It was finished on October 16, 1204, the time when the translation took place. This precious monument of pure gold had the shape of a house and offered twelve enameled panels relating to the life of Saint Firmin.

In 1185 or 1186, Peter Paris, Bishop of Pamplona, obtained from Thibaut d'Heilly a part of the head of Saint Firmin, which is still venerated today at the church of Saint-Laurent.

At an unknown time, but prior to the 14th century, an arm had been detached from the body of Saint Firmin, with which, on the feasts of the Invention and the Martyrdom of the holy Apostle, the Bishop of Amiens gave the blessing. The head had also been set aside in a special reliquary that two councilors carried in the processions. As for the great reliquary, it was carried by knights inside the cathedral, and then in the streets by six bourgeois. This usage having fallen into disuse, the municipal council revived it from the year 1465, by asserting to the Chapter the antiquity of this privilege.

It was not only on the feast days of Saint Firmin and the solemnity of the Ascension that these processions took place: it was also in times of drought. It is said that, in 1478, at the moment when the reliquary arrived at the church of Saint-Acheul, an abundant rain came to grant all the wishes and made all fear of famine disappear.

On the eve of the processions of Saint Firmin, the bishop's officers summoned the vassals of the bishopric so that they would stand guard during the night near the exposed reliquary. The officers had to keep watch outside the cathedral.

The reliquary of Saint Firmin was frequently enriched by gifts of jewelry and precious stones, which are mentioned in the various inventories of the treasury of Notre-Dame. A part of these jewels were stolen in 1573. Similar thefts were repeated during the 17th century.

In 1588, some jewels of the head of Saint John the Baptist were sold to have a silver bust made in which the head of Saint Firmin was placed, kept until then in a sort of cup. This new reliquary was carried processionally on February 27, 1590, to ask for the success of the Catholic army against the Huguenots.

A relic of Saint Firmin, given by the Bishop of Amiens to the church of Haïques, near La Bassée (Nord), was in great veneration in that country.

When the reliquary of Saint Firmin was sent to the Mint (1793), M. Lecouvé, mayor of Amiens, collected the relics, consisting of nine bones: the right scapula, the two incomplete coxal bones, the two ulnae, a radius, the right femur, the two tibiae, and handed them over to M. Lejeune, constitutional priest of Notre-Dame. This clergyman returned his precious deposit in 1802. These relics, verified in 1816 and 1829, were solemnly transferred with other bones of Saints, on January 14, 1851, into a 13th-century silver reliquary, which an anonymous person had donated to Mgr de Salinis. On January 19, 1851, a small relic of Saint Firmin was solemnly transferred to the church of Saint-Germain, of which the first bishop of Amiens is a secondary patron, and deposited in the reliquary of Saint Germain of Scotland.

More or less important relics of the holy bishop have also been preserved: In Amiens in the churches of Saint-Jacques (1825), Saint-Leu, Saint-Firmin (1861), and Saint-Martin; at the Hôtel-Dieu; at the convents of the Carmelites, of Hope, of Louvencourt, of the Sacred Heart, of the Ursulines, and of the Visitation; in the rest of the diocese, at the Holy Sepulcher of Abbeville, at Corbie, at Fay (Chaulnes), at Longpré-les-Corps-Saints, at Mailly, at Mont-Saint-Quentin, Picquigny, at Vignacourt, etc.; in the neighboring dioceses, at the cathedral and at Saint-Nicolas of Arras, at Saint-Firmin, near Chantilly; at Sommesnil and at Saint-Wandrille (Seine-Inférieure), at Saint-Martin of Laon, etc.; at Pamplona (cathedral, Saint-Laurent, and church of Saint-Firmin of Aldapa).

Formerly, at the church of Saint-Jean of Picquigny, a rib of Saint Firmin was kept with bones of Saint Variois and Saint Luxor, in an 11th-century reliquary. The inventory of the cathedral of Noyon (1426) mentions "cloths of Saint Firmin in a silver box." Other ancient inventories point out his relics at the cathedral of Laon (1523); at the collegiate churches of Saint-Vulfran and Saint-Quentin; at the abbeys of Saint-Acheul, Saint-Jean of Amiens, Saint-Riquier, Saint-Vaast of Arras, Saint-Remi of Reims; at the convents of the Celestines of Amiens and the Carthusians of Abbeville, etc.

We have extracted this biography from the History of Saint Firmin, by M. Charles Salmon, and from the Hagiography of the diocese of Amiens, by M. Publié Corhlet.