Saint Tarachus, Saint Probus and Saint Andronicus

Tarachu Taraque Former Roman soldier born in Isauria, martyred at 65. s, Prob Probe Martyr from Pamphylia who renounced his fortune. us, and Andr Andronic Young martyr from a noble family of Ephesus. onicus were of different ages and countries. The first was Roman by extraction, though born in Isauria. He had served in the armies of the empire; but he had since retired, for fear that he might be forced to do something contrary to his conscience. When he was arrested, he was sixty-five years old. Probus, a native of Pamphylia, had left a considerable fortune in order to be able to serve Jesus Christ with more freedom. Andronicus, the youngest of the three, was from one of the principal families of the city of Ephesus. Having all three been arrested at Pompeiopolis, in Cilicia, they were presented to Numer ius Maximus, go Numérien Maxime Governor of Cilicia who ordered the martyrdom of the three saints. vernor of the province, upon his arrival in that city. This official ordered that they be taken to Tarsus, where h e was Tarse City in Cilicia, site of the first interrogation. soon to go. When he had arrived there, the centurion Demetrius brought the three confessors before him, telling him that these were the ones who had already been presented to him at Pompeiopolis, as guilty of professing the impious religion of the Christians and of having dared to disobey the emperors.

Maximus, having addressed Tarachus first, asked him his name. "I am a Christian," replied the martyr. — Maximus. "Do not speak to me of your impiety, but tell me your name." — Tarachus. "I am a Christian." — Maximus. "Let him be struck on the mouth, to teach him not to answer one thing for another." — Tarachus, after receiving a blow, "I am telling you my true name. If you wish to know the one my parents gave me, it is Tarachus: when I bore arms, I was called Victor." — Maximus. "What is your profession? From what country are you?" — Tarachus. "I am of a Roman family, but born in Claudiopolis, in Isauria. I was a soldier by profession, but I left the service for my religion." — Maximus. "Your impiety has made you unworthy to bear arms; but how did you leave the service?" — Tarachus. "I asked for my discharge from Publion, my captain, and he granted it to me." — Maximus. "In consideration of your white hair, I will procure for you the favor and friendship of the emperor, if you comply with his orders; come and sacrifice to the gods, following the very example of the emperors." — Tarachus. "The emperors are deceived by demons in participating in such worship." — Maximus. "Let his jaws be broken for having said that the emperors are deceived." — Tarachus. "Yes, I repeat it, they are men, and in that capacity they are deceived." — Maximus. "Sacrifice to our gods and renounce your madness." — Tarachus. "I cannot renounce the law of God." — Maximus. "There is no other law, wretch, than that which we obey." — Tarachus. "There is another, and you transgress it by adoring the work of your hands, statues of wood or stone." — Maximus. "Let him be struck on the face, to make him abandon his madness." — Tarachus. "What you call madness is the salvation of my soul, and I will never abandon it." — Maximus. "I will certainly make you abandon it, and I will force you to become wise." — Tarachus. "Do with my body whatever you please, it is in your power." — Maximus. "Let him be stripped, and let him be struck with rods." — Tarachus, while he was being struck. "It is now that you are truly making me wise. The blows you have me receive strengthen me; they increase my confidence in God and in Jesus Christ." — Maximus. "How can you deny the plurality of gods, since by your own admission you serve two? Have you not given the name of God to a certain person called Christ?" — Tarachus. "Yes, for he is the Son of the living God; he is the hope of Christians and the author of salvation for those who suffer for love of him." — Maximus. "Renounce this extravagance; come and sacrifice." — Tarachus. "I am not at all as you think; I am sixty-five years old; I have been raised in the truth and I cannot abandon it." — The centurion Demetrius, affecting an air of pity, said to him: "I have compassion for you; follow my advice and save your life by sacrificing." — Tarachus. "Keep your advice to yourself, minister of Satan." — Maximus. "Let him be loaded with heavy chains, and let him be led to prison."

