ON THE HOLY ROMAN MARTYRS
VALERIAN THE HUSBAND OF ST. CECILIA, TIBURTIUS HIS BROTHER, AND MAXIMUS THE CORNICULARIUS OF THE PREFECT,
LIKEWISE QUIRIACUS OR CYRIACUS, DIOCLETIAN, SYMPHRONIUS AND
DOCIMUS.
IN THE YEAR 229.
PrefaceValerian, husband of St. Cecilia, Martyr, at Rome (St.)
Tiburtius his brother, companion in martyrdom at Rome (St.)
Maximus, Cornicularius of the Prefect, Martyr at Rome (St.) </content> </invoke>
Quiriacus or Cyriacus, Martyr at Rome with the foregoing (St.)
Diocletian, Martyr at Rome with the foregoing (St.)
Symphronius, Martyr at Rome with the foregoing (St.)
Docimus, Martyr at Rome with the foregoing (St.)
BY G. H.
Among the more illustrious Virgins and Martyrs, whose
feast is celebrated in the Eastern Church equally as in the Western,
Ancient memory of St. Cecilia and of these Martyrs: is the most holy Cecilia, whose
memory in the Canon of the Mass with only very few
others is renewed daily. Among the more ancient also of the churches of the City of Rome
to which formerly titles were attached, the third was that
of St. Cecilia across the Tiber, mention of which is made in the first
Roman Synod held under Pope Symmachus in the year 499.
Her spouse was St. Valerian; who together with his brother St.
Tiburtius, and with Maximus the Cornicularius of Almachius, Prefect of the City,
suffered martyrdom, and they are venerated together, as shall presently
be said, in the Hieronymian Martyrology with St. Cecilia
on November 22; and separately on this April 14. This
most ancient solemn veneration of these Saints grew much
from the most certain knowledge of their virtues and martyrdom which
the ancient Acts of St. Cecilia provided, which at that time were
worn out in the hands of all, their most ancient Acts, and have hitherto in the chief
and most ancient parchments been preserved. They exist everywhere
on November 22, and we have them accurately collated with various
manuscripts, to be edited in our work by posterity.
Inserted in these Acts are the conversions and martyrdoms
of Sts. Valerian, Tiburtius, and Maximus, whom
we treat of on this day, and in passing we give what pertains
to these holy Martyrs, excerpted therefrom, the curious reader
being meanwhile referred to Antonio Bosio the Jurisconsult,
who edited the same Acts from ancient manuscript exemplars
wholly and faithfully, together with a twofold history of the revelation
and invention of the blessed bodies, made under
Pope Paschal I, and likewise under Clement VIII, Supreme
Pontiff, of whom we shall also treat below. The aforesaid Acts
of the martyrdom, translated from Latin into the Greek language, as
many others, have again been published in Latin by Lipomanus and
Surius, which may also be seen in them: also Greek writings: but more certain things
are in the Latin sources themselves.
[2] The genuine Martyrology of Bede, published by us at the beginning
of the second volume of the Acts of the Saints of March, has these things:
On the 18th day before the Kalends of May. At Rome, of Tiburtius, Valerian, and
Maximus, under Almachius, Prefect of the City: Sacred cult in the Martyrologies, of whom
the first were beaten with clubs and struck with the sword, the last
beaten with leaded scourges until he gave up his spirit.
Nearly the same things are read in Rabanus, Usuard,
Ado, Notker, with only these words added: on the Appian Way in
the cemetery of Praetextatus: which we explain below. There follow
elsewhere more recent writers. In the modern Roman Martyrology
these things are reported a little more fully: At Rome on the Appian Way, the birthday
of the Holy Martyrs Tiburtius, Valerian, and Maximus,
under the Emperor Alexander and Prefect Almachius:
of whom the first, converted to Christ by the exhortation of Blessed
Cecilia, and baptized by St. Urban the Pope,
on account of the confession of faith were beaten with clubs and struck with the sword.
But Maximus, the Prefect's chamberlain,
moved by the constancy of these, and strengthened by an Angelic vision,
believing in Christ, was for so long with leaded scourges
beaten, in ancient Breviaries and Missals: until he gave up his spirit.
Their martyrdom is celebrated in almost all the Breviaries and Missals
of the Latins, even in the book of Sacraments
of St. Gregory the Great, the Ambrosian Breviary and Missal;
likewise according to the rule of Blessed Isidore, called Mozarabic,
from the use of the Church of Toledo: and proper prayers are assigned
with a preface, as was formerly the custom.
[3] In an ancient copy of the Hieronymian Martyrology,
which we have as written almost a thousand years ago, Four companions added: and hitherto
have cited in the three preceding volumes, four other companions are added, with these words: On the 18th day before the Kalends of May,
at Rome, of Tiburtius, Valerian, Maximian, Cyriacus,
Diocletian, Symphronius, Docimus. In the same manner in
the Roman Calendar, which is nine hundred years more ancient, published
at Paris in the year 1652 by Jean Fronteau, Maximian also
is written, who in all other books, both
printed and written by hand, is called Maximus. But because
below in the Acts no. 15 St. Maximus with all his
house and the very executioners believed, and all
were baptized, it seems probably to be concluded that these
four Martyrs were of the house of St. Maximus, or rather
soldiers and executioners, and were then all the more confirmed in the faith,
when Maximus under oath asserted that he had seen
the souls of Sts. Valerian and Tiburtius being borne by Angels on the oarage
of their wings to heaven: which perhaps
they themselves also were able to see together. Diocletian and Symphronius
are also commemorated in the ancient Martyrology of Tallaght:
but omitted with the companions in other more recent copies of
the Hieronymian Martyrology. Perhaps, says Florentini,
the scribe shuddered at Diocletian, the implacable enemy of the Christian
name; and not knowing how to fit such a deadly
name to a Martyr, left him out with the companions.
But other companions are joined in other codices of the Hieronymian
Martyrology in this manner: At Rome on the Appian Way in
the cemetery of Praetextatus, the birthday of Sts. Tiburtius, elsewhere 8 others are joined. Valerian,
Maximus, Quiriacus, Optatus, Patus, Saturninus,
Marcia, Frontina, Cornelia, Conditor,
Titulus. But those reported after Quiriacus in the most ancient
copy are said to have suffered at Interamna with others,
as will be said at the following class of Martyrs. If anyone
nevertheless thinks rather that they suffered at Rome, we do not wish to drag the rope
of contention with such a one. The memory of St. Quiriacus is in
the MS. Martyrologies: the Roman of Cardinal Barberini, the Augustan
of St. Ulrich, the Parisian of Labbé, and the Trier of St. Maximin.
Florentini had some body of St. Quiriacus
or Cyriacus, whether the body of St. Cyriacus is in the Lucca region? taken from the cemetery either of Praetextatus or of Callistus,
which he gave to the holy Virgins of the monastery
of the Blessed Virgin of the Annunciation of the town of Villa Basilica
in the Lucca region, which, placed above the altar of that
church, shines daily with many gifts of
admirable healing, and with the great veneration of that people
every year a feast day is celebrated in his honor, he relates;
and he doubts whether perhaps he might have been a companion of Sts. Valerian and
Tiburtius in martyrdom: which, as neither he, much
less we, can affirm.
