Saint Eugenia of Rome

The time had come when the prefect had to think of a match worthy of his daughter; and so it was that in 499, Aquilius, son of the consul Aquilinus, came to ask for her hand. Philip sounded out Eugenia regarding this proposal; and as he pointed out the high birth of the young man who sought her: "It is not birth," she replied with gravity, "it is character that should guide one in the choice of a spouse. One does not live with the parents of one's spouse, but with him."

A response so full of maturity did not displease Philip; but it had a significance he did not suspect. New solicitations reached her from all sides; but a vague love of virginity always made her reject them, when a book of the Epistles of Saint Paul, having fallen providentially into her hands, and which, by its elf, conta saint Paul Apostle cited by Saint Jerome to illustrate divine decrees. ined more truths than the seven hundred thousand volumes of the great Alexandrian library, brought about a revolution in her soul, illuminating it with sudden and entirely new clarity. With what avidity Eugenia devoured those pages, by turns mysterious and full of light! We shall not follow her in this sublime initiation into Christian doctrine and morality; the rest of her life will prove to us that she was a worthy disciple of the great Paul. He had taught her above all the necessity of baptism for salvation. She asked for it with all the aspirations of her soul; but, a Christian at heart, what could she do in this pagan environment where her age, her sex, and the rank she occupied forcibly held her? How many nights spent in anguish! How many conflicting plans crowded the young virgin's head! She felt she could not open up to a father who would not suffer a Christian in the capital of Egypt; her mother could do nothing for her: she too sat in the darkness and shadows of idolatry.

Eugenia was barely sixteen, and already the holy agitations that tormented her soul had altered the freshness of her face. Her parents were worried about it; but she could not reveal her secret to them. God came to the aid of the one who so aspired to the happiness of being His servant. He put it into her heart to pretend to her parents that she needed some rest in the countryside. She was no longer unaware that the holy theories of the Master, whose epistles she held in her hands, were receiving their application every day and at every moment in the vicinity of Alexandria and throughout Egypt. That is why she left her father's house; and her thought, fixed from that moment on, was never to return. Philip, who could suspect nothing of such a resolution, hastened to grant his daughter's wish.

Accompanied by two young eunuchs, named Protus and Hyacinth, who had grown up with her and shared her education, thanks to Philip's princely habits, Eugenia left Alexandria. Her father owned rich estates a few leagues from Alexandria: it was there that she would mature the execution of her great and bold design. On her way, she heard Christian chants; she had her carriage stopped; she listened, and her ear was struck by these prophetic chants: "God is great; He is worthy of all our praise; He is terrible above all gods. All the gods of the nations are demons; but our God made the heavens. Glory and beauty walk before Him; holiness and magnificence are in His sanctuary." At these words: "All the gods of the nations are demons, but our God made the heavens," Protus and Hyacinth saw her sigh and weep. "With me," she said to them, "you have devoted yourselves to the study of letters. History has taught us to know the facts that honor or disgrace men. We have devoted difficult hours to the syllogisms vainly elaborated by the philosophers. Well! all this scaffolding of science crumbles before the expression of this single thought, which we have just heard joyfully acclaimed by the Christians: All the gods of the nations are demons; but our God made the heavens."

The carriage resumed its journey to Philip's villa. There, taking Protus and Hyacinth aside, Eugenia entered with them into the most touching considerations on the new religion she wished to embrace. She read to them the pages of the Apostle that had brought light into her mind. She was so deeply moved, so eloquent, so persuasive, that a first astonishment soon gave way in their minds to a profound conviction, and their belief did not take long to come into harmony with hers. A few days passed in these pious conversations, and the virgin, finally free and full of confidence in the blessing that God would give to her steps, had already recovered her former freshness.

