Milano:
statua di Sant'Eugenio nel museo della chiesa di
Sant'Eustorgio. Foto di Giovanni Dall'Orto, 1-3-2007.
A
statue portraying Saint Eugenius, in the church museum in
Sant'Eustorgio (Milan, Italy). Picture by Giovanni Dall'Orto, March 1 2007.
Saint Eugène de Carthage
Evêque de Carthage (+ 505)
et ses compagnons martyrs, Salutaire, Muritta et plusieurs autres.
Évêque de Carthage, il en fut chassé par les Vandales ariens et fut condamné par le roi Hunéric à être d'abord ouvrier agricole à Telmin. Puis, avec beaucoup de ses fidèles et de ses diacres, il fut exilé au désert de Tripoli où ils connurent tous de grandes souffrances. Hunéric avait chassé tous les évêques fidèles à la foi catholique. Quarante-six d'entre eux furent exilés en Corse pour y devenir bûcherons. En 487, Eugène put revenir, mais les persécutions reprirent 8 ans plus tard et il fut à nouveau exilé dans le Languedoc. Il mourut à Albi, dans le sud de la France.
"Assigné à résidence à Albi, il joue peut-être le rôle d’évêque, avec l’appui des aristocrates locaux hostiles à la domination wisigothique. Il meurt dans la ville ou dans son voisinage, vers 505... L’Albigeois demeurant, aux VIe et VIIe siècles, une marche-frontière au contact des Wisigoths, le culte de saint Eugène – vénéré comme martyr en raison des persécutions qu’il a subies en Afrique – connaît une diffusion non négligeable."
Commémoraison de saint Eugène, évêque de Carthage. Recommandable par sa foi et
ses vertus, il fut expulsé de son siège dans la persécution vandale et mourut
en Aquitaine, à Albi, en 505.
Martyrologe romain
SOURCE ` http://nominis.cef.fr/contenus/saint/1496/Saint-Eugene-de-Carthage.html
Alsace,
Bas-Rhin, Église Saint-André de Meistratzheim. Verrière "St-Eugène et
St-Nicolas" (Joseph Ehrismann, XIXe)
SAINT EUGÈNE
Évêque de Carthage
(+ 505)
On ne sait rien sur la
naissance et les premières années de saint Eugène. Son nom apparaît pour la
première fois dans l'histoire quand il est choisi pour évêque de Carthage, en
481, à une époque où le fanatisme arien, joint à la barbarie des Vandales,
faisait, presque à coup sûr, de tous les évêques catholiques africains des
martyrs de la vraie foi.
Sa conduite dans
l'épiscopat fut celle d'un vrai pasteur des âmes. Malgré la pauvreté de son
Église, il trouvait le moyen de répandre dans le sein des pauvres de si larges
aumônes, que Dieu semblait multiplier à plaisir les ressources entre ses mains.
Hunéric, roi des
Vandales, lui fit défendre de recevoir dans son église aucun chrétien de la
race des Vandales ou en portant le vêtement; mais Eugène refusa d'obéir:
"La maison de Dieu,
répondit-il, est ouverte à tout le monde; nul ne peut en chasser ceux qui y
entrent." Ce fut le signal d'une affreuse persécution.
Dieu voulut prouver par
un miracle éclatant la vérité catholique contre la fourberie de ses ennemis. Un
aveugle de Carthage, nommé Félix, vint trouver l'évêque et lui dit: "Je
viens ici sur l'ordre de Dieu, et je n'en sortirai pas que vous ne m'ayez rendu
la vue." Eugène le repoussa d'abord avec bonté, protestant qu'il n'était pas
homme à faire des miracles; mais l'aveugle insista; il lui fit alors un signe
de Croix sur les yeux, qui s'ouvrirent aussitôt à la lumière. Peu après, il
rendit la vue à un homme que l'évêque arien avait suborné pour se donner à
lui-même la réputation d'un thaumaturge, et qui était devenu réellement aveugle
au moment même où il jouait son triste rôle. Malgré le bruit de ces prodiges
dans le pays, la persécution ne fit qu'augmenter.
Saint Eugène fut exilé;
il eut à subir toutes sortes de mauvais traitements. Le persécuteur Hunéric,
dévoré vivant par les vers, fut bientôt victime de la vengeance céleste; il
périt en déchirant lui-même ses membres avec ses dents; ses entrailles lui
sortirent du corps, et cette mort effrayante fit horreur à ceux mêmes des
hérétiques qui avaient fait de lui un prince pervers et cruel
Sous le règne suivant,
Eugène put revenir à Carthage et y continuer son apostolat; mais la paix ne fut
pas de longue durée, car, sous le second successeur d'Hunéric, la persécution
sévit de nouveau; Eugène, toujours invincible, fut d'abord menacé des plus
horribles supplices, puis envoyé en exil à Albi, dans les Gaules, où le
vaillant athlète de la foi vit la fin de ses travaux, le 13 juillet.
C’était l’an 505, Symmaque étant pape, Anasthase Ier empereur d’Orient et
Clovis roi de France.
Abbé L. Jaud, Vie des Saints pour tous les jours de l'année, Tours, Mame,
1950.
SOURCE : http://www.cassicia.com/FR/Vie-de-St-Eugene-eveque-de-Carthage-persecute-par-Huneric-mort-en-exil-a-Albi-en-505-Fete-le-13-juillet-No_954.htm
Alsace,
Bas-Rhin, Église St Laurent de Gougenheim. Verrière "St Eugène",
Ott Frères (1911)
Vetrata
nella chiesa di St-Laurent di Gougenheim ad Alsazia, opera
di Ott Frères (1911).
Saint Eugène
Évêque
Victor de Vita donne le récit des luttes sociales et religieuses suscitées par
la conquête vandale dans la province romaine d’Afrique. Le conflit entre
l’aristocratie traditionnelle, dépossédée de ses biens et de ses prérogatives,
et les nouveaux maîtres se double alors d’une opposition entre le clergé
catholique et l’Église arienne. Les périodes de tension alternent avec les
époques de détente.
La carrière de saint
Eugène illustre ce balancement, dans lequel il tient une place de premier plan,
en raison des fonctions qu’il occupe. En 481, il est en effet appelé au siège
épiscopal de Carthage, vacant depuis un quart de siècle, et devient, dans la
pratique, chef de l’Église d’Afrique. Son nom indique une origine grecque ou
bien orientale, mais Eugène réussit parfaitement à Carthage ; selon Victor
de Vita, il brille par son humilité, sa charité, sa piété et ses bonnes œuvres,
et parvient à convertir de nombreux « barbares ».
Le roi Hunéric provoque,
en 484, un concile pour confronter la doctrine des ariens et celle des
catholiques. L’opposition de ces derniers vaut aux évêques d’Afrique d’être
tous déportés ; Eugène se retrouve alors dans le désert de Tripolitaine.
