Saint Marcellinus of Embrun

Marcellinus began by erecting an oratory near the city, and it was there that he prepared, with his companions, to carry out his pious design. God gave such strength to the words of these preachers that, as the number of the faithful grew each day, it became necessary to build a larger church. Eusebius of Vercelli was asked to come and consecrate it. This prelate, assisted by Aemilianus, Bishop of Valence, laid hands upon Marcellinus, despite his resistance, and established him as Bishop of Embrun. Finding himself thus confined within the boundaries of a diocese, and yet desiring to evangelize the surrounding lands, Marcellinus sent, for this purpose, Vincent and Domninus to the city of Digne.

He had received, following the promise of Jesus Christ made to his disciples, the virtue of miracles, in order to be able to confirm the doctrine he announced to the pagans.

As the Christmas feasts approached, a great number of catechumens were preparing to receive the grace of baptism; and as preparations were being made to fill the old baptistery where baptisms were still performed with water, the one that Marcellinus had built with the new church filled imperceptibly with living and clear waters. The miracle lasted seven days, after which the waters withdrew little by little as if to allow the miracle to be renewed each time it pleased God to manifest His power in this way. The sick who drank of this water were healed of their infirmities. The people, in admiration and the liveliest joy, burst forth in gratitude toward the Lord, who blessed both the works of Saint Marcellinus and the generous efforts of the city of Embrun, by accepting the edifice that had just been solemnly consecrated to His glory. But the joy knew no bounds when, on Holy Saturday of the same year, the prodigy was seen to break out again and likewise last for seven days. It was to be thus for more than five hundred years, that is to say, for as long as the monument remained standing. Saint Gregory of Tours and Saint Ado of Vienne at Saint Grégoire de Tours Bishop and historian who mentions the martyrdom of Antolian. test to this fact; and the latter adds that it was still being renewed in his time.

This miracle, joined to all those that Marcellin habitually performed on the sick, the infirm, and those possessed by the demon, caused the entire city of Embrun to embrace the Christian faith. There remained only one idolater of distinguished rank; here is how this obstinate man was converted:

One day, our Saint having invited several people to his table, the infidel was among the guests. During the meal, the pious bishop addressed a few kind words to him, and graciously told him that Christians were not accustomed to eating with Gentiles, and that, seeing him in their holy company, he believed he saw in this occurrence the happy omen of his imminent conversion. "Oh! How happy I would be," he added with touching kindness, "to see you follow the example of your brothers! Is it not astonishing that, learned and wise as you are, you remain the only one incredulous among your fellow citizens?" — "I have indeed heard tell," the man replied, "of various wonders attributed to you, but I have not been a witness to them; I have not seen you perform anything to this day that could make me forget the great Apollo."

At these last words, God permitted a crystal cup to slip from the hands of the cupbearer, fall to the ground, and shatter. "Order," the infidel said immediately, turning with an incredulous air toward the holy Prelate, "order this cup to return to its whole state." Marcellin, groaning within himself at this mocking challenge, beseeched God not to harden this soul, but to save it, and full of that confidence which commands heaven itself and to which it obeys, he made the sign of the cross, and immediately the shards of the broken vessel reunited. The pagan, singularly struck by this marvel, fell at the feet of the man of God and urgently requested baptism: it was a feast day; this favor was granted to him in the presence of a great multitude, giving thanks to God for such a striking conversion. The wonder-worker used the miraculous cup for the rest of his days.

His faith, his holiness, his self-denial, his devotion to others, and the wonders performed in a thousand encounters caused his name to be blessed and venerated throughout these regions.

Here is an incident which, better than any speech, will reveal the respectful attachment that the inhabitants of these rugged mountains bore for our Saint, while at the same time testifying to his gentleness and humility.

He was returning from a distant excursion, and he was walking, according to his custom, reciting psalms, when he saw, at some distance from Embrun, a fairly large crowd stopped on the public road. Not knowing what it was about, he quickened his pace and approached. From the cries he heard, he understood what was happening: travelers were heading to the city, one of their mounts, too tired or too heavily laden, had collapsed and could not be raised. The Saint arrived; he spoke to these strangers and exhorted them not to be discouraged, and above all not to utter blasphemies. But, irritated by this setback and driven by the devil, they flew into a rage against the Saint, and went so far as to place an overwhelming burden on his shoulders.

