ON ST. ASTERIA OR HESTERIA, VIRGIN AND MARTYR,
AT BERGAMO
IN ITALY.
In the Diocletian persecution.
PRELIMINARY COMMENTARY.
Her cult, translations, and Acts.
Asteria or Hesteria, V. M., at Bergamo in Italy (St.)
BY P. B.
The Roman Martyrology thus announces her birthday on this day: At Bergamo, of St. Asteria, virgin and martyr, in the persecution of the emperors Diocletian and Maximian. She is set down on this day in the Marlia, Galesinius had gone before (whom alone Baronius names in his animadversions) in these words: At Bergamo, of St. Asteria, virgin and martyr; who, the companion of blessed Grata the virgin, dedicated to God in religion, having attested by the pouring forth of her blood the genuine and true piety which she professed by her manner of life, is crowned in the persecution of the emperors Diocletian and Maximian. The source of this eulogy he himself assigns in the notes appended to the Martyrology at the same day and month, namely the Annals and records of the church of Bergamo. For her cult was not yet known elsewhere, when in the year 1578 he first, and then the reformers of the Roman Martyrology, promulgated it throughout the whole Church. But although we do not know what Annals, what records of the church of Bergamo Galesinius here mentions, we readily believe that they were not so recent as not to suffice for proving the immemorial cult of this Virgin Martyr there. And indeed, unless the antiquity of her cult had been established, Rome would not so often have approved it in the proper Offices of the church of Bergamo from the year of Christ 1587 down to 1705: for there constantly on the XI day of August, on the feast of St. Hesteria virgin and martyr, her Office is prescribed as a double, with a proper IV Lesson.
[2] But the cause why she is venerated there on the XI day of this month is the solemnity of St. Lawrence the martyr, [but at Bergamo St. Asteria, or rather Hesteria, is venerated on the following day;] by which the X day is impeded, as, after Mario Muzio in the Life of the Saint, Ferrari in the Catalogue of the Saints of Italy rightly observes at her eulogy: for that the X day of August is the true birthday of Hesteria, the ancient and the recent monuments of the people of Bergamo agree,
and so also does the very booklet containing their proper Offices approved by Pope Sixtus V, in the Bergamo edition of the year 1610; in which the feast is indeed marked on the XI day of August; but in the proper Lesson subjoined concerning the Saint it is expressly read: She flew away to seize the doubled reward of virginity and martyrdom on the IV of the Ides of August; not on the third of the Ides of August, as has been put in the later editions of the years 1614 and 1707. But whence did Galesinius derive the name of Asteria? This too I do not deny that I am ignorant of: for nowhere before him have I found her so called: everywhere she is written Hesteria, or Hæsteria; unless perchance in a certain epitaph of hers, which Celestino, History of Bergamo, part 2, volume I, page 290, says existed thus engraved in the church of St. Alexander M., before it was destroyed in the year 1561: TO THE BLESSED MEMORY. Here rests Æsteria, a maiden consecrated to God, who lived sixty years; who died under Diocletian, on the IV of the Ides of August. She received sentence of death in the VI Indiction. Under the judges Arrius and Julianus she incurred the capital sentence of Maximian. But let us return to the beginnings of her cult among her own people.
[3] where her cult flourished It is certain that there not only her veneration, if any there had been, but almost all knowledge of her, had perished long before the year of Christ 1290, in which her body and those of three other Saints were found: it is certain also that at the same time an altar was constructed in the cathedral church both to her and to the companions of her sepulchre, to which in the following year they were translated by Robert de Bongis, bishop of the place, with the greatest solemnity, and were thus raised to the proper and public honors of the Saints forever. Of both see what we gave in volume VII of May, page 578, and rather in volume III of July, page 203 and following; and hold these as inserted here. Further, since we cannot prove by so clear a testimony the earlier devotion of the men of Bergamo and the origin of that devotion, we leave it to be demonstrated by others who perhaps have better instruments at hand: for we do not think the epitaph just recited suitable for this purpose; both because it is of uncertain age, as appears from the use of the Indiction; and on account of the inept tautology; and finally on account of the variation of its text, which is otherwise in Mario Muzio at the end of the Life, where indeed no Indiction is set down, nor any repetition; but the martyrdom is bound to the year of Christ 307; which era no one is ignorant is much too recent to allow great credit to be given to our epitaph.
