Everything about St Quentin totally explained
» This article is about the saint. For places named after him, see Saint-Quentin and San Quintin.
Saint Quentin (d. circa
287 AD),
Quintinus in Latin, is an early
Christian saint. No real details are known of his life.
Hagiography
Martydom
The legend of his life has him as a
Roman citizen who was martyred in
Gaul. He is said to have been the son of a man named Zeno, who had senatorial rank. Filled with apostolic zeal, Quentin traveled to Gaul as a missionary with Saint
Lucian, who was later martyred at
Beauvais and others (the martyrs
Victoricus and Fuscian are said to have been Quentin's followers). Quentin settled at Amiens and performed many
miracles there. Because of his preaching, he was imprisoned by the "prefect"
Rictiovarus, who had traveled to Amiens from
Trier. Quentin was
manacled,
tortured repeatedly, but refused to abjure his faith. The prefect left Amiens to go to Reims, the capital of
Gallia Belgica, where he wanted Quentin judged. But, on the way, in a town named
Augusta Veromanduorum (now
Saint-Quentin, Aisne), Quentin miraculously escaped and again started his preaching. Rictiovarus decided to interrupt his journey and pass sentence: Quentin was tortured again, then
beheaded and thrown secretly into the marshes around the
Somme, by Roman soldiers.
First inventio
Fifty-five years later, a blind woman named Eusebia, born of a senatorial family, came from Rome (following a divine order)and miraculously rediscovered (
inventio : discovery) the corpse and head (the place was unknown and she found it by prayer). The intact remains of Quentin came into view, arising from the water and emanating an "odor of sanctity" . She buried his body at the top of a mountain near
Augusta Veromanduorum (because the chariot where the saint's body lay, couldn't go further). She built a small chapel to protect the tomb and recovered her sight.
Second inventio
The life of bishop
Saint Eligius (mainly written in seventh c.), says that the exact place of the tomb was forgotten and that the bishop, after several days of digging in the church, miraculously found it. When he found the tomb, the sky night was lit and the "odor of sanctity" was evident. This was said to be in
641. Recent archaeological research shows this to be false, because the location of the tomb had been marked by a sort of wooden monument since the middle of fourth or the beginning of fifth century.
Eligius distributed the nails with which Quentin's body had been pierced, as well as some saint's teeth and hair. As he was a skillful
goldsmith, he placed the relics in a shrine he'd fashioned himself. He also rebuilt the church (now the Saint-Quentin basilica).
Cult
The cult of Saint Quentin was important during Middle Ages, especially in Northern France. The tomb was an important place of pilgrimage, highly favoured by Carolingians (the church was one of the richest in Picardy).
This cult has three feasts:
October 31: martyrdom
June 24 : first
inventio
January 3 : second
inventioFurther Information
Get more info on 'St Quentin'.
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