ACCORDING to their acts, and the ancient Martyrologies, though engaged
in a married state, they by mutual consent lived in perpetual chastity,
sanctified themselves by the most perfect exercises of an ascetic life,
and employed their revenues in relieving the poor and the sick; for this
purpose they converted their house into a kind of hospital, in which, if
we may credit their acts, they sometimes entertained a thousand indigent
persons. Basilissa attended those of her sex, in separate lodgings from
the men, of whom Julian took care, who from his charity is surnamed the
Hospitalarian. Egypt, where they lived, had then begun to abound with
examples of persons, who, either in cities or in deserts, devoted
themselves to the most perfect exercises of charity, penance, and
contemplation. Basilissa, after having stood severe persecutions, died
in peace; Julian survived her many years, and received the crown of a
glorious martyrdom, together with Celsus a youth, Antony a priest,
Anastatius, and Marcianilla the mother of Celsus. They seem to have
suffered in the reign of Maximin II., in 313, on the 6th of January;
for, in the most ancient lectionary used in the church of Paris, under
the first race of the French kings, quoted by Chatelain,[1] and several
ancient calendars, their festival is marked on that day, or on the eve.
On account of the concurrence of the Epiphany, it was deferred in
different churches to the 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 17, 27, 28, or
29th, of January; 12, 13, 14, 17, 19, 24, or 27th, of February; 20, 21,
or 22d of June; or 31st of August. The menology, published by Canisius,
places the martyrdom of St. Julian and his companions, at Antinopolis in
Egypt; certain ancient MS. copies of the Martyrology, which bear the
name of St. Jerom, say more correctly Antinous: by mistaking the
abbreviation of this name in some MS. copies, several Latins have read
it Antioch;[2] and the Latin acts say these martyrs suffered at Antioch
in Egypt: but no town of that name is ever mentioned in that country;
though Seleucus, the son of Antiochus, gave it to sixteen cities which
he built in Asia, as Appian takes notice. Many churches and hospitals in
the east, and especially in the west, bear the name of one or other of
these martyrs: at Antioch, in Syria, our St. Julian was titular saint of
a famous church and St. Julian of Anazarbus, of two others. Chatelain[3]
proves from ancient images and other monuments, that four churches at
home, and three out of five at Paris, which bear the name of St. Julian,
were originally dedicated under the name of St. Julian the hospitalarian
and martyr; though some of these latter afterward took either St. Julian
bishop of Mans, confessor, or St. Julian of Brioude, martyr, for patron.
The same has happened to some, out of the great number of churches and
hospitals in the Low Countries, erected under his invocation; but the
hospitalarian and martyr is still retained in the office of the greatest
part, especially at Brussels, Antwerp, Tournay, Douay, &c. In the time
of St. Gregory the Great, the skull of St. Julian, husband of St.
Basilissa, was brought out of the east into France, and given to queen
Brunehault; she gave it to the nunnery which she founded at Etampes;
part of it is at present in the {117} monastery of Morigny, near
Etampes, and part in the church of the regular canonesses of St.
Basilissa, at Paris.[4]
Footnotes:
1. Notes sur le Martyrol. 6 Jan., p. 106. Mabill. Lit. Gallic. l. 2,
pp. 115, 116.
2. The abbreviation _Antio_ for Antinous, found in a MS. copy mentioned
by Chatelain, p. 106, was probably mistaken for Antioch, a name
better known. Certain circumstances related from the false acts of
these martyrs, by St. Antoninus, gave occasion to the painters in
Italy to represent St. Julian as a sportsman with a hawk on his
hand; and in France, as a boatsman, in a barge; and the postilions
and bargemen keep his feast, as of their principal patron.
3. Notes on Jan. 6, p. 109.
4. See Chatelain, notes on Jan. 6, p. 110, from a MS. at Morigny.