Prudentius

ON SAINT PRUDENTIUS,

BISHOP OF TARAZONA IN ARAGON.

Prudentius, Bishop of Tarazona, in Aragon (Saint)

BHL Number: 6983, 6981

FROM THE MSS.

CHAPTER I.

The age of Saint Prudentius discussed, and the dispute of the Cistercians of Monte Laturci and of Najera concerning his body.

Turiaso, commonly Tarazona, is a city of Aragon, by which it borders Castile and Navarre, seven miles distant from Calahorra and eleven from Zaragoza; noble for its ancient Episcopal See, Saint Prudentius, Bishop of Tarazona which Saint Prudentius, whom we here present, occupied, as his Acts and the Breviary of Zaragoza printed in 1541 in the Office testify. Meanwhile not sufficiently distinguished from others of the same name, he is conjectured by writers to have lived in various and greatly differing times. Thought the same as others of the same name Alphonsus Venerus, Vasaeus, Baronius, Mariana, and some more recent writers following them, identify him with that Prudentius who buried the body of Saint Engratia, Virgin and Martyr of Zaragoza; with the one who wrote hymns and sacred poems, Bernardus Lucensis, By some referred to the year 300 and 390 Taraffa, Ferrarius, Trujillo. And therefore, to make the times correspond with the facts, the former refer him to the year 300 and the reign of Diocletian, the latter to 390: Sanctorus and Marieta to the year 1126; Tamayo with Bivario from the Chronicle of Maximus to 570. By others referred to the year 570 and 1120 Yepez finally places him between 700 and 900. In such great variety of assigning an age, this at least is certain, that Saint Prudentius by living preceded the year of the Lord 846. This is clear from the act of Ramiro, King of Castile, who, having obtained a victory over the Saracens around this year, as Mariana and others hold, to show himself grateful to God for the benefit received, and having poured out prayer at Saint Prudentius's body, augmented with certain estates the monastery He lived at least before the year 846 in which that body lay. A very ancient manuscript of the same monastery narrates the matter thus: "Battle being joined, the Saracens turned their backs to the swords, and almost seventy thousand of them fell. In which battle Blessed James is said to have appeared on a white horse carrying a white banner; and from that time it began to be said in wars: 'God help me and Blessed James.' From that time also vows and offerings are paid to him in some places. Then King Ramiro entered the church of Blessed Vincent, where the body of Blessed Prudentius rests; there he prayed before the cross of the Lord, and made joyful by the victory, gave and granted to Blessed Prudentius the adjacent lands." Thus there. With about the same times also those agree which we will soon report from documents to be presented; from which it will again be clear that Saint Prudentius passed from life before the year 950.

[2] The body of the deceased was buried in a cave at the foot of Mount Laturci, two miles from Juliobriga, The body was buried at Mount Laturci at the borders of Old Castile; where a church was afterwards built to Saint Vincent, which later assumed the title of Saint Prudentius; and the Cistercians migrated there into the old monastery, which had previously been the Canons', in the year 1181, from the monastery of Sacra-moenia of the Morimund filiation. Juliobriga is distant from there about five miles going toward Burgos; thence Najera (commonly Najara) occurs next: whose inhabitants have an old and very sharp contest with the neighboring Laturcenses about the body of Saint Prudentius; and because the weight of arguments is almost equal on both sides, Those of Najera prove it was carried to them it has seemed good to set them here before the Reader's judgment. The people of Najera prove the body's translation to them from an old epitaph found on Saint Prudentius's tomb, engraved on a gilded copper plate, of this kind:

"The illustrious Bishop Prudentius rests here, From an old epitaph By whom Calahorra flourishes, through whom Tarazona shines. He gave to the Church teachings of faith and morals, Through whom she gains the rewards of perpetual life. King Garcia brought him here and placed him; Because he built this basilica at his own expense."

This translation they refer to about the year 1052, and that from the documents of the same Garcia, King of Navarre, which speak of the foundation of the Najera monastery, in Yepez, volume 6 of the Benedictine Annals, to which this year is subscribed.

[3] They further defend themselves by the diplomas of certain Bishops, in which there is a most clear mention of the body resting with the Najerans: the first, of Cerebrun, Archbishop of Toledo, written in the year 1175, From the diploma of Cerebrun, Archbishop of Toledo is of this kind: "Hence it is that we more attentively admonish your Fraternity in the Lord, and in remission of your sins enjoin upon you: that from the goods given to you by God, you should willingly bestow upon the church of Saint Mary of Naxara; in which, as we have heard by the report of many, Almighty God through the intercession of his most blessed Mother and of Blessed Prudentius, Bishop and Confessor, whose body rests in the aforesaid church, daily works many miracles," etc. To this they add another of Asnar, Bishop of Calahorra, written in the year 1246, in these words: Also of Asnar "Since therefore the silver ark, in which the body of the most blessed Prudentius the Confessor is venerated, in the church of Saint Mary of Naxara, is consumed by age, so that it seems to need no small repair; and since for this and other things which are fitting for the veneration of the said most precious body, the proper resources do not suffice; we admonish your whole community," etc. A third finally is the diploma of Bibianus, And of Bibianus, Bishops of Calahorra likewise Bishop of Calahorra, in which, granting forty days of indulgence to those coming annually to celebrate the translation of Saint Prudentius, he speaks in these words: "Hearing in the year 1267 the miracles and graces which God works at the body of Saint Prudentius, which rests in the monastery of Saint Mary of Naxara," etc. Yepez in the Appendix to volume 6 of the Annals provides documents From documents of the years 1533 and 1602 signed by the public scribes of Najera; in which John Gutierrez, Abbot of the said monastery, in the year 1602, in the presence of several Abbots and other most conspicuous men, is said to have transferred the body of Saint Prudentius, mutilated in the head, from the old ark into a new silver one, together with the said plate containing the sepulchral verses, witnesses of the translation made by Garcia. The same was done in the year 1533 When it was inspected without the head on the 20th day of April, Yepez is the author also from public documents, century 6 chapter 8, and that the plate was then viewed with the body not whole, as elsewhere, by the Duke of Najera Antonio Manriquez, Juana de Cardona his wife, Abbot Diego de Liziniana, and the whole Convent. To these, for the defense of the Najerans, Yepez adds the old Breviary of the said monastery, which also thus makes credible the translation of the body thither: And from the Breviary of the Najera monastery "But after much time the body of the same most holy Prudentius, with the relics of very many other Saints, was translated, namely of Pelagius his disciple, of the most glorious Vincent the Martyr. With worthy honor they were translated by King Garcia, who built this royal monastery of Najera, in honor of our Lord Jesus Christ and of the most blessed Virgin Mary and of the most holy Prudentius."

