Saint Chrysole

The persecution incited by Diocletian and Maximian, which flared up around the same time, raged especially in Asia, where there were already many Christians. Saint Chrysole, whether to put into practice the recommendation of the Savior who had said to his disciples: 'When they persecute you in one city, flee to another'; or to satisfy his desire to extend the reign of Jesus Christ among the infidels, left Armenia and went to Rome to see Saint Marcellus, who then occupie d the Holy S saint Marcel Pope who received Chrysolius in Rome and sent him on a mission. ee.

The Sovereign Pontiff received the illustrious stranger with respect. Soon, recognizing in Saint Chrysole the happy combination of all episcopal virtues united with the finest qualities, he conceived a very special affection for him, and gave him, as a token of his friendship, a silver box containing relics of Saint Peter.

Sent later with other missionaries to the peoples of Gaul, Saint Chrysole s ettled in that saint Chrysole Bishop of Armenian origin, apostle of the Mélanthois region, and martyr. part of ancient Lower Belgium, located between the Scheldt and the Lys, in the Melantois region. For several years he traveled through these lands without anything being able to stop him, neither the distance of the places, nor the difficulty of the journeys, nor the dangers of all kinds to which he was exposed. His trust in God was complete, and, according to the word of the divine Master, "He feared nothing from those who can kill the body, but who have no power over the soul."

Saint Chrysole, in the intervals of his evangelical journeys, usually resided in C omines. Commines Place of habitual residence, death, and burial of the saint. He built an oratory there to celebrate the divine mysteries and to gather, as much as circumstances permitted, the new Christians he had won to Jesus Christ. The persecution which was beginning to wreak its havoc in the north of Gaul did not leave him the time to confirm his neophytes in the faith.

One day, while he was preaching near a temple of idols in the village o f Verlingh Verlinghem Site of the martyrdom of Saint Chrysole. em, he was surprised and arrested by soldiers. The Saint, remembering the conduct of Our Lord in the midst of His executioners, responded only with patience to the brutalities with which they overwhelmed him. It was in this place that, after having been struck with rods, he had the top of his head cut off by these pagan soldiers, who perhaps wished in this way to insult the sacred character with which he was invested. They left him lying on the ground and bathed in his blood.

According to the account of several authors, Saint Chrysole did not die immediately from this horrific wound; but, aided by the help of God, he came to himself, stood up, and taking the upper part of his skull that the executioners had struck off, he returned to Commines, where he gave up his soul in the midst of the astonished inhabitants. They add that on the road, the martyr, pressed by a devouring thirst, saw a spring of pure water gush forth at his feet, which has not ceased to flow abundantly ever since.

Saint Chrysole was buried in C ommines, Commines Place of habitual residence, death, and burial of the saint. of which he became the special patron, and where extraordinary healings often occur through his intercession. He is also the patron of the parish of Verlinghem. The parish of Lens, in Artois, possessed a portion of his relics, as indicated by an ancient Latin inscription. A constant tradition supposes that Saint Eli gius, when saint Éloi Founder of the monastery and spiritual advisor to Saint Aurea. he was Bishop of Tournai an d Noyon Tournai City associated with the Diocese of Noyon. , exhumed the body of Saint Chrysole and enclosed it in a reliquary, as he had done for Saint Piat. De Guise, Molanus, and Buzelin regard this fact as incontestable. The latter adds that in 1611, the city of Bruges, where the reliquary had been transported due to the continuous wars that devastated the country, sent some fragments of these relics of Saint Chrysole to the church of Tournai, and received in return pieces of those of Saint Eleutherius. These venerated remains were welcomed in Tournai with extraordinary pomp on October 7 of that same year.

We have adopted the version by Abb é Destombes, *Hagio M. l'abbé Destombes Author of the Life of the Saints of Cambrai and Arras. graphie de Cambrai et d'Arras*.