St. Eleazar the Elder, Martyr, at Antioch in Syria. The Holy Maccabee Brothers, Martyrs, at Antioch in Syria. Their Holy Mother, Martyr, at Antioch in Syria. St. Peter in Chains, at Rome. St. Faith, Martyr, at Rome. St. Hope, Martyr, at Rome. St. Charity, Martyr, at Rome. St. Wisdom, Martyr, at Rome. St. Bonus, Martyr, at Rome. St. Faustus, Martyr, at Rome. St. Maurus, Martyr, at Rome. St. Primitivus, Martyr, at Rome. St. Calumniosus, Martyr, at Rome. St. John, Martyr, at Rome. St. Exuperius, Martyr, at Rome. St. Cyril, Martyr, at Rome. St. Theodore, Martyr, at Rome. St. Basil, Martyr, at Rome. St. Castulus, Martyr, at Rome. St. Honoratus, Martyr, at Rome. St. Verus, Bishop of Vienne in Gaul. St. Leontius, Martyr, at Perga in Pamphylia. St. Attius, Martyr, at Perga in Pamphylia. St. Alexander, Martyr, at Perga in Pamphylia. St. Cindeus, Martyr, at Perga in Pamphylia. St. Mnesitheus, Martyr, at Perga in Pamphylia. St. Cyriacus, Martyr, at Perga in Pamphylia. St. Menaeus, Martyr, at Perga in Pamphylia. St. Catunus, Martyr, at Perga in Pamphylia. St. Euclaeus, Martyr, at Perga in Pamphylia. St. Felix, Martyr, at Gerona in Spain. St. Romanus, Martyr, at Gerona in Spain. St. Cyril, Martyr, at Philadelphia. St. Aquila, Martyr, at Philadelphia. St. Peter, Martyr, at Philadelphia. St. Domitian, Martyr, at Philadelphia. St. Rufus, Martyr, at Philadelphia. St. Menander, Martyr, at Philadelphia. St. Secundina, Martyr, at Rome. St. Donatula, Martyr, at Rome. St. Secondola, Martyr, at Rome. St. Maxima, Martyr, at Rome. St. Justa, Martyr, at Rome. St. Menander, Martyr, at Rome. St. Profunus, Martyr, at Rome. St. Silvanus, Martyr, at Rome. St. Donatus, Martyr, at Rome. St. Justin, Martyr, in the territory of Paris. St. Justa, Virgin and Martyr, at Aquila among the Vestini. St. Nemesius, Confessor, perhaps in Normandy. St. Leus, Confessor, in the diocese of Ferrara. St. Nectarius, Bishop and Confessor, at Vienne in Gaul. St. Exuperius, Bishop and Confessor, at Corbeil in the territory of Paris. St. Severus, Confessor, in Novempopulania of Gaul. St. Friardus, recluse, in the diocese of Nantes. St. Secundellus, recluse, in the diocese of Nantes. St. Arcadius, Confessor, Archbishop of Bourges. St. Bandaridus, Confessor, at Soissons in Gaul. St. Kinedus, hermit and Confessor, in Wales. St. Jonatus, Abbot and Confessor, at Marchiennes in Belgium. St. Peregrinus, Confessor, not far from Modena in Italy. St. Mary the Consoler, at Verona in Italy. St. Ethelwold, Bishop of Winchester in England. Bl. Rodulphus of Florence, monk of Vallombrosa in Etruria. Bl. Rusticus of Florence, monk of Vallombrosa in Etruria. Bl. Erizzo or Ericius of Florence, monk of Vallombrosa in Etruria. Bl. Albertus, monk of Vallombrosa in Etruria. Bl. Jerome, monk of Vallombrosa in Etruria. Bl. Melior of Valiana, monk of Vallombrosa in Etruria. Bl. Benignus Benizzi of Florence, monk of Vallombrosa in Etruria. Bl. Orlandus, monk of Vallombrosa in Etruria. Bl. Thesaurus Beccheria, monk of Vallombrosa in Etruria. Bl. Michael Flammini, monk of Vallombrosa in Etruria.
Some translation or other of St. Telesphorus, Pope, is suggested to us by the Ms. Florarium of the Saints. See what has been said of the Saint on 5 January.