Toutefois le successeur d’Hunéric adopte une politique d’apaisement et saint
Eugène rentre à Carthage en 487. Sous le règne suivant, celui de Thrasamund, il
s’oppose vigoureusement au prince, qui le condamne à un exil lointain et
définitif, vers 496.
Grâce à Grégoire de
Tours, on sait qu’il est alors envoyé vers Alaric II, roi des Wisigoths de
Toulouse, eux-mêmes sectateurs de l‘arianisme. Assigné à résidence à Albi, il
joue peut-être le rôle d’évêque, avec l’appui des aristocrates locaux hostiles
à la domination wisigothique. Il meurt dans la ville ou dans son voisinage,
vers 505. Grégoire de Tours décrit le sanctuaire où il repose aux côtés de
saint Amarand. Il y accomplit des miracles et, pour sa fête, une foire
importante y a lieu.
L’Albigeois demeurant, aux VIe et VIIe siècles, une marche-frontière au contact des Wisigoths, le culte de saint Eugène – vénéré comme martyr en raison des persécutions qu’il a subies en Afrique – connaît une diffusion non négligeable [1]. Bloqué par celui de saint Salvi, il est relancé à partir du milieu du IXe siècle par les comtes de Toulouse et d‘Albigeois. À ce moment ,le vicus de Vieux se trouve être le lieu de la sépulture de saint Eugène, associé à deux autres évêques africains, Lougins et Vindémial, déjà cités par Grégoire de Tours. La dévotion portée à ces derniers s’avère secondaire ; elle a pu se développer par attraction de celle vouée à saint Eugène. En 1494, les reliques des "saints de Vieux" sont transférées à la cathédrale Sainte-Cécile par Louis d’Amboise.
J.-L. B. Extrait des Tarnais célèbres
[1] Le titre de saint Eugène est encore attaché aux églises
de Brens, de Poulan (près de Réalmont), de Rosières et de Vieux, toutes situées
dans l’ancien diocèse d’Albi.
SOURCE : http://catholique-tarn.cef.fr/spip.php?article1176
_%C3%89glise_Saint-Pierre_-_Int%C3%A9rieur_-_Baie_130-2.jpg)
Intérieur de l'église Saint-Pierre à Chanzeaux (49). Baie 130. Saint-Eugène.
_%C3%89glise_Saint-Pierre_-_Int%C3%A9rieur_-_Baie_130-4.jpg)
Intérieur de l'église Saint-Pierre à Chanzeaux (49). Baie 130. Saint-Eugène.
_%C3%89glise_Saint-Pierre_-_Int%C3%A9rieur_-_Baie_130-3.jpg)
Intérieur de l'église Saint-Pierre à Chanzeaux (49). Baie 130. Saint-Eugène.
Also
known as
Eugenius
Profile
Bishop of Carthage, North
Africa in 481. Exiled to
the desert of Tripoli with many of his parishioners, some of them children,
by Arian Vandals.
They were allowed to return in 488,
but Eugene was exiled again
in 496,
and he eventually settled in Albi, Italy.
505 in Albi, Italy of
the mistreatment suffered in exile
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MLA
Citation
“Saint Eugene of
Carthage“. CatholicSaints.Info. 14 January 2022. Web. 25 October 2025.
<https://catholicsaints.info/saint-eugene-of-carthage/>
SOURCE : https://catholicsaints.info/saint-eugene-of-carthage/
_-_chiesa_di_Sant'Eugenio.jpg)
E' la chiesa più antica di Concorezzo, già citata nel IX sec. Nell'853 passò al monastero di Sant'Ambrogio e quindi alla basilica di San Giovanni in Monza. La visita pastorale del 1570 riporta che un'immagine della Madonna aveva dato "signa miraculosa". In quei tempi di fianco alla chiesa vi erano 6 locali, occupati dalle "vergini di Sant'Orsola". La chiesa, anticamente ad una sola navata, fu ampliata nel 1928 a 3 navate. La facciata è in stile romanico, con il tetto a campana, sormontato da una croce. Sopra la porta centrale vi è un grande rosone. II campanile presenta mattoni a vista. All'interno vi sono tre navate, separate con archi a tutto sesto, sostenuti da colonne di granito. ll soffitto è a cassettoni.
Concorezzo,
Chiesa di Sant'Eugenio (VIII secolo) Source: Photo by Frieda
Book
of Saints – Eugenius, Salutaris, Muritta and Others
Article
EUGENIUS, SALUTARIS,
MURITTA and OTHERS (Saints) Martyrs (July 13) (6th century) The entry in the
Roman Martyrology regarding these Saints is as follows: “In Africa, the holy
confessors, Eugenius, Bishop of Carthage, renowned for his Faith and his
virtues, and all the clergy of that Church to the number of five hundred or
more (among them being many young boys who ministered as Lectors or Readers).
In the persecution under the Arian Hunneric, King of the Vandals, they were
scourged and starved, and at last (rejoicing always in the Lord) driven into
banishment. Conspicuous among them was the Archdeacon Salutaris and the
Dignitary next in rank to him, Muritta, who had each twice previously suffered
for Christ.” A.D. 505 is the probable date of the sentence passed on Saint Eugene
and his holy companions.
MLA
Citation
Monks of Ramsgate.
“Eugenius, Salutaris, Muritta and Others”. Book of
Saints, 1921. CatholicSaints.Info.
20 January 2013. Web. 25 October 2025.
<https://catholicsaints.info/book-of-saints-eugenius-salutaris-muritta-and-others/>
SOURCE : https://catholicsaints.info/book-of-saints-eugenius-salutaris-muritta-and-others/
Katholische
Kirche Saint-Léonard in Croissy-sur-Seine im Département Yvelines
(Île-de-France/Frankreich), Bleiglasfenster
St. Eugenius of Carthage
Unanimously elected Bishop of Carthage in
480 to succeed Deogratias (d. 456); d. 13 July, 505.
The election was deferred owing to the opposition of the Arian Vandal kings
and was only permitted by Huneric at the instance of Zeno and Placidia, into
whose family the Vandals had married.
The bishop's wise
government, charity to the poor,
austerity of life, and courage under persecution,
won the admiration of the Arians.
In his uncompromising defence of the Divinity of
the Word he was imitated by the members of his flock, many of whom
were exiled with him, after he had admitted Vandals into
the Catholic Church,
contrary to royal edict, and had worsted in argument Arian theologians,
whom the king pitted against the Catholics.
Both sides claimed the name "Catholic", the Arians calling
their opponents "Homoousians". The conference was held some time
between 481 and February, 484, and ended by the withdrawal of the chief Arian bishop on
the plea that he could not speak Latin. The Arians being
enraged, Huneric persecuted the Catholics,
exiling forty-six bishops to Corsica,
and three hundred and two to the African deserts.