[4] from immemorial time, Equally little to the purpose can be the inscription which Celestino, cited before, subjoins to the epitaph at page 291 and following, in these words: Grata, on account of her own and her father's virtues, deserved a royal marriage; and, her husband being dead, she returned to Bergamo: where, with the virgin Hesteria her companion, having shown pious service in the burial of the body of the divine Alexander, filled with the highest divine power, together with Lupus, duke of Bergamo, and Adleida her parents, she stirred up this people to the true worship of God. Therefore her, and her parents, and Hesteria, reckoned in the number of the Divine Ones, the city perpetually venerates and worships among the deities of the fatherland. In the year 308. These things are assuredly of a modern writer, and indeed an unskilled one: for the ancients did not express the Saints by the name of Divi; much less did they in the fourth century know the Christian era; in which also the reckoning of anyone in the number, or rather into the number, of the Divi was a heathen phrase, not a Christian one.
[5] that is, at the least from the year of Christ 1290 But neither is that clear which Martino Antonio Guerrini, doctor of sacred theology and of both laws and canon of the cathedral of Bergamo, otherwise excellently deserving of us and of our Work, asserts in the Synopsis of the church of Bergamo published in the year 1696 by Fra Vincenzo Coronelli, against the author's will, as we have learned: it is not clear, I say, what he thus asserts at page 35 concerning Aginus, bishop of the people of Bergamo from the year 758 to 810: The relics of St. Hesteria, virgin and martyr, being found five hundred years after her slaying, he wonderfully translated them with a solemn concourse of clergy and people, and placed them in a worthy sarcophagus in the said cathedral. Whence, I pray, did that pious and learned man draw this? From Celestino, if I mistake not, History of Bergamo, part 2, volume 1, page 291. But whence did he? From the Ms. of the Sanctuary of Bergamo, in this text: It is reported also that in her translation there were found bones exceedingly bright, and as though mingled with gold and silver, wonderfully fragrant, although they had lain hidden for five hundred years. From which words Celestino draws this conjecture: In this place, if by the word HIDDEN there be signified BURIED, it will be necessary to say that they were found and translated in the year 807, when Aginus was bishop among the people of Bergamo. Namely, that author refers the martyrdom and burial of Hesteria to the year of Christ 307, to which five hundred years being added, they run out into the year of Christ 807.
[6] That conjecture falls, and the translation unheard of before Celestino, when her body was wonderfully found and translated; if we deny that these words, hidden for five hundred years, can be counted from the year in which St. Hesteria was first buried. And that this must indeed be denied is established from our historical Sylloge on St. John, bishop and martyr of Bergamo, at the XI day of July from page 200; for there neither that hiding, nor the other things which Celestino cites, are recorded of the bones of Hesteria alone; but of the bones of four Saints together, Hesteria, Projectitius, James, and John, found and translated at the same place and time under bishop Bongo; since therefore it is most certain that they were not all buried there at the same time, but some much later than others, and John indeed not before the year of Christ 683, that is, three centuries and more after the others; a common starting-point for counting cannot be drawn from so disparate a burial of each; but rather a backward one from the common finding and translation of them all, which was no other than that single one which took place while Bongo sat. Add that in the same Sylloge at page 204, where this common finding is described from a Bergamo Ms., it is not said to have happened when the bones of St. Hesteria had already lain hidden there five hundred years, but when her bones and those of the other three had together lain there unworthily hidden for many years, and through a long course of time: and thus no certain number of years is there established during which each of them lay hidden before that finding. Celestino's conjecture therefore goes up in smoke. Of John alone among them, bishop and M., the author and witness of that finding and translation writes in the same place at page 202 that he was so found, after he had lain there for five hundred years and more. Whence it follows that Hesteria and the others, who died and were buried three centuries before John, lay hidden there for five hundred years and more before the common finding of the year 1290 (and thus could not have been translated in the year 807); but it does not follow that they were not buried there and perhaps also lay hidden without cult much longer than John.
