Saint Epipodius

The fire of persecution having been kindled, they decided to go into hiding, in order to follow the counsel of the Gospel. They therefore left Lyon secretly and withdrew to the village of Pierre-Scize Pierre-Scize Place of refuge for saints near Lyon. , where a Christian widow offered them her house; they lived there for some time unknown, thanks to the loyalty kept by their holy hostess and the inconspicuous nature of their refuge: but they could not escape the searches of the pagans, and they were discovered in the end. Epipodius, trying to escape, lost one of his shoes, which the Christian widow found and kept as a rich treasure. Scarcely had they been arrested when they were put in prison, even before having been interrogated, although this formality was prescribed by Roman laws.

Three days later, they were led, with their hands tied behind their backs, before the governor's tribunal. They had barely confessed that they were Christians when the people cried out in indignation against them. The magistrate, transported with fury, exclaimed: "What use have all the tortures we have employed been, if there are still men bold enough to follow the doctrine of Christ?" He then separated the two Saints, to prevent them from encouraging one another, even by signs. He took Epipodius aside, whom he believed to be the weakest because he appeared to be the youngest, and tried to seduce him with affected kindness, beautiful promises, and the lure of pleasure; but the Saint answered him generously: "Know that I will never let myself be surprised by your cruel compassion... Your pleasures have nothing that touches me. You are apparently unaware that man is composed of two substances, a body and a soul. With us, the soul commands and the body obeys. The shameful pleasures to which you abandon yourselves in honor of your supposed gods flatter the body pleasantly; but they bring death to the soul. We therefore wage war on the body, in order to subject it to the soul... As for you, after having lowered yourselves to the condition of brutes, you will find a terrible death in the end. It is not so with us: when we perish by your orders, we enter into possession of an eternal life." The judge, irritated by the nobility of this response, had the mouth that had spoken it struck rudely. The Martyr, whose teeth were all bloody, continued to speak thus: "I confess that Jesus Christ is one God with the Father and the Holy Spirit. It is just that I return to Him a soul that He has created and redeemed. I shall not lose my life, I shall only change it for a happier one."

At these words, the judge had him raised on the rack. His sides were torn with iron claws. The people became furious upon seeing the constancy and tranquility with which Epipodius suffered; they demanded that he be abandoned to them to be torn to pieces; they found the cruelty of the executioners too slow for their liking. The judge, fearing an open sedition, had the Martyr taken away and ordered that his head be cut off, which was promptly executed.

Two days later, the judge had Alexander brought before him. He tried to frighten him with the account of the torments of Epipodius and the other Christians; but he was deceived in his hope. The Martyr replied that all this did not terrify him in the least, and that, by reminding him of the memories of what the Martyrs had suffered, one had only encouraged him to walk in their footsteps and above all to follow the example of his dear Epipodius. The judge, transported with fury, ordered that his legs be held apart and that three executioners strike him in succession. This torture lasted a long time, without the Martyr uttering a single sigh; and as he was asked if he still persisted in his first confession, he replied: "Ah! How could I not persist in it? The idols of the pagans are but demons; but the God whom I adore, and who is all-powerful and eternal, will give me the strength to confess Him until the end; He will be the guardian of my faith and of my holy resolutions." The judge, despairing of overcoming him, and wishing to deprive him of the glory of a longer constancy, condemned him to be crucified. No sooner had the instrument of his torture been prepared than the executioners attached him to it. A moment later, he expired while invoking the holy name of Jesus.

The Christians secretly removed the bodies of the two martyrs and buried them on a hill near the city. This place became famous for the piety of the faithful and for a great number of miracles. A young man of quality, having been attacked by a contagious disease that was ravaging the city of Lyon, was healed with holy water by the Christian widow who was the custodian of Saint Epipodius's shoe; several other people received, by similar means, not only bodily health but even the light of the Gospel. The possessed were delivered from the demon before the tomb of the holy martyrs; in a word, such great things happened there that incredulity was forced to yield to the evidence of the facts.

Everything we have said so far is found in the acts of the holy martyrs, whose author lived in the fourth century and had been an eyewitness to several of the miracles he reports.

This tomb, which was outside the city, was enclosed within its walls when Saint Eucherius, Bishop of Lyon, wrote the panegyric of the holy martyrs in the fifth century. It is said therein that the dust from their tomb was taken away to heal the sick and that it was found throughout the country. The virtue of this dust is also attested by Saint Gregory of Tours.

## CULT AND RELICS; — THE VENERABLE LUCY, WIDOW.

As for the Christian widow who sheltered the two friends in her modest home, we are devoid of information regarding her; her figure remains veiled to our eyes. Lucy is know Lucie Christian widow who sheltered saints at Pierre-Scize. n to us only by the fact noted in the Acts of Saints Epipodius and Alexander. She is described therein as a religious and faithful widow. This qualification would suggest that she belonged to the body of deaconesses formed by the blessed Pothinus. Be that as it may, bienheureux Pothin First bishop of Lyon and predecessor of Irenaeus. to reward her, the Lord permitted that the shoe of Epipodius should become, in her hands, the instrument of numerous miracles. Did Lucy pay with her head for the generous hospitality she gave to the two holy Martyrs, or did she, after a life full of merits, fall peacefully asleep in the death of the just? We do not know. The charitable widow was buried in one of the suburbs of the city, likely that of Pierre-Scize.