The centurion Demetrius having brought the second in age, Maximus said to him: "What is your name?" — Probus. "My principal name, the one most honorable to me, is: Christian; but in the world I am called Probus." — Maximus. "What is your country? What is your family?" — Probus. "My father was from Thrace; I am a plebeian, born in Side in Pamphylia, and I profess Christianity." — Maximus. "Your name will be of no use to you. Believe me, sacrifice to the gods to merit my friendship and the favor of the emperors." — Probus. "All that is useless to me. I possessed a considerable fortune, which I left to serve the living God through Jesus Christ." — Maximus. "Let his clothes be taken off, and after he has been girded, let him be stretched out to be struck with ox-hide thongs." — While the martyr was being struck in this way, the centurion Demetrius said to him: "Have pity on yourself, my friend, see the ground all covered with your blood." — Probus. "Do what you will with my body, your torments are for me delicious perfumes." — Maximus. "Is your madness then incurable? What can you hope for?" — Probus. "I am wiser than you, because I do not adore demons." — Maximus. "Let him be turned and struck on the stomach." — Probus. "Lord, my God, assist your servant." — Maximus. "Ask him while striking him where his protector is." — Probus. "He assists me and will assist me, for I make so little account of your torments that I do not obey you at all." — Maximus. "See, wretch, your body torn and the ground all covered with your blood." — Probus. "The more my body suffers for Jesus Christ, the more my soul acquires strength and vigor." — Maximus. "Put irons on his feet and hands; let his legs be stretched in the stocks up to the fourth hole, and let no one be allowed to dress his wounds."

When the third of the holy martyrs was before the tribunal, Maximus said to him: "What is your name?" — Andronicus. "My true name is: Christian, and the one I commonly bear among men is Andronicus." — Maximus. "What is your family?" — Andronicus. "My father is one of the principal inhabitants of Ephesus." — Maximus. "Adore the gods, and obey the emperors who are our fathers and our masters." — Andronicus. "The demon is your father when you do his works." — Maximus. "Young man, you are being insolent; do you know that I have torments all ready?" — Andronicus. "I am prepared for everything that may happen to me." — Maximus. "Let him be stripped, let him be girded, and let him be stretched on the rack." Then the centurion Demetrius said to the martyr: "Obey, my friend, before they tear your body." — Andronicus. "I would rather see my body torn to pieces than lose my soul." — Maximus. "Sacrifice, or I will condemn you to a cruel death." — Andronicus. "I have not sacrificed to demons since my childhood, and I will not begin today." Athanasius, cornicularius or controller of the army, said to him: "I am old enough to be your father, and I have the right to give you advice; obey the governor." — Andronicus. "An admirable piece of advice, that of sacrificing to demons." — Maximus. "Miserable one, we shall see if you are insensible to torments. When you feel them, you will perhaps renounce your madness." — Andronicus. "This madness is advantageous to us, who hope in Jesus Christ. The wisdom of the world leads to eternal death." — Maximus. "Torment him with violence." — Andronicus. "I have done no wrong, and yet you torment me like a murderer. I suffer only for the worship that is due to the true God." — Maximus. "If you had the slightest feeling of piety, you would adore the gods whom the emperors adore so religiously." — Andronicus. "It is an impiety to abandon the true God to adore bronze and marble." — Maximus. "You dare to say that the emperors are guilty of impiety! Let his torments be increased; let his sides be pricked." — Andronicus. "I am in your hands, and you are the master of my body." — Maximus. "Put salt on his wounds, and rub his sides with pieces of broken tiles." — Andronicus. "Your torments have procured for my body a true refreshment." — Maximus. "I will make you perish by a slow death." — Andronicus. "Your threats do not frighten me; my courage is above everything that your cruelty will make you imagine." — Maximus. "Put chains on his feet and neck, and keep him in a narrow prison." Thus ended the first interrogation. The holy martyrs underwent the second at Mopsuestia, in Cilicia, where they were transferred following the governor.

