Bartolomé Bermejo. Sainte Engrâce, vers
1474,
Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum (Boston).
Esquema
de l'hipotètic retaule de Santa Engràcia de Bartolomé Bermejo (església de Sant Pere de
Daroca, Saragossa).
Saints Optat et ses comp.
- Caïus, Crémence, Engrace
18 espagnols martyrs à
Saragosse sous Dioclétien et 3 autres martyrs (+ 304)
Optat, Luperque,
Successus, Martial, Urbain, Julie, Quintilien, Publius, Fronto, Félix, Cécilien,
Evence, Primitif, Apodème et quatre du nom de Saturnin.
Leur supplice a été
décrit par Prudence, le grand poète chrétien espagnol du IVe siècle, auteur
du Livre des Couronnes à la gloire des martyrs, évoquant les martyrs
espagnols de Saragosse et de Calahorra.
À Saragosse en Espagne,
commémoraison des saints martyrs Optat et dix-sept compagnons les saints
Luperque, Successe, Martial, Urbain, Julie, Quintilien, Publius, Fronton,
Félix, Cécilien, Évode, Primitif, Apodème et quatre autres appelés Saturnin
qui, au début du IVe siècle, durant la persécution de Dioclétien, furent
cruellement tourmentés, tous ensemble, et mis à mort. Le poète Prudence a
décrit en vers leur glorieux martyre.
On commémore avec eux les
saints martyrs Caïus et Crémence, victimes de la même persécution, ainsi que
sainte Engrace, vierge, qui subit des tourments cruels et variés, mais
survécut, portant dans son corps les traces de ses plaies.
Martyrologe romain
SOURCE : http://nominis.cef.fr/contenus/saints/991/Les-18-martyrs-de-Saragosse.html
Bartolomé Bermejo. La flagellation de sainte
Engrâce, vers 1474, Museo de Bellas Artes (Bilbao).
Sainte Encratide
Martyre à
Saragosse (IVe siècle)
et ses dix-huit compagnons, martyrs à Saragosse.
Leur culte fut longtemps très populaire et le lieu de leur sépulture un
pèlerinage où l'on venait du Portugal, d'Espagne et du Pays Basque. Peu à peu,
ils furent oubliés. Il ne nous reste que les "actes" de leur martyre
dont les détails ont été ajoutés par la dévotion qui les entourait.
SOURCE : https://nominis.cef.fr/contenus/saint/988/Sainte-Encratide.html
« Dans une de ses plus
belles hymnes (1), Prudence représente le jour terrible [du jugement]; il nous
montre le juge suprême « porté sur une nuée en flamme ; il « se prépare à peser
les nations dans sa juste balance », tandis que chaque cité réveillée de la
mort s'apprête à comparaître devant lui, apportant avec elle, pour le désarmer,
les restes des martyrs auxquels elle a donné naissance. Je demande la
permission de citer quelques vers de ce début magnifique, qui me semble avoir
l'ampleur et la pureté des chefs-d'œuvre classiques :
Quum Deus dextram
quatiens coruscam
Nube subnixus veniet
rubente
Gentibus justampositurus
aequo
Pondere libram ;
Orbe de magno capot
excitata
Obviam Christo
properanter ibit
Civitas quaeque pretiosa
portans
Dona canistris (2).
Cette procession des
villes, qui s'avancent dans des attitudes variées, l'une pressant son trésor
contre son sein (3), l'autre apportant son offrande sous la forme de couronnes
éclatantes de pierreries (4), celle-ci décorant
son front d'olivier jaunissant, symbole de paix (5), celle-là jetant, d'un geste confiant, sur l'autel les cendres d'une jeune martyre (6), est une des plus grandioses conceptions de la poésie chrétienne. Le soin qu'ont pris les cités d'honorer la tombe des martyrs va leur ouvrir le ciel à la suite de ces restes sacrés que la trompette ranime, et c'est en vers enflammés que Prudence nous fait ce tableau :
Sterne te totam generosa
sanctis
Civitas mecum tumulis ;
deinde
Mox resurgentes animas et
arius
Tota sequeris.
Saragosse conduit la
marche héroïque ; elle rappelle les noms de Vincent, de Caius et de Crementius,
qui « goûtèrent légèrement la saveur du martyre », car ils ne moururent point
(7) ; de la vierge Eucratis, à qui le bourreau coupa les seins, déchira les
membres, mais elle échappa à la mort. Elle résidait encore à Saragosse lorsque
le poète la célébrait dans ses vers (8), on y montrait même une partie de son
foie arraché avec des ongles de fer ; enfin une foule de chrétiens
anonymes, martyrum turbas (9).
