Saint Marcellus and Saint Anastasius

When they had crossed the surrounding wall, whether out of weariness or caution, they did not seek to penetrate further into the city, and came to knock at one of the first houses in the suburb. They found there a poor widow, weeping over the cradle of a sick child, and resistant to the consolations of her gathered neighbors.

They gently pushed aside the crowd, and asked for permission to examine the little dying boy. The mother mechanically raised her eyes to them, and with a desolate gesture made it understood that all help was useless. Yet, the younger of the travelers insisted and endeavored to give her some hope:

— Alas! said the unhappy woman, for the joy he has in this world, what is the use of trying to keep him in it? He is blind, deaf, mute, and lame.

— Woman, replied the traveler, God is great and merciful.

— Of which God do you speak?

— Of the God of the Christians, whose servant I am.

Illuminated by maternal love, the widow stood up: "Christian," she said, "you have a heavenly face, and you would not wish to toy with my sorrow. Restore health to my son, who, despite his misfortune, is my only happiness, and I will believe in your God."

The stranger sat on a stool, took the frail creature in his arms, rubbed his eyes lightly, and whispered a few words into his ear. The child, until then inert, shuddered as if he had heard, and cast a clear gaze around him. The crowd and the widow let out a great cry.

The country was then under Roman rule; warned by one of his confidants, named Tranquillinus, the praetor Heraclius ordered the two men to be brought before him immediately. Soon the soldiers invaded the widow's home, seizing the strangers and dragging them to the praetorium.

Heraclius, addressing the author of the miracle first, said to him imperiously: "Who are you, where do you come from, where are you going?"

— My name is Marcel Marcel Deacon of Sabinus, martyr. , he replied gently; I am a Christian. I come from Rome and I a m go Rome Birthplace of Maximian. ing to Toulouse with Anastasius, to join my brothers Denis and Saturnin.

— W hat are Saturnin Martyr to whom a basilica was dedicated in Viocourt. the names of your father and mother?

— My father is Egiathes, my mother, Marcellina.

— You are trying to deceive me; you claim to restore speech to the mute, hearing to the deaf, and you despise the cult of Apollo. Who is your god?

— I worship Jesus Christ our Savior.

— Tomorrow, go to the temple: sacrifice to Apollo, to Hercules, to Diana, mother of the gods.

— Those you call gods are not; they are the ruin of the souls who believe in them.

The praetor, furious, orders the lictors to stretch Marcel on the rack and strike him with redoubled blows. The lictors obey, the rack creaks, the ropes whistle; but, O wonder! the strength of the executioners is exhausted, the thongs fall into tatters without harming the body of the young Martyr.

Heraclius orders him to be untied, and resumes with feigned benevolence: "The emperor enjoins all his officers to deliver the Christians to the cruelest tortures; but your youth inspires me with pity. Obey me, and I will spare you such torments."

— I do not fear your torments, replies Marcel with the same calm; do I not have the faith that I received at baptism?

At these words, Heraclius orders him to be crushed under an enormous stone; but it bounces off his chest and falls inert at his feet without causing him the slightest harm. The praetor roars and wants Marcel to be fixed on a gridiron over a large fire. The flame respects him.

The praetor, having reached the final limits of anger, orders him to be seized again and struck violently, then he says to his officers: "Bring a vast cauldron; mix in it sulfur, pitch, tow, and bitumen, and throw the sacrilegious one into it."

The flame rises more than fifteen cubits, Marcel is plunged into the boiling cauldron; but he emerges safe and sound from this last ordeal.

Already the spectators were crying out: "The protection of heaven is upon this man, he has conquered all torments! The instruments of torture have broken upon him."

Pale and distraught, Heraclius himself was preparing to leave his seat, when Marcellus signaled him to sit back down: "Take heart," he said; "now that the power of God has been shown, my task is finished and my hour has come." Then he held out his hands to the lictors, who covered him in chains and threw him into the governor's prisons.

The next day, led to the summit of a nearby mountain, he knelt without resistance, and his head fell under the first blow of the executioner's sword; the faithful Anastasius, a lso pros Anastase Martyr companion of Saint Marcellus. trate, cried out at the top of his voice toward heaven: "Lord, Lord, you who drew us from the earth where we were born and delivered us from the hands of the demon, you whose path we have followed and whose holy name we have glorified, do not separate me from your servant Marcellus, so that I may deserve to arrive with him at the knowledge of the truth."

For two hours, his eyes fixed on the body of his friend, deaf to threats and seductions, Anastasius continued his ardent prayer. And as Heraclius summoned him to sacrifice to the gods of the empire, in order to avoid the fate of the magician Marcellus:

— Praetor, he replied, I abhor your gods, and I wish to keep the faith that I received at baptism.

Then, burning with spite and rage, Heraclius had him tied to the rack, where he did not delay in breathing his last, toward the ninth hour of the day, the third of the Kalends of July.

The memory of Saint Marcel, Saint Anastase, and the praetor Heraclius lives on not only in legends and traditions, but also in the monuments and ruins of the region. A small town, situated on an eminence not far from the site of the old Arpantomayus, bears the name of Saint-Marcel; its beautiful ch Saint-Marcel Small town bearing the name of the saint and housing his relics. urch, an ancient and important priory dependent on the Abbey of Saint-Gildas near Châ abbaye de Saint-Gildas Abbey upon which the priory of Saint-Marcel depended. teauroux, houses the relics of th e two Martyrs, which attr reliques des deux Martyrs Sacred remains preserved in the church of Saint-Marcel. act a large gathering of people every year on Whit Tuesday. Those of Saint Marcel rest in a small Romano-Byzantine monument, decorated with rich enamels. Acta Sanctorum, volume VII of June; translation by M. Just Veillat, in his work entitled: Picasso légendes du Berry.