Cyriacus

ON STS. CYRIACUS, LARGUS, SMARAGDUS, AND THEIR COMPANION MARTYRS

AT ROME.

HISTORICAL COMMENTARY.

Cyriacus, M., at Rome (S.)

Largus, M., at Rome (S.)

Smaragdus, M., at Rome (S.)

Companion MM., at Rome

BHL Numbers: 2063, 2064, 2065, 2066

BY THE AUTHOR G. C.

§ I. The ancient cult of these Martyrs; but the entangled announcements of the Martyrologies concerning them.

We gather the immemorial cult of these Martyrs from an old church That the veneration of these Martyrs was celebrated already for many centuries, we gather from Anastasius the Librarian, who among the Lives of the Roman Pontiffs writes thus concerning Honorius I, Pope: He also built a church to blessed Cyriacus from the ground, on the Ostian Way, at the seventh milestone, where he also offered a gift. Then in the deeds of Leo III, and likewise of Benedict III, he enumerates the gifts which those Pontiffs offered in the same church. From the Ostian Way and the seventh milestone from the city we confidently conclude that these things pertain to our St. Cyriacus and today's Martyrs. Paolo Aringhi agrees with our opinion, when in book 3 of Subterranean Rome, chapter 5, he hands down the following concerning that church: Which church indeed, he says, together with the cemetery, was dedicated to God by solemn rite in honor of that most blessed martyr Cyriacus, who with Largus and Smaragdus, and twenty others under Maximian, their necks being given for the confession of the faith, was crowned with martyrdom: whose memory, continually to be recalled, is celebrated in the Roman Martyrology with a twice-repeated proclamation of praises; namely his birthday on the seventeenth of the Kalends of April, and his translation on the sixth of the Ides of August; when St. Marcellus, Pope, translated their bodies from the Salarian Way into the estate of the matron Lucina on the Ostian Way, at the seventh milestone from the City, as their Acts testify.

[2] But as to what pertains to the cemetery of St. Cyriacus, of which Cencius the Chamberlain and Pietro Mallio also made mention, and from the cemetery of St. Cyriacus, and which from time immemorial has borne the name of this holy Martyr, it was diligently investigated by Antonio Bosio, the tireless explorer of the sacred crypts, as the praised Aringhi testifies in the book just cited, chapter 9, in these words: But Bosio, by no means acquiescing in all these things which he had already attained with hand and eyes, devises to survey again the same Ostian Way, that he might more curiously investigate at least the very ancient cemetery of blessed Cyriacus, which he had learned existed on that very way, at the seventh milestone from the City. In the year, therefore, one thousand six hundred and seven from the Virgin's childbearing, in the month of May, undertaking the journey with a steadfast mind, he came at length to the place which, as he received from the inhabitants of that same place, was called the estate of holy Cyriacus. Further, this was situated beside the Tiber, on whose left side a certain small mountain or hill rises, where in the middle of the ridge there are seen traces of the very ancient church of holy Cyriacus, and on the very summit of the hill the ruins of collapsed notable and very large buildings are presented to be beheld: but the place still keeps the name of blessed Cyriacus.

[3] which Bosio explored, But no entrance to the cemetery could be found, although every zeal was applied in searching; yet it was possible to note that beside the ruins of the aforementioned church there lay beneath a certain crypt smeared with lime, which is supported by two columns or pillars, bearing a four-cornered opening in the middle of its dome: which crypt indeed, whether it was once a part of some cemetery, or rather some chamber destined by the work and industry of the ancient Romans for gathering waters into one and preserving them, lies wholly hidden. Although, even if it be asserted that it once existed for the use of receiving and preserving waters, nothing the less stands in the way of its having been able afterward likewise to serve the cemeterial use of Christians, and to be joined to it. This meanwhile is certain, that a cemetery exists there, as Bosio himself confesses that he received from the inhabitants of that place; namely that there had at some time been discovered there certain secret and hidden openings of the earth, through which some, penetrating the lower bosom of the earth, testified that they had seen very many sepulchers filled with the bones of the dead, as anyone is wont to see and contemplate in the other cemeteries which are reckoned so many. Marcantonio Boldetti also could discover no entrances of this cemetery, although in the year 1715 he laboriously examined the same place, as he himself indicates in his Italian Observations on the cemeteries of the Martyrs, book 2, chapter 18, page 549. But although more certain and clearer monuments of this cemetery could not hitherto be found, yet from the aforesaid gifts of the Roman Pontiffs and from the very rubble of that now collapsed church we easily dig out the immemorial cult of St. Cyriacus, which will now be not a little confirmed from the ecclesiastical Calendars.

[4] The ancient Roman Calendar, which Leo Allatius inserted into his Work on the Agreement of the Western and Eastern Church from column [—], and from very ancient Martyrologies, celebrates on this day the memory of St. Cyriacus alone; but neither adds to him the title of martyr, nor expresses the place of his confession or martyrdom. In exactly the same manner he is referred to on the day XV of July and the VIII of August in another Roman Calendar, which was written between the year of Christ 714 and 731, as its editor Jean Fronton shows in the Prefatory Notes, page 62. But Fronton in his notes at the XV of July thinks that on that day the name of the same St. Cyriacus is repeated, because some church was then consecrated under his patronage. Whatever be the case with this conjecture, Wandelbert seems to have followed these or similar Calendars, when on the VIII day of August he adorns St. Cyriacus alone simply with the following little verse:

Cyriacus on the sixth penetrates the ethereal honor.

But the same Martyrologist joins two companions to St. Cyriacus, when at the day XVI of March he sings thus:

The seventh after the tenth, preceding by custom the Kalends of April, Shines with the honor of Cyriacus and Largus; And blooms likewise with the precious blood of Smaragdus.

From these little verses we somehow gather that these three Saints poured out their blood for Christ. Gregory I, Pope, in the Book of Sacraments expressly indicates that St. Cyriacus was crowned with the laurel of martyrdom, where on the sixth of the Ides of August he celebrates with a threefold commemoration the annual festival of blessed Cyriacus the martyr alone.

[5] The Roman Calendar of the fourth century, which our Bucherius first published in print, in whose announcements, however, on the VIII day of August thus adds several companions to St. Cyriacus: On the sixth (understand of the Ides of August), at the ballistaria,* of Cyriacus, Largus, Crescentianus, Memmia, Juliana, and Smaragdus. Georg Eccard, who lately published the same Calendar from a manuscript Imperial codex in the Historical Corpus of the middle age, volume 1, columns 23 and 24, most probably according to his transcript, the order of the days being inverted and in a continuous series, reports the following: The sixth of the Ides of August, of Secundus, Carpofanus, Victorinus, and Severianus, at Alba and on the Ostian [Way]; the seventh, at the ballistaria, of Cyriacus, Largus, Crescentianus, Mimmia, Juliana, and Ixmaracdus. Perhaps in that Imperial codex the two announcements of different days have been confused: for in the Hieronymian Martyrology which Edmond Martène exhibits in volume 3 of the Thesaurus of Anecdotes, and which he judges was written about a thousand years ago, on the VII and VIII days of August these things are read distinctly: The seventh of the Ides of August. Of Faustinus, Ansentius, Quiriacus, Donatus the confessor, Carpoforus. Then, however, immediately in another line it thus follows: The sixth of the Ides of August. At Rome, of Secundinus, Cyriacus, Agape the virgin, Severianus.

[6] But here no mention is made of Largus, Smaragdus, Crescentianus, concerning the names of today's Martyrs Memmia, and Juliana, whom the most ancient Bucherian Calendar reckons together with St. Cyriacus. Whence not altogether rashly we suspect that in this Martyrology of Edmond Martène the names of some Martyrs have been wrongly omitted and transposed. This our suspicion grows, because in another old transcript of the Hieronymian Martyrology, which Francesco Maria Florentinius illustrated with notes, under the same day, the sixth of the Ides of August, we read several Saints together in this manner: At Rome, the birthday of the holy Secundinus, Severianus, Carpoforus, Victorinus, Albanus. And on the Salutarian Ostian way, of Cyricus, Largus, Crescentianus, Memmia, Juliana, Ciriacitis, and Smaragdus, Secundus, Albanus, Victorianus, Faustinus, Donata, Felix. But on account of this announcement someone might be able to doubt whether all these were companions of St. Cyriacus, and whether they belong to the same class of Martyrs, since in our more ancient Echternach Martyrology those Saints are recorded thus: The sixth of the Kalends of August. At Rome, of Secundus, Severianus, Carpoforus, and at Alba, of Victorinus, likewise of Cyriacus, Largus, Crescentianus, Nemicus, Juliana, Cyriacitis, Zmaragdus, Secundus, Albanus, Victurianus, Faustinus, Donata, Felix.

[7] a distinction, Florentinius in this place in his notes, on account of the word "likewise," thinks that in the first class of Roman Martyrs St. Cyriacus is missing, or that the text of this Martyrology is to be read thus: Likewise at Alba, of Cyriacus, Largus, etc. Besides, in the same place he proves from the Corbie codex that some of these Martyrs suffered on the Ostian Way or were anciently wont to be venerated there; others on the Salarian Way, and that by an unskilled copyist the Salutarian way is rather often faultily written for the Salarian way. Finally, from various collations of the Martyrologies he concludes that in that announcement different classes of Martyrs are probably indicated, although he does not deny that these conjectures of his rest on the faith of copyists. To us, besides, some names of the Saints here seem dislocated and repeated, so that a clearer distinction of these Martyrs can scarcely be hoped for.

[8] determined, But this entangled difficulty is increased by the Usuardine Martyrology, which at the day XII of August, after the mother of St. Afra and the other martyrs of Augsburg, in the Carolingian original has thus: There suffered likewise on the same day in the aforesaid city (it cannot be understood except as the city of Augsburg, of which it immediately treats before) Quiriacus, Largio, Crescentianus, Nimmia, Juliana with twenty others. The anonymous Benedictine monk, who at Paris in the year 1718 at last brought to light the Usuardine Martyrology from the Saint-Germain codex, in his observation on this passage notes that the preceding announcement of the Martyrs stands thus in the Carolingian original, as we have reported. But in the same place he asserts that it was corrected by Usuard himself

and that it is now read thus: On the same day there suffered at Rome under the prefect Pertinax, Quiriacus, Largio, Crescentianus, Nimmia, Juliana with twenty others. If those Saints underwent martyrdom at Rome, who would easily believe that they are distinguished from these of ours today, since here nearly the same number of Martyrs is reckoned, and nearly the same names occur which are recounted in the Calendars and Martyrologies at the day VIII of August?