Girone apporte les
reliques de saint Félix (10) ; Barcelone, celles de saint Cucufas (11) ;
Alcala, celles des saints Juste et Pastor (12); Cordoue, celles d'Acisclus, de
Zoellus et les trois couronnes de Fauste, Janvier et Martial (13); enfin Mérida
apporte les cendres de sainte Eulalie (14).
1. Peri Stephôn.,
IV.
2. G. Bonnes, loc.
cit., t. lI, p. 125.
3. Ibid., 7-8.
4. Ibid , 21-23.
5. G. BOISSIER, ibid., 55-56.
6. Ibid., 37-40.
7. Ibid., 181-188.
8. Ibid., 109-140.
9. Ibid., 58.
10. Ibid., 29-30.
11. Ibid., 34-35.
12. Ibid., 41-44.
13. G. BOSSIER, ibid.,
8-9.
14. Ibid., 37-40.
LES MARTYRS, TOME III, Julien l'Apostat, SAPOR, GENSÉRIC. Recueil de pièces authentiques sur les martyrs depuis les origines du christianisme jusqu'au XXe siècle, traduites et publiées Par le R. P. Dom H. LECLERCQ, Moine bénédictin de Saint-Michel de Farnborough. 1921. Deuxième édition. Imprimatur. Turonibus, 18 Octobris 1920. P. BATAILLE, V. G. Imprimi potest. FR. FERDINANDUS CABROL, Abbas Sancti Michaelis Farnborough. Die 19 Martii 1904. IVLIO CREZ S. J. LEONI CAPART S. J. AEMILIO ETTERLÉ S. J. D.D.
SOURCE : https://www.bibliotheque-monastique.ch/bibliotheque/bibliotheque/saints/martyrs/martyrs0003.htm
Also
known as
Encratis
Encratide
Engracia
Engratia
Engrazia
Encratida
Profile
Nun who
was tortured in Saragossa, Spain for
her faith.
She survived, but is counted as a martyr due
to the extent of her suffering. A church dedicated to her still exists in Saragossa.
c.304
Additional
Information
Book
of Saints, by the Monks of
Ramsgate
Lives
of the Saints, by Father Alban
Butler
Short
Lives of the Saints, by Eleanor Cecilia Donnelly
books
Our Sunday Visitor’s Encyclopedia of Saints
other
sites in english
images
video
fonti
in italiano
Martirologio Romano, 2005 edition
MLA
Citation
“Saint Encratia of
Saragossa“. CatholicSaints.Info. 29 September 2022. Web. 20 March 2023.
<https://catholicsaints.info/saint-encratia-of-saragossa/>
SOURCE https://catholicsaints.info/saint-encratia-of-saragossa/
.jpg)
Bartolomé de San Antonio (1708–1782), Santa Engracia, between circa 1752 and circa 1760, 26 x 21, Museum Cerralbo
April 16
SS.
Eighteen Martyrs of Saragossa, and St. Encratis, or Engratia, Virgin and Martyr
From Prudentius de Cor.
hymn. 4. See Vasæus Belga in Chron. Hisp. Breviarium Eborense a Resendio
recognitum. an. 1569
A.D. 304.
ST. OPTATUS, and
seventeen other holy men, 1 received
the crown of martyrdom on the same day, at Saragossa, under the cruel governor
Dacian, in the persecution of Dioclesian, in 304. Two others, Caius and
Crementius, died of their torments after a second conflict, as Prudentius
relates.
The same venerable author
describes, in no less elegant verse, the triumph of St. Encratis, or Engratia,
Virgin. She was a native of Portugal. Her father had promised her in marriage
to a man of quality in Rousillon: but, fearing the dangers, and despising the
vanities of the world, and resolving to preserve her virginity, in order to
appear more agreeable to her heavenly spouse, and serve him without hindrance,
she fled privately to Saragossa, where the persecution was hottest, under the
eyes of Dacian. She even reproached him with his barbarities, upon which he
ordered her to be long tormented in the most inhuman manner: her sides were
torn with iron hooks, and one of her breasts was cut off, so that the inner
parts of her chest were exposed to view, and part of her liver pulled out. In
this condition she was sent back to prison, being still alive, and died by the
mortifying of her wounds, in 304. The relics of all these martyrs were found at
Saragossa in 1389. Prudentius recommended himself to their intercession, and
exhorts the city, through their prayers, to implore the pardon of their sins,
with him, that they might follow them to glory. 2
The martyrs, by a
singular happiness and grace, were made perfect holocausts of divine love.
