ON SAINT CARUS, BISHOP AND MARTYR,
AT ATINA IN ITALY.
ABOUT THE YEAR 249.
HISTORICAL COMMENTARY.
Carus, Bishop and Martyr, at Atina in Italy (St.)
D. P.
[1] The anonymous authors of the Chronicle of Atina, published by Ferdinand Ughelli after volume 1 of Italia Sacra from a very ancient manuscript codex of the monastery of Fossanova, and continued up to the year 1355, introduce mention of Saint Carus, eighth bishop of that city, with these words: Affection toward the body of Saint Mark is his martyrdom, "Pontianus in the last year of his Pontificate ordained in the city of Atina Carus as bishop, who sat twenty-two years, three months, twenty-two days. Who, when he was occupied in prayer with certain of the faithful, beside the body of Blessed Mark, for a certain demoniac, the pagans rushing in killed him. His blood leaping upon the demoniac, he frees one possessed, immediately this man was cleansed. Moreover, he was buried there on the third of the Kalends of May." So it reads there: more and more authentic things have been denied to us by wicked men, by whom, as is read in the History of the Discovery and Translation of Saint Mark, published on the preceding day, the ancient church of Saint Mark was devastated and reduced to the ground.
[2] Ughelli, the aforementioned, transferred the words of the Chronicle into volume 6 of Italia Sacra, and Philip Ferrarius had only these before his eyes in his catalogue of the Saints of Italy on this day, he is counted among the Protectors of the city, citing the monuments of the Church of Atina, and the book of Pietro Paolo Florio of Urbino concerning the Saints who are Protectors of Atina; nor does the Italian manuscript booklet about these same men suggest more, of which mention was made on April 1 when we were treating of Saint Prudentius; only the prayer "Our infirmity" is added, taken from the Common of a Martyr-Pontiff; from which and from other things said there we suspect that it is not a very ancient custom at Atina to venerate the same Bishop by the recitation of the ecclesiastical office. Moreover, Ferrarius must have read the aforementioned chronicle with others' eyes, when he wrote that Saint Prudentius administered the church of Atina after Saint Carus: for in it is read that between each Vigilantius mediated. If the characters of time noted in the chronicle were indubitable, Carus would have held the See of Atina from the year 237 to 259: how long he held the see is not entirely certain: but then his successor Vigilantius would have been substituted by Pope Stephen not in the first year, as the chronicle says, but in the third and last year of his Pontificate: moreover, there would be a greater difficulty in Dimitrius, predecessor of Carus, who according to the same Chronicle, ordained in the first year of Calixtus, would have held the episcopacy for 31 or 38 years, and so could not have made room for his successor Carus before the year 242 or 249. Having noted this, Ughelli holds (in his Bishops of Atina, where for Carus he writes Corus) that the series of them can scarcely be corrected, namely, if it is compared with the Roman Pontificates incorrectly noted.
[3] If however you either subtract ten years from the aforementioned Dimitrius, and restrict to sixteen the years of his prolonged blindness in extreme old age, or conceive that Carus presided for only ten years (for it was easy for numbers in one place or another to be corrupted by a scribe by the addition of one decade), it will perhaps not be so difficult to reconcile with true chronology that very series of the Bishops of Atina which we have mentioned: on account of the added years of the Roman Pontiffs. provided you note that the authors of the Chronicle calculated the years of the Roman Pontiffs from the chronicle of Eusebius, and transferred them and the names of the same Pontiffs to the ordinations of their own bishops, just as the number of years assigned to each bishop in the older monuments required. From which however it follows, that of their own they supplied the notice under which Pontiff each Bishop was ordained: perhaps even gratuitously assuming that it was always done by a Roman Pontiff. Ferrarius in the general Catalogue refers the same Saint Carus to April 19 of this month: citing both there and in this place in the other Catalogue the tables of the Church of Atina. To this day April 29 the same man Nicholas Brautius, Bishop of Sarsina, honors him with this distich:
"Carus, consecrated by the highest Pontiff, at the altars Fell for Christ, slain like a lamb."
ON SAINTS GERMANUS THE PRIEST,
PROSDOCUS THE DEACON, AND VALENTINUS,
MARTYRS AT ALEXANDRIA, AND PERHAPS ELSEWHERE.
HISTORICAL COMMENTARY.
Germanus, Priest, Martyr at Alexandria (St.)
Prosdocus, Deacon, Martyr at Alexandria, or perhaps elsewhere (St.)
Valentinus, Martyr at Alexandria (St.)
