Saint Quentin of Rome

Saint Quentin was th e apostle of Am apôtre d'Amiens Leader of the apostolic mission in Gaul, martyr at Saint-Quentin. iens, and not of the Verma Vermandois Province illustrated by the saint's martyrdom. ndois, a province he only illustrated through his martyrdom. He preluded the glory of his martyrdom with the triumph of his word and his miracles. Everywhere he proclaimed the name of Jesus Christ and the wonders of His power. To give authority to his teaching, he restored sight to the blind, vigor to the paralyzed, speech to the mute, and agility to the infirm. To these miraculous healings, performed by a simple sign of the cross, he added the example of fasting and prayer, and he addressed his fervent supplications to the Lord at all hours of the day.

The news of so many evangelical successes soon reached the ears of Rictiovaru s, represe Rictiovare Roman prefect and persecutor of Christians in Gaul. ntative in the Gauls of Maximian Herculius, whom Diocletian had associated with the empire in 286. A worthy satellite of his master, he had sacrificed so many Christians in Trier, his usual residence, that the waters of the Moselle had been reddened by the blood of his victims. It was in Basel that Rictiovarus was exercising his fury when he learned of the apostolic triumphs of Quentin. He immediat ely rushed Samarobriva Episcopal see of Geoffrey. to Samarobriva, a fortified city that later took the name of Amiens, had the courageous apostle arrested, and sent him in chains to one of the houses in the city whose location tradition still points out today. The Blessed one, while being led there under the guard of soldiers, sang psalms and cried out: "O my God, do not forsake me, but snatch me from the hands of the sinful man, and of the impious, who despises your law. For it is for you that I suffer, Lord, and it is in you that, from my youth, I have placed all my hope."

The next day, Rictiovarus, sitting on his tribunal in the Council chamber or Consistory, had the blessed Quentin brought before him. When the latter was in his presence: "What is your name?" he said to him. Saint Quentin replied: "I bear the name of Christian, because, in fact, I am one, believing with my heart in Jesus Christ and confessing him with my mouth. However, my proper name is Quentin." — "And what is your family, your status?" added Rictiovarus. — "I am a Roman citizen," replied the blessed Quentin, "and son of the senator Zeno." — "How is it then," resumed Rictiovarus, "that, being of such high nobility and son of such a distinguished father, you have given yourself over to such a superstitious religion, and that you worship a wretch whom men have crucified?" — The blessed Quentin replied: "It is because the sovereign nobility is to worship the Creator of heaven and earth, and to obey with all one's heart his divine commandments." — "O Quentin," cried Rictiovarus, "leave aside this madness that blinds you, and come sacrifice to the gods." — "No, never," replied Quentin, "I will never sacrifice to your gods, who in truth are only demons. This madness, of which you say I am blind, is not madness, but, on the contrary, and I do not fear to proclaim it loudly, it is a sovereign wisdom. For what is wiser than to recognize the one and only true God, and to reject with disdain mute, false, and lying simulacra? Yes, and those indeed are fools who sacrifice to them to obey you." — Then Rictiovarus said: "If you do not approach at once and sacrifice to our gods, I swear by these same gods and by the goddesses, I will have you tortured in every way until you die." — And the intrepid soldier of Jesus Christ, Quentin, replied: "No, no, lord president, know it well, what you order me I will never do, and your threats, I do not fear them at all. Do as soon as possible what you please. All that God will permit you to inflict upon me, I am ready to endure. Yes, by the permission of my God, you can subject this body to various tortures and even to death, but my soul remains in the power of God alone, from whom I received it."

Then Rictiovarus, outraged with fury, ordered four soldiers to stretch Saint Quentin on the rack and tear him with lashes. During all this torture, which was long and cruel, Saint Quentin, with his eyes raised to heaven, did not cease to pray, saying: "Lord, my God, I give you thanks that it is given to me to suffer for the holy name of your Son, Jesus Christ my Savior. At this moment, therefore, O my God, give me the strength and courage I need. Extend a helping hand to me, so that I may remain superior to all the darts of my enemies and triumph over their cruel prefect Rictiovarus; and this for the honor and glory of your name, which is forever blessed for ever and ever."

Hardly had he finished this prayer, still under the blows of the scourging, when a voice was heard from heaven, saying: "Courage and constancy, Quentin! I am myself with you." At this miraculous voice, the executioners who were striking him fell overturned to the ground without being able to rise; at the same time, feeling themselves in turn cruelly tormented, they conjured Rictiovarus with loud cries to help them: "Lord Rictiovarus," they said, "have pity on us. We are prey to cruel sufferings; secret fires devour us; it is impossible for us to stand; we can hardly speak."

While divine justice was wringing these confessions, these groans, these cries from them, our holy athlete Quentin did not even feel the grips of the rack or the tearing of the lashes, sustained as he was inwardly by the grace of the Holy Spirit. Witness to this double wonder, the cruel Rictiovarus became only more furious and more relentless; and in the presence of those who surrounded him: "I swear it," he said, "by the gods and goddesses; since this Quentin is a magician and his sorceries have the upper hand here, let him be thrown instantly far from my presence, and let him be locked in the darkest dungeon, where he can absolutely neither see the day nor receive the visit of any Christian." And while they were dragging him toward the most obscure recesses of the prison, Quentin sang with a sweet melody these words of the Psalmist: *Eripe me, Domine, a homine malo; a vivo iniquo eripe me*; "Rescue me, O Lord, from the evil man; deliver me from the unjust man."