Every Christian must offer himself a perpetual sacrifice to God, and by an
entire submission to his will, a constant fidelity to his law, and a total
consecration of all his affections, devote to him all the faculties of his soul
and body, all the motions of his heart, all the actions and moments of his
life, and this with the most ardent unabated love, and the most vehement desire
of being altogether his. Can we consider that our most amiable and loving God,
after having conferred upon us numberless other benefits, has with infinite
love given us himself by becoming man, making himself a bleeding victim for our
redemption, and in the holy eucharist remaining always with us, to be our
constant sacrifice of adoration and propitiation, and to be our spiritual food,
comfort, and strength; lastly, by being the eternal spouse of our souls? Can
we, I say, consider that our infinite God has so many ways, out of love, made
himself all ours, and not be transported with admiration and love, and cry out
with inexpressible ardour: “My beloved is mine, and I am his.” Yes, I
will from this moment dedicate myself entirely to him. Why am not I ready to
die of grief and compunction that I ever lived one moment not wholly to him!
Oh, my soul! base, mean, sinful, and unworthy as thou art, the return which, by
thy love and sacrifice thou makest to thy infinite God, bears no proportion,
and is on innumerable other titles a debt, and thy sovereign exaltation and
happiness. It is an effect of his boundless mercy that he accepts thy oblation,
and so earnestly sues for it by bidding thee give him thy heart. Set at least
no bounds to the ardour with which thou makest it the only desire of thy heart,
and thy only endeavour to be wholly his, by faithfully corresponding to his
grace, and by making thy heart an altar on which thou never ceasest to offer
all thy affections and powers to him, and to his greater glory, and to become a
pure victim to burn and be entirely consumed with the fire of divine love. In
union with the divine victim, the spotless lamb, who offers himself on our
altars and in heaven for us, our sacrifice, however unworthy and imperfect,
will find acceptance; but for it to be presented with, and by, what is so holy,
what is sanctity itself, with what purity, with what fervour ought it to be
made!
Note
1. Their names, according to Prudentius, are: Optatus, Lupercus,
Martial, Successus, Urban, Quintilian, Julius, Publius, Fronto, Felix, Cecilianus,
Evotius, Primitivus, Apodemus, and four others of the name Saturninus. [back]
Hæc sub altari sita
sempiterno
Lapsibus nostris veniam
precatur
Turba
Sterne te totam, generosa
sanctis
Civitas mecum tumulis:
deinde
Mox resurgentes animas et
artus
Tota
sequêris. Hymn. 4.
[back]
Rev. Alban
Butler (1711–73). Volume IV: April. The Lives of the
Saints. 1866.
SOURCE : http://www.bartleby.com/210/4/161.html
.jpg)
Bóveda
del crucero de la iglesia. Pintura de Joaquín Pallarés (1897) sobre hechos de la
vida de Santa Engracia.
Encratia of Saragossa VM
(RM)
(also known as Encratis,
Engracia)
Born in Portugal; died at
Saragossa, Spain, c. 304. Saint Encratia was a maiden who fled her homeland to
evade marriage because she had pledged her virginity to Christ. She was
martyred at Saragossa, where the church now stands dedicated to her name, after
undergoing tortures, such as flaying, having her breasts cut off, and being
disemboweled. Encratia did not die immediately; with these mortal wounds she
was sent back to prison, where she died. She is famous for "her ardor in
suffering for Christ." She probably died under Diocletian but is not
listed as one of the 18 Martyrs of Saragossa (Benedictines, Husenbeth).
SOURCE : http://www.saintpatrickdc.org/ss/0416.shtml
Eighteen Martyrs of
Saragossa (RM)
Died c. 304. These
eighteen martyrs--Optatus, Lupercus, Successus, Martial, Urban, Julia,
Quintilian, Publius, Fronto, Felix, Caecilian, Eventius, Primitivus, Apodemius,
and four named Saturninus--suffered under Diocletian and the prefect Dacian.
Prudentius, who lived at Saragossa a little later, described their martyrdom.
Their relics were found at Saragossa in 1389. Some of these martyrs have
separate entries (Benedictines, Husenbeth).
SOURCE : http://www.saintpatrickdc.org/ss/0416.shtml
Article
Saint Optatus and
seventeen other holy men received the crown of martyrdom on the same day, at
Saragossa, under the cruel Governor Dacian, in the persecution of Diocletian,
in 304. Two others, Caius and Crementius, died of their torments after a second
conflict.
