De sanctis Saviniano et Savina
The Conversion and Martyrdom of Savinianus
Savinianus seeks the meaning of divine grace, flees his pagan father, and ultimately suffers martyrdom for the faith in Troyes.
Savinianus and Savina were the children of Savinus, a nobleman who was a pagan; he had Savinianus by his first wife and Savina by his second, naming both after himself. As Savinianus was reading the verse, "Sprinkle me, O Lord," and so on, he kept asking what it meant, but he couldn't understand it. So he went into his room and lay prostrate in ashes and sackcloth, saying he would rather die than fail to understand the meaning of the verse. An angel appeared to him and said, "Don't torment yourself to death, for you have found grace with God; when you are baptized, you will be whiter than snow, and then you'll understand what you're now seeking." When the angel left, he was filled with joy, and because he now despised the worship of idols, his father severely rebuked him. Since his father kept telling him, "It is better that you die alone, because you do not worship the gods, than that we all be destroyed in your death," he fled in secret and arrived at the city of Troyes. When he reached the Seine and prayed to the Lord that he might be baptized there, he was baptized on the spot; and the Lord said to him, "Now you have found what you labored so long to seek." He immediately stuck his staff into the ground, and after he prayed, the staff put forth leaves and flowers before the many people standing by, so that [text corrupt].1 The men believed in the Lord, but when Emperor Aurelian heard of this, he sent many soldiers to capture him. They found him praying but were afraid to approach him, so the emperor sent even more men than before. Upon arriving and finding him still praying, they joined him in prayer, then stood up and said, "The emperor wants to see you." When he arrived and refused to offer sacrifice, the emperor had his hands and feet bound and ordered him to be beaten with iron rods. Savinian replied, "Increase the torture, if you can." Then he ordered him to be bound to a bench in the middle of the city and burned to death with a pile of wood, oil, and fire. But the emperor, looking on, saw him standing in the middle of the flames, still praying. Stunned, he fell on his face, then stood up and said to him, "You wicked beast, aren't there enough souls you've already deceived? Must you also try to deceive us with your magic arts?" Savinian replied, "Many more souls, and you yourself, are yet to believe in the Lord through me." But when the emperor blasphemed the name of God because of this, he ordered him to be bound to a stake the next day and shot with arrows. Yet the arrows hung in the air to his right and left, and not one of them harmed him. The next day, the emperor came to him and said, "And where is your God?" "Let him come now and save you from these arrows." One of those arrows immediately flew out, struck the king in the eye, and blinded him completely. Enraged, he ordered him to be taken to prison and beheaded the next day. Savinianus, however, prayed to be taken to the place where he had been baptized. His chains broke, the doors opened, and he walked right past the soldiers to get there. When the emperor heard this, he ordered him to be pursued and beheaded. Seeing the soldiers pursuing him, Savinianus walked upon the water as if it were solid ground until he reached the place of his baptism. When the soldiers crossed over and were afraid to strike him, he said, "Strike me with confidence, and take some of my blood to the emperor so that he may receive light and recognize the power of God." Once he was struck, he lifted his head and carried it for forty-nine paces. But when the emperor touched his eye with the blood, he was immediately healed, saying, "Truly, the God of the Christians is good and great." Hearing this, a woman who had been blind for forty years had herself carried to the place, and after praying, she immediately received her sight.
The Pilgrimage and Rest of Savina
Savina follows a divine call to find her brother, performing miracles along the way before passing into the Lord's presence near his burial site.
