(A.D. 531.)
[Roman Martyrology. Additions to Usuardus by Molanus; all modern
Martyrologies. Authorities:--A very ancient life written before 880,
but not until long after the death of the saint; a second, written
before 900; a third by Guibert of Tournai, is late, 1257. The
authority of these lives is much diminished by the length of time
which elapsed between the death of Eleutherius and their
composition.]
Tournai was evangelized by S. Piatus, in 287. During its early history
it had seen the blood of martyrs shed. The Vandals had taken
possession of it in 407; then it had become the principal seat of the
Salic Franks. In the reign of Childeric, there lived in this city a
rich and noble citizen, named Serenus, with his wife, Blanda. They had
been converted from heathenism, and they honoured the religion they
had adopted by their virtues, and especially by their abundant charity
to the poor and infirm. In 456, they became parents of a son, whom
they named Eleutherius. All their care tended towards educating him in
every science befitting his condition. The young Eleutherius so
thoroughly responded to their hopes, that S. Medard, who frequented
along with him the school of S. Quentin, foretold that his friend
would one day become a bishop.
About the year 484, whilst Clovis was marching upon Soissons, the
governor of Tournai, an inveterate heathen, profited by his absence,
to banish from the city all who bore the name of Christians, or to
seize on their goods. Serenus and Blanda were included in the number
of exiles. They took their son with them, and found a place of refuge
at a distance of about six miles from Tournai, where they built a
church, in honour of S. Peter. A number of Christians settled on the
same spot, and many heathen, converted by Serenus, helped to swell the
colony, which was called Blandinium.[59] The number was now so great
that they asked for, and obtained, a bishop, Theodore by name, who
died immediately after his ordination. The faithful assembled at
Blandinium, charmed by the virtues of Eleutherius, elected him to
succeed Theodore, and sent him to Rome. The Pope approved of the
choice, and the new pastor was consecrated in the year 487, at the age
of thirty. Now it fell out that the daughter of the governor of
Tournai was passionately in love with the young and handsome
Eleutherius, and she resolved to make the attempt to withdraw him from
the ministry of God, that he might serve the world, reposing in her
love, and the favour of her father. She found him engaged in prayer,
but, regardless of what he was about, she arrested his attention, and
declared to him her passion. He started to his feet, and she held him
by the mantle. Then, like another Joseph, he cast his mantle from him,
and fled from her presence. The unfortunate girl, heart-broken, sank
upon the ground, breathless and motionless. When she had been buried,
Eleutherius returned, and now, touched at her misfortune, as much as
he had been irritated at her offence, he summoned the father, and
promised to restore to him his daughter, if he would embrace
Christianity. The governor readily consented. Then Eleutherius
celebrated the holy sacrifice, and followed by all his clergy and the
faithful, went to the tomb, and struck it with his pastoral staff. But
God revealed to the bishop that the promise of the father was made
without purpose of observing it. The earth shook, but the dead rose
not. Eleutherius passed the night in prayers, and returned to the
grave on the morrow; again, the earth trembled, but the heart of the
heathen governor remained unshaken. On the third day the father came
with tears, and all tokens of true contrition, to promise sincere
repentance; then the bishop went again to the sepulchre. At his
command the stone was rolled away. He called thrice to the dead girl
to rise. Then she sat up, and the people uttered a shout of joy.
Eleutherius took her by the hand, and presented her to her father.
After that, he bade her fast for six days, and, on the seventh, he
baptized her, his mother, Blanda, standing as god-mother, and giving
her her name. The father, however, would not keep his promise, but
withdrew his child from the hands of the Christians, and threatened to
disinherit her unless she returned to the worship of idols. A plague
breaking out shortly after, in Tournai, was attributed to the
incantations of Eleutherius, who was seized at night, severely beaten,
and thrown into prison, from which, however, he escaped, and returned
to his flock. The plague continued its ravages with such fury, that
the city of Tournai was deserted of its inhabitants, who fled into the
country, in hopes of escaping the epidemic by isolation. Then the
governor was humbled, and, coming to Eleutherius, implored him to
forgive his past resistance to the truth, and to baptize him in the
faith of Christ. Eleutherius, after having instructed him, and made
him prepare, by fasting, for the holy sacrament, afterwards baptized
him. The submission of the governor led to the recall of Eleutherius,
who re-entered the city of Tournai on the 22nd September; a day which
has ever since been celebrated as a feast in that place. Eleutherius
at once overthrew the temple of Apollo and the altars of the heathen
deities in Tournai; and his labours to convince the pagans were
followed by such effect that, in one week, probably that of Pentecost,
he baptized as many as eleven thousand persons.
As soon as heathenism was overcome, heresy manifested itself, and, as
Eleutherius was himself accused, he visited Rome, in 501, to vindicate
his orthodoxy before Pope Symmachus. He combated Arian false doctrine
with word of mouth, and with his pen, and made a second journey to
Rome, to Pope Hormisdas, to obtain confirmation of his writings. On
his return some of the heretics fell upon him, as he left the church
after mass one morning, and wounded him so cruelly that he died of his
injuries five weeks later, in the 66th year of his age. He was laid in
the church built by his father at Blandain, but his relics were
afterwards removed to Tournai, of which city he is patron.