Among the latter was Eugenius, who under the custody of
a ruffian named Antonius dwelt in the desert of
Tripoli. On setting out he wrote a letter of consolation and exhortation to
the faithful of Carthage which is still extant in the works
of Gregory
of Tours (P.L., LVII, 769-71). Gunthamund, who succeeded Huneric
allowed Eugenius to return to Carthage and permitted him to
reopen the churches. After eight years of peace Thrasamund succeeded
to the throne, revived the persecution,
arrested Eugenius, and condemned him to death, but commuted
the sentence into exile at Vienne, near Albi (Languedoc),
where the Arian Alaric
was king. Eugenius built here a monastery over
the tomb of
St. Amaranthus, the martyr,
and led a penitential life till his death. He is said to
have miraculously cured
a man who was blind.
He wrote: "Expositio Fidei Catholicae", demanded of him by Huneric,
probably the one submitted by the Catholic bishops at
the conference. It proves the consubstantiality of
the Word and Divinity of the Holy Ghost. He wrote also
an "Apologeticus pro Fide"; "Altercatio cum Arianis",
fragments of which are quoted by Victor de Vita; also pleas for
the Catholics,
addressed to Huneric or his successors. His letter to
the faithful of Carthage has been mentioned above.
McNeal, Mark. "St. Eugenius of Carthage." The Catholic
Encyclopedia. Vol. 5. New York: Robert Appleton
Company, 1909. <http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/05602c.htm>.
Transcription. This
article was transcribed for New Advent by Gerald M. Knight.
Ecclesiastical
approbation. Nihil Obstat. May 1, 1909. Remy Lafort, Censor. Imprimatur. +John
M. Farley, Archbishop of New York.
Copyright © 2023 by Kevin Knight.
Dedicated to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
SOURCE : http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/05602c.htm
Stained-glass
window of the Notre-Dame-du-Puy church of Figeac, Lot, France
Église Notre-Dame du Puy
(Figeac) ; Saint Eugenius of Carthage
July 13
St. Eugenius, Bishop of
Carthage, and His Companions, Confessors
From Victor Vitensis,
Hist. Persec. Vandal. 1. 2 and 3. See Tillemont, t. 16. Ceillier, t. 15,
p. 206. Rivet. Hist. Lit. de la Fr. t. p. 38. Ruinart, &c
A.D. 505.
THE ROMAN provinces in
Africa were for a long time one of the richest and most noble portions of the
empire. The Carthaginian barbarism and perfidy had given place to the most
flourishing reign of the sciences, arts, and religion. The nobles of this
country were all princes, and for riches and state, seemed to vie with kings;
its peace seemed on every side secure. But the strongest cities and empires are
often nearest a fall; they are founded, to be again sooner or later torn to
pieces. Every state has even within itself the seeds of its own destruction;
these will occasion the dissolution of every body politic no less certainly
than the internal weakness of the animal body must bring it to a fatal period.
This was the condition of the Roman empire in its decline, when its rulers, to
preserve Italy which they regarded as its heart or head, abandoned its
extremities to the Goths and Vandals. At a time when Africa thought of no
danger, in the reign of the emperor Valentinian the III. in 428, Genseric, king
of the Vandals and Alans, having lately made a settlement in part of Spain, 1 passed
into this country, and in a short time became master of those fertile
provinces. This politic barbarian king kept great armies perpetually prepared
for any expedition, by which he prevented the vigilance of his enemies, and
astonished all the world with the rapidity of his enterprises. The Vandals, who
were mostly Christians but infected with the Arian heresy, laid the whole
country waste by fire and sword, plundered all places, even churches and
monasteries; burned alive two bishops, and tortured others to extort from them
the treasures of their churches; razed the public buildings at Carthage, and
banished Quodvultdeus, bishop of that city, with many others. But in 454, at
the request of the emperor Valentinian, Genseric allowed the Catholics to
choose a bishop of Carthage, and St. Deogratias was raised to that dignity, who
died soon after Genseric was returned from the plunder of Rome. The persecution
growing hotter, many suffered torments for the faith, and several received the
crown of martyrdom. The Arians, by a sacrilege never before heard of, made
themselves shirts and breeches of the altar-cloths, and at Tinuzuda spilt and
scattered the body and blood of Christ on the pavement. 2 Catholics
being by an edict disqualified for bearing any office in the government,
Armogastes, a nobleman who held an honourable post in the household of
Theodoric the king’s son, was condemned by the tyrant to keep cattle. Genseric
dying after a reign of thirty-seven years, was succeeded by his son Huneric, a
more barbarous persecutor than his father had ever been.
The episcopal see of
Carthage had remained vacant twenty-four years, when in 481, Huneric permitted
the Catholics on certain conditions to choose one who should fill it. The
people impatient to enjoy the comfort of a pastor, pitched upon Eugenius, a
citizen of Carthage, eminent for his learning, zeal, piety, and prudence; and
such was his deportment in this dignity, that he was venerable to the very
heretics, and so dear to the Catholics that every one of them would have
thought it a happiness to lay down his life for him. His charities to the
distressed were excessive, especially considering his poverty. But he always
found resources for their necessities in the hearts of his people; and he
refused himself every thing that he might give all to the poor. When others put
him in mind that he ought to reserve something for his own necessaries, his
answer was: “If the good pastor must lay down his life for his flock, can it be
excusable for me to be solicitous for the necessities of my body?” He fasted
every day, and often allowed himself only a most slender evening refection of
bread and water. His virtue gained him the respect and esteem even of the
Arians; but at length envy and blind zeal got the ascendant in their breasts,
and the king sent him an order never to sit in the episcopal throne, preach to
the people, or admit into his chapel any Vandals among whom several were
Catholics. The saint boldly answered the messenger, that the laws of God
commanded him not to shut the doors of his church to any who desired to serve
him in it. Huneric, enraged at this answer, persecuted the Catholics many ways,
especially the Vandals who had embraced, the faith. He commanded guards to be
placed at the doors of the Catholic churches, who when they saw any man or
woman going in clothed in the habit of the Vandals, struck them on the head
with short staffs jagged and indented, which being twisted into their hair, and
drawn back with great violence, tore off the hair and skin together. Some lost
their eyes by this means, and others died with the extreme pain; but many lived
a long time after. Women with their heads flayed in this manner, were publicly
led through the streets, with a crier going before them to show them to the
people. But this barbarous usage did not cause any one to forsake the true
religion. Next, the tyrant deprived the Catholics who were at court of their
pensions, and sent them to work in the country. He also ordered that none
should be admitted to bear any office in his palace, or any public charge who
was not an Arian. He afterwards turned them out of their houses, stripped them
of all their wealth, and sent them to Sicily or Sardinia. After this his
persecution fell on all Catholics. One edict followed another against them, and
the cloud thickened every day over their heads. Many nuns were so cruelly
tortured that several died on the rack. Great numbers of bishops, priests,
deacons, and eminent Catholic laymen were banished to the number of four
thousand nine hundred and seventy-six, all of whom the tyrant sent into a
desert, where they were fed with barley like horses. This desert was filled
with scorpions and venemous serpents; but they did not destroy any of the
servants of God. The people followed their bishops and priests with lighted
tapers in their hands, and mothers carried their little babes in their arms, and
laid them at the feet of the confessors, all crying out with tears: “Going
yourselves to your crowns, to whom do you leave us? Who will baptize our
children? Who will impart to us the benefit of penance, and discharge us from
the bonds of sins by the favour of reconciliation and pardon? Who will bury us
with solemn supplications at our death? By whom will divine sacrifices be
made?” 3
The bishop Eugenius was
spared in the first storm, probably that the inhabitants of the capital might
seem to be somewhat considered. But in May 483, the king sent him a summons
requiring the Catholics, whom he called Homoousians, to hold a conference or
disputation with his Arian bishops at Carthage on the 1st day of February
ensuing. Eugenius answered, the terms were not equal, seeing their enemies were
to be judges; and that as it was the common cause of all churches, other
foreign churches ought to be invited and consulted, “especially the church of
Rome, which is the head of all churches.” 4 About
that time one Felix, who had been long blind, addressed himself to St. Eugenius
desiring him to pray that he might recover his sight, saying he had been admonished
by a vision so to do. The bishop showed great reluctance and confusion,
alleging that he was a base sinner; but at length, after blessing the font for
the solemn administration of baptism on the Epiphany, he said to the blind man:
“I have told you that I am a sinner, and the last of all men; but I pray God
that he show you mercy according to your faith, and restore to you your sight.”