[4] The Laturcenses on the contrary maintain the body remained with them And these are the things by which the Najerans claim Saint Prudentius for themselves: now to be added are those things which favor the Cistercians of Mount Laturci. These are testimonies of no lesser faith, partly collected from the diplomas of Kings, partly asserted from elsewhere. That Saint Prudentius's body was with the Laturcenses in the year 950 is clear from the following document of Abdica the Abbot, written in the same year in these words: From the documents of Abdica the Abbot in the year 950 "Abdica the Abbot offered the monastery of Saint Prudentius to the Abbot of Albelda through fear of the Saracens. Under the name of the holy and indivisible Trinity, I, Abdica the Abbot, with my Brothers Christopher, Fortunius, Saracino, Dato, Stephen, Rapinatus, with ready mind and whole heart, to you spiritual Father Dulquitus and to the Brothers, dwelling with you in the love of Christ at Albelda in the monastery of Saint Martin, we hand over our souls, and together our bodies, that we may obtain the rewards of heaven. For we above named have had and held, by the nod of Almighty God, conferred on us and confirmed, the church of Saint Vincent and Lord Prudentius, where his venerable body rests, which is situated at the foot of Mount Laturci, with its adjacencies, lands, vineyards, gardens; and likewise the inheritance of Peter the Presbyter, who was our colleague while living and at last died. May this vow of ours obtain firmness in the age. Made the charter at the river Hiberus, era 988." Thus there.

[5] That the same body rested with the Laturcenses in the year 1065 and the following, a double diploma of those years makes testified. In the earlier, Sancho, King of Navarre, thus speaks: And from the diplomas of King Sancho of the year 1065 "In the name of the holy Trinity. This is a charter of donation, which I, Sancho, by the grace of God King, make for the remedy of my soul and of my parents. I give to God and to the Church of Saint Prudentius, where his body rests, the monastery of Saint Augustine near Nalda with its lands, and the monastery of Saint Saturninus of Pavia with its village, etc., that they may serve from there God and Blessed Prudentius through all ages. Made the charter of donation in Najera in era 1103, our Lord Jesus Christ reigning, and under his rule I Sancho by the grace of God King in Najera and Pamplona," etc. In the other the same in these words: "I Sancho, by the grace of God King, ordered this little charter to be made. Finally it has pleased me that I should grant some gift to that monastery of Saint Prudentius, in the place which is called Laturce, because there rests the body of the most blessed man Prudentius the Bishop; and I grant to it the tithes of the valley of Arnedo," etc.

[6] And others of the year 1145 Of the year 1145, the documents of Alphonsus exchanging certain things with the monastery of Saint Prudentius prove the same: "I exchange," he says, "with you, Abbot Martin and the Convent of Saint Prudentius, existing near Clavigium, where the body of the aforesaid Saint Prudentius rests, that village which is called Langunilla," etc. Made the charter at Toledo, era 1183. Of the year 1181 also, from a certain privilege of Diego Ximenius, Lord of los Cameros, written in era 1219, And 1181 it is clear: in which "Besides," he says, "we wish that an Abbey and Convent be established (namely under the Cistercian Order) where the body of Saint Prudentius is believed to rest," etc. In the said temple is seen the epitaph of the same Diego, buried there

in 1186. Finally from the lifting of the siege of Logroño in 1521 Of the year 1521 at last, the neighboring people of Logroño testify: who at that time, with the aid of Saint Prudentius invoked, being freed from the siege of the French, come annually on June 11 to the said monastery in solemn procession with remembrance of the benefit received. At which time this also happened marvelous: that when, through fear of the French, the body placed on a pack animal was to be carried away elsewhere, it could not be moved from the place. Manriquez in the Cistercian Annals for the year 1181 narrates the matter thus: "With the French in that year besieging Juliobriga and devastating the fields round about, the Prudentian monks were in straits. The Abbot, who was then called Bernard of Valladolid, providing for the precious body rather than for himself and his own, resolved to carry it off to farther parts, to be preserved from the incursions of the French the more safely the more remotely. He orders the sacred pledge to be placed on a horse, that it might go out by the vehicle by which it had come. Then, with the monks accompanying, progress was made and they came to the bounds of the sacred home. A wondrous and stupendous matter, though not new! Scarcely had the horse touched those bounds, and behold, swollen and dripping sweat with all its limbs, it stood immobile to the blows of those striking it, and there was no step or motion except in returning. The body was restored to its cave. Whence, keeping watch close by at Juliobriga, it took care of itself without guard, dissolved the siege, and on that very day of April 28 sacred to it, drove off the French, reduced in forces and orphaned of their leader. This the people of Logroño promised to commemorate each year, received from the holy Bishop, carrying out vigils at the sacred body. From the devoted discharge of which vow, they are not retarded by the distance of place, stretched to about eight miles, nor by inclement weather, nor by any other obstacles." To these Bivario in his Commentaries on the Chronicle of Dexter adds that Hadrian VI, in a diploma written in the same year on July 23, says that "in exchange for a little bone of Saint Prudentius, which he had received from the monks of the monastery of Laturci, where his holy body rests, he was sending to them a joint of the hand of Saint John the Baptist."