Flavius-Caius-Numerian-Maximus, governor of Cilicia, being seated on his tribunal, said to the centurion Demetrius: "Let these impious ones who follow the religion of the Christians be brought to me." — "Here they are, Lord," replied the centurion. Then Maximus said to Tarachus: "Old age is respected in many, because prudence and judgment usually accompany that age. If you have made good use of the time I have left you, I presume that your reflections will have inspired other sentiments in you. It is to assure myself of this change that I order you to sacrifice to the gods." — Tarachus. "I am a Christian, and would to heaven that you and the emperors would leave your blindness to embrace the truth that leads to life!" — Maximus. "Strike his cheeks with a stone, and force him to renounce his madness." — Tarachus. "This madness is a true wisdom." — Maximus. "You have all your teeth broken, wretch: have pity on yourself, come to the altar, and sacrifice to the gods to spare yourself a more rigorous punishment." — Tarachus. "Even if you tore my body to pieces, you would never make me change my resolution, because it is Jesus Christ who gives me the strength to triumph." — Maximus. "I will know how to cure you of your madness. Let burning coals be brought, let his hands be stretched over the fire until they are burned." — Tarachus. "I do not fear a temporal fire whose activity soon passes, but I fear the eternal flames." — Maximus. "See your hands all burned; nothing will then be able to make you wise? Sacrifice." — Tarachus. "If you have any other torments, you can employ them; I hope to be capable of resisting all your efforts." — Maximus. "Let him be hung by the feet, and let his head be left in thick smoke." — Tarachus. "After having endured the fire, could I fear the smoke?" — Maximus. "Pour vinegar and salt into his nostrils." — Tarachus. "Your vinegar has only sweetness for me, and your salt seems insipid to me." — Maximus. "Mix mustard with the vinegar, and pour it into his nostrils." — Tarachus. "Your ministers have deceived you; they gave me honey, instead of mustard." — Maximus. "That is enough for the precept; I will invent new tortures to make you renounce your madness." — Tarachus. "You will find me prepared to sustain your assaults." — Maximus. "Let him be put back in prison, and let another be brought to me."

Probus having been presented to him, he said to him: "Well! have you made reflections? Are you disposed to sacrifice to the gods, following the example of the emperors?" — Probus. "I reappear before you with new vigor. The torments I have endured have only hardened my body; my soul is stronger than ever, and you can see the proof. I have in heaven a living God, whom I serve and whom I adore; I know no other." — Maximus. "How, wretch, are our gods not living?" — Probus. "Eh! can one look upon as living statues of stone and wood, which are the work of the hand of men! You do not know what you are doing, when you offer them sacrifices." — Maximus. "Repair at least your insolence by sacrificing to the great Jupiter; I will require nothing more." — Probus. "Can you then give the name of god to one who has defiled himself by adulteries, by incests, and by other enormous crimes?" — Maximus. "Let his mouth be struck with a stone, to prevent him from blaspheming." — Probus. "Why treat me thus? I have said nothing of Jupiter but what those who adore him know. I have not wounded the truth, I take you yourself as witness." — Maximus. "Let the red-hot iron be applied to his feet." — Probus. "Your fire has no heat; at least I do not feel its activity." — Maximus. "Let him be stretched on the rack, and let him be struck on the back with straps, until his shoulders are flayed." — Probus. "All your efforts are useless; invent some new punishment, and you will see the power of the God who is in me and who strengthens me." — Maximus. "Let him be shaved, and let his head be covered with burning coals." — Probus. "You have burned my head and my feet, you see however that I remain faithful to my God and that I despise your torments. My God will save me. Your gods can only lose their adorers." — Maximus. "Do you not then see those who adore them around my tribunal, honored by the good and the emperors? They look at you with contempt, you and your companions." — Probus. "Believe me, if they do not repent, and if they do not serve the living God, they will all perish, because, against the cry of their conscience, they adore idols." — Maximus. "Strike him on the face, so that he learns no longer to say God, but the Gods." — Probus. "You mistreat me, you unjustly disfigure my face, since I am telling the truth." — Maximus. "I will have your tongue cut out to put an end to your blasphemies and force you to obey." — Probus. "Besides this tongue, I have an interior and immortal one, over which you have no power." — Maximus. "Let him be led to prison, and let the third be brought to me."