[4] The same holy Martyrs with St. Cecilia on November 22
are placed with these words in the Hieronymian Martyrology: Cult on November 22 and 24.
On the 10th day before the Kalends of December, at Rome, of St. Cecilia the Virgin,
Valerian, Tiburtius, Maximus. On the same day
are reported with St. Cecilia Valerian and Tiburtius in
the Great Menaea of the Greeks and in the Menology of Sirleto: but under
Diocletian they are said to have suffered. Truly a great error, perhaps taken
from the fact that some Diocletian was a companion in martyrdom.
Concerning the same and St. Maximus on November 24
in the Menology of Emperor Basil some elogium exists,
composed from the Acts. 21 Apr. Again on April 21 the memory of the same
Martyrs is celebrated: on which day in the most ancient Epternacensis
copy of the Hieronymian Martyrology these things are found:
At Rome, of Valerian, Maximus, Tiburtius. Which exact
same things are read in the MS. of Reichenau, or of Augia Dives
near Constance. In other copies of the Hieronymian Martyrology
is added, in the cemetery of Calestus, Calestinus,
or Celestinus, on the Appian Way, and more accurately in the cemetery
of Calistus, or Callistus in the MSS. Casinensis, Altempsianus, and
another of Queen of Sweden, also published by Holstenius: but in this,
in place of Valerian, through an error is found Victorianus and Severinus
in the MS. Casinensis, where they are reported on April 22.
Finally on August 11, on which day St. Tiburtius is venerated, April 22 and August 11. at Rome
under Judge Fabianus, having suffered in the persecution of Diocletian,
some addition of these Martyrs was made in the Epternacensis copy
in these words: At Rome, the birthday of Tiburtius, Valerian,
Cecilia, Susanna. Almost the same is read
in the copies Lucensis and Blumianus; likewise (but with the order changed)
in MSS. Richenoviensis and Rhinoviensis.
[5] The time of martyrdom can be known from the see of St. Urban the Pope,
whom we have elsewhere established as having sat from the year 222, time of martyrdom. in which
St. Callistus, his predecessor, suffered, until the year 230, in which St. Pontianus
succeeded him. But because the Acts below
no. 6 hand down that St. Urban, twice condemned, hid in the crypts, we judge
that their martyrdom fell in the year of Christ 229, and in the 8th year
of the Emperor Alexander.
LIFE AND MARTYRDOM.
From the most ancient Acts of St. Cecilia, Virgin and Martyr.
Valerian, husband of St. Cecilia, Martyr, at Rome (St.)
Tiburtius his brother, companion in martyrdom at Rome (St.)
Maximus, Cornicularius of the Prefect, Martyr at Rome (St.)
Quiriacus or Cyriacus, Martyr at Rome with the foregoing (St.)
Diocletian, Martyr at Rome with the foregoing (St.)
Symphronius, Martyr at Rome with the foregoing (St.)
Docimus, Martyr at Rome with the foregoing (St.)
FROM THE ACTS OF ST. CECILIA
CHAPTER I.
The conversion of St. Valerian to the faith and his baptism. The Angel's address.
[1] Cecilia had a certain young man Valerian
as her betrothed, who, in love of the Virgin pressing
his mind, appointed the day of the nuptials. St. Valerian by St. Cecilia, his spouse, The day came
in which the marriage bed was arranged. Night also came, in
which she took with her bridegroom the secret silences of the bedchamber:
and thus she addresses him: O sweetest and
most loving young man, there is a mystery which I would confess to you:
if only you under oath will assert that with all observance
you will keep it. Valerian the bridegroom swears
that by no reason will he betray it, is incited to chastity by the guardianship of an Angel: by no necessity
reveal it. Then she says: I have an Angel of God as a lover,
who with excessive zeal guards my body: if he
even lightly senses that you touch me with polluted love,
at once against you his fury rages, and you lose
the flower of your most pleasant youth: but if he knows
that you love me with a sincere heart and immaculate love,
and preserve my virginity whole and unharmed;
so he also loves you as me, and will show
you his grace. Then Valerian, by the nod of God, seized
with fear, said: If you wish me to believe your words, he desires to see the Angel:
show me the Angel: and if I approve that he is truly
an Angel of God, I will do what you urge: but if
you love another man, I will strike both you and him with the sword.
[2] Then Blessed Cecilia says to him: If you will acquiesce in my counsels,
and permit yourself to be purified by the perennial fount, and
believe that there is one God in heaven living and true,
you will be able to see him. Valerian says to her: And who
will there be, he is instructed for baptism: who will purify me, that I may see the Angel? Cecilia
answered him: There is an elder who knows how to purify
men, that they may merit to see an Angel of God. Valerian says
to her: And where shall I seek this old man?
Cecilia said: he is directed by the poor to St. Urban, Go to the third milestone from the City,
on the road which is called the Appian, there you will find poor persons,
seeking from the passers-by the help of sustenance: for them
I have always cared, and they know well </content> </invoke>
the secrets of my counsel: when you see them, you shall give them
my blessing, saying: Cecilia has sent me to
you, that you may show me the holy old man Urban:
since I have to him her secret instructions which
I am to convey. When you see him, show him all
my words; and when he has purified you, he will clothe you in new
and white garments: with which, as soon as you have entered
this bedchamber, you shall see the holy Angel
made also your lover: and all things which
you shall ask of him you shall obtain.
[3] Then Valerian went forth, and according to those signs
which he had received, found Saint Urban the Bishop:
to whom when he had said all the words of Cecilia, he rejoiced
with great joy… and suddenly before their face
appeared an Elder clothed in snowy garments, and in his presence from the appearing Elder holding
a title in his hands, written in golden letters:
whom, seeing, Valerian, seized with excessive terror,
falling to the earth, became as one dead. Then
the Elder raised him up, saying: Read the text of this book,
and believe, he reads the tablets presented: that you may merit to be purified and to see the Angel,
whose sight Cecilia, the most devout Virgin,
has promised to you. Then Valerian, looking, began
to read within himself. And the writing of the title was this:
One Lord, one faith, one baptism, one
God and Father of all, who is above all and in all
of us. And when he had read this within himself; the Elder says
to him: Do you believe it to be so, or do you still doubt? Then
Valerian cried out with a great voice, saying: There is not
another thing that can be more truly believed under heaven. and confirmed in the faith is baptized: And when
Valerian had said this, the Elder slipped away from their eyes.
Then St. Urban baptized him,
and teaching him the whole rule of the faith, sent him back
to Cecilia diligently instructed.
[4] Therefore Valerian coming, clothed in white
garments, found Cecilia praying within the chamber,
and standing beside her an Angel of the Lord
having wings with gleaming feathers, he sees the Angel and radiant with a flaming aspect,
having two crowns in his hands,
glittering with roses, and white with lilies: and he gave one
to Cecilia, the other to Valerian, saying: These crowns
with an immaculate heart and a pure body keep:
for from God's Paradise I have brought them to you. bringing crowns to him and to St. Cecilia: And
this shall be a sign to you, that they shall never show
a faded flower to his eyes, never diminish
their sweetness of odor, nor can they be seen by any other,
except by those to whom chastity shall have been pleasing thus,
as it has been proven pleasing to you. And because you, Valerian, have consented
to the counsel of chastity; Christ the Son
of God sent me to you, that you may make known whatever petition you wish.
