CONCERNING ST. THEODOSIA THE VIRGIN
Martyr at Caesarea in Palestine.
UNDER MAXIMINUS
PrefaceTheodosia, Virgin Martyr, at Caesarea in Palestine (St.)
BY G. H.
[1] Eusebius Pamphili, in the book on the Martyrs of Palestine,
treats accurately of those who before his own eyes suffered in the
city of Caesarea: among whom was St. Apphianus,
crowned in the third year of Diocletian's persecution,
whose Acts of Martyrdom we have just now given from chapter
four of that work. Among the Martyrs who suffered at Caesarea In chapter six he describes the Martyrdom of St.
Agapius, who suffered in the fourth year of the persecution on November XX.
Then in the fifth year of the persecution, in chapter seven he recalls
various Martyrs: and in the first place St. Theodosia the Virgin,
who is also inscribed in various fasti on this second day of April; and
to her he writes this eulogy.
[2] St. Theodosia praised by Eusebius. When the fifth year of the persecution was now being unfolded,
on the second day of the month Xanthicus, which is before
the fourth day of the Nones of April, on the very day of
the Lord's Resurrection, again at Caesarea Theodosia
the Virgin, born of the city of Tyre, a faithful and especially grave
maiden, not yet eighteen years of age, approached certain
prisoners who were freely confessing the kingdom of God
before the praetorium, both to salute
them, and (as is credible) to beseech them
that, when they should have come to God, they would be mindful
of her. When this was done, as though she had perpetrated
some impious and nefarious deed,
she is seized by soldiers and led to the President. He at once, being insane,
and stirred by a certain bestial impulse of rage, when
he had tortured her with bitter and dreadful torments,
and furrowed her sides and breasts to the very bones with iron
claws; ordered her, still breathing and enduring all with
Thus far the text. The President was called Urbanus,
as above is clear from the Acts of the Martyrdom of St. Apphianus, and is
elsewhere noted by others.
[3] The cultus of this Virgin and Martyr is celebrated among
the Greeks and on various days; Her cultus among the Greeks April 2. and first is referred to this second
of April in the MS. Menaea of Paris of Cardinal Mazarin
and of Dijon of Pierre-François Chifflet, with a eulogy taken
from Eusebius just related; the same is found in the printed
Menaea and in Maximus of Cythera and in the Menology of Sirletus,
under the name of Theodora instead of Theodosia — which is followed by
Galesinius and Baronius, but they call her Theodosia.
[4] Another day among the Greeks is the third of this month of April,
on which she is mentioned in the Menaea of the Duke of Savoy at Turin
and in the Ambrosian Library of Milan, Also April 3 in the codex
marked with the letter O and number 148, with a eulogy almost the same
and abridged from Eusebius' words. She is mentioned on the same day, and indeed
in the first place in the Menology of Emperor Basil, whence
the eulogy is taken — because some new circumstances are added —
which we give here, with the eulogy of Emperor Basil, and it is as follows: On the third day of the month
of April the contest of St. Theodosia the Virgin and
Martyr. Theodosia the Martyr of Christ was born from the city of
Tyre, who when she was in her eighteenth year of age,
was caught for the reason that she was a Christian: and
led to the President of Palestine, and
questioned concerning religion, confessed Christ.
Wherefore she was struck on her sides and breasts,
and was ordered to deny Christ and to sacrifice to idols.
But since she could not be persuaded to this, she was thrust into
prison, and commanded to the keeper of the prison, that not
only should he guard her carefully, but also that he should not permit
anyone to enter to visit her,
nor bring her food until she should deny Christ,
and sacrifice to the gods. But many days now having
elapsed, she was led out of the prison, and again was compelled to sacrifice
to impure demons. And when she refused to hear this,
she was first sharply tortured; then cast into
the sea, and gave up her spirit to her Lord. Thus far the text.
[5] The third day assigned to her sacred cultus among the Greeks
is the twenty-ninth of May, and this seems
to be more celebrated than the rest. and most solemnly on May 29. For with greater praise she is mentioned in the already-cited
Menology of Emperor Basil, the MS. Synaxarium of Clermont
of the Society of Jesus at Paris, in the Menaea both printed
and handwritten, likewise in Maximus of Cythera and in the Menology
of Cardinal Sirletus. Moreover the entire Ecclesiastical office
with its odes and hymns is performed in the Menaea concerning
St. Theodosia, of whom this eulogy is there set forth.