When Andronicus had come, Maximus said to him: "Your companions at first refused to obey, and it was necessary to employ torments to overcome their obstinacy. In the end they yielded, and they will be liberally rewarded for their obedience. If therefore you wish to avoid the same torments, sacrifice to the gods, and you will be honored by our princes. But if you persist in your obstinacy, I swear it by the immortal gods and by the invincible emperors, you will not escape my just indignation." — Andronicus. "Why do you seek to deceive me by disguising the truth from me? My companions have not renounced the worship of the true God; and even if they had, I would never make myself guilty of such an impiety. The God I adore has clothed me with the armor of faith; Jesus Christ, my Savior, is my strength, so that I fear neither your power, nor that of your masters, nor that of your gods. You can put it to the test, by making me suffer all the tortures that the most refined cruelty will inspire in you." — Maximus. "Let him be tied to stakes, and let him be struck with ox-hide thongs." — Andronicus. "There is nothing new or extraordinary in this punishment." — Athanasius said to him: "Your body is nothing but a wound from head to foot, and all that seems nothing to you?" — Andronicus. "Those who love the living God count such treatment as nothing." — Maximus. "Let his back be rubbed with salt." — Andronicus. "Order, I pray you, that I be not spared; I will be more surely preserved from corruption, and more in a state to endure your torments." — Maximus. "Let him be turned, and let him be struck on the stomach to reopen his first wounds." — Andronicus. "You saw, when I was led before your tribunal, that I was perfectly healed of the wounds I had received in my first interrogation; he who healed me can still grant me the same grace." — Maximus, addressing the prison guards: "Traitors that you are, had I not expressly forbidden you to let anyone enter to see this man or to dress his wounds." The jailer Pegasus: "I swear it by your greatness, no one has seen him, no one has dressed his wounds. He has been kept loaded with chains in the most remote part of the prison. If you doubt my fidelity, here is my head, I consent to lose my life." — Maximus. "How then does it happen that one no longer perceives any trace of his wounds?" The jailer. "I do not know how he was healed." — Andronicus. "Blind that you are, do you not know that the physician who healed me is as powerful as he is tender and charitable? You do not know him. He heals not by the application of remedies, but by his word alone. Although he inhabits heaven, he is present everywhere; but once again, you do not know him." — Maximus. "These vain words will be of no use to you; sacrifice, or it is all over with you." — Andronicus. "My answers are always the same. I am not a child to yield to threats or caresses." — Maximus. "Do not flatter yourself with getting the better of me." — Andronicus. "You will never see me shaken by your threats." — Maximus. "You will not have despised my authority with impunity." — Andronicus. "It will not be said either that the cause of Jesus Christ has succumbed under your authority." — Maximus. "Let new tortures be prepared for the first time that I sit on my tribunal; in the meantime, let him be loaded with chains, let him be shut up in a dungeon, and let no one be allowed to see him there."

It was at Anazarbus, in Cilicia, that our holy martyrs underwent a third interrogation. Tarachus, who appeared first, answered always with the same constancy. "Death," he said, "will put an end to my combats, and will begin my happiness; long torments will procure for me a greater reward." Maximus having had him tied to the rack, he said to him: "I could claim the rescript of Diocletian, which forbids judges to put soldiers on the rack; but I do not wish to use my privilege, for fear that you might suspect me of cowardice." — Maximus. "You flatter yourself with the hope of being embalmed after your death by Christian women; but I will know how to deprive you of that advantage." — Tarachus. "You can do what you please with my body both during my life and after m Anazarbe City in Cilicia, site of the third interrogation and final martyrdom. y death." — Maximus. "Let his face be torn, and let his lips be cut off." — Tarachus. "By disfiguring my face, you have added a new beauty to my soul. Fortified by divine love, I do not fear all your tortures." — Maximus. "Let red-hot spits be applied to his breasts, and let his ears be cut off." — Tarachus. "My heart will be no less attentive to the word of God." — Maximus. "Let the skin of his head be torn off and let it be covered with burning coals." — Tarachus. "Even if you had me flayed all over my body, you would never succeed in separating me from my God." — Maximus. "Let the spits be made redder than the first time, and let them be applied to his sides." — Tarachus. "O God of heaven, cast your eyes upon me, and be my judge!" Maximus sent him back to prison, reserving him for the games of the next day. He then had Probus brought in.

