ON S. LUPERCIUS OR LUPERCULUS, MARTYR AMONG THE ELUSATES IN NOVEMPOPULANIA, TRANSLATED TO THE DIOCESE OF S. PAPULUS IN GALLIA NARBONENSIS.
UNDER THE EMPEROR DECIUS.
CRITICAL COLLECTION.
On his age, cult, and distinction from S. Lupercus, Martyr of Saragossa.
Lupercius or Luperculus, Martyr among the Elusates in Novempopulania (S.)
BHL Number: 5072
BY THE AUTHOR D. P.
The outermost Province of Gaul toward Spain to the West, called anciently by the name of Novempopulania, once venerated as its Metropolis Elusa, in Claudian frequently with the penultimate shortened Elysa, commonly called Euse; now a small town, the Metropolitan dignity having been transferred to Augusta of the Ausci, Elusa formerly metropolis of Novempopulania, commonly, Auch. Certain old Acta write the Bishop "Elosanus" and "Elosanensis," concerning whom see William Catel learnedly discoursing, in his Memoirs of Languedoc, that is of Occitania, page 445; where from the Catalogues of that Church he thus recounts the first Bishops of that city, so that after Paternus and Servandus, third is mentioned Luperculus; and on the following pages he cites Scaliger's Notes on Ausonius, asserting that of this Saint, commonly called Saint Louberc, Patron of the same church of Elosa, the Life was read by him in an ancient manuscript on the Lives of the Saints of Aquitaine; among the first Bishops it had S. Lupercius, perhaps the same which Ferrarius, in the General Catalogue of those who are not inscribed in the Roman Martyrology, cites in his Notes, as to be found in the Library of the Dominicans of Toulouse.
[2] From this, or from the same source, Peter, Bishop of S. Papulus, took that Epitome, which, together with the eulogies of the other Saints resting in that diocese, whose Life contracted into an Epitome, under the attestations of three Canons, and the authentic faith of the Vicar General, made in the year 1682, P. Peter Possinus of pious memory sent us from Toulouse. But there were of the same name and surname de Crosso, there successively brothers german (which you may wonder) two Bishops, of whom the former, from the Limoges monastery of S. Martial, through various grades promoted to that Cathedra in the year 1376, seems soon to have applied his mind to illustrating the sanctuaries of his diocese. For scarcely had two years passed from his ordination, when to the Archbishopric of Bourges, and finally to that of Arles, and to the Cardinalitial Purple under Clement VII the Antipope he passed; but to his first spouse the see he left many books, among which seems to have been that Ms., in which concerning S. Lupercius it is read thus:
[3] Likewise there rests in the same diocese (of S. Papulus) the body of S. Lupercius the Martyr, it says that he was at Saragossa by Dacianus or the greater part of the body, translated to the convent of Friars Minor of Castelnau d'Arry; commonly Châtelneau d'Arry, about two leagues from the city to the west. At Saragossa born of noble parents, full of virtues, he grew in the Lord; mighty in chastity, glittering with miracles in his life, iron heated with fire he lifted with his hands without injury, the blind he obtained from God to be enlightened, untiringly his body he macerated, a paralytic he cured, many to the faith of Christ he drew. Whose fruit not able to bear, Dacianus the Governor, persecutor of the Christians; that the Lord's harvest might be swallowed up from the parts of Spain, the most blessed Lupercius himself, against the edict of the Emperor Diocletian and of Dacianus his minister, in the midst of the deadly sacrifices, offered to the idol of Apollo by the Governor and the Pagans, crying out, to the consolation of the Christians groaning… Dacianus made him to be hanged on the rack, his viscera to be torn with iron claws, dreadfully tortured, to walk outside the city with a glowing iron helmet upon sharp iron spikes with bare feet, to be beaten with scourges, to be pounded with a hammer. But the most invincible soldier of Christ, amid so many torments, called upon God, and again at Eluzona in Gascony, and the Angels assisting him for the mitigation of his pains. Whose constancy the Pagans seeing, many, with Anatolius the Master of the soldiers, were converted to the faith. At Helyzona, a city of Gascony, melted lead like cold water he vomited, the stinking smoke applied to his nostrils he bore: by whose breath into the abyss the idols with the demons were swallowed up. At length on the fourth day of the Kalends of July, in the same city, by the command of Dacianus struck with the sword, happily he fell asleep in the Lord. the body brought into the diocese of S. Papulus. In the course of time part of his members was conveyed to the now deserted church of S. Columba, of the diocese of Mirepoix, and thence to the aforesaid Convent was translated, where to those honoring it great rewards will be given by God.
