Saint Justus of Auxerre

A few days later, the father and son, provided with money and provisions, set out on their journey and arrived at Melun towards evening. There, a poor man, both blind and lame, solicited their charity, complaining of hunger. Saint Just was not content with sharing his travel provisions with him, but stripped himself of his garment to give it to him. As his father reprimanded him for it: "Is it not written," he said to him, "that blessed is he who has compassion for the sufferings of the needy, because the Lord in his turn will have pity on him in the days of misfortune?"

The next morning, the travelers continued their journey and met near Paris an excellent man, named Hippolyte, who, having questioned them about their country and the purpose of their journey, offered them hospitality. The two men from Auxerre accepted it and went to his home to restore their strength, taking some food, wine, and beer.

Having reached the banks of the Oise, they did not at first find a boat; but, thanks to God, a boatman who was going down the river finally responded to their call and transported them to the other side, without wishing to accept any payment. As soon as they arrived in Amiens, Justin and Just inquired about the dwelling of Loup, or the place where they might find him. Having met him in the city, they explained to him the purpose of their journey. "Come to my house," the merchant said to them, "I will show you all my slaves, and if you recognize your relative, you may take him with you, after having reimbursed me for his value."

That very evening, while Justin was examining the twelve slaves at Loup's house, unable to recognize his brother among them, Saint Just cried out: "Here is the one we are looking for," pointing to a man who was holding a lit lamp. "How could you recognize me," the latter remarked, "since you were not born when I left my country?" The young child's identification was nonetheless the expression of the truth.

A young soldier of the persecutor Rictiovarus had witn essed this Rictiovare Roman prefect and persecutor of Christians in Gaul. recognition. He hastened to warn his leader: "I have discovered," he told him, "some of those people addicted to magic who proclaim themselves Christians; what should be done with them?" — "Bring them to me very quickly," replied the tyrant; "and, if they refuse to come, let them be put in prison until I have them appear before me." The satellites, who were to execute this order, no longer found the Christians in Loup's house: for the latter, without accepting their money, had urged them to leave immediately to escape the persecutions of the terrible judge. Rictiovarus could not give up his prey so easily. "Let four men mount their horses," he cried, "and force these Christians to return here. If they refuse to obey, let them be put to death!"

The three fugitives, following the Roman road that led from Amiens to Senlis, had arrived at Sinamavicus, today Saint-Just-en-Chaussée, near the Sirique fountain which feeds the Aire or Aré river. Justinian said to his brother: "Since here is water, let us stop here to eat and regain our strength." And Saint Just exclaimed: "Hasten, for Rictiovare has dispatched four horsemen to bring us back to Amiens and put us to death; I will keep watch during your meal; if they arrive, I will speak with them, while you remain hidden in this nearby cave." Scarcely had he spoken these words when Saint Just caught sight of the satellites; his two relatives hastened to follow the advice they had been given.

Rictiovare's soldiers asked Saint Just where the relatives who accompanied him were, and to which gods they were accustomed to offer their sacrifices. The courageous child refused to betray his own and limited himself to answeri ng that he was a courageux enfant Child martyr of Auxerre, beheaded in the Beauvaisis region. Christian. One of the horsemen immediately cut off his head, with the intention of carrying it to Rictiovare. But the body of the holy child suddenly stood up and replaced his head upon his shoulders. "God of heaven and earth," he cried out, "receive my soul, for I am innocent!" The satellites, terrified by such a prodigy, fled immediately and went to tell Rictiovare what they had witnessed.

Justin and Justinian, who had heard the young martyr's prayer, came out of their retreat and wondered what they were going to do with this decapitated body. It is said that the head told them: "Enter the cave, you will find there an ancient tomb covered in ivy: it is there that you shall lay my body. As for my head, carry it to my mother so that she may kiss it. If she desires to see me again, it is in Paradise that she must go to seek me."

Justin and Justinian, after having buried the body of Saint Just, hastened to return to Auxerre, where they arrived after three days. When Felicia learned of her son's death, she blessed God for having glorified him in this way and hung the martyr's head, wrapped in a cloth, in her house. During the night, this precious relic flooded not only the dwelling but the entire city with light.

The Bishop of Auxerre (whom all the legends wrongly designate by the name of Saint Amateur) had just risen to recite Lauds. "I have seen," he said to his clergy, "a great glow which, starting from Justin's house, enveloped the whole city. Go quickly to inquire into the causes of this phenomenon." Three priests who went to investigate soon returned to recount the details of the martyrdom that had taken place in the Beauvaisis. The people, after having given than Beauvaisis City and diocese of the saint's origin. ks to God, had a reliquary prepared so that they might go solemnly, with the cross, candles, and censers, to fetch the head of Saint Just and deposit it in the cathedral church, in the very place he had chosen for his burial.

A young girl, sixteen years of age, blind from birth, invoked the relic with which the church of Auxerre had just been enriched, and suddenly recovered her sight, which gave rise to thanksgiving from the faithful and the clergy.

In Auxerre, on the Rue du Temple, the location of the house where Saint Just lived is shown, where there is a statue, dated 1780, representing the young martyr, with a palm in his right hand and a book in his left hand. When the Chapter went in procession to the church of Saint-Amâtre, it would make a station in front of this house and recite a prayer to Saint Just.

Saint Just is represented twice in the stained glass of the high windows of the choir at the Beauvais Cathedral, first in the features of a child holding his head in his left hand, and then in the appearance of a mature age, with the inscription S IVST.

