Druidism in Gaul, and yet more lukewarm and destitute of all religious
vitality. It was the religion of the conquerors and of the State, and
was invested, in that quality, with real power; but, beyond that, it had
but the power derived from popular customs and superstitions. As a
religious creed, the Latin paganism was at bottom empty, indifferent,
and inclined to tolerate all religions in the State, provided only that
they, in their turn, were indifferent at any rate toward itself, and
that they did not come troubling the State, either by disobeying her
rulers or by attacking her old deities, dead and buried beneath their
own still standing altars.
Such were the two religions with which in Gaul nascent Christianity had
to contend. Compared with them it was, to all appearance, very small and
very weak; but it was provided with the most efficient weapons for
fighting and beating them, for it had exactly the moral forces which
they lacked. Christianity, instead of being, like Druidism, a religion
exclusively national and hostile to all that was foreign, proclaimed a
universal religion, free from all local and national partiality,
addressing itself to all men in the name of the same God, and offering
to all the same salvation. It is one of the strangest and most
significant facts in history that the religion most universally _human_,
most dissociated from every consideration but that of the rights and
well-being of the human race in its entirety--that such a religion, be
it repeated, should have come forth from the womb of the most exclusive,
most rigorously and obstinately national religion that ever appeared in
the world, that is, Judaism. Such, nevertheless, was the birth of
Christianity; and this wonderful contrast between the essence and the
earthly origin of Christianity was without doubt one of its most
powerful attractions and most efficacious means of success.
Against paganism Christianity was armed with moral forces not a whit
less great. Confronting mythological traditions and poetical or
philosophical allegories, appeared a religion truly religious, concerned
solely with the relations of mankind to God and with their eternal
future. To the pagan indifference of the Roman world the Christians
opposed the profound conviction of their faith, and not only their
firmness in defending it against all powers and all dangers, but also
their ardent passion for propagating it without any motive but the
yearning to make their fellows share in its benefits and its hopes. They
confronted, nay, they welcomed martyrdom, at one time to maintain their
own Christianity, at another to make others Christians around them;
propagandism was for them a duty almost as imperative as fidelity.
And it was not in memory of old and obsolete mythologies, but in the
name of recent deeds and persons, in obedience to laws proceeding from
God, One and Universal, in fulfilment and continuation of a contemporary
and superhuman history--that of Jesus Christ, the Son of God and Son of
Man--that the Christians of the first two centuries labored to convert
to their faith the whole Roman world. Marcus Aurelius was contemptuously
astonished at what he called the obstinacy of the Christians; he knew
not from what source these nameless heroes drew a strength superior to
his own, though he was at the same time emperor and sage. It is
impossible to assign with exactness the date of the first footprints and
first labors of Christianity in Gaul. It was not, however, from Italy,
nor in the Latin tongue and through Latin writers, but from the East and
through the Greeks, that it first came and began to spread. Marseilles
and the different Greek colonies, originally from Asia Minor and settled
upon the shores of the Mediterranean or along the Rhone, mark the route
and were the places whither the first Christian missionaries carried
their teaching: on this point the letters of the apostles and the
writings of the first two generations of their disciples are clear and
abiding proof.
In the West of the empire, especially in Italy, the Christians at their
first appearance were confounded with the Jews, and comprehended under
the same name. "The emperor Claudius," says Suetonius, "drove from Rome
(A.D. 52) the Jews who, at the instigation of Christus, were in
continual commotion." After the destruction of Jerusalem by Titus (A.D.
70), the Jews, Christian or not, dispersed throughout the empire; but
the Christians were not slow to signalize themselves by their religious
fervor, and to come forward everywhere under their own true name.
Lyons became the chief centre of Christian preaching and association in
Gaul. As early as the first half of the second century there existed
there a Christian congregation, regularly organized as a church, and
already sufficiently important to be in intimate and frequent
communication with the Christian churches of the East and West. There is
a tradition, generally admitted, that St. Pothinus, the first bishop of
Lyons, was sent thither from the East by the bishop of Smyrna, St.
