Anonymous sermon ('Eusebius Gallicanus', Sermon 11), on the feast of the *Martyrs of Lyon (S00316); it names the martyrs Blandina and Bishop Photinus (Potheinos). Preached in Latin at Lyon (south-east Gaul), probably in the 5th century.
E00809
Literary - Sermons/Homilies
Eusebius Gallicanus
Eusebius Gallicanus, Sermon 11: On Saint Blandina of Lyon (De sancta Blandina Lugdunensis)
The preacher begins (§ 1) by declaring that martyrs from both far away and near at hand should be venerated and will bring benefits to those who venerate them. He then admonishes the congregation to be aware of their city's unique wealth of martyrs:
(2.) Agnoscamus, carissimi, circa ecclesiam nostram, uberiorem diuinorum munerum largitatem. Exsultant urbium populi, etsi unius saltem martyris reliquiis muniantur; ecce nos populos martyrum possidemus. Gaudeat terra nostra nutricia caelestium militum et tantarum parens fecunda uirtutum. Ecce profanus hostis nequaquam tantum prodesse potuisset obsequio, quantum profuit gladio; nam, sicut sacratissimi praesentis diei festa manifestant: quantum contra hanc iniquitas abundauit, tantum in ea gratia nunc benedictionis exuberat.
'(2.) Let us recognise, dearly beloved, the richer abundance of divine gifts around our church. The populations of cities exult if they are protected by the relics of even one martyr; behold – we possess populations of martyrs. May our land rejoice as the nurse of heavenly soldiers and the fertile parent of such great virtues. Behold – the profane enemy would in no way have been able to bring so much benefit by submission as he did by the sword, for just as the festivals of the present, most holy, day make clear, as much as iniquity abounded against this land, to the same extent the grace of benediction now overflows in it.'
The preacher gives a long passage in direct speech (§ 3), addressed to Bethlehem by 'our Lyon' (Lugdunus nostra), listing ways in which the martyrs of Lyon are superior to the Holy Innocents, and beginning 'O Bethlehem: in the titles of our martyrs you may perhaps come first in number, I in merit [...]' (O Bethlehem: in martyrum nostrorum titulis tu numero fortasse praecedas, ego merito ...). The gist of the passage is that Lyon is superior because its martyrs were adults who gave their lives consciously in the confession of faith, while Bethlehem's were oblivious children. But an additional difference appears at the end of the passage:
Postremo, beata illa morte qua Herodes, dum sacrum puerum quaerit solum, tantos pueros immolauit. Triumphum tuum sexus unus, meum uterque promeruit; mea pugna palmam de mundi principe etiam in feminis reportauit; chorus meus in pueris innocentes tuos habere potuit, chorus tuus Blandinam meam habere non potuit.
'Finally, Herod sacrificed so many boys by that blessed death, while he sought a single holy boy. One sex earned your triumph, both sexes mine; my battle won the palm from the prince of the world even in women; my chorus was able to have [the equivalent of] your innocents in boys, your chorus was not able to have my Blandina.'
Returning to his own voice, the preacher describes the martyrdom of the leader of the Christian community at Lyon, Photinus (Potheinos in the original Greek account):
(4.) Praestitit inter ista, diuina prouidentia: ut in tantis patriae sacrificiis etiam pontifex non deesset. Rapitur ad impiam quaestionem grandaeuus et plenus dierum beatus pater noster Photinus, ecclesiae huius antistes; et, pro eruditionis ut credimus merito, gregi suo iungitur, ac post dominici corporis sacrificium profanis tribunalibus nouam de se hostiam Christo oblaturus infertur; senilis infirmitas per iniurias et afflictiones furentium ministrorum ita celer sortitur exitum, ut eum intellegeres ad tempus illud soli martyrio reseruatum. Felix cui, in ipso uitae limine constituto, finem suum non tam naturae contigit debere quam gloriae.
'(4.) Among these things, divine providence granted that among such great sacrifices for our homeland the bishop too would not be lacking. Aged and full of days, our blessed father Photinus, bishop of this church, is seized for impious interrogation, and, we believe, as a reward for his teaching is joined with his flock, and after the sacrifice of the Lord's body, he is brought into the profane court to offer himself as a new sacrifice to Christ. Aged infirmity obtains death so swiftly from the injuries and tortures of the raging executioners that you would consider that he was preserved up to that time for martyrdom alone. Happy the one to whom it was granted, at the very limit of life, to owe his end not to nature but to glory.'
The preacher then goes on to describe (§ 5) the tortures and killing of the martyrs, which, he says, inspired by the example of Photinus, 'they did not so much receive as seize' (non tam excipiunt quam inuadunt). He says that they were thrown to the beasts, but the beasts refused to harm them. The preacher turns this last claim against those who argue that the bodies of the martyrs should not be venerated, saying that in fact even the beasts had venerated them.
