Saint Lazarus of Bethany

In calling Lazarus back to life, Jesus wished far less to keep a friend for Himself than to provide a zealous propagator of His sublime teachings. The vocation of the newly chosen one was miraculous, and he was not to falter in it; indeed, persecution is the ordinary trial of elevated vocations: it did not fail the friend of Jesus. About ten years after the Ascension of Our Lord, Lazarus was cast by the Jews onto a vessel without sails or oars, along with his sisters Martha an d Magdale Madeleine Saint to whom Zita had a great devotion. ne, with Saint Marcella, Saint Maximin, and other Christians. Exposed thus without resources to the mercy of the waves, this frail craft was, in the minds of the Jews, to sink a few paces from the shore and engulf with it all the hopes of the nascent band of the faithful. But the wicked were disappointed, and the vessel they had doomed to shipwreck, guided by the hand of Him who had directed Noah's Ark, landed safely on the hospitable land of Provence. Marseille opened its port to him and Marseille Birthplace of the saint. acclaimed Lazarus as its bishop.

The new apostle planted the banner of the faith in this land, and around this standard of Christ, he labored for thirty whole years to gather a dense crowd of neophytes. Paganism was alarmed by the progress of the Gospel, and the infidels, having seized the person of Lazarus, led him before the judge of the city. The latter summoned him to sacrifice to the idols on the spot: if he refused, he would have to die. The venerable old man replied that he was a servant of Jesus Christ, by whom he had already been resurrected once, and that he would never recognize any other God than Him with His Father, Creator of all things. This most generous confession earned the blessed apostle the palm of martyrdom. They tore his body with iron combs, threw a red-hot iron cuirass upon his shoulders, laid him violently, to be roasted, upon a red-hot gridiron, and shot several arrows at his chest which nevertheless were powerless to penetrate his flesh; finally, his head rolled under the executioner's sword.

Saint Lazarus is represented: 1° coming out of the tomb at the voice of Our Lord; 2° in episcopal vestments, holding in his hand a small coffin that recalls his resurrection; 3° in a group with his two sisters Martha and Magdalene; 4° abandoned on the sea in a disabled ship.

He is the patron saint of Autun, Avallon, Carcassonne, and Marseille.

## CULT AND RELICS. — MONUMENTS.

The apostolate of Saint Lazarus in Provence, which had ceased to be believed in the last century, is no longer in doubt since the peremptory proofs provided by the Ab bé Faillon. We sh M. l'abbé Faillon Author of a work defending the authenticity of the apostolate of Lazarus in Provence. all summarize the most interesting contents of his work concerning our holy bishop.

In the very sincere and very authentic Acts of the martyrdom of Saint Alexander of Brescia, it is said that, under the empire of Claudius (41-54), Alexander went to Marseille to the blessed Lazarus, bishop of that city, and from there to Aix, to the blessed bishop Maximin. It is certain, on the other hand (M. Faillon proves it very well), that, before the ravages of the Saracens and other barbarians who stripped Marseille of its monuments, its written titles, and its relics, the body of Saint Lazarus, resurrected by Jesus Christ, and martyr, was buried and honored in Marseille, in the church of Saint-Vi ctor. The name of this église de Saint-Victor Monastic order that held the church of Saint-Tropez from 1056. church dates from the 4th century: as for the vaults, they were built in several stages; the crypt is visibly older than the rest and its origin goes back further than the empire of Antoninus (138-161). It is there that Saint Lazarus hid with his neophytes, during the persecution, for the exercises of religion. One sees there, to the left of the altar, a stone seat, carved into the rock and which is venerated as having served Saint Lazarus in the administration of the Sacraments. Similar ones are noted in the catacombs of Rome. — Above it is a crude figure which seems to date back to the 6th century and represents Saint Lazarus with the palm of martyrdom and the pastoral staff. One also sees, in the vault, the alpha and omega which are also found in the catacombs of Rome. The apostle of Marseille having been buried in this crypt, his sepulcher made this place dear to the people of Marseille and gave birth to the underground cemetery which has formed there since, as happened in Rome and in many other cities: "The custom of being buried near the Martyrs," says Saint Augustine, "having had the purpose of attracting the intercession of the Saints for the dead."

