ON SS. SIXTUS AND SINICIUS, BISHOPS AND CONFESSORS, AT REIMS IN CHAMPAGNE OF GAUL, AT REIMS IN CHAMPAGNE OF GAUL
About the year 300.
PRELIMINARY COMMENTARY.
Sixtus, bishop and confessor, at Reims in Champagne of Gaul. (S.)
Sinicius, bishop and confessor, at Reims in Champagne of Gaul. (S.)
Written by J. S.
§ I. The cult of both Saints and the translation of their relics: their Offices and elogia.
[ ] The church of Reims long venerated on the same day, 1 September, three holy Prelates, St. Sixtus inscribed in the sacred Calendars, namely Sixtus, Sinicius and Nivard. Of the first two, since they have Acts in common, we shall treat here together, of Nivard below. The Roman Martyrology, with Usuard, announces Sixtus, whom some name Xystus, without Sinicius, but with a very different elogium, and not without errors, as will appear from what is to be discussed. Take the words: At Reims in Gaul, of holy Xystus, disciple of the blessed apostle Peter, who, consecrated by him as first bishop of that city, received under Nero the crown of martyrdom. On these words Baronius noted the following: Usuard and Ado of the same on this day. That he was the first bishop of the see of Reims, the records of that church, which Demochares transcribed, plainly signify; Usuard and others testify the same. Of the church of Soissons also Xystus is set down as first bishop, in the time of Nero, in the records of that church in Demochares. That Baronius calls him a disciple of St. Peter, and a martyr under Nero, he intimates that he received from Demochares. For this reason it is also pleasing to subjoin how Demochares has it, and whence he received it. He hands down a catalogue of the prelates of Reims in volume 2 on the sacrifice of the Mass, chapter 14, and begins it thus: St. Sixtus, St. Sinicius, St. Amansius, disciples of the blessed apostle Peter, martyrs under Nero. He had prefixed his witness in these words: Whose (the bishops') names the distinguished doctor of theology of the Sorbonne society, Jacques Bridou, canon and penitentiary of the church of Reims, transcribed from the archives, and sent to us. But below it will appear that these things do not agree with the monuments of Reims.
[2] The genuine Martyrology of Ado does not have St. Sixtus of Reims, as also Sinicius, sometimes with Sixtus, sometimes separately: but I should readily believe that he was found by Baronius in some interpolated copy of it. Usuard, however, rightly announces the same Saint thus: At Reims, the deposition of holy Sixtus, first bishop of that city. Various codices of Usuard afterwards record Sinicius, added together with Sixtus, or separately. The Hérinnes codex, written in the eleventh century, has it thus: At Reims, the deposition of holy Sixtus, first bishop of that city, and of blessed Sinicius, his successor. The Centula codex adds Nivard in this manner: At Reims, metropolis of the Franks, of the holy confessors and pontiffs Sixtus, Sinicius and Nivard. The Reims codex of SS. Timothy and Apollinaris: At Reims, the deposition of the blessed confessors, and likewise pontiffs of that city, Sixtus, Sinicius and Nivard. Grevenus and Molanus in their editions announce each separately, as confessors, as may be seen in the Usuard of Sollerius. Wandelbert in his metrical Martyrology joined the three holy Prelates in this manner:
At Reims the pontiffs shine with a distinguished name, Sixtus, Sinicius, and Nivard in merits and in life.
The manuscript Florarium of the Saints celebrates the two former, Nivard being recorded separately, with this elogium: At Reims, the deposition of the holy bishops and confessors Sixtus and Sinicius. This Sixtus was the first bishop of Reims, and Sinicius, his successor, the second; men of great learning and of wonderful sanctity they were, who converted a great company of people of both sexes to the true faith of Christ, and instructed them by doctrine and example. I pass over the more recent martyrologists, and come to the church of the Saints and to the translations of their relics: for from these the studious reader will easily perceive that these two Saints were venerated from the sixth century at least.
[3] their church at Reims sacred to Sixtus already before the seventh century. The Life to be published, Flodoard in his History of Reims, book 1, chapter 3, and Guillaume Marlot in his History of the metropolis of Reims, book 1, chapter 14, relate that St. Sinicius was buried in the same church and the same tomb in which St. Sixtus had been laid, who died one year earlier. Marlot adds that that church was afterwards dedicated to St. Sixtus, which now, he says, is adorned with his name and his Successor's. Of this church Flodoard, book 1, chapter 3, writes the following: Where (Sinicius), labouring faithfully for the salvation of souls, and fighting the good fight, deserved to have fellowship with his predecessor (Sixtus) on earth as in heaven, obtaining with blessed Sixtus a burial in one and the same church and tomb. By whose merits afterwards the house of their basilica, made illustrious by famous miracles, was endowed and enriched with several gifts: enriched also with fields and houses and vineyards, it likewise shone forth adorned with the ministries of clerics. Of whom sometimes twelve, sometimes ten, as in the time of the lord prelate Sonnatius, are found to have been a congregation there, until in modern times, with iniquity abounding and charity growing cold, the choir of those serving God there began to fail, and the church itself began to be the benefice [*] of a single presbyter. Wherefore their bones also were lately translated from thence, and are kept laid up in the church of blessed Remigius behind the altar of St. Peter, their teacher (in Flodoard's opinion). These things sufficiently intimate that that church was sacred to St. Sixtus for many centuries before Flodoard. Sonnatius, who presided over the church of Reims at the beginning of the seventh century, in his testament in Flodoard, book 2, chapter 5, bequeaths to the basilica of holy Sixtus likewise three solidi in gold. Hence I gather that already before Sonnatius, that is, before the seventh century, the aforesaid church was distinguished by the name of St. Sixtus.
[4] Marlot, book 1, chapter 19, is of opinion that the church which today also is seen at Reims under the name of SS. Sixtus and Sinicius which Marlot holds to be the same as that of today. is the same as the aforesaid, and that this has endured from the first centuries (from the fourth perhaps or fifth) to our own age. He had already noted that it first stood many years in the suburb of Reims, but is now enclosed within the city's boundary. Yet at the end of the chapter he raises a certain objection against himself, and endeavours to solve it in these words: Here someone might inquire whether the old church of St. Xystus, long since ennobled by the relics of the three confessors (namely Sixtus, Sinicius and Amantius, the third bishop of Reims), is altogether that which still stands near St. Timothy's; for except for the squared hewn stones with which the outer walls are built up, it shows almost nothing of antiquity. But since blessed Remigius expressly designates it in his testament, there is no reason for us to raise a scruple here. So he. But the longer testament of St. Remigius, in which mention is made of that church, is everywhere rejected by the learned as spurious. St. Amantius, just now praised, he says was buried in the same church in chapter 27, but from that same longer testament of St. Remigius, which Flodoard hands down in book 1, chapter 18. For the rest, from the things we have said about the church of St. Sixtus, it manifestly follows that this Saint was venerated from the sixth century at least, and probably even earlier.
