ON SAINT THEOPHILUS,
BISHOP OF BRESCIA IN ITALY.
5th Century.
CommentaryTheophilus, Bishop of Brescia in Italy (Saint)
By the author D. P.
The tables of the Church of Brescia, and from them Galesinius, and after Galesinius Baronius in the latest revision of the Roman Martyrology, make memory on this day of Saint Theophilus, Bishop and Confessor. Ferrari in the Catalogue of the Saints of Italy has this concerning him: "Theophilus, Bishop of Brescia, Successor of Saints Gaudentius and Paulinus, worthily governing the Church of Brescia between Saints Gaudentius and Silvinus, deserved to be reckoned and venerated in the number of the saints. At what precise time he lived, or what he did, has not come down to posterity. This is had from the Annals and tables of the Bishops, that Theophilus was substituted for Gaudentius, disciple of Philastrius and successor ordained by Saint Ambrose, Bishop of Milan." So Ferrari, who then in his annotations cites the oft-memorable and mentioned Sermon of Rampert, Bishop of Brescia, On the Translation of Saint Philastrius: but if he had read it more attentively, he would have found that between Saints Gaudentius and Theophilus is placed in the middle Saint Paul, to others Paulinus, of whom we treated on March 4. Yet this is right, that he preferred to confess the time of the See uncertain, rather than to divine about it, as did Giovanni Francesco Fiorentino in the manuscript Catalogue of Bishops fuller than the one printed, and Bernardino Fayno in Heaven and the Brescian Martyrology: uncertain precisely at what time, of whom the former writes that he sat at the time when Innocent the Supreme Pontiff and Arcadius and Honorius held the rule; Fayno, however, that he rested about the year of the Lord 445, with Leo the Great sitting, and with Valentinian III and Theodosius reigning. By a similar conjecture Ughelli in Italia Sacra writes that the year of the beginning of the Pontificate was about 439.
[2] The aforesaid Fiorentino adds: "The most ancient lists of holy Bishops mention he rested in the Council of the Saints, that his bones once lay at the Council of the Saints, perhaps in the same basilica which Saint Gaudentius, with the relics of the 40 holy Martyrs brought in, dedicated and named the 'Council of the Saints,' although no traces of it or memory of the Relics survive." It is not rash, however, for one to opine that a different church of the same name existed here before Saint Gaudentius, where so many Martyrs' slaughters were once perpetrated, especially since Baronius, in the Roman Martyrology on June 23 following Molanus, affirms that by the name "Council of Martyrs" that place is understood, where the bodies of many Martyrs have been buried, which places were also called cemeteries or dormitories. Molanus collected, and from him Baronius reported, various places from which it may be understood what "Councils of Martyrs" were at Rome and elsewhere; dedicated by Saint Gaudentius: but neither intended to confuse them with the cemeteries of Christians or the basilicas. What then? Not a church or basilica, but a place within them definite and dedicated by a particular rite do we understand, for the bones of several Saints, drawn out from the caverns of the common cemeteries, to be placed more honorably separated from the common sort of other Christians buried in those same cemeteries, and more conveniently to be venerated; what place Gaudentius first dedicated at Brescia, and within what church, we cannot divine, being destitute of the testimony of the ancients.
[3] Wherever that "Council of the Saints" may have been, now certainly (as the same Fiorentino and others assert) the sacred body of Saint Theophilus is preserved in the church of Saint John the Evangelist. now preserved in the church of Saint John the Evangelist: This is among the parishes in Fayno in Catalogue 4 of the Brescian Heaven, ninth in order, called anciently "from outside Brescia" or "in the pomerium," because before the extension of the city toward the western region it stood in the suburb. From 200 years back it was a Provostry under the administration of Presbyters: to which the Canons Regular of Saint Salvator, professing the rule of Saint Augustine, were then summoned, where they still remain, continually reforming the same church, which was falling into disrepair with age. Concerning the bodies resting in this church, such a decree stands in the city's Book of Provisions, dated April 22, 1525: "In the church of Saint John are the bodies of Saints Gaudentius and Theophilus the Bishops, and of Saint Silvia the Virgin: the bodies of this one and of Saints Gaudentius and Silvia, let the heads be separated from them, and placed in silver statues or vases, to be made at the expense of the Reverend Fathers and Parishioners, so that they may be honorably carried with veneration at suitable times through the city."
