Saint of the day October 31: San Quentin. Catholic Saints

Every October 31, the Catholic Church remembers Saint Quentin, a martyr, born in ancient Rome, although there is no certainty about the year or exact place where he was born. Yes there is about the year of his death: 287 AD

“Quintinus” or Quentin was the son of a Roman senator who converted to Christianity. Tradition suggests that he was baptized by Pope Saint Marcellinus (p. 296-304) and that he accompanied Saint Lucian of Beauvais (3rd century) in his preaching in Gaul (a Roman region that included present-day France and part of Belgium). .

Called to bear witness to Christ

For centuries it has been held that Saint Quentin performed miraculous healings and had the power to expel demons. Because of his testimony of love for Christ, he provoked the conversion of many pagans, although he also aroused the suspicions and bad faith of the civil authorities of the empire.

He was accused of professing Christianity and forcibly brought before the governor-prefect Ricciovaro (Rictiovarus). He reproached him for siding with those who proclaimed faith in a crucified man, something that the common citizen considered dishonorable, typical of criminals and cowards. Quentin replied to Ricciovaro that doing so was the highest honor for him, even greater than being the son of a senator.

Woe to me if I do not evangelize! (1Cor 9, 16)

Ricciovaro considered Quentin’s statements as an affront to his investiture and had him chained and flogged. He then ordered that the young man should be taken to Reims to be tried. After being flogged, the young Christian was taken to a dungeon, from where he would miraculously escape taking advantage of the darkness of the night.

Free again, Quintín resumed preaching. Unfortunately he was discovered again, and arrested for the second time. He was transferred to “Augusta of Veromandu” (today the French city of Saint-Quentin, in Vermand, renamed in honor of the illustrious saint). There he remained in a dungeon awaiting execution.

Saint Quentin was beheaded and his remains were thrown into the Somme River, from whose waters they would be rescued by a group of Christians, it is said, led by Eusebia, an elderly woman possessing some wealth. The year was 287.

Today his relics remain in the basilica of the city that bears his name.

In popular culture: “La de San Quentin”

Curiously, the name of San Quentin evokes many things to this day. However, there is a historical episode that has made it famous in popular speech.

In the mid-16th century, the French and Spanish crowns clashed in Saint-Quentin (Saint-Quentin), the town named after the saint, located in the Picardy region, Vermand county (France). The victory was obtained by the Spanish, but the violence and crudeness of the battle was such that the name of the saint was immortalized through a phrase alluding to the bloody episode: “Here the San Quentin riot was fought!”

Saint Quentin is the patron saint of chaplains and locksmiths.