Encratis

ON ST. ENCRATIS, OR ENGRATIA,

VIRGIN AND MARTYR AT ZARAGOZA IN SPAIN.

A.D. 304.

Encratis, or Engratia, Virgin and Martyr, at Zaragoza in Spain (St.)

BY G. H.

[1] What concerning this holy Virgin and Martyr seems capable of being expounded in few words is entangled in many controversies among the more recent writers. Lest errors be multiplied, we here propose what is handed down concerning her among the ancient authors, after a few things concerning the Martyrologies shall have been indicated. Tamayo de Salazar in the Spanish Martyrology prefaces thus before the Acts: Her memory is not in Usuard, Ado, and other ancients: "Her memory is celebrated and renowned among our own and foreign writers, so that there is scarcely any writer of Martyrologies who has not brilliantly explained her contest and that of her companions with elogies sung forth. Usuard, Ado, Notker, Rabanus, Maurolycus, Felicius." So he. There exist most accurate indices for Usuard, Ado, and Maurolycus; and we have, for the more convenient use of our work, indices for Notker and Rabanus; and on no day of the year is the memory of Saint Encratis or Engratia found: whose memory also on these days of April Felicius does not mention, and since he generally follows Maurolycus here, without further inquiry we judge that in his whole Martyrology it is not to be found. From these authors Tamayo passes to the Roman Martyrology: in which, after the eighteen Martyrs who suffered at Zaragoza have been treated, these things are added: "In the same place, Saint Encratis, Virgin and Martyr, who, with her body mangled, her breast cut off, and her liver torn out, is in the present Roman, still surviving, was enclosed in prison, until her ulcerated body should rot." Molanus in his first edition of Usuard added nothing concerning this Virgin, but in the second and third editions, after the 18 Martyrs of Zaragoza are reported in Usuard's words, added in his own words: likewise in Molanus "In the same place, Engratia or Encratis Virgin and Martyr." Galesinius adds these things: "In the same city also, of the holy Martyrs Cajus, and Galesinius, Engratia Virgin and Crementius, who, once and again gravely tortured, constant in confession, drank the cup of martyrdom." These from Galesinius have been transferred into the second edition of the German Martyrology. But on April 15 in Grevenus's Additions to Usuard mention is made of Eugaria Virgin and Martyr, and perhaps Grevenus on April 15, and in Canisius of Eucharia Virgin and Martyr: which we think is said of Saint Engratia or Encratis. On April 18 this Engratia, Virgin and Martyr of Zaragoza, is mentioned in Galesinius, in some on April 18 and 20. Canisius, and Ferrarius. In the Évora Breviary of 1548 her feast is celebrated with solemn rite on April 20.

[2] These things having been prefaced from the authority of the Martyrologies, let us proceed to the ancient monuments, and these are those already indicated in the Acts of the 18 Martyrs, both those which are found in the sacred Hymn of Prudentius, The martyrdom indicated by Prudentius, and in the other Acts attached. Prudentius's Hymn is about the said eighteen Martyrs, and begins thus: "Our people, beneath one sepulcher, preserve the ashes of twice nine Martyrs." And then he indicates the principal Saints of other cities: Carthage, Cordoba, Tarragona, Gerona, Calahorra, Barcelona, Narbonne, Arles, Merida, Alcalá, and Tingis, and soon concludes that from each of these cities few Saints are enumerated, but Zaragoza brings back ten and eight Saints, indeed says that it scarcely yields to Carthage or Rome on account of the sacred Mass of Martyrs, who are venerated on November 3. He adds that the Zaragoza triumph was born in the martyrdom of Valerius the Bishop and Vincent the Archdeacon, and of Saint Encratis or Encratides the Virgin. Afterwards Zaragoza is exalted as rich with thrice six sacred candidates, and the names of each are expressed. Finally it is asserted that to the ancient number are to be drawn the maiden Encratis, Vincent, Cajus, and Crementius. All these things being accurately weighed, Saint Encratis does not seem to belong more to the 18 holy Martyrs than do Saints Vincent, Valerius, Cajus, and Crementius. The title of the other Acts was this: and in the ancient Acts. "The Martyrdom of Certain Men of Zaragoza": and after the savagery of Dacian is indicated, it first relates the death of Saint Vincent, then adds these things: "After whose death he shed the innocent blood of eighteen most illustrious men ... adding to this copious martyrdom also the sacred Virgin of God, Encratis, sprinkled with the purple dew of her own blood": and then at the end adds, what we think was first employed, the stratagem of Dacian, by which the Christians were led out beyond the gates and cruelly slaughtered. The same things are contained in Vincent of Beauvais, book 12 of the Speculum Historiale, chapter 130, and Mombritius, and Vincent calls this Virgin Encratis, Mombritius Eugra: and they relate that the other Martyrs butchered outside the gates are venerated on the 9th day before the Kalends of September. But on that day the White Mass of the Carthaginian Martyrs is commemorated, is she venerated on August 24? which they have not sufficiently distinguished from this Sacred Mass of the Martyrs of Zaragoza in this veneration. To these, as we have said, November 3 is sacred. Whether on the said day, the 9th before the Kalends of September, the memory of Saint Engratia was not anciently celebrated, might be doubted from this, that in Grevenus's Additions to Usuard, printed in the years 1515 and 1521, on such a day is read "Saint Engra, Virgin and Martyr, with others." Moreover, whether she suffered on the same day as the 18 holy Martyrs, or on another distinct day: because the relics, as shall presently be said, were found together, on this same day both her birthday and that of the other Martyrs is celebrated together, even with an Ecclesiastical Office under double rite in the monastic Order of Saint Jerome. In the Zaragoza Breviary published in the year 1575 by order of Ferdinand of Aragon, Archbishop of Zaragoza, on this April 16 the following is read.