[5] That the bodies of both Saints were translated from their own church to the church of St. Remigius, Their relics translated, and divided among various places, Flodoard asserts above; and since he says lately, he intimates that this happened in the same tenth century in which he wrote, or at least in the preceding one. Baillet at 1 September, in Sixtus and Sinicius, writes that this translation was made by the prelate Hervé in the year 904, but I do not know where he learned that date. Marlot records more concerning the same relics in chapter 19 in these words: Whence it comes about that the bones of holy Xystus and Sinicius were translated from thence, and first placed in the church of holy Remigius behind the altar of St. Peter, their teacher; but afterwards, those bones being distributed, a more considerable part of them was given to the mother church, and certain others were likewise granted to Anschar of Bremen by Ebbo, from Albert Krantz in his Metropolis; but the head of blessed Xystus to the basilica of St. Nicasius, where to this day it is religiously preserved with the arm of Sinicius. Of the head of St. Sixtus, and of St. Sinicius's arm, he treats also on page 640, describing the treasury of the church of St. Nicasius, where he has this: They preserve also in a chest covered with silver the head of the most holy confessor Xystus, apostle of the Belgians and first archbishop of Reims, who, sent by blessed Peter, drew to the light of evangelical preaching those wrapped in the mists of idolatry… The arm-bone of holy Sinicius the confessor, most worthy successor of blessed Xystus in the see of Reims, adorned with a silver arm. These things about the head of St. Sixtus preserved in the church of St. Nicasius do not seem to cohere with those which our Henschen alleged in St. Anschar, volume 1 of February, page 403, in this manner: A certain anonymous presbyter of Bremen, in the manuscript continuation of the History of Helmold, in Adolf Cyprius, book 1 of the History of Schleswig, chapter 3, hands down that St. Anschar, near Itzehoe, a town of Holstein, at Welna consecrated a small oratory in honour of St. Sixtus, whose head he always carried with him. But, as it is not likely that St. Anschar always had with him the whole head of St. Sixtus, so it may easily be that he had a part of it with him, and that another part is kept at Reims in the church mentioned.
[6] which were carried to Hamburg, then to Ramsola in the diocese of Bremen; In almost the same way we shall have to reason concerning the bodies which various writers say were handed over to St. Anschar, archbishop of Hamburg, by Ebbo of Reims; for that a more considerable part of these was given to the mother church, or metropolitan church of Reims of the most blessed Virgin, Marlot, just cited, affirms. Adam of Bremen, in book 1 of his Ecclesiastical History, chapter 19, elsewhere 15, has it thus: At the same time blessed Ansgar is reported to have carried across the Elbe the bodies of the Saints which he had received by the gift of archbishop Ebbo, and the body of St. Maternianus indeed he laid at Heiliganstad [], but those of Xystus and Sinnicius, with the patronages of other martyrs, he placed in the city of Hammaburg [], etc. Exactly the same things Albert of Stade has in his Chronicle at the year 833; and Krantz, with changed words, in his Metropolis, book 1, chapter 30. But afterwards, Hamburg having been plundered and burnt by the Danes, which Henschen holds to have happened in the year 845, St. Anschar, fleeing thence, carried the said relics of the Saints with him to Ramsola. Hear Adam, chapter 23 (elsewhere 19): Whence it came about that he received an estate which is called Ramsola, from a certain venerable matron by name Ikia. Which place, situated in the bishopric of Verden, is separated from Hammaburg by only [] three leagues []. There the Saint of God, founding a monastery, placed the relics of the holy confessors Xystus and Sinnicius, and the other patronages which he carried as he fled from Hammaburg, etc. Albert of Stade agrees at the year 841. But Krantz, in the place assigned, narrates the matter in this manner: Great was the intimacy between Ansgar and Ebbo from of old, so that by Ebbo's gift he received from the church of Reims the venerable relics of the holy bishops Sixtus and Sinnitius, which he brought to Hamburg; and afterwards, driven thence by the Danes (as we shall relate), he carried them with him to Ramsola beyond the Elbe, a place indeed of the parish of Verden, but which also, on account of the memory of the divine Ansgar, who long sojourned there, is reckoned to the diocese of Bremen; and there they are preserved to this day. I have already noted that the whole bodies do not seem to have been translated by St. Anschar. But whether Ebbo gave those relics to Anschar before they were translated from their own church to that of St. Remigius, or after this translation, is uncertain to me. Perhaps at the same time a part was given to Anschar, and a part carried to the church of St. Remigius.
[7] others to Fulda. In the same ninth century the abbey of Fulda also had certain relics of SS. Sixtus and Sinicius and of other Saints of Reims, received perhaps from the same Ebbo. The Life of Blessed Rabanus Maurus, who from abbot of Fulda was made archbishop of Mainz, given in volume 1 of February, page 521, has this concerning them: But on the following day (Rabanus), by the hand of the aforesaid chorepiscopus (Reginbald), placed the relics of the holy bishops Cornelius, Calixtus, Sixtus, Sinitius, Nicasius and Felix… in the church of blessed Boniface the martyr, in the place where previously his holy body had rested. For he built there a stone tower behind the altar, in the middle of whose summit he laid the bones of the aforesaid Saints, carefully enclosed in a stone chest, over which, raising a roof supported by four columns, he adorned it with gold and silver. Within which he placed an oblong chest made in a quadrangular shape, which also, adorning it with gold and silver and with stones, he decorated with the images of each of the Saints fittingly represented, and wrote round about verses uttered as it were in the person of that same chest. These verses may be read in the same place.
[8] The Breviary of Reims of the year 1543 contains, concerning SS. Sixtus, [The lessons of the Breviary of 1543 conformable to the Acts: others are given from the Breviary of 1630,] Sinicius and Nivard, an Office of nine lessons, all of which are drawn from the Life of SS. Sixtus and Sinicius, and in all things agree with the Acts to be published, although they are otherwise much shorter, because all the later matters and many others are passed over in the Office which are read in the Acts; but nothing occurs in the lessons which is not copied or abridged from the Acts. Another Office is had by the Breviary of the year 1630: for of its nine lessons only the three middle ones have a summary of the Life, and that expressed in very different words. It is pleasing to exhibit those lessons here, that it may appear what was then the opinion of the people of Reims about their first Bishops. Take the words: The embassies of the Apostles for Christ having once been accomplished for the preaching of the Gospel, when with happy success the Christian religion was daily receiving great increase, apostolic men announcing the evangelical faith throughout the whole world, after no long interval of time there went forth from the city of Rome unconquered champions of the Christian faith, and most constant professors of it, who through all the provinces of the earth should preach intrepidly to men the word of eternal salvation. Among whom were found men of most holy life, Sixtus and Sinicius, whom the Roman Pontiff, as chosen soldiers of Christ, instructed in the divine law, by heavenly providence destined for Gaul together with Memmius.
[9] These, desiring with fervent zeal to undertake this labour for the name of Christ, which are also repugnant to the opinion of certain more recent writers, proclaiming the faith of Christ through the byways of a long journey, at length by divine help Sixtus and Sinicius landed at Reims. In the gate of the city which is called the gate of Mars, seeing the history of their own nation carved in stones, as though invited by a certain familiarity, they stayed some time in that city. Where, when they saw that they were making little progress by evangelical preaching, on account of the obstinate worship of idols, they set out for Soissons. In which, very many being converted by their care to the true worship of God, straightway the number of Christians began to be increased in a wonderful manner. And when the fame of their sanctity flourished among the neighbouring peoples on every side, Sixtus by divine prompting sought again the Metropolis of Reims. In which he first obtained the archiepiscopal chair; but he set Sinicius over the church of Soissons. Each ruled the flock committed to him with such diligence that he rendered back with much interest the talent entrusted to him by God. Sixtus at length, the course of his pilgrimage happily consummated, on the Kalends of September closed his last day (which he had foreseen beforehand). Whose body, in a certain church built by himself, which still stands today, was buried by blessed Sinicius. But Sinicius took up the government of the church of Reims together with that of Soissons; and, a year's course being happily completed, on the same day he met his death; and beside the tomb of blessed Sixtus he was buried.