[7] The translation already mentioned of the year 1291 was followed after a long interval by another; sadder indeed, as it had again to be translated in the year 1561 and 1704. but none the less august than the former. Namely in the year 1561, in the month of July, the Venetian republic had decreed to strengthen Bergamo with new fortifications, and for that cause to demolish from the foundations, not without great grief of the citizens, the cathedral church of St. Alexander the martyr, as being an obstacle to the works planned. The bishop therefore straightway emptied it (for he was pressed) both of other things and most carefully of the bodies and relics of the Saints, as many as were kept there, and the translation of all which to the church of St. Vincent — which itself also had long before been the cathedral in the same city, and which thereafter was distinguished with the title of Alexander the martyr and with the bishop's see — he appointed on the Ides of the following August with as great majesty as he could. There, moreover, our Hesteria had, as the rest, her own place and shrine. Consult, if you have leisure, the authentic history of this translation in Ughelli, Italia sacra, volume 4, column 707 of the Roman edition, but of the Venetian column 500; correct however in both the fault by which the earlier translation made by Robert Bongo is shamefully ascribed to the year of Christ 1299, that is, fully seven years after the death of the translator. A third translation, finally, to the new cathedral church, was accomplished in the year 1704; as is gathered from the proper Offices of the people of Bergamo printed in the year 1707, page III. Now, her cult being sufficiently established, let us proceed to the Virgin's Acts.
[8] What Acts of hers survive; Whether the primitive and entire Acts of St. Hesteria ever existed we do not know. Those which can now be brought forward rest on the tradition of the church of Bergamo (would that it were sufficiently ancient and constant!). A very few things may seem somewhat more ancient than the rest, which pertain to the Life of St. Grata; if however they truly pertain to it, or if that Life of St. Grata, even so far, can of itself bring much weight to the Acts of Hesteria herself; which will have to be examined at the day IV of September, which the people of Bergamo willed to be consecrated perpetually thereafter, from the year 1706, to the birthday solemnity of St. Grata; as may be seen in the proper Offices already cited, pages 93 and 112. Certainly the eagle of the Bergamo historians, Jacopo Filippo Foresti, commonly called Bergomas, in the work on Illustrious Women, chapter III, so reviews the deeds of St. Grata as to mix in no mention at all of St. Hesteria; nay, so as to seem to exclude the chief eulogies of the latter; when he asserts that St. Grata long before her death renounced all things, that she might live for God alone; and that she died in that year in which the divine Constantine the Great obtained the monarchy of the whole empire. Where then is the principate of the city administered by St. Grata until her death, and only then consigned to Hesteria; where is the martyrdom of that same Hesteria under judges sent by the emperor (who certainly could not be Constantine); where, finally, are our Acts? Could Foresti in the XV century be ignorant of these things at Bergamo? He will not believe it who has known the man. Did he then tacitly disapprove them? Let others judge; I for my part suspect it, and the more so because the same man in his vast and most celebrated Supplement of the Chronicles never names Hesteria, not even in the alphabetical catalogue of Martyrs cut off in the tenth persecution; in which surely he owed to his fellow-citizen, not to say his Princess, a place distinguished above others, if he did not reject her Acts.
[9] and when they were written, But that these our Acts neither were nor could have been unknown to Jacopo of Bergamo, we learn from a transcript of them: for it was drawn in the year 1706, with credit lawfully attested, from the Sanctuary, or ancient Lectionary of the Saints of the church of Bergamo, existing in the archive of the cathedral of St. Alexander, covered with figured leather partly gilded, of ancient work and Gothic character. These are the words of the most distinguished Martino Antonio Guerrini (of
whom we received the said transcript, with some others bound together in one bundle, in the year 1708), page 85; as also this, at page 9, concerning that same Sanctuary: Nor can its certain age be assigned; since it is a book copied out from older and now lost exemplars: and, as may be conjectured from the comparison of the lettering, this last surviving copy seems to have been transcribed three hundred years ago: that is, in that very century in which Jacopo flourished at Bergamo in the Convent of the Augustinian Fathers. But why was it then transcribed? Assuredly for the use of the Office in the church of Bergamo; since it contains the deeds of the several Saints distributed into Lessons suited to the Office. That use therefore was then in force. And could a Religious priest at Bergamo have been ignorant of those things which in his own age, in the diocese, in the city, in the church both cathedral and others keeping its Offices, and indeed in his own Convent (as is likely), were wont to be recited by himself and others in the yearly round? Meanwhile you have here the age of the exemplar, whose transcript we shall give below.