[9] and the wrestling-ground of the martyrdom But the aforesaid correction of Usuard has not yet been made in the Roman Martyrology, which on the XII day of August has these things: At Augsburg, of holy Hilaria, mother of blessed Afra the martyr, who, when she was keeping watch at her sepulcher, was there delivered to the fire for the faith of Christ by the persecutors, with Digna and Euprepia and Eunomia, her handmaids. There suffered on the same day in the aforesaid city Quiriacus, Largio, Crescentianus, Nimmia, and Juliana with twenty others. Nor did the Bishop of Equilio follow this correction of Usuard, when in the Catalogue of Saints, after reporting the martyrdom of St. Hilaria and her companions, in book 7, chapter 55, he thus expressed by name several of that class of Martyrs: Quiriacus, Largus, Crescentianus, Meminia, Juliana, Leonides, Eutythianus, Diomeda, Chariton, Philadelphus, Agapes, and Peter with thirteen others suffered at the same city of Augusta in Crete (here probably the word Crete is faultily written for Rhaetia, as is shown in the Acts of St. Afra at the day V of August): all of whom, beheaded for the confession of the name of Christ, consummated their martyrdom on the day before the Ides of August. So Ado from the Martyrology of Jerome. I have found nothing similar in Ado and the Hieronymian Martyrology at this day.

[10] If it were established from Ado or Jerome that these Martyrs suffered at Augsburg on the XII day of August, entangled difficulties occur. I would allow myself to be persuaded not altogether improbably that those Martyrs of Augsburg differ from today's Roman ones, even though a great likeness is found between their names. But neither is the emendation of Usuard to be despised, with which some old codices of our Museum agree. That correction, however, does not remove every difficulty, although it more easily persuades us that some from today's class of Martyrs are referred to different days, or perhaps that the whole troop of those champions is wrongly confounded with another: for Usuard notes that these Roman Martyrs suffered under the prefect Pertinax, whereas Ado and the Acts, more ancient than Usuard, expressly affirm that today's Roman Martyrs were beheaded by the order of the emperor Maximian under the vicar Carpasius after various torments. You see here darkness on every side, which we cannot hitherto dispel, unless some light be added on the XII day of August, on which all these things will be able to be discussed more accurately. Meanwhile from what has been said it is plain that we can determine nothing certain concerning all the companions of St. Cyriacus. Wherefore also in the title of this Commentary we have expressed only those names of Martyrs which we find in today's Roman Martyrology. Nevertheless in the course of what follows we shall see which of them are named in other Martyrologists.

[11] Most Martyrologies record these Saints twice, and celebrate on one day their martyrdom, The same Martyrs in most Martyrologies and on another their translation: for, to pass over other things in this place, the old Roman Martyrology, published by our Rosweyde, on the seventeenth of the Kalends of April hands down these things: At Rome, of Cyriacus the martyr, of Largus and Smaragdus, and of Crescentianus the martyr, and of twenty others. But on the sixth day of the Ides of August it thus repeats the memory of St. Cyriacus, the names of his companions not being expressed: At Rome on the Ostian Way, of Cyriacus the martyr with twenty-one others, when on the VIII day of the month of August they were laid up. Here I observe in passing that that Martyrology is not consistent with itself concerning the number of St. Cyriacus's companions: for since it had before named St. Cyriacus with three, it adds to him and to these twenty other companions, and so constitutes a class of twenty-four Martyrs; but afterward it reckons only twenty-two Martyrs in all, when it joins twenty-one fellow-soldiers to St. Cyriacus alone. But leaving this discrepancy of lesser moment, let us proceed to the other announcements of the Martyrologies.

[12] Ado of Vienne on the XVI day of March and the VIII of August reduced to a compendium the fuller Acts of these Martyrs; are celebrated twice, but that synopsis of the Acts teems with historical errors, as we shall endeavor to show in the following paragraph. Wherefore Usuard, who had Ado before his eyes, prudently omitted several of these things, and in his Martyrology at the day XVI of March wove a brief eulogy of the same Martyrs in these words: At Rome, the passion of holy Cyriacus the deacon, who after a long wasting in prison, drenched with molten pitch, and stretched on the rack and dragged, and also beaten with sinews and cudgels, at the last with Largus and Smaragdus, and twenty others, by the order of Maximinus, was beheaded. Their festival, however, is recalled on the sixth of the Ides of August, on which day their bodies were raised by blessed Marcellus, Pope, and reverently entombed. But then on the VIII day of August the same Martyrologist again briefly treats of these Saints thus: At Rome on the Ostian Way, the birthday of blessed Cyriacus the deacon, and of the holy martyrs Largus and Smaragdus with twenty others, in the time of the emperor Diocletian. At least Usuard in both places consistently reckons twenty-three champions of the Christian faith. But I do not understand clearly enough how here he places St. Cyriacus with his companions in the time of the emperor Diocletian, whereas above he had written that he was slain by the order of Maximinus. Yet it could easily have happened that Maximinus was written for Maximian, whom also the ancient authors, especially the Greeks, rather often confounded with Maximinus.

[13] and are placed under different emperors. For this reason perhaps the Roman Martyrology which we use today substituted Maximian for Maximinus, and thus attributed the martyrdom of the same Saints to Diocletian and Maximian at the day VIII: At Rome, of the holy Martyrs Cyriacus the deacon, Largus, Smaragdus, with twenty others, who in the persecution of Diocletian and Maximian suffered on the seventeenth of the Kalends of April. Their bodies, buried by John the presbyter on the Salarian Way, St. Marcellus, Pope, translated on this day into the estate of Lucina on the Ostian Way: which afterward, being brought into the City, were laid up in the deaconry of St. Mary in the Via Lata. Since Usuard placed these Martyrs first under Maximinus or Maximian, and then under Diocletian, as we saw above, the collector of today's Roman Martyrology probably expressed both tyrants, even though this chronology cannot be reconciled with Ado, who expressly asserts that St. Cyriacus was seized by Maximinus and consigned to prison after the death of Diocletian (for then indeed that Saint is said to have returned to Rome from Persia), and afterward at last, by the order of Maximian, offered his head to be cut off. If in a matter so obscure it be permitted to make a conjecture, we shall suspect with today's Roman Martyrology that St. Cyriacus and his companions were crowned with the laurel of martyrdom in that terrible and general persecution which Diocletian and Maximian stirred up everywhere against the Christians after the beginning of the fourth century. But that which Ado hands down contrary to this conjectural chronology he took from the Acts of these Martyrs, which we shall now discuss a little more exactly.

* perhaps "on the Salarian way"

§ II. The authority of the old Acts is examined.

Since the Acts of these Martyrs were published by us before, Our Bolland at the day XVI of January published from various manuscript codices the Acts of St. Marcellus, Pope, with which the deeds of St. Cyriacus and of other martyrs are mingled, and judged with the most eminent Baronius that all of them here and there need a certain correction. Besides, these Acts of St. Marcellus, perhaps on account of the nearness of the name and time, are not a little confounded with the deeds of St. Marcellinus, his predecessor, as was more accurately observed in the Acts of St. Marcellinus, Pope, set forth at the day XXVI of April. From this confusion of the two Pontiffs, and from other anachronisms, we plainly gather that the anonymous writer of those Acts is far distant from the time in which those things happened. But although we are ignorant of the determinate century in which the anonymous author wrote them, yet we confidently assert that that writer lived before the ninth century, or the times of Ado of Vienne: for from the very reading of the Acts it is clear that Ado had these or quite similar ones before his eyes when he composed the double announcement of St. Cyriacus and his companions, which we shall presently report.

[15] Further, we do not judge that the deeds of these Martyrs are here to be excerpted or reprinted from the fuller Acts of St. Marcellus, from Ado's double announcement lest we do what has been done: for, that the learned reader may even in this place bear a sound judgment concerning them, the mere synopsis of those Acts will suffice, which Ado at the day XVI of March and the VIII of August faithfully abridged from the longer Acts thus: At Rome, the birthday of St. Cyriacus, who after a long wasting in prison, which he bore under Maximian, with Sisinnius his fellow-deacon, and Smaragdus and Largus, after many miracles wrought — among which he cured Artemia, daughter of Diocletian, of a demon at his request, and baptized her; also Jobia, daughter of Sapor king of the Persians, having been sent thither for this by Diocletian, he likewise freed from a demon, and baptized with the king himself and four hundred and thirty others — returning to Rome after the death of Diocletian, was seized among other Christians by his son Maximinus, and sent into custody, because he had made his sister a Christian. Then he ordered that on the day of his procession he should be dragged naked and bound with chains before his carriage. And after this, being led out of prison with his companions Largus, Smaragdus, and Crescentianus, his head was drenched with molten pitch by Carpasius the vicar. And again after four days, being led out anew from prison, stretched on the rack, and dragged with sinews, and beaten with cudgels, after some days, by the order of Maximian, he was beheaded with Largus and Smaragdus, and twenty others. It is written in the deeds of Marcellus, Pope. Further, at that very time Maximinus slew his sister Artemia.

[16] Then Ado on the VIII day of August repeats the memory of the same Martyrs, we here exhibit a compendium of the same and thus reduces the other part of the Acts to a compendium: At Rome on the Ostian Way, at the seventh milestone, the birthday of holy Cyriacus the martyr. After Maximinus Augustus ordered that all who were in custody together with Cyriacus the deacon should be beheaded, and twenty-one of both sexes had been beheaded on the Salarian Way within the baths of Sallust outside the walls, John the presbyter gathered their bodies by night, and buried them on the same way on the seventh day of the Kalends of April. But after eight days blessed Marcellus the bishop, coming with Lucina, a most Christian matron, embalmed the bodies of the Saints with spices and linen cloths; then took them up, and translated them into his own estate on the Ostian Way, at the seventh milestone from the city of Rome, and with his own hand laid them up in stone sarcophagi, and with them also blessed Cyriacus, on the eighth day of the month of August. But Carpasius the vicar asked for the house of blessed Cyriacus, which Diocletian Augustus had given him; and Maximinus Augustus straightway granted it. And having entered into

it, he found the place where holy Cyriacus had built a font, which holy Marcellus the Bishop had consecrated, where holy Cyriacus baptized those coming to the faith: in which place Carpasius set up a bath for himself. And when Carpasius and nineteen along with him had bathed and had set out a feast, and were mocking the Christian faith, suddenly they fell down and died. But the passions of the blessed Martyrs, that is, of Cyriacus, Largus, and Smaragdus, are noted in their places in the present Calendar on the seventeenth of the Kalends of April under Maximinus Augustus and Carpasius the vicar. All these things Notker also transcribed from Ado in his Martyrology at the day VIII of August, with a few words changed.