[10] To this elogium, which is almost consonant with the Acts, I join the elogium of Saussay in the Gallican Martyrology at 1 September, whose opinion Saussay expresses, since it expresses the opinion of certain more recent writers about our Saints, presently to be examined: On the same day, he says, at Reims, the birthday of the holy martyrs and likewise Pontiffs Sixtus and Sinicius, apostles of Belgic Gaul the Second. Who, Romans by fatherland, sent with blessed Memmius from Rome by St. Peter into these parts, and coming to this metropolis under Christ's auspices, there set up the first trophies of the Redeemer himself. Thence departing to Soissons, they initiated that people also in the sacraments of the faith. Over which city Sinicius was set as first bishop by Sixtus, the chief of the apostolic office. Then Sixtus himself, returning to Reims, the city set to work to purge it utterly of heathen filthiness, destroyed the shrines, consecrated a small chapel for the divine offices, established a clergy, and won very many of the people for Christ. And when the Apostle had spent ten years upon the work, desirous of undergoing the last struggle for the Lord, and warned from heaven of his impending departure, after the glorious contest in which he fell as a martyr, he passed happily to the appointed reward. Whose funeral Sinicius religiously cared for; who also, when the year came round, on the same day on which Sixtus had died, having entered upon the supreme struggle for the assertion of the faith, at Reims, where he had settled by the command of his predecessor, that he might care for and guard the bereaved church, crowned likewise with the laurel of martyrdom, departed to eternal glory. And being laid in the same tomb with Sixtus, he gave the beginning and the naming to the basilica which was afterwards built in honour of both; and there both rested so long, until, for a fuller honouring, the precious spoils of both, brought within the city by archbishop Hervé, were laid up with fitting worship in the church of holy Remigius behind the altar of Peter their teacher, and until now in the treasury of that shrine, most rich in sacred jewels, they are kept with that reverence which is fitting.
Annotations* otherwise: presbyterii (of the presbytery)
* otherwise: Heligenstad on the Stör in Holstein
* Hamburg
* that is, by no more than
* that is, German miles
§ II. What the Acts to be published below are, and of what quality: the time at which the Saints were sent into Gaul is inquired into.
[ ] The Acts found in various Mss. please some, We have the Acts of SS. Sixtus and Sinicius in three Mss., of which two agree with one another so exactly that no diversity appears, not even in little words of lesser moment, save most rarely. The first is our codex, marked P. Ms. 154, not very ancient; the second is a copy from a Ms. of the monastery of Bonnefontaine, which is of the Cistercian Order in the diocese of Reims. With these also agree well enough the codices which Marlot saw, whose words I shall presently give. Nevertheless, in the fragment which Marlot recited from his own codices, certain words of lesser moment are omitted, or otherwise expressed than they are read in our said Mss. Our third is copied from the Utrecht codex of St. Saviour. In this several things are omitted which did not conduce to the narration of the Saints' deeds, such as the whole preface, and other things afterwards which pertain more to morals than to history. But the historical facts are here for the most part narrated in the same words in which they are reported in the other Mss., so that I suspect some things were scraped away from this Ms. out of a zeal for brevity, because they seemed superfluous. Of his own codex Marlot, who elsewhere departs from its authority, speaks thus in chapter 13: That the style of the aforesaid codex is plain and simple, and not much abhorrent from the manner of speech of the ancient deacons, whose care it was to write down the deeds of the infant church and the contests of the martyrs; that the script also and the binding of the codex show an antiquity of five hundred or six hundred years; and that it is extant both at Reims in the library of the mother church and at St. Nicasius's, and at Soissons. These things he objects to himself from the judgment of others, whom he confesses to be eminently learned and lovers of truth.
[12] Nevertheless Marlot himself does not seem to make much of these Acts, they displease Marlot, to whose opinion they are contrary: since he applies to them the words of Hincmar, spoken on another occasion: Namely that we have it for reading, but not for adducing as authority. But these are the words of a man forestalled by party zeal, because the Acts of SS. Sixtus and Sinicius were repugnant to the tradition of the people of Reims, which he had undertaken to defend, concerning their being sent by St. Peter the apostle. For he assigns no fault in the Acts, and objects nothing directly against the Acts except the following: Then, since Flodoard makes no mention of the aforesaid codex, it is quite probable that it was composed after his death by an author who gave his labour to weaving together the deeds of the Saints or Legendaries; of which deeds, since among us by reason of antiquity no memory remained, he attributed to those same Saints Apostolic virtues, that they might appear more famous, and that their aforesaid deeds might be read by those greedy for histories. This Life was probably unknown to Flodoard, if we believe Marlot, because he does not name it. But to me the same does not appear, since all that Flodoard writes about our Saints he seems to have taken from this Life; and nowhere does he depart from it, except in assigning the time of their mission. Then, even if it were established that it was unknown to Flodoard, not even so would it become likely that it was written after his History. For who would believe that the writer of this Life would have wished, having read Flodoard's History, to depart from him by two hundred years, and to make so much younger the Saints whom he was celebrating? As for what he then says, that in the same codex there is the Life of SS. Memmius the confessor and Maurus the martyr, of the same style, that makes nothing against the Life of our Saints, although I really doubt whether they are of the same style. Certainly since, as he adds, the one is there said to have been sent by blessed Peter, but the other by St. Clement, these latter Lives are not of the same author, who would not have referred St. Memmius of Châlons to the times of the Apostles, but Sixtus and Sinicius to the rule of Diocletian; whereas everywhere the coming of those three into Gaul is fixed at about the same time, some referring it to the age of the Apostles, others to the third century well advanced.
[13] Tillemont, in volume 4 of the Monuments, in St. Denis of Paris, article 21, suspects that the Acts of SS. Sixtus and Sinicius are older than Hincmar, [they seem to be of an ancient writer, yet not a contemporary one: nor are they fabulous, but meagre.] who ruled the church of Reims about the middle of the ninth century, and Baillet affirms the same in his Critical Table at 1 September. Yet neither attributes much authority to this Life, neither vehemently accuses it, or alleges any reason for his opinion. Each also preferred to follow this Life rather than Hincmar or Flodoard in fixing the epoch of their coming into Gaul. The learned Benedictines who are composing the Literary History of France, volume 3, page 646, likewise believe this Life to be earlier than Hincmar, and add that it does not seem to have been written before the end of the seventh century, but with no reason added. Further, I find no reasons why the Life of SS. Sixtus and Sinicius may not have been written much earlier. Certainly nothing occurs in these Acts from which it could be shown that their writer must necessarily be removed from the fifth or sixth century, since the style is simple enough, and nowhere does he show himself far later than the Saints themselves. Nevertheless that he was contemporary or nearly so I should by no means believe, because the Acts are more meagre than those of writers are wont to be who learned the facts by themselves or through contemporary witnesses. But this very thing, that he recorded few things about the Saints, shows that he did not wish to adorn his Heroes with invented fables.
[14] The opinion of Flodoard, that Sixtus and Sinicius were sent by St. Peter, Concerning the time at which our Saints were sent into Gaul, three opinions are found, each of which has its own patrons. The first is that of Flodoard, who in book 1, chapter 3, writes thus: Nor was the people of Reims held in such esteem at that time only among the Heathen; rather, it is agreed that among the first propagators of the Church of God, and fathers in Christ through the Gospel, the pontiffs of the first see of this our province were always adorned with honour; so much so that the most blessed prince of the Church of Christ himself, Peter the apostle, judged that blessed Sixtus, ordained archbishop by himself, should be sent to our city with the aid of suffragans, destining for him fit and necessary companions in the same province, namely St. Sinicius, first of the see of Soissons, afterwards our own prelate, and blessed Memmius, ruler of the city of Châlons. Marlot, book 1, chapter 13, where he has endeavoured to establish this opinion, which he wrongly names the tradition of the church of Reims, commends the testimony of Flodoard in these words: It is not likely that he, neglecting older codices, published a feigned and newly devised opinion, since among all he is held to be a diligent and sincere writer. Nor, if any monument of antiquity existed in the province, is it to be believed that it lay hidden from him; but to him, as a canon of the chief church, and one investigating with set purpose the beginnings of our faith, as many libraries as there were lay easily open. So he of Flodoard.
