Symphorian of Autun

Life and Ministry

Symphorian was the son of a noble Christian family at Augustodunum (modern Autun) in Roman Gaul, instructed in the faith by his mother Augusta and prepared for the public confession of Christ from boyhood. His Passio, an early Latin martyr-act dated by Hippolyte Delehaye to the late fourth century but drawing on materials a century or more older, places his witness during a festival of Cybele held in his city under Marcus Aurelius. As the silver statue of the goddess was carried in procession through the streets, the young Symphorian refused to bow or offer the customary salutation. He was seized by the magistrates and brought before the consularis Heraclius for examination.

Circumstances of Death

Under interrogation Symphorian refused to sacrifice and refused to be silent, declaring that he was a Christian and could not bend his knee to a stone. The consularis sentenced him to be beaten with rods and beheaded outside the city walls. As he was led out, his mother Augusta called down from the city wall in their native tongue the words that became famous in Gaul's earliest martyrology: Nate, nate, Symphoriane, in mente habe Deum tuum — My son, my son, Symphorian, hold your God in mind. The cry of a Christian mother to her child going to die rather than to bow to Cybele was preserved as the first recorded Gallic prayer for perseverance under persecution.

Legacy

Symphorian became the patron of Autun and one of the earliest Frankish-Burgundian martyrs to receive a continuous cult, with a church built over his tomb that grew into a major pilgrimage site by the sixth century. The tympanum of Autun Cathedral's north portal depicts his mother's cry from the wall. His witness declares that the gospel is passed from mother to son and from generation to generation, and that the first martyrs of every land are usually mothered into their crowns. His mother's word was not a lament but a charge: hold your God in mind. He did.