[17] in which the most eminent Baronius Before we bring forward our judgment concerning this synopsis of the history, it will be useful to hear what the most eminent Baronius judged concerning the very fountain of the Acts, when in the Ecclesiastical Annals at the year of Christ 309, number 6, he writes thus: The Acts of Marcellus, Pope, are extant, yet in some things (as we have also touched upon above) to be corrected; so that, as regards the present matter, concerning the time in which Marcellus suffered, Maxentius is to be restored in place of Maximinus. But again, when in the same Acts there is treatment of Cyriacus the deacon, sent with Largus and Smaragdus by Diocletian to Sapor, king of the Persians, that he might free his daughter, possessed by a demon, and the things which are had concerning the same king of the Persians as baptized by him, they do not sufficiently please us: for since there were two Sapors, kings of the Persians, the elder flourished in the times of the emperor Valerian, whom he both led captive and used ignominiously until his death, of which Julius Capitolinus, Trebellius, Victor, and Eutropius are the authorities. But after him there are set as having reigned in Persia Hormisdas and Vararanes, and in the third place Narses.

[18] thinks that some things are to be corrected. There is mention of Narses in Vopiscus in his Probus; but that he was the grandfather of Sapor the younger and of Hormisdas his brother, Eutropius testifies, against whom Galerius Maximian waged war (as was said in the second volume of the Annals), over which Eusebius hands down in the Chronicle that Diocletian triumphed in the eighteenth year of his rule; although Cassiodorus, whom we refute, refers a triumph of this kind to another time. But that Misdates succeeded this Narses, and held the kingdom seven years and nine months, Agathias testifies; after whom he affirms that Sapor reigned, whom we call the younger: and it seems perhaps that it can be said that he took the kingdom in this year (namely of Christ 309, whose deeds Baronius there recounts), if we shall say that Narses ceased to reign from that time in which he was overcome by the Romans. Thus therefore in no way to the elder, but rather to the younger Sapor would those things which are written in the Acts of Marcellus have to be fitted. But there is no memory that he was ever a Christian; which Constantine would not have kept silent, when, writing to him a letter which is still extant, he commends to him the Christians who were in Persia. Further, that a dire persecution against the Christians was stirred up by this same Sapor, Sozomen, Theodoret, and others testify. Wherefore that whole history of the journey of Cyriacus with his companions into Persia, and concerning the king's daughter, and Sapor himself baptized with others, wavers in credit and totters in truth. If it seems otherwise to others, let them see to it; it was fitting for us to have discussed these things for the sake of a right reckoning of the times.

[19] Besides other things which are narrated in them, Our Bolland in his notes on the Acts of St. Marcellus, Pope, briefly observed like things, and therefore our Elders on the XVI day prudently placed that Jobia among the Passed Over, in these words: Jobia, daughter of Sapor king of the Persians, freed from a demon by St. Cyriacus, is reported on this day on the occasion of holy Cyriacus by Lahier in the Menology of virgins published in French. We would prefer more ancient testimonies concerning her virginity and martyrdom. She is reported as a virgin by Greven and Canisius on the XXIV of March. But neither do they satisfy. What is known concerning her we have given in the Life of St. Marcellus, Pope, at chapter three, the XVI of January. Then they again passed over the same Jobia at the day XXIV of March. For the rest, if it were worth the labor, it could be evidently proved from various ancient monuments that Sapor II or the younger was elected king of the Persians about the year of Christ 310, when he still lay hidden in his mother's womb, and therefore could not have had a daughter in the time of Diocletian. But this error of the Acts, which of its own accord strikes the eyes, being briefly indicated, let us proceed to discuss the other circumstances of the same.

[20] Those things also are suspect to us which are narrated in these Acts concerning Artemia, St. Artemia, as daughter of Diocletian, as daughter of Diocletian and sister of Maximinus, without any probability: for the ancient writers made mention only of a certain daughter of Diocletian, by name Valeria, whom the emperor ordered to sacrifice to the gods along with his wife, as Lucius Caecilius sets forth in the book on the Deaths of the persecutors, chapter 15, in these few words: The emperor therefore was raging now not only against those of his household, but against all, and first of all he compelled his daughter Valeria and his wife Prisca to be defiled by sacrifice. From this text of Lucius Caecilius some gather that those women had before embraced the Christian faith: for why, they say, did Diocletian compel them to sacrifice, since gentiles were wont to sacrifice to the gods of their own accord? Others, however, judge that they were ordered to sacrifice, although they were addicted to heathen superstitions, so that they might offer to the rest an example of performing these impious sacrifices.

[21] It is not the place here to dispute at greater length concerning this controversy: on account of the contrary testimony of Lucius Caecilius for certainly it can not undeservedly be doubted whether those women, after the impious sacrifice which they then performed, returned to the Christian faith and to penance. Hence the opinion of the Benedictine Nicolas Le Nourry does not displease us, who in his Dissertation on the praised book of Lucius Caecilius, chapter 9, article 1, has among other things the following to our purpose: It can still be called into controversy whether Prisca and Valeria, before Diocletian began to harass the Christians, really embraced the Christian religion. And Baluze indeed wholly denies it: for Caecilius has testified not obscurely that Prisca and Valeria did not dare to oppose the impious decree of Diocletian. And yet if they were really professing the Christian faith, why, more timid than other Christian women and boys, who with such great fortitude confessed their faith even to the most dreadful slaughter, did they so easily defile themselves with the abominable sacrifices of the heathen?

[22] To this is added, that thereafter mention of them is rather often made in this book of Caecilius; an ancient writer, yet nowhere at all does any trace of the Christian religion taken up by them exist. Nay rather, they are said to have been slain not on account of this religion, but on account of their rank and their chastity, as we shall presently say. Others, however, argue from this that they either were Christians or at least favored the Christians; because they were compelled to sacrifice to the gods of the gentiles: for gentiles sacrificed to the gods not unwillingly and with reluctance, but of their own accord and freely. But what if after this sacrifice they did not repent of the sin, or through fear concealed their penitence? Surely it would be exceedingly wonderful that Caecilius, a contemporary, should not have indicated, to the commendation of the Christian faith, that those foremost women had given their names to this religion, or after their lapse had come to their senses, and had been slain for the same faith. Although therefore we might gratuitously concede that this daughter of Diocletian had a double name, and that Valeria was also called Artemia, yet we should too rashly enroll among the Saints a woman of so doubtful faith and penitence.

[23] Hence I am compelled again to praise the prudence of our Elders, is suspect to us who at the day XVI of March made mention thus of this pretended daughter of Diocletian among the Passed Over: Artemia, daughter of Diocletian, freed from a demon by holy Cyriacus, and then baptized by the same Saint. In the Acts of St. Marcellus, Pope, at the XVI of January, number 20, after the narration of the martyrdom of Cyriacus himself, it is subjoined: At that very time Maximian Augustus slew his sister Artemia. Which words are also added at this day in the manuscript Martyrologies of Tournai, Liessies, Brussels, and others; likewise in Rabanus and others. Her body is believed to be at Rome in the Campus Martius in the church of holy Silvester, where she is venerated either with St. Cyriacus, or on the following day, as Panciroli hands down, on the VIII or IX of August. By others she is reported with St. Serena her mother on the XVI of August. Lest we wander unseasonably beyond the limits of this Commentary, concerning St. Serena it will be possible to treat distinctly at the day XVI of August with the Roman Martyrology, and then to investigate more laboriously whether that Serena was ever the wife of the emperor Diocletian. The occasion being offered, therefore, our discourse here is only of Artemia, who, if she was the sister of Maximinus or Maximian, as is said in the Acts of St. Marcellus and in certain Martyrologies, certainly was not the daughter of the emperor Diocletian, since Diocletian had no son by the name of Maximinus or Maximian. From Lucius Caecilius we know that Diocletian's daughter was married to Maximian Galerius.

[24] against the opinion of certain learned men, I know that Antonio Gallonio published in Italian the Life of St. Artemia among the Roman virgins, although there in his observations he does not dissemble the difficulties which can be opposed to his opinion. Nay rather, I judge that that learned man would have changed his opinion, if in his age the Book of Lucius Caecilius on the deaths of the persecutors had come forth. This I suspect also of the most illustrious Ivan Tomko Mrnavić, who published in Latin more copiously and more freely the Acts of Sts. Artemia and Serena in the Illyrian Royal Sanctity. I am not ignorant that by Carlo Bartolomeo Piazza in the Sacred Hemerology at the day VIII of August the annual memory of St. Artemia is recalled, and relics of this Saint are assigned in various churches of the city of Rome. But her whom that Hemerologist, from the more recent opinion of certain writers and from popular tradition, calls the daughter of Diocletian, I judge it more probable to be another virgin or martyr of that name, and that those Roman relics perhaps pertain to St. Artemia who was one of the daughters of St. Gallicanus the martyr, whose Acts our Henschen set forth at the day XVIII of February. According to such a tradition of some centuries, there could have been affixed to the relics of some St. Artemia the leaden plate which at Rome in the year 1726 was found in the church of St. Celsus beneath the high altar, and on which it is said to be inscribed: Artemia, virgin, daughter of Diocletian. But concerning the antiquity of this inscription judgment would have to be made from an eyewitness inspection of the characters and of other circumstances. Wherefore I wish those whom it concerns to be asked to set forth these relics and their inscription more fully. For the rest, I wonder that that most famous St. Artemia the martyr, if she was the daughter of Diocletian, is inscribed in neither the old nor today's Roman Martyrology.

[25] and some other attendant circumstances displease, Neither is it altogether incredible that to some unknown St. Artemia, virgin or martyr, whose sacred bones were preserved at Rome, the history of the Diocletianic Artemia was applied, and that that opinion prevailed with time and by common tradition on account of the likeness of the name, especially because that apocryphal narration in certain manuscript codices

was read: for in the Acts of Sts. Anthimus and his companion martyrs at the day XI of May, in our work, volume 11 of that month, page 619, it is narrated with circumstances little probable how St. Cyriacus first freed Artemia, daughter of Diocletian, from a demon, and then set out into Persia, that he might cast out the same demon, which had migrated thither, from the daughter of Sapor, king of the Persians. Henschen indeed in the Preliminary Commentary advises that that appendix, which there constitutes the third chapter, is lacking in the chief manuscript codices, and was most probably transcribed from other Acts of the saints.

