Saints Rufinus and Valerius

— "Rufinus and Valerius," the governor said to them, "what God do you worship?"

— "We worship," they replied, "one only God, almighty, immutable, eternal, creator of all visible things, filling all, governing all, and one only Lord Jesus Christ, restorer of all that is in heaven and on earth. As for these gods, vain simulacra formed by the art of men with matter subject to corruption and alteration, to which he has given a form and the genius of beauty, we do not worship them. Indeed, the divine substance does not derive its origin from itself. Existing before time, it is not subject to its vicissitudes. It does not experience diminution, but remains eternally in the fullness of itself; it is always simple, uniform, constant, perfect. It is by His Word that the world was made with its ornaments, it is by His Spirit that every creature is established and governed, and it is to Him that we immolate each day a host of praise and that we offer the sacrifice of a contrite heart."

— The prefect said: "Our invincible princes order you to abandon a superstition that makes you worship a crucified God to honor the powerful gods of the Roman Republic, for it is a crime to abandon the religion of one's ancestors which has raised the Empire, which governs and protects it, and to pass, through fickleness, to puerile novelties."

— Rufinus and Valerius replied: "We do not blush at the cross of Christ who gave salvation to the world, nor at Him who, by His death, procured for us resurrection and life." And they expounded to him the mysteries of the Son of God, to which they added, according to the acts of their passion, a host of other considerations no less spiritual on the redemption of men, on the new religion, on the ridiculousness of the false gods, the crimes and infamies that the pagans attributed to them, their contradiction with the morality taught by the philosophers, the vanity of idols, and the impotence of these gods.

— "Too long," cried the prefect, "has our moderation endured your slanders against our gods. If, in accordance with the orders of the Augusti, you do not render them the worship that is due to them, I will make you endure various tortures." And he ordered that they be loaded with chains and put in prison in the hope that they would apostatize, but he was mistaken; the holy confessors, rejoicing to participate in the sufferings of Jesus Christ, found these chains light, far from succumbing under their weight.

The next day, the prefect had them appear before him again and tried on them the seductions of flattery and gifts:

"Believe me, Rufinus and Valerius, honor our gods Jupiter and Mercury, Diana and Venus, and immediately I will shower you with gold and silver and you will be the first in the emperor's palace."

— "May your gold and your silver," they replied, "be with you in hell, and may they be poured liquefied into your mouth, there where you will see the demon your father burning in an inextinguishable fire; but as for us, nothing will be able to separate us from the charity of Christ."

Rictiovarus, indignant, then ordered Rufinus and Valerius to be stretched on the rack and beaten with thongs armed with lead. The martyrs, during this torment, said: "Many are the tribulations of the righteous, but the Lord will deliver them from each one of them; the Lord watches over the protection of their bones, not one of them will be broken."

But the more they invoked the God of majesty, the more the tyrant gave severe orders to increase their torments; he urged the executioners to discharge upon them all the vigor of their sinewy arms. In which he was perfectly obeyed; and the entire framework of the blessed martyrs' bodies was dislocated, to the point that the bones were disjointed and one could barely hear a light breath escaping from their chests.

The tyrant then said: "Take them off the rack and lead them back to the dungeon until I have invented some new tortures."

The Blessed ones, having returned to the prison, sang the praises of the Lord and said: "Help us, O our Savior, and for the honor of your name, deliver us." In the night, an angel of the Lord appeared to them and said: "Rufinus and Valerius, act manfully and let your heart be strengthened, our master will not delay in admitting you into the ranks of the holy martyrs; there you will receive the crowns that he destines for you and which I am going to show you at this moment." While speaking thus, he placed these crowns upon their heads; they were of marvelous beauty, and resplendent like emeralds.

When morning came, Rictiovarus ordered the holy martyrs to be brought before him again. He saw with astonishment the freshness and radiance of roses on their cheeks, and the whiteness of lilies on their bodies. But instead of attributing this miracle to divine virtue, he attributed it to magic. He called these innocent men scoundrels and impious, and ordered his guards to tie their hands behind their backs to drag them in his wake. They went in this manner for the space of five or seven thousand five hundred paces, to a place named Quincampoix, and their heads were cut off near the public road, on the bank s of Vesle River near which the saints were executed. the Vesle, on the 18th of the Kalends of July. — According to the most common opinion, it would be on the very site of the castle of Bazoches, where a fountain recalls their memory, that they were beheaded and their bodies thrown into a sewer. The faithful would have removed them from it to give them an honorable burial.

Once the persecution had passed, their bodies were raised from the earth and an enormous tomb was built for them. It was from beneath this edifice that their relics were once again removed to be placed in the basilica built in their honor at Bazoches.

The fear of the ravages of the Normans caused the bodies of the holy Martyrs to be transported in the 9th century sometim Soissons Birthplace and place of death of Geoffrey. es to Reims, sometimes to Soissons; but when the danger had passed, they were returned to the basilica of Bazoches. — At the beginning of the 17th century, the relics of Saint Rufinus and Saint Valerius were placed in Soissons in the church of Saint-Étienne. In 1617 they were deposited in the cathedral, the aldermen having presented a petition to Bishop Hennequin to prevent the nuns of the abbey of Saint-Paul from taking them with them to Reims, where they had purchased a new convent through an exchange.

Saint Loup Saint Loup Thirteenth bishop of Soissons in the 6th century. , thirteenth bishop of Soissons, at the beginning of the 6th century, had established a college of seventy-two clerics at Bazoches, in the church dedicated to Saint Rufin and Saint Valère. It is the first seminary of the diocese of Soissons. It subsisted for four hundred years after the death of its founder. Bazoches gave, in the 13th century, three bishops to the see of Saint Sixtus and Saint Sinice. Jacques de Bazoches consecrate saint Louis King of France who visited the relics of Saint Hildevert. d Saint Louis in 1226, and Milon de Bazoches, Philip the Bold, in 1272. — The third bishop originating from Bazoches is Nivelon II, predecessor of Milon.

The new Soissonnais Proper places the feast of Saint Rufinus and Saint Valerius on June 15, instead of the 14th, the day of their death. — These holy martyrs are the patrons of Bézu-le-Guéry, Coulonges, Loupoigne, Vierzy, and Vregny, as well as Braine, Mont-Notre-Dame, Paars, and Sermoise, located near the Vesle, in the diocese of Soissons.

We have composed this life based on Tillemont; the Acts of the Martyrs, by the Reverend Benedictine Fathers of the Congregation of France; the Annals of the Diocese of Soissons, by Abbé Pécheur; and local notes provided by M. Henry Cougnet, dean of the chapter of the Cathedral of Soissons.