Condemned to this darkness of the prison and deprived of all consolation from the Christians, Quentin only deserved all the more the gaze and the consolations of God. Indeed, the following night, while he was giving himself to sleep, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a vision, and said to him: "Quentin, servant of God, rise, and go without fear into the midst of the city; console and strengthen its inhabitants in the faith in Our Lord Jesus Christ, so that they may believe in him and be purified by holy baptism: for here is soon for them the day of deliverance; the enemies of the Christian name will shortly be confounded, as well as their prefect, the impious Rictiovarus." At these words of the angel, the blessed Quentin awakens and rises; then, under his guidance, crossing all the guard posts of his prison, he goes straight to the place that the angel of the Lord had designated for him. From all sides the people run and surround him. Then raising his voice: "My brothers," he said to them, "listen to me. Do penance. Depart from the evil ways where you are, and receive baptism in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, in whom is found the washing and remission of sins. Believe in the unbegotten Father, and in his only Son, and in the Holy Spirit who proceeds from the Father and the Son, and by whom our souls receive life and sanctification. Now, I desire that you know that God the Father, at the time fixed by him in advance, sent his Son to redeem us from slavery, and to receive us into the number of his adopted children. Conceived of the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, and baptized by Saint John in the Jordan, he gave sight to the blind, hearing to the deaf, health to the sick, and life itself to the dead. By his word alone, he healed a great number of lepers, as well as a woman afflicted with an issue of blood. At his voice, the lame ran, the paralytics walked, and water was changed into wine. After having performed all these wonders, and many others that the language of man would not suffice to recount, in the end, he willed for our sake to be nailed to the infamous gibbet of the cross, to be put in a sepulcher, and to rise again the third day. Then, after having manifested himself to his disciples for forty days, he ascended to heaven, promising to be always with those who would hope in him. Thus he never abandons those who have placed their hope in him; by his omnipotence, he delivers them, when it pleases him, from all their tribulations. If he permits for some time that they be tested by the adversities of the present century, it is not in order to lose them, but in order to purify them more like gold by fire." As a result of these exhortations which he was able to prolong for quite a long time, about six hundred people were converted to the faith in Our Lord Jesus Christ.

However, the prison guards having awakened, and no longer seeing the blessed Quentin, although the doors were all closed, immediately ran in search of him. They found him in the midst of the crowd of people, standing and preaching. At this spectacle, deeply moved by fear and admiration all at once, they themselves were converted to the faith of Jesus Christ, so much so that they did not fear to proclaim publicly the greatness of the God of the Christians, and to come to announce to the prefect himself what had just happened regarding the blessed Quentin. Then mocking both his gods and their worshipers: "Yes, in truth," they said, "great is the God of the Christians. It is in him that one must believe. Your gods are only lies and vain simulacra; they can neither feel, nor see, nor hear. No, they are only weakness and impotence, as well as those who, to please you, consent to worship them. As for us, now, it is enough for us to possess the only true God creator of heaven and earth, whom his servant Quentin has made known to us." At these words, the prefect Rictiovarus, transported with anger: "So then," he cries, "as I see it, you yourselves have become magicians?" They answered him with a holy firmness: "No, we are by no means magicians, but worshipers of the one and true God who made heaven and earth, the sea and all that it contains." — "It is a madness," replied Rictiovarus, "it is a credulity without reason, and what you affirm is nothing. Go! go! withdraw as soon as possible from my presence." And immediately they withdrew.

Hardly had they left when Rictiovare, excessively angered and in a state of furious anxiety, began to seek out new tortures for the blessed martyr in every way. "For," he said, "this Quentin, this magician, this sorcerer, if I do not put him to death, and if I do not erase even his very name, is a man capable of seducing all this people, and of entirely annihilating the worship of our gods." However, for fear that his death might be attributed to a feeling of cruelty rather than justice, he ordered the blessed Quentin to be brought to him, and then, adopting a gentle and flattering tone: "Noble and generous Quentin," he said to him, "I confess, I cannot help but blush with shame and feel extreme confusion, seeing you, from the summit of opulence and the height of riches, of which you are so worthy by the nobility of your origin and your condition, descend so low and reduce yourself to such strange poverty, even to taking on all the appearances of the lowliest of the needy and beggars, and this out of attachment to a most despicable sect. Listen then to my salutary advice, and yield, I pray you, to my pressing exhortations. I ask but one thing of you: sacrifice to our gods, and immediately I will send in all haste a deputation to our most august emperors, so that they may have restored to you all the goods you have abdicated, and that, moreover, they may deign to confer upon you the most eminent dignities. Thus, you will be clothed in purple and fine linen: and you will wear the gold collar, with the gold belt." By these flattering words and many others like them, Rictiovare hoped to overturn his resolution to fight until death. But the holy and blessed martyr Quentin, armed with invincible constancy and divine grace, remained unshakable in his resolution, and, listening only to the energy of his zeal, he replied: "O you who are but a devouring wolf and like a dog full of rage, oh! how poorly you understand the sentiments of my heart, if you believe you can triumph over them by force of gifts and promises, or by the prospect of a miserable heap of gold and silver. For your riches, along with yourself, will one day go to perdition. No, for me, I cannot change my faith; supported by Jesus Christ Our Lord, it is forever unshakable. And learn, O unfortunate one, that he is not poor whom Jesus Christ himself enriches: for his riches are eternal; and he who has merited their possession will never lack anything, and will never see himself stripped of them. These are the riches I covet; these are the treasures I wish to acquire, and for which I am ready not only to endure the most cruel tortures, but death itself, if you order it. For glory and power, and all your riches are but passing and fleeting; they vanish like smoke; they have never known permanent duration; while the goods that Jesus reserves for his friends, these goods are eternal, and such that the eye of man has never seen, nor his ear heard, nor his heart understood or imagined anything comparable to them."