Polycarp, himself a disciple of St. John. One thing is certain, that the
Christian Church of Lyons produced Gaul's first martyrs, among whom was
the bishop, St. Pothinus.
It was under Marcus Aurelius, the most philosophical and most
conscientious of the emperors, that there was enacted for the first time
in Gaul, against nascent Christianity, that scene of tyranny and
barbarity which was to be renewed so often and during so many centuries
in the midst of Christendom itself. In the eastern provinces of the
empire and in Italy the Christians had already been several times
persecuted, now with cold-blooded cruelty, now with some slight
hesitation and irresolution. Nero had caused them to be burned in the
streets of Rome, accusing them of the conflagration himself had kindled,
and, a few months before his fall, St. Peter and St. Paul had undergone
martyrdom at Rome. Domitian had persecuted and put to death Christians
even in his own family, and though invested with the honors of the
consulate.
Righteous Trajan, when consulted by Pliny the Younger on the conduct he
should adopt in Bithynia toward the Christians, had answered: "It is
impossible, in this sort of matter, to establish any certain general
rule; there must be no quest set on foot against them, and no unsigned
indictment must be accepted; but if they be accused and convicted, they
must be punished." To be punished, it sufficed that they were convicted
of being Christians; and it was Trajan himself who condemned St.
Ignatius, bishop of Antioch, to be brought to Rome and thrown to the
beasts, for the simple reason that he was highly Christian. Marcus
Aurelius, not only by virtue of his philosophical conscientiousness, but
by reason of an incident in his history, seemed bound to be further than
any other from persecuting the Christians.
During one of his campaigns on the Danube, A.D. 174, his army was
suffering cruelly from fatigue and thirst; and at the very moment when
they were on the point of engaging in a great battle against the
barbarians, the rain fell in abundance, refreshed the Roman soldiers,
and conduced to their victory. There was in the Roman army a legion, the
Twelfth, called the _Melitine_ or the _Thundering_, which bore on its
roll many Christian soldiers. They gave thanks for the rain and the
victory to the one omnipotent God who had heard their prayers, while the
pagans rendered like honor to Jupiter, the Rain-giver and the Thunderer.
The report about these Christians got spread abroad and gained credit in
the empire, so much so that there was attributed to Marcus Aurelius a
letter, in which by reason, no doubt, of this incident, he forbade
persecution of the Christians.
Tertullian, a contemporary witness, speaks of this letter in perfect
confidence; and the Christian writers of the following century did not
hesitate to regard it as authentic. Nowadays, a strict examination of
its existing text does not allow such a character to be attributed to
it. At any rate the persecutions of the Christians were not forbidden,
for in the year 177, that is, only three years after the victory of
Marcus Aurelius over the Germans, there took place, undoubtedly by his
orders, the persecution which caused at Lyons the first Gallic
martyrdom. This was the fourth, or, according to others, the fifth great
imperial persecution of the Christians.
Most tales of the martyrs were written long after the event, and came to
be nothing more than legends laden with details often utterly puerile or
devoid of proof. The martyrs of Lyons in the second century wrote, so
to speak, their own history; for it was their comrades, eye-witnesses of
their sufferings and their virtue, who gave an account of them in a long
letter addressed to their friends in Asia Minor, and written with
passionate sympathy and pious prolixity, but bearing all the
characteristics of truth. It seems desirable to submit for perusal that
document, which has been preserved almost entire in the _Ecclesiastical
History_ of Eusebius, bishop of Cæsarea in the third century, and which
will exhibit, better than any modern representations, the state of facts
and of souls in the midst of the imperial persecutions, and the mighty
faith, devotion, and courage with which the early Christians faced the
most cruel trials:
"The servants of Christ, dwelling at Vienne and Lyons in Gaul, to the
brethren settled in Asia and Phrygia, who have the same faith and hope
of redemption that we have, peace, grace, and glory from God the Father
and Jesus Christ our Lord!
