Baring-Gould’s sources: Gallican Breviaries of Limoges, Perigueux, Poitiers, &c., on Nov. 27. Saussaye in his Martyrology on Nov. 26. Castellani on Oct. 27. The Bollandists on Oct. 27. Authority: — The Life of S. Justus by an unknown writer of unknown date, existing in two MSS., one of the 10th, the other of the nth cent.] S. Justus was born in the neighbourhood of Limoges, of heathen parents, and was set as a boy to keep sheep. As he and some others took refuge under a large tree during a thunderstorm, they were all precipitated to the earth by a 1 The identity of the story of Barlaam and Josaphat with that of Buddha has been remarked by Professor Max Muller in bis “ Essay on the Migration of Fables,” lightning stroke, and Justus was so frightened that he vowed he would become a Christian. Against his parents' wishes he became a catechumen in the church of Limoges, and embraced the ecclesiastical state. He was baptized by S. Hilary of Poitiers, and received also from him the grace of Orders; and he accompanied the saintly bishop on an expedition he made to Perigueux.

On the death of S. Hilary, the people of Poitiers wished to elect him to the vacant see, but Justus fled and hid himself, so that he could be nowhere found, and then went to Rome with his brother Benedict. On his way back from Rome he was attacked with fever, and died at Limoges. As the church of Limoges pretended in the Middle Ages to possess some notable relics [the bodily remains of a saint, or objects they used, kept with honor], viz., a particle of the crimson robe with which Christ was vested when brought forth on Good Friday and shown to the people, also a portion of the dress of the B. Virgin Mary, also a thumb of S. Peter, and a head of S. Laurence, and a piece of the bread which our Lord broke at Emmaus— and found some difficulty in substantiating their genuineness, a narrative of a journey to Rome undertaken by S. Hilary and S. Justus, and pretending to be written by Justus himself, was forged, and an account given in it of the obtaining of these precious relics. As usual with forgeries, it betrays its origin by anachronisms. Constantine is emperor when S. Leo is Pope. Constantine died in 337, S. Leo between 440 and 461, and S. Hilary of Poitiers died in 367, having been elected bishop about 355. Two bodies of the same saint were preserved simultaneously at Limoges, one in the cathedral, the other in the abbey of S. Martin [St. Martin of Tours (d. 397), soldier turned bishop], and there was a great contest between the regulars and seculars as to which possessed the genuine body. Some relics of the saint are shown at the present day at Couseiz, others in the church of S. Just.