He suffered around the year of our Lord 279. This is included here so that this story might be connected to the history of his sister, whose feast is especially celebrated here. Since his sister Savina wept for her brother every day and prayed to idols on his behalf, an angel finally appeared to her in her sleep and said, 'Savina, don't weep; leave behind everything you have, and you will find your brother established in the highest honor.' When she woke up, she said to her foster sister, 'My friend, did you feel anything?' She replied, 'Yes, mistress; I saw a man speaking with you, but I don't know what he was saying.' 'You won't accuse me, will you?' she asked. She said, 'Heaven forbid, mistress; you may do whatever you wish, as long as you don't kill yourself.' And so, the next day, they both left; when the father had spent a long time searching for her and had not found her, he lifted his hands to heaven and said, 'If you are the God who is powerful in heaven, shatter my idols, for they could not save my children.' Then the Lord thundered, crushing and shattering everything, and many who saw it believed; but the blessed Savina, coming to Rome, was baptized by Pope Eusebius and healed two blind men and two crippled men, and she remained there for five years. An angel appeared to her in her sleep and said, "Savina, why are you doing this—leaving your wealth behind only to live in luxury here?" Get up and go to the city of Troyes, so that you may find your brother there. So she said to her servant, "We shouldn't live here any longer." And the servant asked, "My lady, where do you want to go?" Look, everyone loves you so much, and you want to go die in a foreign land? She replied, "God will provide for us." And taking some barley bread, she arrived in the city of Ravenna; coming to the house of a certain rich man whose daughter was being mourned as if dead, she asked the servant to let her stay there as a guest. The servant said, "My lady, how can you stay here when my mistress's daughter is dying and everyone is in such deep distress?" "She won't die because of me," she said. She went in, took the girl by the hand, and raised her up, healed; and when they tried to keep her there, she wouldn't agree to it at all. When she arrived within a mile of Troyes, she told her servant they should rest for a little while; then a nobleman named Licerius, coming from the city, asked her, "Where are you from?" Savina said, "I am from this city." He replied, "Why are you lying, when your speech shows that you are a foreigner?" She said, "Sir, I am indeed a foreigner, and I am looking for my brother Savinianus, who has been lost for a long time." He said to her, "The man you are looking for was beheaded a short while ago for Christ and is buried in such-and-such a place." Then, prostrating herself in prayer, she said, "Lord, you who have always kept me in chastity, do not let me be worn out by hard journeys any longer, or let my body be moved from this place; I entrust to you my servant, who has endured so much for my sake, and my brother, whom I could not see here—grant that I may see him in your kingdom." When her prayer was finished, she passed on to the Lord.
The Burial and Commemoration
The community honors the death of Savina, while the liturgical tradition notes the feast of Saint Sabina.
Seeing this, her servant began to weep because she didn't have what was needed for the burial. The aforementioned man, however, sent a town crier through the city so that people would come to bury the foreign woman. They came and buried her with honor. The feast of Saint Sabina is celebrated on this same day; she was the wife of the soldier Valentinus, and because she refused to offer sacrifice, she was beheaded under Emperor Hadrian.
Read the original Latin
Savinianus et Savina fuerunt filii Savini viri nobilissimi, sed pagani, qui de prima uxore Savinianum genuit, de secunda Savinam filiam generavit et ex nomine suo ambos vocavit. Legens autem Savinianus versum illum: adsperges me, domine etc. , quid hoc esset, quaerebat, sed intelligere non valebat. Unde intrans in cubiculum in cinere et cilicio prostratus jacebat dicens, se malle mori, quam non intelligere sensum verbi. Cui apparens angelus dixit: noli te usque ad mortem affligere, quoniam invenisti gratiam apud Deum, et cum baptizatus fueris, nive candidior eris et tunc intelliges, quod nune quaeris. Recedente angelo laetus efficitur et ydola de caetero venerari contemnens à patre plurimum ohjurgatur. Cum ergo pater saepius sibi diceret: melius est, ut, quia Deos non adoras, tu solus moriaris, quam nos omnes in morte tua insimul involvamur, latenter aufugit et ad urbem Trecasinam devenit. Cumque super fluvium Scecanae venisset et ut ibi ex eo baptizaretur, dominum exorasset, ibidem baptizatus est dixitque ei dominus: nunc invenisti, quod tamdiu quaerendo laborasti, statimque in terra baculum fixit et facta oratione baculus ille coram multis adstantibus frondes et flores produxit, ita quod )MCVIH.
viri domino crediderunt, Imperator autem Aurelianus hoc audiens milites ad eum capiendum plures direxit, qui eum orantem invenientes ad ipsum accedere timuerunt, imperator autem plures prioribus misit, qui venientes cnm eo orante pariter oraverunt surgentesque dixerunt: imperator desiderat te videre, Qui cum venisset et nollet sacrificare, manus ejus et pedes fecit ligari et vectibus ferreis caedi. Cui Savinianus: adauge tormenta, si potes. Tunc jussit eum in media civitate ligari super scamnum et suppositis lignis, oleo et igne incendio concremari. Rex autem intuens vidit eum in media flamma stantem pariter et orantem, Stupefactus in suam faciem cecidit et surgens ei dixit: fera mala, non tibi sufficinnt animae, quas decepisti, nisi et nos per magicam artem decipere moliaris? Cui Savinianus: adhuc multae animae et tu ipse per me sunt domino crediturae. Cum autem imperator ex hoc nomen Dei blasphemasset, in crastinum jussit eum ad stipitem ligari et sagittari, sagittae autem a dextris et a sinistris in aére suspendebantur nee aliqua eum laesit. Altera die imperator ad eum veniens dixit ei: et ubi est Deus tuus? veniat nunc et de sagittis istis te liberet.