But he, hearing, adored, and said: Nothing in this
life has been sweeter to me, he asks for the conversion of his brother. than the sole affection of my brother;
and it would be impious for me, being delivered, to behold my kindred
brother in the danger of perdition. This alone
I place before all my petitions and entreat,
that my brother Tiburtius, as myself, he may deign
to deliver, and may make us both perfect in the confession
of his name. The Angel, hearing these things, with a most joyful
countenance said to him: Since you have asked this,
which is better, it delights Christ to fulfill than yourself:
as through his servant Cecilia Christ has gained you;
so through you also he will gain your brother,
and with him you shall attain to the palm of martyrdom.
CHAPTER II.
The conversion of St. Tiburtius to the faith and his baptism. The sight of Angels.
[5] When therefore these words were ended, the sight of the Angelic
light passed to the heavens: and while they
were feasting in Christ and speaking in holy edification,
Tiburtius, Valerian's brother, arrived,
and entering as to his kinswoman, kissed
the head of Saint Cecilia, and said: I wonder whence,
at this time, this rosy fragrance and of lilies breathes forth; St. Tiburtius marvels at the fragrance spread from the crowns: for if
I were holding the very roses or the very lilies in my hands,
not so could they pour into me perfumes of such great
sweetness: I confess to you, I am so refreshed, that
I think myself to have been suddenly all renewed. Valerian says to him:
The fragrance indeed you have merited to receive, at my intervention;
now, if you believe, you shall merit
also to rejoice in the rosy sight itself; and to understand
whose blood blooms in the roses, and whose
body whitens in the lilies. For we have crowns, which your
eyes have not the power to see, blooming with a flowering redness and snowy
whiteness. Tiburtius says to him: Do I hear these things in dreams,
or do you in truth speak these things, Valerian?
Valerian answered: We have lived until now in dreams:
for now we are in truth, and there is no falsehood
in us. For the gods, whom we worship, are
in all faith proved to be demons. Tiburtius says to
him: How do you know this? Valerian answered him:
An Angel of God taught me, he is instructed by his brother whom you too shall be able to see,
if you are purified from all the filth of idols.
Tiburtius says to him: And if it can be done that I see
an Angel of God, what delay is there of purification? Valerian answered
him: None: about the vanity of idols: only promise me this,
that you will renounce all idols, and believe that there is one
God in heaven. Tiburtius answered:
I do not understand with what intention you pursue these things.
Cecilia said: I wonder that you do not understand, that figures of clay,
of plaster, of wood, of bronze or of stone, or
of any metal, cannot be gods, which spiders
weave over and birds defile, in whose heads
storks are accustomed to build their nests… Then with
all alacrity Tiburtius said: Whoever does not so believe,
is a beast.
[6] When Tiburtius said these things, Saint Cecilia kissed
his breast, and said: Today I confess you truly to be
my kinsman. For as the love of the Lord made your brother
my spouse, so the contempt of idols will make
you my kinsman. Therefore, since you are ready
to believe, go with your brother, that you may receive
purification: through which you may merit to look upon Angelic
faces, and to find pardon of all your faults. he is to be sent to St. Urban
Then Tiburtius says to his brother: I beseech you,
Brother, tell me, to whom you are about to lead me.
Valerian answered: To a great man, Urban
by name, in whom is an Angelic aspect and
venerable white hair, true speech and seasoned wisdom.
Tiburtius says to him: Do you mean that Urban,
whom Christians call their Pope? Him
I have heard has already been condemned a second time, he fears the punishments, and again for
the very cause for which he was condemned, to be seeking to hide
his lurking place. This man, if he is found, without doubt to dread
flames will be given, and, as is wont to be said, will pay hundreds;
and we shall be burned together, if we are found
with him: and while we seek divinity hidden
in the heavens, we incur a fury burning us
on earth. Cecilia says to him: If this were one
life, and there were not another; justly we should fear to lose it:
but if there is another life, much better than this, and which
can never be ended; why should we fear to lose this,
when through its loss we attain to the acquisition of that other?
Tiburtius answered: Until now I
have never heard this: he is taught that another life remains: therefore is there another life besides this?
Cecilia says to him: Even that which is lived in this world
is a life, which humors swell, pains wear down,
fevers dry up, airs make sick, foods
inflate, fasts emaciate… But that life, which
will follow this life, either gives the unjust to perpetual tribulations,
or offers eternal joys to the just. Answering
to this Tiburtius said: And who there has been, and coming thence
hither has been able to indicate to you, that with merit
we can believe those asserting these things? Then Blessed Cecilia
raising herself, stood, and with great constancy said:
The Creator of heaven and earth and of all things, of himself, before
he made all these things, begot the Son, and brought forth
from his virtue the Holy Spirit: and the mystery of the holy Trinity, the Son that he might create
all things, the Holy Spirit that he might vivify all things…
Tiburtius says to her: Certainly you assert that one God is to be believed
in heaven, how now do you attest that there are three?
Cecilia said: One is God in his majesty,
whom we thus divide in the holy Trinity, as in
one man we say there is wisdom, which we say
has genius, memory, and intellect…
If therefore man in one wisdom possesses the number of three,
how does not almighty God in one
Deity of his Trinity obtain Majesty?
[7] Then Tiburtius prostrate on the earth, began to cry out,
saying: It does not seem to me that the human tongue can render reason
about this: but I think that an Angel of God
is speaking through your mouth. And when he was giving many thanks,
that she had briefly shown more evidently that one God is in three
persons, turning to his Brother
he said: I confess that I have been satisfied concerning one God:
now it remains that for my inquiry, as it had begun,
the discourse may run on. Cecilia said: About these things
speak with me, because the time of his novitiate forbids your Brother
to give you an answer; but me,
whom from the very cradle the wisdom of Christ has taught,
whatever cause you wish to investigate, you shall not
find unprepared. Tiburtius says to her: This
I inquired, who coming hither from thence, has shown
to you another, which you preach, of the Incarnation, life? Cecilia said: His only-begotten
Son the Father through a Virgin from heaven
sent to the lands, who standing upon the holy mountain
cried out with a great voice saying: Come to me all
peoples… Finally, lest even a trace of occasion
of doubt should remain, with the peoples he went to the tombs,
and to the three-days and four-days dead, even stinking,
he called back the life which they had lost…
Foreseeing to profit the world for salvation, he permitted himself
to be held, and mocked, and beaten, and likewise to be killed…
Hence it is, of the passion, and of the resurrection. that for his name we rejoice to be beaten,
and in persecutions we glory: because to this
our fleeting and miserable life, eternal life succeeds;
that which the Son of God, rising from the dead, showed
to his Apostles: while they beheld, he ascended into
the heavens… And those who were sent to preach these things
throughout the whole world, confirmed their sayings with great signs and virtues…
These things I have briefly explained to you; if
you consider anything lacking to you, ask. Then Tiburtius,
prostrate at her feet, with loud weeping and tears
said: If about this life any further either in mind shall I deal
or in thought shall I inquire, in that life may I not be found.
Let fools have the gain of fleeting time; I who
until today have lived without cause, now let it not be without cause
that I live.
