Saint Martial, Apostle of Aquitaine

Saint Martial was Hebrew by origin and of the tribe of Benjamin. The poet Fortunatus, in verses he composed in his praise, addresses these words to him: "The tribe of Benjamin saw you born of illustrious blood"; and Gregory of Tours himself, who was mistaken about the true era of his mission, acknowledges that he "had come from the East," with the two priests who accompanied him into Gaul. According to some ancient manuscripts of the legend of Aurelian, he was born in Rama, a small town in Palestine which is often spoken of in Scripture. His father and mother, who lived in the exact observance of the law of Moses, raised him in the fear of God; and when Jesus Christ began to preach and perform great miracles in Galilee and Judea, he had the happiness of seeing and hearing him with his parents. The word of this great Master operated so powerfully in their hearts that they believed in him and recognized him as the Savior and the Messiah, and they were among the number of those spoken of in the Gospel, whom he baptized, not by himself, but by his disciples. It is said that it was Saint Peter who administered this sacram saint Pierre Apostle and first pope, mentioned as the father of Petronilla. ent to them, as different from the baptism of Saint John as the shadow is different from the body, the figure from the truth, and the sketch from the perfect and finished work. Martial, after his baptism, however young he was, attached himself inseparably to Our Lord. Many doctors of the Middle Ages, among whom we shall cite Albert the Great and Saint Thomas Aquinas, say that Saint Martial was that little child whom Our Lord placed in the midst of his disciples, to teach them to be humble, when they came to ask him which of them would be the greatest in the kingdom of heaven; other writers of the Middle Ages report that it was he who brought the five barley loaves and the two fishes that Our Lord multiplied so miraculously in the desert, according to this word of Saint Philip: "There is a lad here, which hath five barley loaves, and two small fishes: but what are they among so many?" — However, these two traditions are not reported in the legend written under the name of Aurelian. What this legend reports, and what is also found in the bull of Pope John XIX, is that Saint Martial had the honor of serving Our Lord at table, when he ate the Paschal Lamb for the last time, and that after having washed the feet of his disciples, he instituted the adorable sacrament of the Eucharist. A disciple of the Son of God, he saw him after his resurrection, attended the glorious triumph of his Ascension, received the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost, then attached himself to Saint Peter, of whom he was a relative according to the flesh and a spiritual son. Saint Abbo, abbot of Fleury in the 10th century, sang these pious traditions in a Sequence: "In the mystical scene, Martial was the guest of Christ, and took what remained of the heavenly bread; and, joyful, he presented the linens when the Savior washed himself to wipe the feet of his disciples; and far from fleeing their sacred gathering, he was a pious member of that timid troop in which Thomas was not found; furthermore, when Christ ascended to heaven, he merited to be blessed with the crowd of those present; and he did not despise the choir of the Apostles who praised God; but he received with them the graces of the Holy Spirit and the gift of tongues, and thus fortified, he arrived in Antioch in the company of Peter: from there he went to the great city of Rome."

Rome has preserved the memory of the passage and preaching of Saint Martial. A tradition of the highest antiquity, recorded in the ancient breviary of Santa Maria in Via Lata, attributes to him the foundation of the underground Oratory of that church, one of the primitive sanctuaries of Christian Rome.

We read in this legend that "Saint Peter, having come to Rome, was accompanied among others by the blessed Martial, disciple of Jesus Christ, who preached the Christian faith with him through the streets and public squares, and made many conversions; and thus the number of the faithful increased more and more in the city. And because Saint Peter dwelt assiduously with the leaders of Rome, who admired his new doctrine, Saint Martial dwelt in another quarter of the city, in the place which is called Via Lata, where he built a small oratory, in which he celebrated the holy mysteries, and poured out prayers with the other faithful of Christ; and causing sweet words about the faith of Christ to spring from his heart, he baptized a great number of neophytes. Some time later, the apostle Saint Paul came to Rome, with a great number of disciples, among whom was the evangelist Saint Luke, and the city of Rome was illuminated admirably by their preaching, as if by a resplendent sun. But Saint Peter, seeing that the faith was founded and strengthened in Rome, and that the city was already filled with pious teachers, resolved to have the Gospel announced to the adjacent provinces and to bring the infidels to the faith. That is why he sent the blessed Martial to Ravenna and 'to the countries beyond the Mountains', to preach the faith of Christ there."

A commentary on this legend, printed in Rome in the 17th century, says that Saint Martial, founder of the Oratory of Santa Maria in Via Lata, is the same Saint Martial who preached the Gospel to the inhabitants of Limoges, Toulouse, and Bordeaux.