[7] Probably a part of him is with both parties Manriquez, in volume 3 of the Cistercian Annals, weighing the import of both the testimonies we have brought forward, attributes the body of Saint Prudentius partly to the people of Najera, partly to the Laturcenses; yet granting to these the chief portion, and only some bone to the people of Najera. Yepez above cited does the same, but with almost the whole body attributed to the people of Najera, leaving only the head with a few little bones to the Laturcenses. And so perhaps the matter stands, that the sacred body is divided between both; and while the testimonies say that the body is in both places, "body" is to be taken not for the whole body but for a part; and that this was customary elsewhere, Baronius, in the year 761, treating of the translation of the body of Saint Stephen the Pope, asserts in these words: "But that in the cemetery of Calixtus likewise the body of Saint Stephen the Pope and Martyr is still said to be placed, is thought to come from this, that as was customary in other cases, when the sacred bodies of Saints were wont to be translated, some part was usually left in the former place."

CHAPTER II.

The fabulous Acts of Saint Prudentius, from which a more recent Bishop of Tarazona of the same name is produced.

[8] Bivario with Tamayo admits another Yet Bivario, with Tamayo, goes further, to whom the cited testimonies carry such weight in his Commentaries that he therefore maintains that there were two Saints of this name who were Bishops of the Church of Tarazona. For while he believes those testimonies to be altogether irrefragable, so that he is not confident either of contradicting them on either side or of reconciling them in any other way, he places in them the chief strength and patronage of thinking so; although he does not think he is destitute of other reasons for defending his opinion. For establishing first what is beyond controversy, that Saint Prudentius, with whom we here deal, preceded the year of Christ 800 by living; he says that there are mixed into his Acts certain things which, wrongly attributed to him, [Because of certain things mixed into the Acts pertaining to the times of Alphonso VIII] relate to years much later than his own age; and thus also another Prudentius, likewise Bishop of Tarazona. But those things which are mixed into the said Acts are: first, Alphonsus, King of Aragon, that one, as he says, who with long and happy wars was tamer of the Saracens, and recovered many cities of Spain from their yoke, and departed from life in the year 1134: then the fatal imprecation, at his death, made by Saint Prudentius against the city of Garray, which was of the diocese of Tarazona. Which, that the zealous Reader of truth may rightly judge, it has seemed good to place here the whole fable; thus it runs:

[9] It is handed down to memory the miracle which the Lord did under the seal by Saint Prudentius the Bishop. For in his time, Alphonsus, King of Aragon, wishing to ride against the Saracens, [In which it is narrated that the citizens of Garray, having set out for war with Alphonsus] by royal edict commanded that each man from each house should follow him against the enemies of the faith; and whoever should remain from the army on any occasion, except for love of the King, should vehemently incur his offense. With the appointed day pressing, all followed the army, both soldiers and rustic people, because of the oath and fear of the King. In the province of Blessed Prudentius, within the kingdom of the aforesaid King, was a certain castle on the bank of the Douro, having the name Garray: a town, I say, situated in pleasant places, surrounded by green meadows, with healthful waters, fertile places. From one side the bed of the Douro, from the other side the rivers Terus and Terregronius, and from the east the water of the river of Nebulae: these four aforesaid streams abundantly produce fish. As we have said, almost all the men of this castle followed the King's army, the women and children remained at home. [The priests of the town with their wives were accustomed to live in married fashion] In this same castle were not a few Priests, who loved the world and the slippery things of the world more than to keep the Catholic faith and the commandments of God. The King of Aragon was so long a time occupied with his army against the Saracens, that the sons, left by their fathers nursing at their mothers' breasts, growing to adult youth, sought their parents in the territories of the Saracens. Meanwhile the most ancient enemy, who always strives to deceive mortal man, so deceived the priests of that castle, that, inflamed with shameful and illicit love, they received the wives of those men into their own houses; and they, transgressors of the law, worthy of hate, unworthy of the priesthood, dwelt with them impudently and publicly. What more? It happened to many of those women that they begot sons from men not their own and from abominable Presbyters.

[10] Time having passed, the King of Aragon, And returning from victory, the husbands being kept from the city with great victory and glory, with Saracens in chains, with horsemen and spoils, joyfully returned to his own. The men of Garray, therefore, returning to their own, met travelers: "Hail," they said to those meeting them, asking them about the state and condition of Garray, how their wives and sons were doing. They peacefully and admonishing with chastisement announced how the priests of Garray and the lay sons of the priests had fortified the castle of Garray, and how the priests slept with their wives. They, grieving with great bitterness, entered into counsel how they should act and how they should speak. One of them, more honorable than the rest, before all gave counsel that they should come peacefully to the gates of the castle. But those who were inside, all together with warlike arms drove them off, inflicting wounds and killing, as far as a mountain called Moncayo, which lies on the side of Mount Tygnos. Thence the people of Garray, returning to the castle, day and night carefully guarded themselves and the town. The aforementioned chosen men, remaining on Mount Moncayo, built a wall and castle of hewn stones; and all days with an armed hand, riding to the castle of Garray, and fighting in turn, many fell on both sides.