G. H.
[1] The most ancient copy of the Hieronymian Martyrology, which is now preserved at Echternach, inaugurates this day thus: "III Kalends of May. At the city of Alexandria, Saint Germanus the Priest. And elsewhere, Prosdocus the Deacon and Valentinus." On the contrary, in three other copies of the same Hieronymian Martyrology, namely the Lucca, Corbie, and Blume, the last being omitted, the two former thus
are joined: "At Alexandria, the birthday of Saint Germanus the Priest, of Prosducus the Deacon." In the Barberini manuscript it is thus: "At Alexandria, the birthday of Saints Germanus the Priest and Prostocus the Deacon." But in Notker it is written "Prosdocus." On the contrary in the manuscript codex of the Queen of Sweden, cited by Holstenius, these things are handed down: "At Alexandria, the birthday of Saint Germanus. And elsewhere, of Prosdaus the Deacon." But with the place omitted it is read in the Prague manuscript: "Germanus the Priest and Prosdocius the Deacon." Germanus the Priest alone is mentioned and ascribed to Alexandria by Grevenus and by the manuscripts of the Vatican of Saint Peter, of Tournai of Saint Martin, of Trier also of Saint Martin, of Montecassino, of Altemps, and of Saint Cyriac. Likewise the manuscripts of Aachen, Reichenau, and Rheinau, but in these three is added: "And at Nicomedia, of Prosducus or Prosdocus the Deacon." Of the Martyrs of Nicomedia we shall treat shortly, among whom none is assigned as Prosducus. In the Augsburg manuscript of Saint Ulrich and in the Paris manuscript of Labbeus another error is committed, when it is thus written: "Of Alexander, Germanus. Elsewhere of Prosdocus or Prostucus": as if some Alexander Martyr were to be added. In the Brussels manuscript of Saint Gudula and the Trier manuscript of Saint Maximin, Saint Germanus is designated as a Bishop. In the Arras manuscript, the deposition of Saint Germanus the Bishop and Confessor is celebrated. In the Liège Ado manuscript of Saint Lawrence and the Florarium manuscript, Saint Germanus or Germinus is commemorated as Priest and Confessor. But in ancient monuments he is regarded as a Martyr, and is so celebrated in the Calendar of the Breviary written on parchment which is preserved among us. Galesinius, as he says from old manuscripts but corrupt, joins several Martyrs in this way: "At Alexandria, the blessed Martyrs Vitalis, Christopher, Germanus, Prosdocius, and Urban." Of these, Urban is to be referred to the following class, Vitalis to the fourth, Christopher is not mentioned elsewhere, except by Ferrarius, who in his Notes describes these Saints from Galesinius. Valentinus is noted in the Tournai and Lobbes manuscripts, but joined with the Nicomedian martyrs, as will shortly appear. There is also a Germanus, Abbot and Martyr, inscribed in Grevenus' Appendix to Usuard on April 23: whom we have referred here, because we fear an error was made in the title of Abbot: otherwise he who taught Saint Eudocia the beginnings of the Christian faith on March 1 was a monk, and could have died a martyr: but it is not our custom to found the veneration of Saints upon conjectures.
ACTA SANCTORUM. ON SAINTS PRUDENTIUS, MARTIALIS, SABBATIUS, CODOMANUS, BASILIUS, GERMANUS, FILOCASTUS, BUDENTIUS, URBANUS AND PAGATA,
MARTYRS AT NICOMEDIA IN BITHYNIA.
HISTORICAL COMMENTARY.
Prudentius, Martyr, at Nicomedia in Bithynia (St.)
Martialis, Martyr, at Nicomedia in Bithynia (St.)
Sabbatus, Martyr, at Nicomedia in Bithynia (St.)
Codomanus, Martyr, at Nicomedia in Bithynia (St.)
Basilius, Martyr, at Nicomedia in Bithynia (St.)
Germanus, Martyr, at Nicomedia in Bithynia (St.)
Filocastus, Martyr, at Nicomedia in Bithynia (St.)
Budentius, Martyr, at Nicomedia in Bithynia (St.)
Urbanus, Martyr, at Nicomedia in Bithynia (St.)
Pagata, Martyr, at Nicomedia in Bithynia (St.)
G. H.
This is the second class of Martyrs recorded in the very ancient copies of the Hieronymian Martyrology, and is thus expressed in the Echternach codex: "At Nicomedia, of Prudentius, Martialis, Sabbatius, Codomanus, Basilius; likewise Germanus, Filocastus, Budentius, Urbanus, Pacata." They are referred to by the same number in three other codices of the same Hieronymian Martyrology, with some diversity in the spelling, and they are: Prudentius, Martialis, Sabatius, Codomonus and Eodomonus, Baselus and Barelus, Filucasius and Filicosius, Pagata and Pigata. Of these, some are mentioned in other calendars. The Montecassino and Altemps manuscripts: "At Nicomedia, of Prudentius, Martialis," and it is added in the manuscript codex of the Queen of Sweden: "and of 15 others." The Trier manuscript of Saint Martin: "At Nicomedia, of Martialis the Martyr, and of 16 others." It seems that Saint Gratus with six others, of whom we treat in the following class, must then be joined to these. The Tournai manuscript: "At Nicomedia, of Saints Urbanus, Valentinus and Martialis, and the deposition of Saint Prudentius." The Lobbes: "At Nicomedia, of Saints Prudentius, Martialis, and of Saints Urbanus and Valentinus." Of these, Saint Valentinus pertains to the preceding class. But three others are also attributed to Nicomedia in the Trier manuscript of Saint Maximin; and with the city omitted are mentioned in the Prague manuscript. Prudentius and Urbanus are also referred to in the Augsburg manuscript of Saint Ulrich, and in the Parisian of Labbeus: Prudentius alone in the Aachen manuscript: Urbanus alone in Grevenus' Appendix to Usuard, and in Galesinius, but is ascribed to Alexandria as we said above. Molanus in his Appendix to Usuard, first edition, and Canisius in the German Martyrology celebrate the deposition of Saint Prudentius.