Saints Felix, Fortunatus and Achilleus

Having reached this degree of holiness, the three apostles still sought a more perfect way. Not far from Valence, towards the east, from where the voice of God had called them, they chose for themselves a small cottage, with which they hoped to purchase the palace of heaven; this was the poor retreat of these men eager for humility, but whose hearts were at the same time filled with the most sublime devotion. There, having as weapons the singing of the Psalms, which they repeated without ceasing, as defense the fatigues of vigils, as food the long privations of fasts, but above all strengthened by the power of the Lord, they drew to the grace of baptism the multitude of the Gentiles, upon whom they exercised a holy violence through their exhortations and their faith.

They had been living this way for some time, when the blessed Felix, while granting a little rest to his limbs tired by long vigils, had a vision that showed him in advance what heaven held in store for him and his brothers. He recounted it to them in these terms: "I saw a place all brilliant with the splendor of the stars; a thousand varied flowers of ineffable beauty were blooming there; the air was perfumed with the most exquisite scents; one could even see royal dwellings all sparkling with gold and precious stones. Under these dwellings, five lambs whiter than snow were grazing on the white lilies, whose rich saffron color enhanced their brilliance; a delicious pasture that invited them and redoubled their joy. I admired, with feelings of both fear and happiness, the grandeur of this place and the heavenly virtue that adorned it, when I heard a divine voice: Courage, it said, servants whose faith has been tested by sacrifice; disciples of my servant Irenaeus, you have made the talent entrusted to you bear fruit a hundredfold; enter into the joy of your Master; He wishes you to enjoy, in the company of your brothers, the delights of eternal happiness." At this charming account, Fortunatus and Achilleus, suddenly inflamed by the Holy Spirit, cried out: "Glory be to you, O God, whose hands fashioned the heavens and created the world, you promise to all the ineffable gifts of your goodness; but today, despite our unworthiness and our miseries, you show us, through your servant Felix, the secrets of your heavenly treasures; your voice inflames us; these great rewards that you place before our eyes strengthen us. Grant us, against the attacks of the cruel enemy who threatens us, the help of your protection, so that we may despise the darts of his fury, and deserve, with the support of your arm which will triumph for us, to attain the crown of a glorious martyrdom; for it is you who give man the courage to undertake to conquer in the battles of religion, and yet you reward, as his own work, the struggles he has sustained."

As they finished this prayer, a brother arrived with letters from Saint Ferreolus and Saint Ferrutio, whom the blessed Bishop Irenaeus, of whom we have spoken, had sent to the city of Besançon to found a churc saint Ferréol Brother of Tarcisius and Bishop of Uzès. h there . This letter w saint Ferrution Missionary sent to Besançon by Saint Irenaeus. as worded as follows: "To our most pious masters and brothers in Jesus Christ, Felix, Fort unatus, Besançon Episcopal see restored by Saint Nicet. and Achilleus; Ferreolus and Ferrutio, greetings in the Lord: The moderator of the ages, the redeemer of our souls, He whose abundant generosity rewards His confessors, has deigned to manifest to me, His servant, the secrets of His counsels, in a vision that I hasten to make known to your holy fraternity. After the holy vigils of the night, I was resting my tired limbs in sleep, when I saw the vault of the heavens open; angels were carrying the standard of the cross, and others behind them held in their hands five crowns, all brilliant with gold and precious stones. At the same time, I heard a voice that seized me with sudden fear, and yet left me with a sweet joy, through the promises it allowed me to aspire to: "Disciples of Irenaeus," it said, "who have received with generous devotion the mission that your master entrusted to you, receive as a reward the kingdom of heavenly glory that I have promised you." Therefore, most holy brothers, I believed that the miracle of this vision called you to the triumph of martyrdom. And because the most courageous soul must always prepare itself, even when it expects, from divine help, the success of a more terrible combat, let us strengthen one another with holy exhortations, so that on the day of trials, when the persecution that threatens us rages, our faith may be ready to face the tortures, if we wish to enjoy the triumphs of victory."