The difficulties were far from being smoothed out before her; but she was sustained by her hope. Sometimes she questioned heaven with a fervent prayer; sometimes she called her young companions to strengthen them in their new faith. Often she went into solitude to dream of the coming execution of her project. Learning that the Semeans, whose Christian chants had so pleasantly struck her, were under the dependence of a bishop named Helenus, and that this bishop, occupied with the care of all his churches, had entrusted this numerous gathering of men to a priest by the name of Theodore, she revealed to her companions the plan she had formed to cut her hair, to put on the costume of a young patrician, to take the road to Alexandria again the next day at the first light of dawn, and, while the rest of her people were ahead, to get out, without their knowledge and favored by the darkness that would still reign, not far from these desired monasteries, leaving the empty carriage to continue its route toward Alexandria. This plan, agreed to by her two young companions, was executed at the appointed hour. Christ deigned to bless the steps of those who already believed in Him: the most complete success crowned their holy audacity.

Eugenia had barely stepped out of her carriage when she heard, at a distance, chants that seemed to be formed by a large number of voices. They did not come from the Semeans. Little by little these chants drew closer, and she saw a numerous procession advancing toward her. It was an innumerable multitude of Christians who were pressing in the footsteps of Bishop Helenus. Eugenia and her companions followed them, and after the celebration of the divine mysteries, were presented to the bishop. The latter, having had a revelation of the sex of Eugenia, who had presented herself under the name of Eugene, entered more and more into the designs of God for the young virgin, and authorized her to keep her man's clothing. He decreed that she would not separate from her t wo com Eugène Roman virgin and martyr, protagonist of the narrative. panions, the sure protectors of her virginity; and he did not abandon them until he had made all three catechumens, baptized by his hand, clothed in the holy tunic, and finally admitted into these Semeans, toward whom they had so courageously directed their first steps.

Eugenia, whom we shall henceforth call Eugene, finally saw her wishes fulfilled. In the secret of her solitude, she worked at acquiring Christian and religious virtues; and her spirit surrendered with an unspeakable ardor to the study of the Holy Scriptures. She made such progress that, by the second year, she knew all the divine scriptures by heart. Furthermore, no brother had ever reached the highest degrees of perfection so quickly. The serenity of her soul was so great that all agreed to say of her, and of her alone, that she was an angel. Who would have suspected a young woman in the one who, by the virtue of Christ and her spotless virginity, was a marvel to all these holy anchorites? Her language breathed humility in charity, and announced as much distinction as moderation. No fault was ever caught in her. She was sober in speech and surpassed all the brothers in restraint and modesty. No one preceded her in prayer and holy gatherings: the first to arrive, she was the last to leave, and only duty could tear her away. She made herself all things to all people. She found in her heart a consolation for all sorrows, a lovable sympathy for all joys. A single one of her words softened anger, and the proud found such happy edification in her examples that the wolf soon became a lamb. In a word, and this was the dominant character of her virtue, she showed herself animated toward all by a true charity, which was not only on her lips, but living in the depths of her heart. In a short time, the grace of healing was granted to her from above; and her credit became so powerful before God that her visits to the sick brought them more than consolation: they restored their health.

Three years had passed since the daughter of Philip began astonishing the holy inhabitants of these deserts with her ever-growing virtues: she was about to receive a reward very formidable for her humility, and for the peace, until then so serene, of her great soul. The priest Theodore, who was in charge of the men of God, passed to the Lord; and all the brothers were of the opinion to give him as a successor the one who was among them an angel of virtue, Brother Eugene.

What will she do before the expression of such a wish? Her first thought is to cast the care of her soul into the bosom of God. He did not lead her so far, He did not put so much love into smoothing the first difficulties under her steps, only to set a trap for her later. He gave her, under her man's clothing, such a fatherly shelter; everything conspired to hide her so well, that the very manifestation of this desire of the brothers is perhaps a proof that God wants her to be hidden even more. Yet, she is a woman; it is contrary to the rules for her to be in charge of leading men. After questioning heaven, she addresses her confidants on earth: they cannot bring themselves to advise her to flee. They have always seen her as the first in her condition and her virtues; it seems to them that it is God who is calling her. Yet they yield to her prayer while striving to work on the minds of the brothers in a direction contrary to her election. She herself opposes with tears her most energetic refusals. Vain efforts, from which her humility receives even more brilliance. The decision, moreover, is made; the assembly of the brothers is convened; and Eugene, who can no longer, without betraying her inviolable secret, reject such unanimous votes, made her sacrifice, which was welcomed with unanimous joy.