[15] which Marlot defends: And his opinion he presently strives to confirm in this manner: And lest anyone should think that this honour (of having received a bishop from St. Peter) was purposely sought for the church of Reims, that it might come off more illustrious and more powerful by reason of antiquity, Flodoard's opinion is to be confirmed by the testimonies of the ancients, especially of the emperor Lothair, a fragment of whose letter to Pope Leo the same Flodoard cites in book 3, chapter 10, in which blessed Sixtus is proclaimed first bishop of the see of Reims and a disciple of the Apostles; which Fulk, the successor of Hincmar, more clearly explains in another letter to Stephen V in these words: “But let him know that the see of Reims was by his predecessors always honoured above all the Gallican churches, inasmuch as the first of the Apostles, blessed Peter, first destined for this city blessed Sixtus as bishop, and gave him the primacy of the whole Gallican region.” These things Flodoard also has in book 4, chapter 1. Further, to these arguments, which are not altogether to be despised, Marlot adds others of lesser moment, namely the Chronicle of Sens of St. Pierre-le-Vif, the Chronicle of Verdun, the Chronicle of Auxerre, the Roman Martyrology, a manuscript codex cited by Vincent of Beauvais, the Life of St. Memmius of Châlons published by Bosquet, and finally, with a few moderns, Demochares and Baronius at the year 46; and having reviewed these he concludes thus: Let it stand, then, as certain, that in the forty-sixth year from the birth of Christ, under the rule of Tiberius, Reims and the surrounding peoples of the Belgians looked up to and received the rising sun of the Christian faith in Xystus, Sinicius and Memmius. You have, reader, the weights of this opinion, which might move to assent, were they not crushed by weightier ones. And from the conclusion you may easily recognize a man in love with his own church, who wishes not only the century of the mission, but even a certain year, to be held as fixed on the authority of Baronius alone, although in truth Baronius does not assert that in that year Sixtus and Sinicius were sent, but only refers to that year the sending by St. Peter of many, though at different times.
[16] The second opinion is that of Hincmar, archbishop of Reims, [the authority of Hincmar, who wrote that they were sent by Pope Sixtus, weakens his reasons:] who in his Little Work of 55 chapters, chapter 16, speaks thus of the sending of St. Sixtus: And after blessed Sixtus was sent by Sixtus, Pontiff of the Roman See, as first bishop to the metropolis of Reims, in Christendom, through the times of fifteen archbishops … the church of Laon remained in the parish (or diocese) of Reims, which first received a bishop from St. Remigius, as he sets out at greater length. Hincmar does not explain whether he means that St. Sixtus was sent by Sixtus I, who administered the pontificate before the middle of the second century, or rather by Sixtus II, who ended his short pontificate by a glorious martyrdom in the year 258, and who is written of by us in volume 2 of August as having sent certain other apostolic men into the Gauls on pages 128 and 129. Of Sixtus II this could certainly be said more probably than of Sixtus I, as will appear from the order of the bishops of Reims, which was not hidden from Hincmar, and therefore I judge that he spoke of Sixtus II. Further, this opinion of Hincmar vehemently weakens the reasons set out for the first opinion. For Hincmar was a learned man and very tenacious of the prerogatives of his own church; nor have the favourers of the first opinion any witness older than Hincmar, to whom the emperor Lothair is contemporary, Fulk nearly so, and Flodoard far later. Marlot saw this inconvenience and answers thus: For since Fulk is nearly contemporary with him, he has equal authority with him; and when to this is added the authority of Flodoard, who was nearly contemporary with Fulk, two will outweigh one, especially since Flodoard (as I have said) wrote of set purpose the History of the church of Reims, and diligently, before it was made public, having accurately investigated the monuments of the aforesaid church older than Hincmar, corrected it, as he himself testifies in his preface. This answer shows that we need not necessarily adhere to the writers of Reims of the ninth and tenth centuries, since they themselves went off into different opinions. I proceed therefore to the third opinion, which seems to rest upon firmer foundations.
[17] The Acts have it that the Saints were sent from Rome under the rule of Diocletian and Maximian, The Acts have it that the Saints were sent into Gaul in the time of Diocletian, after SS. Crispin and Crispinian had been crowned with martyrdom about the year 287 or 288, as Tillemont holds, volume 5, in the Persecution of Diocletian, article 2, proving that time from the death of Rictius Varus, under whom they are said to have suffered. Thus, according to the Acts, Sixtus and Sinicius seem to have been sent about the year 288. With the Acts agrees the Breviary of Reims of the year 1543, whose words I subjoin, omitting what is not necessary: The holy Sixtus and Sinicius, sprung from Rome, there brought up from the cradle holily and religiously in the divine Law by the successors of the blessed Apostles, by living justly and without complaint, showed there the sanctity of their excellent disposition… How the light of their sanctity shone forth into these parts we shall take care to intimate in a few words. Therefore at that time in which the emperors Diocletian and Maximian had stirred up by tyrannical domination a persecution against the Christians, … the holy men of God, Crispin and Crispinian, … were staying in the city of Soissons, announcing the word of life to the peoples. But because some in the same city had been converted to the faith of Christ by their preaching, and because on account of the aforesaid persecution the ministers of Christ left in the parts of Gaul were very few…, at last they showed themselves in a vision to the Pontiff of the Roman See of that time, asserting both that they themselves had been taken up through the glory of martyrdom to the heavenly kingdoms, and that the sheep for whom, after the example of their Lord, they had shed their blood, remained desolate on earth by the absence of a shepherd… After this vision, therefore, and admonition of the blessed martyrs, the same Pontiff, being made more certain that he had been divinely admonished by the Saints of God, having convoked the clergy, ordained holy Sixtus bishop; and for his comfort blessed Sinicius was provided for him, then also consecrated presbyter by the same Pontiff, who himself also was held, by the testimony of all, to be approved a man of great virtues. These things, related in the same way in the Acts, show what was the tradition of the people of Reims down to the middle of the sixteenth century about their first Bishops, and prove that Flodoard's opinion did not prevail, but rather was neglected among the people of Reims. The Breviary of the year 1630, from which I gave the elogium at number 8, likewise contradicts Marlot's opinion, since the Saints are said to have been sent, not by St. Peter, but by the Roman Pontiff, when the embassies of the Apostles for Christ had once been accomplished.
[18] which opinion agrees with the order of the first bishops; Our opinion, that Sixtus and Sinicius were sent about the year 288, agrees excellently with the catalogue of the bishops of Reims, as also of Soissons, and the same catalogue renders Marlot's opinion utterly improbable. Fifteen bishops are numbered down to St. Remigius in the church of Reims, nor did Hincmar number more, whose words I gave at number 16, when he says that Laon, which received its first bishop from St. Remigius, through the times of fifteen archbishops belonged to the diocese of Reims. And among the bishops of Reims Betausius, or Imbetausius, is placed fourth by all, and he in the year 314 was present at the council of Arles, to which he is read as subscribed in Labbe, volume 1, col. [ ], in this manner: Imbetausius, bishop, Primigenius, deacon, of the city of Reims. Hence in our opinion some chronological arrangement of the first four prelates of the church of Reims may easily be woven. For the space which is found between the year 288 and 314 is sufficient for it to be believed that three bishops sat in that time, of whom the second held the episcopate only a year, even if we wish to suppose that Betausius had already sat some years before the council. Demochares has him consecrated by Pope Miltiades in the year 312, but without a certain author, says Marlot, chapter 25. Let us therefore believe that St. Sixtus, after he had come into Gaul, laboured about ten years for the conversion of the people of Reims and of Soissons, and died about the year 300, and Sinicius a year later, as is said in the Acts; Amantius could thus also sit ten years before Betausius. But as in this chronological arrangement there is nothing discordant, so there is nothing certain: for St. Sixtus might also have survived longer, and the episcopate of Amantius will become the shorter, the longer Sixtus survived. Further, the order of the first bishops of Reims can also be sufficiently reconciled with the opinion of Hincmar, if he means that St. Sixtus was sent by Sixtus II; but then the episcopate of Sixtus and of Amantius will become much longer.
