(ABOUT 310.)
[Roman Martyrology and Greek Menaea. Authority:--The Acts of these
martyrs. They are referred to by S. Eulogius, the martyr, who
flourished about A.D. 850. They have been inserted by Metaphrastes
in his collection of the lives of the Saints, in Greek. S. Aldhelm
of Sherbourne, wrote a panegyric on these Saints, in Anglo-Saxon,
in 700; and S. Venantius Fortunatus wrote a hymn in honour of them
in 620. The Acts purport to have been written by an eye-witness of
the martyrdom, for he says:--"We write the Acts of the Saints from
what we saw with our eyes, wherefore we hope to receive some little
share in future blessedness." The writer survived to the time of
Constantine the Great, for he speaks of churches erected to the
memory of these martyrs. Nevertheless, the Acts cannot be regarded
as genuine. They are nothing but a religious romance, possibly
founded on fact. Such religious romances were common in the 5th
cent., written to supply Christians with wholesome reading in place
of the sensual fictions of Heliodorus, Achilles, Tatius, &c. As
there are no less than thirty-six Julians in the Roman Martyrology,
and of these seven are commemorated in January, there is great
liability to confusion. S. Julian seems to have suffered on the 6th
January; but on account of the concurrence of the Epiphany, his
memorial was transferred to different days in different dioceses,
and this again has proved an element of confusion.]
S. Julian was born at Antinoë, in Egypt, of noble parents. The love of
God, and God alone, filled his heart from earliest childhood. At the age
of eighteen his parents required him to marry. This troubled him much,
for he had read the saying of S. Paul, "He that is unmarried careth for
the things that belong to the Lord, how he may please the Lord: but he
that is married careth for the things that are of the world, how he may
please his wife." 1 Cor. vii. 32, 33. He besought his parents to allow
him to defer giving them a final answer till he had well considered
their proposal during seven days. He now fasted, and watched, and
prayed, revealing to God the desire of his heart, to keep his body in
virginity, and his soul devoted to God alone. At the end of the seven
days he saw Christ in a vision, who said to him, "Fear not, Julian, to
take thee a wife, and to fulfil the desire of thy parents. As virgins ye
shall serve me, and I shall not be separated from you, and as virgins
shall ye enter into my kingdom." Then Julian was filled with great joy,
and he considered whom he should choose. Now there was one maiden,
Basilissa by name, who was well-known to his parents, and with whom he
had been acquainted from childhood, and whom he loved for her whiteness
of soul. Therefore he told his father that he consented to marry
Basilissa. And she, on her side, was glad to be the wife of Julian, but
her timid soul shrank from the cares and responsibilities of marriage,
for she was as yet young and fresh to the world.
The marriage took place with all the boisterous merriment and display,
usual then as now; and evening approaching, the young bride was led by
the maidens, who were her fellows, to the nuptial chamber. Now when
Julian entered, there came an odour in the apartment, as of lilies and
roses, though the season was mid-winter, and an awe fell on their young
hearts. And they put their hands together, and promised to serve God
together in purity and fervour, with singleness of heart all their days.
Then they were aware of One present in the room, and kneeling down, they
fell prostrate, and besought Him to accomplish the good work He had
begun in them. And when they looked up, the chamber was full of light,
and they saw Jesus and Mary, and an innumerable company of virgin
Saints. Then the Lord said, "Thou hast conquered, O Julian, thou hast
conquered!" And the Blessed Virgin said, "Blessed art thou, Basilissa,
who hast thus sought with single heart the glory that is eternal."
Then said Jesus, "My soldiers, who have overcome the wiles of the old
serpent, rise and behold what is prepared for you!" Thereupon came two
clothed in white robes, and girded about the loins with golden zones,
having crowns of flowers in their hands, and they raised them from the
ground and showed them an open book seven times brighter than silver,
inscribed with golden letters, and round about it stood four elders,
having vials in their hands of pure gold, from which ascended diverse
odours. And one, answering, said, "In these four vials your perfection
is contained. For out of these daily ascends an odour of sweet fragrance
before the Lord. Therefore, blessed are ye, because ye have rejected the
unsatisfying pleasures of this world to strive after those which are
eternal, which eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath it entered
into the heart of man to conceive."
Then Julian looked, and beheld his name, and the name of his wife,
Basilissa, written in the book. And the elder said, "In that book are
written the chaste and the sober, the truthful and the merciful, the
humble and gentle, those whose love is unfeigned, bearing adversities,
patient in tribulation, and those who, for the love of Jesus Christ,
have given up father and mother, and wife and children, and lands,
for his sake, lest they should impede the progress of their souls to
perfection, and they who have not hesitated to shed their blood for his
name, in the number of whom you also have merited to be written."
Then the vision passed. But Julian and Basilissa spent the night in
prayer, and singing joyful praises to the Lord.
And when his parents were dead, Julian divided his house and made
it into a hospital, and all his substance he spent in relieving the
necessities of the sick and suffering. He ruled over the portion
devoted to the men, and Basilissa, his wife, at the head of a number of
devout virgins, governed the women's department.
Many men placed themselves under the guidance of S. Julian, and
assisted him in his works of charity, and laboured for the advancement
of God's glory, and the salvation of their own souls. It is from the
circumstance of S. Julian having been the first to establish a hospital
for the sick, that he has been called by distinction Julian the
Hospitaller.
After many years, Basilissa died in peace; her husband Julian survived
her. In the persecution of Diocletian he was seized and subjected to
cruel tortures. The governor, Marcian, ordered him to be dragged,
laden with chains, and covered with wounds, about the city. As the
martyr passed the school where Celsus, the son of the governor, was
being instructed, the boys turned out into the street to see the
soldier of Christ go by. Then suddenly the lad exclaimed, "I see angels
accompanying, and extending a glorious crown to him. I believe, I
believe in the God of the Christians!" And throwing away his books,
he fell at the feet of Julian, and kissed his wounds. When the father
heard this, he was filled with ungovernable fury, and believed that the
Saint had bewitched the boy; he ordered them both to be cast into the
lowest dungeon, a loathsome place, where the corrupting carcases of
malefactors lay, devoured by maggots. But God filled this hideous pit
with light, and transformed the stench into fragrant odours, so that
the soldiers who kept the prison were filled with wonder, and believed.
That same night, a priest, Antony, who lived with seven little boys,
orphans committed to his care by their parents, summoned by God, came
with these seven children to the prison. An angel went before them,
and at his touch the gates flew open. Then Antony, the priest, baptized
Celsus and the believing soldiers.
On the morrow the governor, supposing that the night in the pit had
cured his son, sent him to his mother, and the boy, having related to
her in order all he had seen and heard, she believed with her whole
heart, and was baptized by the priest.
The governor, Marcian, ordered all these converts to death. The
soldiers were executed with the sword, the seven boys were cast into
the fire, the rest were tortured to death.
Relics, at Morigny, near Etampes, and in the church of S. Basilissa, at
Paris.
Patron of hospitals.
In art, S. Julian and S. Basilissa are represented holding the same
lily stalk, or looking on the Book of Life wherein their names are
written.