[8] And these things said, turning to his Brother he said:
Have mercy on me, dearest brother, and break the delays, </content> </invoke>
whose bonds I suffer, delays I fear, a weight
I cannot bear. I beseech you, lead me to the man
of God, that purifying me, he may make me a partaker
of that life. Then Valerian led his Brother to
Pope Urban: to whom when he had narrated all things which
had been said or done, giving thanks to God, led to St. Urban he received
Tiburtius with all joy, and baptizing him, commanded him
to be with him until he should put off the white garments:
and having made him perfect by his teaching through seven days, he consecrated him
a soldier for Christ. he is baptized: Thereafter he obtained such grace
of the Lord, that he saw even Angels of the Lord
daily; and of all things which he asked from the Lord,
the effect immediately came about. But because it is much
to pursue all things in order; he sees Angels often, which
and how great wonders the Lord did through them, we shall describe;
let us return to the articles of their glorious
passions.
CHAPTER III.
The examination of Sts. Valerian and Tiburtius before Prefect Almachius, and their confession of faith.
[9] Turcius Almachius, Prefect of the City, was fiercely
tormenting the Saints of the Lord, and was ordering
their bodies to be left unburied. They bury the bodies of the Martyrs and give alms: Tiburtius and
Valerian were devoting themselves daily to this, that
they might give precious burials to the Martyrs, pursuing almsgiving and
pious works. Meanwhile, as is customary, the wicked
hate the good, and inform Almachius of all things,
which the Lord through them was doing for the needy, or how
zealously they were burying those whom he had ordered to be killed:
and seized by apparitors, they are presented to Almachius. seized they are offered to Prefect Almachius: Whom
Almachius immediately attacked with these words: Since
the title of nobility has made you born most illustrious, why by
I know not what superstitious sect do you show yourselves unhappy and
degenerate? For I hear that you consume your resources,
expending them on I know not what worthless persons,
and with all glory commit to burial those punished
for their crimes: whence it may be understood, that
they are your accomplices, to whom for a conspiracy you give
honorable burial. Answering, Tiburtius
said: Would that they might deign to count us as their servants,
whose colleagues you estimate us to be: who despised
what seems to be something that is not, and found
that which seems not to be, but is: Tiburtius praises the Martyrs: whose
most holy life we earnestly desire to imitate, and to follow
their footsteps.
[10] Prefect Almachius said: Tell me which
of you is the elder? Saint Tiburtius said: Neither
is he the greater, nor am I the lesser: because there is one God, holy,
eternal, who by his grace has made us equal. Prefect
Almachius said: Tell me, what is it that seems to be
and is not? Saint Tiburtius said: All things which
are in this world, which invite souls to eternal
death, through which temporal joy is ended. he despises the vanity of the world:
Prefect Almachius said: And tell me this,
what does not seem to be and is? St. Tiburtius said:
The life which is to come for the just, and the punishment which is due
to the unjust: and esteems eternal goods: from both sides we know that to be true
which is to come, and with unhappy dissimulation from the eyes of our
heart we withdraw to see things to come: for with the eyes of the body
we see temporal things, so that against our conscience
what are good things we obscure with evil words,
and what are evil things, we adorn with good words.
Prefect Almachius said: he speaks from the mind of Christ I think that
you are not speaking with your own mind. St. Tiburtius said: You speak
truly, because I am not speaking with my own mind, which I had
in the world; but with his, whom in the inmost parts of my mind
I have received, that is, the Lord Jesus Christ.
Prefect Almachius said: Do you yourself know
what you are saying? St. Tiburtius answered: Do you know
what you are asking? Prefect Almachius said:
You see what elation of mind you suffer. St. Tiburtius
answered: I both know, and have learned, and believe,
that all things which have been said by me will remain.
Prefect Almachius said: And why do I not understand,
nor perceive in what order you pursue these things?
St. Tiburtius answered: Because the animal man does not
perceive those things which are of the Spirit of God: but the spiritual man
judges all things: he himself, however, is judged by no one.
[11] Then the Prefect, seeing, ordered Tiburtius to be removed,
and Valerian to be brought forward, to whom the Prefect said:
Valerian, St. Valerian praises his brother's and his own wisdom: since your brother is not of sound head,
at least I believe that you can wisely give me
an answer. Valerian said: There is one physician
who cherishes with his wisdom the head of my brother and my own:
who is Christ the Son of the living God. The Prefect said:
Answer me wisely. Valerian said: Your hearing
suffers error: because you cannot gaze upon the way of our
speech. he explains this world's and eternal joys, The Prefect said: No one errs
as you err; who, leaving necessary and useful things,
follow foolish things; spitting out joys and execrating
gladness, and despising all that has been granted to
the blandishment of life; but that you undertake with such
eager greed of mind, which can be found contrary to salvation
and enemy to joys. St. Valerian answered
to these things: Jesting and laughing and flowing with various
delights I have seen pass through fields in icy time:
in which fields countrymen were standing planting, and with
all zeal fixing shoots, and thorny
twigs of roses vigorously and most cautiously arranging.
Others also were inserting cuttings, by a fitting likeness, others by the root were cutting down
all noxious things, and with excessive labor cultivating
all the works of the countryside. Then those who were luxuriating, began
to mock those laboring and to say: Unhappy and
wretched, throw off this superfluous labor, and rejoicing with us,
show yourselves to delights and pleasures.
Why, like madmen, do you fail with hard labor, and
wear out the times of your life with most sorrowful occupations?
And saying these things, they burst out over them in laughter,
and gave applause of their hands, with many rebukes
insulting them. While they were doing these things, to the rainy and
cold months came serene seasons:
and behold, with rosy flowers blossoming, the fields were adorned
with leafy vine-tendrils, and the shoots with their birth bore curly
clusters of grapes, and cuttings of various kinds of honey-flowing
trees brought forth fruits, in which we see even
today an abundance of grace and of fruit alike and of beauty.
Then, while those rejoiced who were thought to be foolish,
those began to weep who were thought to be urbane: and those who
had gloried in their own wisdom, in a great pestilence
perished, and with late repentance rendering the lowing
of their leisure and groaning, they spoke to each other:
These are those whom we had in derision, whose labors
we thought a reproach, whose life we execrated
as wretched, whose persons we judged unworthy,
and whose assembly without honor: but these have been found
to be wise, and we are proved to have been wretched then
and foolish and vain; since we neither labored ourselves,
nor provided help to those laboring for their labor;
rather, placed in delights, we mocked them, and believed
them mad, whom we now behold flourishing and
gleaming. To these things the Prefect said: Wisely indeed
I see you to have pursued, but not to my question
do you seem to have given an answer. Valerian
said: You have said we are fools and foolish,
because we give our resources to the needy, we take in strangers,
we bring help to widows, we assist orphans,
we cover unburied bodies, and we give honorable
burials to the Martyrs of God. and applies it to the lovers of the world and to the true worshipers of God: You judge us to be foolish
and most insane, because we do not rejoice with the rejoicing,
nor relax with voluptuous delights,
that to the eyes of the ignoble mob we may show ourselves illustrious and
noble. The time will come in which we shall gather the fruit
of this our sorrow; and while we rejoice, those will mourn
who in their joys are now lifted up. For the time for sowing
is now: those who in this life now have sown joys, in that
life shall reap mourning and groaning: but those who now sow
temporal tears, in that life are to reap everlasting
joys.