The Church also
celebrates on this day the triumph of Saint Encratis, or Engratia, Virgin. She
was a native of Portugal. Her father had promised her in marriage to a man of
quality in Rousillon; but, fearing the dangers, and despising the vanities of
the world, and resolving to preserve her virginity, in order to appear more
agreeable to her heavenly spouse, and serve Him without hinderance, she stole
from her father’s house and fled privately to Saragossa, where the persecution
was hottest, under the eyes of Dacian. She even reproached him with his
barbarities, upon which he ordered her to be long tormented in the most inhuman
manner: her sides were torn with iron hooks, and one of her breasts was cut
off, so that the inner parts of her chest were exposed to view, and part of her
liver was pulled out. In this condition she was sent back to prison, being
still alive, and died by the mortifying of her wounds, in 304. The relics of
all these martyrs were found at Saragossa in 1389.
Reflection – Men do not
pursue temporal goods at haphazard, or by fits and starts. Let us be as
punctual and orderly in the service of God, not casting about for new paths,
but perfecting our ordinary devotions. If we persevere in these, Paradise is
ours.
MLA
Citation
John Dawson Gilmary Shea.
“Eighteen Martyrs of Saragossa, and Saint Encratis, or Engratia, Virgin
Martyr”. Pictorial Lives of the Saints, 1889. CatholicSaints.Info.
6 March 2014. Web. 20 March 2023.
<https://catholicsaints.info/pictorial-lives-of-the-saints-eighteen-martyrs-of-saragossa-and-saint-encratis-or-engratia-virgin-martyr/>
Short
Lives of the Saints – Saint Encratida, Virgin and Martyr
Entry
In the fourth century (or
the latter part of the third) a native of Portugal endeavored to force his
daughter Encratida, a Christian virgin, into a marriage dangerous to her faith.
As she earnestly desired to belong to God alone, the maiden fled away to Saragossa
and hid herself there. But a violent persecution against the Christians broke
out in that city in 304. Because of her great sympathy for the confessors and
martyrs, Encratida was suspected and denounced to the prefect Dacian. He
summoned her before him, when she openly declared her faith and reproached the
tyrant for his cruelty. Thereupon she was bound to a wheel and her tender flesh
flayed from her bones. After this terrible torture, remaining constant to
Christ, she was thrown into a dungeon, where, soon after, she joyfully expired.
Yes! love has wrought,
and love alone,
The victories all, – beneath, above;
And earth and heaven-shall shout as one,
The all-triumphant song of love!
– from the Portuguese of Sister Violante Do Ceo
Favorite Practice – To
sacrifice everything rather than peril faith or purity.
MLA
Citation
Eleanor Cecilia Donnelly.
“Saint Encratida, Virgin and Martyr”. Short
Lives of the Saints, 1910. CatholicSaints.Info.
14 April 2021. Web. 20 March 2023.
<https://catholicsaints.info/short-lives-of-the-saints-saint-encratida-virgin-and-martyr/>
SOURCE : https://catholicsaints.info/short-lives-of-the-saints-saint-encratida-virgin-and-martyr/
Workshop of Francisco de Zurbarán (1598–1664), Saint Engratia, 1650, 180 x 109, Musée des Beaux-Arts de Strasbourg. Photograph by Rama
Santa Engrazia Vergine
e martire
sec. IV
Emblema: Palma
Martirologio Romano:
Sempre a Saragozza, commemorazione di santa Engrazia, vergine e martire, che,
crudelmente torturata, sopravvisse ad ogni supplizio, recando per qualche tempo
ancora sulle sue membra i segni di quelle ferite.
Il Martyrologium Romanum riporta in data odierna, 16 aprile, ben tre distinte commemorazioni a dei santi che subirono il martirio presso la città spagnola di Saragozza durante la medesima persecuzione indetta dall'imperatore Diocleziano:
- Ottato con 17 compagni: Luperco, Successo, Marziale, Urbano, Giulia, Quintiliano, Publio, Frontone, Felice, Ceciliano, Evodio, Primitivo, Apodemio e quattro di nome Saturnino;
- la vergine Engrazia;
- Caio e Crescenzio.
Talvolta questo gruppo viene definito “Innumerevoli Martiri di Saragozza”.
Il poeta Prudenzio (circa 348-410), originario proprio di Saragozza, scrisse un inno dedicati ai martiri suoi concittadini, elencando tutti i loro nomi, ma senza specificare come vennero uccisi. L'inno tratta anche di una certa Santa Encratis (o Engrazia), vergine, che durante tale persecuzione patì orribili torture, dettagliatamente descritte da Prudenzio. Questi la definisce “giovane veemente” per il modo in cui difese la propria fede, da quanto risulta, sopravvisse alle torture, in quanto il poeta definisce la sua casa “santuario di una martire vivente”, fino a quando il suo corpo piagato non si arrese. Agli storici pare probabile che Engrazia abbia subito la persecuzione in un tempo successivo ad Ottato e probabilmente visse in un'epoca più vicina a quella di Prudenzio. Il nome della santa, senza dubbio la più famosa del gruppo, è talvolta riportato in varie forme ed il suo culto si diffuse in tutta la Spagna e sui Pinerei.
