Saint Quirinus of Siscia

The holy bishop, having learne d that Maxime Imperial usurper in Gaul. Maximus, the chief magistrate of the city, had given orders for his person to be seized, immediately departed from a place where he was not safe; but those charged with arresting him pursued him: having caught up with him, they took him and brought him before the judge. Maximus asked him where he had intended to flee. "I did not flee," replied the Saint, "I only left here to obey my Master; for it is written: If they persecute you in one city, flee to another." — Maximus. "Who gave you this order?" — Quirinus. "Jesus Christ, who is the true God." — Maximus. "Are you unaware that the edicts of the emperors will discover you in the darkest retreats? You see it by experience, and the one you call the true God has been able neither to defend you nor to pull you from their hands." — Quirinus. "The God whom we adore is always with us, in whatever place we may be, and He can always defend us. He was with me when I was arrested, and He is still here at this moment. It is He who strengthens me and who answers you now through my mouth." — Maximus. "You speak much, and by that you delay executing the orders of our sovereigns, which makes you guilty of disobedience toward them. Read their sacred edicts, and do what they enjoin you." — Quirinus. "I set no store by such edicts, because they are impious and contrary to the commandments of God, by requiring that we, who are His servants, sacrifice to imaginary divinities. The God whom I serve is everywhere; He is in heaven, on earth, in the sea; He is above all things, containing them all within Himself; it is by Him alone that every being subsists." — Maximus. "Age has weakened your reason, and you let yourself be seduced by tales. Choose: here is incense, offer it to our gods, or expect to suffer all kinds of affronts and the most cruel death." — Quirinus. "These affronts will be my glory, and this death will procure for me an eternal life. I respect only the altar of my God, upon which I have often offered Him a sacrifice of pleasing odor." — Maximus. "You have lost your reason, and your folly will be the cause of your death. Sacrifice to the gods." — Quirinus. "I will not sacrifice to demons."

Maximus ordered him to be beaten with sticks; which was executed with the utmost barbarity. During this torture, he said to him: "Recognize now the power of the gods that the Roman Empire adores. Obey, and I will make you a priest of Jupiter." Quirinus replied: "It is in this moment that I perform the true function of a priest by offering myself as a sacrifice to the living God. I do not feel the blows that my body has received; they cause me no harm. I am ready to suffer the most cruel tortures, in order to encourage those whose conduct has been entrusted to me, to obtain eternal life with me."

Maximus had him taken to prison, with orders to leave him there loaded with heavy chains until he had become wiser. The Martyr addressed this prayer to God: "I give you thanks, Lord, that you have judged me worthy to suffer reproaches for your name. Grant that all those who are in prison may know that I adore the true God, and that there are no others but you." This prayer was answered. At midnight, a great light spread through the prison. The jailer, named Marcellus, having seen it, came to throw himself Marcellus Jailer converted by Saint Quirinus following a miracle of light. at the feet of the Saint, and said to him with tears: "Pray to the Lord for me, for I believe that there is no other God than the one you adore." Quirinus, after a long exhortation, marked him with the sacred seal, in the name of Jesus Christ. These words seem to imply that he administered to him the sacraments of Baptism and Confirmation.

The magistrate, who did not have the power to condemn the holy Martyr to death, sent him, after three days of imprisonment, to Amantiu Amantius Governor of Pannonia Prima who condemned Quirinus to death. s, governor of the province, which was called First Pannonia. Quirinus, laden with irons, was led through all the towns situated on the banks of the Danube. Having been presented to Amantius, when he was returning to Scarabantia, the latter had him bro ught to Sabarie Birthplace of Saint Martin in Hungary. Sabaria, where he himself was going. At the same time, some Christian women brought him refreshments. While he was blessing them, the chains fell from his feet and hands.

Upon his arrival in Sabaria, Amantius had him appear before him at the public theater. After the reading of the report sent by Maximus, he asked him if he agreed with what was contained therein, and if he still persisted in his first confession. "I confessed the true God in Siscia," replied Quirinus, "and I have never worshipped any other. I carry Him in my heart, and no one in the world will be able to separate me from Him." Amantius did everything in his power to shake his constancy; he told him to consider his advanced age, and made him magnificent promises; but finding him still inflexible, he condemned him to be thrown into the river with a millstone around his neck, and the sentence was executed immediately.

A thing occurred that seized all the spectators with astonishment. The Saint, instead of going to the bottom, remained on the water for a long time; from there he exhorted the Christians to remain firm in the faith, and to fear neither torments nor death itself. As he was still floating, he feared in the end that he would lose the crown of Martyrdom. He therefore addressed this prayer to Jesus Christ: "It is not surprising, Lord Jesus, that you should stop the course of rivers, as you did at the Jordan, or that you should give men the power to walk upon the waters, as you gave to Saint Peter. This people has just seen in me a sufficiently striking proof of what you can do; grant me, O my God! what remains for me to desire, which is preferable to all things, the happiness of dying for you." His prayer finished, he did not delay in disappearing into the water.

His body having been found a little below the place where it had sunk, it was buried in a chapel built on the bank of the river. Some time later, it was placed in a large church that was erected near the gate of Sabaria, which led to Scarabantia. When the Barbarians drove the Pannonians from their lands, the relics of the Saint were transported to Rome and placed in the cat Rome Birthplace of Maximian. acombs, near those of Saint Sebastian. In 1140, they were placed in the church of Santa Maria in T rastevere. Relics of Saint Quirinus are église de Sainte-Marie, au-delà du Tibre Roman church housing the relics of Quirinus since 1140. also venerated in Milan and in Tegernsee, in Bavaria. These are probably only portions, or else there are several Saints of the same name.

The millstone is the attribute of Saint Quirinus of Siscia in the arts.

Drawn from his sincere Acts, published by Surius and Ruinart, and from Prudentius, hymn. vii. (See Tillemont, vol. v, p. 428, and Hancix, Germania sacra, vol. i, p. 30.)