Then, Rictiovare, no longer able to doubt that the holy martyr of God was unshakable in his constancy, said to him: "So, Quentin, that is the path you have chosen; you prefer to die than to live." — "Yes," replied the blessed Quentin, "rather to die for Jesus Christ than to live, alas! for this sad world. For this death and these tortures that you inflict upon me prepare me for glory, but do not take away my life. And what I must pay to God sooner or later as a debt, I desire to pay him in advance as a voluntary offering; for if, persevering in my faith, I am put to death by you, I will not cease to live in Jesus Christ; I hope so with confidence." Then Rictiovare, furious, beside himself, and taking the gods and goddesses as witnesses: "Quentin," he cried, "again I swear it to you; no, I will have no pity on you; and without further delay, I will order your punishment." The blessed Quentin answered him only with these words of the holy king David: "It is the Lord who is my defense. But you, you are but a man, and whatever you may do to me, I will not fear." Rictiovare then, whose fury only inflamed more and more, ordered that Saint Quentin be stretched violently on the rack by pulleys, until all his limbs were dislocated and out of their joints; that, moreover, he be beaten with iron chains, and that boiling oil, with pitch and melted fat, be poured on his back at the highest degree of boiling.

But these cruel tortures not being enough to satisfy the fierce rage and insatiable thirst of Rictiovare, he ordered that burning torches be applied to Quentin, so that, devoured by the flames, he might consent to admit defeat. But the holy martyr, who had yielded neither to caresses nor to threats, remained invincible in the midst of all the agonies of this material fire; the fire of the divine Spirit that burned within him made him despise all the external sufferings of the body, and he dared to say to Rictiovare: "O you, yourself worthy of the gallows, son of Satan and his infernal cunning, judge without heart and without humanity, know then that all these torments that you make me endure, instead of stinging pains, bring me only an agreeable and salutary refreshment, like this sweet dew, which, falling from heaven, comes with its beneficial droplets to revive the greenery of our meadows."

Then Rictiovare, at the height of fury, and again increasing his first cruelties: "This is not yet enough," he said; "bring lime, vinegar, and mustard, and let them pour it all into his mouth, so that, reduced thus to silence, he can no longer abuse this people by the seduction of his words." And the blessed Quentin, in the presence of this new torture, contented himself with saying with the King-Prophet: "How sweet are your words to my palate, Lord; yes, and more agreeable than the most exquisite honey!" At these words, the prefect Rictiovare, adding the oath to the threat: "I swear it by the most powerful gods," he said, "Jupiter and Mercury, the Sun, the Moon, and Aesculapius. I will have you taken to Rome, loaded with chains, to be presented there to the emperors. There, under their eyes, subjected to the most cruel tortures, you will receive the worthy punishment you deserve for having deserted Rome and come to hide in these regions." — "I do not fear going to Rome," replied Saint Quentin; "I do not doubt that there, as here, I will find my God, who will know well how to triumph over all the insane machinations that you and your emperors put into action against the Christians. As for me, however, I have the confidence and the certainty, it is here, in this province, that I will end my laborious career."

Rictiovare did not fail to order that heavy chains be placed on the neck and all the limbs of the holy martyr, with express injunction to the soldiers who were to lead him, to guard him with the greatest care; that, moreover, they should go ahead, until he himself had rejoined them. And all having retired, according to the order they had received, Saint Quentin began to pray, saying: "Lord, make me know your ways; teach me your paths"; and again: "Lead me, Lord, in your way, and I will walk in your truth. Give joy to my heart, O my God, so that I may fear only your holy name, which is blessed forever and ever!"

Having arrived in a city, having the title of municipality, and known anciently under the name of Augusta Verumanduorum, today Saint-Quentin, the soldiers who escorted the blessed Quentin received the order to wait there for the prefect Rictiovare; which must be attributed, not to a capricious thought of the tyrant, but indeed to the providential wisdom of Jesus Christ himself, who, after so many bitter sufferings, after so many labors and harsh trials, wanted finally, in a last combat, to give his valiant athlete the crown of victory, and to consecrate this very place by the blood and the n ame of the holy Marty Augusta Verumanduorum City where the relics were transported before being destroyed in 1557. r.