[6] St. Theodosia Martyr at Caesarea. When this sacred
and holy Virgin was in her eighteenth year of age,
having arisen from the city of Tyre, Eulogy from the Menaea, in the fifth year of the persecution
contended for the faith at Caesarea. For already bound
and about to suffer punishment, nevertheless with free
voice she confessed Christ. The Judges now seated in the tribunal,
she was brought to the President Urbanus.
Whom he having in vain exhorted to sacrifice to idols,
ordered her to be so excoriated that, her breasts and sides
being lacerated, the cruel tyrant went so far
that the bones and entrails appeared. When therefore he beheld the girl
bearing all the tortures most patiently,
and suffering all the torments silently without voice or groan;
hortatorily he asked her that she would be willing to sacrifice
to the gods. Then she, looking at him with fixed eyes,
said with a pleasant and smiling countenance: O man, why do you
wander so? Do you not see that by the testimony of Christ
I have already been held worthy of the fellowship of the Holy Martyrs?
Then the President, when he learned that he was mocked
by the maiden, applied still greater torments to the Martyr,
and at length ordered her to be cast headlong into the sea-waves,
in which by a blessed end she completed her martyrdom.
Thus far the text, with which agree the eulogies handed down in other Menologies and Synaxaria.
[7] and the Odes of the Ecclesiastical office. More than thirty odes are added, which
exalt the magnificent triumphs of St. Theodosia over the vanquished malice of the tyrant
and the hostile devices of demons. The tortures often repeated
are inculcated, and the constancy of the Virgin is praised, therefore
crowned by Christ her Bridegroom. The eternal glory granted to her
after Martyrdom is expounded in various encomiums, and her
intercession with God is besought, that there may be health for the sick and sure
protection for all. In the adjoined verses is indicated her
suffocation in the waters of the sea, and by Christ her transference
and sustenance to waters of refreshment. And let these things drawn from the ancient
monuments of the Greeks suffice.
[8] Acts from Latin MSS. are omitted. That the veneration of the same St. Theodosia was of old
transferred to the Latins is indicated by the ancient Acts of her life and Martyrdom,
which we have copied from the MSS. of Trier of St. Maximinus,
of Antwerp of St. Bernard on the Scheldt, and another
of the Most Serene Queen Christina of Sweden. We have also found
them in MSS. of Belfort, Budec, Rottendorf, and the Roman
Lateran Church, of which Aringhi mentions in Book 1
of Subterranean Rome, chapter 16, number 31, and Baronius in his
Annotations on this day. But we prefer to omit them, fearing
lest many things from the Acts of other Martyrs, and perhaps of another
Virgin, also called Theodosia, have been stitched or
inserted. Further from all the accounts of the Greeks and of
Eusebius himself, the eye-witness, it is clear that she died cast into the sea.
But in the Latin Acts she is said to have been brought back to land by Angels,
and to have carried in her hand the stone to which she had been tied.
She would, according to the same Latin Acts, then have been again seized
and in the amphitheater exposed to a lion, leopard, bear, bull and other
beasts, but always unharmed, and there beheaded,
would have ascended to the heavens like a golden dove: and would have appeared
to her parents — and these things are said to have been done at Caesarea in Palestine on
the Lord's day, the fourth (or according to others the third) of the Nones of April. Which
things, although they seem to have been written more than eight hundred years ago,
we prefer to omit, because in the silence of Eusebius and the earlier writers
they are not sufficiently credible, and can at least be read in summary
in Bonino Mombrizio, volume 2 folio 327, Vincent of
Beauvais book 12 of the Speculum Historiale chapter 67 (who adds
that he abridged these things from the acts) and Peter de Natalibus, book
4 of the Catalogue, chapter 25, who all say she suffered at Caesarea in Palestine.
[9] The ancient veneration of the same Virgin is indicated by the
Latin Martyrologies, four copies of St. Jerome
have these words on April III: Veneration in the Latin Fasti: At Caesarea in Palestine
the birthday of St. Theodosia the Virgin. The same words
are read on the said day in the MSS. of Arras, Tournai,
Laon and others. In the Martyrology of Rabanus, many things from the already
cited Acts are related in this way: III Nones of April.
Birthday of Theodosia the Virgin, who suffered in the times
of the Emperors Diocletian and Maximian in the city
of Caesarea, under the Prefect Urbanus. For she, having left her
parents, fled to the prison, where the Confessors of Christ
were shut up, was seized by soldiers, and
led to the tribunal of the Judge Urbanus. Who standing before him,
was neither deceived by his flatteries, nor terrified
by threats: but filled with the wisdom of God, she refuted
the false Gods of the Gentiles by argument before the President.