The zeal that Saint Martial had displayed, in the company of Saint Peter, for the propagation of the faith, therefore determined this great Apostle, whose vision extended over the whole earth, to choose him to bring the knowledge of Jesus Christ into the Gauls. He departed from Rome, accompanied by Saint Austriclinian and Saint Alpinian, whom Saint Peter gave him as colleagues, carrying in his mouth the sword of the word of God, to fight the philosophers, the superstition of the Druids, the power of princes and demons, and, at the same time, to enlighten souls and set them ablaze with the fire of charity.

But after a few days of travel, he found himself deprived of the help the Apostle had given him by the death of one of his companions, Saint Austriclinien, at Cracchianum, on the river Else, today *Graneiana*, near the town of *Colle di Val d’Elza*, in Tuscany. This unforeseen accident troubled him at first and served as a test of his generous courage. He then decided to retrace his steps to inform Saint Peter a nd beg him t saint Pierre Apostle and first pope, mentioned as the father of Petronilla. o make up for the loss he suffered by the absence of such considerable help. The Apostle consoled him and strengthened him in his initial resolution; and, to restore the help he had lost, he gave him his staff, instructing him to pl bâton Instrument of the resurrection of George, shared between the Velay and the Périgord regions. ace it upon the body of the deceased with the firm confidence that he would be resurrected. Martial took it with great respect, obeyed his master's voice without resistance, returned promptly to Gracchianum, and touched Austriclinien with this staff. As his faith was incomparably greater than that of Gehazi, the servant of Elisha, who had received a similar order to apply the Prophet's staff to the corpse of the Shunammite's son, his action was also more fortunate and more effective: Austriclinien immediately felt its virtue; he opened his eyes, rose in full health, and found himself able to continue his apostolic journey.

The ancient acts of Saint Martial, in reporting this resurrection, express themselves as follows: "The event occurred as Saint Peter had announced, as the popular renown attests. Scarcely had Saint Martial touched the corpse of his companion with the staff of Saint Peter, when the limbs that the warmth of blood had abandoned were instantly restored to a new life: Austriclinien began to see with his own eyes the light he had lost the enjoyment of upon dying. Why this miracle, if not to make the faith of Peter, in whose name it was performed, shine in all its brilliance?"

One can still see, near the bridge of Granciano, an ancient church dedicated under the invocation of Saint Martial, and erected over the tomb of Austriclinien; one reads there an inscription that recalls the most glorious traditions for the holy Apostle; and very close to there, the town of Colle has been erected into an episcopal title in honor of the disciple of Jesus Christ.

The land that Saint Martial had received the mission to evangelize extended between the Rhône, the Loire, and the Atlantic Ocean, and included that large part of the Gauls that the ancients called Aquitaine. After having crossed vast regions while sowing the divine word along his path, the Apostle arrived, with his two disciples, on the borders of the Limousin. He entered the city of Toulx, which is today only a small town situated on a mountain, but which was then a castle or fortified city, whose triple enclosure and ruins, which still subsist, attest to its former extent. We read in the legend of Aurelian that a rich man of this city, who had the happiness of receiving Saint Martial and lodging him for several days in his house, was not deprived of the reward for his hospitality; he had an only daughter, possessed by a furious demon who made her suffer great evils and reduced her to a deplorable state: the Saint had pity on her, and, delivering her from this terrible enemy, returned her safe and sound to her father; he also resurrected the son of the prince, or Roman governor of this city, and after having conferred baptism upon this young man and a great number of inhabitants, he went to the temple of the false gods and struck down its statues.

From Toulx, the Apostle went to the town of Albun with the hope of working there with the same success; but the priests of the idols, unable to suffer that the cult which earned them their living be abolished, struck him cruelly, him and his blessed companions. By a just punishment from heaven, they became blind, and, recognizing their crime, they asked for pardon from Saint Martial, who restored their sight. After, upon a word from the Apostle, the statue of Jupiter had been reduced to dust, a great number of pagans, converted by his miracles, received baptism and broke the sculpted images of the demons. Saint Martial also healed a paralytic in this place; and, having made known to those he had baptized that he had received the order to go further, he separated from his neophytes after having commended them to God, and went to the city of Limoges, the principal and most populous of all the cities of the Limousin.

Here is what we read in the ancient life of Saint Martial:

« Upon his arrival in Limoges, he found the multitude given over to the cult of idols; he began to preach the word of God with such insistence that he made the most salutary impression upon the people; after a short time, a great number of pagans asked to be regenerated in the waters of baptism, and to receive on their foreheads the sacred impression of the cross of Jesus Christ; by his frequent exhortations, the man of God produced, in the midst of this city, abundant fruits of salvation.