[11] Meanwhile the King of Aragon died, and dissension in the kingdom, with the devil as author, lasted for many years; With the King dying in the meantime, Prudentius labored in vain for peace and no one, neither Bishop nor Abbot, could bring concord between them, most wickedly disagreeing into diverse parts. This dissension was in the province and bishopric of Blessed Prudentius; who many times wished to make peace firm, but could not recall their savagery. And it happened that by Apostolic command, all the Archbishops and Bishops came to the Council of Bourges. The Archbishop of Toledo and the Bishops of his province prepared the journey; And Bishops as intermediaries and they caused Prudentius, Bishop of Tarazona, to be informed beforehand of the day they would lodge with him. Who, rejoicing with excessive joy, prepared his house honorably, and received them with great devotion and most affectionate embraces. Matt. 4:4 And because he had often read the words of the Lord in the Gospel saying: "Man does not live by bread alone," after the refreshment of foods, desiring also to refresh their souls with discourses, he narrated to the aforementioned Archbishop and Bishops how the deceitful and perfidious enemy had inspired an evil spirit into the people of Garray. Which having been said, tears breaking forth, he asked them to go there together, that by their admonitions they might put an end to the discords of the aforesaid people. They, with willing mind consenting, with cheerful will promised to obey to this.

[12] But the next day the Archbishop of Toledo and seven Bishops came to the castle of Garray, wishing to make peace between the exiled men and those who dwelt in the land of Garray. Assiduously, therefore, and more earnestly for four days, the holy Fathers, praying for peace and concord for them, could accomplish nothing. For the Priests full of iniquity and together with others dwelling in the castle, desiring that the Bishops should depart without honor, counseling among themselves, commanded the butchers Who, wicked, had cat-flesh sold in place of wild game that they should secretly kill fat puppies and cats, and make them fit as if for sale, hide their heads and feet in pits, and where they were accustomed to keep meat for sale in the market, there openly on Thursday show them. No other pork or beef or flesh of any birds or beasts on that day should appear in the castle, so that when the servants of the Bishops came to buy meat, they should find no other. They asked the butchers what that meat was; the butchers asserted with an oath that that meat was from the mountains, more useful, fatter, and sweeter than the meat of other beasts for eating, and that it was necessary to eat them only roasted with fire and seasoned with pepper. The ministers bought the meat, and prepared it unawares, and set it before their lords on the table. The Archbishop of Toledo beginning "Benedicite," But these when brought to the table let out sounds with the others beginning together, the holy Fathers showing deference to Blessed Prudentius, signaled him to raise his hand and bless the things placed. After the blessing, immediately the roasted puppies and cats over the whole table with their own voice grunted. The Archbishop and Bishops, then, terrified with excessive fright, sought their horses and fled in haste. And so departing they ascended Serra-Alba, which overlooks

and is higher than other mountains. Blessed Prudentius therefore asked the Archbishop and Bishops to put on special vestments as for celebrating the sacrifice, That those of Garray, bound by curses, were consumed by lice and with him together to curse the abominable inhabitants of Garray. He himself, supported by the authority of God, cursed Garray with all its inhabitants, and likewise the Archbishop and the other seven Fathers with him. Immediately the curse being made, there fell upon the wicked people of Garray a certain kind of lice, which among the Spaniards are called "Garrapatae" and are wont to bite dogs and cats; so that even in this the heavenly vengeance for their crime might shine forth, and all from greatest to least died from the tearing and piercing of lice. From then on that castle is uninhabitable to this day. These miracles and many others God did through Blessed Prudentius the Bishop.

[13] To these things, which alone complete the whole Life and Acts of the more recently asserted Prudentius, Other arguments of Bivario Bivario adds certain other things which likewise would prove a Prudentius distinct from the one we here present. Among these is a difference of feast, and another day sacred to the Saint about whom they dispute among the Laturcenses, another among the Najerans; among the latter the last Sunday of May, among the former April 29: then the testimony of two going in some way to the opinion before him: first of Florian Ocampo, who in book 1, chapter 6, describing Garray among other cities, says: "Garray, a place at the borders of Soria, Especially of Ocampo or especially noble for this, that in former times it was an Episcopal See: among its many Bishops, however, no one, as we shall say in its own place, was as illustrious as Saint Prudentius." The other of Julian Peter, whom he asserts to have reached by living to the year 1160, contemporary to the more recent Prudentius devised by him: from his Adversaria he produces these things: "It is probable that there were two Prudentiuses, Bishops of Tarazona; one under Diocletian, And the testimony of Julian Peter who, translated to Zaragoza, buried Saint Engratia, translated finally to Tarazona; another much lower in the course of time: both preached to the Calahorrans; the latter to gentiles, the former however to Mohammedans, with great fruit. The prior Saint Prudentius flourished in the year of the Lord 297; but the latter in 1110; the prior is called of Calahorra and of Zaragoza." Further, he says, his opinion is favored by the fact that Saint Prudentius's Acts mention certain words, for instance Canons, and the canonical Third hour chanted before Mass, and reveal the body being buried with a responsory and a prayer. Which since they had not been in use in the Church, as he says, before the year of Christ 1000, he therefore contends that they refer to a certain Prudentius more recent than the one whom he himself, from the Pseudo-Chronicle of Dexter, refers to the year 570. Also favoring, that in the same Acts there is mention of Mohammed and his Saracen worshipers, who in the said year 570 were not yet known.

CHAPTER III.

The arguments of Bivario are weighed, the fable is examined. The ancient Acts are partly indicated, partly sought out.

[14] These are the arguments of Bivario, which seem to us not to have such force, To which it is answered as, prudently weighed, could incline anyone to agreement with him, admitting two holy Prudentiuses of the Church of Tarazona. Testimonies ascribing the body to both the Najerans and the Laturcenses can conveniently be reconciled, if we understand the word "body" not as "whole body" but only as "a part." And indeed that the body of one and the same Saint Prudentius is divided between both, you will easily gather from the fact that the Najerans keep the body, but, as we saw above, lacking the head. The Mohammedans and their worshipers mentioned in the Acts could indeed favor some more recent Prudentius, if it were certain that the other with whom we here deal lived before the year 600: which the Chronicle attributed to Maximus asserts, but those knowing historical matters rightly despise it as supposititious. Investigating what is certain on this matter, Of Saint Prudentius only this is certain, that he lived before the year 846 we have already found that Saint Prudentius lived at least before the year 846: of the age of earlier times, no certainty is found anywhere, if any is to be attributed to him. Saint Prudentius could therefore have been contemporary with the times in which the followers of Mohammed summoned from Africa settled in Spain, opposite their coast, that is, a little after the year 700. Moreover, the Acts themselves, in that place where they mention the Mohammedans, how weak their faith is, appears from this, that they say they worshiped an idol of Mohammed: certainly the Mohammedans are not idolaters, nor do they ever venerate their pseudoprophet in an idol.

