Saint Taurinus of Rome

When he was sufficiently advanced in his studies and his mind was mature enough to think about choosing a state of life, he did not deviate from the intentions of his pious mother; but, following the movement of the same spirit that had guided this holy woman when she had formerly offered this dear son, destining him for the service of the altars, our holy young man did not resist the interior inspiration that called him to the priesthood. He therefore embraced the ecclesiastical state with very disinterested views, having in this no other thoughts than to accomplish the will of God and to procure his glory, since, had he wished to follow the inclinations of nature and the life of the senses, he was at liberty to do so, his parents having great wealth and being highly regarded in the world.

As grace cannot remain sterile in a faithful heart, Taurinus was not content with having entered the ecclesiastical state through the right door; but, wishing to respond worthily to the first duties of this noble state, that is to say, to the example of Jesus Christ, to the conversion of peoples, and to the publication of the Gospel, he meditated on the plan to abandon his homeland and his parents, in imitation of the greatest Apostles, to go and preach the name of Jesus Christ in places where it was not yet known. Those of his relatives who were less enlightened than his pious mother, and who had in view only the interests of family and natural affection, opposed the designs of this worthy priest of Jesus Christ; but Eutice, who had asked of heaven and obtained from God this dear son only to consecrate him to his service, encouraged him rather to be faithful to the grace that called him to the conversion of peoples, than to remain in the country, as everyone wished.

Taurin therefore left Rome, the place of his birth, to go to a distant land, where he could expect nothing but rejection, contempt, and all sorts of other crosses; he could have taken with him some considerable sums of money, without harming his family or committing any injustice; but, already possessing a truly apostolic heart, he neglected all human foresight; he made no provision and thought of no comforts; but, generously leaving everything behind, and relying only on divine Providence, whose care is of greater help than all the riches of the earth, he finally arrived in the region of Évreux, in Normandy, to proclaim there th e holy Gospel pays d'Évreux Episcopal see of Aquilin and the site of his primary ministry. of Jesus Christ. He worked with admirable constancy and charity for the conversion of this people who were then groaning under the harsh tyranny of demons and in ignorance of Christian truths. His successes were so considerable, and the light of the Gospel began to spread with such brilliance, that the prince of darkness, unable to bear that his empire should thus be diminished, opposed the mission of our Saint in an infinite number of ways; he presented himself to him in the horrible forms of the most cruel beasts to intimidate him and interrupt his work; but this holy missionary, having an invincible faith and a perfect trust in the sovereign power of the three persons of the Holy Trinity, always triumphed gloriously by the sign of the cross alone, to which he had recourse in all encounters.

The malice of men yielded little to that of the demon against our Saint. The prefect of the city, the priests of the idols, and the magicians conspired together to put him to death: the prefect, whose name was Liciniu Licinius Prefect of Évreux who persecuted Saint Taurinus before converting. s, ordered his soldiers to seize him and bring him to the vill age of Gisay, wh village de Gisay Village where the saint was scourged. ere he was then, a few leagues from the city of Evreux. This order was executed; the Saint appeared: the prefect asked him where he was from, who he was, and what purpose had brought him to the country. It was then that the apostolic man began to speak to him with incomparable zeal of the mysteries of the Christian religion, of the resurrection of the dead, of the infinite duration of eternity, of the incomprehensible rewards promised to those who serve and adore the true God in spirit and in truth, and of the eternal torments that infidels and sinners will suffer in hell; he added a discourse on the vanity of idols, works of the hands of men, unworthy of the adoration of men. Licinius, not approving of the holy boldness of this divine man, and closing his ears to the truth he announced, commanded that he be cruelly whipped and that this torture be inflicted upon him until he lost his life. The executioners sought to carry out this order; but divine Providence disposed of it in another way: for, when a hail of blows fell upon the body of the blessed Martyr, a heavenly voice was heard telling him to fear nothing; and, at the same time, the hands of the executioners remained without any movement: which rendered them unable to continue their wretched design. This miracle and the great truths that Saint Taurin had the courage to announce gave rise to the conversion of Leonilla, the prefect's wife; she immediately made a public profession of the C Léonille Wife of the prefect Licinius, converted by the saint. hristian religion. This threw her husband into such a rage that he ordered her to be led with Saint Taurin into a frightful prison: she thus became a participant in the sufferings that this holy priest had the glory of enduring for Jesus Christ. One can still see today, near the parish church in the village of Gisay, the place where the Saint was scourged; but, as the great apostle Saint Paul, after having suffered the whip and prison, assures the Thessalonians that his entry among them was not without fruit, so one sees that the arrival of Saint Taurin in the land of Evreux produced a thousand blessings which were like the fruit of his torments. He resurrected the daughter of the man with whom he was staying, and, at the sight of this miracle, one hundred and twenty people converted and received holy Baptism. Having gone to a temple of Diana, he commanded the demon who resided in an idol to manifest himself, and immediately a mournful voice was heard by which he declared that his power had been bound since Taurin, the disciple of Jesus Christ, had arrived in the country: this was the cause of the conversion of two thousand infidels, and subsequently of twelve hundred others.