The concluding passage (§ 6) describes the fate of the martyrs' bodies. Because the persecutors knew that 'our church would be adorned by such great trophies of faith' (ecclesia nostra tantis fidei adornetur tropaeis), they tried to prevent veneration of the martyrs' remains by burning them and throwing them in the River Rhône. They were too stupid to realise that destroying physical remains would do nothing to erase their memory but would propagate their glory.
Text: Glorie 1970.
Translations and summary: David Lambert.
Sermon/homily
Service for the saint
FestivalsSaint’s feast
Rejection, Condemnation, SceptisismDestruction/hostile attempts to prevent veneration of relics
Non Liturgical ActivitySaint as patron - of a community
Protagonists in Cult and NarrativesWomen
Children
Ecclesiastics - bishops
Theorising on SanctityConsiderations about the veneration of saints
Using saints to assert ecclesiastical/political status
Considerations about the nature of relics
Source
The sermon on the Martyrs of Lyon survives as part of the large collection of anonymous Gallic sermons known as 'Eusebius Gallicanus'. This was compiled in southern Gaul at some point between the late 5th and early 7th centuries, but the precise date and circumstances remain uncertain. For a detailed examination of the collection, see Bailey 2010.Like all the sermons in the collection this one is anonymous and cannot be dated precisely, though it is almost certainly from the 5th century. It is evident from the sermon itself that it was preached to a congregation in Lyon, on the feast day of the Martyrs of Lyon (2 June): the preacher repeatedly stresses the local importance of the martyrs and refers to the people of Lyon as 'we' and 'us'. Given the nature of the sermon, it is likely (though not absolutely certain) that it was preached by the bishop of the city, but without any firm evidence as to its date, it is futile to speculate as to which one.
Discussion
Although the title of the sermon implies that it is devoted particularly to the martyrdom of Blandina, she is mentioned only once, to indicate that the Martyrs of Lyon included both sexes: more individual attention is paid to Photinus, the elderly bishop. Though it is much shorter and only mentions two individuals by name, the sermon's version of events, especially the martyrdom of Photinus (its most detailed passage), corresponds reasonably closely to the account in the letter from the churches of Lyon and Vienne quoted by Eusebius in his Ecclesiastical History (E00212), available since the early 5th century in a Latin translation by Rufinus of Aquileia. The sermon refers explicitly to the remains of the martyrs being carried away by the River Rhône: there is no suggestion that their bodies were miraculously recovered, as in the later version of the story by Gregory of Tours (E00548).One difference between the sermon and the account in Eusebius is the claim that when the martyrs were thrown to the beasts, the beasts refused to harm them (§ 5). In the original account this is said of an attempt to kill Blandina (Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History 5.1.42) but on other occasions martyrs (including Blandina herself, eventually) are said to have been attacked or killed by beasts. The preacher uses this claim to attack people who believe that the bodies of martyrs should not be venerated, by suggesting that they show less reverence for the martyrs than wild beasts. There are similar passages in two sermons which are not part of the Eusebius Gallicanus collection, but which appear to be from Gaul and contemporaneous with it (E06039 and E08517). This suggests that the three sermons may be by the same author (or possibly reworked by the same redactor), especially since the passages are virtually the only references to the rejection of the cult of martyrs and relics in Gallic texts dating from later than the controversy over the ideas of Vigilantius, at the very beginning of the 5th century (see E08325).
Bibliography
Edition:Glorie, F., Eusebius 'Gallicanus'. Collectio Homiliarum I (Corpus Christianorum Series Latina 101; Turnhout: Brepols, 1970), 131-134.
Translation:
Bailey 2020 (below), pp. 46-50.
Further Reading:
Bailey, L.K., “Building urban Christian communities: sermons on local saints in the Eusebius Gallicanus collection,” Early Medieval Europe 12 (2003), 1-24.
Bailey, L.K., Christianity's Quiet Success: The Eusebius Gallicanus Sermon Collection and the Power of the Church in Late Antique Gaul (Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press, 2010).
Bailey, L.K., "'The Innocence of the Dead Crowned You, the Glory of the Triumphant Crowned Me': The Strange Rivalry between Bethlehem and Lyon in Eusebius Gallicanus Sermon 11," in: M.J. Kelly and M. Burrows (eds.), Urban Interactions: Communication and Competition in Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages (Punctum Books, 2020), 45-65.
David Lambert
06/12/2023
| ID | Name | Name in Source | Identity | S00268 | Innocents, children killed on the orders of Herod | Certain | S00316 | Martyrs of Lyon | Blandina, Photinus | Certain |
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