Whence also, bound with cords by the tyrant and struck with scourges,
she could not be overcome. Afterwards various torments were applied to her,
that is, red-hot pans, lions and beasts,
from which she suffered no mark. Then cast into
the sea, but by the help of God more quickly freed therefrom,
finally her head being cut off by the sword, she fell asleep
in peace, and completed her martyrdom, being honorably
given to burial by the Christians. Thus Rabanus.
But Ado on day 11 April with the Latin Acts says she was first
plunged into the sea, then cast to beasts, and attributes it
to Caesarea in Cappadocia, where there is no sea.
Usuard says she suffered in the same way at Caesarea in Cappadocia,
but omits the submersion in the sea. Hence Galesinius
proposes two Theodosias, but he is sufficiently refuted by Baronius.
[10] The fifth year of the persecution, as is clear from what was said
above in the Life of St. Apphianus, Time of the Martyrdom. corresponds, at least up to
April, to the year of Christ CCCVIII. But because at that time
the feast of Easter fell on March XXVIII, it was possible for her, at the Easter
festival, on the fifth or fourth day before the Kalends of April, to have been taken,
and after several days on April II or III to have been killed.
The body, or a notable part of it, to have been once transferred from Palestine
to Constantinople, and the memory of this event
is celebrated more festively on May XXIX in all the Greek Menaea and Synaxaria,
from this we are persuaded, that the cultus of this holy Virgin
was most celebrated in the Imperial City, whether the body was brought from Palestine to Constantinople, commended
by the singular prolixity of the whole Ecclesiastical Office. For the Menaea
and Synaxaria above cited were in large part composed for
the use of the Constantinopolitan churches; whence it comes that they extend themselves
more in adorning and expounding the proper feasts
of that city. That this was a proper feast of the Constantinopolitans
is also gathered from the metrical Ephemeris, which proposes
XXIX May has thus:
Εἰκάδι
ἡδ᾽
ἐνάτη
Θεοδοσίην
πόντος
ἔμαρψε
On the twenty-ninth Theodosia was drowned in the sea.
Whence was this feast so proper to the Constantinopolitans,
and that on a day other than that of the martyrdom undergone, if not from the occasion
of the body translated there, or some such similar thing? The Muscovites too
or Russians, having borrowed their sacred fasti from Constantinople, confirm
this celebrated cultus there; for in their tables,
which we saw at Amsterdam in the house of the most illustrious Lorenzo van der Hem,
they represent only the one Theodosia on that day of May.
Further, our conviction concerning the body translated to Constantinople has been recently
confirmed by the most strenuous Francesco Nigri
the Venetian, Priest and Apostolic Protonotary, in his work "The most happy
Trophy of the Virgin Theodosia over the tyrant,"
addressed to the most happy Victory Colonna, Marchioness of Pescara.
When the autograph of the little book was held by Georgio Cardoso
the author of the Portuguese Hagiology, Don Gaspar Ibañez
de Segovia Peralta, Marquis of Agropolis, indicated
it to us, and signified that, after a long introduction describing
the persecutions of the Church through several chapters, one comes to
the matter through these words: But we, about to describe the contest
of Theodosia, most modest Virgin and most happy Martyr,
shall easily accomplish a tripartite work,
if in the first place we examine her family and condition of life, in the second
place her constant confession of the Christian faith
and triumphant martyrdom, and lastly those miracles
by which this most blessed Virgin has both formerly endowed us and daily does not cease to
endow us — with a brief argument
and easy discourse we shall pursue.
[11] and hence her cultus among the Venetians? In this last part this Venetian
Priest and writer (who flourished around the year
MCCCCLXXX, as Gesner testifies in his Bibliotheca) relates how
appearing to a certain pious nun the Blessed One indicating her
name, also ordered her life to be sought out; and hence she first
became known to the other virgins of the same monastery, then to other
Venetian matrons; and her patronage having been attested by several
miracles, at length compelled the writer himself, bound by the bond of a vow,
to collect her Acts, which he did while at Rome
within the Octaves of All Saints in the year MDXIII. And
this last part of the aforesaid little work, having been faithfully transcribed,
was already submitted to the press and printed, when
that fatal fire of the Blavian Press carried off almost the whole
second day of April, and imposed on us the necessity
of commenting anew on whatever you now read. But the most humane,
as I have said, Gaspar, outstanding not only in the prerogative of nobility
but also in the excellence of erudition,
having learned of the misfortune that had occurred, took care that the same
thing be transcribed once and again, until at length a third time it came
into our hands, as we give below. The second part,
which, like the first, we omit, ended in the bare
assertion of the body having been translated from Palestine and brought to Constantinople
by the faithful, without indication of time or of the church
to which and where the translation was made. We have also inquired
whether at Venice, in the convent of Corpus Christi of the Order of St.
