Aphrodisius

Aphrodisius of Béziers is honored as the first bishop of the city of Béziers in the south of France, and he is commemorated on 28 April (Western calendar, new style). What we know of his life comes mostly from legends, and legend and history do not agree.

The oldest source is Gregory of Tours (sixth century), who says that Aphrodisius was an Egyptian and suffered martyrdom in Languedoc together with Caralippus, Agapius and Eusebius, and that he was set at the head of the Church of Béziers by Paul, bishop of Narbonne. A local breviary of the fourteenth century adds that he was of eastern origin, an official of the prefecture of Egypt, converted in mature age. Ado of Vienne, in the ninth century, writes about him without mentioning a martyrdom. The martyrdom by beheading appears much later, in legends of the sixteenth century, together with the story of the camel.

According to the legend, Aphrodisius received the Holy Family at Heliopolis during the flight into Egypt, received the Holy Spirit at Pentecost and then came to Gaul, where he lived as a hermit in a cave and was chosen bishop. Killed by the local people, he is said to have picked up his head and walked with it to his cave, where he died. Scholars think he was rather a man of the third century, with no connection to the Holy Family. A basilica was built in his honor, and at Béziers a wooden camel is still carried in procession on 28 April.