[4] Of S. Saturninus, Apostle of the people of Toulouse, to be commemorated on the 29th of November, There Eluzona is wrongly confounded with Elusa Hadrian Valesius cites the Passion and certain old Acta in his Notice of the Gauls, where mention is made of Elyzona, and he thinks this to be the Elusio Mansion, which in the old Itinerary from Bordeaux to Jerusalem is placed between the city of Toulouse and the Castle of Carcassonne, distant from Carcassonne 33 thousand paces: at which interval precisely the topographical map of Occitania or Languedoc places the village of Luzes, so that it cannot be doubted that there was the aforesaid Mansion. But in the Acta of S. Saturninus, such as they are, not any Mansion, but a City is named, such as the metropolis of the Elusates was, in present-day Gascony, four times farther distant from Toulouse toward the West than the aforesaid Mansion is distant from the same place toward the East. I hold therefore the passion of S. Luperculus or Lupercius to be ascribed to this, not to that place; and I judge that, on occasion of the barbarian incursions through Western Aquitaine, the body or part of the body was translated into the province of Narbonne, first indeed to Mirepoix, one of the new Episcopal Sees instituted by John XXII, to the church perhaps Metropolitan sacred to S. Mauritius; then to the aforesaid Convent, five leagues toward the North removed.
[5] Nor do I doubt that from the already related Acta of the Toulouse Ms., such as they are, Saussajus received and inserted into the supplement of his Gallican Martyrology a Eulogy of this kind. Saussajus following the same, On the fourth of the Kalends of July, in Gascony at the city of the Elosates, the Passion of S. Luperculus the Martyr. He, a native of Saragossa, illumined with the Christian faith, in his very boyhood already glittering with divine prodigies, that he might flee glory, sought the desert: whence drawn away, and for the dignity of his lineage (from which he had nobly issued), to the secular military service enrolled, and with his age and strength increasing, set over a numerous band of armed men; when Dacianus, the cruel Governor, against the worshippers of Christ raged with atrocious terrors as well as torments, he came forth openly, to contend for the Christian faith: and, the tyrant being rebuked, the images of the false deities mocked, and the rites of the nefarious superstition; for the proclamation of the piety he asserted, bound with fetters, hung on the rack, lacerated with claws, compelled to tread iron spikes with bare feet, and tortured with horrid torments; all these overcome by Angelic comfort, at length triumphing, with many prodigies of the divine power assisting him; his neck bravely given, not so much for the striking, as for the crown, exulting he flew to the reward.
[6] Nothing here of the Episcopal dignity, with which S. Luperculus or Lupercius among the Sammarthani in volume 1 of Gallia Christiana, page 96, is ascribed to the Archbishops of Elusa, but without the title of Bishop, third after Ceratius and Paternus, the holy guardian and Patron of the church of Elusa, who in this city is said to have suffered under Decius, as it is in the Lives of the Aquitanian Martyrs written by a very ancient and most elegant Author, which are cited by Joseph Scaliger, book 2, chapter 7, on the Ausonian Readings. from which Acta the Sammarthani use, Yet those also recognize ancient records, who, Luperculus being expunged, insert Optatus and Pompidianus. Less also do I understand, why the same Sammarthani (unless they found other Acta than those which we have produced, cited by Scaliger) name Decius the Emperor, under whom the Saint suffered, about the year of Christ 250, instead of Dacianus, Governor of Spain in the year 303.
[7] To one considering all things meanwhile it seems better to leave his own S. Lupercus to Saragossa and to the other Martyrs of Saragossa, confounding him with S. Lupercus, Bishop of Saragossa, of whom from Prudentius I treated on the 16th day of April; and to give, as older than that one, S. Luperculus for this day to the Elusates as a Martyr, not however a Bishop, since not even to themselves is this certain. But as concerns the kinds of manifold torture applied to the Saint, I fear lest in exaggerating these the credulity of the later writers, lacking true Acta, and following only the traditions of their elders, wont rather to add than to subtract, has indulged itself somewhat more: as also John Tamayus abused Saussajus, when, extending the anchoresis first asserted by him, he said that the Saint from boyhood inhabited the desert, where many into his company he drew as disciples. So minds prone to embellish narratives, almost always to what is found add something. more probably of an Elusate Martyr other [than Lupercus,] But how often it happens that on account of the affinity of names something is transferred from one to another Saint without any certain foundation, which here seems to have been done, in ascribing the Saragossan origin and Dacianus the Governor to Luperculus of Elusa, we are taught by most frequent examples in this work, and are compelled mostly to suspect falsity.