Sant'Ottato ed i suoi compagni furono venerati in special modo proprio nella chiesa a lei dedicata. In occasione del sinodo di Saragozza del 592, il santuario dedicato alla memoria dei santi martiri fu riconsacrato e fu redatta una Messa propria, nota come “Messa di Santa Engrazia o dei diciotto martiri”. La nuova consacrazione fu celebrata il 3 novembre e proprio in tale anniversario, per un certo periodo, venne celebrata la festa di questi santi, anche se è più consona la data odierna indicata dal nuovo Martirologio cattolico.
Autore: Fabio Arduino
SOURCE : http://www.santiebeati.it/dettaglio/92744
Santa
Engracia, Taller de Zurbarán. Pintura anónima, óleo sobre
lienzo, contratada para el Hospital de las Cinco Llagas (ca.
1650). Museo de Bellas Artes de Sevilla
Engracia, Santa. ?,
s. m. s. iii – Zaragoza, c. 303. Mártir y santa.
Dio testimonio público de
su fe y sufrió suplicio en Zaragoza con ocasión de la gran persecución contra
los cristianos ordenada por Diocleciano a partir de febrero de 303 mediante
cuatro edictos consecutivos, el último de los cuales (304) obligaba a todos los
cristianos a participar en el sacrificio a los dioses romanos bajo pena de
muerte. En Hispania correspondió a Augusto Maximiano vigilar la obediencia a
las leyes dictadas y castigar a los remisos, entre los cuales se encontraba la virgen
cesaraugustana Engracia. Se conocen los detalles de su tormento gracias
al carmen martirial titulado Peristephanon (“Sobre las
coronas [de los mártires]”) compuesto por Aurelio Prudencio a comienzos del
siglo v (hacia 402-404). El poeta recrea la tradición oral para dar forma al
Himno IV que dedica a la memoria de los Dieciocho Mártires de Zaragoza, y junto
a ellos singulariza a Engracia, merecedora de un elogio particular por haber
sobrevivido a la feroz tortura a la que fue sometida al serle negado el golpe
de gracia con la espada a fin de prolongar su sufrimiento hasta la muerte.
Precisamente la gravedad de su padecimiento la hace merecedora de la corona de
mártir, a pesar de no haberse consumado el suplicio con la decapitación.
En tiempos de Prudencio, sus restos y los de sus compañeros de martirio recibían culto en un templo de la ciudad, que fue de nuevo consagrado en 592 coincidiendo con la celebración del II Concilio de Zaragoza, tras el episcopado arriano del apóstata Vicente (hacia 580), y puesto bajo la advocación de los Innumerables Mártires. Poco después (comienzos del siglo vii), se compuso la Passio martyrum Innumerabilium Caesaraugustanorum en conmemoración de la reconciliación de la basílica. Junto a ella se construyó un monasterio del que llegó a ser abad Juan, hermano mayor de Braulio de Zaragoza (631-651) y su predecesor en la sede episcopal. En él profesó como monje el obispo Eugenio de Toledo (646-657), que sublimó su devoción martirial entregándose al cuidado de los dos sepulcros, el común de los Dieciocho Mártires y el de Engracia. En su honor compuso el poema De basilica sanctorum decem et octo martyrum.
Bibl.: Á. Fábrega
Grau, El pasionario hispánico (siglos vii-xi), vol. I, Madrid-Barcelona,
Gráficas Atenas, 1953 (col. Monumenta Hispaniae Sacra, 6); C. García
Rodríguez, El culto de los santos en la España romana y visigoda, Madrid,
Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, 1966; J. Arce, Caesaraugusta,
ciudad romana, Zaragoza, Guara, 1979; L. García Iglesias, Zaragoza, ciudad
visigoda, Zaragoza, Guara, 1979; P. Castillo Maldonado, Los mártires
hispanorromanos y su culto en la Hispania de la Antigüedad Tardía, Granada,
Universidad, 1999; M. V. Escribano y G. Fatás, La Antigüedad Tardía en
Aragón (284-714), Zaragoza, Caja de Ahorros de la Inmaculada de Aragón,
2001.
María Victoria Escribano
Paño
SOURCE : https://dbe.rah.es/biografias/14521/santa-engracia
Voir aussi ; http://orthodoxievco.net/ecrits/vies/synaxair/avril/engrace.pdf