This holy confessor of the Christian name, going then from village to village and through all the market towns of the country, announced in every place the holy Gospel of Jesus Christ, tearing down idols and having small buildings constructed to house the poor and provide for their needs. He had a particular respect for the Blessed Virgin, and he had her honored everywhere; he established her as the special protectress and patroness of the region of Évreux, consecrating to God, under her invocation, the first church that was built there, and changing the false cult of Diana into that which was due to the Mother of God, as happened formerly in the city of Ephesus, when the first Apostles, preaching the Gospel there, destroyed the false cult that was rendered to this same divinity.

Finally, after this glorious Apostle had destroyed idols everywhere and established the worship of the true God upon their ruins, it pleased divine Providence to reward him. An angel announced to him the moment of his death. He therefore went that day to the church which was consecrated to the Blessed Virgin, whom he had chosen as his special protectress; he celebrated the divine Mysteries there; he exhorted the people there, and confirmed in the true faith those whom he had converted to Jesus Christ, assuring them of a special protection of divine Providence over them, if they remained in their good sentiments; he gave them his blessing, and all the people, melting into tears, thinking of the loss they were about to suffer, the holy bishop expired gently, to go and unite himself more closely than ever to Him for whose glory he had labored so much on earth. Several miraculous signs appeared at his precious death; and, as he had had a singular devotion toward the holy angels during his life, one saw at his passing a great number of these blessed spirits who sang praises in his honor and who consoled the people. It was also an angel who marked the place of his burial.

It is not without reason that the Roman Martyrology says that our Saint was illustrious for his miracles, since he performed an infinity of them, both during his life and after his death. During his life, one counts at least eight blind people to whom he restored sight, and several deaf and mute people to whom he restored hearing and speech; he even raised the dead, and almost none of those who were sick addressed him without receiving their healing. All these wonders, preceded by a perfectly exemplary holiness of life, were the powerful motives that engaged not only the people of Évreux, but also all the inhabitants of the surrounding countries, to embrace the faith of Jesus Christ; the prefect himself, Licinius, who had so persecuted the Saint, was so terrified by the greatness and the multitude of the miracles that were performed through the merits of our Saint, and so penetrated by the fear of the true God, whom Saint Taurinus adored, that he finally opened his eyes to the lights of grace and submitted to the laws of the Gospel. This great change of the prefect happened immediately after our holy bishop had resurrected his son, named Marinus, and one of his officers, named Pascal. All the miracles that our Saint had performed while he lived were renewed after his death.

Father Giry recounts two that occurred in his time. A lady named Anne Le Tac, having been afflicted for seven years with a troublesome paralysis that no remedy had been able to dispel, was finally perfectly healed in an instant, on the seventh day of a novena she had made with great confidence at the tomb of Saint Taurin. This miracle occurred on the 17th of the month of August in the year 1690; it is attested by several physicians. It was followed by the true and sincere conversion of this lady's husband, who, having been a Calvinist and having abjured his heresy only in appearance, had not until then believed in the intercession of the Saints; but, having fallen dangerously ill, and having used with a spirit of faith some linens that had touched the shrine of Saint Taurin, he found such prompt relief for his ailment in this new remedy that he renounced his former errors and gave glory to God for the healing he had just received through the merits and intercession of His holy servant. The other miracle occurred in the year 1691, on the 10th of the month of May, in the person of Jacques Vallée, ten years old, residing in the town of Damville, in the diocese of Évreux. This child was subject to epileptic seizures that seized him every day, and which were followed by paralysis and a striking of both legs, such that he could neither walk nor remain standing, and the physicians having judged this ailment incurable, the father of the sick boy made a novena at the tomb of Saint Taurin. On the ninth day, returning from Évreux, he was very surprised to see his son coming toward him in perfect health, having received his healing at the same hour that he had offered the sacrifice of the Mass for him, in honor of Saint Taurin. Since that time, the patient has never felt any recurrence of his terrible illness.

