July III

St. Phocas, Gardener, M.

From his panegyric, written by St. Asterius, and another by St. Chrysostom, t. 2. ed. Bon. p. 704. Ruinart, p. 627.

a. d. 303.

St. Phocas dwelt near the gate of Sinope, a city of Pontus, and lived by cultivating a garden, which yielded him a handsome subsistence, and wherewith plentifully to relieve the indigent. In his humble profession he imitated she virtue of the most holy anchorets, and seemed in part restored to the happy condition of our first parents in Eden. To prune the garden without labor and toil was their sweet employment and pleasure. Since their sin, the earth yields not its fruit but by the sweat of our brow. But still, no labor is more useful or necessary, or more natural to man, and better adapted to maintain in him vigor of mind or health of body than that of tillage; nor does any part of the universe rival the innocent charms which a garden presents to all our senses, by the fragrancy of its flowers, by the riches of its produce, and the sweetness and variety of its fruits; by the melodious concert of its musicians, by the worlds of wonders which every stem, leaf, and fibre exhibit to the contemplation of the inquisitive philosopher, and by that beauty and variegated lustre of colors which clothe the numberless tribes of its smallest inhabitants, and adorn its shining landscapes, vying with the brightest splendor of the heavens, and in a single lily surpassing the dazzling lustre with which Solomon was surrounded on his throne in the midst of all his glory. And what a field for contemplation does a garden offer to our view in every part, raising our souls to God in raptures of love and praise, stimulating us to fervor, by the fruitfulness with which it repays our labor, and multiplies the seed it receives; and exciting us to tears of compunction from our insensibility to God by the barrenness with which it is changed into a frightful desert, unless subdued by assiduous toil! Our saint joining prayer with his labor, found in his garden itself an instructive book, and an inexhausted fund of holy meditation. His house was opened to all strangers and travellers who had no lodging in the place; and after having for many years most liberally bestowed the fruit of his labor on the poor, he was found worthy also to give his life for Christ. Though his profession was obscure, he was well known over the whole country by the reputation of his charity and virtue.

When a cruel persecution, probably that of Dioclesian in 303, was suddenly raised in the Church, Phocas was immediately impeached as a Christian, and such was the notoriety of his pretended crime, that the formality of a trial was superseded by the persecutors, and executioners were despatched with an order to kill him on the spot wherever they should find him. Arriving near Sinope, they would not enter the town, but stopping at his house without knowing it, at his kind invitation they took up their lodging with him. Being charmed with his courteous entertainment, they at supper disclosed to him the errand upon which they were sent, and desired him to inform them where this Phocas could be most easily met with. The servant of God, without the least surprise, told them he was well acquainted with the man, and would give them certain intelligence of him next morning. After they were retired to bed he dug a grave, prepared everything for his burial and spent the night in disposing his soul for his last hour. When it was day he went to his guests, and told them Phocas was found, and in their power whenever they pleased to apprehend him. Glad at this news, they inquired where he was. “He is here present,” said the martyr,—“I myself am the man.” Struck at his undaunted resolution, and at the composure of his mind, they stood a considerable time as if they had been motionless, nor could they at first think of imbrning their hands in the blood of a person in whom they discovered so heroic a virtue, and by whom they had been so courteously entertained. He indirectly encouraged them saying, that as for himself, he looked upon such a death as the greatest of favors, and his highest advantage. At length, recovering themselves from their surprise. they struck off his head. The Christians of that city, after peace was restored to the Church, built a stately church which bore his name, and was famous over all the East. In it were deposited the sacred relics, though some portions of them were dispersed in other churches.

St. Asterius, bishop of Amasea about the year 400, pronounced the panegyric of this martyr, on his festival, in a church, probably near Amasea, which possessed a small part of his remains. In this discourse¹ he says, “that Phocas from the time of his death was become a pillar and support of the churches on earth: he draws all men to his house; the highways are filled with persons resorting from every country to this place of prayer. The magnificent church which (at Sinope) is possessed of his body, is the comfort and ease of the afflicted, the health of the sick, the magazine plentifully supplying the wants of the poor. If in any other place, as in this, some small portion of his relics be found, it also becomes admirable, and most desired by all Christians.” He adds, that the head of St. Phocas was kept in his beautiful church in Rome, and says, “The Romans honor him by the concourse of the whole people in the same manner they do Peter and Paul.” He bears testimony that the sailors in the Euxine, Ægean, and Adriatic seas, and in the ocean, sing hymns in his honor, and that the martyr has often succored and preserved them; and that the portion of gain which they in every voyage set apart for the poor is called Phocas’s part. He mentions that a certain king of barbarians had sent his royal diadem set with jewels, and his rich helmet a present to the church of St. Phocas, praying the martyr to offer it to the Lord in thanksgiving for the kingdom which his divine majesty had bestowed upon him. St. Chrysostom received a portion of the relics of Saint Phocas, not at Antioch, as Baronius thought, and as Fronto le Due and Baillet doubt, but at Constantinople as Montfaucon demonstrates.² On that solemn occasion the city kept a great festival two days, and St. Chrysostom preached two sermons, only one of which is extant.³ In this he says, that the emperors left their palaces to reverence these relics, and strove to share with the rest in the blessings which they procure men. The emperor Phocas built afterward another great church at Constantinople in honor of this martyr, and caused a considerable part of his relics to be translated thither. The Greeks only style Saint Phocas hiero-martyr or sacred martyr. which epithet they sometimes give to eminent martyrs who were not bishops, as Ruinart demonstrates against Baronius.