[26] But at least those codices in which this appendix is read which neither with these Acts, contradict the other Acts, since in the same place the martyrdom of St. Cyriacus is reported in a plainly different manner thus: After these things Lucina received Cyriacus, returned to Rome, with Largus and Smaragdus the eunuchs, who had been converted with their two mistresses, the virgins Memmia and Juliana: which virgins, since they each had betrothed men, Tarpeius and Persius, explained to them such holy things that they were said to deserve punishment unless they should offer libations to the gods. But when they had consented neither to marriage nor to sacrifice, they were slain on their own land on the Ostian Way. And it was said to Tarpeius and Persius: Cyriacus is a friend of the emperor; if you do not take him away, he will make complaint about you, and you will perish. Then they lay in wait for him, and finding him praying in the place where he had buried the martyrs, they beat him there so long until he departed from the body. And blessed Lucina buried him with Largus and Smaragdus, and Memmia and Juliana. In this place, therefore, St. Cyriacus is said to have been attacked by secret ambush, and to have been beaten in secret by his enemies until he breathed out his soul. But in the Acts of St. Marcellus, and in Ado's compendium, the same St. Cyriacus with the other companions of his martyrdom is handed down to have been beheaded, by the order of Maximian, after various torments. Let him reconcile these and other circumstances of both narrations with each other and with the Usuardine Martyrology, who can: for I frankly confess that I am unequal to composing them.

[27] Add that the very Acts of St. Marcellus fight both with chronology and with themselves: nor with history can they be reconciled. for at the beginning they affirm that St. Cyriacus returned to Rome from Persia after the death of Diocletian, and that he was then first seized by Maximinus or Maximian, and afterward crowned with the laurel of martyrdom. Then they narrate that St. Marcellus the Pontiff translated to the Ostian Way the bodies of Sts. Cyriacus and his companion martyrs, which John the presbyter had already buried on the Salarian Way, embalmed with spices and wrapped in linen cloths. But how do these things cohere with one another, since St. Marcellus, Pope, died in the year of Christ 310, and Diocletian after abdicating the empire prolonged his life until the year of Christ 313? Nay rather, after the death of Diocletian the persecution against the Christians had already plainly ceased, since the emperor Constantine at that time was staying in the city of Rome, as is established from ancient history and the unanimous consent of the chronologers. I do not here repeat what has been recorded concerning Sapor, king of the Persians, of whom there was no such person in the time of the emperor Diocletian. Neither do I say anything here about the death of both Maximians, which happened before the death of Diocletian, and about other historical and chronological errors: for from what has been said it is abundantly plain that those Acts were composed or very greatly interpolated by some unskilled writer of later times. Now let us bear judgment concerning the other manuscript instrument which is said to pertain to our St. Cyriacus.

§ III. What is to be thought concerning the conversion, fatherland, and nobility of St. Cyriacus, which are narrated in the Palatine manuscript codex.

In the Palatine codex, now Vatican, Fioravante Martinelli in his Italian Work, whose title is The First Trophy of the most holy cross, reports various things concerning this St. Cyriacus, and to procure credit for his narration, on page 77 of the praised Work he cites an ancient Heidelberg manuscript codex, which he testifies is preserved in the Vatican Library under number 5516. We think that a faithful transcript of the same codex was sent to our Elders, which is noted in the margin as excerpted from the Palatine codex 591: for with the Latin fragment which Fioravante Martinelli published in the place just cited our copy entirely agrees. Since, however, Martinelli published in Latin only a part of that narration, we shall give the whole from our manuscript, and shall submit it, such as it is, to the prudent judgment of the reader.

[29] after a certain preface it is narrated, So then our transcript of the Palatine codex has thus: If according to the glory of Evangelical reasoning, he who honors the Saints is seen to honor God, who is proclaimed wonderful in His Saints. It is therefore an honor of the Almighty when the due order is exhibited toward the sacred Martyrs. For these are the Saints whose souls rejoice in the heavens, who also merit to have a place in the heavenly glory after the Apostles: of whose company the most blessed Cyriacus, glorious martyr, shone forth, whose venerable passion shows how constant he was in torments for the love of Christ, and how wonderfully he triumphed over the princes of the world. But since in his passion we find nothing written concerning his lineage, seeing that to those who described the deeds of the Martyrs perhaps only the Life or the passion was known, and especially of those who came to the City from far-off regions to be crowned with martyrdom; just as in the glorious martyrs Stephen and Lawrence, and in many others, the passion is perceived to be written without the lineage, so among us concerning blessed Cyriacus the passion alone is declared, since there has been no one who among us wrote anything concerning his origin: for the time of persecution, great enough and troublesome, scarcely permitted those who described the deeds of the Martyrs to say anything except of the contest of martyrdom alone, since both the martyrs themselves, and those who presumed to say anything about the martyrs, lived miserably in caverns and caves.

[30] how St. Cyriacus, But after the Church grew, and the Christian faith began to flourish in security, the Almighty raised up from various parts of the world wise men and doctors, who, striving both to compose new records and to reform the old for the better, wrote more fully, with the Lord's cooperation, both of the Life of the Saints and of their deeds and lineages. These things therefore we have premised, so that concerning blessed Cyriacus those may know, who have known his deeds read aforesaid, that his lineage was for this reason suppressed in silence; because when in the time of persecution he came to the City from Tuscany, clinging to Largus and Smaragdus, his companions of the flesh, and obeying the sacred admonitions of blessed Marcellus, while through the palm of martyrdom he receives an everlasting crown, his passion alone is left to the historiographers to be written. But after many courses of years, when the Lord wrought many miracles at his sacred relics, the Almighty raised up illustrious men endowed with wisdom, who by truthful assertion, so far as they perceived by the divine gift, endeavored wisely to handle of what famous parents blessed Cyriacus sprang, and how greatly on account of his nobility and wisdom he obtained a famous dignity, so that, famous in glory, he stood out as illustrious even to the emperors themselves.

[31] But lately certain of the said illustrious men, Canons from the church of holy Cyriacus born in Tuscany which is in Tuscany, coming and approaching the City, and seeking the Apostolic curia on account of some business, and out of the greatest reverence visiting most earnestly the famous church of holy Cyriacus the martyr, which in the middle of the City shines far and wide with a wonderful structure of stones and worthy of veneration, as you will hear more fully, took care to make known truly, as we believe, both by words and by writings, the deeds of the glorious Martyr at the aforesaid church. Holy Cyriacus therefore, a venerable and most illustrious martyr, sprang from Tuscany, as has been said, born of famous and most illustrious parents, whose father was called Quintus Sexius, but his mother Quincia: he himself indeed was then called not Cyriacus, but Sextus Sexius. It is therefore believed that he obtained this of Roman nobility, that the famous names of his parents bore before them the old glory of the nobles: for we read in the histories that many ancient nobles of the City were so called. The blessed Martyr himself also for this reason, as is believed, obtained a doubled name, when he was called Sextus Sexius, that it might be noted how great was his wisdom, his prudence, and also his nobility: for so we read that Gaius Caesar, Marcus Cato, Quintus Tullius, and several Romans were called with doubled and repeated names, that their wisdom might be held worthier and more illustrious when they are read of.

[32] His father, then, was margrave in Tuscany, whom his son also, blessed Cyriacus, succeeded in the same dignity: of noble stock, for he too, being made margrave after his father, for several years judged the same province by his wisdom: for he was by art a philosopher, and always took care to say or to learn something new. Indeed there could be no day on which he did not bring forward something new. He was therefore first a philosopher of the world, that afterward he might be held a philosopher of Christ: having become a lover of wisdom, he merited to attain to the true wisdom, which is Christ. For so Peter and Andrew were first fishers of fish, that afterward, as the Truth says, they might be made fishers of men.

[33] At that time Diocletian and Maximian were ruling the Roman empire; he shrank from idolatry, who, when, by the spreading of report, they had learned of the Saint's prudence and wisdom, took pains to call him to themselves as soon as possible, and began to hold him in great honor. This they are read to have done also with blessed Sebastian, whom they called to the City from the parts of Milan themselves. When therefore blessed Cyriacus, endowed with such learning and knowledge, was dear to the aforesaid emperors, it happened that he entered the temple of Mars with the priests of Mars, who were sacrificing the filth of brute animals. Straightway the blessed Man shrank from the wickedness, and, weighing from the wisdom given him that idolatry is vain, since he himself had never sacrificed to idols; because he knew that the true Lord is never delighted with this filth: considering also that Mars, to whom they were offering sacrifices, had been a ravisher of virgins and an obscene man, who would be worthy of no veneration, nay was to be burned with perpetual flames for his crimes, he began to faint within himself as he meditated; because in such worship, so obscene or foul, the highest good could not be had.

[34] and, God admonishing him by revelation, Out of such listlessness, while he was conferring with himself in meditating on such things, sleep rushed upon him, and he fell heavily asleep. But almighty God, who wishes no one to perish, and had already chosen him for Himself as a vessel of election, addressed him through a vision, saying: Rise up, you who sit dead, and live again. For he is dead who is without faith, since without faith it is impossible to please God. It is therefore said to him: Rise up and live again, that is, receive the faith, for which you may obtain everlasting life. Waking up therefore, the wise Man, and marveling what this might be, began to be terrified with exceeding dread, and to be so feverish that, leaning on the arms of his servants, he could scarcely return to his lodging. Through the whole night, therefore, within

himself, discussing the worship of the true God, and turning over his philosophy with much meditation, since in it he could never find the worship of the true God, he turned himself to the faith of the Christians, whom he had often seen contending for the love of Christ even to the shedding of blood.

[35] was wonderfully converted to the Christian faith, But when morning came, he began to wish to search into the faith of the Christians, and taking a staff, sick as he was, he began to go with slow step, until he came to the dwellings of the Christians. By the dispensing of divine clemency, he came before the doors of the Christians, not knowing, however, that Christians were kept hidden within. The doors therefore being closed, as the Almighty willed, Mass was being sung within. When the blessed Man heard with the intent ear of the mind the voices of those chanting, and the Gospel as it was being read, judging that it was already said for him what was being said in the Gospel: He who follows me does not walk in darkness; but shall have the light of life — for this was the Gospel it recounted. Truly he who follows Christ, since He is the way, the truth, and the life, does not walk in the darkness of vices, since the light which enlightens every man coming into this world enlightens those who love Him, whose bright light of mercy had already taken possession of the blessed Man's heart to enlighten it. Therefore the Man, hearing this now in a different way and prudently understanding it, knocked at the door without delay. But they who were within, opening, and recognizing such a man, and one so dear and acceptable to the emperors, greatly feared lest, being accused or seized through him, they should lie under the laws of death.

