ON THE HOLY MARTYRS DEMETRIUS THE DEACON, HILARIUS, CONCESSUS, MARUS, SIRMION, FORTUNATUS, DONATUS. ALSO THE 7 VIRGINS, CANONESSES.
CommentaryDemetrius the Deacon, Martyr (St) Hilarius, Martyr (St) Concessus, Martyr (St) Marus, Martyr (St) Sirmion, Martyr (St) Fortunatus, Martyr (St) Donatus, Martyr (St) Seven Virgins, Martyrs (SS)
G. H.
This is the second class of Martyrs in the ancient apographs of the Hieronymian Martyrology; and the Epternach one enumerates them thus: "And elsewhere of Demetrius the Deacon, Memory of all in the ancient Martyrologies. Hilary, Concessus, Marus, Sirmion, Fortunatus, and seven Canoness Virgins." In other apographs the name of Donatus is added, but with some variation in the name of Sirmion. In the Lucca codex this is read: "And elsewhere of Demetrius the Deacon, Hilary, Concessus, Marus, the Sirmioniums, Fortunatus, Donatus, and the birthday of 7 Virgins"; in the Blumianum codex is added "Canonesses"; the rest is the same. In the Corbie codex, printed at Paris, after "Marus" this is found: "Sirmium, Fortunatus, Donatus, and six others. And the birthday of seven Canoness Virgins." Thus far the Hieronymian apographs, from which Florentini asserts in his Notes on this day that the Antwerp manuscript, or Epternach, is less corrupt in the names, and that together with it the name Sirmion seems rather to be that of a Martyr, and that the seven Virgins, called Canonesses because they were consecrated to God and lived under some definite rule of life, are to be added to the said Martyrs. In the manuscript Martyrology of the Queen of Sweden, after the five Sirmian Virgins, is added: "And elsewhere of Demetrius the Deacon and seven Virgins, who deserved to be crowned together." In the manuscript Tamlact, after these seven Virgins, are given the names of Dimetrius, Hilary, Concessus, Macarius (in others Marus), Sirmimon (above Sirmion), Fortunatus, Donatus. In the manuscript of Reichenau these are found: "In Sirmia Dimetrius Deacon, Hilary, Concessus, Fortunatus, and seven Virgins, Marius, Donatus," of whom the last two are missing in the manuscript Rheinau. But with Sirmia omitted, these are found in the manuscript Paris of our Labbé: "Demetrius, Hilary, Concessus, Marus, Fortunatus, Donatus, and seven others," perhaps other Virgins. Almost the same things are read in the manuscript of Augsburg of Saint Udalric. Of the said male Martyrs, only Demetrius is named in the manuscripts of Arras, Tournai, and Lätien; five are mentioned by name in the Barberini manuscript and in Greven; four in those of Monte Cassino and Altempsianus; three in Notker; two in Corbie, Maximinianus, and the Cologne Carmelite, also in Maurolico and Felicius, but with no mention of the place.
[2] In the present-day Roman Martyrology this is found: "At Rome the birthday of the Holy Martyrs Demetrius, Concessus, Hilary, and companions." Whether Demetrius with his companions suffered at Rome, Baronius adds that these were restored from the aforesaid ancient manuscript of Saint Cyriacus. Ferrari in his Catalogue of Saints proposes the same, adding that "there is no history of these Martyrs, only their memory flourishes in the Roman Martyrology, from the ancient Martyrology of the monastery of Saint Cyriacus, from which they were transcribed into the Roman Martyrology." The memory of these Martyrs is quite celebrated in various calendars, but the one who before Baronius had assigned them to Rome was Galesinius, speaking thus: "At Rome likewise, of the blessed Martyrs Demetrius, Concessus, and Hilary, who, having overthrown the enemy of the faith through various turns of contests, at last are crowned for the victory of piety." Galesinius in his notes cites the Calendar of the monastery of Bergamo, which belongs to the Order of Vallombrosa, which perhaps Baronius also meant to indicate, since no mention of these Martyrs is made in the manuscript Martyrology of the monastery of Saint Cyriacus, in which only this is read: "5th day before the Ides of April, the birthday of seven Virgins, who deserved to be crowned together," with no mention of place. That the said Calendar is not found in the Vallombrosan monastery was taught us by Donato Calvi, of the Lombard Congregation of the Augustinian Fathers, formerly General, by letters given at Bergamo on November 25, 1669. Therefore we did not dare in our title to assign these Martyrs to the city of Rome.