From then on, forgetting herself, she took charge of the universal solicitude. To obey the voice of heaven, she was always seen first in all the offices that until then had been performed by the lowest of the Brothers, such as drawing and carrying water, or cutting wood or cleaning. She fixed her dwelling at the threshold of the Semeans, so as not to even appear to be superior to the humble solitary who guarded its avenues. She nonetheless watched with remarkable activity over the sustenance of the Brothers. She brought a very special zeal to regulating the divine psalmodies. Terce, Sext, None, Vespers, and the hours of the night or morning were the object of her most vigilant care; she regarded as lost to God, during the Hours, the smallest instant that had not been devoted to divine praise. Her advice to the brothers was imbued with deep humility and ardent charity. She recommended to them, above all, to watch over their lips, and to avoid useless words. "It is the precept of the Lord," she said. "There is only one way to honor God, and to show Him the respect due to His majesty: it is to obey His commandments."

Thus walked toward perfection the abbot whom God Himself had made, with a view of mercy whose admirable secret would soon be revealed. The holy colloquies of the virgin with heaven were interrupted neither by day nor by night; and her life was a continuous prayer. She rose so high in grace by the way she fulfilled her charge, that she cast out demons from the bodies that were possessed by them, and that she opened the eyes of the blind.

The profound humility of Eugenius served only to give greater prominence to his virtue; and God was pleased to highlight the holiness of this soul through the blessings He granted to his prayers. The report of miraculous healings, due to the holy intervention of the Abbot, spread abroad; and a lady of Alexandria, tormented for a year by a quartan fever, resolved to go and ask him for some relief from her sufferings. This lady, of very high rank, lived in a villa in the neighborhood of the Semeans, and her name was Melanthia. She was r Mélanthia Noble lady of Alexandria who slanders Eugenia. icher in the goods of the earth than in the precious virtues of the soul.

A carriage deposited the noble patient at the feet of Eugenius, who made the sign of the cross over her; and scarcely had a few drops of oil touched Melanthia than, suddenly recovering her health, she was able to return to her villa on foot. She wished to show her gratitude to her physician; and, having returned home, she immediately chose three silver cups which she filled with aureus, and sent them to him as a gift. The Abbot gave orders to return them to Melanthia, offering her thanks and saying: "We have all goods in abundance, and beyond. Therefore, my very dear mother, if you will take my advice, give these presents to those poorer and more needy than we." Melanthia, saddened by this response, was no longer content with a message: she went herself to press the acceptance of the gift, and she made new, more considerable offers. Henceforth assiduous near Eugenius, in whom nothing revealed a woman to her, she was struck by his youth and beauty. In seeing this angel of heaven, she believed she was dealing with a young man of the earth. It was, in the mind of this woman, not high virtue, but the great skill of the physician that had healed her; and she began to covet him. With the goal of inspiring in him a lesser taste for his holy state, she ventured from time to time a few words, at first reserved, then more express.

Eugenius, with that beautiful simplicity which pleases God, suspected nothing of the preoccupations of this woman's heart, and replied to her worldly insinuations as to objections whose vanity it was important for the salvation of Melanthia to see at last. Divine warnings and holy counsels were not spared her. But wisdom does not enter a soul given over to evil; it does not dwell in a body subject to sin. Thus Melanthia continued to nourish her bizarre and foolish desires; and she always hoped to triumph over Eugenius through gifts. Unable to judge virtue, because she did not know it, she persuaded herself that the obstinate refusals of the young Abbot had no other principle than excessive greed; and she set no more limits to her offers and promises. She insisted for a long time; but Eugenius remained stubborn in returning to her with thanks all the presents she addressed to him. Finally, yielding to the evil that was undermining her internally, Melanthia thought she must resort to deceit: she claimed to be ill, and begged her amiable physician to come and visit her. Eugenius acceded to her prayer and came to sit beside the bed of Melanthia, who finally revealed her criminal love to him.