The elevation of St. Poppo, abbot, made on this day, was noted by Bollandus. His Life has been given on 25 January.
St. Bruno, duke, and his companions, Ferrarius has summoned to this day from I know not where, in the general Catalogue, in these words: "At Hamburg in Saxony, of the holy martyrs Bruno, duke, and three bishops, with many other nobles, slain by the Normans for the faith of Christ." He cites Krantz, whom, if he had inspected him rightly, he ought by all means to have observed that they were killed in the season of hard winter, so that they have been far better related in our Acta, where treatment has also been given at sufficient length of Erlulf, bishop, with three others, on 2 February.
St. Riocus, by Colgan Riochus, abbot of Inisbovinde and bishop, does not belong here, but treatment has long since been given of him with three other Irish bishops on 6 February.
Some translation of St. Sabinus, bishop of Canosa, was noted by Bollandus. See the Life on 9 February.
St. Cunegund, empress, became known to Maurolycus for this day from I know not where, and Felicius without doubt followed him. Her natal day, on which her Acts have been illustrated, is 3 March.
The translation of St. Winwaloe is marked by Motanus and by the monastic writers here and there; treatment has been given of it along with the deeds of the Saint on 3 March.
The translation of St. Viator Ferrarius found in Charles de Saussay's Annals of the church of Orléans, book 3, chapter 5, where it is related to have been made in the year 1597: but neither from there nor from elsewhere have either our predecessors or we been informed up to now when he lived, what he did in his life, or on what day, finally, his natal day is to be kept. Castellanus in his additions, under I know not whose guidance or by what authority, marked 29 May, on which treatment of him will be possible in the Supplement of the work, 29 May.
The finding of St. Alban, martyr, is recorded on this day by Ralph de Diceto and others: what concerns him we have already related on 22 June.
St. Victor, Pope, is entered on this day with an eulogy by him whom our predecessors judged to be Florus, as you have it before volume II of March. On what other days he has also been marked, you will find explained on the day on which we related him with a torrent of Martyrologies, 28 July.
St. Germanus, the most celebrated bishop of Auxerre, was marked on this day by Florus, whom our predecessors believed to be Bede. But whoever he may have been, he did not place the Saint rightly on this day, since he belongs to the preceding day, on which his Acts have been illustrated, 31 July.
St. Helen, matron and martyr, is announced on this day in the same words, and placed in Campania, by Ferrarius, Saussay and Arthur, all equally blind: for in Campania indeed two of the same name were already given in the month of May, at Troyes and at Auxerre, but both virgins. But the matron and martyr who belongs here can be no other than that renowned Helen, not of Campania but of Sweden, of whom treatment was given on the day before, 31 July.
The passion of many holy monks is noted by Ferrarius at Messina in Sicily, whom Abrahim or Abraym, leader of the Saracens, slew for the confession of the faith. He cites, however, the monastic Martyrology, without doubt that of Wion, who relates the passion not merely of many but of countless monks, by a pious augmentation in which Dorganius and Menard did not follow him: and, what you may wonder at most of all, Bucelinus, here more scrupulous than usual, makes no mention of them by so much as a word; perhaps because he came upon very many things doubtful and entangled, which you would not find sufficiently resolved even in our Caietanus on the Sicilian Saints. When the Benedictine Fathers have dug out a little further both this and other irruptions of the Saracens, the rest will be able to be illustrated by us.
Lucius is magnificently set before us on this day by Tamayo, although he is altogether unknown to all the sacred Fasti, in these words: "At Barcelona in Hither Spain, of St. Lucius, bishop of that city, who for the faith of Christ, in the savage storm of Nero's persecution, through innumerable scourges of torments, reached as a strenuous combatant the rest of eternal glory." He then cites with the same confidence I know not what ecclesiastical Annals of Spain, which in the end are reduced to the general Catalogue of Ferrarius, whose authority in this matter is no greater than that of Domenech or of Diago, both of whom the same Tamayo wrongly invokes. For Domenech acknowledges no Lucius on this day; Diago, indeed, almost by divining, brings forward a Victor, who succeeded I know not what Theodosius. There is no leisure here to shake out Tamayo's fictions anew. See, in volume 2 of Hispania illustrata, page 847, a tolerable catalogue of the bishops of Barcelona, where you will find that the first entered is Lucius Victor, who wrote against the Arians. And from this gather how much the Acts fabricated by Tamayo are to be valued, and the other things which, after his manner, he most ineptly invents out of his pseudo-chronicles. Other arguments are needed for that Lucius to be admitted among the Saints, who cannot so far be confused with any of those of the same name, however many they are.