[3] "The Passion of Saint Engratia and her eighteen companion Martyrs. Spain was once a fruitful region, History of the martyrdom from the Zaragoza Breviary. not only of those things which historians admire, but most of all, of distinguished Martyrs of Christ. Yet no city in Spain was more fruitful of this blessed harvest than Zaragoza, which can truly be called the mother of Martyrs. This city, besides those innumerable Martyrs, unknown by name to men, by whose triumphs it is gloriously adorned — besides Valerius and Braulio, the glory and exemplar of Bishops; besides Vincent the Deacon, plainly the minister of Christ — gave to Christ Engratia (who was once called Encratis) together with those eighteen Martyrs, whose names Prudentius, a man of consular rank, no small portion of the glory of the same city, records. They are: Successus, Martialis, Urbanus, Julia, Quintilian, Publius, Fronto, Felix, Caecilian, Eventus, Primitivus, Apodemus, Gajus, Crementius, and four others, whom that man does not name: of whose number, nevertheless, it is sufficiently established that Lupercius is one; the rest are known by their own name to Christ; to us, only by glory: who, the copious blood of their bodies having been shed, consecrated Zaragoza. Yet among all, most copiously the most blessed Engratia, who, as the same Prudentius says, outlived her own death. For when she had suffered many tortures for Christ, when her sides had been torn by the cruel torturer, all her limbs mangled, her breast cut from her chest; and when she had thus been long held in torments, and many parts of her adorable body were dead; the part of her sacred liver (which was the chief seat of divine love) being torn out by the torturer and dead, still Eugratia survived: at last gloriously she passed to the Lord, to whom her companions had already preceded, about the year of the Lord 306."

[4] Thus far the said Breviary, whose author did not sufficiently carefully read the hymn of Prudentius: in some things to be explained: in which in the second place Lupercus is named, and those who are numbered among them, Gajus and Crementius, or Cajus and Crementius, from the other Martyrs

are to be separated, and of them we shall treat separately hereafter. But that the year of martyrdom is there noted as 306 pleases us less. Dacian indeed left off the care of torturing her spirit until the very end, clearly hastening elsewhere, and carrying off in triumph with him Saints Valerius and Vincent, as principal ones of the Christian name, to strike terror into the others. She also seems still to have been alive after the empire had been abdicated by Diocletian and Maximian on February 19 of the year 304, indeed we shall not be reluctant to believe she extended her martyrdom up to August 24, if any testimonies are produced: for that it was more prolonged, for the singular privilege of her city, Prudentius himself adds, thus singing:

"A raw scar held you long, And long the burning pain clung to your veins, While the fluid of decay wasted your putrefying marrow.

This new title, to be enjoyed, Christ himself gave to our Zaragoza, That it might be the consecrated house Of a living Martyr."

Yet that we should believe, with part of her very liver torn out, she persevered alive not only for two months, three, or more, but even for years, the authority of an Office so recently composed does not sufficiently persuade. Of the Discovery of Relics, the following is contained in the aforementioned Breviary.

