The Latin Martyrdom of *Ferreolus and Ferrucio (martyrs of Besançon, S00348) recounts how they were sent by *Irenaeus (bishop and martyr of Lyon, S02832) to establish the Christian church in Besançon (eastern Gaul), and how they were arrested, interrogated, tortured and eventually killed. Written in eastern Gaul, possibly in the early 6th c.
E06312
Literary - Hagiographical - Accounts of martyrdom
Acts of Ferreolus the Presbyter and Ferrucio the Deacon (Acta sanctorum Ferreoli presbyteri et Ferrucionis diaconi, BHL 2903)
The story which follows has an opening section which it shares with the Martyrdom of *Felix, Fortunatus and Achilleus of Valence (E06312), before beginning a section specific to Ferreolus and Ferrucio, which it introduces with the words: 'So now let us come to their reverent martyrdom' (Nunc igitur, ad eorum reverendam passionem veniamus).
Brief Summary:
Opening: *Irenaeus, bishop and martyr of Lyon (S02832) sends the priest Ferreolus and deacon Ferrucio to Besançon, to establish the Christian church there; at the same time he sends the priest Felix and deacons Fortunatus and Achilleus to Valence. Here they have considerable success in converting the pagan population. Felix has a dream, which he recounts, in which he sees five lambs in a field full of flowers and hears a voice welcoming the disciples of Irenaeus. The saints in Valence then read a letter from Ferreolus and Ferrucio telling of a dream one of them had, in which he saw five splendid martyrs' crowns, and heard a voice saying they were for Irenaeus' disciples. Felix writes to Ferreolus and Ferrucio, recounting his dream [of the five lambs].
Main account: A certain Claudius of Besançon visits Cornelius, the commander of the emperor Aurelian's army, at Valence, and knowing how Cornelius had savagely dealt with Felix, Fortunatus and Achilleus, asks what he should do with Ferreolus and Ferrucio, who had led half the population of Besançon away from veneration of the gods. Cornelius provides Claudius with letters, telling him to torture and kill Ferreolus and Ferrucio, in order to dissuade others from following their example.
Claudius returns to Besançon and arrests Ferreolus and Ferrucio, who were living in a small cave (cripta parvula). He offers them a choice of money if they will sacrifice to the gods, or death by varied tortures if they will not. Ferreolus and Ferrucio affirm their faith in Christ. They are stretched on the rack and beaten, but feel no pain. The next day, still refusing to sacrifice, their tongues are cut out, but they are still able to proclaim the Christian message. Furious, Claudius has thirty 'very sharp metal spikes' (acutissimas subulas) hammered into the hands, feet, chest and joints of each martyr. They feel no pain. Claudius has them executed, and the place is filled with a sweet smell. The Christians recover their bodies and bury them 'in the same cave' (eadem cripta) where they had lived. This happened on the sixteenth of the Kalends of July [= 16 June].
Text: de Vregille 2003, 187-189.
Summary: B. Ward-Perkins.
Burial site of a saint - tomb/grave
Non Liturgical ActivityComposing and translating saint-related texts
MiraclesMiracle at martyrdom and death
Apparition, vision, dream, revelation
Protagonists in Cult and NarrativesEcclesiastics - bishops
Ecclesiastics - lesser clergy
Source
The Martyrdom of Ferreolus and Ferrucio survives in a comparatively small number of manuscripts: Bibliotheca Hagiographica Latina Manuscripta database lists ten, only one (of the 10th century) being earlier than 12th-century in date.It is one of a group of six interrelated Martyrdoms from Burgundy, along with those of *Irenaeus of Lyon (BHL 4458; E08522); *Andochius, Thyrsus and Felix of Saulieu (BHL 424; E08523); * Benignus of Lyon (BHL 1153; E06532); *Speusippus, Melasippus and Elasippus of Langres (BHL 7829; E06512); and *Felix, Fortunatus and Achilleus of Valence (BHL 2896; E06306). Many of these martyrs feature in supporting roles in the Martyrdoms of the others, as well as in their own primary Martyrdom, as does a further Burgundian martyr, *Symphorianus of Autun (S00322). All the commemorated martyrs are presented as disciples either of Irenaeus, the bishop and martyr of Lyon (S02832), or directly of Irenaeus' master, *Polycarp (bishop and martyr of Smyrna, S00004), and all except Irenaeus, who dies under Severus, are martyred under the emperor Aurelian.
In its fully evolved form, a coherent story is told through these Martyrdoms of how Polycarp (a disciple of the Apostle and Evangelist John, and in these texts bishop of Ephesus, not Smyrna) first sent Irenaeus to proselytise in Gaul, and, after Irenaeus was martyred in Lyon (and spurred on by the appearance of the latter in a vision), sent Benignus, Andochius and Thyrsus to Gaul; and how, through the actions of these three (combined with the earlier work of Irenaeus), Christianity was established in many of the cities of Burgundy. (Though this is not of importance for our purposes, the story follows an impossible chronology: the historical Polycarp long predeceased the historical Irenaeus, rather than vice-versa, and neither lived in anything like the times of the emperor Aurelian, who reigned from 270 to 275.)