[4] So then was decreed: but (unless there is an error in the figure) the matter was not carried out, or at least the statues or designated vases were not then made, but only after 70 years, as will appear below, in the fuller history of the Translation then made, of which this memory is found in the said Book of Provisions: "The bodies of Saints Theophilus, Gaudentius and Silvia, which hitherto had been concealed in separate marble arks, in a chapel to the mountain side of the high altar of the church of Saint John—for the illumination of the said chapel the said arks were removed, the Bodies having been first removed. Which Bodies then on Sunday July 9, in this year 1595, with solemn procession around the parish of Saint John, were carried back and placed in the altar newly reformed in the said chapel, license being first obtained by the Reverend Canons Regular of the said church from the Most Reverend Bishop and the Deputies of the City. In which procession were present the said Canons and those of Saint Afra, with their Abbots, having mitres of gold and pastoral staves, and with baldachins woven with silk and gold. In the year 1595 they were taken from old arks, There were also present all the Religious, except the clergy and monks of Saints Faustinus and Jovita, of Saint Euphemia, and of Saint Peter of Oliveto. The regulation of the procession was under the ministers of the City Chancellery: and the walls of the streets were all covered with courtly hangings (spaleriae)."
[5] and carried about through the city. Saint Gaudentius is venerated on October 25. Saint Silvia on December 15. The "spaleriae," with which the walls of the streets are said to be adorned, are so called from "spallis," that is "shoulders"; because for the more convenient resting of the shoulders they are hung before the walls against which one sits: whence in Tuscan any ornament of boards, mats, leathers, or tapestries hung on the wall above the height of the benches is called a "spalliera," which word we could interpret as a "shoulder-rest." The history of the Translation from a manuscript. Furthermore, the order of this whole affair, acted out with this final rite of solemn translation, is found more prolixly and distinctly described in the archive of the monastery of Saint John; whence Bernardino Fayno, Priest of Brescia, diligent investigator of the antiquities of the fatherland for the glory of God (as he himself not vainly subscribed himself in these and other monuments pertaining to April), faithfully extracted and wrote it out for us with his own hand. The fuller history of the Translation I spoke of is such:
[6] The altar renewed, the bodies to be brought in, When the bodies of Saints Gaudentius, the 11th, and Theophilus, the 13th Bishops of Brescia, and of Saint Silvia the Virgin, were lying with less than suitable dignity in three worn-out stone arks of this chapel; the Reverend Father Florian Canalis, Brescian, Canon Regular, moved by supreme piety toward those Saints, at his own expense polished up this chapel, removed the arks, and constructed an altar; in which might be laid the bodies of those same Saints, to be viewed on the day when the nativity of each was celebrated; which meanwhile were placed in a suitable place of the sacristy, and at length on the 7th day before the Ides of July, in the year 1595 after the Virgin's childbearing, by the Very Reverend Father Gregory Masinus, Canon Regular and Provost of Saint John, were translated and deposited in the altar of this chapel in this order.
[7] In solemn procession, Three days before, all the bells of the city, to signify joy, were rung; the temple was draped with hangings and filled with the sweetest odors. Then when the Solemn Mass had been celebrated with due rite and a great and grateful symphony, the guilds of artisans processed, then all the Sodalities of the city with lights. There followed the individual families of the Religious in supplication: last of all the Canons Regular of the Lateran, mixed with the Canons Regular of Saint Salvator, all in white; finally each Body was borne by Deacons under a silken and gold-figured canopy. Under the sacred burden labored the Very Reverend Giulio Mauro of Brescia, Canon Regular of the Lateran, Abbot of Saint Afra; and the same Gregory, Provost of Saint John the Evangelist, shining in pontifical attire and precious mitres.
[8] The arks of the Saints, constructed in elegant form,
were covered and wrapped with Damascene silk and gold cloth. Censers surrounded the sides of each bier: not without miracles, they were carried, the very many bystanders thronged round, carrying lighted torches. The procession was closed by the chief Magistrate of the city, the nobility, and an innumerable multitude of both sexes; with those vexed by evil spirits making an uproar both on the going out and the return: from some of whom the demons are said to have been driven out either partly or altogether. There were those who confirmed that unclean spirits had come out of certain persons in the form of flies or spiders. Wherever the pious procession went, there were many perfumes on every side, sacred altars erected, and the very walls were adorned with various hangings of silk and wool, and with painted tableaux. At set places military cannons, fired with a thundering report, drowned out the sonorous sound of the trumpets.
[9] and laid in the new altar, With these great honors the bodies of the Saints were led through the city: to which, through almost the whole day, were touched innumerable rosaries. At last, by the same Lord Masini the Provost, they were most honorably laid up again in the altar of this chapel: their skulls were each enclosed in their own statues, plated with gold and silver, representing the images of the Saints from the crown to the breast, and made at the expense of the same Lord Florian Canalis. Of the solemn translation of these holy bodies, the replacement in the altar, and the placing of their sacred skulls in their statues, the notary was Don Camillo Guida, Chancellor of the Episcopal Curia, while Clement VIII held the helm of the whole Church, the heads enclosed separately. while the Most Eminent Cardinal Francesco Morosini fulfilled the Episcopal function at Brescia, while the Reverend Father Peregrino Marchetto of Mantua ruled the entire Congregation of Canons Regular of Saint Salvator, while Most Serene Marino Grimani held the chief place in the Venetian Republic, while the Most Illustrious men Silvano Cappello were Praetor and Nicolò Donato Prefect of this city of Brescia.