To this letter, Saint Felix replied by sharing with the blessed Ferreolus and Ferrutio the vision that he himself had had, and which he had already faithfully recounted to his brothers Fortunatus and Achilleus.

The saints then, inflamed by the rewards that heaven manifested to them, prepared themselves to conquer the trophies of such a glorious triumph through the uninterrupted singing of psalms and hymns. It was during the reign of the Emperor Aurelius Caracalla; the persecution was raging with fury. Cornelius, an officer of the Cornélius, officier de l'armée Actor from Damascus whose charity equals the holiness of Theodulus. army, was sent to Valence. Proud of the extent of his power and terrible in the pretensions of his pride, he was advancing surrounded by the crowd of the people when he heard the saints Felix, Fortunat, and Achilleus repeating their customary prayer in their chants. The sweetness of their voices charmed all who heard them. One would have said that the choirs of angels had united with them, and that celestial instruments accompanied them with a delicious harmony. Now, the passage of the psalm they were singing was this: "Let all the earth adore you, O God, and sing to you; let it sing a psalm to your name; you are the Most High: alleluia." At these words, Cornelius was seized with astonishment and stupor. In the transports of his blind anger, he cried out: "What is this strange sound that has struck my ears? After the rigorous, but praiseworthy, massacre of the inhabitants of Lyon by the Emperor Severus, do there still remain in these places some traces of these Christians who cast a sacrilegious contempt upon our gods, and trample underfoot the decrees of our princes?" The soldiers who marched before him replied: "There are here three men, brazen and skillful seducers; by the training of their continuous preachings, they have brought almost a third of the city to the worship of Christ; and by the help of a sacrilegious power, they have overturned the temples of our gods, which our ancestors had raised with magnificence, and which the holiness of our ceremonies had consecrated."

Cornelius immediately, possessed by a diabolical rage, ordered that the three Saints be locked within the high walls of the prison. When he returned some time later, the guards presented to him their prisoners, to whom he addressed this speech: "You are not at all frightened by the example of those who placed their glory in the superstitions of the Christian religion, and who dared to worship as God a man, as everyone knows, born of a Jewish family, pursued by the just indignation of his fellow citizens, scourged and attached to a gallows, and who, after having died a victim of this infamous condemnation, was buried according to the common condition of men. And you still disdain, by your sacrilegious practices, the august power of our gods; you despise with criminal audacity the decrees of our invincible princes; and this people, until now attached to the ancient ceremonies of our temples, you are leading to its ruin by the seductions of a new error."

Felix, strong in the power of the name he was about to confess, replied with a lively and generous faith: "Souls delivered to an impious doctrine, and for that reason reserved for a frightful damnation, are buried in the darkness of a profound ignorance, because they do not want to receive the treasures of the celestial mysteries, and they do not even have as light a ray of the strange truth. It is therefore to the splendors of the faith that souls must be enlightened, rather than seeking material light; for it must be understood that these false gods whose praises you exalt with such assurance cannot be called gods, since they are, as is known, the works of your hands. Tell me what help, what remedy they will be able to grant to the supplications of those to whom you cannot deny that they owe their origin? If those who gave them being succumb under the incessant blows of death, how will they themselves find eternity in their borrowed divinity? God, in effect, is the all-powerful Being who gave existence to the past, directs the present, and disposes of the future. After having created man in his image and likeness, he gave him the law to serve him. That is why it is unworthy that a creature, making itself the slave of another creature, should ignore its author. If you receive with faith this God whom I announce to you, ceasing to honor gods to whom you owe only contempt, then you will be able to easily merit the rewards of eternal life, and attain the ineffable joys of the celestial dwelling."