Dominic, or elsewhere, any cultus of St. Theodosia remained; but
we received no satisfactory answer: and yet in the
aforesaid codex there is a proper Office of St. Theodosia:
and in the miracles number 4 it is said, that in many monasteries both of monks
and of nuns it is yearly celebrated with supreme
devotion from the year 1440, to that day on which
these things were being written in the year 1513.
[12] Part of the Relics in the monastery of Derbes: Sammarthani volume 4 of Gallia Christiana, in the enumeration
of the Abbots of the monastery of Derbes, thus speaks of their XXII
abbot Rogerius: MCVIII he encloses in a certain shrine the
body of St. Theodosia the Virgin, formerly brought here by
St. Bercharius; who, founder of the monastery, by a blessed death as Martyr
migrated to Christ in the year DCLXXXV, October XVI;
concerning the same St. Theodosia the Derbes Martyrology thus
continues the eulogy described by Usuard. After much
time, her body with great devotion was carried
to the monastery of Derbes by the Brothers of that place, and with great
and due honor was placed: and there by divine
disposition she rests, acquiescing to those piously asking for
her saving intercessions. Thus after the Passion of St. Bercharius these words
are recited by Nicholas Camuzat, in the Promptuary of the Antiquities
of the diocese of Troyes page 112, without any mention
of St. Bercharius as the author of the said Translation: which
also Saussay judged to have been made much later, in the Gallican Martyrology,
writing thus on this day: At Liège the celebration
of the birthday of St. Theodosia the Virgin … a portion of whose
sacred Relics from the East, whether also at Liège? with certain
precious pledges of the Saints, was brought,
and with the highest honor in the time of the most pious Bishop Notger
was received, and there propagated the cultus of that holy
athlete of Christ. But in order that at length the blessed Virgin might be wholly
assigned to the Patronage of Gaul, whatever
remained of her most sacred body, by divine favor
was carried to the innermost bosom of Gaul, in the Derbes
monastery of the Diocese of Troyes, with great veneration
preserved and venerated. Further Notger, a holy man,
ordained Bishop of Liège, presided for XXXVI
years, as Alberic writes in his Chronicle, placing its beginnings in the year
DCCCCLXXII; at which time, according to Saussay, the later Translation of the Relics
to Derbes would have taken place.
But concerning this we labor the less: and we would rather know,
whence Saussay received those things which he relates about the Relics brought to Liège;
since neither in the Breviaries or Martyrologies
of Liège, printed or MS., nor in the History of Liège of Bartholomew Fisen
or the Flowers of the Church of Liège, does any vestige appear
of that singular cultus, which Saussay's
words indicate as most well-known.
[13] some body of St. Theodosia at Bologna. At Bologna among the Nuns of the Most Holy Trinity is held in
veneration the body of St. Theodosia the Virgin and Martyr,
translated there from Rome in the year MDCXXII, and this day April 2
has been chosen for her cultus, because of the name inscribed in the Roman Martyrology,
although there are different Virgins and Martyrs.
[14] In the same way among the Spaniards there is held in great veneration
as Juan Marieta teaches in book 4 On the Saints of Spain chapter 66,
where he has these things: Near the city of Vitoria, upon a rock
between Salvatierra and the town of Santa Cruz
de Campezo, another in Spain, in the kingdom of Alava is buried the body of a certain Saint
surnamed Theodosia, concerning whom I have not found any
history. On the second day of April Usuard treats in his
Martyrology of a certain Saint of this name, and
the townspeople of this region celebrate on the same day the feast of this our
Theodosia with such veneration that scarcely
any village fails to come in procession under a canopy
and with litanies, that God through this Saint's
merits may come to meet all their needs. Thus far the text.
The indicated Vitoria is the chief city of the kingdom of Alava, on the borders
of Guipuzcoa and Biscay, from which Salvatierra is distant XVI miles,
and from this the Church of St. Theodosia is six miles.
And these things only seemed able to be known
about this St. Theodosia, when behold recently in the Pseudo-Dexter Chronicle
these words were inserted for the year 430: At the same time there were brought
to Spain the relics of the sacred Virgin Theodosia,
who suffered at Caesarea of Palestine under Maximian,
and were borne with the greatest honor to a not ignoble town of Cantabria called
Salvatierra. These things
there: which, not as fictitious, but as most certain, were soon inserted
into the Spanish Martyrology of Tamayo de Salazar; now also by men
famous for learning in Spain itself they are rejected.