[15] The names of Canons, the canonical Third Hour, The writings of Julian are spurious of the Responsory, of the Prayer, no more favor a more recent Prudentius: for, contrary to what Bivario unlearnedly said, they were in use in the Church before the year 1000, indeed before the year 846. But be it that these also are more recent, as certainly more recent are the names Ximeno for Simon, Ebro for Iberus, etc., nothing else follows from this than that the Acts are not held in the original style of a contemporary author—if an author was contemporary. The testimony of Julian destroys itself in a way: for if he was contemporary with some more recent Prudentius, why does he speak of him as removed from his own age? Why does he say that there were two "probably" and not rather "certainly"? Certainly living in the flower of age and on the same soil with the more recent, he could have pronounced of him with certainty; but of the prior not even suspect through any suspicion. Florian Ocampo is fittingly understood of the Prudentius whom we here give, Ocampo can be understood of one Prudentius and not so recent one only, and who lived before the year 846. For nothing forbids believing that before this year, with African barbarians occupying the towns of Aragon, the Episcopal See of Tarazona of Saint Prudentius was occupied by them; with Garray safe meanwhile, which he for some time and his successors (for Ocampo says there were several Bishops of Garray) held as their Episcopal See. To which also makes this: that those who defend the Garrayan Prudentius as distinct from the one whom we here give, can produce no Bishops of that town either before or after him. Morales, continuing Ocampo's annals, and the years to which the latter had promised to speak more fully of the Garrayan Prudentius, brings forward no traces of even the smallest monuments, adding that of this more recent Prudentius, if indeed Ocampo speaks of him, he has found nothing except in this writer. The discrepancy of feast among the Laturcenses and the Najerans is a weak weapon: for it is very common in the Church that even the same Saints are venerated on different days; especially those whose Relics have been translated, as it can scarcely be doubted happened to Saint Prudentius.

[16] The remaining narrative above was the crime of the citizens of Garray, and the curses pronounced against them by their Bishop under Alphonsus the Warrior. The narration about the people of Garray mixed into the Acts seems fabulous That narration, besides being consigned by many others, even on Bivario's own testimony, to the most fabricated fables, to us carefully weighing the whole matter, seems deservedly to be sent away to the same and not another place. For what? When Prudentius was snatched from Tarazona, the chief seat of his episcopal cares, by the barbarians, while now only the town of Garray and perhaps a narrow vicinity besides remained to him as Pastor, was his industry in feeding his afflicted flock so small, that his Priests, with himself looking on, should dare to commit adultery with impunity? If they dared, why did not the holy Prelate oppose the evil while still in its beginnings? From the circumstances But had he as many Priests in one town as citizens who had gone out to war? But why did only the fathers go out, and not rather their grown sons? Was that war so grave and so long without interruption, that from some interval of quiet no one returned home to greet his widow, wife, and children? He who considers these things rightly makes the credibility of the said narration suspect to himself. Now indeed, who would believe that King Alphonsus, if he was then still alive, would have wished to leave unpunished so signal a daring of adulterous Priests, who kept his soldiers, dear to him and victors in long wars with him, from their paternal and own homes? And that Alphonsus was still alive at that time may be gathered even from the said narrative itself, by the one who observes that it is there said, that after the citizens had already been driven out from their town by force, and fortifying themselves on a neighboring mountain had already fixed their seats there, only then did Alphonsus depart from life. From the false assertion of the Council of Bourges But nothing more openly calls the whole matter into the suspicion of a fable than the Council of Bourges, mentioned among other things there, of which kind none existed even in that entire century: seeing which, Bivario, lest he should be left without a council, to which the Spanish Bishops could be said to have gone at that time, when they assisted Saint Prudentius cursing the people of Garray, gratuitously seizes upon the Council of Pisa celebrated in the year 1134, and says that it must be substituted for "Bituricensi" (of Bourges) erroneously written there. I omit to say how ridiculous the very deed of the people of Garray, selling cat-flesh to the Bishops for wild game, appears.

[17] Finally, if, as the champions of a more recent Prudentius wish, he was Bishop of Tarazona under King Alphonsus, though he had fixed his See not at Tarazona, as being still in the power of the Moors, [From the act of Alphonsus granting the bishopric of Tarazona to Michael in the year 1119] but in the town of Garray: if, I say, this is so, Alphonsus certainly, having recovered Tarazona in the year 1119, would have restored his Bishop to it, especially him whom he knew to be a holy man, exiled from his own and chief See, hitherto occupied only with a narrow part of it. But when Alphonsus received Tarazona by surrender, he took care to place over it a Bishop named Michael. So in book 1 of the Annals of the Kingdom of Aragon in the said year, Zurita testifies in these words: "Tarazona, through which the Chalybs river, rising from the roots of Mount Caunus, flows, rich in a fertile and pleasant region and abundance of fields, is snatched from the dominion of enemies. The sacred building and See of the Church, illustrious in Gothic times, is restored. Michael the Bishop is put in charge, and his diocese is extended over a great part of Celtiberia." That this Michael extended his episcopate until the year 1150, Who held it until the year 1150 appears partly from the said Zurita, partly from Briz in the History of San Juan de la Peña; and from Geographers we have Garray, about five miles distant from Tarazona, also numbered in part of Celtiberia. These things notwithstanding, however, the Directory for reciting the Offices of the Saints of the Church of Tarazona, printed in 1664, mandates sacred cult to a twin Prudentius: the prior on April 28, the latter likewise Bishop of Tarazona on November 14. What then, if Diego Escolanus, Bishop of Tarazona, by whose authority that Directory came forth, so decided from the opinion of Bivario? He is not the first nor the only one who in the present century, rashly credulous to Pseudo-Dexterian and similar fictions, has disturbed the Fasti of their Churches, and given occasion for just complaints to judicious and learned Spaniards.