"None can tell to you in speech or fully set forth to you in writing the
weight of our misery, the madness and rage of the Gentiles against the
saints, and all that hath been suffered by the blessed martyrs. Our
enemy doth rush upon us with all the fury of his powers, and already
giveth us a foretaste and the first-fruits of all the license with which
he doth intend to set upon us. He hath omitted nothing for the training
of his agents against us, and he doth exercise them in a sort of
preparatory work against the servants of the Lord. Not only are we
driven from the public buildings, from the baths, and from the Forum,
but it is forbidden to all our people to appear publicly in any place
whatsoever.
"The grace of God hath striven for us against the devil: at the same
time that it hath sustained the weak, it hath opposed to the Evil One,
as it were, pillars of strength--men strong and valiant, ready to draw
on themselves all his attacks. They have had to bear all manner of
insult; they have deemed but a small matter that which others find hard
and terrible; and they have thought only of going to Christ, proving by
their example that the sufferings of this world are not worthy to be put
in the balance with the glory which is to be manifested in us. They
have endured, in the first place, all the outrages that could be heaped
upon them by the multitude, outcries, blows, thefts, spoliation,
stoning, imprisonment, all that the fury of the people could devise
against hated enemies. Then, dragged to the Forum by the military
tribune and the magistrates of the city, they have been questioned
before the people and cast into prison until the coming of the governor.
He, from the moment our people appeared before him, committed all manner
of violence against them.
"Then stood forth one of our brethren, Vettius Epagathus, full of love
toward God and his neighbor, living a life so pure and strict that,
young as he was, men held him to be the equal of the aged Zacharias. He
could not bear that judgment so unjust should go forth against us, and,
moved with indignation, he asked leave to defend his brethren, and to
prove that there was in them no kind of irreligion or impiety. Those
present at the tribunal, among whom he was known and celebrated, cried
out against him, and the governor himself, enraged at so just a demand,
asked him no more than this question, 'Art thou a Christian?'
Straightway with a loud voice he declared himself a Christian, and was
placed among the number of the martyrs.
"Afterward, the rest began to be examined and classed. The first, firm
and well prepared, made hearty and solemn confession of their faith.
Others, ill prepared and with little firmness, showed that they lacked
strength for such a fight. About ten of them fell away, which caused us
incredible pain and mourning. Their example broke down the courage of
others, who, not being yet in bonds, though they had already had much to
suffer, kept close to the martyrs, and withdrew not out of their sight.
Then were we all stricken with dread for the issue of the trial: not
that we had great fear of the torments inflicted, but because,
prophesying the result according to the degree of courage of the
accused, we feared much falling away. They took, day by day, those of
our brethren who were worthy to replace the weak; so that all the best
of the two churches, those whose care and zeal had founded them, were
taken and confined.
"They took, likewise, some of our slaves, for the governor had ordered
that they should be all summoned to attend in public; and they, fearing
the torments they saw the saints undergo, and instigated by the
soldiers, accused us falsely of odious deeds, such as the banquet of
Thyestes, the incest of Oedipus, and other crimes which must not be
named or even thought of, and which we cannot bring ourselves to believe
that men were ever guilty of. These reports having once spread among the
people, even those persons who had hitherto by reason, perhaps, of
relationship, shown moderation toward us, burst forth into bitter
indignation against our people. Thus was fulfilled that which had been
prophesied by the Lord: 'The time cometh when whosoever shall kill you
shall think that he doeth God service.' Since that day the holy martyrs
have suffered tortures that no words can express.