Marcellinus submitted to everything without letting the slightest complaint escape; he contented himself with saying to them: "If the Savior was willing to take upon himself the iniquities of us all, why should I not carry, for his love, the burden that you impose upon me?" Then, addressing God, he repeated with emotion this text from the Psalmist: "I am before you, O my God, like a beast of burden, yet I am still with you!". Upon entering the city, one of these wretches, before having taken back the load, had the insolence to mock the Saint's humility. The people, drawn by the singularity of the spectacle, gathered and recognized their bishop. Immediately, they surrounded the rude and inhumane strangers; everyone armed themselves with stones, wanting absolutely to exterminate them. But God himself took charge of glorifying his outraged minister: a whirlwind of fire suddenly enveloped the most furious of this impious troop, and made him experience inconceivable pains. Terrified, desperate, he let out lamentable cries, he threw himself at the feet of the Prelate, giving it to be understood that he awaited from him his deliverance and his pardon. The fire, in fact, did not leave him until the man of God, freed from the heavy burden, had prayed for the life of the culprit. Touched by such great clemency, these men offered him gifts and urged him strongly to accept them, but he would never consent to it, and after having appeased his people, he conjured them to withdraw in peace.

Shortly after, Marcellinus learned that a new church had just been built in S eynes, Seynes Small town where Marcellinus consecrated a church. a small town sixteen miles or seven common leagues from Embrun.

Evangelized for several years, Seynes had not only persevered in the true faith but had seen neighboring populations follow its noble example and receive baptism; it had requested permission to build a church, and once the edifice was completed, it had invited the holy Pontiff to come and perform its solemn consecration.

He departed from Embrun, accompanied by a crowd of the faithful. The pious gathering grew along the route: but upon arriving at the Ubaye river, whi ch descends fro rivière d'Ubaye River miraculously crossed by Marcellinus. m the Barcelonnette valley, he found it so swollen by the abundance of rain and the melting snow that everyone lost heart and judged it impossible to go any further. Marcellinus then addressed this sad and disconcerted multitude; he exhorted them to place their hope in God and cried out: "Confidence, my children, the Lord will give us the means to accomplish this pilgrimage; everything is possible to him who believes." He began to pray, made the sign of the cross, and the waters, miraculously pushed back upon themselves, allowed Marcellinus and his retinue to cross the riverbed on dry ground. It has since been called by the name of the sanctified torrent.

This striking prodigy, attested to by a considerable number of eyewitnesses, caused a great stir throughout the province and confirmed these new Christians in the faith.

These consolations that the holy Prelate was able to enjoy in the midst of his people, docile to the voice of grace, were painfully troubled by the violent struggles into which Ar ianism pu arianisme Heresy opposed by Columbanus in Italy among the Lombards. shed the East, Italy, the Gauls, and even the Alps: struggles of faith against error, sacred combats that also had their victims or rather their martyrs.

On the occasion of the various councils that were held in these sad circumstances, Marcellinus took a step that bears witness to his zeal and his prudence, and which brought much honor to his Church. He sent affiliated couriers to the defenders of the faith, who were in Vienne, Arles, Béziers, and other parts of Gaul, to warn them against any surprise. This message was sent in the name of the church of Embrun. Despite the wise reserve with which the pontiff had acted, it appears that the emperor became aware of this step and wanted to punish him for it, for one day when the holy Confessor, suspecting nothing, was occupied in the public square with a work of zeal, the emperor's emissaries appeared to arrest him. One of them recognized him, and raising his arm, he was about to strike him in the face with a whip he held in his hand, when an invisible force struck him down before he had completed his attack. The culprit rolled in the dust, writhed, and gnashed his teeth. His companions, witnesses to his strange torment and seized with the greatest terror, recognized the hand of God striking them. They did not dare to approach the holy Bishop to implore his clemency and his all-powerful intercession in favor of their unfortunate companion; but Marcellinus, with his habitual kindness, anticipated their request. He came out of the house where he had already retired, and he advanced toward the victim lying on the ground. At the approach of the holy Pontiff, the spirit of darkness cried out, through the mouth of the unfortunate possessed man: "O Marcellinus, is it not enough that you have driven us from the shores of Africa? Must you also come to disturb our rest in the Gauls?" The Saint, at that instant, imposed silence upon him; then invoking the help of the God whose minister he is and addressing the demon: — "Impure spirit," he said to him, "I command you in the name of Jesus Christ, come out and depart forever from this man whom God has deigned to create in His image." At this order, the defeated demon withdrew from the possessed man, who, regaining the use of his senses, opened his eyes to the light, wept for his crime, received baptism along with several others, and accepted with thanksgiving the sweet and amiable yoke of the Savior.