But Cornelius, obstinate in his damnation, said to the blessed martyrs: "It would be more salutary for you to follow the advice that I give you; you will receive from my liberality gold and silver, at the same time that you will ensure your salvation, rather than defiling yourselves by a frightful crime that will bring upon you death in horrible torments. Do not expose your bodies to the shame of a vulgar burial." Felix, Fortunat, and Achilleus replied: "Those who by a damnable treason deny the power of Christ will perish as victims of eternal death. As for us, the promises of your overly credulous generosity do not tempt us, and the threats of your long tortures could not frighten us; for God always gives his servants the courage of faith before the tribunals, strength in combat, and victory in the consumption of the sacrifice. It is more glorious to obtain an eternal life than to succumb through a fatal credulity to the errors of a diabolical seduction; and whoever, in the middle of a well-begun navigation, abandons the rudder, has deserved to be shipwrecked and to break against the rocks."

Cornelius, inflamed with anger, ordered the lictors to subject them to a harsh flagellation, with blows of ox-hide whips. But the martyrs, happy in the midst of these torments, sang the prayer of the Prophet: "Let the proud be confounded, because they have directed the works of iniquity against us; as for us, we will be tested in the practice of your commandments." Cornelius said to them: "Behold, our gods, whose power you have refused to worship with sacrilegious contempt, are preparing against you the torments of their just vengeance. Where is your Christ now? His strength has not helped you in suffering, and his powerful arm has not snatched you from our hands." Felix replied: "If the blindness of a mortal error were not like a veil upon your soul, you would see that our bodies do not even bear the trace of the whips with which you believe them torn." Cornelius, astonished and confounded by this divine virtue that assisted the martyrs, said to them: "Since, despite the torment of a long flagellation, you continue to insult our invincible gods, you are going to be locked in a dark dungeon, while waiting for me to find, to satisfy their vengeance, a more cruel kind of death."

The blessed martyrs were thus cast into the darkness of a gloomy prison, and there, as always, they nourished their courage with the singing of divine canticles, when towards the middle of the night an angel descended to them, to the great terror of their guards; he broke the heavy bars that closed the doors, and by the celestial brilliance of a vivid light, dispelling the frightful darkness of those places, he said to the holy martyrs: "Go now, faithful confessors of God; you have for defense not the helmet or the shield of a fleshly arm, but confidence in the divine virtue which clothes you as with armor. Destroy then promptly, overturn and break, by the energy and sincerity of your faith, these mute simulacra that an art of perdition has fashioned." Immediately, full of a generous ardor, they hasten to accomplish the precepts of heaven; they leave the prison, traverse the city, and, opening the doors of the temples, they reduce to dust, with hammer blows, the statue of Jupiter, formed of a rich and brilliant amber, and break likewise the idols of Mercury and of Saturn.

At this news, the fury of Cornelius knew no bounds; he gave the order to arrest these soldiers of Christ again and to exhaust upon them every kind of torment. When they had been brought before him, he spoke to them in these terms: "Tell me, what is the power of your Christ, that you have placed in him such blind faith, to the point of daring to break our gods?" The martyrs of God all answered with one voice: "Although you are unworthy to hear the mystery of the divinity, nevertheless, because of the faithful people who await with respect the preaching of God, we will speak to you of Christ, who is the Truth. Christ is the Son of God, the virtue of God, the wisdom of God; by him all things were made, and nothing was made without him. And the loss of one of his sheep afflicted him; he sought it in the deserts, and, when he had found it, he took it upon his shoulders and carried it back to the flock; and full of joy he said to his friends and neighbors: 'Congratulate me, because I have found the sheep that I had lost'. You too, if you wish to believe in him, will learn to know his power. It is so great that he recalled to life Lazarus, whose body for four days had been given over to the corruption of the tomb; he walked upon the waters with dry feet; with five loaves and two fish he fed five thousand men, and sent them away satisfied with the immortal food that he gave them at the same time; at his word, which commands with calm and serenity, the winds and the furious storms were chained. It is therefore with justice that one adores the author of these admirable wonders; he restored hearing to ears that damnation closed like a thick wall; to eyes veiled by the clouds of hardening, he likewise restored the enjoyment of a new light; by the help of his divine mercy, he straightened the steps that weakness had led astray; he brought back to life with all the brilliance of their first youth bodies invaded by leprosy, and which this hideous disease covered as with putrid scales. This is he in whom we believe as the only God, with a faith such as his divinity and majesty demand; we love him with all the affections of our heart, with all the strength of our body, and we tremble before his power, which the greatest miracles attest."