Eugenia then understood all the strangeness of this situation. To unveil it to Melanthia, a single word would have sufficed: this word, revealing her great secret, Eugenius was not to say. "It is not wrongly," she replied, crossing herself, "that your very name attests to the blackness of perfidy: hell has a great place in your heart. Back, deceitful and seductive Melanthia! No, we shall not betray chastity! No, we shall not suffer an assault on virginity! No, Mary, Mother of God and Virgin all at once, we shall not fail our oaths! Our spouse is Jesus Christ. No agreement, no society between his servants and you: we fight under another banner. Leave your riches to masters who resemble you: our delights, for us, are to beg with Christ; poor with him, we are always sufficiently rich! Drive away these images of concupiscence; happiness is not in the passion by which you let yourself be dominated. Lair of the dragon, you distill its venom. But we, with the name of Christ that we invoke, know how to escape your poisons, and find mercy in the Lord."

Eugenius was already far away when his mouth, interpreter of a holily indignant heart, cast these last words at Melanthia. She could not bear the shame of such a disappointment; and, in the fear of being accused if she did not first make herself the accuser, she left for Alexandria, and presented herself before the Prefect Philip, father of Eugenia! "I have made this very day," Melanthia said to him, "the encounter with a young scoundrel, an imitator of the Christians. He was at first known to me only as a physician; and, in that capacity, I had called him to me." And adding perfidious words, the impudent audacity of the matron makes her own crime fall back upon the innocent and chaste virgin. The Prefect had an honest soul: his anger was kindled. He dispatched in all haste a squad of bailiffs, who had the order to invade the Semeans, to load the Abbot with chains, and to arrest with him all the Brothers.

Eugenia was made a spectacle to angels and men: God permitted her to be heard: "The time to speak," she cried, "has come, after the time to be silent. If it is good to hide the secret of the king, it is honorable to reveal and confess the works of God. I had wished, in the face of the crime imputed to me, to await the revelations of the future judgment, and to show my chastity only to Him for whose love we must keep it. However, so as not to let the audacious lie triumph over the servants of Christ, I will set forth in a few words the whole truth: not to make a parade of it, but for the glory of the name of Christ. Such is the virtue of this name, that the woman, happy enough to know it and to love it, rises to the dignity of man: the difference of sex vanishes before faith. It is the teaching of the blessed apostle Paul, that master of all Christians, when he says that before the Lord there is no longer man or woman, because we are all but one in Jesus Christ. This is the rule that I have embraced with all the ardor of my soul. Confident in Christ, I did not wish to be a woman; but firmly resolved to keep my virginity, I took on the persona of a man in Jesus Christ. As a man, I would have disdained to act as a woman; but as a woman whom faith raised to a noble virility, I acted as a man: by courageously embracing the virginity that is in Christ."

At these words, she raised her head, suddenly tore the top of her tunic, and, turning toward the prefect, to whom she appeared as a woman: "You are my father," she cried; "Claudia is my mother; and here, at your side, are my two brothers, Avitus and Sergius. I am Eugenia!... your daughter,... who, for the love of Christ, have disdained the world and the nothingness of its pleasures. Here are Protus and Hyacinth, my eunuchs, with whom I entered the school of Christ; and Christ showed Himself to be such a good master that, by His mercy, He rendered me superior to all the attacks of vice; and I hope to belong to Him forever!"