[5] "The Discovery of the Relics of Engratia and her companions. The Relics of the most blessed Virgin Engratia, History of the discovery of the relics. and of Lupercius and the other eighteen Martyrs, sharers with her of passion and glory, long lay hidden, unknown to men; until it seemed to God (who is glorious in his Saints, and alone knows how to dispense all moments of time) a fitting time, in which such a precious treasure should, to the glory of the triumphing and the utility of the militant, be revealed in this manner. In the year of human salvation 1389, on the thirteenth day of the month of March, when the church, which was once distinguished by the title of the Holy Masses, now of Saint Engratia, was being rebuilt, and the earth was being dug more deeply for laying the foundations, as is necessary for such buildings; behold a great tomb appeared, and it of marble. Leaving this for a while, eagerly digging they found another stone tomb, this one sealed around with bitumen: in which, reverently opened, there were two separate compartments: of which one contained bones tending to redness, with this inscription: 'Of the Virgin Engratia.' In the other were Relics of an ashen color with an inscription, like the other incised, 'Of Lupercius the Martyr.' Finally, opening that tomb previously found, the heads of the eighteen Martyrs who had suffered with Engratia and Lupercius were discovered, with bones and masses that filled the whole vessel. At which sight the whole city running together from all sides, pouring out into joy and thanksgiving, with pomp worthy of such a gift, the bodies of the Saints were brought into the underground basilica, in which for a thousand years already the masses and bones of the innumerable had rested, and there were honorably laid, and even today are venerated with fitting veneration."

[6] Thus far the Zaragoza Breviary, on March 13, was Lupercius the uncle of Saint Engratia? on which day this Discovery is commemorated with an annual festival, also in Tamayo in the Spanish Martyrology, and in Ferrarius in the general Catalog. Martinus Carillus in the Life of Saint Valerius, chapter 5, describes the history more fully, following Diego Murillo in the treatise on the excellences of Zaragoza, chapter 33, where he says that the sepulchral titles were these: "The sacred body of the blessed Engratia, Virgin and Martyr: The body of Saint Lupercius, her uncle, Martyr": of which author I fear he may have substituted for the anciently discovered titles those that are perhaps read today. Hence what is said of the consanguinity of Saints Engratia and Lupercius needs a more ancient and more certain witness. From the fact, however, that Saint Lupercius's body was buried separately from the others in a special tomb, it is presumed not without great probability that either he was specially joined to the Saint, or held the principal dignity or some other prerogative among the companions of martyrdom: likewise from the red color of Saint Engratia's relics perhaps you would not absurdly conjecture that they had at some time been anointed with balsam. The Sanctuary of the same. The Sanctuary, in which now the aforesaid treasures are kept, is an underground place of the church, supported by marble columns, sixty feet long, forty wide, and twenty high; to which the religious descend by twin staircases from the rear, and seculars by one from the front. In its inner part are three altars: of which the middle one contains two sepulchres placed one above the other, so that the topmost has the body of Saint Engratia, the lower that of her companions. On the Gospel side, over another altar, is the sepulchre of Saint Lambert, of whom below: and on the Epistle side, over the opposite altar, another sepulchre, containing the masses of the innumerable martyrs. There are also, along the right wall of the sanctuary, two altars arranged, enriched with similar masses. Then in the outer part of the Sanctuary (which, separated from the inner by iron gratings around, lies open to the promiscuous access of the common people), on the right side three, and on the left, four altars are seen with sepulchres, containing a heap of sacred masses, besides the twin altars, on one of which the ancient sepulchre of Saint Engratia is seen. I pass over one well and another, full, as some will have it, of holy bodies, because of these we shall treat more conveniently on November 3. I only add, that in the said sanctuary there is also a column to which Engratia was bound when she was tortured, so popular tradition holds; and therefore the devotion of those wishing to have part of it for themselves as relics has grown so great that, unless it had been maturely provided for, by drawing iron plates around it, it would have been entirely crumbled. There twelve lamps continually burn, by whose smoke the beauty of the vault, elegantly painted in blue color with golden stars, is said by Sigüenza and Murillo to be in no way infected. These had grown to thirty when Carillus was writing: who of their smoke, innocent of the colors of the vault, writes only from another's report; not daring, I believe, to affirm their words by the testimony of his own eyes.

[7] The founder or restorer of the place is said to have been Saint Braulio, Bishop of Zaragoza: King John II is healed from a grave illness. its possession came to the Hieronymites on this occasion. John II, King of Aragon and Navarre, father of Ferdinand the Catholic King, in the year 1459 had fallen into a great infirmity of his eyes, and seemed about to lose his sight utterly. When, however, human remedies were not sufficient to remove so great a trouble, he had recourse to the heavenly and to the intercession of the most holy Virgin Engratia. There yet remained the nail, by which the head of the said Virgin is believed to have been pierced; which, when applied to the King's eyes, he was immediately healed by its touch. The King, about to give thanks to God for the benefit obtained, wished to build a monastery for the Hieronymite monks, and having sent someone to the General Chapter, which was celebrated that year, indicated his wish to hand over the church of Saint Engratia to the said Order, and to add and endow a new monastery. But prevented by death, he could not accomplish it, which his son Ferdinand the Catholic afterwards built according to his father's will and testament, and his grandson the Emperor Charles V more magnificently endowed. The body of Saint Faustus, one of these Martyrs, was translated to the region of Alava, and the church of Buxanda, and its feast is celebrated on the day after the Most Holy Trinity, as Marieta relates in book 2, chapters 42 and 102, and Cardoso in the Lusitanian Hagiology on April 26.