Then he made the sign of the cross on his eyes, and the blind man saw: the
whole city was witness to the triumph of the faith. The king sent for Felix,
and examined himself all the circumstances of the miracle, which he found too
evident to be called in question. However, the Arian bishops told him that
Eugenius had performed it by recourse to art magic. The Catholics made choice
of ten disputants for the conference, which was opened on the 5th of February.
Cyrila, patriarch of the Arians, was seated on a throne; the Catholics who were
standing, asked who were the commissaries to take down in writing what should
pass in the disputation; and were answered that Cyrila would perform that
office. The Catholics asked by what authority he claimed the jurisdiction and
rank of patriarch? The Arians not being able to produce any sufficient warrant
for his usurpation, filled the hall with noise and tumult, and obtained an
order that every lay Catholic there present should receive a hundred
bastinadoes. Cyrila sought various pretences to defer the conference. The
Catholics, however presented a written confession of their faith. This takes up
the whole third book of Victor’s history, though he has only inserted the first
part in which the consubstantiality of God the Son is proved from the
scriptures. The second part, which confirmed the same from the writings of the
fathers, is lost. This confession seems to have been drawn up by St. Eugenius,
to whom Gennadius ascribes a confession of faith against the Arians. 5
When this was read the
Arians quarrelled that the orthodox took the name of Catholics, though this was
given them by the whole world, even by the heretics themselves, as St. Austin
observed a little before this time in that very country. Upon this, however,
the Arians abruptly broke up the conference, and the king, on the 25th of
February, in 484, published a severe edict for a general persecution, which he
had already prepared for that purpose. By this all the Catholic clergy were
banished out of towns, and forbidden to perform any functions, even in the
country; all Catholics were declared incapable of inheriting, or disposing, of
any estates, real or personal, with other such articles. Executioners were
despatched to all parts of the kingdom, and many Catholics were put to
barbarous deaths, and many more inhumanly tormented. One Dionysia, after having
been herself cruelly scourged, seeing her son Majoricus, a tender youth,
tremble at the sight of the torments prepared for him, she looked on him with a
stern countenance, and said: “Remember, son, we were baptized in the name of
the Trinity, and in the bosom of our mother the church.” The young man,
encouraged by these words, suffered martyrdom with undaunted resolution, and
his mother buried him within her own house, that she might every day offer to
the holy Trinity her prayers over his grave, in the lively hope of a glorious
resurrection with him at the last day. Her cousin Emilius, her sister Dativa,
and innumerable others in different parts of Africa received the like crowns.
At Typasus, in Mauritania Cæsariensis, certain Catholics who had assisted at
the celebration of the divine mysteries in a private house, were informed
against; and by the king’s order had their tongues plucked out, and their right
hands cut off; yet they spoke as well as ever, as St. Victor Vitensis, an
eye-witness, assures us. 6 He
says, Reparatus, a subdeacon, one of this number, was entertained when he
wrote, in the court of the Emperor Zena, at Constantinople, and was there
highly honoured, especially by the empress; and that, though entirely deprived
of his tongue, he spoke gracefully, and without the least defect or imperfection.
Æneas, of Gaza, a platonic philosopher, who was then at Constantinople, and
wrote in 533, 7 says
he himself had seen them in that city, and had heard them speak distinctly; and
not being able to believe his own ears, he had examined their mouths, and seen
that their tongues were plucked out to the very roots, so that he wondered they
could have survived so cruel a torment. Procopius, who wrote soon after, says
also 8 that
he had seen these persons at Constantinople, and had heard them speak freely,
without feeling any thing of their punishment; but that two of them, by falling
into a grievous sin of the flesh, lost the use of their speech, which they had
till then enjoyed.
The tyrant wreaked his
impotent vengeance on many others, especially on Vandals who had been converted
to the Catholic faith; but was not able to overcome their heroic constancy. The
streets of Carthage were filled with spectacles of his cruelty; and one was
there meeting continually some without hands, others without eyes, nose, or
ears; others whose heads appeared sunk in between their shoulders, by having
been hung up by the hands on the tops of houses for sights to the people. Above
four hundred and sixty bishops were brought to Carthage, in order to be sent
into banishment: of this number eighty-eight died under great hardships at
Carthage, some few made their escape, and the rest were banished. St. Eugenius
after having long encouraged others to the conflict, was himself at length on a
sudden carried into exile, without being allowed to take leave of his friends.
He found means, however, to write a letter to his flock, which St. Gregory of
Tours has preserved. 9 In
it he says: “I with tears beg, exhort, and conjure you by the dreadful day of
judgment, and the awful light of the coming of Christ, that you hold fast the
Catholic faith. Preserve the grace of the holy baptism, and the unction of the
chrism. Let no man born again of water return to the water.” This he mentions,
because the Arians in Africa, like the Donatists, rebaptized those who came
over to their sect. St. Eugenius protests to his flock that if they remain constant,
no distance nor death could separate him from them in spirit; but that he was
innocent of the blood of those who should perish, and that this his letter
would be read before the tribunal of Christ at the last day for the severer
condemnation of such base apostates. “If I return to Carthage,” says he, “I
shall see you in this life; if not, I shall meet you in the other. Pray for us,
and fast; fasting and alms have never failed to move God to mercy. Above all
things, remember that we are not to fear those who can only kill the body.”