St. Spinulus likewise, who has also been entered on this day, and was long ago referred by our predecessors from 11 May, could not be separated from St. Hidulf. See therefore concerning him also 11 July.
John and Benignus, disciples of St. Hidulf, are honoured in some places on this day with the titles of Saints, from which, however, I have deliberately abstained, while I joined them to their most holy Master on 11 July, where both in the preface and in the Lives of the Saint you will find what concerns them, 11 July.
St. Eusebius, bishop of Vercelli, by far the most celebrated in the history of Arianism as an unbroken defender of the faith, is marked here and there in the Martyrologies on this day, as that of his deposition, even in the Roman, but with this clause: that his memory is held more solemnly on the eighteenth day before the Kalends of January, namely because it is the day of his ordination; and accordingly the Office is said of him, or at least a commemoration, within the Octave of the Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Other examples of this kind occur, where other festivities are preferred to the natal day itself, as is evident in the chief Fathers of the Church, Sts. Basil, Ambrose, Chrysostom and others: so that accordingly St. Eusebius would have to be referred to 15 December; but since he was not so long ago honoured with an ecclesiastical Office, and his festivity was transferred, on account of the occurring octave of the Conception, to the following day, his Acts are to be transposed, as we already said in a word on the day before, to the day 16 December.
The procession of the venerable wood of the venerable and life-giving Cross was brought into our Fasti on this day by Molanus from the Horologion of the Greeks.
Justa, martyr, mother of St. Silvester: whence she came into our Florarium and from there into Greven, however carefully I have inquired, I have not yet been able to see sufficiently.
Facinola, marked there also, is equally unknown to me so far.
The translation of St. Bonus, martyr, made from Rome to Lisbon in the year 1658, our predecessors referred hither from 12 May, moved by the not great authority of Cardoso, as one who wrote in his Lusitanian Hagiology that he is St. Bonus, priest and martyr, entered on this day. He will sweat much, but in vain, who wishes to prove the identity of these Boni.
A certain Solomon, ordained bishop of the city of Atina by St. Eleutherius, Pope, I find in the Chronicle of the same city, published by Ughelli in volume 1 of Italia Sacra, column 496 *, where he is praised under more than one title, and is said to have rendered his spirit to the Lord on the Kalends of August. Papebroch had almost counted him among the Saints; but since Ferrarius does not number him among the other holy bishops of Atina in the Catalogue of the Saints of Italy, I wish to be informed first about his cult, before I grant him a place in this work.
John, called the Simple and Joannitius, and from his long residence "of Rieti," of the Order of Hermits of St. Augustine, is entered with the title of Blessed by Herrera in the Augustinian Alphabet, page 371, citing Coriolanus, Jordan, Roman, Orozco and Pamphilus, who have written a few things, but sufficiently striking ones, about the Man's virtues, death and miracles; all of whom, and others, Jacobilli cites and follows in volume 2 on the Saints of Umbria, page 70, numbering this John too among the Blessed without hesitation, which Ferrarius before him, otherwise not at all scrupulous, had not dared. This is plainly a wonder, that among various stupendous things nothing has been handed down about his Life distinctly or orderly enough, so much so that they disagree very greatly even about the year of his death, some marking the year 1343, others 1347, others finally 1385. From which it is easily evident that there survives among the people of Rieti a mere tradition about the simplicity and signs of John, which has not so far been admitted at Rome, any more than that concerning his sister Lucy, a Tertiary of the same Order. Herrera observed aptly enough towards the end of his eulogy: "To so holy a Man, shining for so long a time with the greatness of so many miracles, greater honours are owed, which," he says, "are perhaps reserved for more opportune times." He meant to say that the honours of the Saints or the Blessed have not yet been lawfully decreed to him, and that they are accordingly reserved for more opportune times, to which we too must defer the illustration of his Acts, such as they are.