Cornelius, defeated by this invincible chain of truth, became only the more furious. He ordered that after having tied their hands behind their backs, they should have their legs and loins broken, and that they should be attached to the circles of wheels, forcing them in this position to breathe, in the midst of torrents of bitter smoke; finally, that they should be left for a day and a night stretched on the rack. The lictors, excited themselves by their blind cruelty, mingled insults with torments, and said to them: "Those who have the reckless audacity to break the gods deserve to lose their criminal lives in such tortures. If, however, this Christ is God, as you say, by exalting his name with such pride, let his power deliver you, let him tear you from the torments, let him break your bonds."

The next day, Cornelius had them untied from their chains, and, leaving them a moment of respite, he said to them: "Sacrifice to the gods that you have audaciously profaned by breaking them; perhaps you will obtain from their indulgence the recovery of your first strength, with the help of physicians." But the Saints answered: "If there were anything in these gods, they would have given themselves the help they needed to defend themselves; and one could have believed them to be of great virtue to heal men, if one had seen them save themselves from death. That is why we prefer to die confessing the faith of our God, and to buy at this price the rewards of eternal life, rather than to enslave ourselves to the damnable ceremonies of your worship."

The moment to end a glorious combat with a noble triumph had therefore arrived for them. Cornelius ordered that their heads be cut off with a sword: and the executioners, obeying the orders of the governor, led them out of the city. The Saints continued, however, to teach the multitude that surrounded them; but, arrived at the place of prayer that they had built for themselves formerly, and that the sacrilegious fury of their persecutors had destroyed, they consumed their martyrdom and merited the prize of their victory. In the middle of the night, the faith and zeal of the Christians gave to their burial the brilliance that so many virtues demanded; and God, as a testimony of the rewards he has already granted them, multiplies miracles at their tomb every day. May we ourselves obtain there, by our prayers and our tears, that they may draw upon our city the help from above, that they may assist and strengthen all the unfortunate who have need of mercy, and break the chains of the numerous sins of the people, in the name of Our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom is the honor, the power and the virtue, with the Father and the Holy Spirit, in the perfect Trinity, for ever and ever. Amen.