We have a catalogue of
all the bishops of the provinces of Africa who came to the conference, and were
sent into banishment; 10 namely,
fifty-four of the proconsular province, one hundred and twenty-five of Numidia,
one hundred and seven of the province of Byzacena, one hundred and twenty of
the province of Mauritania Cæsariensis, forty-four from the province of Sitifi,
five from that of Tripolis, besides ten from Sardinia and other places; in all
four hundred and sixty-four bishops, of which number eighty-eight died at
Carthage, before their departure into exile, forty-six were banished to
Corsica, three hundred and three to other places, and twenty-eight made their
escape. St. Eugenius was carried into the uninhabited desert country in the
province of Tripolis, and committed to the guard of Antony, an inhuman Arian
bishop, who treated him with the utmost barbarity. The saint added to his
sufferings voluntary austerities, wore a rough hair-shirt, lay on the ground,
and passed great part of the night in prayer and tears. When he was afflicted
with a palsy, Antony, because vinegar was contrary to his distemper, obliged
him to drink it in large quantities. Yet God was pleased to restore his servant
to his health. It is observed by our historian, that the Arian bishops were all
cruel persecutors, and went through the cities and provinces, filling all
places with scenes of horror, rebaptizing persons by force and violence,
scourging, mangling, torturing, and banishing even women and children. The
fifth book of the history of this persecution is filled with examples. The
apostates signalized themselves above others by the cruelties which they
exercised upon the orthodox. Elpidophorus, one of this number, was appointed
judge at Carthage to condemn the more zealous to be tortured. Muritta, the
deacon who had assisted when he was baptized in the bosom of the Catholic
church, being brought before him, took with him the chrismale or white garment,
with which at the time he received the apostate coming out of the font he had
clothed him, as an emblem of that innocence which he engaged himself to
preserve always unspotted; and producing it before the whole assembly, he said:
“This robe will accuse you when the judge shall appear in majesty at the last
day. It will bear testimony against you to your condemnation.” 11 This
relation is gathered from Saint Victor, bishop of Vita, in the province of
Byzacena; who being banished by King Huneric for the faith in 487, retired to
Constantinople, and wrote (probably in that city) in five books, the history of
the Vandalic persecution. 12
St. Victor relates that
Huneric, the great persecutor of the church, died miserably, being devoured by
worms, in December, 484, having reigned almost eight years. Nor was he
succeeded, as he had earnestly desired, by his son Hilderic; but by Gontamund,
a nephew, whom the maturity of his age rendered better able to bear the burden
of the state. This prince, in the year 488, which was the fourth of his reign,
recalled St. Eugenius to Carthage, and at his request opened the churches of
the Catholics, and permitted the exiled priests also to return. Gontamund died
in 496, and his brother, Thrasimund, was called to the crown, of whom mention
hath been made in the life of St. Fulgentius. Though this king often affected a
show of moderation, he sometimes used the sword and every other violent measure
to depress the cause of truth, which at other times he pretended to seek after.
But his inconstancy betrayed his want of sincerity. True virtue is steady, but
the fool changeth like the moon; he who is governed by his passions is every
thing by fits, and if he one day pretend to condemn his vices, he by relapses
soon repents again of this very repentance, which frequently springs rather
from a disgust of sin, than from any principle of true virtue. Thrasimund by
this levity or hypocrisy never deserved to arrive at the light of the true
faith, and often persecuted its most holy champions, of which, among many
others, the sufferings of St. Eugenius are an instance. St. Gregory of Tours
relates 13 that
by his authority the judges condemned our saint, one Longinus, and St.
Vindemial, bishop of Capsa, in Africa, to be beheaded. St. Vindemial died by
the sword; but the tyrant commanded St. Eugenius to be led to the place of
execution, and though he protested under the axe that he would rather lose his
life than depart from the Catholic faith, he was again brought back to
Carthage, and banished into Languedoc, which country was then subject to
Alaric, king of the Visigoths, who was also an Arian. He died in his exile in a
monastery which he built and governed at Viance, (since called St. Amaranth’s,
from the tomb of that martyr,) about a mile from Albi. He passed to a better
life in 505, on the 13th of July. King Hilderic afterwards recalled the
surviving exiled prelates; but peace was not perfectly restored to that church
before the year 534, when Belisarius, a general who was master of all the
maxims of the first Romans with regard to the art of war, vanquished Gelimer,
the last Vandal king in Africa, and sent him prisoner to Constantinople. 14
The saints chose to
suffer every temporal loss, torment, or death with which the world could
threaten them rather than lose the holy treasure of faith. This gift is a light
which shineth upon us 15 from
God, to direct us amidst our darkness in the path to eternal life, as the
pillar of fire conducted the Israelites through the wilderness. It is the seed,
or rather the root of a spiritual life, and of every virtue that is meritorious
of everlasting glory. “Faith is the solid foundation of all virtues,” says St.
Ambrose. 16 And
in another place he cries out: 17 “O
faith, richer than all treasures! more healing and sovereign than all
medicines!” Our faith, if true, must have three conditions, or qualities. 1. It
must be firm, admitting no doubt or wavering; ready to brave all dangers,
torments, and death; thus it filled the martyrs with joy under the most
affrighting trials, and made them triumph over fires and the sword. 18 2.
It must be entire; for the least wilful obstinate error concerning one article
destroys the whole fabric of faith, by rejecting its motive, which is every
where the same testimony of divine revelation. “You who believe what you
please, and reject what you please, believe yourselves, or your own fancy,
rather than the gospel,” as St. Austin says. 3. Faith must be active, animated
by charity, fruitful in good works. A dead or a barren faith is compared by St.
James to a carcass without a soul, and to the faith of the devils, who believe
and tremble. How active and animated was faith in the souls of all the saints!
the eminent virtues which we admire in them were all the fruit of their faith,
and sprang from this root. With what care ought we to nourish and improve this
holy seed in our breasts? Gardeners cultivate most diligently those seeds which
are most precious.
Note
1. Though Pliny and Procopius pretend that the Vandals were of the
same extraction with the Goths, the contrary is demonstrated by the learned F.
Daniel Farlati, (Illyrici Sacri, t. 2, p. 1308. Venetiis 1753,) and by Jos.
