Saint Ferreolus and Saint Ferrucius

The two strangers lived in poverty and preached the evangelical truths, sometimes in the cities, sometimes in the surrounding countryside. This new doctrine at first astonished those who heard it, for minds preoccupied with all the errors of idolatry could hardly accommodate themselves to the depth of our mysteries, and the rigor of Christian morality naturally revolted hearts accustomed to refusing nothing to their desires. However, grace gradually triumphed over passions as well as prejudices in the souls of some pagans. The numerous miracles of the two apostles attested to the divinity of their mission; their virtues, even more eloquent than their words, finished accrediting it, and God, who has promised everything to those who invoke Him while imitating Him, finally deigned to let Himself be swayed in favor of a land watered by so much sweat.

As the number of the faithful increased in this new Christendom, Ferréol and Ferjeux redoubled their zeal and fervor. They spent the day in the work of preaching and passed the night in the exercise of prayer. Not far from Besançon, there is a deep cave, hollowed out of the rock, the access to which was long defended by the bushes that covered it. This solitary crypt served as an asylum for the two apostles. It was likely the first church of Sequania. While paganism celebrated its orgies in sumptuous buildings, t he assem Séquanie Ancient province corresponding to Franche-Comté. bly of Christians, few in number and still very timid, gathered at the onset of night in the holy darkness of this humble retreat. Ferjeux would first read some writings of the Prophets or the Apostles, and Ferréol would then explain them, exhorting the faithful to put into practice the beautiful lessons contained in the reading of the day. "The Church," he said, "believes in God, the Father Almighty, creator of heaven, earth, the sea, and all that they contain, and in one Jesus Christ, Son of God, incarnate for our salvation, and in the Holy Spirit, who predicted through the Prophets the designs of God, the advent of Jesus Christ, His miraculous birth, His passion, His resurrection from the dead, and His ascension into heaven. The Church believes that He ascended there with our flesh, and that He will come in the glory of His Father to resurrect all men, so that, according to the order given by the Father, every knee should bend at the name of Jesus Christ Our Lord, our God, our Savior, our King, that every tongue should confess Him, that Jesus Himself should judge all men, that He should condemn to the fire the rebels and the apostates, the impious, unjust, iniquitous, and blasphemous men, that He should admit to incorruptibility, to a happy life, to an eternal glory, the just, equitable men, submissive to His precepts, faithful to His love, either from the beginning of their life, or from their return to God through penance." After reciting this symbol, which Saint Irenaeus had composed, Ferréol would develop some important point of Christian doctrine. Following the example of his master, who himself held it from the holy bishop of Smyrna, a disciple of the Apostles, he would sometimes teach the unity of the divine nature in the trinity of persons; sometimes he would recount the benefits, miracles, and life of the Savior; sometimes, expanding on the institution of the Eucharist, as much to satisfy his love as because of the importance of the subject, he would recall the figures that announced this august sacrifice, the manner in which Jesus Christ instituted it, the ineffable wonders that occur therein, and the dispositions one must bring when receiving it. "Jesus Christ," he said further,

"has left here below a society whose care He has entrusted to the zeal of His Apostles and their successors. Where the Church is, there also is the Holy Spirit. Where the Holy Spirit is, there is found the truth; therefore the truth is in the Church. It was founded and constituted in Rome by Saint Peter and Saint Paul. It is in it that the faithful find the tradition transmitted by the Apostles; it is to it that all the Churches spread over the earth must necessarily unite. After founding the Church, the Apostles entrusted its government to Linus, of whom Saint Paul speaks in his epistles to Timothy. Linus was succeeded by Anacletus, who in his turn had Clement as his successor. The see of Rome was then occupied by Alexander, Sixtus, Telesphorus, Hyginus, Pius, Anicetus, Soter, and Eleutherius, who reigns today."