« A young girl, named Valerie, more noble by her faith than b Valérie Virgin honored at Honnecourt and Cambrai, traditionally said to be the sister of Saint Liephard. y her illustrious origin, had the happiness of pleasing God by her virtues. She was already betrothed, she was to contract a marriage in keeping with her high birth; but by frequently listening to the divine word, she preferred the celestial Spouse to an earthly spouse, and, at the voice of Martial, she attained the grace of baptism; and it is reported that, as she had become a Christian and had not wished to contract the planned marriage, she was put to death by her fiancé, who was still a pagan ».

This is how this ancient life expresses itself.

The legend of Aurelian goes into greater detail. Saint Martial and his companions, entering the city of Limoges, received hospitality at the home of a noble lady, whose only daughter was named Valerie. There was in the house a man so furious that one was obliged to keep him bound with many chains: but Saint Martial having made the sign of the cross over this man, his chains broke and he was entirely healed. The noble matron, upon seeing this miracle, begged the man of God to baptize her; and she received baptism with her daughter and the numerous troop of her servants.

Then Martial, having gone with his disciples into the vast enclosure of the theater, where the people were assembled, to preach the Gospel of the kingdom of God there, the priests of the idols, fearing that these happy beginnings might be followed by a prompt conversion of the whole city, conceived such rage against our Saints that they seized them, had them beaten with rods, and threw them into prison. But the next day, Martial having begun to pray, a celestial light appeared in the middle of the dungeon which illuminated its darkness and changed it into a temple of glory; and, at the same time, the irons fell from the feet and hands of these blessed prisoners, and the doors opened to give them the liberty to withdraw. Meanwhile, the whole city was agitated by a furious earthquake, accompanied by a terrifying thunder that set it on fire; one saw that God was taking vengeance for the affront done to his servants; furthermore, the two principal priests of the idols, who had laid hands on them, were found dead on the square by the violence of this storm, without either their sacrilegious vows or their impious sacrifices having been able to save them from divine justice. The inhabitants, touched by these prodigies, and fearing to be enveloped in this terrible punishment, ran promptly to the prison to implore the help of the holy Apostles. Martial promised them that they would suffer no harm, provided that they were willing to believe in Jesus Christ, and even offered to resurrect the two priests struck by the thunder, in order to make them see the infinite power of the God he was preaching to them. Indeed, scarcely had he commanded them to rise and to tell the people publicly what they must do to be saved, than they both returned to life, and became at the same time the preachers of the truth. They detested the error in which they had lived until then, and in which they had maintained so many unfortunate people who had been lost, and protested that there was no other God, neither in heaven nor on earth, than the one that Martial had come to announce to them. One of them, named Aurelian, was later the successor of Sa int Mart Aurélien Former priest of idols who was resurrected, successor to Martial in Limoges. ial. Such a great miracle made a marvelous change in the whole city; most of the idolaters were converted, the statues of the false gods were overthrown and broken into pieces, and the temple of the idols, where the statues of Jupiter, Mercury, Diana, and Venus were found, was changed into a church to honor the true God. It is today the cathedral church, dedicated in honor of the first martyr Saint Stephen. It is said that the people who were baptized reached the number of twenty-two thousand: which should not seem incredible, since we see that in other places the number of martyrs has often been greater.

However, the pious matron who had given hospitality to Saint Martial and his companions passed away. Her daughter, Valerie, was betrothed to the governor of the province, whom the legend of Aurelian calls Duke S tephen, no duc Étienne Roman governor of the province, fiancé of Valeria, converted after his crime. doubt because this name was given to him when he later received baptism in his turn. The young virgin despised this earthly spouse to merit being the spouse of the King of Heaven, and, having learned from Saint Martial, her master, the advantages of virginity over marriage, she consecrated hers to Jesus Christ and vowed to keep it inviolably all her life. Her fiancé, having returned to Limoges and learning of this resolution, was struck with extreme sorrow; then, fury succeeding sadness, he resolved to avenge himself, through the death of this innocent virgin, for the affront he claimed to receive from this refusal. He had her led outside the city and ordered one of his officers to cut off her head.

One reads in the legend of Saint Valerie a particularity also found in the legends of some other martyrs of the first centuries: it is that this glorious virgin, having been beheaded, took her head in her hands and carried it as if in triumph to the altar where Saint Martial was celebrating the holy mysteries.

The legend of Aurelian recounts that, at the moment of Valerie's execution, her holy soul was seen ascending to heaven in a globe of fire, accompanied by the harmonious concert of the Angels: "You are happy, martyr of Christ: come into the splendor that knows no end!"