[36] he was converted, But he, now dear to the Lord, not deferring to fulfil his desire, asked that the grace of the Christian faith be revealed to him. But those who were present, understanding that the blessed Man had been directed by the Lord, and desiring to satisfy his desire, sent him to Pope Gaius by men sufficiently fit and faithful, Sisinnius, Smaragdus, and Largus. But an Angel of the Lord had foretold to the supreme Pontiff that he should worthily receive him who would be sent to him to be baptized, adding also that he should call the same man, now a Christian, by the name Cyriacus. Receiving him therefore honorably, Gaius the bishop baptized him, and, as he had been admonished by the angel, called him Cyriacus. But blessed Cyriacus, being baptized, returned home in haste, and made all his servants free, and took care to distribute all the substance which he had had to his household and to the poor Christians, and to fulfil what he had conceived concerning the faith of Christ: for he also clave gladly without delay to the Christians, although he knew it was troublesome enough to the emperors; among whom, having lived worthily for a long time, he received the order of the levites imposed on him, through which God wrought many miracles, as is read fully in his passion, until he attained to the crown of martyrdom through many kinds of torments, the Lord cooperating, to whom be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen. Then in the same codex there follow the Acts of St. Marcellus, Pope, with which the martyrdom of St. Cyriacus is mingled, and which we have discussed in the preceding paragraph.

[37] For the rest, in this new narration the title of margrave of Tuscany displeases us, concerning which whole narration which is attributed to St. Cyriacus and his father, because that name of political dignity was not in use in the time of Diocletian. Neither does it please that the Christians are said to have sung the Mass and the Gospel at that time with so loud a voice that St. Cyriacus could hear and understand it outside. I know indeed that recourse can here be had to a miracle; but miracles are not to be multiplied without a certain necessity, and we do not rashly admit them without authentic testimonies. There occur here also other things little probable, which a sound reader will easily observe. Finally, this whole history, unknown to the more ancient writers of the martyrdom, rests on the authority of certain Canons, who after many courses of years, as our author says, first disclosed the fatherland, nobility, and conversion of St. Cyriacus. But more ancient records, irrefragable witnesses of these matters, ought to have been produced.

[38] Certainly Razzi and other Tuscan hagiographers seem to have been ignorant of this authority or to have despised it, our judgment is brought forward. since they do not reckon St. Cyriacus among their local Saints. Neither does Cosimo Della Rena seem to have made much of that testimony, when after diligent investigation of the ancient monuments, in his series of the dukes and margraves of Tuscany, page 3, he assigns Maurizius or Maurizio in the year of Christ 593 as the first duke of that region. Nor did Fioravante Martinelli himself, who published in Latin from the Vatican manuscript codex a fragment of this narration, give credit to those things which this anonymous author hands down concerning the nobility of St. Cyriacus: for in the praised Trophy of the most holy cross, page 123, he asserts that this St. Cyriacus was the servant of Thraso, a very wealthy man, by whose order he carried food to the Christians who had been condemned to labor in the building of the baths of Diocletian. Wherefore this history seems to us to deserve little credit, and we leave its further censure to the learned reader.

§ IV. The burial of St. Cyriacus, and the translation of his relics to the city of Rome.

After an obscure prologue In the aforementioned Palatine manuscript codex, now Vatican, there is narrated the burial and translation of St. Cyriacus, to which the author prefixes this scarcely intelligible prologue: When I reflect on myself as hemmed in, I remember more and more the ancient disobedience of the first-formed man, sluggish as I am, and when your commanding words come to my ears, O most holy monk, an unbearable yoke seems to me to be about to be imposed upon me by you. Wherefore, not that I should refuse the labor, if I had wished to tread the path without reproof, but lest a shoot of the ancient root of pride should seem to be inherited, as I can, as I am able, relying on aid, I shall obey your commands, and although unworthy, yet trusting undoubtingly in the truthful sentence of our Redeemer promising, Ask and you shall receive; knock and it shall be opened to you, seek and you shall find, I propose to satisfy you. Whence I ask that you ask together with me, that by His grace we may be able to receive what we ask, and that you seek with me, that what we seek from Him we may by His goodness be able to find: but if we knock, that He Himself, who opened the Red Sea, may deign to open to us the desired treasure; whence to the praise of His kindly champion Cyriacus we may be able to run with unstumbling foot.

[40] and an unskilled synopsis of the Acts Then follows the history itself, at whose beginning the unskilled writer has mixed in some gross anachronisms, as will evidently appear from the mere reading of the narration, which stands thus: In the year from the Incarnation of the Lord three hundred and twice six (in that year 312 Diocletian had already long abdicated the empire, and St. Marcellus, Pope, had departed from the living), after Diocletian had been advanced from the lowest stock to the Roman empire, and had taken as his helper in the commonwealth Maximian, surnamed Herculeus, and had directed himself to Alexandria, Herculeus into Africa, at Rome the worshipper of Christ, holy Marcellus, was created Pope; by whose sanctity and goodness the number of the Christians began, with God's help, well to sprout forth: out of whose company he chose for himself a most holy man, and adorned with all honesty, by name Cyriacus, full of years, and found in all goodness, on whom he imposed the office of the levites.

[41] an anonymous author reports, Therefore Diocletian, returning from Mesopotamia, and Maximian, war being begun with Narses between Tamilicum and Carrhae, when he had acted unadvisedly, being put to flight from the battle, scarcely reached Diocletian with his breath recovered, to whom Diocletian gave an army, and thus fortified and thronged with an innumerable troop of armed men sent him back with mighty power to where he was triumphing over Narses: whose most powerful camp he plundered, he took his wives, sisters, and children, and with most copious Persian wealth returned to Diocletian in Mesopotamia and even to his fatherland, and was honorably received by him. After the triumph was accomplished, having returned to Rome, they led the wife, sisters, and children of Narses, bound together with chains, before the carriage of the prince, to declare the triumph of the Commonwealth; at which Diocletian, exulting emptily, made himself to be worshipped and adored by the people, since of old the Caesars were greeted by the common people. But Herculeus, coming from Africa, began to harass the worshippers of Christ with various storms, among whom he ordered the head of the kindly Cyriacus, after various kinds of torments, to be cut off within the baths of Sallust on the Salarian Way outside the walls, with twenty-one others, whose body — that of the aforesaid levite — John the presbyter laid apart. Then, eight days being accomplished, blessed Lucina carried him away, as is known to almost all, into her own estate on the Ostian Way, at more or less the eighth milestone from the city of Rome, and holy Marcellus, Pope of this kindly city of Rome, laid him up most zealously. There his head and arm rested until the times of the most holy Agapitus the younger, Pontiff, in the reign of lord Otto, a peaceful prince foreordained by God. But Alberic, a most illustrious man, was consul over Rome.

[42] on what occasion in the tenth century At length, more or less nine hundred and forty years having rolled by from the Incarnation of the Lord, there were three sisters of the already mentioned Alberic, of whom one was called Mororea, another Stephania, the third Theodora, who, that they might be able to find pardon of their faults from Christ, caused a monastery to be built most zealously beside the Via Lata in the place which is called at the arch of Tiberius: this they caused to be dedicated in honor of St. Stephen, and enriched it with very many gifts, and there placed handmaids of God in God's service, whose mind began to burn that, if perhaps by God's revelation they should be able to find a holy body, they might lay it up in that same place: and at the same time a certain servant of God, choosing the solitary life, was dwelling beside the cemetery on the Ostian Way, on whose gable was painted an image of the Savior our Lord Jesus Christ, and of His holy Mother on the left, of the kindly archangel Michael on the right, watching over this carefully, most zealously persisting there in God's service unceasingly, ministering as he was able. To this aforesaid man the already mentioned most devout women were joined, by God's ordering, in the best friendship, and he was often asked by them that he would come and instruct them with spiritual words; whom they began earnestly to entreat, if perhaps he knew of any holy body in that cemetery, of which he had certain and known title, that they might have it consecrated in their own church.

[43] But he, assenting to their wishes, made known to them that in his cemetery there lay hidden the kindly head and arm of the martyr Cyriacus, the relics of St. Cyriacus were found, which with the utmost caution, if they wished and it were their pleasure, but under this condition, that they should so enrich that house with their patrimonies that in it he might have honorable obsequies, they could carry away the head: at which they were made so exultant and joyful, as if they had found an immense treasure. Having heard these words, striving to accomplish the end, they sent most faithful scouts with him, and, by the assent of divine clemency, they found it just as the servant of God had foretold. With faces drawn back, they returned and reported to their mistresses the joys awaited and the things seen. Hearing this, the said matrons awoke as it were from a heavy sleep, as once the patriarch Jacob learned by a messenger's report that Joseph was alive, and, supported by the comfort of their servants and of the faithful, they come to the Ostian cemetery, and, as the aforesaid man of God had promised, they found the most holy place, and found a title placed over the tomb containing thus:

Here is laid up the body of the kindly levite and martyr Cyriacus, laid up by the matron Lucina.

[44] Then the bearers, fleeing, doubling the bier, hastily brought it to the Romulean city; and not without frequent but not far from the cemetery the most holy head stood so immovable that those carrying it could in no way move it. Then, counsel being taken, sad and mourning, they vowed that, if it would allow itself to be carried across their own properties, magnificent gifts would be bestowed on it: whose vows God looking down upon from on high, He allowed the most holy head to be moved, and where their pleasure tended, it followed immediately; but they went before the holy head, and crossing the channel of the Tiber they come into a spacious field which was once called Merui; and there it fixed itself with great honor. Seeing this, the oft-mentioned matrons, turned to exceeding astonishment, began to faint with great sorrow, promising it as a gift, if it would deign to be moved, that it should claim for its own uses all that inheritance which was theirs.

[45] This gift being received, with swift motion it moved itself until it came to the place and public miracles, which was called Cryptulum, and there again fixed itself, because that was their property, that it might acquire it by its own right; but they straightway with the utmost eagerness delivered it over to him, and irrevocably granted it: for from that same place, wherever their property was, they gave it to the most blessed Martyr by perpetual right, leading as far as the Portuensian gate. Entering the fortress, and crossing beyond the Tiber the island of Lycaonia, they trod the path along the base of the Tarpeian rock. Thence, proceeding with the utmost reverence beside the slope of the Argentarius, turning to the left hand they come to the region which is called the Via Lata. But the most holy head, coming on the wagon to the place which we have said, began to be weighed down with so great a weight, and so to remain immovable, that by no means could it be moved by human strength. Then many yoke of oxen were added, and not even so could it be moved.

[46] at which Pope Agapitus II is said to have been present, Suddenly there is a running together of peoples, and a gathering was made at once of senators and nobles of Rome, an assembly of clerics: all, astounded at the new marvel, said very many things. But then, counsel being taken, they sought the Pontiff, and, narrating everything, reported it to him. At this the holy Prelate Agapitus found with his clergy, God assenting, such counsel, that he should come himself, and see so great a prodigy with his own eyes. Coming therefore, the most holy Pontiff to the place where the vehicle remained immovable, terrified with exceeding wonder, his mind began to waver with various thoughts. Then He who had stirred up their hearts to bring it from the Ostian Way to Rome, He darted a thought into the kindly Pontiff, and thus he began to cry out with a loud voice: Hear, citizens, senate assembled, and people of Rome. This which you behold has been done by the judgment of God, by the providence and dispensation of God. If thousands of yoke of oxen be here added, and if it be drawn by the hands of all whom Roman strength is able to gather into one, it is nothing; because what the providence of God has fixed can in no way be moved by human strength. Let all the strength of men be cast aside; let all the yokes of oxen be unyoked; let the goads of the drivers be removed far off: let us leave there only these two which are bound to the wagon, and let no one go before it, and let no one offer them guidance, and let them be drawn by no one. Let us finally beseech our Lord Jesus Christ from our inmost hearts with pure minds, that, just as He showed the way to the people of Israel in the desert, and He who by wild heifers directed straight paths for those carrying back the ark of the Lord to Jerusalem, He Himself may direct this wagon according to His aforesaid will.