Rictiovare arrived there the following day, and had the blessed Quentin brought to him. When the latter was in his presence, he tried again to win him over with flattering promises. "Quentin, my brother," he said to him, "because I see in you a man of great promise, I want to use patience with regard to you. Listen to me then, I pray you; sacrifice to our great gods only, Jupiter and Apollo; and if you do not want to return to Rome, well! in this very province, I will enrich you with the most eminent dignities. I will send a deputation to our august emperors, persuading them to constitute you first steward, and supreme judge in this city." "Already more than once," replied Saint Quentin, "I have answered such promises on your part; and my answer today is still the same. Never will I sacrifice to your gods, who, obviously, are but vain idols of bronze, wood, or stone. As a result of a deplorable blindness, you believe them to be gods; and yet they are but vain simulacra, mute and insensitive, deprived of all intelligence, and able neither to defend themselves nor to help anyone; and those, says the Prophet, resemble them only too much, who make them, or who put their trust in them."

Rictiovare, seeing that the blessed Quentin only strengthened himself more and more in his resolution, and burning himself to subject him to more atrocious tortures, had a blacksmith or farrier brought, and commanded him to make two long iron spits, which are called in French *taringes*; intended to pierce the blessed Quentin from the neck to the thighs; and other nails as well, which were to be driven in the same way between the flesh and the nails. The blacksmith faithfully executed this barbaric order. At the sight of the blessed Quentin thus pierced with spits, Rictiovare did not fear to insult him and say: "Well! now, let the other Christians come to see how I have punished this one; and let his torture serve as an example to them." Finally, the cruel prefect, having taken counsel from a certain Severus Honoratus, ordered that Quentin should undergo the capital penalty. Led by the executioners to the place of his sacrifice, the blessed martyr asked them as a favor to be able to pray for a few moments first. Having obtained it, he prostrated himself in prayer, and said: "O Lord Jesus, God of God, light of light, who are and who were before the creation of the world, you whom I confess with my mouth and whom I believe with all my heart, you whom I wish so ardently to see, you for the love of whom I have delivered my body to all tortures, and to whom at this moment I immolate my own life, ah! I beseech you, in your holy mercy, receive my spirit and my soul, which I offer you with all the ardor of my desires. No, do not abandon me, O most gentle King, most clement King, who live and reign with the Father, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, during all the ages of ages." This prayer finished, he presented his neck to the executioners, saying: "Do now what you have been ordered." The executioners then draw the sword and cut off the head of the holy martyr.

While his body was purpled with the floods of his own blood, his blessed soul, freed from the shackles of the flesh, appeared all of a sudden, like a dove, white as snow, escaping from his neck, and, by a free flight, rising up into heaven; and a voice was heard from above, which said: "Quentin, my servant, come and receive the crown that I have prepared for you. Here are the choirs of Angels, who come to escort you and lead you triumphant into the heavenly Jerusalem." It is thus that the blessed Quentin makes his entry into heaven and that, for the price of the torments endured here below with such patience, he sees himself crowned with an inestimable diadem, and placed on a throne, in the rank of the holy martyrs.

The prefect of the Gauls, Rictiovare, had the body of the martyr guarded by his satellites and waited for the night so that it could be made to disappear in secret and be withdrawn from the veneration of the faithful. He then ordered that it be thrown into the Somme, attached to a mass of lead, and that it be covered with mud. It was there that it was to remain for the space of fifty-five years. The passion of Saint Quentin took place on October 31 of the year 303, at the current location of the former collegiate church of Saint-Quentin.

Saint Quentin is represented either in military attire or in deacon's vestments, his collarbones pierced by two large nails, or else seated on a torture chair, his arms and feet in shackles, tormented by two executioners. — Formerly, at the choir enclosure of the collegiate church of Saint-Quentin, one could see fifteen 14th-century bas-reliefs depicting the history of the patron saint and his relics. — At the chapel of Saint-Quentin in Amiens, in addition to mural paintings that recounted his martyrdom, there were two statues of the same Saint; one of them was seated in a kind of martyr's chair, accompanied by two executioners who are making him suffer harsh torments.

Our Saint appeared in a cartouche of the choir enclosure of Notre-Dame d'Amiens, which was destroyed in 1761 to make way for the current railings. In this same cathedral (chapel dedicated to Saint Quentin), one could see a wooden bas-relief representing the martyrdom of the Saint. This work is today in the church of Sailly-l'Eau-Reste. — A 16th-century bas-relief representing the martyrdom of Saint Quentin was recently found in the foundations of the old church of Mergnies (Nord). This sculpture is now embedded in the walls of the presbytery garden. The Saint, dressed in a simple drapery spread over his thighs and legs, is seated on a torture chair. Two executioners are dressed in costumes that indicate the 16th-century Flemish style. One of them holds an iron spit driven into the Saint's shoulder and raises a mallet with which he is about to strike him. — Statues of the Saint can be seen at Saint-Maurice in Amiens, at Fay (Chaulnes), at Halloy-lès-Pernois (16th century), at Salouel, on the vaults of the churches of Liercourt and Poix, etc.

The Almanach de Picardie of 1777 praises a painting by Claude Hallé, at the Holy Sepulchre of Abbeville, representing the martyrdom of Saint Quentin. This apostle appears with Saint Benedict in a canvas by Fr. Bianchi, known as il Frari, kept at the Louvre Museum. Let us also mention a modern painting in the church of Saint-Quentin-en-Tourmont.