The name of Diuma Camerarius inflects in various ways; I should like to be informed from elsewhere about her sanctity and cult.
The octave of St. James is said to be noted in I know not what Kalendar, of which it is enough to make mention here.
A certain Rufinianus, son of a king of Libya, baptized and ordained by St. Peter the Apostle: an Italian Ms. Life of him, I know not what, rather I should call it a little poem, or, as they commonly say, a Romance, was sent to Papebroch on 2 June of the year 1693 by the Rev. D. Francesco Cionacci, priest of Florence, praised in our Acta on 19 May and elsewhere; at which Papebroch, astonished, wrote back on 3 July, and asked for information about the place and the present cult, and whence such wondrous deeds of this Rufinianus had been copied. But no reply was given, at least that I have found. The Life, or rather a perpetual heap of stupendous miracles, comprises six chapters, and at the end is subjoined a kind of hymn with a prayer and some confused parts of a Mass, all of which show neither cross nor light. In all the sacred Fasti or ecclesiastical tables, even in Ferrarius, this Rufinianus is utterly unknown, nor do I know with what face this title was written over it in Italian: Life of St. Rufinianus, bishop and confessor, disciple of St. Peter, whose feast the Church celebrates on 1 August. Nor does the authority of the single Medicean Usuardine codex among the auctaria help here, so that I accordingly judge that more certain things are to be awaited before I number this Rufinianus among the Saints. Another is the true Rufinianus, second bishop of Bayeux after St. Exuperius, but it has not yet been possible to find a certain day of his cult: an occasion of treating of him will present itself with his successor St. Lupus on the day 25 October.
Dolochus or Tolochus, a pilgrim, is noted in the Irish tables on this day; but since I find there only the name, I am waiting for someone to inform me about his life, his age, and above all his cult.
St. Felicity, martyr, marked on this day in the Ms. Florarium: who, of what kind, or of what place she may be, it has not yet been possible to explore; perhaps she is to be confused with one of the many of the same name already given.
Theodoric, abbot of the monastery of St. Evroul, laid to rest in the island of Cyprus in the year MLVIII or MLIV, Menard was the first to inscribe among the Saints in the Martyrology of his Order, with no guide going before him, at least that I know of. Saussay, the munificent collector of the Gallican Saints, followed him; indeed Mabillon too adorned Theodoric with the title of Blessed and placed him in saeculum VI, part 2, from page 127, composing an eulogy for him from Orderic Vitalis and William of Jumièges: in the Annals, however, he nowhere decorated him with the title either of Blessed or of Saint. For the rest, I readily admit the Man's illustrious virtues and remarkable deeds, which Menard had earlier drawn together into a most elegant compendium. What I chiefly ask, what is most desired here, is that someone produce a trace of some older ecclesiastical table in which this Theodoric was lawfully addressed as a Saint or a Blessed. I ask likewise in what place in the whole Catholic world he was ever held or venerated as such. Mabillon's own words on page 136 seem to settle the matter: "Yet," he says, "he is celebrated with no public cult among our monks of Ouche" (that is, of St. Evroul). And yet it is from there that the whole reckoning of his cult would have to be sought. Nor am I pleased by what the most learned man adds in the same place, that perhaps they have nothing of his sacred remains: as if such things were needed for a cult to be determined for some Saint. I find in Orderic and in the monk of Jumièges no other title ascribed to Theodoric except that of "venerable Man," such as Castellanus also gives him, most rightly abstaining from every indication of veneration; and I too am compelled to enter upon this way, until more certain and more solid arguments are suggested of a true cult ever shown to him.
Primus and Colossus are said by Maurolycus to be two subdeacons from the Acts of St. Stephen, Pope; but the names are corrupted for Primitivus and Calumniosus, of whom treatment is given in its place on this day.