Assemani (in Calend. de Orig. Slavor. par. 2, c. 5, t. 1, p. 297.) And their
language, manners, and religion were entirely different. The same arguments
show that they differed also from the Slavi, Huns, and original Winidi or
Venedi, this last being a Sarmatian, and the two others Scythian nations. The
Vandals are placed by Jornandes and Dio (l. 55,) on the German coast of the
Baltic sea, in the present Prussia and Pomerania; they thence extended
themselves to the sources of the Elbe, in the mountains of Silesia. They were
afterwards removed near the Danube, in the neighbourhood of the Marcomanni, in
the reigns of Antonius, Aurelian, and Probus. In the fifth century they made an
excursion into Gaul: and being there repulsed, crossed the Pyrenæan mountains
with the Alani, who were the original Massagetæ from Mount Caucasus, and beyond
the Tanais, as Ammianus Marcellinus testifies. About the year 400, in the reign
of Honorius, the Alani settled themselves in Lusitania, and the Vandals under
King Gunderic, in Gallicia, (which then comprised both the present Gallicia and
Old Castile,) and in Bætica, which from them was called Vandalitia, and
corruptly Andalusia. See St. Isidore and Idatius, in their chronicles. Salvian,
l. 7, p. 137. St. August, ep. 3, ad Victor.) The Vandals were baptized in the
Catholic faith about the time when they crossed the Rhine; but were afterwards
drawn into Arianism, probably by some alliance with the Arian Goths, and out of
hatred to the Romans. Idatius says, that common fame attributed the Arian
perversion of the Vandals to King Genseric, who succeeded his brother Gunderic
in 428, and was a man experienced in all the arts of policy and war. Count
Boniface, lieutenant of Africa, seeing his life threatened by Aëtius (who, with
the title of Magister Militiæ, governed the empire for the Empress Placidia,
regent for her son Valentinian,) invited the Vandals out of Spain to his
assistance. Genseric, with a powerful army, passed the strait which divides
Africa from Spain, in May, 429; and though Boniface was then returned to his
duty, the barbarian everywhere defeated the Romans, besieged Hippo during
fourteen months; and though he was obliged by a famine to retire, he returned
soon after and took that strong fortress. The Emperor Valentinian, in 435, by
treaty yielded up to him all his conquests in Africa. Genseric soon broke the
truce, and in 439 took Carthage, and drove the Romans out of all Africa. In
455, being invited by the Empress Eudoxia to revenge the murder of Valentinian
on Maximus, he plundered Rome during fifteen days. Though that city had been
ravaged by Alaric the Goth in 400, whilst Honorius was emperor, the Vandal
found and carried off an immense booty; and among other things, the gold and
brass with which the capital was inlaid, and the vessels of the Jewish temple
at Jerusalem, which Titus had brought to Rome. These Justinian, when he had
recovered Africa, caused to be brought to Constantinople, whence he caused them
to be removed and placed in certain churches at Jerusalem, as Procopius
relates. Rome was again twice plundered by Totila in 546 and 549. The Vandals,
by their transmigrations into Spain and Africa, soon after ceased to be a
nation in Germany, as Jornandes and Procopius testify. Euricus, king of the
Visigoths, in Languedoc, in 468, invading Spain, conquered most of the
territories which the Romans still possessed there, and all the provinces which
the Vandals had seized. So that by the extinction of the empire of the Vandals
in Africa under Justinian, the name of that potent and furious nation was lost:
though Frederic, the first king of Prussia, in 1701, was for some time very
desirous rather to take the title of king of the Vandals. The cavalry of the
ancient Vandals fought chiefly with the sword and lance, and were unpractised
in the distant combat. Their bow-men were undisciplined, and fought on foot
like the Gothic. See Procopius.
Note
2. Tinuzudæ tempore quo sacramenta Dei populo porrigebantur,
introeuntes cum furore (Ariani) Corpus Christi et Sanguinem pavimento
sparserunt, et illud pollutis pedibus calcaverunt. St. Vict. Vitensis, l. 1, p.
17.
Note
3. Qui nobis pœnitentiæ munus collaturi sunt, et reconciliationis
indulgentiâ obstrictos peccatorum vinculis soluturi? A quibus divinis
sacrificiis ritus est exhibendus consuetus? Vobiscum et nos libeat pergere, si
liceret. S. Victor Vit. l. 2, p. 33.
Note
4. Scribam ego fratribus meis ut veniant coëpiscopi mei, qui vobis
nobiscum fidem communem nostram valeant demonstrare, et præcipue ecclesia
Romana, quæ caput est omnium ecclesiarum. Victor Vit. l. 2, p. 38.
Note
5. In it the Catholics appealed to the tradition of the universal Church:
“Hæc est fides nostra, evangelicis et apostolicis traditionibus atque
auctoritate firmata, et omnium quæ in mundo sunt Catholicarum ecclesiarum
societate fundata, in qua nos per gratiam Dei omnipotentis permanere usque ad
finem vitæ hujus confidimus.” Victor Vit. l. 3, p. 62.
Note
6. L. 5, p. 76.
Note
7. Æneas, Gaz. Dial. de Animarum Immortalitate et Corporis
Resurrectione, p. 415.
Note
8. Procop. de Bello Vandal. l. 1, c. 8.
Note
9. Hist. Franc. l. 2, p. 46.
Note
10. Ruin. Hist. Persec. Vandal. part 2, c. 8. Notit. Afric.
Note
11. Hæc sunt linteamina quæ te accusabunt cum majestas venerit
judicantis. Vict. Vit. l. 5, c. 78.
Note
12. He closes this work by the following supplication to the angels
and saints: “Succour us, O angels of my God; look down on Africa, once
flourishing in its numerous churches, but now left desolate and cast away. Intercede,
O patriarchs; pray, O holy prophets; succour us, O apostles, who are our
advocates. You, especially, O blessed Peter, why are you silent in the
necessities of your flock? You, O blessed apostle Paul, behold what the Arian
Vandals do, and how your sons groan in captivity. O all you holy apostles,
petition for us. Pray for us though wicked; Christ prayed even for his
persecutors,” &c. Adeste angeli Dei mei, et videte Africam totam dudum
tantarum ecclesiarum cuneis fultam, nunc ab omnibus desolatam, sedentem viduam
et abjectam—Deprecamini patriarchæ: orate sancti prophetæ; estote apostoli
suffragatores ejus. Præcipue tu Petre, quare siles pro ovibus tuis?—Tu S.
Paule, gentium magister, cognosce quid Vandali faciunt Ariani, et filii tui
gemunt lugendo captivi. Victor Vit. Hist. Pers. Vandal. sub finem. The
history of St. Victor is written with spirit and correctness, in a plain
affecting style, intermixed with an entertaining poignancy of satire, and
edifying heroic sentiments and examples of piety. The author is honoured in the
Roman Martyrology among the holy confessors on the 23d of August, though the
time and place of his death are uncertain. He flourished in the middle of the
fifth century. His history of the Vandalic persecution has run through several
editions: that of Beatus Rhenanus at Basil, in 1535, is the first: Peter
Chifflet gave one at Dijon in 1664; but that of Dom Ruinart at Paris, in 1694,
is the most complete. It was published in English in 1605. The best French
translation is that of Arnau d’Andilly
Note
13. L. de Glor. Conf. c. 13.
Note
14. The Roman provinces, in Africa, soon after sunk again into
barbarism and infidelity, being overrun in 668 by the Saracens from Arabia and
Syria, who in 669 took also Syracusa, and established a kingdom in Sicily and
part of Italy. They planted themselves in Spain in 707.—Muhavia, a general of
the Sultan Omar, having routed Hormisdas Jesdegird, king of Persia, in 632,
translated that monarchy from the line of Artaxerxes to the Saracens. This Omar
conquered Egypt in 635.—He was second caliph after Mahomet, and successor of
Abubeker; and from his time the caliphs of Bagdat or Babylon were masters of
Syria, Persia, and Egypt, till the two latter revolted; but notwithstanding
various revolutions, all those countries still retain the Mahometan
superstition. The Mahometans in Egypt shook off the yoke of the caliphs of
Bagdat, and set up their own caliphs at Cairo in 870, to whom the Moon in
Africa adhered till the Turks became masters of Egypt.