Outside of this place, here is another monument also very precious among the mass of buildings that composed the old abbey of Saint-Sauveur. It is located on the Place de Linche, in an underground position relative to the square set at the level of the lower streets. Descending toward the port, there are cellars that ancient authors designated by the name of "cellars of Saint-Sauveur": they consist of seven rooms, all equal and parallel, surrounded on three sides by a return gallery. This entire building is made of large-dimension cut stone, acting as through-stones. These were, according to the unanimous opinion of archaeologists, public prisons, with lodging for the soldiers charged with watching over the prisoners. On the eastern side of the gallery, at the northeast corner and outside the walls, is a small quadrilateral chamber, which is called the prison of Saint Lazarus. It is indeed an immemorial tradition, confirmed by many documents, that "Lazarus, having refused to sacrifice to idols, was beaten with rods until he bled, dragged through the whole city, and finally locked in this dark and underground prison." Out of respect for this place, Cassianite nuns were established there, just as the care of his tomb and his crypt had been entrusted to religious of the same Order. When this prison was given to the nuns, it was already transformed into an oratory, which proves both the certainty and the antiquity of the tradition that attested to the incarceration of Saint Lazarus in this place. Let us add to this proof that this oratory bore the name of Saint Lazarus.

According to the same tradition, Saint Lazarus had his head cut off in the prison itself, or at least on the Place de Linche, very close to the prison. This is why, in the solemn procession where the relics of this Saint are carried, a station is made in this square, near the corner of the Rue de Radeau, during which the clergy sing an antiphon or a responsory in honor of the holy bishop, as if to congratulate him for having obtained the palm of martyrdom in this place.

During the ravages of the Saracens and other barbarians, ravages of which we have already spoken, the relics of Saint Lazarus were transported from Mar seill Autun Burgundian diocese associated with the saint's burial. e to Autun, where the church of Saint-Lazare was built to happily preserve this holy body, which later became the cathedral. Marseille nevertheless kept the jaw and the head of its holy apostle. Another head was skillfully adapted by a priest from Marseille to the body of the Saint, which the Burgundians took away. The head was kept separately in a silver reliquary; some fragments of the body of Saint Lazarus also remained in Marseille: one of these fragments was deposited in the altar of the Charterhouse of Nuntrieux in 1252. The head of the holy Martyr was placed in a new reliquary in 1356, and in another in 1389. To enclose this reliquary, a marble monument was built which also served as the chapel of Saint-Lazare in the cathedral that had formerly borne his name and had replaced it with that of Notre-Dame de la Major; it was completed in 1481. Since the French Revolution, the Church of Marseille no longer possesses a precious reliquary, but it still preserves the head of the holy Martyr.

We have said that, in the 12th century, a church was built in Autun to preserve the body of Saint Lazarus; it is entirely imbued with the traditions of Provence: built in the shape of a Latin cross, it consists of a nave two hundred and seven feet long, seventy-four feet wide, and accompanied by two side aisles, each ending, like the nave, in an apse. The nave is dedicated to Saint Lazarus; one of the side aisles to Saint Mary Magdalene, the other to Saint Martha, his sisters. On one of the four capitals of the side portal, located on the side of Saint-Nazaire, one can still see the figure of the Savior, having before him Saint Mary Magdalene kissing his feet, and, behind, Lazarus whom he restores to life. Of the bells, one, which can still be seen, was blessed under the name of Saint Martha, and another under that of Saint Mary Magdalene.

The body of Saint Lazarus was transferred to this church on October 29, 1447. It was enclosed in a magnificent white and black marble mausoleum, placed behind the high altar: numerous miracles took place there, especially in favor of lepers.

From the translation of Saint Lazarus in 1447 until the 18th century, we do not see that the coffin containing the relics of our Saint was ever opened. But, in the 18th century, the writings of Baillet and Tillemont having considerably weakened the zeal for his cult, it was finally resolved, in 1727, to dispel the doubts that these works had spread in people's minds, to open his tomb. It took place on June 29 of that year. There was found, in the vault of the holy Martyr, a lead coffin with an inscription indicating that this was the body of Saint Lazarus, that man raised from the dead after four days, and that it had been deposited in this place on the 13th of the Kalends of November of the year 1147...