Pontius de Larazio became known to me by chance from a letter of Charles, abbot of Orval, written to Fr. Papebroch in the year 1688, also cited by us elsewhere, where he speaks thus: "I wonder that the conversion of Pontius de Larazio is unknown to Your Reverence, since it is found in the Miscellanea of Baluze, and deserves a place by name in your Acta Sanctorum, for the edification of the faithful." The most distinguished Man did not judge so very badly, for what is narrated of that Pontius in volume 3 of the Miscellanea of Baluze, from page 205 to 226, sketches a man illustrious for many and most splendid virtues, the chief ornament of the monastery of Silvanès of the Cistercian Order, who in the month of August, on the first day of the month … did not die, but went away to his fathers, from death to life, from labour to rest, from exile to the fatherland. Meanwhile he has been passed over by Saussay and Castellanus, and, what is more to be wondered at, he was not known either to Henriquez or to Chalemot: so far is he from claiming a place for himself in our Acta, as long as that is lacking which is first with us, that it first be established about his true ecclesiastical cult.
Thomas of Rimini, of the Order of Hermits of St. Augustine, a lay Brother, by office, as they call it, a Canaparius, is praised by Jordan of Saxony, book 2, chapter 5, likewise by Herrera and others, chiefly for this virtue, that he excelled in remarkable mercy towards the poor, so much so that once, at the time of a provincial chapter, he distributed almost the whole of a great quantity of bread that had been prepared to the needy; and being rebuked by his superiors, having poured out prayers to God, he obtained by a miracle a more abundant supply. He is said to be painted pouring out roses in place of loaves, or with roses turned into loaves. Papebroch in the year 1660 and Janning in the year 1686 saw the place of his burial (for the body was never raised from the earth), not in the church but in some domestic chapel, where signs of some veneration appear, from pictures and a burning lamp, which are most evident on the day on which he died, 1 August. This is certain, that he is not marked by Ferrarius in the great general Catalogue of the Saints of Italy, where, however, he by no means neglects the Saints of Rimini. They say indeed that on this very day Mass is celebrated in that chapel; but whether any commemoration is made of Thomas, after careful diligence applied, I have not yet been able to learn. And that some writings about his life and other miracles survive at Rimini, although the aforesaid Jordan and Herrera record it, is denied by those whom I thought should be consulted lately at Rome through our Fr. Ignazio Pini. To put it in a word, I am compelled candidly to profess that, however I have tried, I have not so far found that lawful cult is paid to him: if arguments are suggested which settle the matter, I shall embrace them readily and most gladly.
Peter, abbot of Moreruela in Spain, of the Cistercian Order, Henriquez and Chalemot celebrate with many encomia, calling him Blessed, and bringing forward to that end the Dijon Kalendar of the Order, yet in such a way that the arguments of lawful cult do not so far appear, as has so often had to be said of others. There follow in Henriquez:
Peter, Olaf and Tordo of the same Order, recorded in Sweden, and also honoured with the title of Blessed, in the monastery of Alvastra.
Gereon likewise, laid to rest at Himmerod with the greatest repute of sanctity.
Clare and Petronilla, lay sisters of the same Order, both endowed with excellent virtues, at Parc-aux-Dames in the diocese of Senlis in France, are also added on this day by Chalemot.
Judocus, otherwise Justus, of Schoonhoven, a Carthusian of Gouda, is wonderfully praised by Raissius from Peter Opmeer and Gerard Eligius in the Auctarium to the Natales of the Saints of Belgium, as one who, sprung from a most illustrious family, lived holily among the Carthusians of Delft, and, captured by the Calvinists, underwent martyrdom by hanging near Brielle on this day, in the year 1571, having embraced the cup of death rather than drink wine from the sacred chalice at the pledging of the impious Dommalius: whence he is also customarily painted holding a chalice in his hand.
Alard, abbot of Anchin near Douai in Flanders, the same Raissius also deservedly calls venerable on this day, and a man the most humble and most gentle of all, who was the first to preside over that monastery, sent to it from Hasnon in the year 1079 by Gerard II, bishop of Cambrai, its principal founder, and who on this day, after eight years of rule, ended his life most piously in 1087.
Peter Faber, among the first nine companions of our most holy father Ignatius his first-born son in Christ, a man illustrious for every kind of virtue and a true pattern of the workers of the Society, after very many labours endured in various parts of Europe, departed on this day at Rome in the year 1546, to receive their reward in heaven. His countrymen of the region of Geneva honour him with peculiar honour, the house in which he was born having been changed into a chapel, where some signs of veneration are shown.