When the latter had arrived, the governor exhorted him again to sacrifice. But as his exhortations were useless, he had him tied and hung by the feet; after which, red-hot spits were applied to his sides and back. "My body," said Probus, "is in your power. May the Lord of heaven and earth consider my patience and the humility of my heart!" — Maximus. "The God whom you invoke has delivered you himself into my hands." — Probus. "He loves men." — Maximus. "Let his mouth be opened, and let wine and meats that have been offered to the gods be put into it." Probus. "See, Lord, the violence that is done to me, and judge my cause." — Maximus. "You preferred to suffer a thousand torments rather than to sacrifice, and yet you have just participated in our sacrifices." — Probus. "You should not boast of what you have made me do against my will." — Maximus. "No matter, you have done it; promise that you will do it voluntarily, and I will deliver you." — Probus. "Know that even if you forced me to receive into my mouth everything that has been offered on your abominable altars, I would not be defiled by it. God is witness to the violence I suffer." — Maximus. "Let the spits be made red, and let his legs be burned. Well! Probus, there is no part of your body that has not had its punishment, and you still persist in your madness? Wretch! what can you hope for?" — Probus. "I have abandoned my body to you, in order to save my soul." — Maximus. "Let sharp nails be made red and let his hands be pierced with them." — "I give you thanks, O my Savior, that you have judged me worthy to have a part in your sufferings!" — Maximus. "The number of torments that you endure only increases your madness." — Probus. "Would to God that you were not plunged into such blindness!" — Maximus. "You have lost the use of all your limbs, and you complain of not yet having been deprived of that of sight! Prick his eyes, but little by little, until you have pierced the organ of sight." — Probus. "Here I am now blind. You have deprived me of the eyes of the body, but you cannot take away those of the soul." — Maximus. "You still persist in reasoning, but think then that you are condemned to a blindness that will not cease." — Probus. "If you knew the blindness of your soul, you would find yourself more unhappy than I." — Maximus. "You cannot use your body more than a dead man, and you still speak?" — Probus. "As long as natural heat will animate the remains that you have left me of this body, I will not cease to speak of my God, to bless him and to praise him." — Maximus. "What! you hope to survive these torments? Can you flatter yourself that I will let you breathe a single moment?" — Probus. "A cruel death is all that I expect from you; and I ask nothing else of God, except the grace to persevere until the end in the confession of his holy name." — Maximus. "I will let you languish as long as an impious one such as you deserves. Let him be taken away from here. Let care be taken to guard these prisoners well, so that their friends cannot see them. I destine them for the public games. Let Andronicus be brought to me, who is the most obstinate of the three."

The answers and the conduct of the martyrs were in general very respectful toward the judges, however unjust and cruel they were. This respect toward the powers is a duty that those who are animated by the spirit of the Gospel do not fail in. If on certain occasions the martyrs appeared to deviate from this rule, they were acting by an extraordinary movement of the Holy Spirit. Saint Paul called his judge a whitewashed wall and threatened him with the wrath of God. Some martyrs followed his example by making sharp reproaches to their judges. "They were patient in torments," says Saint Augustine, "faithful in their confession, inviolably attached to the truth in all their words. It is true that they launched some darts of the Lord against the impious and that they provoked them to anger, but they healed several of them for salvation." It is from this point of view that one must consider certain expressions that the answers of Saint Andronicus present. They are just reproaches made to the impiety of the ministers of justice; they are like darts that God used to strike them and awaken them.

The governor, pressing Andronicus to obey, told him that his two companions had in the end sacrificed to the gods and even to the emperors. "You are playing," replied Andronicus, "the character of a worshiper of the god of lies, and I recognize in this imposture that men resemble the gods they serve. May God judge you, minister of iniquity." Maximus had fire set to rolls of paper, with which they burned the martyr's stomach. They then burned his fingers with sharp points that had been made red. The judge, seeing that he could not impose silence on him, said to him: "You must not expect to die once; you will live until the day marked for the games, in order to see your limbs devoured one after the other by cruel beasts." — Andronicus. "You are more barbarous than tigers and more bloodthirsty than the most inhumane murderers." — Maximus. "Let his mouth be opened to make him take some of what has been sacrificed to the gods." — Andronicus. "See, O my God, the violence that is done to me." — Maximus. "What will you say now? You have tasted of what has been offered on the altar. Here you are initiated into the mysteries of the gods." — Andronicus. "Know, tyrant, that the soul is not defiled for suffering involuntarily what it condemns. God, who knows the depths of hearts, sees that mine has not consented to this abomination." — Maximus. "Until when will your imagination be seduced by this frenzy? It will not know how to deliver you from my hands." — Andronicus. "God will deliver me when it pleases him." — Maximus. "That is a new extravagance. I will have your tongue cut out to reduce you to silence." — Andronicus. "I ask you as a favor to have these lips and this tongue cut off with which you imagine that I have participated in your abominable sacrifices." — Maximus. "Let his teeth be torn out, and let his tongue be cut to the root, which has uttered so many blasphemies; let them be burned afterward and let the ashes be thrown to the wind, so that neither men nor women of his impious sect can gather them, and keep them as something holy and precious. Let him be taken back to prison, while waiting to be devoured by the beasts of the amphitheater."