Stained glass windows of the town hall of Saint-Quentin, the cathedral of Beauvais, and the church of Mont-Saint-Quentin offer us the image of the holy martyr. At Beauvais, he wears deacon's vestments: an appareled alb, an amice also bordered with a band of gold cloth, a tunic or dalmatic with transverse stripes, alternately blue, red, and white, split on the sides, trimmed on the edges with a gold fringe whose ends descend below the tunic; he holds a closed book in his right hand. — A popular image from the last century represents Saint Quentin seated between two executioners who are driving nails into his shoulders, while an angel brings him the crown of triumph. On another popular print, of a less primitive style, the martyr holds a book in one hand and a palm in the other; two large nails are driven into his shoulders.

The seal of the chapter of Saint-Quentin, in 1213, represents Saint Quentin standing, holding the palm of martyrdom in one hand and a church in the other. That of 1278 depicts Saint Quentin seated between two executioners who are handing him long nails; that of the abbey of Saint-Quentin-en-l'Isle, in 1427, showed the martyr seated, holding a palm in his right hand and, in the other, the sword, the instrument of his martyrdom. The counter-seal of Saint-Quentin, in the 16th century, represents the bust of the Patron dressed as a deacon, with nails in his shoulders.

The coat of arms of the town of Saint-Quentin bears: azure with a head of Saint Quentin argent, accompanied by three fleurs-de-lis or, two in chief, one in point. — The image of the patron saint also appears in the coats of arms of various ancient guilds of this town, such as the company of Gunners, the community of Chaplains, and that of the master Surgeons. — Two coins, one from the 12th century, the other from the 15th, depicted in the Revue numismatique, vol. II, pl. v, show us the apostle of the Amiénois with the attributes of his martyrdom.

[APPENDIX: CULT AND RELICS. — MONUMENTS.]

The cult of Saint Quentin became widespread immediately after the elevation of his b ody by Sai saint Eloi Founder of the monastery and spiritual advisor to Saint Aurea. nt Eloi in 641. The distribution he made at that time of several relics led to the dedication of various churches to the apostle of the Amiénois. Landon, Archbishop of Reims, who died in 649, erected a church to Saint Quentin in his metropolitan city. In 662, Saint Troude, founder of the abbey of that name in the diocese of Liège, dedicated the sanctuary he had just built to Saint Quentin and Saint Remi. By the 9th century, this cult had penetrated into Italy, as we see, in 859, a monastery of that name in Montferrat, a city in Lombardy.

Before the 9th century, the custom had been introduced in Saint-Quentin of eating meat on October 31, the feast of the patron, even though it was the vigil of All Saints' Day, and even if that day fell on a Friday or a Saturday. This custom was confirmed by ecclesiastical authority and has not been abolished since. Some parishes dedicated to the same Saint also follow the same example. Pope Clement IV, in 1268, granted the same favor to the inhabitants of Périgord, on the condition, however, that the feast of Saint Quentin did not fall on a Wednesday, Friday, or Saturday. This ancient privilege has no longer been applied since the city of Saint-Quentin began celebrating its patronal feast on the Sunday following October 31.

The bishops of Noyon, Beauvais, Soissons, Laon, and Cambrai, as well as the principal lords of Picardy, would go to Saint-Quentin to attend the patron's feast. When a pilgrim or a crusader from the Vermandois left for the Holy Land, he took care to examine his conscience carefully; if he recognized himself as holding the property of another, he hastened to restore it, and then, going to prostrate himself on the tomb of Saint Quentin, he offered, as an expiatory gift, a candle, a loaf of bread, a measure of wine, and twelve obols, in memory of the twelve Apostles who came to evangelize Gaul-Belgica. Charlemagne, Charles the Bald, Louis IX, Philip the Fair, and a large number of high-ranking personages and bishops went to venerate the relics of Saint Quentin. Louis XIII went there in 1635 and obtained a small bone from his head. This pilgrimage was very frequent at that time. The great novena that pilgrims performed consisted of attending all the offices of the collegiate church for nine days, candle in hand, and fasting during that time. The small novena was limited to going to pray in front of the church once a day for the same length of time. A singular custom, which has not existed for a long time, was that of the counterweights, according to which swollen pilgrims had themselves weighed each day during their novena, in order to recognize how much their swelling had diminished; and often, in thanksgiving for the benefits they had received through the means of this holy Martyr, they offered to his church weights of wax, wheat, and other things, equal to the weight of their bodies, which, for this reason, was called counterweights, contra pandera. Another usage, which also disappeared in the 12th century, was that of the lutiones, measures of water in which a relic of Saint Quentin was soaked and which the sick used as a drink, or more commonly as a lotion. Later, people were content to have the water drawn from the well of Saint Quentin blessed. The custom was to hang wax limbs to indicate the healings obtained through the intercession of the Saint. He was more especially invoked for dropsy, no doubt because the Martyr's body remained under water for fifty-five years without undergoing any swelling.