Precisely when these six 'Burgundian' Martyrdoms, were written, and how many different hands were involved, has been the subject of scholarly debate. Duchesne (1907, 48-59) believed that they were all the work of a single falsifier, writing in the early 6th century, while Meyer (1904, 67-71) and van der Straeten (1961) convincingly argued that they were the work of at least two authors. Philippart (2014, 259-262) is certainly correct that the issue requires further research.
For our purposes, the detail of who precisely wrote them and when is less important than the general scholarly consensus that at least the central core of these Martyrdoms (with the proselytising work of Polycarp and Irenaeus) emerged in the 6th century, probably in its early years. There are reasonably secure termini ante quem for three of the six Martyrdoms: Gregory of Tours in his Glory of the Martyrs 50 (written in the 580s or early 590s), describes a miraculous stone at Dijon, which plays an important role in the Martyrdom of Benignus (compare E00574 and E06532), and in Glory of the Martyrs 70 (E00606) refers to a Martyrdom of Ferreolus and Ferrucio that could well be our 'Burgundian' text; while in around 615 a version of the Martyrdom of the Langres triplets is known to have been sent to a bishop of Paris (E05943).
Though more tentatively, we can probably assign this clutch of Martyrdoms to a more precise chronological envelope: the early 6th century. They are almost certainly later than the end of the 5th century, because several of them include in their stories Symphorianus, a prominent martyr of Autun (S00322), while the Martyrdom of Symphorianus (E06496), which was probably written in the late 5th century, is entirely silent about any of our saints. An early 6th-century date for one of our Martyrdoms is then suggested by the detailed account by Gregory of Tours of how his great-grandfather, Gregory, bishop of Langres between 507/8 and 539/40, built up (indeed discovered) Benignus of Dijon (E00573). The story includes an account of how Gregory of Langres 'acquired from men travelling to Italy a history of Benignus' suffering' (ab euntibus in Italiam passionis eius historiam adlatam ... accepit). This could very well be our Martyrdom of Benignus, here given a respectable (if implausible) Italian source of origin.
These Burgundian Martyrdoms established martyrs and an origin story for many of the churches of eastern Gaul/Burgundy entirely different from the origin story of many sees in southern and western Gaul, which traced their beginnings to a mission from Rome in the time of the emperor Decius (for this, see, for instance, E01530). Instead, in Burgundy, two men from the East – Irenaeus of Lyon and his master Polycarp – play the central role; with, furthermore, a link back to apostolic times through Polycarp (who was a disciple of the Apostle John during the latter's time at Ephesus). All of this would fit well a context when the kingdom of Burgundy was a powerful and independent force, before it was swallowed up by the Franks in 533/534.
Discussion
As mentioned above, Gregory of Tours in his Glory of the Martyrs 70 (E00606) mentions a written Martyrdom (passio) of Ferreolus and Ferrucio, that tells how they were buried obscurely in a crypt: 'As their Martyrdom declares, the two martyrs Ferreolus and Ferrucio were buried here [in Besançon] in the hidden places of a crypt' (Huic in abdita criptae duo, ut passio declarat, martyres Ferreolus atque Ferrucio sunt sepulti). This may well be our text, which does indeed tell us they were buried in a crypt or cave.Bibliography
Editions:Acta Sanctorum, Jun. IV, 6-7 (Jun. III, 7-8)
Vregille, B. de, "La plus ancienne version de la Passion des saints Ferréol et Ferjeux," in: J.-Y. Guillaumin and S. Ratti (eds.), Autour de Lactance. Hommages à Pierre Monat (Besançon: Presses universitaires de Franche-Comté, 2003), 181-196, with French translation.
Further reading:
Beaujard, B., Le Culte des saints en Gaule. Les premiers temps. D’Hilaire de Poitiers à la fin du VIe siècle (Histoire religieuse de la France 15; Paris: Les Éditions du Cerf, 2000), 217-223.
Duchesne, L., Fastes épiscopaux de l'ancienne Gaule, 2nd ed. (Paris, 1907), vol. 1, 48-59.
Mayer, W., Die Legende des h. Albanus der Protomartyr Angliae in Texten vor Beda (Berlin, 1904).
Philippart, G., "4. Passio Speusippi, Eleusippi, Meleusippi, BHL 7829", in: Goullet, M. (ed.), Le légendier de Turin: ms. D.V.3 de la Bibliothèque nationale universitaire (Florence: SISMEL edizioni del Galluzzo, 2014), 257-278.
van der Straeten, J., "Les actes des martyrs d'Aurélien en Bourgogne. Étude littéraire," Analecta Bollandiana 79 (1961), 115-144.
Bryan Ward-Perkins
28/03/2024
| ID | Name | Name in Source | Identity | S00348 | Ferreolus and Ferrucio, martyrs of Besançon | Ferreolus et Ferrucio | Certain | S02308 | Felix, Fortunatus, and Achilles, priest and two deacons, martyrs of Valence, Gaul | Felix, Fortunatus et Achilleus | Certain | S02832 | Irenaeus, bishop and martyr of Lyon | Hyrenaus | Certain |
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