The third interrogation of the holy martyrs being finished, Maximus sent for the pontiff Terentianus, who had the inspection of public games and spectacles, to charge him with providing the entertainment of the games the next day. An innumerable crowd of people went to the amphitheater, which was a mile from the city of Anazarbus. Many gladiators perished there, who were killed or devoured by the beasts. The Christians placed on a nearby mountain watched what was happening, waiting with fear for the outcome of the combat of their brothers. Finally, the governor charged some of his guards to go and fetch the confessors who had been condemned to the beasts. Their torments had reduced them to such a sad state that they could not stand. It was necessary to bring them into the amphitheater. "We advanced as much as we could," says the author of their acts, "observing however not to let ourselves be seen. The sight of our brothers reduced to this state made our tears flow; many of the spectators themselves could not help but shed them. Scarcely had the martyrs appeared when a great silence fell. People murmured publicly about the governor's barbarity. There were many who abandoned the games and returned to the city. The governor, irritated, had all the avenues guarded to prevent anyone from escaping, and gave orders to observe those who wished to withdraw, so that he could later interrogate them. He had several beasts released, which, as if held back by an invisible force, did not approach the martyrs. Furious at such an extraordinary spectacle, he had those who took care of the beasts beaten, as if they had been in league with them. These wretches, who saw themselves threatened with the ultimate punishment, released a bear, which that day had killed three men: but this animal advanced gently toward the martyrs and began to lick the feet of Andronicus. In vain did this martyr try to provoke it. Maximus, beside himself, had the bear killed on the spot at the feet of Andronicus. Terentianus, fearing for himself, ordered a furious lioness to be released. The roars of this animal frightened the most intrepid of the spectators. However, when it was near the martyrs, who were lying on the ground, it lay down at the feet of Tarachus and licked them. Maximus, foaming with rage, had it provoked. The lioness, having become furious, let out horrible roars, and the spectators were so frightened that they shouted that its cage must be opened. The confectores or gladiators were called, who finished off the martyrs. Maximus ordered that their bodies be placed with those of the gladiators who had been killed, and had them guarded during the night by six soldiers, for fear that the Christians would take them away: but under the cover of darkness and a violent storm that dispersed the guards, the faithful distinguished the three bodies by the effect of a miraculous light that made them known to them; they carried them away with respect on their shoulders, and hid them in a cave in the neighboring mountains, where it was not likely that anyone would go looking for them. The governor rigorously punished the guards for having left their post. Three fervent Christians, Felix, Marcian, and Verus, retired to the cave, resolved to spend the rest of their lives there. Three days after the death of our holy martyrs, the governor left Anazarbus. The Christians of this city sent this account to the church of Iconium, asking it to communicate it to the faithful of Pisidia and Pamphylia, for their edification. The three holy martyrs consumed their sacrifice on October 11, the day on which they are named in the martyrologies.

FIRST KNOWN BISHOP OF THE ANCIENT SEE OF OLORON AND CONFESSOR

6th century.

Martyrium majus quam charitas proximi. Love of neighbor is something greater than martyrdom.

Saint John Chrysostom, Homilies.