Note
16. S. Ambros. in Ps. 40.
Note
17. L. 3, de Virgin. See S. Aug. Serm. 38, de Temp
Rev. Alban
Butler (1711–73). Volume VII: July. The Lives of the
Saints. 1866.
SOURCE : http://www.bartleby.com/210/7/131.html
Église
Saint-Eugène dans le quartier d'Endoume à Marseille.
Saint
Eugenius
Bishop
of Carthage
(†505)
In
the year 481, the episcopal see of Carthage had been vacant for twenty-four
years, when Huneric, barbarian King of the African Vandals, decided to allow
the Catholics to fill it, provided certain conditions be met. The people,
impatient to enjoy the consolation which a pastor would bring to the church,
chose Eugenius, a citizen of Carthage, eminent for his learning, zeal, piety
and prudence. His charities to the distressed had already been very abundant,
and in his new office he refused himself the slightest convenience, in order to
be able to give all he had to the poor.
His
virtue gained him the respect and esteem even of the Arians; but at length envy
and blind zeal overcame their better sentiments, and Huneric sent Saint
Eugenius an order never to sit on the episcopal throne, preach to the people,
or admit into his chapel any Vandals, even if Catholic. The Saint courageously
replied that the laws of God commanded him not to shut the door of His church
to any who desired to serve Him there. The Vandal king, enraged at this answer,
persecuted the Catholics in various ways. Many nuns were so cruelly tortured
that they died on the rack. Great numbers of bishops, priests, deacons, and
eminent Catholic laymen were banished to a desert filled with scorpions and
venomous serpents. Many also were put to death.
During
this persecution the people followed their bishops and priests to execution
with lighted tapers in their hands. Mothers carried their little infants in
their arms and laid them at the feet of the confessors, crying out with tears,
“On your way to receiving your crowns, to whom do you leave us? Who will
baptize our children? Who will impart to us the benefit of penance, and free us
from the bonds of sin by the grace of reconciliation and pardon? Who will bury
us with solemn prayers at our death? By whom will the divine Sacrifice be
offered?” By the intervention of Providence, Saint Eugenius was liberated on
the very scaffold, but exiled to an uninhabited desert in the province of
Tripoli and committed to the guard of Anthony, an inhuman Arian bishop. The
latter treated him with the utmost barbarity, shutting him up in a narrow cell
and allowing no one to visit him. Before entering that prison, however, he had
found a way to write to his diocesans a splendid letter, in which he said: “If
I return to Carthage, I will see you in this life; if I do not return, I will
see you in the other. Pray for us and fast, because fasting and almsgiving have
always obtained the mercy of God; but remember above all, that it is written we
must not fear those who can kill only the body.”
When
a new king named Gontamund succeeded to Huneric, he recalled Saint Eugenius to
Carthage, opened the Catholic churches, and allowed all the exiled clergy to
return. After reigning twelve years, Gontamund died, and his brother Thrasimund
was called to the crown. Under that prince Saint Eugenius was again banished.
He died in exile in France on July 13, 505, in a monastery which he had built
and governed, at Albi, near Toulouse. Saint Gregory of Tours assures that many
miracles occurred at his sepulchre.
Reflection:
“Alms shall be a great [source of] confidence before the Most High God, for
those who give. Water quenches a flaming fire, and almsgiving opposes sin.”
(Holy Bible - Tobias 4:12)
Sources: Little
Pictorial Lives of the Saints, a compilation based on Butler’s Lives of
the Saints, and other sources by John Gilmary Shea (Benziger Brothers: New
York, 1894); Les Petits Bollandistes: Vies des Saints, by Msgr. Paul
Guérin (Bloud et Barral: Paris, 1882), Vol. 8.
SOURCE : http://magnificat.ca/cal/en/saints/eugenius.html
Concattedrale di San Pietro, altare di Sant'Eugenio - Noli (SV) Italy
Sant' Eugenio di
Cartagine Vescovo
Festa: 13 luglio
† 501/505
Eugenio, vescovo di Cartagine, lega il suo nome all'isola di Bergeggi e al vicino comune ligure di Noli. Secondo la tradizione, il santo si rifugiò nell'isola, insieme con Vendemiale, per sfuggire alle persecuzioni dei Vandali ariani e qui morì nel 505. Poi l'isola stessa sarebbe arrivata di fronte alla costa ligure «traghettando» su di sé Eugenio e Vendemiale. Le spoglie del santo vennero allora traslate a Noli dove divenne il patrono della città. La tradizione vuole che alcuni anni dopo il corpo del santo sia ritornato da solo sull'isola. Nel 992 Bernardo, vescovo di Savona, fece costruire sull'isola un monastero, i cui resti sono ancora visibili, che fu donato ai monaci benedettini di Lérins perché ne custodissero le spoglie. Sull'isola di Bergeggi il culto di Eugenio sarebbe fiorito fin dal quinto secolo, cioè immediatamente dopo la sua morte, e la chiesa coeva ne sarebbe la testimonianza.
Martirologio
Romano: Ad Albi in Aquitania, in Francia, transito di sant’Eugenio,
vescovo di Cartagine, che, insigne per fede e virtù, fu mandato in esilio
durante la persecuzione dei Vandali.
Santi EUGENIO, vescovo di
Cartagine, e compagni, martiri
Eugenio è una delle più
importanti figure dell’episcopato africano durante l’ultimo periodo della
persecuzione vandalica. Fu eletto nel 477, poiché Vittore di Vita racconta che
uno dei primi atti del regno di Unnerico (477-84) fu quello di accogliere
un’istanza dell’imperatore Zenone affinché si permettesse la elezione del
vescovo di Cartagine, dopo ventiquattro anni di vacanza della sede episcopale,
in seguito alla morte di Deogratias (453). La personalità di Eugenio si impose
immediatamente per santità di vita, per saggezza di governo e per larghezza di
elemosine, tanto che egli «venerabilis et reverendus haberi [coepit] etiam ab
eis qui foris sunt» (e cioè da pagani, manichei e ariani). Ne nacquero gelosie
ed accuse da parte del clero ariano: tra l’altro, si incolpava Eugenio di aver
proibito l’ingresso in chiesa a quanti fossero vestiti con abiti barbarici. Il
vescovo dimostrò l’assurdità dell’accusa, tuttavia la persecuzione si scatenò
violenta e crudele da parte del re vandalo e caddero numerose vittime in tutta
l’Africa.
Intanto, nel maggio 483, Unnerico emise un’ordinanza a tutti i vescovi
omousiani del regno affinché si radunassero a Cartagine nel febbraio successivo
per sostenere una discussione teologica con i vescovi ariani. Voleva dimostrare
che la sua lotta contro i cattolici era originata da ragioni di ortodossia.