[3] Bede in the genuine Martyrology attributes these seven Virgins to Sirmium, whether the 7 Virgins of Sirmium: with no mention of the five Virgins related above. His words are these: "5th day before the Ides. In Sirmium the birthday of seven Virgins, who deserved to be crowned together." Ado, Notker, and Rabanus followed Bede. Usuard changed the phrase: "In Sirmium," he says, "of seven Canoness Virgins, who by the shared price of their blood purchased eternal life." Almost the same is read in the present-day Roman Martyrology. Galesinius formed a larger elogium. About these Virgins Wandalbert once playfully wrote:
With a sevenfold lamp it shines on the fifth day of the Ides, the virginal Choir glittering in high heaven, flower and glory alike.
Their memory is commended in the Calendar of the Breviary of Amiens published in 1534 and 1550. In some calendars they are also found assigned to May 15 with Saint Timothy.
[4] Demetrius the Deacon is mentioned by Maurolico, Felicius, Galesinius, and Canisius on March 26 among the Martyrs of Sirmium, after Montanus the Presbyter and others, Demetrius noted on March 26 and April 28 whom we have judged to have been transferred from this day to that. In Peter de Natalibus, book 4 chapter 94, Saint Demetrius the Deacon is mentioned with an elogium, which we give on April 28, where we treat of Saints Eusebius the Bishop, Pollio, and Tiballus, Martyrs in Pannonia.
[5] On this day Saint Hilarius, a Roman Martyr, is venerated The body of a certain Saint Hilarius is at Alcalá, at Alcalá in Spain in the church of the Discalced of the Most Holy Trinity, who received his body, brought from Rome into Spain by Isidore of Saint John, Minister General, in the year of our Lord 1641. They celebrate his memory on this day, thinking that he is the one mentioned in the Roman Martyrology. Authentic testimonies can be seen in Tamajo Salazar in the Spanish Martyrology. Moreover, that the body of this same Hilarius was brought from Rome to Portugal in 1610 by Joseph de Mello, Archbishop of Évora, Another at Vila Viçosa, and deposited at Vila Viçosa in the church of the Franciscan convent, and that it is separately venerated with an Ecclesiastical office on March 16, the day on which that Translation was carried out, George Cardoso hands down in the Hagiologium Lusitanum on both days. Moreover, at Bologna the Theatine Fathers, in their church dedicated to Saint Bartholomew, celebrate on this day Saint Hilarius the Martyr, asserting that they have obtained his body, Another at Bologna. with his proper name found in the Roman cemetery of Saint Callistus in 1606, from the Supreme Pontiff Paul V, as Masini testifies in Bologna perlustrata, who adds that some relics of Saint Concessus are preserved in the church of Saint Gabriel of Ravenna. We do not doubt at all that all these are different both from each other and from the one proposed in the title; and we would wish that those who receive bodies from Rome would let themselves be persuaded that they are indeed bodies of Martyrs, but not such as ought to be believed to be those named expressly in the Roman or any other Martyrology, unless some probable argument persuades it, on which such a conjecture may be founded; nor is it sufficient that the name ascribed to the body agree with some one who the Martyrologies say suffered at Rome, since it may happen—and in truth has probably happened—that easily a hundred of that name required may have been crowned with martyrdom at Rome. Let men therefore stop in such a case from first running to the Roman Martyrology, and they will not multiply errors and useless and unseemly disputes of many places over the presence and protection of one and the same Saint.
[6] Among the holy martyrs already named, others are placed in the manuscript of Tamlact, and they are Dedicus, Satyrus, Pilotus, Quadratus (whose blood still remains), and seven others; also six others were added in the Hieronymian Martyrology printed at Paris, and seven more were joined above in the manuscripts of Augsburg and Labbé. But because there are seven Virgins, and above five Virgins, we fear lest some confusion has been made in the numbers; and both about these and the others expressly named, we dare not define anything from a single manuscript, and therefore we reject them among the "Passed Over."