(A.D. 302.)
[Molanus in his additions to Usuardus. Ferrarius in his General
Catalogue of Saints. Authorities:--The Lections in use in the Church
of Comines.]
On this day at Comines, in Flanders, is celebrated the Feast of S.
Chrysolius, the patron of the church, who is said to have founded the
first sanctuary of the B. Virgin in Flanders. This saint, a native of
Armenia, accompanied S. Piatus and S. Quentin in their apostolic
mission to France and Belgium. From Tournai he started on a preaching
expedition through Flanders, but the pagans cut off his scalp, in
derision of his tonsure, at Vrelenghem, and he died at Comines, two
leagues distant, on the river Lys. His body was taken up by S.
Eligius, and is, to this day, honoured in the collegiate church there,
originally erected under the invocation of Our Lady.