When the instructions were finished, they would stand and address prayers in common to the heavenly Father for the perseverance of the Christians and for the conversion of the infidels. Saint Ferréol would then offer the divine sacrifice of the Eucharist. After having nourished himself with the divine manna, he would turn toward the people and present to them the living bread descended from heaven. Each of the assistants would receive it from his hand in transports of tender and sincere piety. Saint Ferjeux, then fulfilling his ministry as deacon, would collect in a blessed veil what remained of the heavenly food, and carry it to the absent brothers whom their infirmities or other grave reasons had kept far from the assembly of the faithful.

However, the apostolate of the two disciples of Irenaeus did not last very long; God made known to the apostles of Besançon and Valence the designs He had for them. Wishing to prepare them in advance for the blood testimony they were to render to Him, He instructed them of their fate through an extraordinary way. Felix, Fortunatus, and Achilleus occupied a humble hut at the gates of Valence, which had become the cradle of a new Christianity, just as the cave of Saints Ferréol and Ferjeux had at Besançon. One day, Felix recounted to his two companions a vision he had had. "I saw enchanted places" illuminated by a celestial light. In the middle was a tabernacle sparkling with gold and precious stones. Five spotless lambs were grazing amidst roses and lilies. I then heard a voice that cried out to me with force: "Courage, good servants, because you have been faithful in small things, I will set you over greater ones. Enter into the joy of your Lord God. Come, disciples of Irenaeus, join your brothers." At these words, Fortunatus and Achilleus cried out in the transport of their love: "Glory be rendered to You, O divine Jesus, who deign to support our weakness by the promises You have made to Your servant Felix. Now, O King of glory, fill us all with Your celestial consolations, so that we may be worthy to suffer death for Your name."

This prayer was barely finished when a Christian sent by Ferréol and Ferjeux came to deliver to them a letter from them conceived in these terms: "Ferréol and Ferjeux, to the most pious brothers of Jesus Christ, Felix, Fortunatus, and Achilleus, greetings in Our Lord. He whose wisdom governs time and rules the world has deigned to reveal to His servants the secrets of His heart and to exhort them to a courageous perseverance in their faith. Having fallen asleep in one of the watches of the night, I saw in heaven, around a luminous cross, five angels resplendent with brightness, who held, each in their hands, a brilliant crown made of the purest gold and adorned with precious stones. As I contemplated, beside myself, such a ravishing spectacle, a celestial voice said to me with force: "Come, disciples of Irenaeus,

I. S. Iren., ed. Lirvezi., I. III, c. 3.

receive the reward that your Father has prepared for you. You have done the will of God on earth, now possess an eternal kingdom in the heavens." Let us therefore revive our courage, let us watch, let us pray with fervor, so that Satan does not steal our treasure from us."

The apostles of Valence replied to those of Besançon with the account of Felix's vision. From then on, the five disciples of Irenaeus, adoring the designs of the Lord, redoubled their zeal and multiplied their prayers in order to obtain the grace of martyrdom. Felix, Fortunatus, and Achilleus had the happiness of dying first for the name of Jesus Christ. They owed this favor to the arrival of the Roman general Cornelius, who was visiting the Lyonnais provinces in the name of the emperor, accompanied by the prefects of the main cities, who had come to meet him to execute his bloody orders.

The apostles of Besançon did not delay in joining the other companions of Saint Irenaeus in heaven. Among the distinguished personages who had come to meet Cornelius was Claudius, prefect of the Sequania. After having attended the interrogation and the torture of t he three confessors, he thought Claudius, préfet de la Séquanie Priest ordained by Saint Remi, judged unworthy by Leo. the occasion was favorable to complain about the progress that Christianity was making in Besançon, whether he wished thereby to curry favor with Cornelius, whether he believed he was serving the cause of the emperors, or finally whether the conversion of his wife to the new religion seemed to him an outrage grave enough to be denounced to the Roman general. "Two foreigners," he said to him, "recently arrived in our city to preach a new doctrine. They worship a crucified man, persuade virgins not to marry, and have pushed their audacity to the point of drawing my wife into the practice of their cult." — "Invincible gods!" then cried Cornelius, "would your name therefore be despised and your power annihilated by these Christians! What are we doing, dear Claudius? I am going to give you my wishes in writing, and when you return to the Sequania, you will make these two men undergo such torments that even their partisans will be frightened by them and will renounce Christianity." — "Your orders will be executed," replied Claudius.