MIRACLES OF ST. THEODOSIA
By Francesco Nigri, Apostolic Protonotary.
From the MS. of Don Gaspar Ibañez, Marquis of Agropolis.
Theodosia, Virgin Martyr, at Caesarea in Palestine (St.)
FROM MSS.
[1] Translated to Constantinople, she shines with miracles. But when it seemed to the most high and good God
that it was unbecoming for the body of the most blessed Virgin Theodosia
to lie among the most foul executioners; by His inspiration
certain Christians from the city of Caesarea took care to transfer
the most holy members a to the city of Constantinople,
and on the fourth b day before the Kalends of June
not many years later in a worthy monument
they enclosed them. Where God began, through the merits of this most holy
maiden, to show such miracles among the peoples,
that almost the whole world flowed together to her sepulchre.
For the blind receiving restoration of sight, the lame
right walking, the maimed wholeness of limbs,
the ailing health, the frantic sanity, the sick
health, the cast down raising up, the afflicted consolation,
the needy relief, the shipwrecked a port of safety,
the young correction, the old strengthening, heretics
faith, the faithful stability, — receiving these things, they carried
the name of so great a Virgin to the stars.
[2] With the course of many years passed, when
on account of wars and dissensions (as is wont to happen)
the city of Byzantium had often suffered the depopulations of enemies, her name is divinely made known to a certain nun at Venice, with the discords and most savage
battles growing by the day, the most celebrated memory of Theodosia
(as in such things is wont very often to happen) together with the celebrity
of other things both public and private,
began somewhat to fail. Whence,
when in the most illustrious city of Venice the name
of so great a Virgin was still held unknown, in the
convent of certain most holy nuns,
whose name was Bartholomea: who formerly with
the first Sisters had entered, to serve God, that new temple.
She perhaps, desiring to hear the decision of a certain doubt,
which she could perceive by no readings of the Scriptures,
when on the most holy feast of John and Paul d,
at nighttime, as our weakness requires, she had given herself to rest,
heard such a clear voice: O how wise
Theodosia, who was ignorant of no article of
the Christian faith whatever. When Bartholomea had heard this,
not once only, but three and four times
that night repeated; having first admired the name of the unknown Virgin,
she resolved with a most devout mind,
to celebrate her solemnity among the other divine Offices;
but she was ignorant on what day especially, or with what office
she should be able to perform it: nor had she known her life e;
nor at what time, leaving death behind, she had passed
to life. She therefore went to a nun, joined to her
in both love and benevolence; and laying out
the whole course of this matter to her in secret, diligently
consulted what she should do.
[3] The most holy Virgins unroll the Martyrology f,
if perchance they could there find the life of Theodosia:
but since they found nothing of these things there, on the following night,
clothed in a green garment, and crowned with a most beautiful crown g,
with starlike eyes, appeared to the aforesaid Bartholomea in
sleep; and as though a boxwood branch, which
she was carrying in her hands, offering it to her, most sweetly said: Who thought her worthy of her sight
plant the branch stained with blood next to the partition:
for it seemed to her to be at that partition h where now
in the same church is erected the chapel,
to be dedicated to St. Jerome and St. Theodosia. Which when
the Virgin had planted, and it suddenly seemed wonderfully to grow,
she understood not obscurely that Theodosia had formerly
ended her life by Martyrdom, and that the branch planted had grown
so suddenly, indicated that small knowledge of her at first
was to be increased into the greatest devotion of all.
And when on many days afterward, and very often indeed,
once both waking and sleeping concerning such a
Virgin she felt many words related through the spirit, her mind more
daily directed to the Virgin, she began to inquire into her Passion
with highest diligence. Which
when she had found in the book of histories of Vincent i, with the greatest
pleasure she read it through, and from the exposition of her faith
before the tyrant at length found the
decision of the former doubt which she had: whence she often
read such a history with a most devout mind.
[4] But at a certain time of night, while in her most honorable
little chamber the aforesaid Bartholomea rested, there appeared
to her the most blessed Theodosia, clothed in a green garment, and
seemed to extend to her an imperfect crown. At whose
imperfection when she marveled; and the cause
she could not entirely understand; having been led to it on the following day
the part of her martyrdom which was lacking in the first history k,
she understood this to be the imperfect part of the crown, and again which
formerly by the blessed virgin had been offered to her. Having therefore
obtained from the well-known Bartholomea a perfect history
of this most blessed Virgin in every part of her, through the agency
of Fantino Dandolo, a Venetian Patrician, as
illustrious as religious, from the General
Vicar of the Preachers l, to whom that convent of Nuns
had been entrusted, she most easily obtained that
by the Sisters a solemn office annually in their
chapel, she arranges the feast day to be held. as soon as we have said to be erected, should be celebrated,
which from the year of the Lord's salvation
forty above one thousand four hundred,
to this very day has advanced into such
veneration, that in many convents both of Monks
and of Nuns, with the highest devotion
annually it is solemnly celebrated.