The feast of the Invention, which Saint Eloi performed, celebrated on January 3, is vulgarly called the ollumerie, because, during Matins, a considerable number of candles were lit at the entrance to the choir. This is to recall the mysterious glow that filled the church and even the entire city at the moment when Saint Eloi discovered the remains of the holy Martyr. A bust of Saint Quentin, surrounded by candles, was placed near the place where the Invention had taken place, and the clergy would go there to sing a Te Deum of thanksgiving. Even today, the same ceremony is celebrated every year, although the altar of Saint Quentin disappeared during the revolutionary vandalism.

In the breviary of the collegiate church of Saint-Quentin, printed in 1642, one finds the following five feasts: January 3, Invention of Saint Quentin by Saint Eloi, in 641; January 12, Translation of Saint Quentin, Saint Victrician, and Saint Cassian, in 902; May 2, Elevation of Saint Quentin, in 1228; June 23, Invention of Saint Quentin by Saint Eusebia, in 358; October 25, Translation of Saint Quentin by Abbot Regobert, in 835; October 31, Passion of Saint Quentin, in 503. Several of these feasts had already disappeared by that time. Towards the middle of the 17th century, the feast of the elevation of Saint Quentin took on a new luster, thanks to the ingenious piety of a canon of Saint-Quentin, Thomas Rosey. In 1845, Gregory XVI granted a plenary indulgence applicable to the deceased for October 31, and for May 2 to the faithful of the city of Saint-Quentin.

In Amiens, the cult of Saint Quentin has faded significantly since the destruction of the chapel that was dedicated to him. He is more honored in the part of this diocese that borders the Vermandois and which was once part of the bishopric of Noyon. In Ham, fifty years ago, all the young children learned to read from the Life of Saint Quentin. In many places, both in France and in Belgium, Saint Quentin is honored in a special way. Let us limit ourselves to citing, in the diocese of Soissons: Vermand, Marterille, Holnon, Brasles, and Saint-Quentin-lès-Louvry, which are still places of pilgrimage today. There were confraternities of the holy Martyr in Saint-Quentin, in Mons, in Amiens, etc.

The feast of Saint Quentin, which appears in all the Amiens breviaries, had been transferred to November 15 by M. de la Motte; it has returned to its true place since the introduction of the Roman liturgy. It is also celebrated in the dioceses of Arras, Bayeux, Beauvais, Cambrai, Châlons, Chartres, Tournai, Tours, etc. His name is inscribed in the Roman martyrology, in the Litanies of Soissons (8th century), and in almost all martyrologies, starting from the 8th century.

Saint Quentin is the patron, not only of the city that bears his name, but also of the Vermandois. Leaving aside the priories and chapels, to take into account only the parishes, we see that there were twenty-one churches under his name in the diocese of Noyon; twelve in that of Amiens; nine in that of Laon; seven in that of Reims; three in those of Cambrai, Rouen, and Soissons, etc. Currently, we find twenty-five churches dedicated to Saint Quentin in Belgium, including seven in the diocese of Tournai; thirty-four in the diocese of Soissons; four in the dioceses of Beauvais and Troyes; twenty-four in that of Amiens.

Among the destroyed sanctuaries of the diocese of Amiens, which were under the name of Saint Quentin, we will cite the abbey of Mont-Saint-Quentin, the Saint-Quentin hospital of Abbeville, the two parishes of Saint-Quentin-Capelle and Saint-Quentin-en-Veu, in Péronne, a church in Villers-Faucon, the destroyed church of Bascourt, the cemetery chapel of Frecourt, and the chaplaincies founded in Doullens, in Nesle, and in the cathedral of Amiens. There are about fifty localities in France by the name of Saint-Quentin, including three in the diocese of Amiens: Saint-Quentin-le-Motte or Croix-au-Bailly, Saint-Quentin-en-Tourmont, and Mont-Saint-Quentin.

It was towards the end of the 9th century that the Augusta Vermanduorum, in rising from its ruins accumulated by the Normans, left its ancient Roman name to take that of its patron. A coin minted at Augusta in 523, during the reign of Charles the Bald, bears on the reverse the inscription of SCI QUINTINI MO. The name Saint-Quentin was given to a group of small islands in Polynesia, discovered in 1772 in the archipelago of the Low Islands.

A certain number of villages that bear the name of Saint-Quentin or whose church is dedicated to this Martyr attribute this appellation to the passage of Saint Quentin through their territory. This belief has been perpetuated in the hamlet of Saint-Quentin, near Soupé-sur-Braye (Loir-et-Cher). In Salouel, where there is a fountain of Saint Quentin, the place in the cemetery where the Martyr of the Vermandois is said to have preached is shown. The Saint, while going from Amiens to Augusta, made a stop at Marteville and was placed in the prison of the castle where he caused a fountain to spring forth, which hydraulic works have recently made disappear. It is in this locality that the spits and nails that were to be used for the torture of the Saint were forged; and it is a local belief that, since that time, no farrier can establish himself there without being immediately struck by a fatal dropsy. A chapel was recently erected between Holnon and Morleville, which indicates a station of the holy Martyr. In Vermand, a small chapel, recently restored, marks the place where the Saint stopped for a few moments on the Roman road. The fountain of the prison of Amiens was once the object of a popular cult. Many other sources, designated under the name of the holy Martyr, were or are still today a meeting place for pilgrimage, especially for the dropsical: in Geyrocourt (canton of Roizol), in Salouel, in Quiquery, in Bessle (canton of Château-Thierry), in Holnon, in Saint-Quentin, etc.