Hardly had the prefect arrived in Besançon than he sent for Ferréol and Ferjeux. He pressed them to sacrifice to the false gods, offering them, if they consented to do so, the most brilliant rewards. At this proposal, the two confessors hastened to mark their foreheads with the sign of the cross, to fortify their souls against temptation. Then, Ferréol, taking the floor: "May your money perish with you," he replied to the prefect; "do with us what you please, we have no hope and confidence but in the name of Our Lord Jesus Christ." This confession increased the jealousy and fury of the tyrant. He ordered that the two apostles be stretched on a rack, and that they be whipped cruelly. During this flagellation, God, in His mercy, rendered them insensitive to pain; an angelic sweetness shone on their foreheads, and the people, struck by this spectacle, loudly testified to the admiration it inspired in them. Claudius, blushing to admit himself defeated, then imagined that by gaining time he would triumph over the holy perseverance of the two confessors. He therefore had the torments stopped and ordered that they be taken back to prison.

Three days later, Ferréol and Ferjeux appeared again before the governor of the province. "Sacrifice to the gods," cried Claudius, "or die." — "I am a Christian," replied Ferréol; Ferjeux repeated the same words: "I am a Christian!" At these words, the prefect's anger knew no bounds. He signaled to the executioner, who stretched them again on the rack. Their tongues were torn out; but, by an unexpected prodigy, these eloquent mouths did not cease to speak. This miracle only hardened the heart of the tyrant. According to his orders, thirty sharp awls were driven into the feet, hands, and chest of the two apostles; but their courage grew with the torments, and their serenity disconcerted the persecutors more and more. Huge nails in the shape of a crown were planted in their heads; but they smiled, under the bloody diadem, at the murderer who was tearing them apart. Finally, their heads were cut off with a sword; they were still praying, their prayer was completed in heaven.

Such are the acts of Saints Ferréol and Ferjeux. They were put to death on the 16th of the Kalends of July of the year of grace 212.

They are represented one next to the other, holding in their hands their heads that the executioner has just cut off; this is the ordinary characteristic of decollation.

## CULT AND RELICS.

Saints Ferréol and Ferjeux, so gloriously martyred in Besançon, were soon known and invoked throughout all the Gauls. One finds in a Gallican missal, a work of the 5th century, a mass composed in their honor. A martyrology of the same time, which is attributed to Saint Jerome, makes mention of their heroic death. Saint Germain of Paris consecrated an altar to their cult, and as Christianity spread in the region watered by their sweat and fertilized by their blood, many churches were placed under their patronage. There are still several today that honor them as their patrons. These are, in the diocese of Besançon, the churches of Saint-Ferjeux (Doubs), Laverney, Minerey, Vanz, Villers-Duzon, Amagney, Trépot, Flangebouche, Cabrial, Fontenelle-lez-Monchy, Eray, Étouvans, Soing, Chenevrey, Bard-lez-Pesmes, Gavigney, Betoncourt-sur-Mance and Saint-Ferjeux (Haute-Saône), and in the diocese of Saint-Claude, the churches of Saligney, Aumont, Fay and Champagne.

The bodies of the holy Martyrs were gathered with care by their disciples, and interred in the cave that had served as their retreat during their apostolate.