[47] translated to Rome; Then the whole company of the Romans, together with the most serene matrons, began with tearful voices to entreat God that He would direct the most holy head where His will might be. At these tearful prayers, therefore, the oxen made a rush, and moved the wagons, with no one leading. All standing at a distance and entreating, running to the left hand, they brought it by an unimpeded way to the gate of the aforesaid monastery which the oft-mentioned most illustrious matrons had built, and there they stood a little while. Then, prostrate on the ground, the above-mentioned Maroesa, most serene matron, made a vow, and brought a gift, and confirmed by charters one estate which is called the greater wood, with the various adjacent places and their names, and also another estate which is called Polagium: likewise also another, which is named Reatina, with several other places she gave under this condition, that whoever should withdraw it from the use of those persisting there forever, unless he came to his senses, should be struck with the anathema maranatha together with the devil. And when she had fulfilled the vow, the oxen drawing the wagons brought it into the monastery. Therefore the most holy Prelate, being asked by those most powerful matrons, laid up the head of the body of the kindly martyr and levite Cyriacus within the monastery beside the region of the Via Lata near the arch of Tiberius, and, whereas it was formerly called the church of holy Stephen, the Pontiff changed the name of the monastery, that it should be called that of holy Cyriacus, which also remains to this present day. This was done in the times of the most glorious Otto Augustus, the most holy Pope Agapitus presiding at Rome, our Lord Jesus Christ reigning, to whom be honor, power, and dominion without end through all ages of ages. Amen.

[48] I do not know what credit this narration of the anonymous author deserves, in which narration some errors are noted. since in the deeds of Agapitus II, Pope, or elsewhere in ecclesiastical history I have been able to find no trace of it. Certainly the writer of this narration strays much from the right chronology of the emperor Diocletian, as we indicated above in a word. Nor does he go less astray in ancient history, when above at number 41 he affirms that the Roman victors led the wife, sisters, and children of Narses bound together with chains before the carriage of the prince, to declare the triumph of the commonwealth: for Peter the patrician and master, an ancient Greek writer, where he records this very victory of Maximian Galerius, in our Labbe in the Excerpts on the Legations, page 26, praises the great moderation of the Romans toward the conquered Persians in these words: The captive Persians suffered no insult at all in captivity; but were in bondage in such a way that it wanted little but that they should be treated as liberally as if they had been in their own home, as nobles are wont. Who then would easily believe that the wife, sisters, and children of Narses were led or dragged bound together with chains before the victor's carriage? Concerning this defeat of the Persians the heathen writers of those times also made mention, and among others Sextus Rufus, or Rufus Festus, thus commends the moderation of the Roman victor in his historical Breviary, chapter 25: Narses, king of the Persians, fled; his wife and daughters were taken captive, and were kept with the greatest guardianship of their chastity: for which admiration the Persians confessed that the Romans were superior not only in arms but also in morals; and they gave back Mesopotamia with five regions across the Tigris. The peace made lasted useful to the commonwealth down to our own memory. These things being briefly observed, we leave the credit of the whole preceding narration with its author, and we subjoin another prodigious history of the same sacred relics, to which nevertheless we more readily give credit, because it was written by a contemporary author and eyewitness, as will appear from the following paragraph.

* read "all standing by and entreating"

* otherwise Maurotia

§ V. A notable miracle which happened at Rome at the relics of holy Cyriacus.

A certain contemporary writer testifies; In the praised Palatine or Vatican codex there is read a prodigy concerning the relics of St. Cyriacus, which was written by a certain Benedict, minister of the church of the holy Cyrus and John, in the city of Rome, and to which this prologue is prefixed: Sing to the Lord a new song, praising Him likewise in His Saints, since the merciful and compassionate Lord has made a memorial of His wonders, whose praises, since every creature in glory is to sing them, bears witness, someone might imprecate upon me, keeping silence, that of which Isaiah says, Woe is me because I have kept silence. By the example, therefore, of him who said, Announce among the nations His zeals, since He, requiring their blood, has remembered, I Benedict, unworthy minister of the holy Cyrus and John, to the praise and glory of the most excellent martyr of Christ, blessed Cyriacus, have judged it worthy to reveal, by the record following below, what things the Lord in these times has wrought through his glorious merits, for all who hear and understand, both present and future hereafter. In the year, therefore, from the Incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ 1233, in the tenth year of the Pontificate of Lord Gregory the ninth, Pope, on the sixth of the Ides of May, the Lord, doing a new thing upon the earth in the monastery of the nuns of holy Cyriacus of the City, by his intervening merits wrought great wonders, and because His judgments are great, according to that which the Scripture says, Great are Your judgments, O Lord, and the judgments of His almighty power are unspeakable, who alone does great wonders, who in the head of the Martyr of Christ, who was a member of that Head, mightily and ineffably wrought, the Lord. To Him alone, to whom all glory and power is due, to whom every knee is bent, we ought to ascribe it, and to commend His magnificence with worthy praises in contrition, confession, and satisfaction for our sins.

[50] that a priest came to Rome from Saxony, Then follows the history itself, another transcript of which we once received from Speyer, by the care of our Father Philipp Kisel, which we shall now compare with the faulty Vatican or Palatine copy. And it runs thus: Great is the Lord and exceedingly praiseworthy, and of His greatness there is no end, who does great and unsearchable wonders, of which there is no number. Great indeed in counsel, and incomprehensible in thought. And who will not fear Him? For He Himself, who is glorious in His Saints, doing prodigies in heaven above and wonders on the earth beneath, showed in the City a new and unheard-of miracle, to be extolled with immense proclamations and commended with divine* praises. For a certain clerk, and for a long time truly a priest endowed with sacred offices, by name Henry, established in the monastery of holy Cyriacus of Gernrode in Saxony, which from its very foundation was subject to the monastery of holy Cyriacus of the City both in head and in members, for a long space of time, as we have received from his report, had devoutly rendered his service in the observance of the divine offices. At length, divine grace inspiring him, purposing to visit the holy land and the glorious sepulcher of the Lord, he forsook the transitory riches of this world, and he who had been called into the Lord's lot, desiring to serve the Lord alone as a soldier, forsook his fatherland and his parents, and in the purpose of holy religion undertook the holy journey, in which, wearied after many labors and after many perils of the ways, he came to the City, and visited with all devotion the thresholds of the blessed Apostles Peter and Paul.

[51] and desiring to see the relics of St. Cyriacus, But afterward, seeking out the monastery of holy Cyriacus of the City with all zeal and all diligence, when he had come to the place, with how great devotion, with how great a pouring forth of tears, before the altar of the most glorious martyr of Christ, blessed

Cyriacus, he prayed prostrate, we can admire, but we scarcely suffice to explain. But the prayer being finished, he urgently asked with many tears, demanding that the head of the most blessed Martyr be shown to him, confidently asserting that in his own parts it was proclaimed, and held for certain, that whoever with compunction of heart and with devotion of spirit should attend to the place of the wound which had been cruelly inflicted upon that Martyr by the tyrants at the time of his passion, would see blood flow forth from the place of the wound. He also kindled the minds of the nuns standing by to the fervor of pious devotion by singing with honeyed voice this Antiphon concerning the Martyr: The pitch-black enemy, melting pitch, about to deform the white hairs of the Martyr, changing an old man into a youth, thus exercising his tyranny; on account of which the nuns and very many others standing around, wondering not a little, hesitated to show the head of the glorious Martyr, lest, if it should happen that so great a miracle should not at all appear, the devotion of the aforesaid priest and of many others should seem to grow lukewarm. But faith, purifying hearts, whose victory has overcome the world, and charity, conquering all things, inclined the minds of the abbess and of the nuns, so that with equal vow and harmonious will, assenting to his pious desires, they should show to the aforesaid priest the head of the glorious Martyr.

[52] Now at that time the care and solicitude of the aforesaid monastery had been committed to us by the supreme Pontiff, the head of that Martyr dripped with blood, and without us the business of this matter could not be dispatched, nor was it fitting. Whence the said Henry, coming into our presence, urgently besought that his desire might be fulfilled. But we, receiving him honorably, carefully inquiring of him concerning the state of the monastery of holy Cyriacus of Gernrode, diligently asked concerning the cause of his journey, concerning the condition of his person, of what religion and profession he might be; and indeed we received a fitting answer upon these matters, and finding the man devout, we humbly and devoutly condescended to his petitions, and took care to send our seal, under which the most sacred head had been sealed with the relics of many other Saints, to the said monastery by a certain faithful clerk, by name Paul: for at that time the religious handmaid of God Artemia was the venerable abbess of the monastery, with her sisters devoted to God, Concordia, Margaret, Angela, Scholastica, Romana, Agnes, Theodora, Prasina, Agatha, Catherine, Hermenia, Praxedes, Cecilia, Merentiana, Constantia Benencasa, Ottolina, Eugenia, Aurea, Sophia, with their other sisters offered in the same monastery and professed in regular discipline; in whose presence and that of very many of both sexes standing there, the silver vessel was opened, in which the glorious head was seen laid up with spices: from which fresh blood most manifestly and most openly was dripping, so that the aforesaid vessel was wet within on the upper part, and the whole surface of the head was bedewed with most precious blood, and the skull, growing and as it were swollen, had filled the vessel to the top, so that nothing of the vessel seemed to remain unfilled or empty.