Eugenio, a nome di tutti i vescovi africani, accettò la discussione, ma chiese
nel contempo al re di estendere l’invito anche ai vescovi transmarini, sia per
dimostrargli che l’universalità dell’episcopato era con loro, sia per avere con
sé vescovi che non potevano temere le rivalse di Unnerico. Invece, il re
vandalo fece in modo di mettere fuori competizione quelli tra i vescovi
africani di cui temeva maggiormente la scienza e l’accortezza. Intanto, in
Cartagine stessa, durante le funzioni battesimali dell'Epifania, avvenne un
grande miracolo: un cieco, certo Felice, riacquistò la vista, mentre Eugenio lo
segnava col sigillum crucis. Grande fu la gioia dei cattolici e grande la
confusione tra gli ariani che, naturalmente, ricorsero al solito sistema di
accusare Eugenio di arti magiche. L’episodio della guarigione del cieco è
narrato anche negli Historiarum libri di Gregorio di Tours, sebbene in forma
alquanto più romanzesca. Il 1° febbraio 484 ebbe luogo la discussione voluta da
Unnerico alla presenza di ben quattrocentosessantasei vescovi: ma, come era
prevedibile, essa fu dominata dall’arbitrio più insolente e si risolse in una
crudele beffa contro i padri omousiani, che vennero condannati alla
fustigazione. Ad essi, non essendo stato concesso il diritto di una libera
discussione, non restò che deporre un opuscolo con una dichiarazione di fede
cattolica, dichiarazione riportata da Vittore di Vita e redatta, come ci
assicura Gennadio di Marsiglia, dallo stesso vescovo di Cartagine, Eugenio.
La persecuzione di Unnerico infierì allora con sempre maggior acredine: tutte le chiese furono chiuse o consegnate al clero ariano, i vescovi furono spogliati di tutto e cacciati dalla città, un editto proibì di far loro elemosine e di offrire ospitalità, molti furono inviati nei campi come coloni, ai lavori forzati e un gran numero di fedeli fu esiliato o martirizzato. Anche Eugenio fu esiliato nel deserto libico, sotto la sorveglianza di un vescovo ariano, Antonio, particolarmente spietato nel tormentarlo. Prima di partire per l’esilio, il vescovo diresse alla sua Chiesa una splendida lettera (conservataci da Gregorio di Tours) che può ritenersi il suo testamento spirituale.
Le crudeltà commesse contro i cattolici furono tante: le donne erano denudate in pubblico e staffilate a sangue, ad altri si trappavano gli occhi, le orecchie, il naso, la lingua, le mani o i piedi, altri erano sospesi in alto da corde e straziati in vari modi. Del clero cartaginese «fere quintetti, et amplius» furono martirizzati: lo storico ricorda l’arcidiacono Salutare, i diaconi Muritta, Bonifacio, Servo, il suddiacono Rustico, l’abate Liberato, i monaci Rogato, Settimo, Massimo, moltissimi giovinetti lettori e dodici fanciulli cantori, vittime tutte più delle atrocità del clero ariano che di ferocia del re vandalo, il quale, tuttavia, non poté godere a lungo del suo trionfo, poiché alla fine dello stesso 484 moriva «putrefactus et ebulliens vermibus».
Fin qui il racconto di Vittore di Vita, che offre le massime garanzie di veridicità, perché testimone egli stesso, come spesso ricorda, di quanto narra. Ma Vittore di Vita scrisse la sua opera nel 488 circa mentre Eugenio di Cartagine morì nel 505: «Theodoro: Eugenius carthaginensis episcopus confessor moritur» così la Chronica di Vittore di Tunnuna. La storia degli ultimi venti anni di vita di Eugenio è molto più incerta, in quanto le fonti che ce ne parlano non sono così bene informate come lo era il Vitense.
Alla fine del 484 ad Unnerico successe il nipote Gontamondo, che si mostrò più clemente dei predecessori: egli infatti «nostros protinus de exilio revocavit»: con più precisione l’appendice alla Cronaca di san Prospero racconta che, dopo aver richiamato Eugenio, nel 488, il re consegnò alla Chiesa di Cartagine il cimitero di san Agileo, poi, dietro istanza dello stesso Eugenio, nel 494 richiamò arche gli altri membri del clero africano tuttora in esilio, e ordinò che si riaprissero le chiese al culto cattolico. Nel 495 il papa Gelasio scrisse ai vescovi della Dardania, additando il «vir magnus et egregius sacerdos Eugenius» e tutto il suo clero come splendido esempio di costanza sotto la persecuzione. Nel 497 Guntamondo morì e col successore Trasamondo (497-523) si riaccese la persecuzione: Vittore Tunnunense racconta che il re fece chiudere di nuovo le chiese e mandò in esilio, in Sardegna, ben centoventi vescovi. Anche Eugenio dovette essere tra i confessori dell’ultima persecuzione vandalica, ma sul suo esilio abbiamo una doppia tradizione. Gregorio di Tours, nella sua più volte citata Historia Francorum, confondendo le persecuzioni del 484 e del 497, racconta che Unnerico stesso ordinò che si fingesse di decapitare Eugenio, ma una volta constatata la sua costanza, lo si esiliasse ad Albi, in Aquitania (che, tra l’altro, neppure apparteneva al regno vandalo). Così Eugenio sarebbe morto (nel 505, precisa il Tunnonense) ad Albi, nelle Gallie: quivi il suo sepolcro sarebbe stato ben presto venerato ed il suo culto confortato da miracoli. Un prodigio è narrato dallo stesso Gregorio in Miraculorum libri Vili. Un’altra tradizione italiana, ma assai più tarda e non scevra di inesattezze, invece, racconta che Eugenio fu esiliato in Corsica, che ivi morì e che un vescovo di Treviso, certo Tiziano, nell’VIII secolo, operò la traslazione del corpo del santo in una chiesa della sua diocesi, per sottrarlo ai Saraceni. I Bollandisti ritennero più verosimile la prima recensione, ma il problema non resta del tutto chiaro.
La celebrazione di una festa di san Eugenio è già ricordata dallo stesso Gregorio
di Tours e tutti i martirologi storici la riportano al 13 luglio. L’elogio del
Martirologio Romano, che è più o meno identico a quelli di Adone e di Usuardo,
è ricavato dai testi di Vittore di Vita, e si riferisce, perciò, solo alle
vittime del clero cartaginese della persecuzione di Unnerico, coi nomi, oltre
che di Eugenio, dell’arcidiacono Salutare e del diacono Mauritta, e con un
accenno ai circa cinquecento martiri del 484. Forse, appunto per questo, tale
elogio è preceduto dalla nota topografica in Africa (benché Eugenio sia morto
altrove), perché fu in quella provincia che si svolse la persecuzione di
Unnerico.
Autore: Giovanni Lucchesi