## CULT AND RELICS.

At the time of the Norman invasion in the 10th century, Gonthert, Bishop of Évreux, translated the body of Saint Taurin, assisted by a few pious monks from the Abbey of Saint-Taurin. After hiding a portion of the relics in the convent cemetery, they wrapped the head and other bones in a silk cloth and placed them in a portable reliquary. They then fled in great haste and did not stop until they reached Lezoux, in the arrondissement of Thiers (Puy-de-Dôme). They deposited the relics in the church dedicated to Saint Peter, where they performed a great number of miracles and attracted a prodigious gathering of people from the surrounding areas to that church. In 912, the converted Normans laid down their arms; it was then that the inhabitants of Évreux thought of regaining possession of the relics of Saint Taurin. They sent three young clerics to seize them secretly. After accomplishing their pious theft, they arrived safely at Gigny around the year 914 or 915, wher Giguy Final resting place of relics in Burgundy. e they were held for three days without being able to leave. The relics were transported to the abbey and placed on one of the altars, where they performed a great number of miracles. It is there that they are still exposed to the veneration of the faithful.

The misfortunes of the times forced them to be hidden more than once to protect them from pillage and profanation, for example in 1477, 1595, and 1635. In 1636, they were transported to the Château de Cressia, where they remained for ten years and were not returned to the priory until August 11, 1646, to be deposited momentarily in a vaulted cabinet of the priory house until the restoration of the church. Shortly before 1685, the religious of Gigny renewed the reliquary of Saint Taurin and splendidly restored his altar. In 1760, the monastery of Gigny was secularized and changed into a collegiate church. In 1788, the collegiate church itself was suppressed, and its goods were given to the Canonesses of Lons-le-Saunier and Bletterans. At the beginning of 1794, the silverware of the reliquary was removed, and the reliquary itself was relegated to the sacristy. On the night of the 23rd of Fructidor of the same year, the revolutionaries broke the reliquary, took the head and the bones, and planted them at the tree of liberty. However, they were largely saved and replaced in the reliquary after the dark days had passed. These precious remains include, among others, a lower jaw, a femur, a forearm bone, and a rib fragment enclosed in an iron tube hidden within a silver cross. In 1840, a new wooden reliquary, gilded and glazed, was crafted.

The cult of Saint Taurinus is as widespread as it is ancient in the Church. He is honored particularly in Normandy, Auvergne, Burgundy, Franche-Comté, Lorraine, and even outside of France, in Rome and Ireland, but especially in the churches enriched by his relics. The ancient missals and breviaries of Besançon do not mention Saint Taurinus, because Gigny was part of the diocese of Lyon until 1742. His office was introduced in 1761, under the semi-double rite, into the breviary of Besançon, on September 6. But at Gigny, this cult has always been flourishing, whether in the monastery or in the parish. The feast of Saint Taurinus was celebrated there on August 11 and September 5, the day of the second invention of his relics at Évreux, with all possible solemnity.

Évreux still possesses in part those relics of Saint Taurinus that remained at the abbey of this city, when the others were transported to Lezoux in the 9th century. They had been buried in the cemetery, from where they were not raised until after the pacification of the country, around the year 912. This translation took place on September 5, and it is on that day that it is celebrated at Évreux under the minor double rite. But the principal feast is solemnized on August 11, the day of the first invention of the relics of Saint Taurinus, in 600, by Saint Landu saint Landolphe Bishop of Évreux who discovered the relics in the year 600. lph, Bishop of Évreux. He is the primary patron of the city and the diocese.

The Churches of Rouen and Bayeux honor him likewise with a special cult. As for the other Churches that possessed some portions of his relics, it suffices to cite the cathedral of Chartres, where his cult was in great honor; the church of Saint-Pierre de Lezoux, where he has a special chapel and is venerated as the second patron of the parish. The abbey of Saint-Claude also possessed a finger of Saint Taurinus, and that of Cluny, a bone from his shoulder.

This life, as to the principal matters, is drawn from an ancient manuscript kept in the archives of the cathedral of Évreux, and from other ancient manuscripts preserved in the archives of the abbey of that place. We have also made use of the History of the life of Saint Taurin, composed b y Henri-Marie Boud Henri-Marie Boudon Archdeacon of Évreux and author of a life of the saint. on, archdeacon of Évreux, and of the Lives of the Saints of Franche-Comté.