[5] There was besides in the Venetian City Francischina,
of Andrea Ingenierius, who then governed
the house dedicated to Bl. Thomas and the people committed to him there, matron being sick that is, of a most
upright Priest: who, when oppressed by so many diverse and various
sicknesses that she could scarcely open her eyes,
having been admonished by a Constantinopolitan maid, whom in those days
her husband had bought, to commend herself to the most Blessed
Theodosia, who was daily performing many miracles at Byzantium;
the most devout matron, the venerable name
of Theodosia written on the wall,
as best she could, the saint being invoked, she is healed: adoring on bended knees,
began to cry out with such a prayer: O most holy Virgin, whose
name, once unknown to me, I now suppliantly honor,
whom I desire as my perpetual protectress, free
me, most pious Virgin, from such and so many pains.
For I vow to you, as a monument to posterity
that I was saved by your present aid, solemn altars and solemn
gifts. With the prayer suddenly made, she who
formerly could not move herself from her bed,
conceived in herself such fortitude, and again from the remnants of the illness: that she seemed to rise
not from any sickness, but rather from sleep.
[6] A few months afterward, when from
matron had been freed, there remained nevertheless
of her head, which seemed able to be removed by no
art of physicians. But when a certain friend of the household,
and had brought with him a little piece of a cloth with which the most blessed Virgin's
body m was covered; and had touched the place of this sickness,
suddenly all that coldness was driven away, and the head
of the matron was freed entirely from every disease.
[7] But when, three years having passed, this venerable
matron desired to have at her house an image of the Most Blessed
Theodosia; there came a certain Byzantine
painter, who wished to sell a most beautiful panel of this kind.
Of whom when the price was asked,
he seemed to demand too much. Whence when
he was rejected by her, and again her image being purchased. who hoped to buy it at a smaller
price from Venetian painters, behold
suddenly she was seized by the heaviness of the former disease, so that,
tortured by her former pains, she seemed to be almost forced
again to pour out her very life. Recognizing,
however, the most devout matron, that she had sinned against Theodosia's
benevolence, because she had esteemed money more
than her image, having summoned her husband and most beloved
son, she orders that Byzantine Painter to be sought throughout
the whole city; that from him, being found, the image of the most holy
Virgin should be bartered for whatever money.
Which when first brought into the house,
and the venerable matron before it had poured out prayers,
and not without many tears had begged pardon for her committed sin,
suddenly she was restored to her former health.
[8] In the year of the Lord's salvation one thousand
four hundred and forty-five, there occurred such
an abscess in the body of the aforesaid matron; which
when by no means could be cured by the physicians, who
had spent almost all their industry upon her,
the venerable old woman was left so exhausted and so
consumed by the disease, The same laid low unto death, that her spirit now seemed to be forced
to be breathed out. And when almost all the grieving
household was engaged in mournful tears, her most pious
son came near, and before the most sweet mother,
with an image of the blessed Virgin set up, such for her, on bended
knees, not without tearful groaning, prayers
he poured forth: Virgin most radiant, like a little dove,
whom a milky feather surrounds: Virgin most holy, her son imploring the saint,
brilliant with royal crown: Virgin most merciful,
who are wont to deny your most benign aid to none fleeing
to you: why do you delay to bring help to your most devout
handmaid, who has always loved you, always honored you,
always longed to carry you fixed in the fibers of her little heart?
Why do you leave desolate this house,
already for many years committed to you? Behold most blessed Virgin,
all our hope hangs from your will:
come therefore to those calling upon you: stretch forth your right hand
to those petitioning: deign to free this poor little handmaid
of yours; for you can, Lady, console the afflicted old age
of her husband, and console no less the anxious
and mourning youth of her son. For I in your praise
and honor, a solemn fast to you, on bread of sorrow
and water of tears, vow yearly; that posterity may know
that our family has been firmly established by your protection. suddenly recovers,
This prayer completed, somewhat
the pain seemed to rest from the sick matron, and the former
groans and savage sighs were for a while laid down,
and as though coming into a calm sleep,
she ceased a little from her crying out. Whence
when the domestics now reckoned her dead, filling the
rooms with tearful voice, they began to depart. But
behold, not after a long space of time, the matron rose
free, and leaping up in the bed, with most sweet
voice she chanted: Let the holy faith live, let Theodosia the Virgin
live. At which voice the family, stirred up, ran together;
asking in wonder what this thing was.