[12] The Prefect said: Therefore both we and the most invincible
Princes shall have eternal mourning, but you
shall possess perpetual joy? St. Valerian said:
For what are you, or what are your Princes?
Little men you are, born in your time, in your
time complete and about to die: to render so great an account to God,
as was the sum of power handed to you.
Prefect Almachius said: Why do we delay in the circuit
of words? Offer libations to the gods, they are unwilling to sacrifice to the Gods. and depart
unharmed. Both Sts. Valerian and Tiburtius answered:
We offer sacrifice daily not to gods, but to God.
Prefect Almachius said: Who is
the God to whom you say you render service?
They both answered: And who is any other God, that concerning
God you question us? Is there another besides the one?
Almachius said: That one whom you speak of, declare
his name. St. Valerian said: They spurn Jupiter, You will not find the name of God,
even if you could fly with wings. Almachius
said: Therefore is not the name of Jupiter the name of the God? Valerian
said: You err, Prefect, the name of Jupiter is not
that of God, a corrupter and seducer of men. Your authors
call him a homicide, and your writings show him
criminal. Him do you
call God? I wonder with what forehead you have spoken, when
God cannot be called except one, who is alien from every
sin, and full of all virtues. Almachius
said: Therefore does all the world err, and do you
with your brother know the true God? St. Valerian
said: The multitude of Christianity is innumerable, and his worshipers.
which has taken up sanctity: but rather you are the few,
who, like planks from a shipwreck, have remained for nothing
else, except to be given to the fire.
CHAPTER IV.
The conversion of St. Maximus with others: the Martyrdom of these three.
[13] Then Almachius, angered, ordered him to be beaten
with clubs. But he, as he was stripped, began to rejoice,
saying: Behold the hour which I have thirstily desired:
behold the day more joyful to me than any festivity. Valerian is beaten with clubs: And when
they were beating him, the voice of a herald was crying out over him,
saying: Do not blaspheme the gods and goddesses. But he
was crying out, saying to the Roman people: Citizens
of Rome, see that these torments do not call you back
from this my truth; but stand manfully, believing in the holy Lord:
and the gods whom Almachius worships, he exhorts the citizens. stone
and wooden, turn into lime; knowing this,
that in eternal tribulation shall be all who worship
them.
[14] Then Tarquinius, the assessor of the Prefect, secretly said
to the Prefect: You have found an occasion, take them away: For
if you delay, and from day to day prolong it, Both are adjudged to Death,
they will give out all their resources to the poor, and when they are punished,
you will find nothing. Then he ordered the executioners
that they should be led by them to the field of Pagus, where
was a statue of Jupiter: and he ordered that if both brothers
should refuse to sacrifice, Leading them to the punishment, St. Maximus, they should together receive the capital sentence.
Then the glorious Martyrs, the sentence received,
were being led by Maximus, the Cornicularius of the Prefect,
to Pagus: which Maximus began to weep over them, </content> </invoke>
saying: "O purple flower of youth, O fraternal affection of brotherhood, why do you wish to lose yourselves by an impious decree, he is taught about the other life, hastening to your destruction as if to a banquet?" Then St. Tiburtius said: "Unless we had learned for certain that there is another, everlasting life, which follows this present life, we would never rejoice to lose this one." Maximus says to him: "And what other life can there be?" St. Tiburtius answered: "Just as the body is clothed with garments, so the soul is clothed with the body; and just as the body is stripped of its garments, so the soul is stripped of its body. The body indeed, which earthly seed has given through lust, will be returned to the earthly womb; so that, reduced to dust, like the phoenix, it may rise again at the sight of the future light: but the soul, if it is holy, will be carried to the delights of Paradise, so that, abounding in delights, it may await the time of its resurrection." Maximus says to him: "I too would wish to despise this life, if after it I could be certain of the one you speak of." Blessed Valerian says to him: "Since you say nothing remains for you except that we prove what we have said to be true, in the hour in which the Lord shall make us lay down this tunic of the body in the glorious confession of his name, the Lord will open your eyes, about to see their souls borne to it, that he may make you see with how great glory that life is received; provided that you promise us that you will come to repentance for your error from your heart." Then Maximus bound himself with an oath, saying: if he receive the faith. "May I be consumed by lightning fires, if from this hour I do not confess him alone as God, who made another life succeed this one. Only show me what you have promised."
[15] Both brothers say to him: "Obtain from the executioners that they lead us to your house, and arrange a stay of this day's proceedings: he leads them to his own house: so that they may guard us in your house, and there we will have the Purifier come to you, who will tonight, as soon as he has purified you, make you see what we have promised." When Maximus had obtained this, he led them to his house: he is baptized with his household and the executioners. at their preaching, Maximus himself with all his household and the executioners themselves believed. Then St. Cecilia came to them by night with priests, and all were baptized. he is strengthened by St. Cecilia. Therefore, when the dawn put an end to the night, with great silence having been made, St. Cecilia said to them: "Come, soldiers of Christ, cast off the works of darkness, and put on the armor of light: you have fought the good fight, you have finished the course, you have kept the faith: go to the crown of life, which the just Judge will give to you, and not only to you, but to all who love his coming."
[16] SS. Valerian and Tiburtius are crowned with martyrdom; Now the place, which was called Pagus, was situated at the fourth milestone from the City, where there was a passage through the gate of a temple, so that anyone who entered, if he did not offer incense to Jupiter, would be punished. When the Saints therefore came, incense was offered to them, and they refused: refusing, they knelt down, were struck with the sword, cast aside the mortal body, and received eternal joy. Then Maximus, swearing, asserted, saying: "I saw angels of God, and when St. Maximus had seen their souls being borne to the heavens, shining like the sun, in the hour when they were struck with the sword, and their souls going forth from their bodies, like virgins from the bridal chamber: whom the angels, receiving in their bosom, bore to the heavens with the oarage of their wings." Very many, hearing Maximus tell these things with tears, believed, and being converted from the error of idols, gave themselves back to their Creator. Therefore, when all these things had come to the Prefect Almachius, because Maximus the Cornicularius with all his had become a Christian, he commanded him to be beaten with leaded whips until he gave up his spirit: whom St. Cecilia buried in a new sarcophagus next to Valerian and Tiburtius, and ordered that a phoenix should be carved on his sarcophagus, they are buried together. as an indication of his faith, who took up with his whole heart that he would find resurrection, after the example of the phoenix.
ANALECTA.
Concerning the Relics of these Holy Martyrs.
Valerian, spouse of St. Cecilia, Martyr, at Rome (St.)
Tiburtius his brother, companion in martyrdom at Rome (St.)
Maximus the Prefect's Cornicularius, Martyr at Rome (St.)
Quiriacus or Cyriacus, Martyr at Rome with the foregoing (St.)
Diocletian, Martyr at Rome with the foregoing (St.)
Symphronius, Martyr at Rome with the foregoing (St.)
Docimus, Martyr at Rome with the foregoing (St.)
BY G. H.
§ I. The first place of their burial, a temple dedicated to them. Translation of their relics into the City.