St. Guthagon, Recluse

He was an Irishman of royal blood, who forsaking the world to labor in securing eternal happiness; led a penitential, contemplative life at Oosterk, near Bruges, in Flanders, with B. Gillon, an individual companion. He was famed for his eminent sanctity, attested by miracles after his death. His shrine is there held in veneration, and a chapel built in his honor. He is said to have lived in the eighth century. Gerard, bishop of Tournay, translated the relics of this saint on the 3d of July, 1059, in the presence of the abbots of Dun, Oubenbourg, and Ececkout; and on the 1st of October, 1444, they were visited by Nicholas, suffragan bishop of Tournay. See Colgan in MSS. and Molanus, p. 136.

Saint Gunthiern, Abbot in Brittany

This saint flourished in the sixth century. He was a prince in Wales, which he left in his youth, and retired into Armorica to live a recluse. He stopt at the isle of Groie, which is about a league from the mouth of the Blavet. Grallon was then lord of the isle, and was so edified at his conversation, that he bestowed on him, for founding a monastery, the land between the confluence of the river Isol and Ellé. For which reason even to this day, the abbey is called Kemperle, which in the old British language signifies the conflux of Ellé. One year that a prodigious swarm of insects devoured the corn, Guereck I., count of Vannes, dreading a famine, deputed three persons of quality to engage the saint’s prayers to God for turning away the scourge. Gunthiern sent him water which he had blessed, which he desired to be sprinkled over the fields, and the insects were destroyed. The count, in gratitude for this extraordinary blessing, gave him the land near the river Blavet, which was then called Vernac; but is now known by the name of Hervegnac or Chervegnac. The saint, it is thought, died at Kemperle. During the incursions of the Normans, his body was concealed in the isle of Groie. It was discovered in the eleventh century, and brought to the monastery of Kemperle,* which now belongs to the Benedictine Order. St. Gunthiern is patron of this abbey as well as of many other churches and chapels in Brittany. He is mentioned in ancient calendars on the 29th of June, but the moderns place his feast on the 3d of July. See Lobineau, Vies des SS. de Bretagne, p. 49.

St. Bertran,^† Bishop of Mans

He seems to have been born in Poitou, and having dedicated himself to the service of the Church, he received the tonsure in the city of Tours. St. Germain, bishop of Paris invited him to his diocess, formed him to virtue, and, in token of esteem for his merit, made him his archdeacon. After the death of Baldegisil, an unworthy prelate, who sought only to enrich himself by the spoils of his church, St. Bertran was chosen his successor in the diocess of Mans in 586. At first he met some opposition from the corrupt manners of his people, but zealous endeavors to restore them to virtue had soon the deserved success. By his prudence he saved the state from a war which threatened it from Waroc and Windimacle, princes of Brittany. He was called to the court of Gontran, king of Orleans and Burgundy, to negotiate certain interesting matters regarding the Church. He built, endowed, and repaired a great number of hospitals and churches. His will, which he made in 615, is an esteemed piece of church-antiquity. In it are many considerable legacies to churches and monasteries. But what is singularly remarkable, we see by it, that the holy bishop enjoyed on every occasion the favor and protection of Fredegonda. During the troubles occasioned by the civil wars in France, St. Bertran was three several times banished from his diocess. This introduced many disorders among his people, which he happily removed with the assistance of Clotaire, who after long struggles at length united to his kingdom those of Burgundy and Austrasia. It is believed that he died the 30th of June, 623. But he is honored on the 3d of July, being the day on which his relics were translated. See St. Gregory of Tours, Hist. l. 8, c. 39, and l. 9, c. 18; and the saint’s will published with excellent notes by Papebroke, 6 Jun. and Baillet, under the 3d of July.

¹ P. 178. ed. Combefis.

² Not. ib. t. 2. p. 704. Op St. Chrys

³ T. 2. ed. Ben. p. 704.

* The abbey of Kemperle is three leagues from Port-Louis and eight from Quimper.

^† In Latin Bern Cramnus, Bertrannus; not Betrandus.

 Butler, A. (1903). The Lives of the Fathers, Martyrs and Other Principal Saints (Vol. 3, pp. 18–21). New York: P. J. Kenedy.