To those inquiring the most devout woman explained that she had seen the most blessed
Virgin hurrying to her, who, having in her right hand
had ordered her to cry out with such an exclamation,
and had restored her to her former health.
[9] From that time the excellent husband of the aforesaid
matron began and again imperiled, she is kept unharmed. to come into such devotion
for the most blessed Martyr, that each year,
at all his own expense in the church of St. Thomas, he took care
that her feast be solemnly celebrated, and with the sacred
ceremonies performed, he used to invite his kinsmen and friends
to his house for a friendly banquet.
But when on a certain day, the banquet being completed, and the tables
removed, he was showing to his friends certain materials
wonderfully wrought by his ingenuity, by which
he especially excelled, he brought forth into the midst a copper vessel n,
which, placed near the fire, by a certain marvelous
art, of its own accord emitted such a vapor,
that as it was working a sudden fire was kindled.
But when perhaps overheated by too much fire,
from the too great violence of the enclosed air, it burst,
and struck the forehead of the aforesaid matron who was watching
so forcibly, that all thought her killed
by such a blow: for another piece of the bursting
vessel tore the whole curtain of the chamber. But with Most Blessed
Theodosia's suffrage favoring, the venerable matron
remained unharmed.
the same warned about a fire in the school, Such was the devotion of the aforesaid matron and of her whole
household for this most blessed Virgin, such the
affection, and such the observance, that she could do nothing
at all, unless she had the most sweet name of Theodosia
in her mouth. This waking she named, this
sleeping she so contemplated, that very often many
future things she saw in sleep, which she learned
from the most blessed Virgin. When therefore one day her
aforementioned son, a venerable Priest, publicly taught
organ music in the city of Venice, and
in winter time in his public school, to calm the winter
cold, he kept burning coals in a pot,
by which the freezing limbs of the students could be refreshed;
and on the following night, she sends her son to extinguish it: by some accident,
through the vaulted timber of the school a fire had been scattered,
so that the beams were beginning as it were to catch fire; the matron,
awakened, who had seen such an accident, Theodosia revealing,
in dreams, crying out rouses her son from sleep;
and having narrated the vision, sends him blazing
to the school; who, when he had arrived there, having found it as his mother
had said, at length extinguished the fire with the highest labor.
[11] When the most devout priest had for many years
venerated this most blessed Virgin, those infected with plague are helped. and
celebrated her solemn feast every year, not only
when his predecessor, a most upright man,
had died, did he succeed to his place by common consent. But also
the people committed to him, and, as it were, all the Venetian people,
he led into devotion to this most holy Virgin
to such a degree that when the city was infected with the pestilent disease
with which it often suffers; many indeed
men, and many women, who were laboring with such a disease,
at his urging, making vows to the most devout Virgin,
were suddenly freed.
[12] But that miracle is set forth first as far more
outstanding and wonderful than the rest, which the most clement
God willed through the merits of His most blessed Virgin
to show in me. The writer himself placed in great grief When, not many years ago,
I had been placed in a certain great adversity, and did not know
whither to turn, to whose aid to flee;
but was daily in tears, daily in groanings;
at length directing my mind and heart to the most blessed
Theodosia, I began with tearful voice to pray
her thus: Alas, most benign Virgin,
most glorious Martyr, why do you leave your servant thus desolate?
why do you permit this soul to fail in so many torments?
Remember, I beseech you, most pious
Virgin, how great a solace you once were to the Confessors of Christ,
who, supported by your aid, at length emerged
from darkness into light: to me also lying in so great
Virgin, and vowing piously that he will write her Passion, the tears of my parents, who
daily fail in mourning and squalor. Console them,
most benign Virgin, who also once pitied the tears
of your parents. Regard the groans
of my sister, a miserable little maiden, in whose
sole hope once all my hopes were placed,
now abandoned, the miserable virgin's heart is broken,
the little heart is smashed with grief, the weary virginal breast
breaks with sighs. For I vow to gather
your Passion, scattered here and there, into a most beautiful style
with your help, and to prepare a most celebrated office,
by which the most holy men and most holy virgins, engaged with it,
may all be entirely led into devotion for you.
Hear therefore, most blessed Virgin, the prayers
of a virgin dedicated to you: hear the voices of a most miserable Priest,
who has determined to place all his hopes in you alone.