Forgotten for some time, their memory was recalled to the respect and veneration of the faithful, and it was reserved for Saint Aguan to discover and reco gnize their Saint Aguan Bishop of Besançon who discovered the relics in 370. bodies. On September 8, 370, says the legend, a military tribune, assigned to the guard of Besançon, went out one day to go hunting. Scarcely had he advanced a mile and a half from the city, when his dogs having flushed a fox, he began to pursue it. The animal, hard-pressed, fled into a cavern where the dogs could not reach it. Now, this underground cave was nothing other than the very crypt where the sacred remains of our holy apostles had been deposited. The tribune persisted in pursuing his prey. He ordered his soldiers to widen the opening of the cavern, and, when they had descended into it, they suddenly discovered the sepulcher where the bodies of Saints Ferréol and Ferjeux rested. The tribune immediately had the bishop warned of this marvelous event. Saint Aguan hastened to run to the scene, for he already knew that popular tradition placed the tomb of the holy Martyrs in this place, and he seized with joy this happy occasion to manifest his zeal for their glory. By his order, the monument was immediately opened, and the bodies of Saints Ferréol and Ferjeux were found there. The Martyrs still offered the glorious traces of the torture where their constancy had shone, for their venerable heads bore the nails with which they had been pierced: a glorious crown that encircled their brows and attested at once to the cruelty of the executioners and the courage of the victims. Saint Aguan wished that this precious treasure should henceforth rest in a more suitable place. The tribune and his soldiers formed a guard of honor around the holy Pontiff, and the bodies of the Martyrs were immediately brought back in triumph to the city of Besançon. They were deposited with the greatest respect in the cathedral church of Saint John the Evangelist, in the year 370, under the reign of the emperors Valentinian and Valens.

Too happy to have found such a treasure, Saint Aguan occupied himself from that moment with having a church built over the very crypt where the holy relics had been discovered, and when this edifice was completed, he had the remains of the Martyrs carried there, embalmed them, and covered them with an alabaster tomb upon which they were represented. God glorified the tomb of his servants. This solitude, previously inaccessible, became from then on the meeting place of all the pious faithful. The people flocked to venerate the sacred remains of our fathers in the faith, and miraculous graces obtained by invoking them attested more than once to their power before God. Beside the church raised over the burial place of Saints Ferréol and Ferjeux, Saint Aguan had a house built for a community of clerics subject to the rules of religious life. They were destined to watch over the keeping of the holy relics and to serve God by honoring his Martyrs.

The monastery of Saint-Ferjeux was inhabited from the 10th to the 11th century by a few undisciplined and ignorant priests who watched over the preservation of the holy relics with little zeal. Several attempts had already been made to remove them when Hugh I, Archbishop of Besançon, resolved to secure this precious deposit. He ordered a solemn procession to the tomb of our apostles and invited the people and the clergy to it. Never did a greater gathering of the faithful respond to the prelate's call. An immense crowd, having flocked from the most distant countryside, came to hear the mass he celebrated pontifically, and accompanied him to the grotto of Saint-Ferjeux. The archbishop had the sepulcher opened in the presence of the entire assembly. The pleasant odor that emanated from it was, for the people and for the bishop, a new testimony to the merit and glory of the two Martyrs. At the sight of their bodies, those present shed tears of tenderness, and several were enraptured in ecstasy by the sweet joy they experienced. Hugh I placed a portion of these relics in the altar of the grotto and brought the other back to the cathedral of Saint-Jean, where they were deposited under the altar of the Blessed Virgin. This translation took place on May 30, 1053; the Church of Besançon still commemorates it every year in the office and mass of that day.

On September 2, 1246, William, Archbishop of Besançon, had an authentic recognition made of the relics of Saints Ferréol and Ferjeux. He took them from the altar where his predecessor had placed them and put them into gilded wooden reliquaries, in the presence of John, Bishop of Lausanne, Séguin, Bishop of Mâcon, Alexander, Bishop of Châlons, and several other prelates. On May 31, 1421, the eve of the feast of Pentecost, Robert de Combeton, Abbot of Saint-Paul, transferred a portion of these relics from the cathedral of Saint-Jean to the abbey church of Saint-Vincent. On May 8, 1424, Thiébaud de Bougemont, Archbishop of Besançon, placed those that had remained in the cathedral of Saint-Jean into a new reliquary. It was on this occasion that some parts of the holy bodies were detached to enrich several churches. The parishes of Sainte-Madeleine and Saint-Pierre each obtained a rib, the Cordeliers of Salins a bone, and the prelate kept two teeth for himself. Antoine de Vergy, Archbishop of Besançon, placed them in 1539 in a silver reliquary weighing forty marks, offered by the chapter and the governors of the city. Finally, on June 12, 1636, as the Swedes were ravaging the countryside of Franche-Comté, the relics that were still in the grotto of Saint-Ferjeux were solemnly transferred to the abbey of Saint-Vincent. The abbot and the religious of this monastery, holily jealous of the sacred deposit that had been entrusted to them, established in their church a pious association intended to invoke the holy apostles specifically and to render to their relics the veneration that was due to them. Pope Clement X, by a bull issued in 1674, granted this confraternity a large number of indulgences. Finally, Antoine-Pierre II de Grammont, Archbishop of Besançon, having examined the statutes it presented to him, recognized that it would contribute to the growth of religion and approved it by an ordinance issued on June 16, 1736.