[8] one of the Patrons of the people of S. Papulus, The aforepraised Bishop Peter ends that little work of his, on five Saints in the same diocese; namely Papulus, occurring on the 1st of October; Berengarius, praised by us on the 26th of May; the two Maidens, instructed by S. Saturninus, whose feast is observed on the 16th of November; S. Lupercius aforesaid; and B. Raymund the Knight, whose body rests at Puy de Siuran of the Order of Jerusalem, I know not to what day to refer it. He ends, I say, the Bishop Peter that little work, with a commemoration of the marvels which are in the same diocese: of which the first he reckons the rock of Nauroza, which formerly is said to have lain open threefold to a horseman; but now offers passage to none, the ridges joined together; and that as a sign of modesty now exiled from the world; the other on the contrary memorable thing is the monastery of the Virgins of Prouille, under the Rule of S. Augustine instituted by S. Dominic, the Chamber of the Mother of God called: then concluding; I, says he, Peter, with whom deserve to be reckoned the Virgins of the monastery of Prouille. unworthy Bishop of S. Papulus, having frequently experienced their purity and merits, bear testimony, before God and the whole world, flattery ceasing, to be given for my most dear daughters. Wherefore if the bodies of the Saints, with whom from the neighboring cemeteries we are to rise again; by their own household with proclamations of praise we have judged to be noted; we can the glorious Virgins, in countenance and works Angelic in life described, with glittering fame in the beauty of virtue, as patronesses magnify, whose memory remains in holy blessing glorious. Thus far he, I know not whether rather to be believed the uncle of his namesake successor in the Bishopric of S. Papulus, than his brother; inasmuch as he died, and that in advanced age, as from the various offices he held seems to follow, in the year 1388, as is read in his Epitaph among the Sammarthani in the Archbishops of Bourges; while the other survived until the year 1412.
[9] These things now being prepared for the press, while for S. Martial, Apostle of the people of Limoges, Acta, seen by the author of the Epitome and by Saussajus, to be illustrated on the 30th day of this month, I turn over more carefully the book of Histories of Gallican History, by Francis Bosquet, a most learned man, edited with the appendix of the second Part; among the ancient Lives of the Saints, there for proof or judgment collected, from manuscript Codices I find on page 161 the Life or Passion of S. Lupercius the Martyr, who was of wondrous beatitude in Life, and of perfect virtue in combat; and he suffered in the city of Helisona, in the province of Gaul, on the 4th of the Kalends of July. Treating of this Life, the same Bosquet on page 159, book 4 of the part or volume 1, chapter 13, His Acta, he says, written in elegant style, Scaliger says he read, in his Notes on Ausonius: though they are given as apocryphal by Bosquet. which we do not judge to be the same as these, which from a Ms. Codex we publish. But why not? The style certainly, for that rude age in which they were written, the 13th or 14th century (for neither do they seem to be reckoned more ancient), is elegant enough. Why therefore not? I believe, because they are so insipidly contrived, that a learned man, such as Scaliger was, could not approve them. But it is one thing to praise the style, another to praise the thing itself described by the style: another certainly did not see Peter, Bishop of S. Papulus, and Saussajus, whose Epitome taken thence we have given above. That this may appear more clearly, I will not be loath to insert the Acta themselves here, as apocryphal, and in the appended Censures and Notes to demonstrate them such.
ACTA LESS APPROVED,
Published from a Ms. by Francis Bosquet.
Lupercius or Luperculus, Martyr among the Elusates in Novempopulania (S.)
BHL Number: 5071
FROM BOSQUET.