Either free me from this darkness, Virgin, who
are wont with the highest piety to free those given to sorrow;
or rather dissolve this unhappy little soul
from its most miserable body.
[13] she appearing, he is comforted, When I had said these and similar things weeping, a certain most sweet
sleep suddenly seized me. And behold,
I see the most blessed Theodosia coming to me,
crowned with a most beautiful crown; whom
when I had seen, I seemed to cry out with the loudest voice: Help
me, most holy Virgin, for I perish: come to my aid,
for I am consumed by weariness. But she with cheerful countenance
and joyful face, seemed to return to me these most sweet words:
Why are you consumed with so great a grief, dearest son?
why do you indulge so much in tears? Fear not anything,
nor doubt: for I am always with you,
and I will not leave you, but not after many days
I will free you from this grief; and I will console your parents and
your most beloved sister. Bear therefore all things with an equal
mind: for perhaps in the future you will rejoice
to have borne these torments. Let your heart be comforted, and suddenly
after my departure rise, and compose my
history, as you have promised, in a most beautiful style,
so that those reading may praise God together, and be
kindled into devotion. These things said, the most blessed Virgin departed.
But I who before, consumed by disease, and rising up whole, could in no way
lift myself up, in the silence of the late night
rose up so robust, and free from every evil,
that I seemed to have risen not from sickness, but from a
most pleasant sleep. And giving thanks first to God, and
to His most blessed Mother, then to the glorious Theodosia,
having invoked divine help first, that I might fulfill
my vows, I reduced into one body the Passion
of this most blessed Virgin, selected from many and various Greek codices;
and I did it so much more willingly,
as my whole house, although small, is
the more devout to such a Virgin.
[14] But hear a marvelous and stupendous thing.
When at the beginning of Lent I had found various
books of this Passion, both Greek and Latin;
and wished out of all of them to make only one
body, having first performed divine service in the chapel of St. Francis,
which was near, and the most devout prayer being completed, in a brief time he completes the work:
that for this work to be done the most blessed Virgin would bring
gracious assistance, whose business was being transacted;
having returned home, and the same Virgin's name
invoked, I began to weave the beginning of the history; and among
eight lessons, which daily partly publicly partly
privately I read, from the beginning of that Lent,
to the holy day of Easter only, in so
brief a space of time, I both gathered the fragments of the history into one,
and wrote it, and brought it to its final end. Who
would doubt, most blessed Theodosia, that this was done by your help?
For the small powers of my little wit are not hidden from me, which
unless you had brought help, would have trembled
to undertake such a province. To you therefore praise, to you glory, to you
thanksgiving, most happy maiden, who surpass the rest in splendor,
exceed in beauty, excel in sanctity.
[15] and he concludes by exhorting all to her cultus. Run therefore peoples to this most pious Virgin:
run nations: come boys, come
girls; hasten youths, hasten old men: cultivate her,
love her, love her, celebrate for her the sweetest
praises, fulfill vows to her. For as she has helped
me, and very many others, by her aid; so also you
she will not cease, day by day, to heap up with many and various gifts.
That at length triumphing over the most bitter enemy of human nature,
with our Savior as leader, you may marvelously prevail
to attain the palm and to obtain the glory:
to whom be praise, honor, and glory, forever and ever.
Amen. From the city of Romulus, eight days before the Pantheon o,
from the Christian redemption, in the year thirteen
above one thousand five hundred.
ANNOTATIONS.
a I should not
think this was done immediately after her death: but after some many years, when
Constantine the Great took care to fortify the city founded by him with
relics of the Saints brought from every quarter, that in this part too
it might be made similar to old Rome.
since in so many Codices Greek hitherto found there is none at all which proposes
should place the holy woman in May; thinking it the error of the copyist rather than of the author,
in place of the fifth we have put the fourth.
established at Venice, toward the end of the 14th century.
here understand, not what is now commonly so called in sacred matters
(for how would they not have found the name of Theodosia there?) but the larger Passional,
in which the Passions of the Martyrs & the Lives of the Saints are set down
in full.
g Stemma for
crown or diadem, by the frequent usage of that age: the word is otherwise Greek,
which most authors of later Latinity twist to signify nobility
or Genealogy.
here: nor is there doubt that either a letter is lacking here, or above
abounds: since therefore it is more fitting that pluteos (desks) rather than puteos (wells) be spoken of in a church,
I have fitted the second to the first reading.
by mathematicians: for it is of a spherical form, within which air driven through a siphon, when the thing is placed on coals, grows hot; and casting itself out through a narrow opening with great force, does not cease with vehement blast to kindle the fire built up before it, until whatever was struggling enclosed within has expired.