The Latin Martyrdom of *Andochius, Thyrsus and Felix (martyrs of Saulieu, S02094) recounts how *Polycarp (bishop and martyr of Smyrna, S00004) sent Andochius and Thyrsus to Gaul; arriving at Marseille, they proceeded to Autun and to Saulieu (both in eastern Gaul), where Felix, a merchant, offered them hospitality; on the arrival of the emperor Aurelian, all three were arrested, tortured and martyred. Written in eastern Gaul, possibly in the early 6th c.
E08523
Literary - Hagiographical - Accounts of martyrdom
Martyrdom of Andochius the Presbyter, Thyrsus the Deacon and Felix the Merchant (Passio Andochii presbyter, Tyrsi diaconi, Felicis negotiatoris, BHL 424)
Summary:
(1.) Seven days after he had been martyred and entered heaven, *Irenaeus (bishop and martyr of Lyon, S02832) appeared in the night, accompanied by a host of martyrs, to *Polycarp (bishop and martyr of Smyrna, S00004), telling him of his martyrdom and asking Polycarp to send to Gaul the priests Andochius and *Benignus (martyr of Dijon, S00320), with the deacon Thyrsus. Having delivered this message, the martyrs returned to heaven, leaving behind the most beautiful odour.
(2.) The next day, Polycarp recounts his vision, and the three men to be sent to Gaul rejoice at the news. Accompanying them to their ship, Polycarp exhorts them to constancy in their mission, and tells them that paradise awaits them.
(3.) They travel swiftly to Marseille and proceed to Lyon, where they meet up with Zaccharia, 'who was hiding in a cave near the graves of the martyrs' (qui latenter in crypta inter sepulchra martyrum latitabat). Having thought on the matter, and inspired by an angel, they proceed to Autun, where they meet with the prefect Faustus, a secret Christian. He greets them with great joy, and has them baptise his friends and his whole household. The emperor Severus has died and been succeeded by Aurelian, who is also a savage persecutor of Christians.
(4.) At Faustus' request, Benignus also baptises Faustus' three-year-old son *Symphorianus (martyr of Autun, S00322), with Andochius acting as his sponsor. Later, aged about twenty, Symphorianus is himself to become a glorious martyr. Those whom the missionaries had baptised acquire miraculous powers to heal and to expel demons from the possessed.
(5.) Faustus has a sister in Langres, *Leonilla (companion martyr of the triplets of Langres, S02046), with three grandchildren, *Speusippus, Melasippus and Elasippus (triplets and martyrs of Langres, S02046), whom she has instructed in Christianity but who have not yet been baptised. Benignus is sent to her, where he baptises the youths and all Leonilla's household. Later, at the age of around twenty-five, the triplets are also to become martyrs, 'which their Martyrdom fully recounts' (quod passio eorum plenissime declaravit) (see E06512). The evil emperor Aurelian was in Gaul and came to the city of Sens.
(6.) Faustus had an estate at a place called Sedelocus (Saulieu), to which Andochius and Thyrsus travel, and where they are offered hospitality by a 'merchant' (negotiator) named Felix, who was 'an easterner' (orientalis vir). The emperor Aurelian, leaving Sens, passes by Saulieu. Andochius and Thyrsus are found preaching in Felix's house and are seized. Felix asks to share their crown of martyrdom, and the three are taken bound before Aurelian.
(7.) Asked by the emperor who they are and which gods they worship, Andochius replies that they are easterners sent by their holy father, Polycarp, and that they worship only the one true God. Aurelian reminds them of the edicts ordering sacrifice to the gods, but Andochius rejects these gods as insentient demons.
(8.) The emperor offers them riches if they will sacrifice. All three refuse, explaining at some length the salvation that they will achieve and the perdition that will come to unbelievers. Furious, the emperor hands them over to the torturers. They are suspended by their hands from an elm tree with their feet weighted down with stones.
(9.) The three pray, and at the end of a whole day of this torture are found to have been unharmed. The next day Aurelian again orders them to sacrifice; but Andochius refuses, pointing out how Christ has protected them. The emperor has a great fire prepared and tells the three that they will be cast into it, but this does not dent their resolve.
(10.) The fire is lit, and the martyrs, bound hand and foot, are cast into it – but their bonds fall away and the three stand unharmed praying amidst the flames. A great shower extinguishes the flames. Brought before the emperor, the three proclaim God's power.
(11.) Aurelian has them killed by being struck on the neck with iron bars, and leaves for Autun. Hearing what has happened on his estate, Faustus comes by night, accompanied by his son Symphorianus (then aged about fifteen), and buries them. Symphorianus weeps and prays and keeps vigils for them. This happened on the seventh of the Kalends of October [= 24 September].
Text: van der Straeten 1961, 459-464.
Summary: B. Ward-Perkins.
Burial site of a saint - tomb/grave
Non Liturgical ActivityComposing and translating saint-related texts
Vigils
MiraclesMiracle at martyrdom and death
Miracle after death
Apparition, vision, dream, revelation
Miraculous sound, smell, light
Miracle during lifetime
Healing diseases and disabilities
Exorcism
Protagonists in Cult and NarrativesMonarchs and their family
Torturers/Executioners
Children
Ecclesiastics - lesser clergy
Merchants and artisans
Ecclesiastics - bishops
Source
The Martyrdom of *Andochius, Thyrsus and Felix survives in a number of manuscripts. The Bibliotheca Hagiographica Latina Manuscripta database lists twelve, one being of 9th-century date.It is one of a group of six interrelated Martyrdoms from Burgundy, along with those of *Irenaeus of Lyon (BHL 4458; E08522); *Benignus of Dijon (BHL 1153; E06532); *Speusippus, Melasippus and Elasippus of Langres (BHL 7829; E06512); *Ferreolus and Ferrucio of Besançon (BHL 2903; E06312); 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
This particular text is remarkable amongst the Burgundian Martyrdoms for the way it ties a number of martyrs and Martyrdoms into its account, creating a narrative for the origins and development of several churches in Burgundy.Bibliography
Edition:van der Straeten, J., "Les actes des martyrs d’Aurélien en Bourgogne: Le texte de Farfa," Analecta Bollandiana 79 (1961), 447-468, at pp. 455-468.
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 | S00004 | Polykarpos/Polycarp, bishop and martyr of Smyrna, and his companion martyrs | Polycarpus | Certain | S00320 | Benignus, martyr of Dijon | Benignus | Certain | S00322 | Symphorianus, martyr of Autun | Symphorianus | Certain | S02046 | Speusippos, Elasippos and Melesippos, triplets and martyrs of Cappadocia, and later of Langres | Iosipphus, Eleosipphus et Meleosipphus | Certain | S02094 | Andochius, Thyrsus, and Felix, martyrs of Saulieu (eastern Gaul) | Andochius, Tyrsus, Felix | Certain | S02832 | Irenaeus, bishop and martyr of Lyon | Certain |
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