[53] Oh, how great was the devotion of the nuns there! How great, from the devotion of each man and each woman standing there, was the flood of tears! which miracle It could scarcely be explained by the speech of a human tongue. The Lord wrought these signs, as we have said, on the sixth of the Ides of May, on the Saturday following after the Lord's Ascension, about Vespers. But when the morning of the following Sunday came, we came to the monastery, most diligently inquiring into everything: for we saw, we recognized, we believed and believe undoubtingly that Jesus Christ, Son of God, who is the strength and glory of the Saints, wrought these wonders to the praise and glory of His Martyr. Whence we straightway commanded, the bells being rung, that the solemnities of Masses be celebrated. But while these things were being done, a very great multitude of men and women, hearing the great deeds of God, ran to the monastery and cried out: Have mercy on us, Jesus Christ, Son of the living God, by the merits of blessed Cyriacus Your martyr, a most valiant athlete. And indeed to all who sought with all desire, these wonders are seen.* The Gospel being sung, we with the clerics and a copious multitude of people, going out from that monastery in procession, showed the head within its enclosure and in the cloister, stained with blood; and, what is wonderful to hear, with many seeing it, blood was dripping from the upper part of the head, and running down below into the little silver vessel in which it was beheld laid up. These things being done, we began to relate the praises and mighty works of the Lord to the people, and the glory and honor of the blessed Martyr. Which being accomplished, it came about miraculously, as we believe by God's will, for the memory of those to come, that some drops of blood fell upon the chasuble and the cloth with which the priest carrying the glorious head was adorned; and, lest we forget the works of the Lord and His commandments, to this present day the aforesaid drops remain on the chasuble and the cloth. But all meanwhile praising God and blessing His Saint, all returned in procession into the church, and the head is placed back upon the holy altar, and the solemnities of Masses meanwhile are completed; which being accomplished, all returned to their own homes, and the head is placed back in its own place under our custody and seal.

[54] besides other prodigies But after these things, about midday, almost all the Roman people, running anxiously to the monastery, all crying out with one voice, in season indeed and out of season also, that they wished to see the great wonders of God. Whence the clergy with the people again carried the holy head in procession from the monastery into the field of Camillus, and there by all the miracle was seen and known, and most manifestly declared: for there to a certain woman, Blanca by name, deprived of one eye, sight was restored, as she herself declared to us and to many others. Also a certain woman, who had lost the use of her side, and could by no means rise from her bed, having heard of the miracle, commended herself to the Martyr, and straightway rising, came to the monastery, and was restored to her former health, as she herself narrated these things with many hearing. There also it happened miraculously that some drops dripped upon the linen garment of Stephen, Canon of St. Marcellus, as became plainly known to many.

[55] before a great multitude of the people But because it is written that it is honorable and fitting to reveal the works of the Lord, it is by no means to be omitted that the aforesaid Henry, after the first vision of the blood, appeared nowhere: on account of which there was an opinion of various persons that he himself was the holy Martyr, others asserting that he was an angel, appointed from the Lord's side: and when almost all the people were speaking of him, longing for his presence, they persisted continually until twilight in divine praises and in the proclamations of the holy Martyr. But when evening came, and the head being placed in procession in the sacristy of the monastery, on account of the announcement and report of so great a matter, the venerable fathers and lords, Lord Romanus, bishop of Porto, and Lord Stephen, of the title of St. Mary across the Tiber, and several Cardinals, coming to the monastery, and making a scrutiny concerning that deed, saw with eyewitness faith the marvel which had been wrought by God; and indeed in their eyes it seemed exceedingly marvelous.

[56] was publicly repeated, But on the next day, namely the second weekday, the blood which had flowed out into the silver vessel being now as it were coagulated, most clear water began to drip from that head: and from that day on which the miracle began to be wrought, until the seventh day, as often as they looked upon the most holy head, so often something new and marvelous was seen in it. Therefore, to the praise of God and to the memory of blessed Cyriacus, glorious martyr, and also to the example of the faithful, wishing to advance from virtue to virtue, by the authority of the lord Pope we have appointed that this day, on which the Lord exalted His Martyr with so great a miracle, be solemnly observed yearly and be held celebrated perpetually in the aforesaid monastery. But to all who shall have come together on the said day with pure heart and unfeigned faith, and who shall have celebrated it reverently, we promise pardon of their sins, through Jesus Christ our Lord, who with the Father and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, God forever and ever. Amen.

[57] Now certain things occur to be briefly observed on this history, and on whose history we observe some things. and first indeed concerning the time in which this public prodigy happened, an error seems to have crept into one or other year: for above it is said to have been done in the year of Christ 1233, in the tenth year of the Pontificate of the lord Gregory the ninth, Pope, whereas according to the more exact chronologers the tenth year of Gregory IX, Pontiff, coincides with the year of Christ 1236. Secondly, it is to be noted that Margrave Gero founded the abbey of Gernrode in the tenth century for nuns, who inhabited it until the sixteenth century, when little by little Lutheran maidens succeeded the Catholic nuns, as may be seen in Heinrich Meibom, who in volume 2 of the German Writers, from page 417, published in print the Annals of Gernrode. But although this abbey belonged to nuns, yet that there were also clerics of St. Cyriacus there we gather from the diploma of Rikinza, abbess of Gernrode, which is reported in the Ecclesiastical Spicilegium of the German empire, part 3, page 88, and to which among other witnesses in the year of Christ 1205 there subscribes, Henry, chaplain of our court and Canon of holy Cyriacus the martyr. Meibom in the volume just cited, page 476, produces the same diploma, to which after Henry other witnesses subscribe thus: Bartholdus the custodian, Christian the priest, Cono the priest, Frederick the priest, Paul the deacon, Ericus the subdeacon, John the subdeacon. With the aforesaid Canons of holy Cyriacus there were present at this contract several others of the household of our church, men of good repute.

* perhaps "creature"

* otherwise "various"

* otherwise "are laid open."

§ VI. Certain relics of holy Cyriacus translated from Rome to Bamberg.

In the above-mentioned Vatican codex it is reported, In the often-cited transcript of the Palatine or Vatican codex it is also narrated on what occasion a part of the relics of St. Cyriacus was translated into Germany, and to this narration the following title is prefixed: How the arm of holy Cyriacus was translated to the parts beyond the Alps, and laid up at Bamberg by the emperor Otto. Then the narrator of this translation, unknown to us, thus prefaces it: We read that in the beginning of the first man God the fashioner made all things whatsoever He wrought good and perfect, and subjected them to the right of man, that all should be subject to his service: the radiance of the sun and the splendor of the Titan, and Mars, Cyllenius, Jupiter together with Venus, and slow Saturn, and all the immeasurably shining stars: living creatures, the birds of heaven, the fishes breathing in the waters, and whatever is under heaven He gave him for his use; He forbade him only one apple with this warning, that, if he should eat of it, he should straightway suffer death. But since through the envy of the devil death entered in, the woman, being seduced, deceived the man, and the man, observing the ordinances of his wife rather than of his Creator, incurred death, and left both to himself and to all his posterity the offspring of so great a curse. But the Creator, grieving with him, when He saw that He was losing His own creature, sent His own Son into the world, and, that He might snatch us from the demoniac power, delivered Him to death and destruction; through the death of His Son He exalted us, and we who were sons of darkness were made

sons of light. The concupiscence indeed which the first parent had so sprouted up that it lasts even to this day. And since I have drawn out this discourse at length, let us return to that, how from the body of the most holy levite and martyr Cyriacus some part was withdrawn from his holy monastery by the envy of malice and the tinder of hatred, and how by the ordering of almighty God, in place of a recompense and of His immense mercy, for the sake of consolation, a particle of the body of the most holy Nicholas was brought thither.

[59] how the emperor Otto Then he thus begins to narrate the occasion and history of the translation itself: A short time, therefore, having intervened after the holy head of the kindly levite and martyr Cyriacus had been conveyed to the monastery which is situated beside the Via Lata, and honorably placed there; at that time Otto, a most powerful emperor, was reigning, but at Rome John the fifteenth, Pope, son of the most excellent consul Alberic, was holding the Pontificate; and over the monastery presided Pretiosa, an excellent handmaid of Christ, and a most humble abbess. At this time, therefore, that serpent, artificer of all malice, who poured his venom into the mind of the first man, that he might break the covenant of his Maker, he darted a thought into the mind of the aforesaid Pontiff, and sent in the ruin of his heart, and sent to the aforesaid abbess a message not to be uttered. She, inflamed with the divine Spirit, so received the welcome command as if an asp or a basilisk had sent a terrible hiss upon her; she renounced, refused, resisted, and by forbidding gave answer in all things. He heard the reply by such a messenger, and received a grievous dart in his heart, so that he furnished the tinder of hatred against that same handmaid of God; and he began daily to burn how he might be able to inflict grievous harm on her and her monastery.

[60] came to Rome, Not long time having intervened, the most glorious emperor came to Rome, seeking, beseeching, asking with knee bent to the ground, he went to the basilica of holy Peter the Apostle, and most humbly prayed for a very long time, and the emperor most longingly begged for the ring of the fisherman, that he might fulfil his desire at his pleasure. It happened that some of the Romans took care to make known the emperor's arrival to the Pontiff. Leave being received from the Keybearer of Peter, the emperor sought the imperial palace, raised himself upon the throne, encompassed by innumerable nobles sitting and standing with him, and by the mixed common folk, and sent to the Pontiff such a message, that he should as quickly as possible come before his sight: for when the Pontiff heard this, he sent back such things to be said to him: Let a truce be given us today; in the morning we shall come to holy Peter's, and to his service. The day at length being passed, night coming on, the morning dawning, there was a running together of the nobles of Rome to the Constantinian palace, the Roman Pontiff presiding, with the consent of the consuls, the chief senators, the praetorian prefects, and the prefects of the fleet, and also the soldiers and fellow-soldiers, the decurions together with the commanders of fifty; the Prelate addressed them with such a voice: Hear, citizens, senate and people of Rome. Otto, august emperor of the Romans, has commanded us by his messengers that we visit the basilica of holy Peter, and present ourselves in his presence. If it seems good to you, deliver your opinion to us. At this all together with harmonious voice began to answer: It seems to us fair and holy that a father visit his son, and we shall all come in your service and his.

[61] Straightway when the Prelate heard this, he, taking the road with all the escort of the Romans, and, at the persuasion of Pope John, passing through Rome, walking across the bridge which is surnamed Hadrian's, entering the city which is called the Leonine, when he had come to the base of the Vatican hill beside the naumachia, dismounting from his horse, he with all the consuls of the Romans, senators and princes, sought the basilica of most holy Peter, and entered to his confession, and beseeching him from their inmost hearts that he would entreat God for their offenses. These things being accomplished, they sought the imperial palace; but the king, seeing the Pontiff coming to him, rising from his throne, ran to meet the Pope, and took his hands, and made him sit on his own throne, and kissed his feet, and honorably treated him in the place of the Apostle Peter. After these things they sought an inner chamber, and held a private counsel. He admonished, he preached, and concerning many unlawful things which he had heard of him as done, cautiously and gently, like a good father, he chastised him. But as holy Scripture says, For wisdom will not enter into a malevolent soul, nor dwell in a body subject to sins, and the most prudent Solomon gave words consequent upon this sentence, The wicked man, when he has come into the depth of evils, despises: that unhappy man, whence he ought to have come to his senses, from thence slipped to worse things. When the emperor knew this in mind, in disposition, and in deeds, although unwilling, he let him go, so that for the time he might seek his own pleasure. In this last period something seems to have been transposed or omitted, which renders the sense difficult to understand.