[18] Ghinius, Molanus, and Ferrarius have inscribed Saint Prudentius on April 28 in their Martyrologies; and the Roman Martyrology has this: Mention of Saint Prudentius in the Martyrologies; relics "At Tarazona in Spain, Saint Prudentius, Bishop and Confessor." What from his Relics has been scattered to various places, Manriquez in the Cistercian Annals thus briefly commits to memory: "Tarazona, the ancient See of the Saint, has for about three hundred years had an arm, sent by the Prudentians, as a great gift. Vitoria, which rejoices in the natal soil of the man, with two bones received from the same. Huerta, a royal monastery, with three small ones; finally, Pope Hadrian VI carried with him two fragments, not large, to be laid up in his own sanctuary at Rome."

[19] The Life of Saint Prudentius, as if edited by Pelagius his nephew and Archdeacon, The Acts from 4 MSS. published by Bivario Bivario first brought to light in fol. 549 of his Commentaries on the Pseudo-Maximus chronicle, extracted from four codices: Ferrariensis, Saint Prudentius's, and Buxetensis (which, he says, is with me), and the Cistercian Lectionary, but "with those things which had been added by an unskilled compiler about the Garraytan Prudentius, as foreign to Pelagius, far removed and restored to their own author." But what if these are written in exactly the same style as the rest? Will even then the scribe of these rather than of those be believed to be Pelagius? I fear indeed lest the same one who wove that fable reformed the whole style of the old MS., and with the same faith with which he added that, also added the clause about the scribe Pelagius, perhaps devised by himself, to gain credibility for a most inept fiction. But why on fol. 552, about to give the Acts of the Garrayan Prudentius, does Bivario profess that he gives them drawn from only two MS. codices, namely from the Laturcensi of Saint Prudentius and the Ferrariensi, where they had been mixed with the Acts of Saint Prudentius? Was that fable absent from the Buxetensi and Cistercian MS.? Then certainly those would be of greater credibility with us and alone would deserve to be cited, especially the Buxetensia, which are indicated by Bivario to have been written in a style somewhat different from the others.

[20] With judgment therefore suspended concerning the name, age, and sincerity of the author, we shall give the Life on Bivario's credit, More sincere fragments sought until the Buxetensi MS. copy or some similar one someone may suggest to us, which we have not hitherto been able to obtain; although the Justiciar and ordinary Judge of the city of Tarazona Don Pedro Perez, and the Consuls and Senators of the same city Don Luis de Casavade y Blasco, Don Antonio de Rama y Aziona, Don Antonio Navarro, Don Francisco del Corral, Don Lorenzo Bonel, having learned of Father Bolland's death, ordered letters to be written to his successors in the year 1666 on September 20, through their secretary John Francis de Arnedo, and confirmed them with their own signatures, in which they enumerated the tutelary Saints of their city, and testified a ready will to suggest whatever monuments might be needed. But the same one who had urged the aforesaid illustrious Lords to give us this hope, Hieronymo Xaray de Morales, made the same void. For when from the response he had learned that here a second Prudentius was doubted whether he had ever existed in the nature of things, and that the chronicles published under the name of Dexter, Maximus, and their followers were not received, to which he wished all faith to be given as most sacred; he withdrew his hand from the begun work, and dissembled to carry out what had been commanded him by the Senate. We meanwhile profess that thanks are owed by us to the Senate of Tarazona, for what it piously wished; and we wish it may find another more faithful executor of its will.

[21] We also more willingly profess that the Life of Saint Prudentius is given by us from Bivario rather than from Tamayo; Tamayo's credibility in these matters is suspect not only because he prefaces that he took from him, but even more because Tamayo has been convicted with us by manifold experiment of passing off, as sincere copies of ancient writers, Lives interpolated at his own discretion. And, not to go too far afield, see, I pray, at November 14, with what sincerity he transcribed from Bivario the Acts of the second, or more truly fictitious, Prudentius. Here he had found nothing else in his MSS., such as they were, than what is set forth by us in §2. Tamayo, judging the narrative mutilated in head and tail, as extracted from the Acts of another Prudentius, prefaced a beginning about the lineage and homeland of the second: then added a conclusion about his last life and death; and before he comes to the Translation of the body to Najera under King Garcia, he writes thus: "His body was buried in his church, on whose sarcophagus this epigram was inscribed."

"This man was Bishop of Tarazona (if we believe these Acts Which we have seen), chaste, humane, keen. And of the epitaphs proposed by him Chaste: for he strove to compose the shameful Incests of the people: prudent, but the crude crowd cannot. Then he was humane: because while he desired to prefer life For the sake of peace, nothing but gentle things avail. Hence keen, hence rigid, he curses the citizens of the city, All of them: and at last the Saint flies to the stars. The Bishop died in peace, when the day often Nine days twice past the Kalends of December arose.

ERA MC LXXII."

