Saints of the Day – 14 June – St Valerius and St Rufinus of Soissons (Died 4th Century) Laymen, Martyrs.

Saints of the Day – 14 June – St Valerius and St Rufinus of Soissons (Died 4th Century) Laymen, Martyrs.

The Roman Martyrology reads: “At Soissons in Belgic Gaul, today in France, the Holy Martyrs – Saints Valerius and Rufinus, who after enduring many torments, were condemned to be beheaded by the Governor, Rictiovarus, in the persecution of Diocletian.”

The two Martyred companions who are remembered on 14 June – Rufinus and Valerius, according to a legendary account of their Martyrdom, lived in the 4th century at the time of the Emperors Diocletian and Maximian.

They were warehousemen, in charge of supervising the imperial granaries, located in Braine downstream of Basoche (France), on the road which led from Rome to the sea to England.

They were fervent Christians and apostles of the Gospel but their profuse zeal caused the hatred of the barbarian leader Rictiovarus, who decided to eliminate them and hence travelled to Basoche. But the two Christians, having learnt of his intention in time, had fled, taking refuge in a nearby cave.

But a search discovered them, they were beheaded and their bodies thrown into the Vesle river. Christians rescued them and buried them in a marked grave. Although the date of their death is unknown, it must be placed at the beginning of the fourth century.

In c525, the Bishop of Soissons, a certain Bishop Wolf, founded a Chapter of Clerics to whom he entrusted the custody of the bodies of the Martyrs and where a Church was built over their graves. The Relics are currently placed in the Cathedral of Soissons.