We refrain from describing this sublime moment. The people let out an immense acclamation. Eugenia is held for a long time in the arms of her father, her brothers, and her mother who, immediately informed of the great news, had arrived in all haste. The priests' stratagem is confounded. The entire city had mourned the disappearance of Eugenia: it now applauds her triumph entirely. They bring her a robe embroidered with gold, in which she is adorned despite herself. The abbot's austere tunic has given way to the rich ornaments of the daughter of an Augustal prefect; and, from the height of the tribunal where she draws all eyes, she is carried triumphantly on shoulders, amidst the acclamations of the people who repeat: "There is only one Christ, the unique and true God of the Christians!" While Eugenia returns to the Augustal palace amidst the popular intoxication, her chastity receives a more magnificent testimony. Heaven speaks in its turn: a vengeful fire descends from it, which envelops the house of Melanthia, that den of false witnesses; and it does not leave even a vestige of everything that had belonged to it.

The people, in applauding the justice of God, learned to fear Him; and countless conversions were the immediate consequence of this moving turn of events. The most important was the conversion of the Augustal Prefect, his wife, and his two sons. The churches were reopened, after a widowhood of eight years; and the Christians were recalled to the heart of the capital. Bishop Demetrius did not only have the consolation of being able henceforth to exercise his august functions freely in the midst of the faithful of Alexandria, it was reserved for him to baptize with his own hand a Prefect, honored with the fasces. The example of Philip was followed by his whol Philippe Father of Eugenia, Augustal Prefect of Egypt, convert and martyr. e family: with him were baptized Claudia, the mother of Eugenia, and her two brothers Avitus and Sergius.

Eugenia had reached her twentieth year when her father was taken from her affection by martyrdom. This blow was harsh to her heart. She was losing a father who had loved her dearly, and who was her own conquest in the faith. Her filial piety had grown with all that religion knows how to add to natural affections; and she would have been inconsolable had she wept like those who have no hope. But she found an admirable counterweight to her sorrow in the contemplation of the crown that encircled Philip's brow; she knew that for him the palm had succeeded the fasces. Daughter of a martyr, she was holily proud to be an orphan at such a price; and she aspired for herself to the fate of her father. Around the year 204, she hastened to return to Rome with her mother and he r tw Rome Birthplace of Maximian. o brothers. A long time would henceforth pass for the noble daughter of Claudia, in a silence that recalls the humility of her first days among the Egyptian Semeans. There, three years had sufficed to bring about her first triumph: the greater triumph of her martyrdom in Rome would be delayed for fifty-three years.

During the persecution of Decius, Eugenia did not cease to pursue, in Rome, the apostolate to which she had dedicated herself. She was no longer content, at this advanced stage of her life, to gather as many young virgins as she could: Roman matrons surrounded the venerable sexagenarian in great numbers, to whom she distributed the word of faith and encouraged them against the desperate efforts of the persecutors. Under the threat of the sword, her tireless and holily audacious zeal brought about illustrious conversions, among which is counted a young virgin of royal blood named Basilla, who did not delay Basilla Virgin of royal blood converted by Eugenia and martyr. in undergoing martyrdom, as did Protus and Hyacinth.

The hour of the great and final combat had also come for Eugenia. She had sent into the bosom of God and into the eternal joys where her father had entered, an infinite number of virgins and, among them, her dear and tender companion Basilla. Heaven had also envied her her inseparable companions Protus and Hyacinth: she would not be long in joining them. God reserved for the young triumpher of twenty years in Alexandria another magnificent triumph that was to immortalize her old age in the heart of Rome. This city was the arena where each day she had pursued her course, without her humility ever allowing her to think that she had reached the goal. Faithful to the lessons of Saint Paul, her first master, she forgot, like him, what was behind her; and, always advancing, the illustrious virgin was finally to win the prize to which she felt herself called from on high by Jesus Christ.

She appeared in her turn before the prefect Nicetius. The complaint brought against her by Pompeius before the emperors had been heard: an d Gall Galien Roman emperor associated with the reign of Valerian. ienus, in issuing his decree against Basilla, had at the same time condemned Eugenia "to sacrifice to the gods or to die in tortures." Nicetius had her led to a temple of Diana and summoned to sacrifice to the goddess. "You shall sacrifice," a ferocious apparitor said to her on the way, "otherwise, I have in hand the means to pierce you through and through." And he brandished his sword.