[10] But since that exemplar is said to have been copied in the XV century from other older ones, namely scarcely before the end of the 13th century. it may be asked at what time we think our Acts were first composed and inserted into the ecclesiastical Office. Two things only here seem certain: first, that it was done long before the XV century, as is clear from what has been said: the other, that the same did not happen before the finding and translation of St. Hesteria, or the year of Christ 1290 or the following: for this the history of that finding and translation, assigned above, teaches from its very beginning, which runs thus: The translation of the holy martyrs Hesteria, Projectitius, James, and John was celebrated in this order. Now the bodies of the aforesaid Martyrs had remained in the cathedral church of St. Alexander at Bergamo for many years, lying hidden less becomingly; so that the people of Bergamo scarcely knew of those Saints; and were wholly ignorant of the place; which nevertheless was manifest to the canons of that church from a certain ancient inscription on a stone. And when through a long course of time they had stood there WITHOUT DUE CULT or reverence, etc. For indeed if there was no cult, there was no Office. The people of Bergamo scarcely knew of those Saints, much less did they know their Acts; which therefore had not then yet been published in writing. And if this is so, let a judge not unskilled in ancient history see indeed what value can be set upon a monument composed a full ten centuries after the things which it narrates; and thence let him conclude of what worth those things must be which are much more recent, drawn from the same source but not with the same simplicity, and amplified by Benali, Guarneri, Celestino, and others. Meanwhile receive now our Acts, distinguished here by as many numbers as there are Lessons in the Sanctuary of Bergamo.
ACTS
From the old Ms. Lectionary of the church of Bergamo.
Asteria or Hesteria, V. M., at Bergamo in Italy (St.)
BHL Number: 0727
FROM A MS.
St. Hesteria revived the worship of Christ at Bergamo; Hesteria, most holy virgin and martyr, formerly the magnificent governess of our city of Bergamo, but now its diligent advocate with her most beloved spouse the Lord Jesus Christ, took the beginning of her life in the year of the Lord's nativity two hundred and forty-seven, holy Fabian, Pope, presiding over the Roman Church. How good a constellation! that at that time there should be born two associated Saints, namely Grata and Hesteria, who were the first cause of the spreading abroad and enlarging of the name of Christ in our city of Bergamo a. These are the two olive trees of mercy; these the two ruddy flowers of roses; these the two golden candlesticks shining before the Lord; these the two white lilies of the valleys.
[2] being sprung from Christian parents, To me therefore, desiring to speak of the life, manners, and acts of this manly woman, most worthy of all praise, there occurs that saying of the Psalm: According to Thy name, so also is Thy praise. This name Hester, from which Hesteria is derived, was the name of a woman beautiful and humble, and raised to honor. Our Hesteria, beautiful in humility and comely in faith, raised up by charity, sprung from parents noble in race, but more so in virtues and in the Christian religion, being still in her tender years purified in the sacred font of Baptism, ever setting aside the vanity of the world, applied her mind continually to all kinds of virtues and to divine things. The girl grew, as in age and person, so no less in virtues and in the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.
[3] and most holily brought up. She gave her labor to sacred letters, to saving admonitions, to diligent contemplations; and what good she had conceived by eyes, by ears, and by mind, she took care to fulfill in deed. When she had read the Life of the most glorious Virgin Mother Mary, and had often heard her immense praises recited, she drew a very great desire of holy virginity. That she might keep that most white lily in its beauty, she remained hidden in her father's house, and had before the eyes of her mind the spotless mirror of holy integrity. And so, remaining at home, she had as companions of her holy virginity humility, obedience, abstinence, the labors of her hands, and above all that most holy prayer which is the procurer of all good things. When queen Grata, widowed of her husband b, had returned to her father's house, she asked that she might be given her as a companion, with whom, leading a celibate life, she might be able more freely to devote herself to acts of virtue.
[4] Being made St. Grata's companion, she buried St. Alexander M.; When some women had been brought forward, before the rest Hesteria, a virgin and a woman of understanding, as though prepared for her by God, pleased St. Grata. Coming together therefore into one, a little estate was given them apart by Duke Lupus, the father of St. Grata c. And that Hesteria, the handmaid of God, brought also her own patrimony; where she gave herself unceasingly to works of mercy, both spiritual and corporal. But the merciful and gracious Lord God sent to Bergamo a good champion, St. Alexander d, whose coming did not lie hidden from that busy bee St. Hesteria, especially because she perceived that he brought the flowers of salvation. When Alexander received the palm of sacred martyrdom, the holy women Grata and Hesteria came up: she taking up the head [], the other gathering [] his blood, which had flowed, congealed in her apron: and they gave him to burial with spices.
