Saint Eliphius or Eloff (''Élophe, Éliphe, Alophe'') is venerated as a

Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...

martyr A martyr (, ''mártys'', "witness", or , ''marturia'', stem , ''martyr-'') is someone who suffers persecution and death for advocating, renouncing, or refusing to renounce or advocate, a religious belief or other cause as demanded by an externa ...

. Tradition holds that he was the child of a king of

Scotia Scotia is a Latin placename derived from ''Scoti'', a Latin name for the Gaels, first attested in the late 3rd century.Duffy, Seán. ''Medieval Ireland: An Encyclopedia''. Routledge, 2005. p.698 The Romans referred to Ireland as "Scotia" around ...

, and preached in

Toul Toul () is a commune in the Meurthe-et-Moselle department in north-eastern France. It is a sub-prefecture of the department. Geography Toul is between Commercy and Nancy, and the river Moselle and Canal de la Marne au Rhin. Climate Toul h ...

, where he converted 400 people to Christianity. He was accompanied by his siblings: St. Eucharius, and three sisters, Menna, Libaria, and Susanna. Tradition also makes him a

bishop of Toul The Diocese of Toul was a Roman Catholic diocese seated at Toul in present-day France. It existed from 365 until 1802. From 1048 until 1552 (''de jure'' until 1648), it was also a state of the Holy Roman Empire. History The diocese was erect ...

. In regard to their alleged royal and Irish birth, James Henthorn Todd states “that we cannot place much reliance on the statement that they were the children of a king of Scotia. Their names are not Irish.” In the 12th century, Abbot Rupert of Duitz (''Rupertus Tuitiensis''), author of the ''Acts'' of the saint, was of the opinion that Eliphius and his siblings were natives of Toul. In his ''History of Lorraine'',

Antoine Augustin Calmet Antoine Augustin Calmet, O.S.B. (26 February 167225 October 1757), a French Benedictine monk, was born at Ménil-la-Horgne, then in the Duchy of Bar, part of the Holy Roman Empire (now the French department of Meuse, located in the region of L ...

does not mention Scotia (which can refer to Ireland or Scotland) and states that according to some scholars, Eliphius could be a native of Soulosse-sous-Saint-Élophe or Gran;In the 18th century,

Augustin Calmet Antoine Augustin Calmet, O.S.B. (26 February 167225 October 1757), a French Benedictine monk, was born at Ménil-la-Horgne, then in the Duchy of Bar, part of the Holy Roman Empire (now the French department of Meuse, located in the region of L ...

made a scholarly, but unsuccessful, attempt to determine the location of "Gran". He found that the name only appears in the older records. He suggested that "Gran" might be a French contraction of the Latin "''Urbs grandis''" ("the big town"), and to have referred within the neighbourhood of

to that town itself. (). Another possibility is the nearby town of

Grand Grand may refer to: People with the name * Grand (surname) * Grand L. Bush (born 1955), American actor * Grand Mixer DXT, American turntablist * Grand Puba (born 1966), American rapper Places * Grand, Oklahoma * Grand, Vosges, village and commu ...

. as well as the princely son of a man named Baccius. All of the siblings, except Menna, were beheaded at or near Toul, at the order of

Julian the Apostate Julian ( la, Flavius Claudius Julianus; grc-gre, Ἰουλιανός ; 331 – 26 June 363) was Roman emperor from 361 to 363, as well as a notable philosopher and author in Greek. His rejection of Christianity, and his promotion of Neoplato ...

Veneration

They were buried at Mount Eliph. The ''

Lorsch Codex The Lorsch Codex (Chronicon Laureshamense, Lorscher Codex, Codex Laureshamensis) is an important historical document created between about 1175 to 1195 AD in the Monastery of Saint Nazarius in Lorsch, Germany. The codex is handwritten in Caroli ...

'' mentions the donation of the relics of St. Eliphius to the

Great St. Martin Church, Cologne The Great Saint Martin Church (german: Groß Sankt Martin, mostly shortened to ''Groß St. Martin'', or , ) is a Romanesque Catholic church in Cologne, Germany. Its foundations (c.960 AD) rest on remnants of a Roman chapel, built on what was th ...

and was the second named patron of the church.Paul Clemen, Die Kirchlichen Kunstdenkmäler der Stadt Köln II, page 354. These relics were later transferred to Toul.

Sources

{{authority control 362 deaths Irish Roman Catholic saints