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A whole community that stayed faithful to Christ when it cost everything.

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September 7 · Martyrs

Sts. Memorius and…

Sts. Memorius and Companions

A whole community that stayed faithful to Christ when it cost everything.

Traditional feast

September 7
1914 / pre-1969 calendar, per Baring-Gould (1897)

Current feast

Not verified yet

Represents

Martyrs

Their story

Adapted in modern English from Baring-Gould (1897–98) · original text below

(The surviving account on this page begins partway through the story.)

In this legend, St. Lupus sent the deacon Memorius with a procession of boys and clergy to meet Attila at Breuille. Attila, startled, fell off his horse. His captain called it witchcraft, and Attila had the boys and clerics beheaded.

He ordered their processional cross burned; a spark blinded his cup-bearer's eye, and Memorius healed it. When Memorius asked the names of Attila and his captain Selens, the captain warned that he meant to bewitch them, and Memorius was beheaded and his head thrown into the Seine. Twenty days later a fisherman netted it, and Lupus buried it with the body.

Memorius told Attila they were messengers of Lupus the bishop. Attila spared the old man at first, intending him to carry back word that the army was coming. The deacons and the subdeacon died with the boys.

Early life

The book says little or nothing about early life. This is how the account begins.

Then the procession went forward, the boys and the priest and deacons chanting, till they came to Breuille. And when Attila saw them coming he fell off his horse with fright, and gasped out to his officers who succeeded in retaining their seats: “ Who are these ?” Then Memorius coming up, said: “ We are messengers of Lupus the bishop.” And the chief captain of Attila said, “This is enchantment; they are trying witchcraft on thee.

What they represent

How they teach us to live

Drawn from themes in the original account

Learn from the kind of life it was. A whole community that stayed faithful to Christ when it cost everything.

Keep their day. Remember them on September 7 with a short prayer, and ask for their help.

Read more

The full original · 303 words

Read Baring-Gould’s full account

Baring-Gould’s sources: Roman and Galilean Martyrologies. Authority: — The fabulous Acts. S. Memorius and companions are said to have been the clergy of S. Lupus, but there is no mention whatever of their martyrdom in the life of S. Lupus.] The fabulous story of these martyrs is to this effect. When Attila at the head of his Huns invaded Burgundy, an angel came to S. Lupus, Bishop of Troyes (July 29), and bade him choose out twelve innocents (seven according to another account), baptize them, and bid them march with the priest Memorius, the deacons Felix and Sensatus, and the subdeacon Maximian, bearing a cross and chanting, to meet the invader. And at the rising of the sun the boys were baptized, and S. Lupus led them forth outside of the city of Troyes, and lifted up his hands and blessed them* saying: “The Angel of the Lord accompany you, and the Spirit of God be in you !”

Then the procession went forward, the boys and the priest and deacons chanting, till they came to Breuille. And when Attila saw them coming he fell off his horse with fright, and gasped out to his officers who succeeded in retaining their seats: “ Who are these ?”

Then Memorius coming up, said: “ We are messengers of Lupus the bishop.” And the chief captain of Attila said, “This is enchantment; they are trying witchcraft on thee. Let them be slain/7 “ Be it so I” said Attila. “ Draw your swords and fall on them. But spare that old man, and bid him bear back to the city the news that we are coming." So they cut off the heads of the boys, of the deacons, and of the subdeacon. Then said Attila, “That magical sign they bore aloft, burn it.77 So a fire was made, and the processional cross was thrown into it. But a spark shot out and blinded the eye of Attila's little foot-page, who poured out wine for him. Thereupon Memorius stepped forward and healed the eye.

“Old man, what is your name ?” asked Attila. “ What is yours, and that of your chief captain ? Mine is Memorius.77 “ My name,’7 said the king, “ is Attila; and my captain is called Selens.”

“ Beware/7 said that officer; “he wants our names to bewitch us by means of them.77 “ Ah !” said Attila, “ that is possible, so cut off his head.77 Then the head of Memorius was struck off. “ Throw the head into the river !7’ said Attila; so the head was cast into the Seine. But after twenty days a fisherman drew it to land in his net, and gave it to S. Lupus, who buried it with the body with pomp.

Feast days

Feast: September 7

Nine days · Free

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One short email a day for nine days. The day's prayer, a line from Sts. Memorius and…'s story, and a nudge to keep going.

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← All 1726 saints in the library
Sources & notes

Feast-day sources

Story sources

Sources

Credits

From Sabine Baring-Gould, The Lives of the Saints, new edition in 16 vols. (London: John C. Nimmo, 1897–98); text from the Internet Archive scan (OCR, lightly cleaned; errors possible). Public domain.

From Sabine Baring-Gould, The Lives of the Saints, new edition in 16 vols. (London: John C. Nimmo, 1897–98); text from the Internet Archive scan (OCR, lightly cleaned; errors possible). Public domain in the United States. Reproduced unedited, except for short bracketed notes in grey that we added to explain names and terms (“S.” is the old abbreviation for Saint). Some history and judgments reflect 19th-century scholarship.