[19] How ill the set-out order of the bishops of Reims coheres with his own opinion, but the same order overthrows the first opinion; Marlot well saw, but he strains every nerve to remove the inconvenience. He turns this stone over through the whole chapter 18, and endeavours to make likely things which lack every likelihood whatever. He acknowledges that the first three presided over the see of Reims in a continued series, and holds that they died in the first century. That after these there were no bishops at Reims down to the times of Constantine the Great, under whom the fourth, Betausius, occurs, Flodoard had written in book 1, chapter 5. Whether this was said by him advisedly and truly, says Marlot, or whether by the devouring power of time the names of these rather fell wholly out of the ecclesiastical records, one might with reason doubt. But that it was truly said by Flodoard is sufficiently certain from the testimony of Hincmar given above, and from the consent of all. Hear what Alberic the monk wrote about the first four in his Chronicle at the year 336: Before we proceed further, the history of Reims must here be briefly touched on. It is read that after the death of Crispin and Crispinian there were sent from Rome those holy men Sixtus and Sinicius, the first archbishops of Reims, with their nephew Divitianus, who was the second after Sinicius as bishop of Soissons. The third archbishop of Reims was Amausius, the fourth Bethausius, in that time of Constantine the Great; and he was present at the first council of Arles, which was reported through Mauritius [*], bishop of the same city, to blessed Silvester, in the consulship of Volusianus and Anianus. Those first four bishops of Reims were buried in the church of blessed Sixtus. This doubt of Marlot's therefore lacks foundation, as he himself sufficiently notices, since he does not press it further.
[20] Hence he reviews all the persecutions of the heathen, to show that the see of Reims could have lacked a bishop through the whole second and third century, [since it is utterly incredible that the churches of Reims and Soissons were vacant for two centuries,] and that this is not improbable. Hear his chief reason, which he expresses in these words: For since election, the true mother of pastors, presupposes liberty in those electing, if this be crushed by the tyranny of prefects, by the frequent passage of the Cæsars through Reims, by intestine wars or by tumults of the peoples, what wonder if pontifical sees languish so long in bereavement? After this he enumerates the persecutions; but he does not show that these were sharper at Reims than in other parts of the world. Why then should these persecutions have hindered election more at Reims than in other cities, over which we most certainly know that bishops presided in the second and third centuries? In Italy certainly the persecutions were more continuous than in Gaul, and yet not for that reason did the chief churches, of whose antiquity it is certainly established, lack bishops for so long a time; as neither in the East nor in Africa, where the cruelty of tyrants raged no less. Certainly there was never any persecution so long-lasting in one and the same place that it hindered the election of a bishop for many years, much less for two centuries. Then, if a bishop could not be elected at Reims, was it not for the Roman Church to send a bishop to a church shaken by so many storms, and to promote through others what had been begun through three bishops? Were there not, from the time of Decius down to Diocletian, various bands of Apostolic men sent into Gaul, who founded there not a few churches? Why then should those of Reims and of Soissons have been neglected, if they had been founded already in the first century? These things would indeed seem to me most astonishing if they were said by a writer whose authority it were not lawful to gainsay; but they are utterly incredible, since they rest only on the authority of writers of the ninth and tenth centuries, whom love of their own church's antiquity could easily impel, leaving better sources, to follow fabulous notices.
[21] and it is gathered from elsewhere that the church of Reims was not long vacant; For other things also persuade us that the church of Reims was not long vacant after the death of St. Amantius. First, Amantius seems to have ended his life without martyrdom, equally with Sixtus and Sinicius, all buried in the same church, which Marlot holds to survive even now. Three bishops therefore had died in peace, so that a fourth could easily succeed. Secondly, since Betausius is said to have been buried in the same church with them, it can scarcely be doubted that he succeeded them immediately. Thirdly, many churches of the Gauls had bishops under Diocletian, whose persecution raged there less, especially at that time in which it was more vehement in other parts of the Roman empire: for Constantius then presided over the Gauls, and either protected the Christians, or at least did not harass them; why then should neither the church of Reims nor that of Soissons have had their own prelates? There stood at Reims a church built by St. Sixtus, three prelates had sat in it, all dying without martyrdom; no persecution can be shown that afflicted the people of Reims more sharply, save perhaps that alone under the governor Rictius Varus; therefore Marlot treats of things foreign to the purpose when he enumerates, not without exaggeration, the persecutions of the heathen emperors, which raged more now in one, now in another part of the Roman world. For who would endure reasonings of this kind? The Christians suffered persecution in Africa, therefore a bishop of Reims could not be elected… Italy was shaken by almost perpetual storms of persecution from Nero down to Constantine; therefore no prelate could be had in the city of Reims for two hundred years and more. Who, I say, would lend an ear to one reasoning thus? Yet Marlot's reasoning is no other, if it be rightly weighed.
[22] [We must therefore adhere to the Acts, which of themselves also deserve greater credit in this matter.] To these might be added other reasons, and the authority of Sulpicius Severus and of St. Gregory of Tours; but I pass them over, because I do not wish here to dispute about the faith first promulgated in the Gauls. For even if other reasons were lacking, by one consideration alone we shall easily see that the authority of the Acts outweighs the authority of Flodoard. Most rarely do we find the beginning of any church, or the age of any Saint, referred by a writer to later centuries. On the contrary, we find by experience that the love of antiquity brought it about with many writers of the middle age that they referred the beginnings of cities, churches, Orders, and other things, to times far earlier. Therefore we cannot suspect that the author of the Acts fixed the coming of SS. Sixtus and Sinicius under the rule of Diocletian and Maximian for any other cause than the love of truth, which he could learn from the monuments of the church of Reims. But concerning Flodoard a suspicion may not undeservedly arise, that by too great a love of antiquity he was carried away to a false opinion. Nor is it therefore necessary to say that he published a feigned and newly devised opinion, or that he did not see the ancient monuments of the church of Reims: for I am wholly persuaded of the contrary. He had seen, as I think, the Acts to be published, since he agrees with them, except in the time of the mission; he had certainly seen Hincmar, whose words he adduces; he had also seen the words of the emperor Lothair and of bishop Fulk, given from him at number 15. Flodoard therefore had seen three different opinions about the mission of SS. Sixtus and Sinicius, and out of them chose that which more commended the antiquity of his own church, and set it forth as true without any proof. The same did Marlot, employing a long disputation, which seems to teach nothing more than the sway of the will over the intellect, whereby it comes about that we easily believe those things true which we too much wish to be true.
Annotations* Marinus
§ III. Whether the Saints are to be called martyrs or confessors: that there was no bishop at Reims before them.
[ ] On what occasion they began to be called martyrs, is set out, The praised Marlot, chapter 15, inquires whether our Saints are to be held martyrs or confessors. The Roman Martyrology of Baronius called them martyrs, but the Acts clearly deny martyrdom. André du Saussay, bishop of Toul, endeavoured to prove their martyrdom in a dissertation published to that end, which Marlot refutes. Further, the occasion of the martyrdom being first asserted by Demochares Marlot explains in these words: When for the adornment of his Work on the sacrifice of the Mass Demochares was seeking out with the utmost diligence the first bishops of each city, he sent, for those of Reims, a letter to Jacques Bridou, penitentiary of the church of Reims, most friendly to him. He, perhaps not knowing or in doubt what to write back about Xystus and Sinicius, since Flodoard speaks obscurely enough about the kind of death which the aforesaid Archbishops died, made them martyrs by his own bent, in a note transmitted to Demochares, which the latter, with no examination but on the faith of the author, as often happens, wove into his own works. Baronius followed him in the Martyrology, as one most skilled in Gallican matters, whom all who afterwards spent their labour in compiling Martyrologies subscribed to, on account of the recondite erudition of the aforesaid Cardinal, and the honour shown by all (as is fitting) to the Roman Martyrology, which testifies that it was composed from the uncorrupted monuments of the Church. Thus far about the occasion on which the opinion of the martyrdom was born.