Surprised by these wonders, the officer who had cut off Valerie's head ran to tell them to his master. Scarcely had he finished the account when he fell dead at his feet, so that his death might show this lord the greatness of the crime he had committed. Stephen, terrified, had Martial brought to his palace, and, having promised to do penance if he restored life to his officer, he was a witness to this resurrection and solemnly executed the promise he had made. His conversion was followed by that of a great number of soldiers from his army and inhabitants of the city who had not yielded to the first miracles of our Saint. And to worthily repair his past faults, the governor helped Martial to extend and propagate Christianity throughout the entire country.

Our Apostle, after having worked with such happy success to bring the city of Limoges under the yoke of Jesus Christ, undertook the conquest of the other cities and provinces of this part of Gaul, which was then called Aquitaine; we shall cite among these cities Angoulême, Bordeaux, Toulouse, and Poitiers. The glorious title that has remained with him, of Apostle of Aquitaine, sufficiently shows that his apostolic journeys were not in vain, that he lit the torch of faith there on all sides, that he made Jesus Christ known and loved there,

that he established Churches there, ordained priests and bishops, and performed the other functions of his apostolate.

It is an immemorial tradition in the province of Angoumois that Saint Martial, while traveling to Bordeaux to preach the Gospel, passed through the city of Angoulême, stayed there for some time, converted the people to the faith of the true God, baptized Saint Ausone there, and ordained him the first bishop of that city.

The city of Bordeaux recognizes itself as indebted to Saint Martial for the first proclamations of the faith. It is a tradition gathered in the legend of Aurelian that the Apostle of Aquitaine preached the Gospel there and performed miracles. An archbishop of Bordeaux, in the 10th century, said in an eloquent prayer: "Do we not believe that our episcopal city, the city of Bordeaux, was acquired for Jesus Christ by you, and that a woman whom you had baptized, by placing your pastoral staff on the prince of the city, healed him of an inveterate illness?" We also see, in the Epistle to the Bordelais, that the altars of the demons were reduced to dust, and that the high priest of the idols, converted to the faith, was consecrated by Saint Martial as the first priest of this nascent church. From Bordeaux, the holy Apostle went to preach the Gospel at Mortagne, in Saintonge: one can still see there, facing the Gironde, a hermitage carved into the rock, whose chapel is dedicated under his invocation, and where it is said that he resided for some time.

Peter the Venerable, speaking of the first apostles of Gaul, asserts that Saint Martial preached in Limoges, Bordeaux, and Poitiers. It is said that when he was in this last city, the Savior appeared to him and said: "Know that, at this very hour, Peter is being crucified for the glory of my name: therefore, found a church here in his honor."

The chronicle composed in the Middle Ages under the name of Dexter, the friend and contemporary of Saint Jerome, says that Saint Martial was the apostle of the inhabitants of Limoges, Cahors, and Toulouse. This last city had written its tradition on the facade of Saint-Sernin, where one formerly saw a statue of the apostle of Aquitaine, with an inscription that gave him Saint Saturnin as an auxiliary; finally, the Epistle to the inhabitants of Toulouse is another monument of the Middle Ages that shows the antiquity of this tradition.

Ancient documents of the diocese of Mende represent Saint Severian, first bishop of Gévaudan, as a disciple of Saint Martial; old legends assure that he dedicated altars to the Virgin Mary, at Le Puy-en-Velay, at Rodez, at Mende, at Clermont, and at Roc-Amadour: in a word, all the churches of Aquitaine regard him as their apostle and founder.

Ancient manuscripts, once kept at Ceignac, attest that S aint Ma Ceignac Marian sanctuary founded by Martial near Rodez. rtial came to this place, a short distance from Rodez, where he erected a cross and had a sanctuary built in honor of the Virgin. This sanctuary, one of the oldest and most venerated in the diocese of Rodez, was called Notre-Dame des Monts, due to the mountains that surround it, or Notre-Dame de Ceignac. Little by little, a village formed around this sanctuary; then a parish was established there; and, the primitive chapel proving insufficient, a larger church was built next to it, under the title of Saint Mary Magdalene. Later, time having ruined these two churches, they were replaced by a new one, under the invocation of the Blessed Virgin; this is the current church, except for the sanctuary and the first bay, which, rebuilt in 1455, if one believes the historical notices, are of the secondary ogival style, as are the first three chapels, while the rest of the nave, in Romanesque style, dates to the 13th century; except, secondly, for the last two chapels, which were added later, and the vault of the part of the nave made in a barrel vault, a work of the 18th century; except, finally, for the beautiful modern stained glass windows, which form the rose window of the facade, and which present, in the other openings, medallions with figures, of exquisite taste and delightful effect.

