Saint Benignus of Dijon | |
|---|---|
 Early Romanesque head of Benignus of Dijon. Archaeological museum of Dijon. | |
| Bishop and martyr | |
| Born | trad. 3rd century Smyrna |
| Died | trad. 3rd century Burgundy |
| Venerated in | Roman Catholic Church Eastern Orthodox Church |
| Majorshrine | Basilica of Saint Bénigne, Dijon |
| Feast | November 1 |
| Attributes | dog, key |
| Patronage | Dijon |
Benignus of Dijon (French:Saint Bénigne) was amartyr honored as thepatron saint and first herald ofChristianity ofDijon, Burgundy (RomanDivio). His feast falls, withAll Saints, on November 1; his name stands under this date in theMartyrology of St. Jerome.[1]
No particulars concerning the person and life of Benignus were known at Dijon.[2] He may have been a missionary priest fromLyon, martyred atEpagny near Dijon.Johann Peter Kirsch says, "For some unknown reason his death is placed in the persecution under Aurelian (270-275)."[3]
According toGregory of Tours, the common people reverenced his grave, but Gregory's great-grandfather,[4] Saint Gregory, bishop of Langres (507–539/40), wished to put an end to this veneration, because he believed the grave to belong to aheathen. However, when he learned through a vision one night that the burial spot (in a largenecropolis outside the Roman city) was in fact the previously overlooked grave of Benignus, the bishop had the tomb in which thesarcophagus lay restored, and he built abasilica over it.[3]
Saint Benignus' Abbey developed at the site and joined theCluniac order. In the early eleventh century a larger church was built by its abbotWilliam of Volpiano (died 1031). The abbey church built by Gregory of Langres was superseded by a Romanesque basilica, which collapsed in 1272 and was replaced by the presentDijon cathedral, dedicated to Benignus, where the shrine survived anearthquake in 1280 and theFrench Revolution. His purported sarcophagus can still be seen in the crypt.
According to the sixth-centuryPassio Sancti Benigni, Benignus was a native of Smyrna. Polycarp of Smyrna had a vision ofSaint Irenaeus, already dead,[5] in response to which he sent Benignus, as well as two priests and a deacon, to preach the Gospel in Gaul. They wereshipwrecked onCorsica but managed to make their way toMarseille. They made their way up theRhone River and theSaône. ReachingAutun, they converted Symphorianus, son of the noble Faustus; Symphorianus was later martyred for his faith asSaint Symphorian.
Benignus, now on his own, proselytized openly in different parts of Gaul, and performed numerousmiracles despite the persecution of Christians. Denounced to the EmperorAurelian,[6] he was arrested at Épagny and put on trial. Benignus refused to sacrifice to pagandeities or toCaesar, and refused to denyChrist. The authorities savagely tortured him, to which he responded with new miracles; he did not change his mind. Eventually, Benignus was clubbed to death with a bar ofiron and his heart pierced. "He was buried in a tomb which was made to look like a pagan monument in order to deceive the persecutors".[7]
In the time of Gregory of Tours[8] there was a sudden appearance ofacta regarding Benignus, narrating the martyrdom of the saint, and said by Gregory to have been brought from Italy to Dijon by apilgrim, but apparently edited at Dijon in the sixth century.[9]
According to thesehagiographic accounts,Polycarp of Smyrna (died ca 155) had sent Benignus as amissionary to Dijon, where he had labored as a priest and had finally died a martyr, during the persecution underAurelian (270–275), a possibility chronologically irreconcilable.Louis Duchesne[10] has proved that theseacta are at the head of a whole group of legends which arose in the early years of the sixth century and were intended to demonstrate the early the beginnings ofChristianity in the cities of that region (Besançon,Autun,Langres,Valence). "They are historically unreliable, and the very existence of some of the martyrs connected with these places is doubtful."[7] Kirsch says, "They are all falsifications by the same hand and possess no historical value."[3]
On theseal of theabbey, Benignus of Dijon is depicted as having a dog by his side; he also holds akey.[11][12]
This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "St. Benignus of Dijon".Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