Following an ancient and respectable tradition, Saint Grat wa s born on saint Grat Martyr of Rouergue originally from Rome. the borders of Soule, in the village of Lichos (Basses-Pyrénées, arrondissement of Orthez, canton of Navarrenz), where, less than two centuries ago, the ruins of his birthplace, then called Gamichelu in Basque, were still shown. His childhood and youth passed under the fire of Euric's persecution. But the violence of the Arian prince did not shake his constancy; on the contrary, like another Tobias, he always remained faithful to his religion; his examples and exhortations supported a great number of Catholics in the faith of Jesus Christ, true God and true man at once. Thus, he was carried to the episcopal throne by the suffrages of the clergy and the people as soon as the accession of Alaric II had restored a certain freedom to the Churches. Having become bishop, Saint Grat displayed the most eminent qualities in all his conduct. "He was," say the memoirs of the Church of Oloron, "a brilliant star of the Church of France, a prodigy of holiness, profound in humility, attached to the care of souls, austere in his life, full of charity, a man of mercy and a father to the poor."

The new bishop had to fulfill the duties of an important office conferred upon him by the legislation of the time, that of defender of the city. Oloron still retained this title, Oloron Episcopal see of Saint Grat. as proven by the Saint's signature, episcopus de civitate Oloron. Now, at that time, each city had its defender, and the custom had prevailed that this defender should be the bishop himself; Visigothic law recognized both this office and this custom. As defender of the city of Oloron, Saint Grat had to protect his people against the vexations of the treasury and subordinate authority, against private insults and public despotism, against all his enemies, whether from within or without. He discharged these noble functions as a man of heart or, to put it better, as a Saint.

Religion above all demanded his energy, because of the dangers posed to it by the Arian sect, which was master of the co untry. In thi secte Arienne Heresy opposed by Columbanus in Italy among the Lombards. s regard, he showed himself to be a "powerful and generous enemy of the Goths," add the memoirs we have already cited, and, through his pastoral vigilance, he knew how to preserve his flock from the contagion of heresy, while awaiting the help that other barbarians were coming to bring to the Catholic cult.

For some years, the Franks had established themselves in the north and center of Gaul. Clov is, th Clovis King of the Franks, mentioned to date the existence of the church. eir leader, had abjured paganism, received baptism at the hands of Saint Remi, and founded a monarchy that would one day be called "the eldest daughter of the Church." Under his authority, the Gauls, the Romans, and the Franks, united in a single state, knew and practiced only the faith of the Roman Church in the lands situated beyond the Loire. Clovis, called, it is said, by the southern bishops, resolved to extend religious and political unity to the summit of the Pyrenees: he marched against the Visigoths. Worthy rivals of one another, Alaric and Clovis Alaric King of the Goths who conquered Touraine. met on the fields of Vouillé, i n Poitou. The cla champs de Vouillé Decisive battle in 507 marking the end of the Visigothic Kingdom of Toulouse. sh was terrible for Alaric: he perished at the very hand of the King of the Franks who, flying from conquest to conquest, destroyed the kingdom of Toulouse and pushed his own back to the furthest limits of Novempopulania (507). Thus, Oloron, the ancient Gallo-Roman city, became a Gallo-Frankish town.

Saint Grat took advantage of this change to heal the wounds of his church, where he made the Catholic faith and morals flourish once more. Less fortunate, in a sense, than his colleague, Galactorius of Béarn, who had been martyred by the Arians during the last war, the Bishop of Oloron prolonged his days until extreme old age. But, if he did not have the glory of shedding his blood for the defense of religion, he nonetheless imprinted in all hearts such veneration for his virtues that posterity recognizes and honors him as a Saint, not without having experienced many times the power of his protection. He is the secondary patron of the diocese.

## CULT AND RELICS.

The relics of Saint Grat, having escaped the misfortunes of time, still rest in the church of Sainte-Marie d'Oloron. His feast is celebrated on October 14. Before the Revolution, all the parishes sent their magistrates, banner at the head, to the solemn procession that took place on that day; those of Lichos occupied the first place, in their traditional capacity as compatriots of the great Saint.