[24] He then reports the arguments by which Saussay endeavours to prove his opinion: and it is shown by what arguments Saussay defended the martyrdom; The chief reason, he says, is drawn from the circumstance of the time: … for they think that as many as flourished under Nero and Domitian were empurpled with their blood. But neither did our Saints live at that time, nor is it true that all who then flourished were martyrs. Then the most illustrious Saussay, bishop of Toul, in the Gallican Martyrology, and in his Apologetic booklet against the archbishop of Lyons, contends that an error crept into the reformed Breviary of Reims, and into the Litanies, where St. Xystus with Sinicius is reckoned among the confessors; and he thinks that the people of Reims have abjured their own tradition, in that Galesinius, Ferrari in his Topography, Demochares, Colvener, Chanarius and Robert conspire with Baronius; and he much exaggerates the authority of the Roman Martyrology, published under Gregory XIII in the year 1584, as though this were to be held with undoubted faith. These things I have recited from Marlot, because the Little Work of Saussay is not at hand to me. But to those authorities of moderns let it suffice to have said that all were led into that opinion by Demochares, whom Baronius followed in the Roman Martyrology, but that their authority does not suffice, since older monuments, and the very tradition of Reims, are repugnant to it.
[25] [but the Acts, Flodoard, and the very tradition of Reims prove that they were not martyrs.] Saussay wished to adapt Flodoard also to his own opinion, although he is clearly contrary to it. The deeds of both in the episcopate and their death he briefly narrates in book 1, chapter 3, in these words: But holy Sixtus, first bishop of Reims, is reported also to have founded the church of Soissons, and to have set blessed Sinicius there as his fellow-labourer and fellow-worker; and he, after the death of the same St. Sixtus, his own nephew, as they say, holy Divitianus, having been ordained by him as pontiff at Soissons — since the newly instituted church of Reims was perhaps still cherishing on milk her tender offspring, not yet strong to bear the pontifical burden — took up at Reims the archiepiscopal chair (that necessity compelling him). Where, labouring faithfully for the salvation of souls, and fighting the good fight, he deserved to have fellowship with his Predecessor on earth as in heaven, obtaining with blessed Sixtus a burial in one and the same church and tomb. Not a word here about the martyrdom of our Saints, nor elsewhere in Flodoard. And the Acts most clearly have it that both Saints died in peace. Take the tradition of the church of Reims from the praised Marlot: But if account is to be taken of the divine Office, of the Missal, of the Litanies, and of older inscriptions on the reliquaries and images, so great a force of these is at our disposal that scarcely half of them could here be brought forward without wearying the reader. The manuscript codices, the Antiphonals, the Graduals, also openly testify the same. Whence I cannot sufficiently wonder how the wise and illustrious bishop of Toul can say that the people of Reims have abandoned the tradition of the fathers, when of this tradition no trace exists, neither in the Missals nor in the Martyrologies, which, since they breathe antiquity, as is plain from the script to those inspecting them, are of greater or at least equal authority with those very things which are confidently set against us by him. Nor, as he noted before, is it likely that the church of Reims should have shown herself so ungrateful toward her Patrons as knowingly to take from them the laurel of martyrdom, if it had been conferred by the ancients. Rightly indeed does Marlot say these things. But he ought to have reasoned in the same way against the excessive antiquity of SS. Sixtus and Sinicius, which is equally contrary to the tradition of the people of Reims, set out in their Breviaries and other monuments.
[26] Another bishop of Reims feigned by some in the time of the Apostles: Dirk Pauwels of Gorcum in the fifteenth century compiled a universal Chronicle, in manuscript among us. In it, from folio 248, he gives a catalogue of the prelates of Reims, which everywhere agrees well enough with the other published catalogues, and recites in summary the deeds of SS. Sixtus and Sinicius. But that writer sets down another bishop of Reims before St. Sixtus, and names him Peter and affirms that he was sent by St. Peter. Receive the brief elogium which he wove for his Peter: Holy Peter, disciple of holy Peter the apostle, sent to Reims by the same apostle, converted many by preaching, and there first spread abroad the faith of Christ. When he died, no one is found to have succeeded him in the church of Reims until the year of the Lord 295. I do not think that this man should be held by the people of Reims for a bishop; but they will doubtless believe this Peter fictitious. Yet I should by no means believe that he was first feigned by the praised writer, who seems sincere enough, but too credulous. Hence therefore we gather that antiquity was sought for the church of Reims in various ways, and that it is not to be wondered at if some, out of love of so great an antiquity, referred SS. Sixtus and Sinicius to the times of the Apostles, since there were even found men who thrust in a fictitious bishop.
[27] More rightly did the praised Dirk write of Sixtus and Sinicius, Another elogium of the Saints, whose elogium I subjoin: Holy Sixtus succeeded in this order. For the holy martyrs Crispin and Crispinian, under the emperors Diocletian and Maximian, martyred in the year of the Lord 291 by Rictiovarus in the city of Soissons, showed themselves in a vision to St. Caius the Pope, asserting both that they had been taken up through the palm of martyrdom to the heavenly kingdoms, and that the sheep, for whom after the example of their Lord they had shed their blood, remained desolate on earth by the absence of a shepherd. On which account, they say, we commend them to you. Then holy Pope Caius, by the counsel of the clergy, chose to send holy Sixtus, who confessed himself unworthy of such a dignity, yet ready for every obedience. He is therefore ordained bishop by the same holy Pope, and Sinicius, consecrated presbyter, is joined to him. They came therefore to the city of Reims, … preached the Gospel of Christ, and converted many. (This conversion of many is contrary to the Acts.) At length they came to Soissons, as the holy martyrs aforesaid, Crispin and Crispinian, had asked; where, kindly received by the Catholics, they preached constantly, and by the grace of God daily the faithful were increased. And when the church there was spreading, and the fame of their sanctity, holy Sixtus visited the people of Reims, desiring to know whether perchance by the grace of Christ they might be converted. And behold, those who before had spurned him as superstitious, hearing the fame of his sanctity and of his miracles, received him as a father, where by preaching he gained much people.
[28] And holy Sinicius he consecrated bishop of the church of Soissons; conformable to the Acts and to what we have said. but he himself resided first in the church of Reims, because it seemed more populous and more given over to idolatry; and thus these two luminaries shone forth in both places by miracles and by teachings. The shrines are destroyed, churches are built; ministers are consecrated, the faithful are increased. Meanwhile holy Sixtus foretold many things, and, foreknowing long before the day of his death, announced it to his fellow bishop, blessed Sinicius. Holy Sinicius therefore wept, praying to God that he too might be taken out of this life together with holy Sixtus. The disciples also wept, lest they should be left desolate; so that holy Sixtus, in compassion, wept also, and consoled them, foretelling to holy Sinicius that after one year, on the same day on which he himself departed, he should follow him, commending to him the care of both churches. And he exhorted them all to fight the good fight, to consummate their course in charity unfeigned, and to keep the faith. After this, seized with a fever, and having received the Body of Christ, on the Kalends of September he departed to the Lord. Whom holy Sinicius buried in the church which he himself had built in the suburb of that city. Whose feast is kept on the Kalends of September. To these things about St. Sinicius he adds the following: Holy Sinicius, sent by the aforesaid Pope St. Caius with St. Sixtus, when after the death of holy Sixtus he had ruled both churches for one year, came about the aforesaid day to the city of Reims, and had a tomb made for himself beside the sarcophagus of blessed Sixtus, and dying on the same day which holy Sixtus had foretold, he was buried beside him, so that, as in their life they had loved one another, so in death they should not be separated. Where they shine with countless miracles to the praise and glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.