At the top of the altarpiece that covers the circular apse is an Assumption, where the Duke of Arpajon was depicted, in a corner of the painting, as one of the principal benefactors of the church; and, in the lower part of the altarpiece, are three niches, of which the middle one, surmounted by a fleur-de-lis crown, contains a very large Virgin with the infant Jesus on her left arm; the one on the right contains the ancient miraculous Virgin of Ceignac, also holding her divine Child on her left arm, and above it one reads: Antiquæ imagini Virginis deiparæ miraculis insigni. D. D. D.; finally, the one on the left shows Saint Anne having in her arms, on one side the Child Jesus, and on the other the Virgin Mary, with the inscription: Inclitæ parentis Dei genitricis imagini. D. D. D.

The first chapel on the right presents, on one hand, the sorrows of Mary at the Holy Sepulcher, and, on the other, on the altar step, her coronation in heaven. The second is called the chapel of Rodez, due to the painting placed above the altar, which the city of Rodez offered in 1653 for having been saved from the plague.

The treasury of Notre-Dame de Ceignac is no less curious than the church itself. One sees there a statuette of the Virgin, in silver, having at its base a rounded glass that is applied to sick eyes; a small chest containing several relics, on the front of which is a figure of the Virgin in relief, which pilgrims are made to kiss; twenty silver lamps with endowments for their maintenance; two silver-gilt chalices; two others in silver; a cross with two candlesticks, a ciborium, a monstrance, four cruets with their basins; all equally in silver and worth more than one hundred thousand francs. The greater part of these riches came from the lords of Arpajon, whose castle was nearby. These high and powerful lords had a special devotion for Notre-Dame de Ceignac; they honored her during their lives, and aspired to rest in her sanctuary after their deaths; the church still contains several of their tombs. Jean III, Baron of Arpajon, is remarkable above all: he instituted a chaplain in the church to say Mass there every Friday and every Saturday after the feasts of the Blessed Virgin, and on each anniversary of his death; he gave a cannon to make a bell; he obtained from the Holy See a plenary indulgence, valid for one hundred years, for visiting the church, accompanied by communion, on one of the feasts of the Blessed Virgin; finally, he prescribed, by his will of January 22, 1516, to be buried in Notre-Dame de Ceignac and to place his statue on his tomb, between those of Saint John the Baptist and Saint Christopher, representing him kneeling, hands joined, dressed and armed as he was when he was taken by the English in Picardy.

Simple faithful, like the great lords, loved to deposit their humble offering at the feet of Notre-Dame de Ceignac and never believed they could sufficiently express their gratitude. It is that, indeed, one cannot say the number of miracles performed by the invocation of Notre-Dame de Ceignac. The first that the historical notices recount, and which they place in 1450, is the healing of a prince of Hungary, a palatine lord. Deprived of sight, he had been asking for his healing from the Blessed Virgin for many long years, when she, tradition says, appeared to him and announced that he would recover his sight at Notre-Dame des Monts, near Rodez. The prince immediately set out with an escort of one hundred men; assailed on the way by a storm, he lost his escort and arrived at Notre-Dame des Monts, accompanied only by three men. He had Mass celebrated there, and, hearing a noise of arms behind him, he turned instinctively, and saw his banner with his faithful Hungarians whom he thought lost: a cry of happiness escaped him. Thanks to Mary, he had recovered his sight, he had recovered his escort; in gratitude for these two benefits, he gave seven lamps to the church with a precious vase, where his name and the date of the pilgrimage were engraved, and obtained from the bishop that Notre-Dame des Monts would henceforth be called Notre-Dame de Ceignac, in memory of the one hundred men miraculously found in this place. Even today, there is a monument to this event in the church: it consists of three wooden statues, representing the Virgin, before her the prince kneeling; behind the prince, his squire, and, above, an inscription recalling the miracle.

In 1604, around Saint John's Day, a most threatening storm appearing in the air, the clergy of Ceignac walked in procession through the village, imploring Mary to protect a land that was consecrated to her; and, while all the neighboring parishes were horribly ravaged by hail, Ceignac alone suffered no damage; which struck the bishop so much that he ordered that all the parishes of the diocese would go there in procession; and his order was faithfully executed. The account of all these facts was once kept in the archives of Ceignac, written by the hand of the priest who had led the procession.

In 1628, the city of Albi was delivered from the plague, which was already at its gates, by the vow it made to go and visit, as a body, Notre-Dame de Ceignac; and it executed this vow on March 26 of the following year.

In 1653, the city of Rodez had already lost, by the same scourge, several of its inhabitants; it made a vow to go, also as a body, to visit Notre-Dame de Ceignac, and to give her two hundred livres for the ornamentation of the church. Its vow was also granted; and, the following year, not only did it fulfill it faithfully, but it wanted to make the memory of the miracle perpetual by a painting that is still seen in the church of Ceignac, and which represents the Eternal Father throwing a javelin, below the Virgin, the Child Jesus, the cross, and Saint Amand.