One can see in the church of Saint-Just a statue of the patron saint, holding his head in his hands, and a painting of no value representing his martyrdom.

## CULT AND RELICS.

From the Beauvaisis region, the cult of Saint Just spread to the dioceses of Paris, Rouen, Auxerre, etc., as well as to the Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland (diocese of Coire), England, Italy, and elsewhere. However, it is fair to note that this cult was often motivated by the possession of relics of a saint named Just or Justin, who was more or less known, and who was confused with the child martyr of the Beauvaisis. This is what happened in Louvres, Paris, Einsiedeln, Fianu (Switzerland), Zutphen (Netherlands), Malmedy (Prussia), Trier, Antwerp, etc.

The tomb of Saint Just, at Sinanovie, soon became a place of pilgrimage, and a chapel was erected near the Sirique fountain. The acts written at the abbey of Malmedy recount that pilgrims would light candles on October 18th around the fountain while singing hymns, and that on that day, one could notice what looked like veins of blood. Tradition held that the decapitated Saint Just had washed his head and hands in this spring, and the faithful imitated this example after drinking the water, which was said to be sovereign against fever. This practice ceased towards the end of the last century, when the spring dried up. This Sirique fountain, later designated by the name Puchot, was for a long time enclosed within the abbey of Saint-Just which, after undergoing various changes, was populated in 1147 by Premonstratens ian monks Prémontrés Religious order that occupied the Abbey of Saint-Just. from Dammartin. The village that had gathered around the tomb had borne the name Saint-Just for more than a century. The cult of the patron had not disappeared with the relics: thus, we see, in 1476, an indulgence of one hundred days granted to pilgrims who would visit the chapel erected at the place where Saint Just was decapitated. This sanctuary was destroyed during the Revolution.

The Church of Beauvais once inscribed the name of Saint Just in the canon of the Mass. It appears, in the *Hodie quoque* prayer, with those of Saint Lucien, Saint Maxien, and Saint Julien, in the Missal that Bishop Roger de Champagne had written around the year 1600. In another Missal, slightly later, given to the abbey of Jumièges by Robert, Archbishop of Canterbury, a proper preface is dedicated to Saint Just. A confraternity of prayers existed from time immemorial between the Chapters of Beauvais and Auxerre, due to the co-possession of the relics of Saint Just. On October 18th, his reliquary was carried in procession after the singing of Terce around the cathedral of Beauvais. At the Palm Sunday procession, this reliquary was carried by the parish priests of Saint-Thomas and Saint-Martin. The name of Saint Just is inscribed on October 18th in the Roman Martyrology, as well as in those of Saint Jerome, Usuard, Beauvais, Amiens, etc. The feast is marked on October 18th in all the breviaries of the diocese of Beauvais, where it was once a day of rest; on October 19th, in the proper of Saint-Florent de Roye and in the breviary of Rouen (1728); and on November 29th, in the proper of Saint-Riquier.

Saint Just is the patron of Saint-Just-en-Chaussée and Saint-Just-des-Marais (canton of Beauvais). A river that merges with the Avelon bears the same name. Among the numerous localities in France that bear the name Saint-Just, there are perhaps some that owe their denomination to our child martyr. This is a verification that is almost impossible to make due to the confusion that reigned in the Middle Ages between the martyr of the Beauvaisis and several of his namesakes.

We have seen that the head of Saint Just was deposited in the church of Auxerre, which successively bore the names of Saint-Symphorien and Saint-Amâtre. Thanks to the intervention of Otto III, a considerable fragment was given to the abbey of Cerney, in Saxony, which already possessed a part of the body of Saint Justin of Louvres, and which thus believed it was increasing the relics of the same martyr. What remained of it in Auxerre was partially burned by the Huguenots in 1567. Only a fragment would be known, of which we see a translation made by Pierre de Broc in 1633, but which disappeared in '93. Even today, a kneecap bone is kept at the cathedral, coming from the abbey of Notre-Dame des Iles, in Auxerre, and probably given at an unknown time by the Church of Beauvais.

At the time of the Norman invasion (838? 850? 851?), the bodies of Saint Just, Saint Gremer, Saint Anguérène, and Saint Exrols were brought within the enclosure of Beauvais, which seemed to offer shelter against the profanations of the pirates.

In 866, Odulphe, sacristan of Saint-Riquier, obtained from Odon, Bishop of Beauvais, a bone of Saint Just, the reception of which took place on June 12; this relic was placed in the reliquary that contained the head of Saint Riquier.

In 1132, Pierre de Dammartin, Bishop of Beauvais, transferred the body of Saint Just into a new reliquary, due to the generosity of some of the faithful. Another translation took place in 1264, under the episcopate of Philippe de Dreux. In these various recognitions, the absence of several parts of the body was noted, and among others, the head.

In 1674, the town of Saint-Just was enriched by a relic given by Bishop Choart de Huzanval to the Premonstratensian abbey. This relic, kept at the parish church of Saint-Just, was visited and authenticated in 1860.

There were formerly relics of him at the cathedral of Rouen, at Picquigny, at Saint-Pierre d'Abbeville, etc. The one that is kept at Saint-Pierre de Roye undoubtedly comes from the collegiate church of Saint-Florent, where there was one in a silver arm, given by the Church of Beauvais.

*Hagiographie du diocèse d'Amiens*, by M. Labbé Corblot. — Cf. *Acta Sanctorum*.