[1] Precious to the Lord and awaited are the combats of the Martyrs, The Author excuses his own slenderness, trusting in God. which are worthy for the dignity of their miracles to be written: but yet without trembling of fortitude they cannot be begun to be written: because when the undertaking of great things is considered, it is no wonder if the multitude of the work to be taken up be feared: and although by slender speech it cannot be explained, how much of itself the truth of the passion declares, yet there is set down the purpose of the matter itself, though to contain it is arduous, and may seem to have a beginning, and in this to have something of trembling it is said: but it is hoped that by the supreme Maker, and divine instruction, the beginning of the one beginning may be formed, and by the persistence of talent be brought to its effect.
[2] This most blessed Lupercius therefore, born in the city of Caesar-Augusta Saragossa, born at Saragossa of middling parents, but in merits exalted, was humble on earth, in the heavens chosen, to whom this was the distinguished light of nobility, to serve Christ without fault; and not swelling with pride of family, but having ornaments of character; and not taking from parental praise vainglory, but giving thanks in virtues, by example entering the supreme example, the treasure of the Lord retaining, with a clean heart embracing it, but also with Christ poor he reigned in the converse of humility, in the richness of charity, in the light of chastity, in the fatness of the divine precepts; and thus he gave himself wholly to the Lord's discipline, that from his very infancy he drew near to the Lord; and placed in the body, as if he bore nothing of the flesh. With this instruction therefore the most blessed one being girt, and great by venerable works, a Priest; when, I say, the chosen one of God, the guilt of the world trodden down, to be initiated with divine arms drew near, and Lupercius, holily educated, with happy arts to the palm, won from the public enemy, to be exercised in the warfare of Christ, a most excellent warrior was made; and offering himself in the temple of Christ first a voluntary sacrifice and devout, namely the victim of the offering of pure flesh, by the genius of a pure mind he renders to God, more renowned in mind than in name, and greater in merit than in rank, without offence performing his office. And he desired to grow in merit, and what he had received to augment, by whose hidden deed sooner, as in a vine the shoots, the virtues began to bear fruit: nor did Christ suffer his gifts long to be hidden in him, which had come from above, and by him humbly seemed to be embraced.
[3] bidden to lift glowing iron with his hand, At length, while he was still exercising the apprenticeship of the Christians, by miracles his virtue is betrayed, and by heavenly signs is made illustrious. For he himself, coming on a certain occasion to the smith's work, a glowing mass of iron drawn out of the burning furnace, despised by the craftsman, is compelled to lift the kindled iron with his hand, and to declare of what weight it was. Then the most blessed man Lupercius, not unaware, that, although he was mighty in true virtues, does it unharmed and defines the weight. he was ready to obey all: forthwith his hand being placed under (so much did he presume of Christ) he lifted the iron higher, saying: With heat, it is hot, but it has nine pounds weight, which afterward to have so much only, in the balance was found, as his free voice had foretold; and so in one kind he propagated a double miracle, since neither did the heat of the fire injure, nor had the weight of the iron deceived. At length, his vices broken, in himself he had no vapor of lust, who so freely long bore the burnings: for he who conquered the element of fire, before extinguished the flames of the flesh; and that in the very weighing he might prove the weight of the iron, this was of the divine virtue, that the unbelieving people might rather believe Lupercius to be a servant of God. And so when he was ten years old, coming to the city of Oloron, he found there five blind men, At ten years he enlightens 5 blind men at Oloron, who from the years of their birth had never seen, and sat at alms daily. But when the Saint saw them weeping before the gate, with spittle he anointed their eyes, and they were enlightened by the prayer and belief of holy Lupercius. Then the multitude of the people signed themselves with the sign of the Lord, and believed in God, because they saw the mighty deeds which the Lord Jesus wrought in the virtue of his servant Lupercius; and that of those who from birth the light had not seen, by the prayer of his servant their eyes were opened.
[4] But when he was twelve years old, he longed for the desert, and there, his body afflicted, at twelve he sought the desert, long he served God. Afterward he was taken and chained, and thence returned, and came to the city of Helisona, upon the river Gelisa; where there was a serpent, which was called Echina, for fear of whom for four and a half miles no men dared make a journey, and it was in the caverns of the mountains and rocks. But the holy one of God Lupercius said to the bystanders of the city; Let us go to the serpent, and cast it out of the field which it possesses. To which when S. Lupercius had come, it went out, he frees Helisona from the serpent. and wished to seize him. Then the holy one of God, praying, against the serpent took his stole, with which he was clothed, and bound it about its neck, and dragged it as far as the river Gelisa, and charged it to touch no bank of the river, until it should enter the sea. Then the multitude of the people praising God, knew that grace in his servant Lupercius had been revealed, by showing so great a virtue against a great serpent. At the age of 26 he heals a paralytic. And when he was twenty-six years old, there came to him a paralytic, whose name was Astericus, having from 28 years much leprosy: for whom S. Lupercius prayed two hours, and signed him with the sign of the Cross, and kissing him said: Stand upon thy feet. In the same hour he stood, and was made whole. Behold how S. Lupercius in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ wrought many good things, whence many believed in the Lord Jesus Christ our Saviour. But yet few things are written, for still greater are his virtues, than here are written.