To these public miracles were added others in favor of individuals, especially to obtain contrition for their faults, reconciliation between divided spouses, the fertility of sterile women, and the happy outcome of the embarrassments that one so often encounters in life.

Even in our day, one visits Notre-Dame de Ceignac with fruit. The philosophy seminary, which is in Rodez, goes there every two years, singing hymns or reciting prayers throughout the journey. The minor seminary of Saint-Pierre also goes there. Nearly twenty parishes go there processionally each year; and, moreover, twelve to fifteen thousand pilgrims come there, either from various parts of the diocese or from neighboring dioceses. Twelve to fifteen hundred Masses are celebrated there per year; and the ex-votos hung on the walls of the church attest to the number of benefits that have been obtained there.

Independently of the graces that Notre-Dame de Ceignac granted to its visitors, one was also attracted to its sanctuary by two other motives: the first was, without speaking of a crowd of other relics, pieces of the clothing, the veil, and the stone of the sepulcher of the Blessed Virgin, of the manger of Our Lord and of his cradle, of his clothes, of the table where he ate with his disciples, of the bread of the Last Supper, of the stone on which he prayed in Gethsemane, of the reed of his passion, of the gall that was offered to him to drink and of the sponge soaked in vinegar, finally of the True Cross. The second motive was the indulgences that this sanctuary enjoyed from 1420; a plenary indulgence, called from time immemorial the Great Pardon, was attached to the visit of Notre-Dame de Ceignac for all the holy days of obligation of the Blessed Virgin, as well as for the Sunday in the octave of the Assumption, which is the patronal feast; and Gregory XVI, in renewing this indulgence in 1837, extended it to Ascension Day. In 1655, Alexander VII attached to the visit of the seven altars of the church the indulgences of the seven stations of Rome twelve times a year. In 1843, Notre-Dame de Ceignac, by its affiliation with Notre-Dame des Victoires of Paris, participated in the same privileges; and in 1854, affiliated with Notre-Dame of Loreto, it was put in possession of all the indulgences attached to the Santa Casa.

The ancient life of Saint Martial does not indicate with precision the year of his blessed passing; but one reads in the legend of Aurelian that in the year 40 after the resurrection of Our Lord, which was the seventy-fourth year of salvation, Saint Martial, after twenty-eight years of episcopate, finding himself in Limoges, received there the happy news of the approach of his death, which was to allow him to enjoy the reward of his labors. He immediately made it known to his disciples and his diocesans, and having assembled them, he exhorted them to persevere constantly in the faith and in the confession of the truth that he had taught them, and gave them his blessing. Then, having prayed for them, and having implored for himself the mercy of Him whom he had served with such fidelity, he committed his soul into His hands, to be crowned with the glory that had been prepared for him from the time of the creation of the world.

It is said that, on the point of expiring, hearing groans and sobs breaking out around him, he raised his failing hand and said to his disciples: 'Silence! Do you not hear the beautiful chants coming from heaven? Assuredly the Lord is coming, just as He promised.' And, at that moment, the place where he was was flooded as if by waves of sunlight, and a voice was heard saying: 'Blessed soul, come out of your body, come enjoy with me the sweetness of an immortal light!' And when the soul of Martial ascended to heaven amidst these brightnesses, a choir of blessed spirits was heard repeating this verse of a psalm: 'Happy is the one whom you have chosen and whom you have called to you: he shall dwell in your eternal courts.'

His body was buried in the very place where Saint Valeria had received burial, and where later rose the basilica of Saint-Pierre-du-Sépulcre, the first foundation of the famous abbey of Saint-Martial. Many miracles occurred there subsequently: Gregory of Tours reports two. The first was performed on a girl whose fingers, in punishment for some sin, had become so attached to the palm of her hand that it was impossible for her to straighten them. She came to the sepulcher of the glorious Apostle; she kept vigil there and prayed with great fervor, and, on the very night of his feast day, she obtained the healing of her infirmity. The second miracle was performed on a man who had become mute for having made a false oath in the church; he went to the tomb of the Saint, and, having groaned for a long time in his heart to obtain the pardon of his fault, he felt as if a hand were touching his tongue and throat and spreading a secret virtue there; which was so effective that after he had a priest make the sign of the cross over his mouth, he began to speak as before.

