page_title: Benignus of Dijon
section_title: The Passio of Saint Benignus
hierarchical_section_title: Benignus of Dijon / The Passio of Saint Benignus
caption_attribution_description: Français&#160;: Reliques de plusieurs saints, dont Saint Benigne de Dijon. Musée d'art sacré de Dijon, Dijon, Côte-d'Or, Bourgogne, FRANCE
context_page_description: Saint Benignus of Dijon was a martyr honored as the patron saint and first herald of Christianity of Dijon, Burgundy. His feast falls, with All Saints, on November 1; his name stands under this date in the Martyrology of St. Jerome.
context_section_description: According to the sixth-century Passio Sancti Benigni,  Benignus was a native of Smyrna. Polycarp of Smyrna had a vision of Saint Irenaeus, already dead, in response to which he sent Benignus, as well as two priests and a deacon, to preach the Gospel in Gaul. They were shipwrecked on Corsica but managed to make their way to Marseilles.  They made their way up the Rhone River and the Saône.  Reaching Autun, they converted Symphorianus, son of the noble Faustus; Symphorianus was later martyred for his faith as Saint Symphorian.
  Benignus, now on his own, proselytized openly in different parts of Gaul, and performed numerous miracles despite the persecution of Christians.  Denounced to the Emperor Aurelian, he was arrested at Épagny and put on trial. Benignus refused to sacrifice to pagan deities or to Caesar, and refused to deny Christ. The authorities savagely tortured him, to which he responded with new miracles; he did not change his mind. Eventually, Benignus was clubbed to death with a bar of iron and his heart pierced. "He was buried in a tomb which was made to look like a pagan monument in order to deceive the persecutors".
caption: Relic of Saint Benignus of Dijon
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