[5] In that time the devil seized the Governor Dacianus, a citizen of Helisona; Dacianus about to rage against the Christians, who reigned over fourteen Sees. Then he sent an edict throughout all the land, that all the Senators should assemble in one. But when there had been gathered seventy Senators, he sitting on the tribunal, and all the Princes and soldiers around him standing, of whom there was no number, ordered Dacianus himself that all the iron torments which they had prepared for the Christians, before the sight of the people should be brought, that all who should see the works of the torments, should fear to offend the Governor. They brought therefore the swords arranged and sharp, he sets forth the instruments of torment. frying-pans, cauldrons, most sharp saws, harsh shackles, iron hooks, iron helmets, and many other torments, of which there was no number, and he began to say: If anyone shall contradict, so as not to sacrifice to our Gods, I will cut out his tongue, and his eyes I will pluck out, his ears I will stop up, his jaws I will pull apart, his teeth I will tear out, his brain from his head I will scatter, his arms I will pull off, his neck I will pound, his shins and feet I will cut, and even the upper parts of his body to the worms I will deliver. Which heard, many who were thinking to believe in God, seeing the torments set forth, for fear were turned away, so that almost none said, I am a Christian.
[6] Whence when an inestimable people had been gathered; The Saint presents himself to him, having renounced all, behold the holy one of God Lupercius, seeing many Senators and Princes of Dacianus gathered, blaspheming Christ, and the demons adoring, all his gold, and whatever in the world he had obtained, distributed to the poor, and put off the cloak with which he was girt, and casting it on the ground, within himself began to say. The devil has blinded the eyes of those, that they may not know God. For the holy one of God Lupercius himself was a Count over many thousands of men, and had received much gold, and had come to Dacianus, that with him he might proceed. But standing in the midst of the people, he began with a loud voice to say: Thy images cut down, O Governor, because they avail nothing, because they are not Gods whom thou adorest, but the works of the hands of men. The Gods who made not heaven and earth, let them perish. But hearing his voice, the Governor made silence, and looking on him said: Thou, man, not only doest injury, but also commandest the gods: these are they to whom one ought to give thanks. Therefore now enter, and sacrifice to Apollo, who contains all the earth, and governs the world. Tell me, however, of what city art thou, and what is thy name, or for what cause hast thou come hither? S. Lupercius answered: I by men am called Lupercius, and in Christ a Christian I am; but generally at Saragossa a soldier I was over a great number, but returning to Christ, I do well with him. Again said the Governor, Enter, that thou mayest sacrifice to great Apollo. S. Lupercius said, I will not sacrifice to demons. Be ashamed, Governor, since they are not gods, but are deaf and dumb works of men, fashioned by hand.
