Saint Valerie of Limoges

The most perfect order reigned in the house of Valérie, which had become the asylum of the holy Apostle, whose spiritual daughter she was. There gathered in crowds those who came from all parts to ask Saint Martial for the healing of their illnesses or the grace of baptism. Saint Valérie wished that strangers be generously hosted there; and the poorest among them were the object of very special care on the part of our illustrious virgin, who wished to render to them herself the most humble services, the most abject and the most revolting in the eyes of the world. Her virtues, while winning her the esteem and respect of the inhabitants of the city, added to the prestige of her rank and gave her an influence and a power before which the most considerable men and the very depositaries of authority bowed. The children of paganism, already subjugated by the brilliance of her birth, paid homage to her precious qualities and showed her, on every occasion, boundless deference. It seemed that the dignity of the proconsulate with which her father had been invested still cast one of its brilliant reflections upon her.

Valerie was assiduous in attending the preachings of Saint Martial, and she gathered in her heart, with holy avidity, the words of salvation and life, to make them the nourishment of her soul. Filled with the Spirit of God, she spent days and nights in prayer, devoted herself to fasts, holy vigils, and all works of mercy, thus preluding, without knowing it, the harsh battles she would one day have to sustain, for the glory of God, against the world and hell. God having poured into her soul the most vivid lights of His grace, she understood the nothingness and vanity of the pleasures and perishable riches of this world, and although, for a long time, she could consider herself the fiancée of the new proconsul, she resolved to renounce all the grandeur and honor of this alliance, to have no other spouse than the King of heaven and earth, our Savior Jesus Christ. She therefore went to find Saint Martial, prostrated herself at his feet, and pronounced before him the vow of virginity, promising the Lord to remain invincibly united to Him.

God accepted and blessed this sacrifice of sweet-smelling savor, and He enriched the heart of this pious virgin with His most admirable gifts; and Valerie became from that moment one of the purest glories of this nascent Church. The holy apostle, whose every counsel she followed with humble docility, preaching one day to all the assembled faithful, explained to them the answer of our divine Master to a young man who, approaching His sacred person, had said to Him: 'Good Master, what good shall I do that I may have life everlasting?' Jesus answered him: 'Why askest thou me concerning good? One is good, God. But if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments.' — 'Which?' he asked. — Jesus answered: 'Thou shalt do no murder, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Honor thy father and thy mother, and thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.' — The young man said to Him: 'All these have I kept from my youth, what is yet wanting to me?' — Jesus said to him: 'If thou wilt be perfect, go sell what thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come follow me.' These words penetrated Valerie to the depths of her soul, and all inflamed with love for the divine Spouse whom she had chosen, she ardently desired to attain this high perfection, the precious fruit of holy poverty. Thus, from that moment, she began to distribute to the poor all that she had left of most precious, her diamonds, her gold, her silver, her finest garments, and she divested herself of the slaves and the vast estates that, for a long time, in concert with her pious mother, she had given to Saint Martial, to provide for the needs of the Church and to found useful institutions therein.

A voluntary pauper, Valerie followed with greater perfection the path of virgins; and, in the eyes of the world, she lost nothing of her dignity and the influence that her illustrious origin ensured her. 'Let poverty no longer be despised,' cries Bossuet, ' and let Bossuet Preacher cited for his reflection on poverty. it no longer be treated as common. It is true that it was of the dregs of the people, but the King of glory having wedded it, He ennobled it by this alliance, and thereafter He grants to the poor all the privileges of His empire.'

This great sacrifice was barely completed when the proconsul Julianus Silanus, Valerie's fiancé, arrived in Limoges. He was invested with the greatest powers and held the government of the entire region from the Rhône to the Ocean and as far as the Pyrenees. Informed in advance of Valerie's conversion to Christianity, her prodigious generosity, and her resolution to live in a state of virginity, he sought to conceal his indignation and spite as much as possible; he sent for her and ordered her to appear before him. Valerie hastened to obey, and, with a grave and modest demeanor, she knelt before him and humbly waited for him to deign to question her. At the sight of her, Silanus could not contain his anger, and, in an altered and haughty voice, he asked her if it were true that she had pledged her faith to another spouse and who was the audacious mortal who had dared to encroach upon his territory and steal the heart and love of his fiancée. Valerie then speaking with an entirely angelic modesty, replied that she would consider herself the most unhappy and unworthy of creatures if she had ever thought of preferring anyone else to him; but that, obeying a divine inspiration, she had given her heart and love to the King of heaven and earth, whose spouse she had become by binding herself to him through the vow of virginity. She added that not only did she see nothing in this that could offend him, but that he should even feel very honored by it, since in reality she placed no one above him, in her esteem, except the Creator of heaven and earth, the Redeemer of men, who died on the cross to make them reign with him in heaven. "It is to the apostle of these happy lands, to Martial, disciple of Jesus Christ," she said, "that I a m indebted for this signal honor. Martial, disciple de Jésus-Christ Saint in whose honor the Parisian monastery was dedicated. Like me, be docile to his voice, learn to know the true God, be a Christian, let us both be virgins, and we shall remain eternally united in the bonds of celestial love." Outraged with anger, heartbroken with pain and shame, Silanus cut short this conversation, and, without hearing anything more, he condemned her to the capital penalty and charged Hortarius, his squire, to oversee the execution of the sentence.