A much more famous miracle is that of the healing of the 'mal des Ardents'. In 994, a cont agion, called t mal des Ardents Medieval epidemic treated by Adalberon II in Epinal. he plague of fire, was wreaking terrible havoc in Aquitaine. It was an invisible and secret fire that devoured the limbs to which it was attached and caused them to fall from the body. This putrefaction of living bodies spread an unbearable odor in the air. The plague-stricken died by the thousands. The bishops of Aquitaine assembled in Limoges in order to obtain from God, through the intercession of Saint Martial, the cessation of this terrible scourge. Arriving among the first, Archbishop Gombaud went to kneel before the tomb of the venerated Apostle, and there, bursting into tears and sobs, and extending suppliant hands, he made aloud this eloquent prayer, which history has preserved for us:

'O pastor of Aquitaine, you who enlightened it with the lights of the faith, arise to help your people!... Do not permit these infernal tortures to reign near your sacred body! O Martial! mirror of virtues, O prince of pontiffs, where then is what we read of you, that you were at the Last Supper the minister of the Savior when He washed the feet of His disciples?... Certainly the tradition of our ancient Fathers has transmitted to us that you had received the gift of tongues with the other disciples... Show yourself then the disciple of Him who is the source of mercy! Yes, I take as witness all those who hear me, if, before I depart from this city, you do not extinguish this devouring flame in the hearts of those who are here, if I do not see you heal this multitude, I will no longer believe anything of the admirable things that are said of you! Never again will I return to this city to implore your patronage! It is in vain that one will tell me that you are called the disciple of the Lord! It is in vain that one will tell me that God sent you as an apostle to the nations of the West! It is in vain that one will tell me that you baptized the people of Bordeaux, of whom I am the bishop, I will no longer believe it, if I do not obtain the favor that I implore for the salvation of this afflicted multitude. And your pastoral staff, which has been kept until now in my episcopal city as a precious treasure, this relic will be vile in my eyes if you do not gladden my heart by the healing of all these poor sick people!'

A prayer made with such faith deserved to be answered. Indeed, the contagion ceased its ravages, and an immense joy spread in hearts.

We have stated, at the beginning, from which sources we would draw the principal actions of Saint Martial. Two centuries ago, the legend composed under the name of Aurelian, successor to Saint Martial in the episcopate, one of the two priests of the idols who died from a lightning strike and whom he had brought back to life, was rejected as apocryphal. In rejecting this legend, one was not content with contesting the title of Apostle for the holy bishop, as had been done in the 12th century, but one also fought against the antiquity of his mission and his status as a disciple of Jesus Christ. But although this writing is not by Aurelian, disciple and successor of Saint Martial, as shown by certain manners of speaking that are much more recent, this should not prejudice the truth of the history we have recounted. This writing is at least a collection of the ancient traditions of the country regarding Saint Martial: for the biography of a Saint that an entire country knows is necessarily in conformity with what local tradition says of this Saint. Moreover, the discussions and definitions of the various councils that have researched the titles of the apostolate of Saint Martial, the declaration of two sovereign pontiffs, John XIX and Clement VI, the testimonies of so many Martyrologies, Rituals, and Litanies that were read publicly in the Church more than eight hundred years ago, must suffice for us to believe indubitably that Saint Martial is one of the disciples of Our Lord, and that he came to the Gauls sent by Saint Peter. It is true that Gregory of Tours later placed his mission later, but the text of this historian has been refuted in such a peremptory way that it is no longer permitted to use it to fight the antiquity of the first establishment of the Churches of France. And indeed, if one had to defer to it, the bishops of the Councils we have cited, who could not have been ignorant of the text of this historian, would have taken care not to define, on the contrary, that Saint Martial must be an Apostle, because being one of the seventy-two disciples of Our Lord, he received from Him the mission to preach the Gospel and to cooperate with the twelve Apostles in the conversion of the world: which we see, nevertheless, that they did without contestation. Moreover, the recent discovery of the ancient Acts of Saint Martial has demonstrated that the immemorial tradition of the Limousin, written before Gregory of Tours, was that Saint Martial had received his apostolic mission in the time of Saint Peter.

He is represented: 1st in the company of an angel: it is said that twelve of these guardian spirits usually accompanied him in his travels through the Gauls; 2nd receiving the head of Saint Valeria who brought it to him herself while he was celebrating Mass; 3rd holding in his hand the pastoral staff with which he brings Saint Austriclinien back to life; 4th dressed in the chasuble, in his capacity as a priest; 5th with the stational cross, or long-staffed cross, because of the title of Apostle that the Limousins bestow upon him; 6th in a group, in the company of the six bishops who are considered to have been sent with him into the Gauls: Saint Gatianus of Tours, Saint Trophimus of Arles, Saint Paul of Narbonne, Saint Saturnin of Toulouse, Saint Denis of Paris, and Saint Austremonius of Auvergne.

He is the patron of Limoges, Cahors, Colle in Tuscany, Tulle, etc.