LIFE
by an anonymous author. From our own Ms. codex, and that of the monastery of Bonnefontaine, collated with the Utrecht Ms.
Sixtus, bishop and confessor, at Reims in Champagne of Gaul. (S.)
Sinicius, bishop and confessor, at Reims in Champagne of Gaul. (S.)
BHL Number: 7815
By an Anonymous author.
It is useful to narrate the deeds of the Saints. And these Saints, born at Rome, To narrate the praises and acts of the Saints is believed to be of great profit, namely because both greater honour is thereby paid to them, and by this an example of holy conversation is set before those who read or hear. For many are less capable of understanding the things that are divine, and yet what they do not understand from precepts they are not slothful in desiring to learn from the examples of the Saints. For this reason therefore we have thought it necessary to describe the life of the most holy fathers Sixtus and Sinicius, inasmuch as, since through them the beginning of evangelical preaching and of the Christian religion came into our parts, the age to come may receive the profits of sacred instruction by their examples as well as by their patronage. For they can rightly confess of us: Though we are not apostles to others, to you we are. The aforesaid Saints, therefore, sprung from Rome, and there holily and religiously brought up nobly from the cradle in the divine law by the successors of the blessed Apostles, by living justly and without complaint, showed there the sanctity of their excellent disposition.
[2] after SS. Crispin and Crispinian had been crowned with martyrdom But because, according to the testimony of truth, a city set on a hill cannot be hidden, nor ought a kindled lamp to lie hid under a bushel, how the light of their sanctity shone forth into these parts we shall take care to intimate in a few words. Therefore at that a time in which the emperors Diocletian and Maximian had by tyrannical domination stirred up a persecution against the Christians, and had slain many of the Saints, afflicted with various sufferings [*], as martyrs worthy of God, the holy men of God, Crispin and Crispinian [b], who formerly with many others had gone from the city of Rome to the Gauls for the love of God and for the instruction of evangelical preaching, were staying in the city of Soissons [c], announcing the word of life to the peoples; where, when they had long remained in the zeal of evangelizing, Rictiovarus, the most cruel executioner of the aforesaid Augusti, coming thither, laboured with various torments to turn them from the faith of Christ, but, the Lord protecting and helping his own, he could not; and so, consummated by a glorious martyrdom, the holy men happily sought the heavenly kingdoms.
[3] they appeared to the Roman Pontiff, that he might send preachers into Gaul, But because some in the same city had been converted to the faith of Christ by their preaching, and because on account of the aforesaid persecution the ministers of Christ left in the parts of Gaul were very few, it was a care to the said Saints, although taken up into blessed rest, that their labour should not remain unfinished on earth, and that they should provide others as their substitutes in the same work. At last they showed themselves in a vision to the Pontiff of the Roman See of that time [d], asserting both that they themselves had been taken up through the glory of martyrdom to the heavenly kingdoms, and that the sheep, for whom after the example of their Lord they had shed their blood, remained desolate on earth by the absence of a shepherd. On which account, they say, we commend them to you, and to your [e] care we commit the souls which we have gained for God: for you hold the Apostolic See, and to you by right belongs the care of all the churches. We too justly, in such a necessity, have recourse to this See, from which we were sent. It will therefore be yours henceforth to provide some men not sluggish nor lukewarm, but vigorous and industrious, ministers, namely, of Christ, who in our stead may with the office of a shepherd undertake to rule and to increase the sheep which we have won for God, so that the craft of the malignant plotter may not overthrow from the right faith those whom the King of heaven had lately gained to himself as Christians through us.
[4] After this vision, therefore, and admonition of the blessed martyrs, the same Pontiff, being made certain [] that he had been divinely admonished by the Saints of God, they are consecrated by the Pontiff, Sixtus as bishop, Sinicius as presbyter, having convoked the clergy, began to seek whom he might destine for the Gauls for the sake of evangelizing. At last the testimony of almost all who were present was in agreement, that the aforesaid holy Sixtus was most fit for this work; inasmuch f as he was a man of all prudence and gentleness, according to the precept of the Saviour, who says: Be prudent as serpents, and simple as doves. And he also, that their testimony might not be doubted [] to be ratified and so foreordained, crying out that he himself, though unworthy, was nevertheless of his own accord ready with a most prompt will for all things which should be enjoined upon him for the sake of obedience by the apostolic See, so declares. For he burned g with no small desire to undergo labours for Christ, so that by this occasion he might at some time attain even to the glory of martyrdom. What more? He is ordained bishop, and for his comfort blessed Sinicius is provided for him, then also consecrated presbyter by the same Pontiff. Who himself also was held, by the testimony of all, to be approved a man of great virtues.
[5] So the good and chosen Soldiers of Christ are destined [h] for the Gauls, [and being sent into Gaul they come to Reims, where they preach without great fruit;] as lambs among wolves, with him himself accompanying them who promised his own, saying: Behold, I am with you all days even to the consummation of the world. Supported by whose help, scattering through the byways of a long journey the word of life to all who desired to hear, they came at length, within the Gauls, to the city of Reims. Entering whose gate, and considering the condition of the place, they see the history of their own nation carved on the doors of that city; since indeed this city, built by the Romans, is reported to have been named Reims [i] from the name of Remus, the brother, namely, of Romulus. Beholding therefore the memorial of their own nation carved there, as though invited by some familiarity, they chose to dwell there for some time, for the sake, namely, of trying whether Christ would deign to gather some in that city to his faith. Remaining therefore there some time, they daily preached the word of God to the peoples; but they could find very few who would receive their wholesome admonitions with eagerness of heart. For this city was still exceedingly given over to idolatry and to the superstition of the gentiles.
[6] They also, not unmindful of those things which had been more particularly enjoined upon them, they make for Soissons, where, received by the Christians, and which the said martyrs had from heaven made known to them in a vision, leaving this city, hasten to go to Soissons. Having entered which, because they found there living some of those whom the martyrs of Christ had imbued with the Catholic faith, they were gladly and most generously received by them. At last [k] they themselves also, after the heavy and laborious struggles of a long journey, as though snatched from perils of the sea, began to enjoy in Christ the peace they had longed for, as in a most tranquil harbour. With great constancy therefore they preached the word of life to the citizens; and by the grace of the Lord granting it, there were daily increased those who were being saved in Christ. For their most chaste and sober life was to them a cause of salvation.
[7] they increase the church by the conversion of many: The miracles also and healings which the Lord deigned to work through them begot no small belief in their hearts. For nothing is known to have been lacking in them of those things which the Lord's goodness had promised to his faithful, saying: And these signs shall follow those who believe in me. In my name they shall cast out devils, they shall speak with new tongues, they shall take up serpents. And if they shall drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them. They shall lay hands upon the sick, and they shall be well. With these miracles therefore bearing witness, far and wide the faith of Christ was magnified by very many, and the glory of his name was spread abroad everywhere, so that even those who a little before had been most bitter persecutors of the Christians, now converted to better things, either believed altogether, or at least, softened by the favour of his kindness, showed themselves gentler toward the worshippers of God. And having been granted their affection, they spent very much time together in that same place, giving themselves most zealously to teaching and to the practice of virtues.
[8] Sixtus, returning to Reims, converts many there also, But when the church of Christ had now begun to spread in that city, and the fame of their sanctity to be famous among all the neighbours, the aforesaid most blessed pontiff Sixtus, by the prompting of divine love, was eager to go again to the city of Reims for the sake of a visitation, desiring to search out more anxiously whether at length the divine goodness had kindled the hearts of those dwelling there with any light of its charity, for the receiving of the tokens of its faith. Whose labour the Lord, taking pity on it, deigned to open to him a door of faith even among them, so that those who before had abominated him as one teaching vain and superstitious things, hearing the fame of his sanctity and the signs of his miracles, now strove with all their strength to receive him as a father and instructor. The Man full of God began therefore to press on with teaching there also, and, the heavenly clemency helping, much people was converted by his preaching to the Catholic faith.