[22] If you ask, whence these? He answers on this April 28, "from my MS. Codex"; The imposture is proved from which, namely, so many epitaphs scattered throughout the whole Hispanic Martyrology under the name sometimes of Julian Peter, sometimes of Aulus Haly, sometimes of no one; but (by which the imposture itself is betrayed) all of one and the same vein and style, though each one should have to be attributed to the most diverse places, times, and authors, if they had truly been composed in antiquity. To persuade of this, the barbarism of style is affected in vain, since it is itself such as to present the very marks of its novelty, while it uses solecisms altogether unlike the solecisms of the ancient age. So that concerning that Codex of Tamayo, it must altogether be judged, after those Pseudo-chronicles which we have so often refuted, that the book of Songs has been fabricated and thrust upon Tamayo to prop up so many tottering contrivances: unless someone prefers to suspect that Tamayo himself is the author of those songs, which as a younger man, and wholly contemplating the admirable names of Dexter, Maximus, and Julian, he strung together, then no better as a Poet than afterwards as an accurate and faithful historian.

CHAPTER IV.

The Acts of Saint Prudentius from ancient MSS. published by Bivario.

In the Commentaries on the Chronicle of M. Maximus, fol. 537.

[23] Prudentius, Bishop of Tarazona, was born in Spain, Boyhood passed piously of parents rich according to the dignity of the world, illustrious in the faith of Christ, and most devoted to good works: who began, almost from infancy itself, to instruct the offspring received in holy faith and letters. He, by the inspiration of divine clemency, although he was a boy in age, yet was girt with virtues: so that he surpassed all his peers in wisdom, and the holy Scriptures which he read he retained almost all by heart. For he was so full of sacred genius and meekness, that he quickly recalled his discordant peers to the concord of peace, and himself, fasting, fed the poor with his own food. Still an infant, he meditated on the word of God, and the faith which afterwards he taught as Pastor. ^a Thus, as we have said, Prudentius was begotten of a noble and religious father, named ^b Ximeno, and was a native of the town which is called ^c Armentia; whose line of family always flourished, a most generous model of nobility and religiousness shone forth.

[24] When the boy Prudentius had reached his fifteenth year, and burned wholly in the love of God, He crosses the Iberus leaving his homeland and parents he crossed the river which is called ^d Ebro; and on that very night, resting with certain shepherds, he spent the whole night in God's praises: he ran through the psalmody with perfect heart; and teaching the unbelieving shepherds the Catholic faith and the word of God, holy and religiously correcting their wandering and unclean and bestial life, he amended them in many things. Morning having come, bidding farewell to the shepherds, he departed: having set out, he reached Serra-Alba, and not ceasing to take the way, in green places he descended by a torrent which is called ^e Douro; and on that night he lodged in a certain mill with a few. On that same night he heard a rumor that in a hollow rock above that river a certain Hermit dwelt. Hearing which, rejoicing in heart, at sunrise taking the road, he came near that place; from the other side of the river he saw the entrance of the cave in a steep place. But the most holy boy Prudentius, considering within himself by what art he might cross the torrent, began to walk back and forth, asking counsel of God with perfect heart. Thus walking, he often looked toward the opening of the cave, And around the Douro and sang the seven Penitential Psalms. The Hermit, coming out of his oratory, came to the mouth of the cave, and seeing the boy, marveled how he so incautiously walked. He called out with a loud voice, and the boy hearing him looked up; and seeing the man of God standing upon the rock, was filled with joy; and trusting perfectly in God, walked over the waves of the Douro with dry foot, and climbed the rock where the cave was, and embraced the feet of the man of God.

[25] ^f Saturius (for so was the Hermit called), seeing so great a miracle, that the water offered itself to the boy about to cross with dry foot to tread, Having found Saint Saturius he joins himself to him trembling to the ground with tears prostrated himself beside the boy. There for about an hour both lay weeping, each asking a blessing from the other. But the Hermit, not being able to overcome the boy, with hand extended raised him from the earth; and signing him with the sign of the holy Cross, and leading him by the hand, brought him into the oratory. After prayer he asked him many things: first, he received him as a disciple to be instructed, whom afterwards, instructed in good things, he loved as a master; because God had bestowed such grace upon him, that he was venerable and marvelous to the others, not only by the middling but even by the elders, he was preceded in honor. The holy boy dwelt in that same cave with the aforesaid man of God for nearly seven years: and both, like two animals, day and night ruminating on the divine pastures, persevered in one praiseworthy life, until the happy soul of Saturius, the Lord inviting, should go from this valley of hunger to be satisfied at the table of the Lord.

[26] When more mature, he preaches at Calahorra God thus arranging the acts of the aforesaid young man, he, now most well instructed, left the cave we have mentioned, and closed the door. Having God always before his eyes, he went to the city of ^g Calahorra, situated not far from the river Ebro, where many had fallen away from the faith. And when the citizens of Calahorra had been, by the warnings and preaching of Prudentius, recalled to a sounder mind and to the path of truth, the Bishop of that city, ^h warned beforehand by an angelic revelation, chose Blessed Prudentius as a Canon of his Church ⁱ. And so the man of God Prudentius, faithfully and industriously keeping God's precepts, devoted himself wholly to the service of the heavenly King.

expended. And since a city set upon a mountain cannot be hidden, his fame, which could not be hidden longer, came to all neighboring cities and castles; and the infirm afflicted with various illnesses were brought to the feet of that Blessed man, and received health by his merits.

[27] But since he did not wish popular favor to applaud him, He migrates to Tarazona taught by the divine Spirit, at a certain time he secretly departed from that city, and humble went to the city of Tarazona. Entering the city, he was often associated in the church with the sacristans, and exercising the office enjoined on him with humble solicitude, like a sheep, the future Pastor, remained in the church without complaint. Time having passed, the Sacristan died, and in his place they judged Blessed Prudentius suitable to be appointed. Living under that office, he was promoted to sacred Orders. As time passed, the Archdeacon of that same Church died in the Lord; and because Prudentius was found prudent in ecclesiastical matters, by the nod of God, who drew him gradually to greater things, he was substituted as Archdeacon by the favor of all. Where Archdeacon Who, like a good steward, manfully ruled the Archdeaconate, and devoutly fulfilled the precepts of Christ in his heart: by refreshing orphans, visiting the poor, consulting for all the Church clergy, bountifully distributing his goods to the poor, reforming those in discord to the good part. And such virtues shone in him in that place, that the sick from places adjacent and remote flocked to him: to whom God, by the prayers of the blessed man and the sign of the holy Cross, granted their former health.