[8] Here an end could be put to this relation of Saint Encratis, had not a controversy been raised about the place of her birth. Acts of her martyrdom are published by Tamayo, and are said to be drawn from a very ancient manuscript codex: in which "Encratis, Virgin, Are these Martyrs Lusitanian, daughter of a petty king, or (as others have it) of the King of Lusitania, consented to be betrothed to a certain son of the Duke of the Frontier, who dwelt in the parts of Roussillon: and having chosen eighteen for herself from the Nobles of the whole kingdom, whom she knew to be firmer in the faith, she sets out. But when by a revelation from God she learned that at Zaragoza the crown of her martyrdom was prepared, departing from the way, she disposed to direct her steps fearlessly into the most opulent city," etc. Similar things are contained in the Flowers of the Saints composed by Marieta, Villegas, and Ribadeneira, and are said also to be contained in some of the Breviaries of various Churches. Notwithstanding which, others contend that both Saint Encratis and the eighteen Martyrs were natives of Zaragoza, and confirm their opinion from Prudentius himself. Among these is Martinus Carillo in chapter 4 of the Life of Saint Valerius, or rather are they of Zaragoza. by whom is cited Antonius Nebrissensis in the explanation of the hymn composed by Prudentius about these Saints, who has these things: "The poet celebrates his native land, recounting the eighteen Martyrs and Vincent and Encratis, and two Confessors Cajus and Crementius, natives of the same city," and of Saint Vincent he says: "Who was of Zaragoza, and Encratis was also Virgin and Martyr from the same city." In the same way Maurus Castella in book 2, On the Coming of Saint James into Spain, chapter 23, asserts that Saint Engratia and the rest of the Martyrs were by origin of Zaragoza. Certainly, since Lusitania then had no kings of its own, and in the ancient manuscripts already published and in Prudentius no vestige of this matter appears, we judge rather they were of Zaragoza: and the cited Life, since it can be read in Tamayo, we omit here as a recent fiction, such as we have often found many received and published by him as ancient.

ON SAINTS CAJUS AND CREMENTIUS, CONFESSORS AT ZARAGOZA IN SPAIN.

AFTER A.D. 303.

Cajus, Confessor, at Zaragoza in Spain (St.)

Crementius, Confessor, at Zaragoza in Spain (St.)

G. H.

[1] In the third place among the Martyrs of Zaragoza these two are reported in the Roman Martyrology in these words: "In the same city, of Saints Cajus and Crementius, who, having confessed a second time, and persevering in the faith of Christ, tasted the cup of martyrdom." Inscribed in the lists, In the Zaragoza Breviary of 1573 they are celebrated also on this day, but as we observed above, wrongly numbered among the 18 Martyrs, of whom we treated above. Galesinius placed Saint Engratia between these two, and asserts that these two, once and again gravely tortured, constant in confession, "drank the cup of martyrdom": but instead of "drank," which signified accomplished martyrdom, Baronius prudently substituted "tasted," for Prudentius does not sufficiently indicate that they died by violent death in the Hymn on the Martyrs of Zaragoza set forth above, from which it is pleasing to repeat a few verses, where, after the things said of Saints Encratis and Vincent in number 7, these things are sung:

"With Cajus added, reported by Prudentius, (for he is not to be silent) And you, Crementius, to whom it came to bear A bloodless honor from a second Contest of praise.

Both having confessed the Lord, stood Sharply against the roar of robbers: Both lightly tasted the savor Of martyrdoms."

We shall therefore call them Confessors with Nebrissensis: and estimate their first contest to have been under the Governor Rufinus, as Confessors. not without effusion of blood: in which God forbid that we should feign them to have fallen from the faith, with Francisco de Bivar: whom Tamayo de Salazar would not have wished to follow, if he had directed his mind to these words of Prudentius in the aforementioned Hymn:

"Nor did any of ours yield to the fury without praise, Or empty of glorious blood."

Their second contest, and that wholly bloodless, would have been under Dacian, who, wearied by the torments inflicted on Saint Engratia, feared to be fatigued equally in vain in torturing them, and therefore preferred to waste them with prison misery, until his return: from which, after the empire was abdicated by Diocletian and Maximian, they were freed. How long they lived, or how they died, we leave undefined: for certain, however, we hold that there was some cult of them as Confessors at Zaragoza, because Prudentius wished to remember them so solemnly.