It was known, through the ancient *Office of Saint Grat*, that Joseph de Joseph de Révol Bishop of Oloron who rediscovered the relics of Saint Grat in 1710. Révol, Bishop of Oloron and one of the greatest prelates of his time, found and recognized, in 1710, the relics of his holy predecessor, deposited in a kind of cupboard behind the high altar of the cathedral. The *17th century* had passed in a constant progress of Oloron's devotion to the beloved patron, when the Revolution came to overturn everything. It is useless to search for how the relics of Saint Grat were saved from universal profanation. Let us only say that after the restoration of the cult, one saw again on the altar of Sainte-Marie the bust containing the *head*, or rather the *skull* of the holy bishop, and that, in the cupboard located behind the altar, there was once again a box filled with bones which were regarded as the other relics of Saint Grat.

In the month of October 1844, Mgr Lacroix, Bishop of Bayonne, recognized for himself the relic contained in the bust and drew up a report of this verification. As for the bones contained in the cupboard behind the altar, since this cupboard and the box were poorly closed, since no positive document or testimony was exhibited regarding the identity of these bones, and since, finally, it was proven that they had remained too long subject to the indiscretions of a large number of people, the learned prelate did not feel in a position to proceed with a rigorous recognition and contented himself with sealing the old box with his seal, which he entrusted to the special care of the parish priest, while awaiting new light.

This light has finally come. Providence had saved from the general disaster an authentic copy of the report drawn up in 1710 by Mgr de Révol; it was found in the archives of the metropolitan officiality of Auch by the Abbé Darré, vicar-general, and communicated to the new Bollandists, who inserted it into the fifty-sixth volume of the *Acta Sanctorum*. A discovery happy to the highest degree: for this report enumerates the smallest circumstances, both of the reliquary and of the relics; as far as the bones verified in 1710 are concerned in particular, they are all indicated by their proper name in the declaration of the surgeon called to examine them under oath, the sieur Marsaing, who takes the care to designate, one by one, the bones, large or small, that were missing at that time. With such a document, there was only a simple confrontation to be made between the indications found therein and the deposit entrusted, since 1844, to the priest of Sainte-Marie. It is the Abbé Menjoulet whom the Bishop of Bayonne delegated to make all possible findings, according to the wise rules of the Congregation of Rites. Let us quote the very words of the vicar-general of Bayonne:

« On June 2, 1870, the inquiry was conducted in the following manner. With the Abbé Lassalle, priest of Sainte-Marie, I had joined to myself the Abbé Salefranque, canon of Bayonne, the Abbé Lasserre, archpriest-priest of Sainte-Croix d'Oloron, and several other priests of the city. Two skilled doctors, MM. Charles Crouseilles and Emile Cassmayor, had kindly accepted the mission of making all the anatomical observations necessary for the inquiry.

« With the report before our eyes, we verified without difficulty the identity of the box, sealed in 1844 by Mgr Lacroix. After breaking the seal, we found inside (in addition to the bones which were given to the two doctors) several evident signs that this box is indeed the same one mentioned in the report of Joseph de Révol: it is made of walnut wood; it contained fragments of moldy paper, where we read the signature of the illustrious bishop, then his seal on red wax, then also the trace of an authentic act attached under the lid, then finally a piece of taffeta, of a white turned russet by time, and formally mentioned in the report of 1710. These findings, in which special workers took part, leave no doubt as to the identity of the reliquary.

« However, the two doctors finished their observations; they had placed the various bones in their natural position and had drawn up a complete list. It was then that they were read the declaration of Marsang, the surgeon of 1710. I cannot express the emotion that seized the attendees when it was noted, on the one hand, that none of the bones signaled as missing in 1710 were found in our collection, and, on the other hand, that all the bones that are still there are expressly designated in the list of Marsang. A certain number of those carried by this list are missing; but their absence is easily explained by successive distributions, for more than a century and a half, and even by pious thefts favored by the state of a poorly closed cupboard and box. The main fragments are there: that is the essential, and that is enough to establish that no substitution has been made; that, therefore, we have there, at least in part, the relics recognized by Joseph de Révol.

« Such was, in general terms, the result of the recognition, of which a formal and minutely detailed report was duly drawn up. The local tradition was renewed in the eyes of all the attendees, and no one wished to doubt that the church of Sainte-Marie has the glory of still possessing the venerated remains of the first known bishop of Oloron ».

Abbé Menjoulet, in the *Écho religieux des Pyrénées et des Landes*.