[9] and, calling Sinicius to him, consecrates him bishop of Soissons: And having found that there also a place of preaching had been prepared for him by the Lord, having called to himself the aforesaid priest and fellow-soldier Sinicius, he began to consider how through them both cities might advance in the religion they had begun, and [l] how both peoples together might alike enjoy the comfort of daily instruction and of the divine ministry. What more? He himself, divinely inspired, chose to reside in this same city, because it seemed both more populous and more given over to idolatry. But blessed Sinicius, that he might preside over the church of Soissons, he consecrated bishop; and from that time each of them began more particularly to rule his own church; and so it came about that blessed Sixtus obtained, first of the bishops, the chair of the church of Reims.
[10] [the faithful being much increased in both places, Sixtus foretells his death to Sinicius.] These things being thus disposed, these two Prelates of Christ began in both places, like two great luminaries of heaven, to shine forth with teaching and with the signs of miracles. At last the shrines are destroyed, churches are built, the faithful people is increased; many also are instructed by them in the divine law. The number of disciples also increasing, ministers of the church are consecrated, and they duly perform all things in the divine worship. When therefore they had for a long time been intent upon such things and the like, and seemed divided from one another in place but not in mind, in countenance but not in affection, in flesh but not in spirit, the most blessed Sixtus began, among his other works of virtue, to be strong also in the spirit of prophecy, and to foretell to his intimates and fellow-citizens many things which were to come. Whence it came about also that he foreknew his death long before, and announced the day of his departure to the most blessed prelate and fellow bishop Sinicius.
[11] Who, stirred by the affection of charity, began to be much distressed with weariness, who grieves much at it, as do the faithful, to whom it had become known: if he should be compelled to survive the blessed Man in this life. For he desired that, as here they had been companions in the service of Christ, so also in death they might remain undivided. He wept therefore with bitter tears, and entreated with plaintive prayers that he might be taken up together with the holy Man. Of the disciples also and of those subject to him, to whom it was permitted to know this, the lamentation was no small one, complaining and saying that they, desolate by the absence of their shepherd, lay open to the bites of wolves; imploring also that they might not be forsaken, and, redoubling their prayers and their mourning, they sent up their voices to heaven, so much so that scarcely even the Man of God could refrain from tears, desiring both not to fail them for the present in their consolation, and yet knowing that it is much better to be dissolved and to be with Christ.
[12] Having therefore consoled them with very many words and exhortations, Sixtus foretells also to Sinicius that he will die after a year on the same day, he began more secretly to declare to blessed Sinicius by way of prophecy that he too would follow him not long after; but that, when the space of a year had been measured out, on the same day on which he himself died, he too would be taken up to the heavenly kingdoms; that this space was to be left him on earth for this purpose, that the sheep which they had won for Christ should not be utterly forsaken by the absence of both, but that by his guardianship and rule both churches might stand firm, until the Lord should determine upon some chosen beforehand for himself, who might rightly be able to take up the pastoral care in their stead. At last, the people of the faithful being called together, having addressed them with many exhortations, he assigned the care of both churches to blessed Sinicius, committing to his providence the flocks which they had won for the Lord, either together or separately, in the aforesaid places.
[13] Hearing which, the people standing by, as though unexpectedly struck by a stroke of lightning from heaven, and having exhorted him and the faithful to constancy, drawing their breath from the depths, began to lament with most bitter cries. The mourning of the disciples too is renewed, and blessed Sinicius the pontiff is made sorrowful with no small grief. Whom blessed Sixtus gently consoling, admonished with many discourses that they too should fight the good fight, should consummate their course in charity unfeigned, should keep inviolably the Catholic faith, and so, after him, striving well, should hasten with eager heart to the crown of justice. So after these things, as the day drew near which the holy Man had long foreknown, he is seized with a fever of sickness; yet, though his body wasted away, in spirit he panted after heavenly things, ever gazing toward heaven, ever sighing after things on high, and ever desiring the hour to come when, as a faithful and prudent steward, he should be taken up into the joy of his Lord; bearing this alone as a trouble in his heart, that he beheld his Fellow-soldier, the aforesaid blessed Sinicius, afflicted with sorrow at the separation from him. To whom also very often, among words of consolation, he repeated that very thing which he had said above, namely that he would not remain a pilgrim on earth for a long space after his own departure, but that, a year's course being completed, he would without doubt follow him. Together, said he, we began our pilgrimage; together we sweated in labour; we have lived in one spirit; and with one year interposed, on one and the same day we shall be joined anew in heavenly glory; but it will be your prudence that the dust of earth should hold our bodies also undivided m.
[14] At last, his health growing daily worse, when he had felt that the hour of his release was now at hand, he dies, and is honourably buried. Sinicius takes up the care of both churches, bidding farewell both to the aforesaid blessed prelate Sinicius and to the clergy and the rest of the faithful, having received the viaticum, on the very Kalends of September, by a glorious passing, the blessed Man happily consummated the course of his pilgrimage. Whose obsequies being worthily celebrated, holy Sinicius honourably laid his body, with praises and hymns, in the church which he himself had built in the suburb of that city. Which being accomplished, blessed Sinicius took up with religious affection the government of both n churches, as had been enjoined upon him. Which he strove vigorously and manfully to carry out through the whole space of a year, namely by building churches, teaching the peoples, and appointing also ministers of the church, as was opportune and as the means of a plantation still new allowed.
[15] and after a year he dies on the same day, And he too, the course of his labour being well consummated, when he now perceived that the day of his calling, which the holy Man had foretold, was at hand, all things being fitly disposed, returned to the city of Reims, intending this in his mind, that the good of obedience, which living he had continually practised, he might faithfully consummate also at the term of his death, and might rightly dispose the people of that city according to the command of blessed Sixtus, and might there also himself end the labours of the present life by a happy death. He therefore had a sepulchre prepared for himself beside the sarcophagus of the blessed Man, and on the impending day formerly foretold to him he began to be distressed with the sickness of infirmity. And, teaching the people with wholesome admonition, and commending himself more anxiously to the Lord with suppliant prayer, with great desire of heart he awaited the day he had longed for. Which coming, that the prophecy of blessed Sixtus might be proved true in all things, on the aforesaid day, namely on the Kalends of September, he too, rejoicing, presented o his blessed soul, loosed from the flesh, to be carried by angelic ministry into the joys of the heavens, and to be joined to the companion he had desired, in the glory of Christ.
[16] and is buried beside St. Sixtus. Whose departure the people consecrated to Christ bearing heavily, filled with mourning and tears, bewailed the absence of their Father; whom nevertheless faith greatly consoled, because they knew both that there was cause for rejoicing, in that he had been taken up into glory, and that they had nonetheless cause for grief, in that they were desolate of both Shepherds. His body therefore, laid with honour and due praise in the sepulchre which he had had prepared for himself, they buried. And so it came about that, as in their life they loved one another with mutual charity, so also in the rest of their bodies, as of their souls, they should be joined inseparably. In which place the memory of their sanctity is proved by evident tokens to be held famous, from miracles and virtues wrought thence to the praise of the name of Christ. Nor is it to be thought that the crown of martyrdom [p] was wanting to them, since, although a persecutor was wanting, they nevertheless, carrying about continually in their body the cross of Christ, carried out not slothfully what they had purposed in mind, and deserved happily to attain to the palm of victory, Christ triumphing in them and through them. To whom be honour and glory, praise and magnificence, both then and now and through the infinite ages of ages. Amen.