Saint Demetrius of Gap

Having departed from the pleasant and refined lands of the East, Saint Demetrius arrived in our Alps at a time when civilization and faith had not yet dissipated the deep darkness and gross errors that enveloped the religious and moral ideas of their rugged inhabitants. Although God had measured out his inheritance in cold and austere mountains, among tribes always ready for war, always disposed to make any form of domination one might wish to impose upon them pay dearly, Demetrius did not lose heart; he established from that moment the episcopal see which was, later, to be illustrated by so many pontiffs who have succeeded one another there down to us. In these regions had dwelt, for centuries, tribes known by the names of Vocontii, Tricorii, and Caturig es. Now, Voconces Gallic tribe inhabiting the region of Gap. in the time of Demetrius, these peoples were given over to all the lies of polytheism; they were ignorant of the existence of one God, the admirable dogma of the Holy Trinity, the Incarnation of the eternal Word, and the Redemption of the world; their worship was but a series of honors rendered to creatures, a mixture of ceremonies as ridiculous as they were impious. Their morality was hardly any better.

Saint Demetrius, alone, without riches and without weapons, nevertheless hoped to triumph over the superstition and barbarism of these peoples; he attempted to make the evangelical light shine in the midst of the darkness. Fortified by the virtue of the cross, he began by preaching by example. He knew that prayer is a flaming arrow that penetrates the clouds, reaches the throne of God, and brings down torrents of graces capable of determining the conversion of the most hardened sinners. He knew that he had come to attack the enemy of salvation in his best-defended entrenchments, and that there is nothing more effective against this impure spirit than penance. He therefore gave himself up, night and day, to the meditation of eternal truths, to fasting, and to all sorts of mortifications. He interposed himself as a victim, seeking to expiate the crimes and infidelities of a prevaricating people of whom he already regarded himself as the pastor and father.

Thus, admiring his conduct, these men, formerly plunged into the grossest sensualism, began to taste the holy precepts of the divine legislator, to understand chastity, temperance, fraternal charity, and all the pure virtues of Christianity; then they took pleasure in hearing the holy pontiff speak to them of the mercies and justices of the Lord, of the impenetrable counsels of His wisdom, of the mysteries of universal redemption, and of the future life. They recognized that such a pure morality, such a sublime religion, could only come from heaven; little by little, upright hearts yielded to grace, and catechumens were baptized. This nascent Church retraced the image of the Churches founded by the Apostles themselves. The faithful had but one heart and one soul to encourage and assist one another, and but one desire: that of shedding their blood for the exaltation of their faith.

These happy successes increased the strength of the new apostle; he was regarded as an angel come from heaven. His life, very much in conformity with that of the divine master, was a mirror of innocence and like a flower of purity; under his direction, many devoted themselves to the perfect practice of this heavenly virtue. The holy pastor took special care of the youth and did everything in his power to preserve this tender portion of his cherished flock from the contagion of the world, which earned him the glorious title of Guardian of Innocence.

The miracles that Demetrius performed on the sick and the infirm who were brought to him, or whom he went to visit himself in their sad dwellings, gave a new luster to the holy preaching he delivered to the people. However, hell was irritated to see the number of Christians growing rapidly; thus, more than once, the demons tried to frighten the holy pontiff and turn him away from his victorious conquests. Demetrius, without being troubled, invoked the name of Jesus, and, before his confident prayer, the powers of darkness fled, abandoning a multitude of infidels who had until then been subject to their tyrannical possession.

The priests of the idols, in turn frightened by the progress of the religion of Jesus Christ which was establishing itself on the ruins of paganism, plotted the ruin of our generous athlete; they ran, all distraught, to throw themselves at the fe et of Simon Abbot who organized the furtive translation of the relics. Simon, prefect of the city. They vividly represented to him that a stranger had managed to fascinate the spirit of the people and seduce the crowd; that in great contempt for the gods of the empire, the whole city and the inhabitants of the region were going to become Christians; and that, in their fanaticism, they would not delay in converting the temple, built in the middle of the city, to the exercise of the new cult; and that thus it would be the end of the ancient religion. The governor, greatly moved by these complaints, did not know what course of action to take. On one hand, he foresaw that his inaction, in such a circumstance, would stir up powerful hatred against him, cause him the loss of his dignity, and perhaps cost him his life; on the other, he understood better than anyone how difficult it would be for him to overthrow a doctrine so pure, to uproot a belief so strongly supported, which already counted numerous partisans and had known how to win ardent sympathies, as much among the high classes as among the people; he was not unaware that the venerable pontiff had been taken into such great affection that all the new converts would have gladly given their lives to save his.