[1] Very ancient and more celebrated than others is the Cemetery of Callistus, situated at the third milestone from the City on the Via Appia: SS. Valerian and Tiburtius baptized in the Cemetery of Callistus. in whose crypts St. Urban the Pope, lying hidden, baptized SS. Valerian and Tiburtius when they came to him. Paolo Aringhi, in book 3 of Roma Subterranea, chapter 11, number 7, after he had discussed the baptism of the aforesaid Martyrs, adds this: "There exists up to this very day, within the precincts of the same cemetery, a certain spring, from which most clear waters flow continually, and which, while they refresh those afflicted with various ailments, where even now there is a spring, famous for miracles. wondrously impart to them the health which they drew from the use of the sacred ministries, as has been proven many times by experience: of which matter many, and we ourselves, while we were at some time exploring this sacred cemetery, were eyewitnesses. Now this spring, which flows peacefully among the venerable tombs of the blessed Martyrs, and formerly served the use of the ancient Christians, has drawn from there so much salubrity, that it can avail to heal, by the virtue of God, those whose souls were once healed, and now whose bodies are to be healed."
[2] Thus Aringhi, who in number 10 teaches that there exist parts and members of this cemetery, which is called that of Callistus, various cemeteries inserted into and adjoined to it, and among these he reckons in chapter 14 the cemetery at St. Cecilia; in chapter 15 the cemetery at St. Sixtus, as Pope Paschal calls it, who, some parts of which are named from these saints: as will shortly be said, found the bodies of these Martyrs: and in chapter 16 the cemetery of Praetextatus, in which, the ancient Martyrologies cited above almost everywhere relate, the bodies of these Martyrs had been deposited: and these three cemeteries seem to be held by the authors as one and the same: and from time to time it has been called the cemetery of SS. Tiburtius and Valerian. For John Pope III, as Anastasius the librarian writes in his Life, withdrew himself into the cemetery of SS. Tiburtius and Valerian, and lived there for much time, so that he might also consecrate bishops there. John sat from the year 559 until the year 572. But St. Gregory Pope III, with the same Anastasius as witness, completely restored anew the cemetery of the blessed Martyrs Januarius, Urban, Tiburtius and Valerian and Maximus, and their roof that had been placed in ruins. This Pope presided over the Church from the year 731 until the year 741. In the same century, after five Popes had intervened, Hadrian Pope was created in the year 772, and died in the year 795; who, with the same Anastasius as authority, is reported to have restored anew the church of blessed Tiburtius and Valerian and Maximus, outside the Appian Gate.
[3] There succeeded Hadrian, Leo III, Stephen V, and then Paschal I, established in the year 817, died in the year 824. This Pope, and their bodies brought into the City by Pope Paschal: after a revelation made to him by St. Cecilia in the church of St. Peter, while he was diligently seeking her most sacred body, found in the cemetery of St. Praetextatus, situated outside the Appian Gate, that body clothed in golden garments, with the body of her venerable spouse Valerian … Handling all these things with his own hands, and with great honor within the walls of this Roman city, in the church dedicated in the name of the same holy Martyr, to the praise and glory of almighty God, he placed the body of the same Virgin, together with her dearest spouse Valerian, and Tiburtius and Maximus the Martyrs, and also Urban and Lucius the Pontiffs, under the most sacred altar. For the honor and help of these Saints, that is, he built a monastery, in honor of the Virgins or Martyrs Agatha and Cecilia, next to her church, in the place which is called Colles-iacentes ("Lying Hills"). Which things the same Anastasius narrates in these words in the Life of Pope Paschal, drew from the letter of Paschal himself, which Baronius published under the year 821, and from better MS codices by Antonio Bosio, part of which we gave on March 4, in the Life of St. Lucius the Pope, number 4. Now it is there called the Cemetery of St. Sixtus, which, as we said, is taken to be the same as the cemetery of Praetextatus. In memory of this matter, this inscription was appended.
the inscription placed there. "This church, with zeal of faith, Paschal the First renewing from the foundation, while he seeks the holy bodies, raises up, found, the venerable body of the fostering Martyr Cecilia, burying it in this marble. Lucius, Urban the Pontiffs are joined to this one; and you witnesses of God, Tiburtius, Valerian, Maximus, hold fitting fellowship with those just mentioned. Rome devoutly honors these excellent Patrons."
§ II. New discovery of the bodies under Clement VIII.
[4] In the year 1599 The final discovery and solemn re-deposition of the holy Bodies of Blessed Cecilia the Virgin and Martyr, and her companions Valerian, Tiburtius and Maximus, and also of the Pontiffs Urban and Lucius, under Clement VIII, Supreme Pontiff, in the year of the Lord 1599, Paolo Sfondrato being Cardinal-Priest of the title of St. Cecilia, is described under this title by the aforementioned Antonio Bosio: the entire context of whose history will have to be given with the Acts of St. Cecilia; here we excerpt what pertains to these three Martyrs, and they are as follows: When Cardinal Paolo Sfondrato, out of his piety toward God and the holy Martyr, had begun to repair and adorn the old church of St. Cecilia; among other things he was planning to construct beneath the main altar a repository for containing the sacred Relics. October 20 Therefore when, on the 13th day before the Kalends of November, the Cardinal had betaken himself to this church, he ordered the pavement to be broken up: and when this had been shattered and the soil beneath dug out, the body of St. Cecilia is found, and the upper wall demolished, two marble chests appeared about three feet below: which indeed nearly touched one another. They were however placed according to the size of the altar, so that the altar itself, placed above them, rested upon them. In the first marble chest, inside a case, there was the body of Blessed Cecilia.
[5] In the other next and larger marble chest, however, which was placed in the inner part, and the bodies of SS. Tiburtius, Valerian and Maximus. namely farther toward the confession and altar, three bodies of Saints were found, who had been companions in the same passion, namely of Tiburtius, Valerian, and Maximus, which also history consistently testifies were placed by Paschal under this sacred altar. Each body however was wrapped in its own linen or proper covering, according to ancient custom. They were placed, moreover, in such a way that toward that part in which the body of the first lay, which was the left of the altar, the feet of the second were extended: the third
body however lay opposite to the second, in the same position as the first. And although there was no lettered mark which might distinguish or designate them by name among themselves, yet they could clearly be recognized and distinguished: namely that the first was of St. Tiburtius, the second placed in the middle was of St. Valerian, and the third was of St. Maximus. For, besides that they are numbered in this order in the epitaph indicated above by Pope Paschal, the body of St. Tiburtius was recognized from that of St. Valerian by this argument, since the body of St. Tiburtius lacked its head, easily to be distinguished from one another, since it was preserved outside in the church in its own tabernacle, having been taken up, as is believed, by Pope Paschal himself. Then the body of St. Valerian was distinguished from that of St. Maximus from the fact that his head was found torn from the trunk of the body, because it had been cut off for him with the sword: and also in size and proportion of form so similar to the head of St. Tiburtius, that they seemed to be of two brothers of nearly equal age. On the contrary, however, of St. Maximus, who was not beheaded, but was beaten to death with leaded whips, the head was found so joined to the body, that when the Cardinal himself wished to take it, that it might be publicly venerated on the altar outside together with the others of SS. Valerian and Tiburtius, he accomplished it with great effort and labor. The same head also showed marks of the blows which it had received from the leaded whips, and signs of fracture, although it retained its whole form: in which also blond hair as if of a living man, and all the hair sprinkled with blood, were seen so uncorrupted, that to the letter that Gospel word could be said to be fulfilled in him: "A hair of your head shall not perish." Luke 21:18. But because it was much bigger than the others, taking proportion into account, it could be conjectured that Blessed Maximus surpassed Valerian and Tiburtius in size and stature of body. Before this chest there stood a stone tablet of Paschal, containing the names of the Holy Martyrs expressed in verses.