To satisfy the devotion of the faithful, the holy relics were provisionally placed in a reliquary, and, for fifteen days, they remained exposed to their veneration. People came from all parts to Autun to honor them, and, after the fortnight, they were carried in procession throughout the city. This event was known not only in the surrounding areas, but also throughout France, the Chapter of Autun having addressed a circular to all cathedral churches to inform them of it. The Bishop of Autun himself wrote to the Bishop of Marseille, Henri de Belzunce, to know if, in the archives of the Major, th Henri de Belzunce Bishop of Marseille in the 18th century, defender of local traditions. ere was any ancient document concerning the translation of the body of Saint Lazarus to Autun. Mgr de Belzunce replied that, the Saracens having ravaged the city of Marseille in the 9th century, the archives had entirely perished, and that nothing prior to the 13th century was preserved; but that the constant tradition, confirmed by the historians of Marseille, was that the Burgundians had taken the body of Saint Lazarus, without it being possible to assign with precision the year of this event; that, at the time of the removal, the sacristan priest of the cathedral and a canon had taken the head of the holy Martyr and substituted another, which was carried away with the body by the Burgundians. "What is peculiar," added Mgr de Belzunce, "is that we do not have the lower jaw, which leads one to believe that these two priests had placed, with the precious relics of the holy Martyr, a head that did not have it either, so that those who were taking the relics would find no change in them." The Bishop of Marseille asked on this occasion, with great insistence, and obtained from the Chapter of Autun some small bones of the holy founder of his Church. He established a special feast for the translation of these relics to Marseille, and fixed it on the Friday of the fourth week of Lent, the day on which the memory of the resurrection of this patron saint was celebrated in his cathedral.

However, the Bishop of Autun, charged in the meantime with several important matters, was in no hurry to return the relics of Saint Lazarus to the tomb. They remained in the reliquary where they had been placed for the faithful to venerate them, until finally, on July 18, 1731, they were removed and returned to the old coffin, in which was also enclosed the official report of what had taken place in 1727, and that which was drawn up on the same day. After the coffin had been surrounded by seven iron bands, as it was at first, it was carried in procession by the canons into the mausoleum and returned to its former place. To perpetuate the memory of such a happy event, a feast was established that it was proposed to celebrate each year; but the future did not live up to this initial state for the cult of the holy Martyr. The principles of the new critics gaining ground imperceptibly among the ecclesiastics of Autun, they, through a too blind confidence in the alleged discoveries of Tillemont and Chastelain, allowed themselves to be persuaded that Saint Lazarus had not been a bishop, that he had never even come to Gaul, and that his relics were in the East. Consequently, the cult that had always been rendered to this Saint in the Church of Autun becoming, for these reformers, a sort of scandal, they removed from the diocesan Breviary everything that seemed to consecrate these alleged popular errors; and, as a necessary consequence, they went so far as to proscribe the monuments of sculpture that contradicted this new liturgy. Under the pretext of repairs or improvements, all the figures where Saint Lazarus was represented in bishop's attire were made to disappear from the portraits, and even several others that represented Saint Mary Magdalene and Saint Martha, and accompanied that of Saint Lazarus, raised by Jesus Christ. But, what one cannot regret enough, is the marble mausoleum of Saint Lazarus, which was enveloped in this proscription, in the year 1765. The motive alleged was the design of substituting for this tomb decorations of a better taste. However, as this was only a pretext to destroy it, instead of transporting it to some chapel, they annihilated, by a resolution that is difficult to understand, all these statues and the mausoleum itself, of which only a few fragments remain.

Finally, a few years later and towards the end of 1793, the very body of Saint Lazarus, so venerated in Autun for nine centuries, was profaned like most of the other holy bodies. The relics of the holy Martyr, pulled from the reliquary and thrown pell-mell onto the floor of the church, served for a few moments as an object of amusement for a troop of children who dragged them here and there, when, by a remnant of religion, the very authors of the spoliation transported the relics into the vestibule that leads from the sacristy to the old Treasury room, and threw them on the floor, where they remained for several days. There, while the public sale of the effects of the sacristy was taking place, a woman named Jeanne Moreau, seeing herself alone in the vestibule, suddenly picked up the head said to be of Saint Lazarus; and ot her people fr Jeanne Moreau A woman from Autun who saved the head of Saint Lazarus during the revolutionary desecration. om Autun successively took away various bones of the holy Martyr. Calm having been restored to France, all these people hastened to return to Mgr de Fontange, Bishop of Autun, the relics of Saint Lazarus of which they were the custodians, and this prelate, after having verified their identity, ordered, on August 18, 1803, that they would be enclosed in a reliquary and transported in procession to the cathedral church, on the following September 3, with all the pomp customary on such occasions. The reliquary was carried by the canons and exposed in the choir to the veneration of the faithful, from the first vespers of the feast until the end of the octave of the holy Martyr.

We have replaced the account of Father Giry with that of the Gospel, completed with the Proper of Marseille, the Unpublished Monuments on the Apostolate of Saint Mary Magdalene, by the Abbé Faillon, of the Society of Saint-Sulpice, and the Characteristics of the Saints, by the Rev. Fr. Caillet.