"The fury of the multitude, of the governor, and of the soldiers fell
chiefly upon Sanctus, a deacon of Vienne; upon Maturus, a neophyte
still, but already a valiant champion of Christ; upon Attalus also, born
at Pergamus, but who hath ever been one of the pillars of our Church;
upon Blandina, lastly, in whom Christ hath made it appear that persons
who seem vile and despised of men are just those whom God holds in the
highest honor by reason of the excellent love they bear him, which is
manifested in their firm virtue and not in vain show. All of us, and
even Blandina's mistress here below, who fought valiantly with the other
martyrs, feared that this poor slave, so weak of body, would not be in a
condition to freely confess her faith; but she was sustained by such
vigor of soul that the executioners, who from morn till eve put her to
all manner of torture, failed in their efforts, and declared themselves
beaten, not knowing what further punishment to inflict, and marvelling
that she still lived, with her body pierced through and through, and
torn piecemeal by so many tortures, of which a single one should have
sufficed to kill her. But that blessed saint, like a valiant athlete,
took fresh courage and strength from the confession of her faith; all
feeling of pain vanished, and ease returned to her at the mere utterance
of the words, 'I am a Christian, and no evil is wrought among us.'
"As for Sanctus, the executioners hoped that in the midst of the
tortures inflicted upon him--the most atrocious which man could
devise--they would hear him say something unseemly or unlawful; but so
firmly did he resist them, that, without even saying his name, or that
of his nation or city, or whether he was bond or free, he only replied
in the Roman tongue, to all questions, 'I am a Christian.' Therein was,
for him, his name, his country, his condition, his whole being; and
never could the Gentiles wrest from him another word. The fury of the
governor and the executioners was redoubled against him; and, not
knowing how to torment him further, they applied to his most tender
members bars of red-hot iron. His members burned; but he, upright and
immovable, persisted in his profession of faith, as if living waters
from the bosom of Christ flowed over him and refreshed him. Some days
after, these infidels began again to torture him, believing that if they
inflicted upon his blistering wounds the same agonies, they would
triumph over him, who seemed unable to bear the mere touch of their
hands; and they hoped, also, that the sight of his torturing alive would
terrify his comrades. But, contrary to general expectation, the body of
Sanctus, rising suddenly up, stood erect and firm amid these repeated
torments, and recovered its old appearance and the use of its members,
as if, by divine grace, this second laceration of his flesh had caused
healing rather than suffering.
"When the tyrants had thus expended and exhausted their tortures against
the firmness of the martyrs sustained by Christ, the devil devised other
contrivances. They were cast into the darkest and most unendurable place
in their prison; their feet were dragged out and compressed to the
utmost tension of the muscles; the jailers, as if instigated by a demon,
tried every sort of torture, insomuch that several of them, for whom God
willed such an end, died of suffocation in prison. Others, who had been
tortured in such a manner that it was thought impossible they should
long survive, deprived as they were of every remedy and aid from men,
but supported nevertheless by the grace of God, remained sound and
strong in body as in soul, and comforted and reanimated their brethren.
"The blessed Pothinus, who held at that time the bishopric of Lyons,
being upward of ninety, and so weak in body that he could hardly
breathe, was himself brought before the tribunal, so worn with old age
and sickness that he seemed nigh to extinction; but he still possessed
his soul, wherewith to subserve the triumph of Christ. Being brought by
the soldiers before the tribunal, whither he was accompanied by all the
magistrates of the city and the whole populace, that pursued him with
hootings, he offered, as if he had been the very Christ, the most
glorious testimony. At a question from the governor, who asked what the
God of the Christians was, he answered, 'If thou be worthy, thou shalt
know.' He was immediately raised up, without any respect or humanity,
and blows were showered upon him; those who happened to be nearest to
him assaulted him grievously with foot and fist, without the slightest
regard for his age; those who were farther off cast at him whatever was
to their hand; they would all have thought themselves guilty of the
greatest default if they had not done their best, each on his own score,
to insult him brutally. They believed they were avenging the wrongs of
their gods. Pothinus, still breathing, was cast again into prison, and
two days after yielded up his spirit.