[6] These bodies in no way being moved, but left in their original and proper place, … the Cardinal, in order to inform the Supreme Pontiff, set out for Tusculum, where he himself was staying during those autumn days. The latter, when he had heard the matter, showed himself aflame with incredible desire, at the command of Pope Clement inspected by Baronius and Sfondrato: that it might be permitted him to return at once to the City, and venerate the sacred pledges in person. Since the serious disease of gout, by which he was detained, denied him this; promising that he would be there as soon as he was relieved of it (as he also did), in the meantime he delegated Cardinal Cesare Baronius, most skilled in antiquity and noble author of ecclesiastical history, to examine and inspect the sacred Relics: who, returning to Rome with his colleague Sfondrato, as he had been commanded, diligently and religiously contemplated all things: and celebrating Mass with due veneration, in order to confirm the whole matter to the Pontiff by his own testimony, stayed one day at Rome, and returned to Tusculum. Not long after, however, … beneath the marble chest, from which the body of St. Cecilia had been extracted, another similar chest was uncovered, in which the bodies of two Pontiffs, Urban and Lucius, had been buried. … Clear especially at the time of this discovery was the piety and devotion of the Roman People toward these Patrons and Martyrs … the Pope celebrates a solemn Mass for them until the twenty-second day of November: which day, at the turning of the year, is the feast and birthday of Blessed Cecilia … which day the pious Pontiff Clement determined to render more celebrated by a solemn sacrifice: in which he said the first prayer about St. Cecilia, the second about SS. Valerian, Tiburtius, and Maximus … The choir of cantors sang the Antiphon. "O blessed Cecilia, who hast overcome Almachius, hast called Tiburtius and Valerian to the crown of martyrdom …" The inscription engraved on a silver tablet reads thus: "Here rests the body of St. Cecilia Virgin and Martyr .. placed under this altar by Paschal the First, Supreme Pontiff, together with the bodies of the holy Martyrs Lucius and Urban the Pontiffs, the inscription is composed and also of Valerian, Tiburtius and Maximus. Again, after almost 800 years, with Clement VIII as Supreme Pontiff, with the same holy Martyrs, it saw the light on the 20th day of October, in the year of the Lord's Incarnation 1599 … At whose side, in another separate case, the aforesaid three Martyrs, Valerian, Tiburtius and Maximus, rest …"
[7] These are the things which were done at the final discovery of the body of Blessed Cecilia and her companion Martyrs and at their solemn re-deposition, as we ourselves saw with our own eyes, and as we learned from the faithful account of Cardinal Sfondrato himself … For the greater adornment of the work, the most religious Cardinal inserted two sets of three figures on each side, Bronze figures inserted in the wall: in the middle of the wall, made of gilded bronze: on the right indeed of Blessed Cecilia and of Saints Valerian and Tiburtius; on the left of SS. Urban and Lucius the Pontiffs and of Maximus the Martyr. Between both parts of the wall, under the main altar itself, he most magnificently adorned the sepulcher of Blessed Cecilia the Virgin and her companion Martyrs … On a black stone with golden letters an inscription of this kind was engraved on the little area itself. with another inscription. "Under this altar rest the bodies of the holy Martyrs Cecilia the Virgin, of Valerian, Tiburtius, Maximus her companions, of Lucius and Urban the Popes, consecrated to the same holy Martyrs."
[8] Among the sacred Relics of this church there are some of the bones of SS. Valerian, Tiburtius and Maximus the Martyrs, whose entire bodies rest in the same church. The head of St. Valerian, spouse of St. Cecilia the Virgin, Relics and heads in the church. which in this last discovery was torn from the body, is enclosed in its own silver head. The head of St. Tiburtius, brother of the same St. Valerian, which, separated earlier, was venerated among the Relics of the church. The head of St. Maximus the Martyr, which has recently likewise been taken from his body and clothed in silver, in which the whole hair sprinkled with blood is seen even to this day.
§ III. Relics in various places under these names.
[9] What we have hitherto brought forward concerning the sacred bodies of these Martyrs preserved at Rome seems to us so well-examined and coherent from the beginning, that scarcely anything more certain concerning the relics of the ancient Martyrs seems possible to be found. Relics are displayed in various places under the names of these: There are not lacking, however, various churches, in which, because they have bodies or some relics of Martyrs called by the same names, their veneration has been taken on as though of those of whom we have hitherto been treating, on this April 14. And first the inhabitants of Lucca in Tuscany contend that the bodies of SS. Tiburtius, Valerian, and Maximus have existed from time immemorial, in the church of St. Paulinus, and at Lucca in Tuscany their bodies are said to exist, enclosed in their own chapel toward the west: and that their celebrated feast is recalled every year with solemn rite in that church on this April 14. Of these Cesare Franciotti treats, in his book on the Saints of Lucca published at Lucca in the year 1613; Ferrari in the Catalogue of the Saints of Italy, in his note to the elogium of these Martyrs; and Francesco Maria Fiorentini, in his observations on the Hieronymian Martyrology: and particularly of St. Maximus, who says at least that it is not doubted that some Saint Maximus is preserved at Lucca, and that he is considered to have been the Cornicularius of the Prefect, and so is read in a very old parchment of the dedication of that church, to be published in the Diptychs of the Church of Lucca. On the altar of that chapel only this epigraph carved in ancient characters is read: CORPUS S. MAXIMI. P. CUM ALIIS ("The body of St. Maximus, P., with others"), which was interpreted by the ancient people of Lucca as "with other companions," namely Tiburtius and Valerian. But if in truth the entire bodies of these Martyrs were found at Rome in the year of the Lord 1599, and left there unmoved, then another Maximus, who is venerated at Lucca, and other companions. Thus Fiorentini. But because under Pope Alexander IV and Henry Bishop of Lucca about the year 1260, from the authority of a certain parchment written in the year 1260, after the bringing in of the relics of St. Paulinus, the church, which before had taken its name from St. Antoninus, was dedicated to St. Paulinus, the cited parchment of dedication could not have greater antiquity: whose authors, in the way in which they called the companions of St. Maximus SS. Valerian and Tiburtius from mere conjecture, could have named the same Maximus from similar conjecture as the Prefect's Cornicularius. Fiorentini himself, in the Index to the Hieronymian Martyrology, enumerates forty-seven holy Martyrs distinguished by the name of Maximus: how much more could there have been many more of that name not included among those; so that it can and should be thought that some body of another St. Maximus and the bodies of anonymous companions are preserved there.
