Eliphius of Toul

Saint Eliphius (Élophe, Alophe) is venerated as a martyr and saint, and died on 16 October 362, put to death by the sword, in the time of the emperor Julian the Apostate, near Toul. He is commemorated on 16 October. He is venerated chiefly by the Roman Catholic Church; we have no Orthodox act of canonization, so we call him a saint of the undivided Church in the West. His story is in part legendary.

According to tradition, he was the child of a king of Scotia (which may mean Ireland or Scotland) and preached at Toul, where he converted four hundred people to Christianity. He was accompanied by his brothers and sisters: Saint Eucharius and three sisters, Menna, Libaria and Susanna. Tradition also makes him a bishop of Toul. The sources also speak of a deacon in the village later named after him, where he was buried after enduring torments. He was beheaded on the bank of the river Vair, at Solimariaca. His memory is kept in the chapel of Saint Epaiotte, originally dedicated to Saint Libaria, Eliphius's sister. He is sometimes called "the Saint Denis of Lorraine".

Regarding the alleged royal and Irish birth, James Henthorn Todd states that one cannot place much reliance on the statement that they were the children of a king of Scotia, since their names are not Irish. In the twelfth century Abbot Rupert of Deutz, author of the Acts of the saint, was of the opinion that Eliphius and his siblings were natives of Toul. Antoine Augustin Calmet, in his History of Lorraine, does not mention Scotia and states that, according to some scholars, Eliphius could be a native of Soulosse-⁠sous-⁠Saint-⁠Élophe or Gran, or the son of a man named Baccius.

All the siblings, except Menna, were beheaded at or near Toul, by order of Julian the Apostate. They were buried on Mount Eliph. The Lorsch Codex mentions the donation of the relics of Saint Eliphius to the Great Saint Martin Church in Cologne, of which he was the second patron. These relics were later moved to Toul. His veneration in the south of the diocese of Toul, especially at Soulosse, seems to go back to the early centuries. Gerard, bishop of Toul, spread his veneration at Cologne, where in 963 a substantial part of the relics was taken. His life is believed to have been written by Rupert, abbot of the Deutz monastery in Cologne, in 1130. The Roman Martyrology commemorates him on 16 October and places his martyrdom at Cologne, among the victims of the persecution of Julian the Apostate.