"Then were manifested a singular dispensation of God and the
immeasurable compassion of Jesus Christ: an example rare among brethren,
but in accord with the intentions and the justice of the Lord. All those
who, at their first arrest, had denied their faith, were themselves cast
into prison and given over to the same sufferings as the other martyrs,
for their denial did not serve them at all. Those who had made
profession of being what they really were--that is, Christians--were
imprisoned without being accused of other crimes. The former, on the
contrary, were confined as homicides and wretches, thus suffering double
punishment. The one sort found repose in the honorable joys of
martyrdom, in the hope of promised blessedness, in the love of Christ,
and in the spirit of God the Father; the other were a prey to the
reproaches of conscience. It was easy to distinguish the one from the
other by their looks. The one walked joyously, bearing on their faces a
majesty mingled with sweetness, and their very bonds seemed unto them an
ornament, even as the broidery that decks a bride; the other, with
downcast eyes and humble and dejected air, were an object of contempt to
the Gentiles themselves, who regarded them as cowards who had forfeited
the glorious and saving name of Christians. And so they who were present
at this double spectacle were thereby signally strengthened, and whoever
among them chanced to be arrested confessed the faith without doubt or
hesitation.
"Things having come to this pass, different kinds of death were
inflicted on the martyrs, and they offered to God a crown of divers
flowers. It was but right that the most valiant champions, those who had
sustained a double assault and gained a signal victory, should receive a
splendid crown of immortality. The neophyte Maturus and the deacon
Sanctus, Blandina and Attalus, then, were led into the amphitheatre, and
thrown to the beasts, as a sight to please the inhumanity of the
Gentiles. Maturus and Sanctus there underwent all kinds of tortures, as
if they had hitherto suffered nothing; or, rather, like athletes who had
already been several times victorious, and were contending for the crown
of crowns, they braved the stripes with which they were beaten, the
bites of the beasts that dragged them to and fro, and all that was
demanded by the outcries of an insensate mob, so much the more furious
because it could by no means overcome the firmness of the martyrs or
extort from Sanctus any other speech than that which, on the first day,
he had uttered--'I am a Christian.' After this fearful contest, as life
was not extinct, their throats were at last cut, when they alone had
thus been offered as a spectacle to the public instead of the variety
displayed in the combat of gladiators.
"Blandina, in her turn, tied to a stake, was given to the beasts; she
was seen hanging, as it were, on a sort of cross, calling upon God with
trustful fervor, and the brethren present were reminded, in the person
of a sister, of Him who had been crucified for their salvation. As none
of the beasts would touch the body of Blandina, she was released from
the stake, taken back to prison, and reserved for another occasion.
"Attalus, whose execution, seeing that he was a man of mark, was
furiously demanded by the people, came forward ready to brave
everything, as a man deriving confidence from the memory of his life,
for he had courageously trained himself to discipline, and had always
among us borne witness for the truth. He was led all round the
Amphitheatre, preceded by a board bearing this inscription in Latin:
'This is Attalus the Christian.' The people pursued him with the most
furious hootings; but the governor, having learned that he was a Roman
citizen, had him taken back to prison with the rest. Having subsequently
written to Cæsar, he waited for his decision as to those who were thus
detained.
"This delay was neither useless nor unprofitable, for then shone forth
the boundless compassion of Christ. Those of the brethren who had been
but dead members of the Church were recalled to life by the pains and
help of the living; the martyrs obtained grace for those who had fallen
away; and great was the joy in the Church, at the same time virgin and
mother, for she once more found living those whom she had given up for
dead. Thus revived and strengthened by the goodness of God, who willeth
not the death of the sinner, but rather inviteth him to repentance, they
presented themselves before the tribunal, to be questioned afresh by the
governor. Cæsar had replied that they who confessed themselves to be
Christians should be put to the sword, and they who denied sent away
safe and sound. When the time for the great market had fully come, there
assembled a numerous multitude from every nation and every province. The
governor had the blessed martyrs brought up before his judgment-seat,
showing them before the people with all the pomp of a theatre. He
questioned them afresh; and those who were discovered to be Roman
citizens were beheaded, the rest were thrown to the beasts.