A certain Cyricus is found marked on this day in the Menaea of the Greeks, but so meagrely that apart from the name and the stroke of the sword nothing is recorded: whence you may deservedly suspect that he can be altogether confused with a Cyricus of the same name, such as you will find more than one in our Acta, unless some light shines from elsewhere.
The same you might say of Theodore, as one who is likewise known only by his name and the kind of his martyrdom.
And likewise of Polyeuctus.
Bartholomew Martinez, of the Order of Preachers, is rightly proclaimed venerable by Marchese in his Diarium, as an untiring herald of the word of God in the Philippine Islands, rightly abstaining from everything that could claim public veneration for him.
Alard the Belgian Annus sanctus of the same Order ascribes a little too liberally to the Blessed.
Catherine of Mantua likewise the German Hortus spiritualis adorns with the same title, as also
Joan de Cespedes, who, asking pardon for her sins from Christ Crucified, felt blood flowing from His side into her breast, as a sign of the pardon obtained.
Livinus, martyr in Egypt; Francis, priest, John, an eminent Doctor, and Francis, lay brother, martyrs in the territory of Nantes; John of Plano Carpini, confessor in Italy; Luke of the Martyrs, confessor of the Rosary, in Spain; Roch Moreno, confessor, at Villena in the territory of Cartagena; Philip of Ravenna, confessor, at Rome; Concordia, virgin, at Novara: these are entered with the title of Blessed by Arthur in the Franciscan Martyrology, and the last also in the Gynaeceum.
Diego Motico, lay brother in the province of St. Gabriel, and Agnes de Petra, Tertiary, at Trier in Germany, are added by Hueber.
Benedict of Colle Amato, of the Order of Capuchins.
Louis, the Most Christian king, surnamed the Fat, is praised for his singular virtues by Saussay in the Gallican Martyrology, but rightly with only the title of good memory. He was the sixth of that name, and died on this day in the year 1137.
St. Bethasius was first inserted by Belinus into the second edition, but wrongly formed for Betharius or Betarius, whom he simply calls a confessor, showing well enough that he did not know of whom he was speaking. He is, however, the bishop of Chartres of whom treatment will have to be given tomorrow, 2 August.
The memory of St. Ebregisus, I think Ebregisilus, bishop of Meaux, does not belong to this day but to 31 August.
The translation of St. Bavo is marked on this day by several more recent Martyrologists, as you may see in the Usuardine Auctaria. But indeed, after our custom, both this translation and any others there are are referred to the natal day, 1 October.
St. Canocus, perhaps the same as Canaucus, was referred to this day on 13 March under an alternative: namely, that he should be connected either with his holy sister Almedha, of whom treatment is given on this day, if anything were found to be said of him; or to 8 October, to be the companion of his other sister Keyna, in whose Life he is called a Saint. But since nothing has been found of him so far beyond what is narrated there in very few words, it has seemed good to refer him again to 8 October.
The third translation of St. Donatian the Florarium, already cited more than once, records on this day thus: "At Bruges in Flanders, the third translation of St. Donatian, archbishop of Reims." Of it and of the earlier ones treatment will be given on the day on which the Saint himself is venerated, 14 October.
Twenty bodies of the holy Ursulines found at Cologne on this day are recorded by the Ms. Florarium of the Saints. What concerns that holy company will be examined on 21 October.
St. Severus, martyr, in the diocese of Aire in Novempopulania, Papebroch found in Dadinus Alteserra, Rerum Aquitanicarum book 4, chapter 11, page 278, and believed him to be the one who is commemorated on this day. But both in age and in the kind of death those two Severi plainly differ. Of the confessor we treat here in his place: but the Martyr is marked by Saussay and by Castellanus (who calls him in French Sabe) on 1 November.
The exile of St. Martin, Pope and martyr, is noted on this day by Smidius. The Saint is venerated on 12 November.
St. Restituta, virgin martyr at Cagliari in Sardinia, mother of St. Eusebius, bishop of Vercelli, was referred hither by our predecessors from 15 June, as one to be joined to her holy son. But since he has been transferred to the day on which he is today venerated in the Church, what concerns St. Restituta also is to be deferred to 16 December.
Noticed an error, have a suggestion, or want to share a thought? Let me know.