[7] Then the angry Governor ordered him to be hanged on the rack, and therefore he is variously tortured. and to be tormented with claws, so that his intestines were burst, and these punishments faithfully in Christ he sustained. Then he ordered him to be taken down, and outside the city to be led: and through four parts the flesh fell from his body destroyed, which with a rough hair-cloth he ordered to be wiped off. Again he applied to him an iron helmet, and ordered him unshod to be led upon spikes, and the blood flowed down from his feet, as from a fountain. Again he ordered him to enter the city, and seeing that no torments prevailed against him, he ordered to be made a great little altar, and his neck with sharp nails to be pierced from within, and with one iron sharp point his sinews to be plucked out; and seeing that those torments did not harm him, he ordered him to be taken down, and with an iron hammer his head to be pounded, until his brain through his nostrils dripped, and he the more in Christ was comforted. Then he ordered him into prison to be thrust, comforted by Christ appearing, and in a narrow stocks to be stretched. Again the Governor ordered a column which scarcely ten and eight men carried, to be set upon his belly: and while he was in custody, he blessed the Lord, who comforted his soul and members, that he might conquer the enemy the devil. And behold a light most bright shone in the custody: but in the same night the Lord appeared to him, saying: Be comforted, Lupercius, fail not, since I am with thee. By myself I swear, and by my Angels and by my power, that among those born of women there is none greater than John the Baptist, who intercedes for thee. Be strong in the truth, and do not fail, since I am with thee, and I will not forsake thee; and immediately the Lord ascended into heaven. The holy Lupercius did not cease to entreat the Lord; nor did he see it through sleep, for this vision had appeared to him, the light being made daylight. and again and a third time tortured,
[8] Then the Governor ordered the holy one of God to be brought forth from the prison, and to come before his sight, and he was singing to the Lord, saying: God, to my help attend, Lord, to help me make haste. But entering to the Governor he said to him: Be thou with Apollo, I am with God whom I invoke. Again the Governor ordered him to be stretched and scourged, and beaten he received on his back a hundred stripes, and on his belly forty, and the Governor wrote a letter throughout the world of the earth, saying: If any magician shall be able to undo the magic arts of the Christians, let him come to me, and I will give him two hundred pounds of gold, and six hundred of silver, and many possessions, and he shall be second in my Kingdom. Then holy Lupercius with a loud voice cried out saying: Lord Jesus Christ, who didst deign to descend from heaven to earth, free all, who by the devil are held, and free my soul, and give me the seal, that I may be worthy to enter the gates of Paradise. Seeing therefore the Governor the Saint praying, ordered him to be beaten by the lictors, and again to be detained in custody. But on another day the Governor ordered a magana wheel-engine to be made, and with sharp nails he studded it, and in the midst of it S. Lupercius he commanded to be put. Then one of the Princes, whose name was George, seeing the magana, and applied to the wheel, and the wheel turning and roaring, within himself began to say: Thinkest thou to be freed from this torment? Then looking on him the Lord said to him: Lupercius, be mindful of the time, in which Christ between two thieves was crucified. And looking up to heaven he said to him: I am mindful, Lord, of thy command; and he said: Lord Jesus Christ, whose dominion remains unto the age of the age, crown of those who praise thee, strength of those who endure, fortitude of believers, life of those who hope, helper, succor me in this tribulation. Thou, Lord, before thou madest heaven and earth, thou thyself art, whose spirit over the waters was borne and rested, and no one of men saw thy Majesty, nor can see it; with perpetual wisdom thou didst found heaven, and filledst the clouds, who rainest upon the just and the unjust. Lord, who didst create heaven and earth, and the mountains by thy virtue didst magnify, he invokes Christ: who commandest the assembly of the winds, and those who believed not in thee, into tartarus didst deliver. Lord God, who in the later time didst send us thine only son, whom within the chamber of Mary's womb, by thy mercy thou didst enclose, which no one of men can understand; who didst walk upon the waters of the sea, and thy footsteps appeared not on the sea; who from five loaves five thousand men didst satisfy; now hear me, Lord, and hasten, that thou mayest snatch me from the pains which have surrounded me, because in thee my soul trusts, to whom is glory unto the ages of the ages, Amen.
[9] The prayer being completed, he was put into the wheel and the magana fastened tight. Hence the Master of the soldiers, seeing nothing harmed But the Governor lifting himself up, said to all his Princes: You see that there is no other God, but Apollo and Hercules, and Diana, and Athena, and Amandorus, and Ypoculus, and Neptune, who hold the heavens in their palm, through whom Kings reign, and the powerful obtain Kingdoms. And he added: Where is thy God, Lupercius, Christ the crucified, whom Pilate and the Jews slew? Why does he not come, to free thee from my hands? And immediately the Lord came into the midst, and said: Thinkest thou, I can free thee from this magana, that they may believe and trust and know, with his whole army is converted. that thou art my servant, Lupercius? Behold the hand which fashioned the first-formed Adam, it itself will give thee endurance: and B. Lupercius was comforted. But seeing, one of the soldiers, Anatolius by name, who was Master of the soldiers, that the servant of God all the torments for Christ had sustained, believed with all his army, crying out, Lupercius, servant of Christ, we also believe in the Lord Jesus Christ the crucified, who can free us from this peril. But hearing this, the Governor ordered them to be cast outside the city, into a desert place; and setting them in a precipice, After the molten lead, the sign of Christ being made by them, he ordered them to be struck. Then he ordered S. Lupercius to come before his sight, and a bronze bed to be brought, and on it to be stretched; and he ordered lead to be melted, and the mouth of the venerable Lupercius to be opened, and it to be poured in; which became as cold as water, and he felt nothing of evil. Then the Governor ordered him to be loosed, and fiery nails into his head to be fixed, and a great carved stone to his head he applied, and so ordered him to be rolled. And by the command of the Lord every kind of punishment was plucked out, and the lead like water became cold, and no wound on the Saint appeared. Which seeing, Dacianus the Governor, was angry, and ordered him from the head downward to be hung, and on his neck a great stone to be tied, and smoke to his nostrils to be applied. Which done, the Governor ordered a bronze ox to be brought, a bronze ox, etc. and fixed in it most sharp iron nails, and within it the Saint he put, that his members might be burst, and become as dust: but he within gave thanks to God.