Va lerie's g Hortarius Squire to the proconsul in charge of the execution of Valeria. enerous determination overturned in an instant the dreams of fortune of Silanus; he was frustrated in his most legitimate hopes, and no doubt felt deeply wounded in his pride. But, like most of the great men of Rome, he was also full of hatred for the religion of the Galilean, and in the hearth of his entirely patrician family he had, for certain, drawn contempt for the Christians, whose invincible courage in the midst of the most cruel tortures was considered a true madness by the idolaters. Thus, Silanus obeyed this double sentiment of contempt and hatred in pronouncing against Valerie a sentence of death.

Rightly proud of the fate reserved for her, Valerie, whose holy soul overflowed with contentment and joy, went to her execution with a smile on her lips, as if she were going to a pleasure party. Never was she seen more satisfied: the assurance of her gaze, the firmness of her step, her speech always calm and measured, were a convincing proof of the happiness she felt within herself, and showed how happy she considered herself to prove to the celestial Spouse the love with which she was consumed for him, by shedding her blood for the glory of his name. On the way, she said to Hortarius who was leading her to the execution: "What an error is yours! Fool, you think you are leading me to death, and I am running to life; but you, you will die this night. What will become of your treasures and your riches?" Then, having arrived at the place of execution, she raised her hands toward heaven, and addressing Jesus Christ, she said to him: "My Savior Jesus, my Lord and my Master, you have deigned to call me by your grace to the knowledge of your holy name, and your servant, the blessed Martial, has made known to me your ineffable kindnesses and the merciful designs of your tenderness for me, your poor and unworthy servant. To acknowledge this immense favor, I have disdained the alliances of the earth, and I have united myself to you by a sacred bond, by an irrevocable vow; for I did not want any power in the world to be able to deprive me of your nuptials and your bridal bed. It is therefore for you, and because I do not want to be separated from your faith and your love, that I am going to die; send to my aid the Angels of heaven, to protect and defend me against the dangerous enterprises of the demon, and grant that I may be eternally united to you in the holy Jerusalem."

As she finished praying, a voice from above was heard answering her: "Fear nothing, Valerie, the Angels contemplate you with rapture, they envy your happiness, and they are preparing to receive you into the eternal splendors of Zion."

At these words, Valerie's face illuminated with a brilliant ray, and a luminous reflection of celestial joys seemed to descend upon her. Then the glorious virgin, having raised her eyes toward heaven, cried out: "My God, my Father, I commend my spirit into your hands." Having said these words, she bowed her head, and the executioner severed it with a single blow. At the same instant, all the spectators of this moving scene, Christians or pagans, saw emerge from the body of Saint Valerie her soul, all dazzling with light like the sun, and the Angels transported it to heaven in a globe of fire, making the air resound with harmonious chants and ravishing melodies.

However, while the executioner contemplated with secret satisfaction the work of destruction and death he had just completed, he was surprised, as was all the people with him, to see the body of the blessed martyr rise from the ground, take her head with both hands, and, as if it were still full of vigor and life, advance with a steady step through the city and head toward the place where Saint Martial was at that time. The blessed apostle had gone, early in the morning, to the Basilica of Saint-Étienne, and he was offering the adorable sacrifice there, in order to obtain for his dear Philothe Philothée Valérie Virgin and martyr of the 1st century in Limoges. a Valerie the strength and courage she needed to generously complete her immolation and conquer the glorious palms of martyrdom.

Approaching the altar where Saint Martial was offering the Victim of the world to the Eternal Father, she gently placed her head at his feet and her body stretched out on the sacred forecourt. Drops of blood fallen from the head of Saint Valerie became embedded, so to speak, in the marble of the altar, say several chroniclers.

Saint Valerie did not limit herself to placing her head at the feet of Saint Martial; she also wished to leave in this place an indelible and irrefutable mark of her spirit of obedience and her martyrdom, by imprinting the deep traces of her feet on a marble which, rediscovered in the 11t marbre qui, retrouvé dans le XIe siècle Stone preserving the traces of the saint's feet, rediscovered in the 11th century. h century, was uncovered and exposed to the veneration of the faithful. This precious stone, carefully preserved for several centuries, was visited, touched, and religiously kissed by numerous pilgrims desirous of participating in the merits and the powerful intercession of the glorious servant of God.

## CULT AND RELICS.

Immediately after the death of Saint Valerie, her cult was held in great honor throughout the region. Her body rested for a long time in the place where Saint Martial had buried it, and where Duke Stephen had caused a sumptuous church to be built in her honor and under her name, to the glory of the true God. Later, at a time that is impossible to determine, her precious remains were transferred to the church of a very ancient Benedictine abbey, calle d Chamb Chambon Place where the saint's remains rest. on, where they still rest, with the exception of a very small portion kept at the cathedral of Limoges in a very beautiful reliquary. The miracles that occurred at the tomb of the Saint contributed not a little to enhancing the cult rendered to her; her relics were placed in a richly restored chapel, and from then on, a greater number of pious pilgrims were seen flocking to her altar.

The cult of Saint Valerie spread throughout France, and her memory was venerated in Paris in the church of Saint-Martial, restored by Saint Eligius in t he 7th cen saint Éloi Founder of the monastery and spiritual advisor to Saint Aurea. tury. After the revolutionary turmoil, a parish church was erected on the Rue de Bourgogne under the name of Saint Valère, and this is the same as Saint Valerie, virgin and martyr of Limoges; this church was suppressed and transformed into a simple catechism chapel for the parish of Sainte-Clotilde, whose district includes the largest part of that of Sainte-Valère. In the church of Sainte-Clotilde, one can see a chapel dedicated to Saint Valerie, whose statue is placed above the altar.

Taken from the History of Saint Valerie, by the Rev. Fr. Ambroise, of the Capu Histoire de sainte Valérie Biographical work serving as a source for the text. chin Friars Minor.