Statimque una de illis sagittis exiliens regem in oculo percussit et penitus excaecavit. Unde iratus jussit eum in carcere recipi et in crastino decollari. Savinianus autem orans, ut ad locum, ubi baptizatus fuerat, transferretur, cohfractis catenis et apertis ostiis per medios milites transiens illuc venit, quod audiens imperator jussit eum illuc insequi et capite truncari. Videns autem Savinianus milites insequentes super aquam velut supra petram ambulavit, quousque ad locum sui baptismi pervenit. Cum igitur milites )transvadassent et eum percutere formidarent, dicit illis: securi me percutite et de sanguine meo ad imperatorem deferte, ut lumen recipiat et Dei virtutem agnoscat. Percussus igitur caput suum levavit et passibus XLIX illud portavit. At imperator, cum de ejus sanguine oculum tetigisset, continuo sanatus est dicens: vere bonus et magnus est Deus christianorum. Quod audiensquaedam, quae annis XL lumen amiserat, ad locum portari se fecit et facta oratione protinus lumen accepit.
Passus est autem circa annos domini CCLXXIX cal. Februarii, Sed hoc ideo inseritur, ut hystoriae sororis suae, cujus festum praecipue hic recolitur, haec quoque hystoria conjungatur. Cum ejus Soror igitur Savina fratrem suum quotidie fleret et pro eo ydolis supplicaret, tandem sibi dormienti apparuit angelus dicens: Savina, noli flere, sed quaecumque habes, derelinque et invenies fratrem tuum in honore maximo constitutum. Quae evigilans collactaneae suae dixit: amica mea, aliquidne sensisti? Et illa: etiam, domina; nam vidi hominem tecum loquentem, sed nescio quidem quid dicentem. Non me, inquit, accusabis? Et illa: absit, domina; quaecunque vis, facias, tantum non te occidas. Sicque in crastino ambae recesserunt, Cum ergo pater diu fecisset eam inquiri et non invenisset, elevatis ad coelum manibus ait: si tu es Deus potens in coelo, ydola mea comminue, quae natos meos salvare non potuerunt.
Tunc dominus intonaus omnia comminuit et confregit, quod multi videntes crediderunt, Verum beata Savina Romam veniens ab Eusebio papa baptizatur et duos caecos duosqne contractos sanaus V annis ibi permansit. Cui dormienti apparens angelus dixit: Savina, quid est, quod facis, ut tuas divitias deserens nunc igitur in deliciis hic epuleris? surge et vade in Trecas civitatem, ut fratrem tuum ibidem invenias. Dixit ergo famulae suae; non oportet nos hic amplius habitare. Et illa: domina, quo vis ire? Ecce omnes valde te diligunt, et tu peregre mori cupis? Et illa: Deus nobis providebit, Et accipiens panem hordeaceum in urbem Ravennam devenit veniensque ad domum cujusdam divitis, cujus filia quasi mortua plangebatur, se ibidem a famula hospitio recipi postulabat. Quae ait: domina mea, quomodo hic hospitari vales, cum filia dominae meae moriatur et omnes se graviter affligant?
Nou propter me, inquit, morietur. Intrans igitur domum manum puellae apprehendit et sanam ipsam erexit, et cum vellent eam retinere, nullatenus acquievit. Cum ergo juxta Trecas ad milliare venisset, dixit famulae suae, ut paulum repausarent, Et ecce vir quidam nobilis Licerius de civitate veniens dixit ei: unde estis? Cai Savina: hine sum de ista civitate. Etille: cur mentiris, cum loquela indicat te esse peregrinam? Et illa: domine, vere peregrina sum et fratrem meum Savinianum diu perditum requiro. Cui ait: vir ille, quem quaeris, ante paululum pro Christo decollatus est et in tali loco sepultus, Tunc se prosternens in oratione ait: domine, qui me semper in castitate servasti, non permittas me amplius duris itineribus fatigari aut corpus meum de loco isto ulterius moveri, commendo tibi famulam meam, quae propter me tanta sustinuit fratremque meum, quem hic videre non potui, fac, ut in regno iuo videre merear. Finita autem oratione migravit ad dominum.
Quod videns ejus famula coepit flere, quia ad sepeliendum necessaria non habebat. Praedictus autem vir praeconem per civitatem misit, ut homines ad sepeliendum mulierem peregrinam venirent. Qui venientes honorifice eam sepelierunt. Hao quoque die fit festum sanctae Sabinae, quae fuit uxor Valentini militis, quae, cum nollet sacrificare, sub Adriano imperatore decoHala est.
Notes
- 1 ↩The Latin text ends with a corrupt sequence 'MCVIH' which appears to be a garbled date or scribal error.
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