She was thus dragged as far as the island of Lycaonia, also called the island of the Tiber, and equally famous in the history of pagan Rome and Christian Rome.

She had arrived at the edifice consecrated to the goddess when, ready to strike, the reader said to her: "Redeem your life and your patrimony, Eugenia, and sacrifice to the goddess Diana." — "My God!" cried the generous martyr, extending her hands, "you who know the secrets of my heart, who,

LIVES OF THE SAINTS. — VOLUME XIV.

in your love for me, have kept my virginity intact, who have united me to your son Jesus Christ, my Lord, who have made your Holy Spirit reign within me, come to my aid in the confession I make of your holy name, and cover with confusion all those who serve this idol and who glory in their simulacra." As she finished this prayer, a violent tremor shook the ground; the temple trembled in its foundations and collapsed with the idol itself: there remained standing only the altar erected before the door, where Eugenia stood. This prodigy attracted an immense concourse of people; and, from the midst of this multitude, a thousand voices rose, some proclaiming the innocence of Eugenia, and others calling her a sorceress. The prefect, informed of what was happening, notified the emperor; and a sentence of Gallienus condemned Eugenia to be thrown into the Tiber, with an enormous stone around her neck. But He who had been with his apostle on the sea did not abandon Eugenia in the river: the enormous stone, splitting open, detached itself from the neck of the Saint; and all were able to contemplate her quietly seated and as if carried by angels upon the waters of the Tiber.

She was taken from it to be exposed to a new torture. The waves had spared their victim; but in the minds of the persecutors, she would not escape the action of fire. She was therefore condemned to be thrown into a burning furnace. They dragged Eugenia through the two regions beyond the Tiber and the Circus Maximus, as far as that of the Porta Capena, where Severus had built the Baths of his name in 202. It was not without design that Providence had provided this new theater for the martyr: her presence at the Baths of Severus recalled that this prince had been her first persecutor; and the final triumphs of the daughter of Philip were thus linked to the one who had made her illustrious in Alexandria.

When she was in the flames, the hypocaust went out to such a point that the baths suddenly lost their heat. In vain did they try to relight it: the wood piled in the hypocaust produced nothing more than a thick smoke that stifled the brazier and stopped the ardor of the fire.

Not far from there was a dark dungeon, where the confessors soon received the order to lock up the one whom neither water nor fire had been able to reach. She was condemned to remain there ten whole days without food, and without the slightest contact with the outside light. But those who had thrown her into this darkness did not know that there again, just as on the Tiber and in the Baths, God would be with her. The God of light, who commands or forbids the dawn to rise, suddenly illuminated the prison; and Eugenia herself became all dazzling with brightness.

The Savior appeared to her during her long fast; he came to her with a gentle majesty, and, in his divine fingers, he held a bread of striking whiteness and infinitely delicious to the taste. "Eugenia," he said to her, "receive this bread from my hand: I am your Savior, the one whom you have loved and whom you love with all the strength of your spirit and your heart. I wish to receive you in heaven on the day when I myself descended to earth." And, saying these words, he disappeared.

This foretaste of paradise, the celestial appointment that had just been given to her, left Eugenia in the ecstasy of happiness. The beating of her heart was nothing more than burning aspirations toward her beloved. On the day of the Nativity of the Savior, a gladiator received the order to penetrate to her, and he pierced her throat with his sword in the very prison. Her soul flew away into the gardens of the Spouse.

The body of the virgin was taken by Christians and deposited not far from the city on the Via Latina, in land that belonged to her, and where she herself had given burial to a great number of Saints. This is what is still called today the cemetery or catacomb of Apronian.