[62] Then the emperor began earnestly to ask him, the arm of St. Cyriacus that, if he wished to enjoy his good will, and to find his help in all places, he would fulfil his desire, and would give him some part from the holy bodies by which Rome was and is protected. He, when he heard it, filled with immense joy, exulting with great leaping of heart, is said to have given such an answer to the emperor: Hear my counsel, most excellent prince; God is my witness that I set forth to you a truthful judgment. Dearer things are not found in this land, except the relics of the Apostles Peter and Paul. There is at Rome a monastery of maidens beside the region which is called the Via Lata, in the place which is named at Pinea, near the arch of Tiberius, in which in modern times has been laid up the head of holy Cyriacus, martyr and levite, who was ordained by holy Marcellus the bishop, and in the times of Diocletian was wearied with many torments; for after the slaying of Diocletian, his stepson Maximian, surnamed Herculeus, gave order, and he was beheaded by the sword, and was buried by Lucina, a most serene matron, on the Ostian Way, and there he lay hidden until the times of the most holy Agapitus II, Pope, and our own of Otto, most pious emperor. Now, a short time having passed, his head was conveyed to the aforesaid monastery by two most glorious matrons, sisters of the above-mentioned Alberic, senator of the Romans, and there was honorably placed by my predecessor, the Prelate Agapitus of holy memory. Now let us go there together, and from his holy relics we grant you however small a portion.

[63] When the emperor had heard this, he was filled with immense joy, as though he had found an immense treasure, giving thanks to God, and began to ask the Pontiff that without delay he would fulfil what he had promised. from the Roman convent of nuns That wicked Pontiff, burning to root out, as he desired, the wound which he had in his heart on the part of the aforesaid abbess, asked the emperor that they should mount horses together and with the whole assembly of the Romans come to the aforesaid monastery; which also they did, entering the gates of the monastery and the church. He violently broke open the tomb in which his body had once been laid up, and did not blush to touch the holy place with polluted hands, and gave to the emperor the arm with the shoulder that was left with it. But the emperor, when he felt that he had such and so great a treasure, rejoicing and exulting sought the Vatican palace at the naumachia beside the temple of Apollo near the Neronian buildings.

[64] the nuns complaining in vain Struck by this storm as by a thunderbolt, the aforesaid abbess with all the sisters serving God, tearing their hair, striking their breasts, rending their cheeks with their nails, with great wailing and immense grief sought the palace, and cast themselves at the feet of the emperor with the greatest lamentation and tears, and made a very great outcry before the king. Then the king began to inquire from what stock that abbess had sprung, who with such constancy dared to contend before the king. But she began to set forth her ancient lineage. When the emperor heard it, and recognized that she was his kinswoman and joined to him by neighboring affinity, he began most humbly to entreat her that she would pardon him the fault already committed, and should obtain from him whatever she asked. When she had heard this, she received consolation in part, and fell kissing his footsteps, and weeping asked to receive from him such a gift: Hear, most serene emperor, if you wish to have peace with God, hear my counsel, how I shall take care to restore the holy arm which you hold, having disfigured it. And since I well know that you are unwilling to do this, give me such a messenger of yours as is noble and prudent and most eloquent: and let a sum be given me whereby I may be able to go to Constantinople; and, if it please your majesty, let your messenger come with me, who on your behalf may ask the emperor Basil that he send us some particle from the body of holy Nicholas the confessor, if perchance my most wretched mind may in some way be consoled. And when the emperor had heard this, he gladly received her words, and commanded that an immense treasure be at once brought to her, and gave into her power a most prudent man who stood at his side, who is called count of the palace, and commanded his chancellor that he should straightway make a letter dictated by him, and seal it with his seal; which chancellor straightway fulfilled the command, and sealed it with the seal, and gave it to the abbess, and the king, promising her his best goodwill, she returned with great joy to her monastery.

[65] translated into Germany, But the emperor, leave being given to the abbess and to her company, himself sought the confession of the Apostle Peter, and prostrated himself there on the ground weeping, and greatly beseeching God, entreating for his own offenses, asking a prosperous journey for himself and his men, that he might be able to return unharmed to his own country. Having prayed these and other like things, leave being obtained of God and of the holy Apostle, he admonished his men to take the road. But having received the venerable part of the body of Cyriacus which we have mentioned, he ordered such a frame to be fashioned upon a horse's back, in which the arm of the most holy Levite might remain worthily to be carried, and might accomplish a most worthy journey. God's help being implored, beginning the journey, exulting and rejoicing, he left golden Rome. Pursuing the path begun, with swift course they came to Tuscany, which Tuscany is named from frankincense, because its people were wont to live superstitiously in the sacrifices of the gods. Most swiftly they came to the town of Siena. Thence they cross by the city of Lucca, and various places being traversed, they entered the city of Piacenza, entering or crossing the Po, which is also called Eridanus, and, spacious plains being ridden over, they came to the Cottian Alps. Having ascended or descended the mountain which is called Buxdone, entering Lombardy, they swiftly came to Pavia; but thence to Milan, which is called Liguria, because it is fruitful in pulse. Turning aside by the right hand, they came to Verona, which the river Adige waters: thence, traversing narrow passes, passing through the city which is called Trent, with the swiftness of horsemen they arrived at the parts beyond the Alps. With great gladness they came to Swabia, which province is called Bavaria.

[66] But the emperor, coming to the city which is called Bamberg, and at Bamberg there fixed himself with swift step with the part of the Saint's body which he had brought, and remained there so long until he honorably dedicated a venerable oratory. Archbishops, fellow-bishops, and also an innumerable Christian people being gathered together, the emperor began to say such words: Hear, most blessed fathers, confessors and sons, the gift which we have brought from almighty God, and from the holy Apostle Peter, or from our golden and excellent mother Rome, we take care to make known to you.

Know in truth, most dear fathers and brethren: There is present the arm, as far as the shoulder, of the most holy Martyr and levite of Christ Cyriacus, ordained by Marcellus the Bishop, beheaded by the order of Maximian, and buried many years ago by a most serene matron who was called Lucina. Now, since Christ has deigned to give to us, unworthy, such and so great a patronage, let us keep and guard him as the pupil of our eye, that on the day of the dread judgment we may merit to have him as a gentle and kindly intercessor before Christ the judge.

[67] These things being said, with the archbishops and fellow-bishops gathered together with the king, placed it honorably, they honorably and reverently laid up the part of the most holy body of the martyr Cyriacus, and consecrated the church, and confirmed it in his name: he enriched and adorned it with innumerable and most ample and immense gifts, and there for the religious clerics serving God he appointed servants and placed handmaids, so that from then on and forever the servile service of Christ should never be lacking in that same church; and he commanded their descendants, now and until the end of the world, that they should most humbly bring an annual vow of a payment to the monastery of holy Cyriacus at Rome: he sanctioned it, confirmed it, and bound the vow perpetually with an anathema from Christ and all His faithful upon those forbidding or gainsaying the command. But by the help of God's clemency the command is even to this day well and most excellently observed. We have often seen most wealthy dukes and most renowned counts coming from those regions, and there paying their vows from their goods. We have often also witnessed very many of that people brought with various and most notable gifts of silk, with golden veils and silver coins, and we have seen altar-coverings woven with gold, and several ornaments woven with the best and various embroidered works of gold. Bronze bells, most clearly resounding, sent by them, are held even to this day, and innumerable gifts are paid yearly to the holy monastery, God's just judgment so disposing, that, just as the handmaids of God had once, in the absence of the emperor, on account of the part of the relics carried off, been exceedingly saddened and almost unto death, and afflicted with immense griefs, so their successors should deservedly forever exult in such a manner.

[68] although the writers of Bamberg made no mention of this matter, Now a little, as far as our strength suffices, we earnestly entreat you, O most holy levite and contest-president Cyriacus, that for our sins, as we know you have power, you would entreat God, that He may always form your servants and handmaids in His service, may confer peace, nourish quiet, take away diseases, adorn with chastity, and by your intercessions preserve us in His protection, and, just as we serve your church continually, may we find your clemency everywhere, that we may be able to say with you: Blessed are they who dwell in Your house, O Lord, they shall praise You forever and ever. After these things the anonymous author narrates how the abbess Pretiosa, having set out with the count of the palace to Constantinople, obtained from the emperor Basil relics of St. Nicholas of Myra, concerning which it will have to be treated at the day VI of December, and then the Annotations of Fioravante Martinelli in the praised Trophy of the cross, page 143 and the following, may be consulted. Further, we do not know how much credit is to be given to this narration, since among the writers of Bamberg we find no mention of those relics of St. Cyriacus, of so celebrated an oratory of the same Martyr, or of the other things reported here.

[69] and others claim relics of the same Martyr for themselves. Gelenius in book 4 On the greatness of Cologne, in the sacred and pious calendars of Cologne, at the day VIII of August attributes notable relics of this St. Cyriacus to the diocese of Cologne in these words: At Cologne in the church of the holy Apostles, and in the town of Geisecke of the diocese of Cologne, of holy Cyriacus, whose head is there enclosed in a precious bust, here his body once enclosed in a tomb of pure gold; but Count Oberstein carried off this tomb, etc. But the people of Cologne persuade themselves that those sacred relics pertain to this St. Cyriacus, as is plain from the Minorite Peter Cratepolius, who in his little work on the Saints of Germany, page 47 and following, writes thus: Holy Cyriacus the deacon, after a long wasting in prison, was drenched with molten pitch, and stretched on the rack, dragged with sinews, and beaten with cudgels. Last of all, with immense constancy, together with Largus and Smaragdus and twenty others, by the order of the tyrant Maximian, he was beheaded. The head of this holy Martyr is preserved at Cologne in the college of the holy Apostles, which holy Peligrinus took care to have translated thither from Rome. That Peligrinus was prelate of Passau, and departed from the living in the year of Christ 991, as may be seen in our Marcus Hansiz, volume 1 of Sacred Germany, page 228. But already above Benedict, an eyewitness, has taught us that in the thirteenth century at Rome the head of that holy Martyr shone with public miracles. It lies therefore upon the people of Cologne to prove that the sacred head of the same Martyr was carried to their diocese after these times. Other writers also claim various relics of this St. Cyriacus for their own regions. But it can deservedly be doubted whether they have not referred relics of some Saint of the same name to this more celebrated one, since already thirty and more martyrs or Saints of this name have been set forth in our Work.

* read "the twelfth"

* read "resipiscere"

* perhaps "friends"

* that is, perhaps, of horses