After her death, God was pleased to manifest her holiness through striking wonders. It is undoubtedly on this foundation that an author gives her the title of Saint. However, the Church of Lyon has never rendered her a public cult; the name of Lucy does not appear anywhere in the Lyonnais liturgy. She is mentioned neither in the martyrology of Ado, nor in the additions of Florus to that of Bede; nor has she found a place in the catalogue of the Saints of Lyon, by Father Théophile Raynaud.

It would not be without interest to know where the cave was located in which the bodies of Saint Epipodius and Saint Alexander were hidden. Unfortunately, the indications given by their Acts are of no use, after the successive upheavals that have changed the appearance of the terrain. Where can one recognize the depression in the ground mentioned in these Acts? Where can one find this cave surrounded by a curtain of trees, hidden from view by a thicket of brambles and shrubs?

All that can be said is that this cave, converted into a martyrium, soon became the center of the cult dedicated to Saints Epipodius and Alexander; that many miracles were performed there by the Lord to glorify these two Martyrs and reward the faith of the believers. Their mortal remains probably remained in this place until the definitive triumph of Christianity. At that time, they must have been exhumed and solemnly transported to the crypt of Saint-John-the-Evangelist. This oratory, later placed under the patronage of Saint Irenaeus, had been consecrated by the blessed Pot hinus. What saint Irénée Successor of Pothinus and presumed author of the Letter. is not in doubt is that Saint Irenaeus having been immolated for Jesus Christ, his body was deposited there; and that, in the 7th century, the relics of Saint Epipodius and Saint Alexander rested there to the right and left of those of the second bishop of Lyon.

These three bodies, the treasure of the church that sheltered them, long attracted the pious gathering of the faithful. Subsequently, the invasions of the barbarians, the wars into which the city of Lyon was drawn, its internal struggles, and above all the weakening of faith, all these causes combined led to the forgetting of Epipodius and Alexander, and the loss of sight of their bones. Hence the lively contest that arose, at the beginning of the 15th century, between the canons of Saint-Irénée and those of Saint-Just. Both sides claimed to possess in their church the bodies of the two holy friends, along with that of Saint Irenaeus. Cardinal Pierre de Turcy, legate of the Holy See, was commissioned by Alexand er V to exa Alexandre V Pope who ordered the examination of the dispute over relics in the 15th century. mine this matter and to rule on the rival claims. After examining the titles and inspecting the relics, the cardinal recognized the right of the canons of Saint-Irénée and found in their favor. Notwithstanding this decision, the canons of Saint-Just did not consider themselves defeated. The case was brought successively before the seneschal of the Lyonnais and before the parliament of Paris. Finally, it was ended by a decision of John, Patriarch of Constantinople, legate a latere of the Holy See, rendered on August 12, 1413; this prelate declared that the three bodies in dispute were located in the church of Saint-Irénée.

The bodies of Saints Epipodius and Alexander remained in the crypt of Saint-Irénée until the capture of Lyon by the Calvinists in 1562. At that disastrous time, the tombs of the two Martyrs were violated, and their precious remains thrown into the fire. Amidst the disorder, the Catholics were able to save some bones of Saint Epipodius, and the left hand of Saint Alexander. Unfortunately, the relics of Saint Epipodius, snatched from the flames lit by the Huguenots, disappeared during the Terror.

As for the hand of Saint Alexander, it was preserved for us in a manner that deserves to be known. Here is what we read in a pamphlet by M. Meynis: "After the siege of our city, on a Sunday, November 10, 1793, the schismatic clergy having been driven from all the churches they served, section commissioners installed themselves in that of Saint-Just, and the devastation began. They laid hands on everything that might have any value: it was then, in particular, that the jasper cross, the chalice, and the golden rose, given to the canons by Innocent IV, disappeared. The relics were, in part, thrown into the fire and, in part, trampled underfoot or abandoned in the cemetery that was attached to the church; the head of Saint Justus was among the latter.

Now, on August 1, 1819, M. Antoine Caille, former per petual priest of M. Antoine Caille A priest from Lyon who recovered and had the hand of Saint Alexander authenticated in 1819. the collegiate church of Saint-Just, then honorary canon of the metropolitan church, saw two women come to him, one of whom, with a blush on her forehead, told him that, "after having participated in the looting of the church during the Terror, her husband, returning to his house, pulled a hand from his pocket which he handed to her, saying: 'Take and hide this quickly.'" This man, known for his misdeeds, having subsequently perished in a civil reaction, the relic had remained hidden for nearly twenty-six years, when a friend of the woman in question, having seen it, insisted strongly that it should not remain buried any longer.

M. Caille, having thus received the relic brought to him, summoned the priests of the old clergy of Saint-Just who were still living; they were five in number. All, after an attentive examination, recognized that it was the hand of Saint Alexander, which they had formerly venerated, namely: "the left hand of the holy Martyr, attached to the fragments of the bones of the forearm, one longer than the other, and which had been thrown into the fire by the Calvinists." A report was drawn up, in which the various depositions were recorded and signed by those who had made them. This document was then submitted to the diocesan authority, which sanctioned it and permitted the relic to be exposed for the veneration of the faithful. The feast of Saint Alexander was fixed from then on, for the parish of Saint-Just, on the second Sunday after Easter, the day on which it is celebrated under the minor solemn rite.

The hand of Saint Alexander is seen today in a vermeil reliquary, oblong, square in shape, and flanked by twisted columns. All around it runs the legend: S. Alexander, martyr Lugdunensis, amicus S. Epipodii. It is a gift from Canon Antoine Caille.

See the Sincere Acts of the Martyrs, by Dom Ruinart, and the Origins of the Church of Lyon, by Father Gaultier, S.J.