Saints Sergius and Bacchus

After having suffered this ignominy with joy and while blessing God, they were brought back before the emperor, who, upon leaving the temple, had returned to his palace. He employed all sorts of artifices to force them to renounce their faith; but, seeing that he could not alter their constancy either by his threats or by his fine promises, he sent them to Antiochu Antiochus Prefect of the East, a cruel judge responsible for the execution of saints. s, who was prefect of the East and passed for the cruelest and most inexorable man in the entire empire; he hoped to shake their great firmness, as much by the fatigue of the roads and the outrages they would receive on their route, as by the terror they would have of falling into the hands of this barbarian, who was feared by everyone. Moreover, he wanted to humiliate them further by sending them back before the tribunal of a man whom they had once commanded and who had only obtained his position through the influence of Sergius; but all this was not capable of separating them from Our Lord. They made this journey for his love with pleasure, and, rejoicing in the outrages that were lavished upon them, they submitted generously to the injustice of a villain who was unworthy of being their judge.

The day after their arrival, Antiochus had them brought before him, and, after having uselessly attempted every means he could devise to make them sacrifice to the idols, he condemned Bacchus t o be w Baccus Companion of Sergius, who died under the lash. hipped by four executioners; this was carried out with such inhumanity that he gave up his soul in the violence of this torture. In the midst of the lashes, he heard a heavenly voice inviting him to come and receive the crown of his martyrdom; and the following night, he appeared to Sergius in the prison and exhorted him to endure constantly the torments that were being prepared for him, so that, having been companions in arms and in suffering, they might both share in the same triumph.

These torments were to be horrible. Antiochus, finding himself obliged to go to another city, had Sergius put on shoes whose soles were lined inside with nail points, and he compelled him, with this cruel footwear, to run the entire way in front of his chariot. The following night, the Saint was healed of all his wounds by the ministry of an angel who appeared to him; the prefect, attributing this to the operations of magic, made him endure the same torture a second time. Finally, despairing of being able to seduce him, he condemned him to have his head cut off: which was executed on October 7, around the year of grace 300.

The memory of Saint Sergius was made famous by so many miracles that not only Christians went on pilgrimage to his tomb, but also idolaters. Chosroes, King of Persia, presented his church with a very beautiful gold cross, along with other precious ornaments, in recognition of the fact that Queen Sira, his wife, had been preserved from the death with which she was threatened after having commended herself to his prayers. The place where he suffered martyrdom became so illustrious that it is now called Sergi opolis, tha Sergiopolis City named in honor of Saint Sergius at the site of his martyrdom. t is to say, the city of Sergius. Emperor Jus tinian ha Justinien Byzantine emperor who persecuted Pope Vigilius and Saint Datius. d two basilicas built in his honor: one in Constantinople and the other in Ptolemais. There is still a very ancient one in Rome under his name and that of Saint Bacchus; it is a cardinal's title. Pope Gregory III had it repaired. Grégoire III Pope who granted a church in the name of Sabas in Rome. Some of the sacred relics of both were transported to France, namely: a portion to the church of Notre-Dame de Chartres and the other to Angers, in a temple dedicated to them of which King Clovis II is the founder. Saint Gregory of Tours, in his H Clovis II King of the Franks under whom Aquilin served in the army. istory of the Frank s (Book VII, Chap. XXXI Saint Grégoire de Tours Bishop and historian who mentions the martyrdom of Antolian. ), makes mention of the thumb of Saint Sergius, brought into the Gauls.

They are represented with the instruments of their torture.

Tillemont; Theodoret; Gregory of Tours.