A basilica was erected in Rome, on the Via Latina, to shelter the glorious remains of Saint Eugenia and her mother. It still existed in the 8th century, when it was restored by Popes John VII and Adrian I. This latter Pontiff, to honor the m emory of t Adrien Ier Pope who approved the mission of Hildegrin in Saxony. he virgin by perpetuating the work par excellence of her entire life, built, next to this basilica, a monastery of virgins who were to sing the divine praises there without interruption. Leo III and Leo IV enriched the oratory of our Saint with precious ornaments; and it was there that, at a very remote period, the station of the fourth Sunday of Advent took place. There is no trace of this basilica today.

By the end of the 9th century, the body of the Saint no longer rested in her basilica. Under the pontificate of Stephen VI, it had been transferred, along with that of Claudia, to the church of the Holy Apostles, which these relics still enrich today.

Rome offers memories of Saint Eugenia elsewhere than in the basilica of the Holy Apostles. In the sanctuary of Saint Paul alla Regola, an inscription from 1090 mentions, among the treasures of this church, relics of our Saint. And at Saint Anastasia, a bone from an arm of Saint Eugenia, virgin and martyr, is presented each year for the veneration of the faithful who visit this church on the day of the Station. The feast of Saint Eugenia is still celebrated today in Rome in the basilica of the Holy Apostles; it is transferred to December 30.

The Church of Spain also claims relics of Saint Eugenia for itself. Salazar speaks of a translation that would have been made in the middle of the 11th century.

In the former diocese of Auxerre, her feast was celebrated on May 18, the anniversary of the translation of her relics. Under the pontificate of John X, Gaudry, the forty-third bishop of Auxerre, went to visit the tombs of the holy Apostles in Rome; the sovereign Pontiff presented him with quite considerable relics of Saint Lawrence and Saint Eugenia. He deposited them with solemnity in his cathedral on May 18, 923; then he distributed them. The abbey of Saint-Germain had a part, the second remained at the cathedral; but the most considerable portion was destined for the city of Varzy. From the 5th century, there was in this city, under the patronage of this Saint, a church whose foundation is attributed to Saint Germain; it was falling into ruins, Gaudry took advantage of this circumstance to have it rebuilt, then he deposited these precious relics there. Near there, he had a pleasure house built which was often inhabited by him and by the bishops of Auxerre, his successors. The church became a collegiate church which was founded in 1090, and was served by nine canons, of whom the cantor was the head. Four chaplains, a sub-cantor, a sacristan, and four choirboys formed the lower choir.

One could see in the church of Varzy: 1st, a wooden reliquary, covered with silver plates in the shape of a small 13th-century church, surmounted by a tower, and containing two pieces of human bone from the skull in its full thickness; 2nd, a wooden reliquary in the shape of an arm, covered with gilded silver plates, in which was a part of a humerus bone of a human body, five to six inches long; 3rd, a reliquary in the shape of a bust, which contained two pieces of ribs of a human body, from the extremities that attached to the vertebrae, with this label: Sancta Eugenia.

It is unknown what became of this third reliquary, which is no longer found at Varzy; as for the first two, they still exist; they were transferred, along with other reliquaries, on October 9, 1792, from the collegiate church of Saint-Eugénie to the church of Saint-Pierre, where they can still be seen.

Another ebony reliquary, made in 1733, also contains relics of Saint Eugenia. It is difficult to understand how the reliquaries of Saint-Eugénie, Saint-Régnobert, and others, covered with silver plates, were able to escape the sacrilegious greed of the revolutionaries of 1793.

On March 21, 1858, Mgr Crosnier, apostolic protonotary and vicar general of Nevers, accompanying Mgr Dominique-Augustin Dufêtre, during pastoral visits, after having examined the seals applied to the reliquary of Saint-Eugénie and having verified their authenticity, renewed these old seals, several of which had been partially broken.

Taken from the Histoire de sainte Eugénie, by the Abbé Tourael, honorary canon of the cathedral of Arras, and from the Hagiologie Nivernaise, by Mgr Crosnier.