[10] Which seen, the Governor ordered the Saint to be cast out thence, and into custody to be put, comforted by a nightly visitation of God and with an iron sinew to be bound, until he should devise how to destroy him, because no torment prevailed against him. But in the same night, in the custody God appeared to him, and said to him: Be comforted, Lupercius, fear not whatever torment shall be added to thee; for I am with thee. Be comforted in virtue, and in true confession. And saying this, the Lord ascended into heaven. But he did not cease to say, I give thee thanks, Lord my God, since thou hast appeared to me. Then the Governor ordered him to be brought, and between maganas to be thrust back, and strongly to be bound, and on his head a saw to be put and to saw, that more easily his members might be burst: but he the more in Christ was comforted, and the Lord said to him: Be comforted, fail not, since I am with thee in all thy passion. he enlightens a blind boy, To whom a certain woman said: Holy lord, there is born to me a son blind, deaf and paralytic, and behold I am confounded before my neighbors; but if by thy prayer my son shall be saved, I will believe in thy God. Seeing therefore the holy one of God the faith of the woman, he said to her; Bring me thy son, and taking the infant he placed him upon his knees, and laying his hand on him he prayed to the Lord, and the prayer being completed he breathed into his eyes, and immediately they were opened, and sight he received; and the woman said to him: O servant of God, grant that he also may hear and walk; and S. Lupercius said to her: It suffices him: for his walking shall not be known, until the day when I shall have called him: then he shall hear the voice of the Lord, and shall come to me. And the woman spoke to him no more: for she feared him, because she saw his face like an Angel of God.
[11] But the Governor began to walk about in his palace, and looking back he saw the Saint standing in a wonderful sign, and a multitude of the people around him: who, the sign of Christ being made, struck the earth with his foot, and converts many; and there went forth a fountain of living water, and he baptized them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit; and they entered with him into the city. There were baptized then by S. Lupercius one thousand six hundred and eight, who immediately believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, and entering to the Governor they said: Be thou with Apollo, and we with our Lord Jesus Christ. And looking at the holy ones of God, the Governor was troubled like a lion, and ordered them to be hung by the feet, and to be struck with the sword. Crowned were they all in the name of the Lord through holy Lupercius. Then the Governor said to the holy one of God: By the sun and the seventy and eight gods, and their mother Diana, I adjure thee, he despises the flatteries, consent to me, son Lupercius, as to a father, and sacrifice to Apollo, who contains all the earth, and thou shalt be free from horrific torments. The holy one of God said to him; Where were these gentle words hidden? So long a time in thy hands I am, and to various torments thou hast delivered me. For also through thee the grace of my God I acquired, and all, who in my God believed; but gentle speeches, and sweet words from thee until now I have not heard. Or art thou ignorant, Governor, that the race of the Christians is immortal, and against all the torments of the devil resists, enduring all? Why dost thou persuade me to sacrifice to thy Apollo, and to do thy will? Feigning that he will sacrifice:
[12] … Then the Governor was made glad, and began to kiss his head. But holy Lupercius did not permit it, saying: Such is not the custom of the city of Helisona, I will first sacrifice to the gods, and so thou shalt kiss my head. And again he said to the Governor: Thou art sickly, and the sun will decline; I cannot today sacrifice to thy gods; but command me today into custody to be thrust back, that tomorrow I may sacrifice to the gods. The Governor answered: Thou shalt not be in custody to be delivered to punishments, but for these stripes, which I ordered to be laid on thee, pardon me, as thy father. Then the servant of God bent his knees, and prayed saying: What God is great, like our God? thou art the God who doest wonders. Then he said to the Governor, Gather all the elders and princes with thee, and I will stand in thy palace, I and the Priests