The association established in honor of Saints Ferréol and Ferjeux still exists today in the old church of Saint-Vincent, which has become the parish church of Notre-Dame. As for the remains of the illustrious protectors of Besançon, the city has had the good fortune to preserve them. There are portions of them in the metropolitan church, in that of the seminary, in the grotto of Saint-Ferjeux, and in several other churches and chapels. The head of Saint Ferréol is kept in the diocesan church of Saint-Pierre, upon which the archbishops of Besançon took their oath on the day of their coronation.

It is the parish of Notre-Dame that possesses today the most considerable portion of the relics of Saints Ferréol and Ferjeux.

The Church of Besançon celebrates, on the 21st of the same month, a feast that is linked to the cult of our holy Martyrs, and of which it is fitting to say a few words here. The city of Besançon has distinguished itself at all times by its unwavering attachment to the Catholic religion. In vain did the innovators of the 16th century attempt to sow their errors there; they could not succeed. To take revenge, the Calvinists conceived, in 1575, the plan to surprise the city during the night and punish it for its fidelity to the ancient faith. They indeed descended the Doubs in light boats, and managed, protected by the darkness of the night, to scale the suburb of Bettant. The guards were cut to pieces, and the heretics were on the point of entering the city; but the intrepid Archbishop Claude de la Baume, jointly with the Count of Vergy, governor of Franche-Comté in the name of the King of Spain, placed themselves at the head of the bourgeoisie, fell upon the Calvinists, killed a great number of them, took many others prisoner, and thus delivered the city. The inhabitants attributed the victory they had just won to the protection of Saints Ferréol and Ferjeux, during whose octave this affair had taken place. The archbishop instituted an annual feast to render solemn thanks to the Almighty, who had so visibly protected the city.

The arm of the illustrious Martyrs has not been shortened, and the piety of our century has nothing to envy that of previous ages. In 1849, as cholera threatened to invade Franche-Comté, Mgr Mathieu, Archbishop of Besançon, c ommended hi Mgr Mathieu Archbishop of Besançon in the 19th century. s flock to Our Lady of Gray and to Saints Ferréol and Ferjeux. The city of Gray was struck by the scourge, but the rest of the diocese was spared. To testify his gratitude towards Mary and our holy patrons, the Archbishop, aided by the offerings of the faithful, offered to Our Lady of Gray a silver statue, adorned with precious stones. It is with the same intentions that, having discovered new relics of Saints Ferréol and Ferjeux, he presented them to the metropolitan Chapter, after having enclosed them in a very rich reliquary, in the form of a shrine, which is carried processionally to Saint-Ferjeux on the day of the feast of the Deliverance.

One reads on this shrine the following inscription: *Sanctis Ferreolo et Ferrucio, urbis Bisuntinæ et totius diœcesis defensoribus et patronis, in memoriam præstitæ salutis tempore choleæ-morbi, J.-M.-Ad.-C. Mathieu, Arch. Bisunt., voto voceque gratus solvit et venerabili capitulo dono dedit, die quindecimâ junii, anno Domini MDCCCL.*

Abrégé de la Vie des Saints de Franche-Comté, by the professors of the College of Saint-François-Xavier of Besançon; — Cf. Hunchler, Vie des Saints d'Alsace.