[10] Saussay inscribed St. Tiburtius in his Gallican Martyrology with these words: The body of St. Tiburtius is said to be in Gaul, "In the territory of Châlons, at the monastery of St. Urban, the festivity of St. Tiburtius, whose sacred body laureate at Rome on this day, with the precious remains of the aforesaid most holy Urban the Pontiff and Martyr, by the gift of Pope Nicholas I, was brought thence into Gaul to Charles the Bald, the Most Christian King, and was honorably laid to rest in that monastery, where also today it is honored by the pious gathering of the inhabitants." Saussay treats the same things more at length on May 25, when St. Urban is venerated. Philippe Labbe, in the first volume of his New Library of manuscript books, published two books on the Life and Miracles of St. Germanus Bishop of Auxerre, by Heric, monk of Auxerre: in whose book 2, chapter 12, these things are read: "In the year of the Incarnate Word 862, certain of the Brothers, instructed alike with royal mandates and letters, set out for the city of Rome, both for the sake of prayer and for the zeal of certain ecclesiastical causes, which, which in the year 862 was received from Nicholas I God furthering the matter, they both vigorously alleged and effectively accomplished. The most prudent Nicholas the Pope, to be received with the greatest reverence of veneration, then presiding over the Roman See, bore the office of the Apostolic summit in both dignity and zeal: who, with the aforenamed legates, after having most fully made himself available for several days for all they wished; as they were about to depart with great favor of himself and his ministers, handed over to them the relics of the holy Martyrs Urban and Tiburtius, both precious in power and notable in quantity. Thus by God's favor and through the intervention of King Charles, what otherwise had been either most laborious or impossible, they accomplished with easy effort." Then in chapter 13 the journey is described, and the miracles wrought on it are indicated. Then in chapter 14 these things are handed down: "A solemn reception was being prepared at Auxerre, where at length on the day before the Kalends of November they arrived, with much glory, the monks of Auxerre honorably received them, immense pomp, unshakable constancy of things. From that time miracles grew visibly bodily, invisibly spiritual, the more subtle the more useful; incessantly constant, undoubtedly profitable, and the more lastingly to endure, the more certainly to be profitable … The anniversary day of the passion of blessed Martyr Tiburtius had arrived, and a certain apparition was made, and the pious devotion of the Brothers was more dutifully persisting in nocturnal vigils. Among these, to a certain one of the Brothers who was prostrating himself more secretly in prayer, and somewhat rapt in the support of divine
contemplation, the Martyr showed himself to be seen, with that shape of form, that beauty of youth, by which he is described in the text of his Passion. He was seen standing before the casket of his relics, with steps balanced in the open space, and with hands expanded toward the East, of which one carried a golden rod, pleading more earnestly for the salvation of all the people. He afterwards related this to us with tears: it gave wonderful gratification and benefit to all both present and future devotion." It is added then, that Herchenrad, Bishop of Châlons, in the year 865 obtained relics of the precious Pope and Martyr Urban, and built a monastery in his honor in the district of Parthois. Afterwards in chapter 15 he asserts the relics were translated into the crypts, and placed around the body of St. Germanus, and on the right side indeed, that is from the southern region, the bones of Blessed Urban the Pope and of others. The left, that is the northern side, the pledges of the glorious Martyr Tiburtius occupied, with other bodies placed beneath them. Thus there. But as they are called, in the first donation of the Pontiff, Martyrs Urban and Tiburtius, near the body of St. Germanus they deposited them. without any dignity; so they could have been some Martyrs called by the same names as these more celebrated ones, such as even at this time dug up from the Roman cemeteries are carried through all regions.
[11] We have given on February 4 the Life of Blessed Rabanus, Abbot of Fulda and then Archbishop of Mainz, by Rudolf, Priest and monk of Fulda, his disciple: in whose sixth chapter a third bringing of relics is narrated, and these things are inserted: Some bones of these three Martyrs are believed to have been translated to Fulda, "Theodore, brother of Deusdona, with his companion Sabbatinus, brought the bones of SS. Tiburtius and Valerian and Maximus: the first two of whom under Almachius Prefect of the City were beaten with clubs and struck with the sword: but the last was beaten with leaded whips for so long until he gave up his spirit." Miracles are added: but they are common to these and other Relics. Then in chapter 8 these things are narrated: "There is a place distant from the monastery of Fulda by ten leagues or more to the north, by name Rathesthorph, inhabited indeed by monks, but at that time belonging to the aforesaid monastery and to Abbot Rabanus, and deposited in the church of Rathesthorph, in which he newly constructed a beautiful church suitable for divine services: into which he brought the bones of Blessed Cecilia the Virgin and of the holy Martyrs Tiburtius and Valerian, and placed them in a stone sarcophagus behind the altar, the bones of each in separate caskets placed apart, and, as was his custom, prepared a wooden tomb raised above with gold and silver. A title also, declaring the sequence of the deed performed, composed in metrical verse, he wrote in the surrounding with gilded letters, with this inscription added. in this manner:
After the King of Kings, Christ, above the lofty skies Ascended as Victor, the omnipotent Judge; He left here a crowd of servants and a faithful people, Who by word and deeds were to give very many gains. Among whom are these, whose members here rest, They were distinguished by the titles of virtues. These, spurning the pomp of the world, rightly held The palm of martyrdom, and the virginal beauty. Behold two brothers rest here, whom blessed Virgin Cecilia gained for Christ by her teaching. One is Valerian, the other Tiburtius, Distinguished in name, more distinguished in merits. These three persons, coming from the Roman citadel, Rabanus received, O Christ, thy servant; And wishing them to become his patrons, with masterly art He adorned their tomb, and composed this title.
[12] Two arms of SS. Tiburtius and Valerian are thought to be at Bologna: Masini in Bologna Perlustrata celebrates on this day SS. Tiburtius and Valerian as Martyrs, because their two arms are preserved there in the Church of St. Francis. We were at Bologna in the year 1660, and venerated the Relics of various Saints placed in a magnificent structure in the said church; when R. P. Innocent the Guardian offered us an Index of the principal Relics secured with his seal, in which he testifies that SS. Tiburtius and Valerian are honored on account of the said two arms with ecclesiastical office under a double rite.
[13] Tamayo Salazar in his Spanish Martyrology celebrates on this day with great praise St. Maximus, the Prefect's chamberlain, Some body of St. Maximus at Madrid, whose remains are preserved with due honor and celebrated cultus in the monastery of the Discalced Brothers of Blessed Mary of Mercede at Madrid, which is called St. Barbara. Then after recounting his Acts, he adds that the sacred pledges, enclosed in a honorably gilded case, are most frequently venerated by the faithful on the day of his contest, and that he has seen the authentic document.
[14] There is also the body of some St. Maximus the Martyr in the church of the Professed House of the Society of Jesus at Antwerp, which, with the faculty of our Most Holy Lord Paul V, extracted from the Cemetery of St. Priscilla on the Via Salaria, another at Antwerp in the church of the Society of Jesus, Mutius Vitelleschi, Superior General of the Society of Jesus, obtained, and gave to Father Jacob Tirinus, Priest of the Society of Jesus, with letters of donation drawn up on the 15th of March in the year 1616, and signed by the hand of Mutius Vitelleschi, and sealed with a red wax seal. The aforementioned Jacob Tirinus, Superior of the aforesaid Professed House, placed the said body of St. Maximus the Martyr in the church he had constructed: and we continue to celebrate his feast on this April 14; even though we believe the body itself, equally with that which is at Madrid, to be of another St. Maximus. Concerning the same church and the said Jacob Tirinus we have said more on February 3 in the memorial of St. Fortunatus the Martyr, page 329.