## RELICS AND CULT. Following a tradition confirmed by authentic documents—some of which date back to the 19th century and are found in the archives of the Drôme prefecture—the first temple erected in Valence to the God of the Christians was an oratory built outside the city walls, on the very site where Saint Felix and his two companions had been martyred. Subsequently, a monastery was built around the church, which served as a cathedral for a long time. This monastery was maintained until the 19th century, a time of sinister memory, when Gaul became the prey of the Normans and the Saracens. Valence having been sacked several times, the abbey of Saint-Félix was ruined from top to bottom. Taking refuge in the city, the monks founded a monastery there not far from the first, and on the street that still bears the name of Saint-Félix today. But the prosperity of the monastery was over: the misfortunes of the times, instead of strengthening the union among the brothers, brought division among them. The abbot separated from his monks to join the canons of the cathedral: from this comes the fact that the title of Abbot of Saint-Félix was held by one of them until the Revolution. From then on, the monastery ceased to bear the name of abbey to take that of a simple priory. In the 14th century, this priory was incorporated into the abbey of Saint-Ruf. (Bull of Urban V, October 28, 1363). From that time on, the priory of Saint-Félix, so venerable for its antiquity and for this reason always dear to the inhabitants of Valence, occupied the first rank among those that depended on the abbey of Saint-Ruf: the reform produced precious fruits there. This flourishing state lasted until 1562, when all the churches and religious houses were delivered to the flames by the tolerant Huguenots. Rebuilt with great difficulty, the monastery of Saint-Félix was no longer inhabited in 1778 except by one canon: it then passed into the hands of the nuns of Saint-Vincent de Paul, who still inhabit it today. Several translations of the holy relics of the Apostles of Valence have taken place. The first occurred when the monastery of Saint-Félix—having become a priory from an abbey—was stripped of them to enrich the cathedral. The church of Valence formerly celebrated their anniversary on January 31. This precious deposit remained intact until 1372. At that time, the famous Geoffroy de Beaucicaut, governor of the Dauphiné, obtained the greater part of them, which he had transferred to Arles in t he ch Arles Ecclesiastical metropolis of the province to which Constantine belonged. urch of the Trinitarian monks. A crowd of miraculous healings were performed through the intercession of the glorious martyrs in Arles, whose church still celebrates the feast today. However, the city of Valence having had the pain of losing what remained of this rich treasure through the sacrilegious impiety of the Huguenots, the Archbishop of Arles, Adéimar de Grignan, retroceded some fragments that were sent to Valence in 1697 and placed in the oratory of the Hospitaller nuns of the Most Holy Trinity, where they are still preciously preserved today. Finally, in 1787, the nuns of Saint-Vincent de Paul obtained in their turn a portion of what remained in Arles. The faithful venerate these precious remains every day in their modest church.

The Acts of Saints Felix, Fortunatus, and Achilleus are among those rejected by the criticism of Baillet, Tillemont, Dom Rivet, and other Jansenists: it will suffice for us to say, to show their authority, that the learned Father Papebroch admitted them, even though he had himself sacrificed a little to the tendencies of criticism, and that the Congregation of Rites, at the time when the diocese of Valence was returning to the Roman liturgy, carefully examined, approved, and praised the lessons of the office composed for the feast of these three holy Martyrs; lessons extracted literally from the Acts as they are found in the Bollandists and as we reproduce them.

Pierre de Saint-Julien, in his Antiquités de l'église de Mâcon, says he read in an ancient manuscript that belonged to the canons of Saint Irenaeus of Lyon, that Saint Paul, going to Spain, left Rufus, son of Simon the Cyrenian, in Valence. Father Colombi found this legend very plausible, seeing that the Apostle, after having given Saint Crescent to Vienne, could wel l have en saint Ruf Disciple of Saint Paul, considered by legend to be the first apostle of Valence. trusted the mission of Valence to Saint Rufus, just as he later entrusted that of Arles to Saint Trophimus. But this is only a probability: no monument of the apostolate of Saint Rufus remains to us today. It is good, however, to add that according to the formal testimony of Saint Irenaeus, religion was known in the cities along the Rhône before he sent Saint Felix to Valence. Saint Irenaeus does not say who was the Apostle who first preached the Gospel in that city: the legend names Saint Rufus and makes him a disciple of Saint Paul: until proven otherwise, one can stick to the legend. This way of seeing things takes nothing away from the glory of Saints Felix, Fortunatus, and Achilleus, whom Valence regards as its apostles and honors as its principal patrons; for the apostolate of Saint Rufus having left no traces, his work having probably perished after him, it is quite natural that the veneration of the Christians of Valence should have turned to those who came, if not to found, at least to revive and establish religion forever within their walls. Saint Rufus is not, however, without having left traces in Valence, since there was formerly in this city a collegiate church and canons of Saint Rufus. This denomination means at the very least that learned and enlightened priests believed in the existence of Saint Rufus, and in the relations of Saint Rufus with Valence, since they placed themselves, and their houses, under his protection.

A.A. SS., April 28 (translation by the Benedictines): — Histoire hagiologique du diocèse de Valence, by H. the Abbé Nadal.