THE HOLY TRIPLETS - SS. SPEUSIPPUS, ELEUSIPPUS, AND MELEUSIPPUS, MARTYRS - 17 JANUARY

 

ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN JANUARY

Saints celebrated on the 17th of January

WELCOME!

Prayer to the Angels and the Saints

Heavenly Father, in praising Your Angels and Saints we praise Your glory, for by honouring them we honour You, their Creator. Their splendour shows us Your greatness, which infinitely surpasses that of all creation.

In Your loving providence, You saw fit to send Your Angels to watch over us. Grant that we may always be under their protection and one day enjoy their company in heaven.

Heavenly Father, You are glorified in Your Saints, for their glory is the crowning of Your gifts. You provide an example for us by their lives on earth, You give us their friendship by our communion with them, You grant us strength and protection through their prayer for the Church, and You spur us on to victory over evil and the prize of eternal glory by this great company of witnesses.

Grant that we who aspire to take part in their joy may be filled with the Spirit that blessed their lives, so that, after sharing their faith on earth, we may also experience their peace in heaven. Amen.

THE HOLY TRIPLETS - SS. SPEUSIPPUS, ELEUSIPPUS, AND MELEUSIPPUS, MARTYRS

These saints were three twin brothers, who, with Leonilla their grandmother, glorified God by an illustrious martyrdom in Cappadocia, probably in the reign of Marcus Aurelius.

The most ancient acts of their martyrdom, published by Rosweide and Bollandus, place it in that country, and their relics were brought from the East to Langres in France, whilst the first race of French kings filled the throne.

THE ACTS OF THEIR MARTYRDOM

A copy of the acts of their martyrdom, which was sent from Langres by one Varnahair, to St Ceraunus, bishop of Paris, in the beginning of the seventh century, by an evident mistake or falsification, affirms their martyrdom to have happened at Langres; by which false edition, Ado, and many others, were led into the same mistake.

From certain ancient writings kept at Langres, mentioned by Gualtherot in his Anastasius of Langres, Chatelain proves that these relics, with the head of St Mammes, a martyr, also of Cappadocia, were given by the emperor Zeno to a nobleman of Langres, who had served him in his wars. By him this sacred treasure was deposited in the church of Langres, in the time of the bishop Aprunculus, in 490, to be a protection against devils.

A PROTECTION AGAINST DEMONS

The cathedral of Langres, which bears the title of St Mammes, is possessed of the head of that martyr in a rich shrine. A brass tomb before the high altar, is said to have contained the bodies of the three children who were thrown into the furnace at Babylon, mentioned in the book of Daniel: but Chatelain thinks it belonged to the three martyrs, whose bodies were given by the Emperor Zeno to the count of Langres.

The church called of St Geome, or Sancti Gemini, that is, the twins, situated two miles from Langres, belongs to a priory of regular canons, and is famous for devotion to these saints, though great part of their relics was translated by Hariolf duke of Burgundy, and his brother Erlolf, bishop of Langres, into Suabia, and remains in the noble collegiate church of St Guy, or St Vitus, at Ellwangen, Germany.

These holy martyrs are secondary patrons of the diocese of Langres, and titular saints of many churches in France and Germany.

(From Fr Butler's Lives of the Saints)

THE "HORSE SAINTS"

"Hippos" (ἵππος), part of the Holy Triplets' names, means "horse" in English. - In connection with the blessing of the horses - dating from at least the eighth century - on January 17, the memorial day of the holy martyrs Eleusippus, Meleusippus and Speusippus, the "Cold Market" was established in Ellwangen (the town where their relics are kept) in the very early Middle Ages.

THE ANNUAL "COLD MARKET" IN HONOUR OF THE HOLY TRIPLETS

The Ellwangen Cold Market we know today developed from the medieval horse market. It takes place every year in the second week of January. The connection between the Cold Market and the holy triplets Eleusippus, Meleusippus and Speusippus has remained intact to this day.

(📷 The reliquary altar in the crypt of the basilica at Ellwangen. The compartment on the bottom left contains the relics of the horse saints Eleusippus and Meleusippus. Above it can be seen the cassette with the relics of St Speusippus. [Photo: fg - www.schwaebische.de])