Sicarius of Brantôme or Sicarius of Bethlehem (''Sicaire de Brantôme'', ''Sicaire de Bethléem'') was a

child saint Child saints are children who died or were martyred and have been declared saints or martyrs of the Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Coptic Orthodox, Anglican, Episcopalian, or Lutheran Churches or have been beatified. Early Christian Sain ...

who was venerated from the time of

Charlemagne Charlemagne ( , ) or Charles the Great ( la, Carolus Magnus; german: Karl der Große; 2 April 747 – 28 January 814), a member of the Carolingian dynasty, was King of the Franks from 768, King of the Lombards from 774, and the first ...

onwards as one of the victims of the Massacre of the Innocents by

Herod the Great Herod I (; ; grc-gre, ; c. 72 – 4 or 1 BCE), also known as Herod the Great, was a Roman Jewish client king of Judea, referred to as the Herodian kingdom. He is known for his colossal building projects throughout Judea, including his renova ...

,Jean Du Puy, ''L'Etat de l'Eglise du Périgord depuis le christianisme'' (Daloy, 1629), Original from Lyon Public Library (Bibliothèque jésuite des Fontaines). Digitized Dec 20, 2010, p. 268. said to have occurred in

Bethlehem Bethlehem (; ar, بيت لحم ; he, בֵּית לֶחֶם '' '') is a city in the central West Bank, Palestine, about south of Jerusalem. Its population is approximately 25,000,Amara, 1999p. 18.Brynen, 2000p. 202. and it is the capital o ...

at the time of the birth of

Jesus Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label= Hebrew/ Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religiou ...

. His remains are housed in the Abbey of Saint-Pierre in

Brantôme, Dordogne Brantôme (; oc, Brantòsme) is a former commune in the Dordogne department in southwestern France. On 1 January 2016, it was merged into the new commune Brantôme en Périgord. It is the seat of the canton of Brantôme. , an old pilgrimage ...

, France.

Relics

Saint Helen is said to have recovered the relics from the Holy Land in 328 AD. The relics were then brought to the Abbey of Saint-Pierre in Brantôme, Dordogne, by

. Saint-Pierre had been founded by Pippin I of Aquitaine. Sicarius' remains are stored in a small glass-and-bronze reliquary mounted on the church wall.

Authenticity

According to Wasyliw, the bones may simply be those of a child who had been named after a

bishop of Laon The diocese of Laon in the present-day département of Aisne, was a Catholic diocese for around 1300 years, up to the French Revolution. Its seat was in Laon, France, with the Laon Cathedral. From early in the 13th century, the bishop of Laon ...

. In the 19th century,

Sabine Baring-Gould Sabine Baring-Gould ( ; 28 January 1834 – 2 January 1924) of Lew Trenchard in Devon, England, was an Anglican priest, hagiographer, antiquarian, novelist, folk song collector and eclectic scholar. His bibliography consists of more than 1,2 ...

was skeptical and wrote that "how the infant of a Hebrew mother acquired a Latin name has not been attempted to be explained".Sabine Baring-Gould, ''Castles and Cave Dwellings of Europe'', ReadHowYouWant.com, 2008, pp. 287–8. This sentiment was echoed in 2014 by Kristan Lawson and Anneli Rufus:

The massacre happened a long time ago when Jesus, still a baby himself, hadn't yet developed the following that would turn into
Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global pop ...
. (Thus, you might wonder, how did anyone have the foresight to scoop up this dead baby? Ask not, friend.)

The inscription of the tomb, dedicated to an "innocent" child, may have caused the confusion and the subsequent veneration as a Holy Innocent. Sicarius represents an "impulse to personify the supposedly ancient relic with names may imply a heightened sympathy for the sufferings of the infants, and perhaps for their grieving families as well". Sicarius' name is odd; it means " cut-throat" or "

assassin Assassination is the murder of a prominent or important person, such as a head of state, head of government, politician, world leader, member of a royal family or CEO. The murder of a celebrity, activist, or artist, though they may not have a ...

". St. Memorius (''Mémoire'') was another child martyr and purported Holy Innocent whose relics were

translated Translation is the communication of the meaning of a source-language text by means of an equivalent target-language text. The English language draws a terminological distinction (which does not exist in every language) between ''transla ...

during the reign of Charlemagne; they were taken to the Cathedral of St. Front in

Périgueux Périgueux (, ; oc, Peireguers or ) is a commune in the Dordogne department, in the administrative region of Nouvelle-Aquitaine, southwestern France. Périgueux is the prefecture of Dordogne, and the capital city of Périgord. It is al ...

from

St. Peter's Basilica The Papal Basilica of Saint Peter in the Vatican ( it, Basilica Papale di San Pietro in Vaticano), or simply Saint Peter's Basilica ( la, Basilica Sancti Petri), is a church built in the Renaissance style located in Vatican City, the papal e ...

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

. A fountain near the monastery of Brantôme is named after Sicarius.

Images

Abbaye Saint-Pierre de Brantôme 2559.JPG, Image from the abbey church of Saint-Pierre de Brantôme. Detail of the central part of a painted carved oak panel, depicting Charlemagne presenting the relics of St. Sicarius to the monks of the abbey. Brantome 60 St-Sicaire.jpg, Sculpture representing the martyrdom of Saint Sicarius, Brantôme.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Sicarius of Brantome Christian child saints Massacre of the Innocents