## CULT AND RELICS. — HIS WRITINGS.

Gregory Lombardelli, an Italian author of a life of Saint Martial at the end of the 16th century, recounts that when they wanted to perform the translation of the relics of the holy Apostle, 600 years after his death, they found his body in a state of perfect preservation, with flesh and hair: it exhaled a delicious odor. The head of the Saint was enclosed in a special reliquary and suddenly decomposed from its flesh to be reduced to the state of an ordinary skull. Then, on this bare skull, appeared the very visible marks of the five fingers of the hand of Christ, an indelible souvenir of the imposition of the Savior's hand on the head of the young Martial, when He pronounced these words: "If you do not become like this child, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven."

The church housing the body of Saint Martial was soon frequented by a great influx of pilgrims, and a multitude of miracles occurred there. It was found necessary to build a more vast basilica in order to contain the crowd of pious visitors. It was at least restored in the 7th century and became the center of a monastery of regular canons: King Pepin, in the 8th century, visited it and made several donations to it.

Louis the Pious, after the death of Charlemagne, wishing to honor the monastery of Saint-Étienne of Limoges that he had built, transferred the relics of Saint Martial there. Shortly after, this king was made prisoner by his three children and thrown into a dungeon, which was regarded as a punishment for the translation he had caused to be carried out against the will of heaven. The winter that year was of extreme rigor, and the floods devastated the whole country; they were only stopped when the body of Saint Martial had been returned to its first dwelling.

The tomb of the holy Apostle was enriched, by the piety and gratitude of the faithful, with very precious gifts and ornaments of unheard-of magnificence. These riches tempted the greed of Aldeger, bishop of Limoges, at the end of the 10th century; he took them without meeting resistance and died shortly after. The plague then broke out in Limoges and claimed a multitude of victims, as we have already reported. This scourge was attributed to a punishment from heaven; recourse was therefore had to the powerful intercession of Saint Martial, and, after three days of solemn fasting, the relics of the holy Apostle were carried in procession with all possible pomp. Immediately the scourge suspended its ravages.

Immediately, says the official report of this translation, a church was built there which was consecrated under the name of Saint Martial. Since that day, this place is called Montjoie, *Mons Gaudii*, and this is what this name of Montjasvy signifies, which has remained for it, in the language of the people, as a souvenir and a monument of this miracle.

Pope Urban II, having come to France to preach the crusade, went to Limoges in the year 1095 to venerate the relics of Saint Martial; he even held a council in this city and consecrated a new and large basilica built in honor of the Saint.

In the year 1122 or 1123, following a terrible fire that destroyed the city of Limoges, a fountain gushed from the foot of the tomb of the holy Apostle, with such abundance that it formed a stream which the monks used for the needs of their monastery. The source dried up some time later; but the people obtained through their prayers that it gush forth again.

The venerable head of the holy Apostle was separated from his other relics in the 12th century and enclosed in a magnificent gold reliquary; a great number of miracles were performed through this relic. Towards the end of the same century, English priests, sent by the bishop of Lincoln in England, obtained a fragment of the head of Saint Martial for a monastery dedicated to this Saint. Saint Eligius had already mentioned a relic of the Apostle as having been brought to Paris.

We will not report here all the miracles that occurred at the tomb of Saint Martial. They are innumerable; there exist four accounts written at different times and by contemporaries of these wonders. Throughout France, and even in foreign countries, the glory of Saint Martial shone with extraordinary brilliance and attracted a multitude of pious pilgrims to his tomb.

The cathedral church of Limoges still possesses his relics, and they are shown to the faithful every seven years; this is what is called the feast of the Ostension.

He is attributed with the foundation of the chapel that was located on the Rue du Saint-Esprit in Limoges, when he made his entry through the Calornie gate: this chapel formerly had the right to raise an altar of repose, and on certain days the parish priest came there to give the benediction of the Blessed Sacrament.

Two epistles under the name of Saint Martial have been inserted in the second volume of the Library of the Fathers, addressed, one to the inhabitants of Bordeaux, the other to those of Toulouse. In his epistles, Saint Martial takes the name of Martial-Cephas, and gives himself the title of Apostle. Bellarmine, who fought the authenticity of these letters for various reasons more or less solid, admits "that they are pious, and that they could serve to confirm several Catholic dogmas, if one knew positively the time when they were composed." It is certain that they are prior to the 10th century, since they are cited as ancient by a writer of that era. Perhaps they were written to replace real epistles of Saint Martial, lost during the invasion of the Barbarians. Be that as it may, these letters prove at least one thing, which is that, at the ancient time when they were composed, people believed in the apostolate of Saint Martial, for such epistles have never been attributed except to the Apostles or to apostolic men contemporary with the Apostles.

We owe this account to M. Arbellot, parish priest of Rochechouart, who, by taking as a basis the life written by Fr. Giry, kindly summarized his history of Saint Martial for us himself. — Cf. Les Saints du Resorgue, by Abbé L. Corvières