ON STS. CARPOPHORUS, EXANTHUS, CASSIUS, SEVERINUS, SECUNDUS, AND LICINIUS, MARTYRS OF COMO.
Under Maximian.
CommentaryCarpophorus, Martyr, at Como (S.)
Exanthus, Martyr, at Como (S.)
Cassius, Martyr, at Como (S.)
Severinus, Martyr, at Como (S.)
Secundus, Martyr, at Como (S.)
Licinius, Martyr, at Como (S.)
J. B. S.
The first, so far as I know, who thus formed the class of these holy Martyrs was Galesinius, Galesinius's composition whom Baronius alleged as his sole guiding light when he inscribed it in the Roman Martyrology. He cites I know not what Acts of St. Alexander the martyr, which he says are extant in the churches of Bergamo, Milan, Novara, and Aquileia; whose Life besides is said to have been drawn up in Boninus. If in those churches the same Life is read which Boninus, or Mombritius, gave, it must be of no account. Carpophorus and Exanthus are indeed named in the Acts of St. Fidelis; but that ancient Acts of those companions so connected are to be found, Galesinius has not yet sufficiently taught me — the first, as I was already saying, composer of the whole class, to whom the Florentine codices, among the Usuardine supplements on this day, have given us something almost similar; of which the Strozzian reads: In Italy, at Cumae (the other two omit the position or place), the passion of the holy martyrs Carpophorus, Exantus, Cassius, Severinus, and Secundinus, who suffered under the sacrilegious tyrant Maximian. Let us grant that "Cumae" crept in there for "Como"; I seek some more ancient things that may make us more certain of the position and the composition — things which no one has thus far found, or at least suggested.
[2] I confess indeed that in the fragment of a most ancient Roman Calendar, published by Bucherius, there is found on this day this most formal announcement: entangled in various matters On the seventh of the Ides of August, of Secundus, Carpophorus, Victorinus, and Severianus, on the Alban and Ostian ways: of almost the same kind also in the Hieronymian Martyrologies on the following day. But who, I beseech, would reconcile these even most remotely with those of Como, since those very men are certainly they who are reported in the Roman Martyrology under the name of the Four Crowned on the eighth of November, if only you substitute Severus for Secundus. There is also a Carpophorus or Carpenforus with his companion Auxentius — perhaps for Exanthus — in the Lucca Hieronymian Martyrologies, whence Florentinius drew his text: but these are so joined to St. Donatus of Arezzo that they seem almost to have been of his companions. From all these things, therefore, there is no light, which you would summon in vain from elsewhere, even if Primo Luigi de Tattis in his Martyrology of the church of Como should cite fifty writers on the matter; to whom the Annals bring no help, not being supported by those documents which might explain the matter solidly enough, much less prove or establish it; so that at last those things alone remain which Ferrarius adduced, namely the monuments of the said churches, from which this at last is established, that for many centuries those illustrious Martyrs were celebrated in those places with solemn cult — whose Acts we shall here exhibit, as they have been abridged clearly enough by the praised Ferrarius:
[3] Ferrarius explains as best he can; Carpophorus and Exanthus, soldiers familiar with the emperor Maximian, at the time when he was staying at Milan, when they had heard of the wonders which were being done by the holy martyrs Cassius, Severus, Secundus, Licinius, and Alexander, shut up in prison for the Christian religion, coming to them and speaking with them, are converted to Christ. Returned to the palace, they began freely to preach Christ as the true and only God, detesting the gods and their images. Baptized therefore and confirmed in the faith by St. Maternus, bishop of Milan, together with St. Fidelis, they lead the holy Martyrs out of the prisons, and flee by night with them to Como. Where, not far from the city, a dead man being carried out for burial, by prayer they recall him to life, and take up their abode in a place which was called Sylvula. Meanwhile Maximian, learning of these things, sends attendants to seize the Saints, who refused the gods
to venerate, and, having afflicted them with dire torments, kill them. Having seized them, therefore, they first beat them rather harshly with rods, then, having torn them with iron hooks, they rack them, and at last, as they persevere strong in the confession of Christ, they behead them. Whose bodies were buried in that same place by the Christians, in which place afterward a church was raised to them by Liutprand, king of the Lombards. They suffered on the seventh of the Ides of August.
[4] noting other things also. Ferrarius further notes that St. Fidelis, although he was a companion of these Martyrs, nevertheless suffered elsewhere and at another time: concerning whom therefore he is treated separately at Como. He also warns that the body of St. Carpophorus, together with that of St. Fidelis the martyr, was translated from the abbey of Arona to Milan, into the church of the same St. Fidelis, by St. Charles Borromeo the archbishop, in the year of the Lord 1576. From the Life of the same St. Charles written by Giovanni Pietro Giussano, a Milanese patrician. Concerning St. Fidelis, and indeed concerning this translation, a more suitable place for treatment will recur at the twenty-eighth of October. It does not please me here to raise or examine more, lest we enter the forest of Bosca in his Milanese Martyrology, from which I see that nothing greatly solid can be gathered.