of the gods, and all the army of the soldiers, that all may see when I shall have sacrificed to Apollo. Then the Governor commanded the herald, that he should cry with a loud voice saying: Assemble, all peoples, to the temple of the gods, he is rebuked by the mother of the enlightened blind boy, because Lupercius the servant of Christ will sacrifice to the great God Apollo. Which the woman hearing, whose son had been born blind, and by the prayer of S. Lupercius enlightened, forthwith disheveled the hairs of her head, and tore her garments; and lifting up her son, she passed along crying with a loud voice, and saying: Woe to thee, Lupercius, who didst raise the dead, and enlighten the blind, and heal the lame, and many good things didst work against the enemy: how dost thou wish to sacrifice to Apollo, turning away all the peoples, who desired to believe in the name of Jesus Christ the Saviour? May God not permit this to be done. and he raises up that paralytic. Woe to thee, devil, and to thy works! But the Saint hearing the voice of the woman, silence being made, called her to himself, and said: Set the infant before me. And he said to the infant: Christ, who enlightened the hidden things of darkness, he commands thee, that thou stand upon thy feet; and come, and speak to all.
[13] In the same hour rising the infant came to the servant of God, and he said to him: To thee I say, boy, enter into the temple of the pagans, and say to the idol of Apollo: To thee says the servant of Christ, go out quickly. And the boy entering into the temple, through whom the demon, bidden to be present in his idol, said to the idol: To thee I say, idol deaf and blind, and dumb; deception and ruin of the souls believing in thee; Lupercius the servant of Christ calls thee. And Apollo began to cry out: O Jesus the Nazarene, all to thyself thou hast drawn, and now against me thou hast made manifest an infant of three years. Whence is this, that such a boy should enter to me? The idol, coming, stood before the servant of God. S. Lupercius said to it: Art thou the God of the Pagans? The idol answered; Dost thou not know, Lupercius, that I am? Bear with me one hour, and I will declare to thee all things. And the servant of God said to it; Whatever thou wilt, say. The idol answered, and said; How did God create heaven and earth, plant Paradise to the East, and say, Let us make man to our image and likeness? But also our Prince was cast down from heaven, and we all with him, because he said in his heart; Into heaven I will ascend, and above the stars I will exalt my throne; I will sit in the side of the North, I will reign in the clouds, and I will be like the Most High. Therefore the angry Lord took away from us our glory, he confesses his own impotence. and cast us like rain upon the face of the earth; and therefore we were made the least of all creatures, and on this account I remain in those statues; and if I can seduce anyone, this is gain to me. S. Lupercius said: Wretch, since thou art a most wretched creature, and by thy own merit art damned, why dost thou deceive the minds of men, and hast wished to make them stray from the truth? I will send thee into hell; and thou shalt be there until the day of judgment, when thou shalt render account before the tribunal of Christ. And entering into the temple, he breathed upon the idol of Hercules, The Saint, the other idols being scattered in a heap, and the statues of all the images, and they became as dust. Again he said: Go, all you gods of the Pagans, into perdition, and nowhere appear. Then the demons roaring began to flee, saying; Great is the God of the Christians, who can snatch those believing in him from tribulation.
[14] And therefore the Priests of the Pagans, confounded vehemently, is beheaded. and lifting the holy one of God, brought him before the governor, and made known the perdition of their gods, how into the lower hell he had sent them. Therefore the Governor said to S. Lupercius: Hardened is thy heart, as I see, Lupercius, because thou wilt not adore our gods: wherefore I order thee outside the city by the apparitors to be led, and to undergo capital sentence… … on the 4th day of the Kalends of July, our Lord Jesus Christ reigning, together with the Father and the Holy Spirit, unto the ages of the ages. Amen.
NOTES BY D. P.
p Here again something seems to have dropped out, namely, "But S. Lupercius suffered."
* or dost thou reproach? and he professes himself a Christian,