Another day, Arians seized Saint Marcellinus, and leading him to the edge of the rock upon which the city of Embrun is built, they summoned him to subscribe to the emperor's orders, threatening him, in case of refusal, to throw him from this high place. The crime followed closely upon the threat; but the angels of God undoubtedly supported the holy Confessor in his fall, for tradition, still alive today in Embrun, affirms that he rose without having experienced the slightest injury.

However, the storm, instead of diminishing in violence, continued to grow. The emperor had sent a form throughout Gaul, and given severe orders to the magistrates in all the cities to make all the bishops subscribe. The bearers of this form were accompanied by Arian clerics who reported to the emperor the magistrates who were negligent in executing these prescriptions. Thus, by a strange reversal that could only be the work of error, laymen became the judges of the faith. The bishops appeared before profane tribunals to account for their belief, and there, they were told: Subscribe or leave your Churches; the Emperor orders it. Upon the resistance of the bishops, they were stripped of their goods, and they were imprisoned. Laymen who took their defense were also mistreated, and, as in losing the faith one usually loses all modesty, they did not blush to publicly flog the Christian virgins inviolably attached to the faith of Nicaea.

It was under these unfortunate circumstances that, at the urgent insistence of his clergy who feared seeing him exiled or put to death from one day to the next, Saint Marcellinus, already exhausted by his labors, withdrew into the mountain gorges located to the east of Embrun; he returned only stealthily and by night to the vicinity of his episcopal city to transmit his orders and to exercise in the shadows the august functions of the holy ministry. How this separation must have grieved the heart of the Pontiff and the heart of his faithful people! Today, the inhabitants of Crévoux still show the rock under which the new Elijah once sheltered and spent the nights, exposed to the attacks of wild beasts, which were less to be feared for him than those of the furious Arians.

Finally, Constantius died in the arms of heresy on November 3 of the year 361, after a reign of t wenty-five years Julien l'Apostat Roman emperor and persecutor of Christians. . Julian the Apostate, his most cruel enemy, became his successor. This philosopher prince, who later declared himself the enemy of Jesus Christ, initially tolerated the Christian faith, without distinction of communion. All the banished bishops and priests were recalled and reinstated in their Churches. Our holy Prelate, a model of prudent, zealous, and faithful pastors, was able to return to Embrun and there receive with emotion the homage of his clergy and all his people.

Saint Marcellin died filled with merits, after having illuminated the greater part of the Maritime Alps with the light of faith (April 13, 374). His miracles did not end with his life. The city of Embrun having had recourse to this holy Patron when enemy troops were besieging it, the holy Pontiff was immediately seen in the sky, with a blazing cross that he opposed to the enemies, who took flight. In times of plague, an ecclesiastic of Embrun was healed by anointings made with the oil that flowed miraculously from the sepulcher of Sai huile qui coulait miraculeusement du sépulcre Oil flowing from the saint's tomb, used for healings. nt Marcellin. At this news, the whole city implored the Saint, and was delivered from the scourge. "At the sepulcher of this Saint," says Gregory of Tours, "burns a lamp which, once lit, lasts for several nights in a row without being refilled: if the wind extinguishes it, it relights itself. The oil of this lamp is a remedy for the sick."