Around the year 358, the miraculous invention of the body of Saint Quentin to ok place by Sa sainte Eusèbie Roman matron who discovered the saint's body in the Somme. int Eusebia, a Roman lady. Following a vision in which an angel of the Lord appeared to her, she traveled to the Gauls, to the city named Augusta of Vermandois, located on the banks of the Somme, for the purpose of searching for the body of Saint Quentin. Arriving at the place designated by the angel, she began to pray, and when she had finished, the place where the holy body rested was shaken, the surface of the waters stirred, and the body and head of the martyr were seen floating in different places, which soon drawing closer were carried to the bank and respectively collected by the followers of Eusebia. By a heavenly favor, the venerable body was neither swollen nor livid: white as snow, it exhaled a sweet perfume. The pious matron, after having wrapped these precious remains in fine linens, wished to go and bury them five miles away, in the castle of Vermand; but, when they had arrived on a neighboring hill, near the municipal city of Augusta, the body became so heavy that it was impossible to carry it further. Understanding then the will of heaven, Eusebia had the relics buried in that place and ordered the construction of a cell there, which was to be successively replaced by the various monuments that preceded the current church of Saint-Quentin. Eusebia then returned to Rome, taking with her the iron spikes that she had had removed from the body of the Martyr.

Saint Eligius, almost immediately after his ordination, desiring to find the relics of Saint Quentin, had searches made on the hill where Eusebia had buried his body. After much work that had been fruitless until then, and a general fast of three days, they finally discovered it: a sweet odor escaped from the broken coffin, at the same time as a brilliant light. Saint Eligius, after having pressed these long-desired relics to his lips, detached some of them to distribute to various churches of his diocese; he collected separately the hair, the nails of the torture, and the teeth, one of which let escape from its root a few drops of blood. Having wrapped the rest of the body in a precious silk fabric, he placed it with pious respect behind the altar, while waiting to be able to shelter it in a reliquary covered with gold, silver, and precious stones, which he proposed to craft himself. The influx of the faithful who went to venerate these holy remains was so considerable that Saint Eligius soon had this sanctuary enlarged, with the funds he collected from the generosity of the faithful and the liberality of Clovis II. This second invention took place on January 3, 641.

The church, begun by Fulrad, was consecrated on October 25, 835, by Deculon, Bishop of Metz, who transferred the body of the patron saint into a sarcophagus supported by small pillars and built in the new crypt. From then on, they began to celebrate this memory with the feast of the Translation of Saint Quentin.

The just terror inspired by the depredations of the Normans determined the canons to transport to Laon the bodies of Saint Quentin and Saint Cassian, which they had already hidden in 859 and replaced in their crypt in 870. This new translation took place on January 1, 881. The relics were brought back on February 2 of the following year; but, in 883, the Normans returned to the Vermandois, and the body of the Saint was again transported to Laon. On October 4, 1069, the Bishop of Beauvais performed the dedication of an abbey that he had just erected under his name in his episcopal city. In 1225, the holy body was raised from the crypt, which was vulgarly called the underground chapel, and placed in a magnificent reliquary, covered with gold, silver, and precious stones, which remained exposed to the veneration of the faithful in the old church until September 2, 1257, the time at which the consecration of the new church took place. The reliquary of Saint Quentin was solemnly transferred there, along with those of Saints Victorinus and Cassian. In 1394, the relics of Saint Quentin were taken through various provinces to collect the alms necessary for the making of a new reliquary. In 1559, the Spanish commander of the city of Saint-Quentin had the head of the patron saint transported to the citadel of Cambrai. It was only ten years later that the chapter was finally able to recover this precious treasure. This memory was perpetuated by the feast of the Surrender of the head of Saint Quentin, which was celebrated on September 14.

The other relics of the Martyr had been saved, during the sack of the city in 1557, by Michel Cenedon, who had transported them to his castle of Buloyer, near the abbey of Port-Royal, in the current district of Rambouillet. His heirs returned the relics in 1620 and obtained permission to keep a part of the jaw which, later, was given to the abbey of Port-Royal. At the request of the dean of Roye, the chapter of Saint-Quentin gave to the church of Saint-Florent, on November 7, 1657, a finger of the holy Martyr which was encased in a silver arm. In 1668, the mayor of Saint-Quentin donated a silver reliquary intended to contain one of the hands of Saint Quentin.

In 1793, a portion of the relics kept at the collegiate church was burned in a public square. A portion of the head of Saint Quentin and a large number of his bones were saved by enclosing them in the vault that served as a burial place for the canons of Saint-Quentin. These relics were recognized on June 10, 1807, by Mgr de Beaulieu, Bishop of Soissons. Old inventories and local historians mention the existence of relics of the Saint at Saint-Jacques in Amiens; at Sainte-Catherine, at Saint-Quentin, and at the Carthusians of Abbeville; at the priory of Donchery-en-Rethelois; at Sainte-Croix in Arras; at the church of Jouy-en-Artois; at Saint-Quentin in Besançon; at the abbeys of Saint-Riquier, Sainte-Austreberte of Montreuil, Sainte-Benoîte of Origny; Saint-Vaast of Arras, Saint-Bertin, Notre-Dame of Soissons, Longpont, Ourscamp, etc. Today, more or less important relics of Saint Quentin are kept at the Ursulines of Amiens, at Fay (canton of Chaulnes), at Saint-Martin of Laon, at Meilly, at Montreuil-sur-Mer, at Mont-Saint-Quentin, at Saint-Pierre of Roye, at Sailly-l'Eau-Reste, at Saint-Quentin of Tournai, at Péruwelz (Hainaut), etc.