[5] and long after this she is designated by the dying St. Grata, But after a long time Grata, full of days and of good works, perceiving herself near to death, said to the chief men of the city, holy Hesteria being present: Follow Hesteria as your leader; for I have no fear but that she will bring you by a straight path at last to the desired end. Then the nobles said to the divine Grata: The lady Hesteria, whom thou dost commend to us as leader, both out of regard for thee and also for her own great prudence, gentleness, and wisdom, we will love, respect, and venerate as thyself. Then the holy woman Hesteria, bathed in tears, scarcely able to speak, subjoined these words: I promise that I shall be a humble handmaid, not a mistress. And the body of the divine Grata was given to burial by holy Hesteria.
[6] Then the princes of the city came together to Hesteria, the handmaid of God, saying: For the confidence which we have in thy piety, we beg thee to deign to take the primacy over us. To whom she answered: And whence is this to me, and she is admitted by the men of Bergamo to the principate of the city; that I, a woman, not being of the race of princes, should rule over men so glorious? Make me rather a humble handmaid; let me serve you, my brethren, so far as I can, for the love of the Lord Jesus Christ. To whom all said: Because therefore we regard thy humility, hence it is that we desire, and have decreed and determined, to exalt thee. Being unable to gainsay them, she took the government of the city; in which, as long as she continued, she left behind a great praise and memory of herself.
[7] For first she set her mind upon the payment of the divine praises in the churches, in which, when it was to be confirmed by the imperial judges, according to that instruction of our Savior: First seek the kingdom of God; then she applied diligent care to the peace of the citizens and of the peoples; lastly to relieving the necessities of the poor and needy. Whence it came to pass that all followed her with the highest veneration. When there had come to Bergamo two judges sent by the emperor, to confirm Hesteria in the dukedom, sitting on the tribunal they caused Hesteria to be set before them, and said: Venerable Lady, how great praise thou art worthy of, thy virtues going before, this result shows, that, whereas thou art not of the race of princes, the citizens have chosen thee, an aged woman, for their duchess, governess, and lady; wherefore it is fitting that thou offer incense to the god Jupiter, who has conferred such favor upon thee.
[8] Then the holy Woman answered thus: You who are appointed judges, it behooves you to keep justice and equity; she is found to be a Christian, but you do the whole contrary: for you persuade me to render divine honors to him to whom rather contempt is due; and to despise Him who has been the bestower of these things. What you mention, Christ Jesus conferred, who with the Father and the Holy Spirit created all things, and governs the universe, and adorns those who love Him with a special grace. But the Judges, crying out against her, said: Art thou then, wretched woman, a Christian? This solemnity, which we thought to fill up with the joy of thy coronation, shall be turned into mourning. Consider, lady, if thou desirest to escape death, and dost wish to be distinguished with the honors of the dukedom. Dost thou not recall that Alexander the soldier was grievously punished for this cause?
[9] To whom she, nothing trembling, replied: O happy I, if I might be able to share in the most precious death of that most glorious Martyr named by you! and she is subjected to the sword. The things which you think I desire — temporal riches, glory, and carnal delights — I count all as dung, provided I may gain Christ. But they: What profits it to delay? Either adore Jupiter, or thou shalt exchange life for death. Then she, fixing her knees on the ground and looking up to heaven, poured forth this prayer: Lord Jesus Christ, who didst create the world and didst wonderfully redeem it with Thine own blood; receive, I beseech Thee, the body and soul of Thy handmaid, which I now offer Thee as a sacrifice for an odor of sweetness; humbly praying that Thou wouldst have mercy on all of this city, and forgive those who persecute me, and send them the light of Thy grace. Hearing which, the judges, a sign being made to the executioner, ordered her head to be cut off. And the angels, taking up her soul, presented it with immense jubilation to the sight of the divine Majesty. Then the Christians honorably buried that sacrosanct body in the church of the divine Alexander e, in the year of the Lord's Nativity three hundred and seven f, and on the tenth day of August.
ANNOTATIONS.
Guerrini; from which, if anything can be amended, it shall be done on the 4th day of September, where St. Grata is treated.
* perhaps attollens & colligens (taking up and gathering)