[28] Then the Bishop of Tarazona, weighed down with infirmity, And at length he is chosen Bishop with the holy Fathers fell asleep in peace. After the death of this Bishop, to many Clerics and laity and women, through the Holy Spirit, by the command of an Angel, it was manifested and revealed that the election be confirmed upon Blessed Prudentius the Archdeacon. On the seventh day after the Bishop's burial, all the Clerics of the city, together with the citizens, orphans, and poor, from the greatest to the least, were gathered, and with one voice cried the election upon that same Prudentius the Archdeacon present, saying: "Let Blessed Prudentius receive the Episcopal care and the Chair: because he is the father of us all, and the consolation of the infirm and the refreshment of the poor." With the Lord granting, the election solemnly made, after sixteen days he was consecrated Bishop in the same church of Tarazona.

[29] Blessed Prudentius lived a long time with great love and humility in his Episcopate; Having gone to Osma for the sake of peace and where there was dissension and schism in neighboring cities, that blessed man diligently restored to peace both Clergy and people. In those days ^k, when he had come at the invitation to compose peace between the Bishop of Osma and the Clergy of his Church, and was near Osma, two bells which were wont to be rung on festive days at Terce, at God's command, at the coming of Blessed Prudentius, sounded without the touch of a man, until before the Altar he prostrated himself in prayer. The Bishop and Clergy of the Church received him with great reverence, knowing without doubt that he was a Saint of the Lord. The Bishop of Tarazona remained for three days in the city of Osma; and the dissension which the enemy of peace had sown between the Bishop and Clergy of that city, by God's will, he entirely dissolved: and by his merits demanding, the Lord gave peace to the Church of Osma. But now when the day was turning to evening, saying "Farewell" to all, He falls into sickness he sat down to supper with the Clerics. After the hour of Compline, prayer having been made, he went to bed; and as he was accustomed, he sang the seven penitential Psalms, and fortified himself with the sign of the holy Cross, and immediately fell asleep. The hour of cock-crow passed, waking from sleep, he was weighed down with such infirmity that he could scarcely call his Clerics. They, hearing the voice of their most holy Father, rose quickly and all came before him. They, seeing that he was weighed down with such infirmity, warned him to receive the Body of Christ. The Viaticum having been received with ineffable devotion, by revelation of the Holy Spirit he openly foretold to all the day and hour of his dissolution.

[30] Pelagius therefore his Archdeacon, after the third day, seeing and knowing And shortly dies that now the Lord was calling him from the way to the homeland, thus spoke to him: "Father, the day of your death approaches: after your death where do you wish to be buried?" The most blessed Prudentius answered: "O Pelagius, my Lord Jesus Christ knows where my body will be buried. But I entreat your benevolence and command, that you place my body on the mule which I was accustomed to ride; and where it rests, there prepare a sepulcher for me." And so the venerable ^l hero, on the day and hour which he had foretold, passed to Christ, full of faith, illustrious in holiness, lover of peace, and wonderful teacher. There arose therefore a dissension between the Clerics of Saint Prudentius and the Clergy of Osma, who wished to intend this, that they might keep the Blessed Body at Osma. Pelagius the Archdeacon, To the people of Osma the body is immobile wishing to still the discord, thus addressed the Clerics of Osma: "Dearest Brothers, let quarrels between us be destroyed: by whomever he shall allow himself to be moved from the place, let them receive the body." Which thing pleased all. At once the Bishop of Osma and all his Clergy with an adorned procession approached the bier, and could in no way move it, spending the whole day and night in labor in vain.

[31] And easily lifted by the people of Tarazona The next day, after Mass had been celebrated, the Clerics of Tarazona, who were obedient disciples of the blessed Man, saddled the mule; and drawing the venerable body lightly from the church, placed it on the mule. Saying "Farewell" to all and giving thanks, they let the mule go on the way without a driver, and followed after him. The mule going thus before with the Clerics following all day, that animal carrying the blessed burden, where the day sought its setting, made the limit of the journey and rested. The aforesaid Pelagius and the others thought that the Saint had chosen that cave there; and wishing to place the body down, they could not at all. The next day before sunrise, the mule rising up with the body, began the journey, and on that day, overcoming with great efforts the steepness of many places, descended sloping valleys; and passing the torrent which is called ^m Lecia, began to climb a terrible and deformed rock. The animal went before, the Archdeacon and other Clerics followed his footsteps, wearied, tired, tortured, Miraculously it is placed in its own place fearing and marveling how the mule could climb that terrible place with such momentum. Around the ninth hour he came near the top, and bent to the right part where there was a cave. There the mule entered with the body of Saint Prudentius, and with bent knee rested there. But Pelagius the Archdeacon and those who were with him, placing the holy bier on the ground, lit candles and tapers, and after prayer took food, and throughout the whole night devoted themselves to prayers. "Blessed Prudentius was buried on the day before the Ides of April* by his sons with great devotion" ⁿ. Pelagius, his humble Archdeacon in life and death, in a humble and truthful style rather than with lofty and composed discourse, briefly described these things of his life: The Life is said to have been written by Pelagius and in the place of burial founded a church with great building; in which omnipotent God, for the love of his Confessor, worked many and great miracles: he, to whom be honor and glory, power and dominion, through the immortal ages of ages. Amen.

ANNOTATIONS.