The Holy Martyrs Speusippus, Eleusippus, Meleusippus, and their grandmother Leonilla, together with Neon, Turvon, and Jovilla, suffered in Gaul (according to another tradition, in Cappadocia) in the second century, during the persecution under Marcus Aurelius (161–180).
Saint Polycarp, Bishop of Smyrna, a disciple of the holy Apostle and Evangelist John the Theologian, sent his disciples to various countries to preach the word of God. Learning of the persecutions of Christians in Gaul, he sent the priests Andochius and Benignus and the deacon Thyrsus. They arrived in the city of Autun, where they met the senator Faustus, who asked them to baptize his family. Faustus brought to them his son Symphorian, who later suffered for Christ.
Faustus also mentioned his sister Leonilla and her grandsons, who remained pagans. Saint Benignus went to her, and she received him with joy and was baptized. Speusippus, Eleusippus, and Meleusippus were biological brothers. According to tradition, they were born blind, but through the prayers of their grandmother Leonilla they received healing. This miracle became the first testimony of the power of the Christian faith in their lives. Leonilla urged her grandsons to renounce idols and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. Influenced by her words and visions, the young men turned to the faith and were baptized.
After their conversion, the brothers destroyed the idols in their home, which aroused the anger of the pagans. They were arrested and subjected to torture, but they steadfastly confessed their faith. The tormentors summoned their grandmother Leonilla to the place of execution and ordered her to persuade her grandsons to renounce Christ. Instead, approaching them, she praised them for their courage and firm confession of faith. After the suffering and death of her grandsons, Saint Leonilla was beheaded.
The feat of the brothers and Leonilla was witnessed by the pagans Neon, Turvon, and Jovilla, who, seeing the courage of the Christians and their unshakable faith, believed in Christ.
Their conversion was immediate and decisive: they openly confessed themselves to be Christians and also received a martyr’s death.
These martyrs are especially venerated in Spain, where many churches are dedicated to them. The relics of the holy martyrs were transferred by the Greek Emperor Zeno to France, to the city of Langres.