The church of Saint-Quentin is rich in relics, and we believe that one will not read the details of them without interest. We borrow them from the official report that was drawn up after the Revolution.

The head of Saint Quentin, not whole, but composed of the following bones, connected by a silk cap in the shape of a whole head:

The right parietal joined to half of the left parietal; the upper part of the right temporal; a very mutilated part of the right upper jaw; a left part of the said jaw and another portion of the lower jaw with the last molar tooth.

Four fragments of the pelvic bones, of which the largest belongs to the left side and is found to be very mutilated; the other three portions are very small and equally mutilated.

Two whole vertebrae, fragments of vertebrae and shoulder blades, a part of the kneecap and the calcaneus, a large part of the sternum.

A rib from the left side perfectly whole and a fairly considerable fragment of another rib on the same side and an equally considerable fragment of a rib on the right side, two false ribs whole, one on the right side and the other on the left side.

A considerable portion of the left femur deprived of its two extremities.

The left tibia also deprived of its two extremities.

The right hand whole and mutilated.

The church of Saint-Quentin also possesses: a part of the head of Saint Boniface, apostle of Germany; — the lower jaw of Saint Prix; — a part of the skull of Saint Victrician and a part of his bones; — two pieces of the skull of Saint Cassian and almost all the bones of his body placed in beautiful reliquaries above the altar of the Blessed Virgin; — various small portions of the bones of Saint Cecilia, virgin and martyr; of Saint Bartholomew, apostle; of Saint Andrew, apostle; of Saint James the Less; of Saint Philip, apostle; of Saint Blaise, bishop and martyr; of Saint Lawrence, deacon and martyr; of Saint Francis of Paola; of Saint Francis of Assisi.

The prison of Saint Quentin, in Amiens, was long designated by the name of the Vault of Saint-Quentin. It is a vast crypt whose ogival arches are very massive and very close together. This 14th-century construction has left nothing of the Gallo-Roman prison; it is above this crypt that the fountain was located, plugged for about forty years, where pilgrims came to drink from the spring that Saint Quentin, according to tradition, had caused to gush from the ground of his prison. In 1309, the City Council bought two small houses built on this vault. Seven years later, a chapel was erected there which became the seat of the Confraternity of Saint-Quentin. Rebuilt in 1712, this oratory was destroyed during the Revolution. It is claimed that it is in a crossroads located in front of this chapel that our holy Martyr was tormented by his executioners. Before the erection of this oratory, and from the 9th century, there was at this location a small hospital of Saint-Quentin where pilgrims were received who often came from very far away to solicit the intercession of the Saint. One can still see today, at No. 2 Rue Saint-Martin, ogives from the 14th century, which demonstrate that this hospital was rebuilt or at least restored at that time, at the same time as the chapel.

The body of Saint Quentin having been found by Saint Eusebia in a marsh of the small stream of the Somme that the Roman road leading from Laon to Reims crossed, the piety of the faithful erected a small oratory there, and two wells were dug at the places where the body and the head of the holy Martyr had emerged from the water. In the 7th century, a Benedictine abbey was erected on this island and, after many vicissitudes, was demolished during the Revolution. From the beginning of the 17th century, only one of the two wells we have just spoken of existed; in 1671, ruins of them were found while doing earthworks. There existed on this site a chapel that bore the same name.

We have seen above that, when Eusebia had buried the body of Saint Quentin on a hill near Augusta, she had a chapel erected there. This oratory was rebuilt on a larger plan, first around the year 497 and then around the year 814. Such was the origin of the collegiate church where the superior of the regular canons bore the title of abbot. The building was rebuilt in 1114; the choir was not finished until 1257, the nave in 1456, the portal in 1477. It is for archaeologists one of the most curious monuments in France, in the sense that it offers for their studies a specimen of the architectural style of almost all eras. One finds today, under the choir of the church of Saint-Quentin, an underground chapel in which one sees three niches; the middle one contains the tomb of the Saint: it was made with an enormous fluted column of white marble. It is believed with some plausibility that it is the one in which Saint Eusebia buried Saint Quentin, in the middle of the 5th century.

In Saint-Quentin, as in Amiens, there was a special hospital for dropsical pilgrims who came to invoke the holy Martyr. This asylum, which was vulgarly designated by the name of Hospital of the Swollen, was built in 1161, near the palace of the counts of Vermandois, and ceased to exist before the 15th century.

We have used, to compose this biography, the Hagiography of the Diocese of Amiens by Father Corblet, and the Life of Saint Quentin, by Father Gobaille, parish priest and archpriest of Saint-Quentin. — See, for some rectifications, the supplement to this volume.