The situation was embarrassing; but as the complaints became more vivid and the murmurs more threatening, the prefect finally decided to condemn the holy confessor to death, in the hope that by losing the one who was the guardian and leader of this multitude of converts, it would then become easy to disperse the flock or force the neophytes to return to the superstitious practices of their fathers.

The holy confessor was therefore arrested; he was thrown into chains, and a thousand cruelties were inflicted upon him; Demetrius showed himself full of strength from above; he confessed Jesus Christ, preached His law, and announced His kingdom to all those around him.

Finally, despairing of defeating him and wishing, moreover, to terrify the people and stop the conversions through a public and severe punishment, the irritated governor condemned Demetrius to be beheaded at the very place where it was customary to execute great criminals. This iniquitous sentence was to be carried out. The holy pastor, who had devoted his life to the salvation of his flock, was taken from prison and led to a small hill north of the city. The crowd was numerous to witness this cruel spectacle; the generous confessor of Christ, having arrived at the place of execution, knelt down, commended his soul to God with a short prayer, and, in this humble posture, impassive and serene, he awaited the death that would open the heavens to him.

Soon the head of the apostle fell under the executioner's axe, and the blood of the martyr gushed onto this idolatrous land: a fertilizing dew, it would later cause the seed of the Gospel to produce a hundredfold.

If we are to believe a tradition that has reached us, Demetriu s rose from the ground, took prit sa tête entre les mains Hagiographic phenomenon in which a decapitated martyr carries their own head. his head in his hands, and carried it into the city. This prodigy struck such great terror into the most impetuous that the faithful were permitted to collect the glorious remains of their bishop. An ancient painting, framed in one of the pillars of the cathedral of Gap, depicts this marvelous event and transmits to us the date of the year 86.

## CULT AND RELICS.

The body of the illustrious martyr was kept in the church of Saint-Jean-le-Rond where it had first been deposited and where it continued to be surrounded by veneration until the time of the wars of religion, an unhappy period during which the ancient temple and many other religious buildings that formed the most beautiful ornament of the city of Gap were looted, then demolished to their foundations. At that time, the relics were transported to La Beaume-lès-Sisteron by the Bishop of Gap, Pierre Paparin de Chaumont, who had taken refuge in that city to escape the persecutions of the Huguenots. His successor, Charles-Salomon Dusserre, believed he could, in 1616, bring back to Gap the relics of Saint Demetrius and those of Saint Arnoux, which his predecessor had taken care to transport to La Beaume-lès-Sisteron. They remained exposed to public veneration until 1692.

But in the month of September of that same year, the troops of the Duke of Savoy invaded and burned the city of Gap. The relics of Saint Demetrius, Saint Arnoux, and several others had been taken from their shrines and hidden under the pavement behind the high altar of the cathedral. On the following November 9, Mgr Charles Bénigne Hervé, Bishop of Gap, had them exhumed. The relics of Saint Demetrius were immediately placed in a walnut wood casket, decorated with gilding and marquetry designs. One could read on the lid, in Gothic letters, these words: *Hic reconductor Reliquiae S. Demetrii Pontificis Vapincensis*, with the date MDCLXXXII. (Here are enclosed the relics of Saint Demetrius, Bishop of Gap. 1692).

It is in this state that they were venerated until 1764. At that time, the liturgy in France was undergoing regrettable mutilations. The ancient cult of several Saints was interrupted as not offering sufficient certainty to extreme critics; that of Saint Demetrius, Bishop of Gap, was replaced in the new breviary by that of Saint Demetrius, soldier, and the relics of our holy pontiff were deposited in a cupboard above the door of the sacristy of the cathedral.

The precious deposit was finally removed from this ignored place. On April 20, 1845, Mgr Jean-frénée Depéry, after having recognized the authentic acts with which the relics Mgr Jean-frénée Depéry 19th-century Bishop of Gap, restorer of the cult of the saints. were still covered; after having found, on the four sides of the casket of which we have spoken, the seals of the bishop imprinted in red wax and perfectly preserved, had a report drawn up of the discovery of these relics. And as the old walnut shrine was falling into disrepair, the same prelate placed the sacred bones in a new casket of approximately the same shape. Then, on September 29, he published a Mandate on the restoration of the cult of Saint Demetrius, Bishop of Gap, and fixed his feast day for October 26, under the double-major rite, the day on which this feast was celebrated in the diocese, according to all the ancient breviaries and missals for the use of this Church.

The bones of the glorious founder of the Church of Gap were carried in procession through the streets of the city and deposited in the cathedral on October 26, 1845. An excavation was made in the tomb of the high altar, and it is there that the precious relic rests.

Excerpt from the Hagiological History of the Diocese of Gap, by Mgr Depéry, Bishop of Gap.