Euplus or Euplius

ON ST. EUPLUS OR EUPLIUS, DEACON AND MARTYR,

AT CATANIA IN SICILY,

In the year CCCIV.

PRELIMINARY COMMENTARY.

Euplus, Martyr, at Catania in Sicily (S.)

BY THE AUTHOR J. P.

§ I. His memory in the Calendars, eulogies; his public veneration from sacred buildings, miracles, and hymns; the state and cult of his body among the people of Trivico; its translation.

The Roman Martyrology, which

the Church of God uses to this day, His memory in the sacred Calendars, announces that this Saint is to be celebrated on this day, speaking thus: At Catania in Sicily, the birthday of St. Euplius the deacon, under the Augusti Diocletian and Maximian: who, when he had been tortured a very long time for the confession of the Lord, at length received the palm of martyrdom by the stroke of the sword. Among the Greeks he is marked on other days; for indeed in the Menology of the emperor Basil, and in the Typicon published under the name of St. Sabas, on the X; but in the great printed Menæa, and also in the Menæon of Chifflet, he is found on the XI of this month. But the things which I have here summarily reported must now be confirmed and illustrated by more and more ancient documents. And, to begin with the Greeks: in the praised Menæa they record him thus: Of the holy martyr Euplus. And then they repeat his announcement thus: The memory of the holy great-martyr Euplus. These verses are subjoined:

The stole indeed makes you, Euplus, a venerable levite, But the cutting makes you truly a sturdy man-at-arms. On the eleventh Euplus is subjected to the cleaving sword.

In the same place there is also a eulogy with the sacred Office.

[2] In the praised Menology of the emperor Basil there is this eulogy, a eulogy among the Greeks. which I thus translate from the Greek: Euplus, martyr of Christ, was sprung from the city of Catania, which is in the island of Sicily, in the reign of Diocletian. And when he was deacon of the church existing there, he imbued the people with the Christian faith, reading the sacred Scriptures before them. Whence, being known and seized by the governor, and being compelled to deny Christ — but with fruitless attempt — chains were laid upon his hands and feet; and while he was hung upon the wood, he was torn with iron hands and claws, and his bones were crushed with heavy mallets. Then, being taken down from the wood, he was cast into prison: where, when he was thirsty and had no water to drink, by his prayers he drew forth from the earth a fount of water, having drunk which, he gave thanks to God. After these things he was cast out of prison, and, after his ears had been bored through with awls, at length his sacred head was cut off with the sword. A eulogy like this, but a little shorter, is noted in the Menology of Cardinal Sirleto.

[3] Most celebrated is the memory of this Saint among the Latin Martyrologists on this day. The Saint is inscribed in the most ancient calendars of the Latins. In the Hieronymian copies published by Florentinius he is thus announced: In Sicily, in the city of Catania, the birthday of the holy Eupolus, Nericia, Veneria. And at the day XII of September: In Sicily, in the city of Catina, the birthday of the holy Euplus and Serapion the bishop. But whether, and what, companions our Martyr had, I shall say below. The ancient Roman Calendar which Fronto published records these things: On the day XII of the month of August, the birthday of St. Euplus. To which add the Calendar in Allatius in the work which he wrote On the Perpetual Agreement of the Western and Eastern Church: where at column [ ] it is said: On the day before the Ides of August, the birthday of St. Euplus. In the Martyrology which is extant among us under the name of Bede before volume II of March, page XXVIII, it is thus read: II of the Ides (of August). In Sicily, in the city of the Catanians, the birthday of Euplus the deacon: who, when he had been tortured a very long time, was beheaded by Calvisianus the consular, in the time of Diocletian and Maximian. In the little or old Roman Martyrology are these words: At Catania, of Euplus, deacon and martyr. Ado says: In Sicily, in the city of Catania, the birthday of St. Euplus the deacon, under the Augusti Diocletian and Maximian. Usuard: In Sicily, in the city of Cathina, the birthday of St. Euplus the deacon, under the Augusti Diocletian and Maximian: who, when he had been tortured a very long time for the confession of the Lord, at length received the palm of martyrdom by the stroke of the sword. To these add Rabanus and Notker, and generally all the Martyrologists. Wandelbert in his metrical calendar celebrated this most illustrious Champion in this verse:

On the day before, Euplus, you take the everlasting palm of martyrdom.

In the most ample collection of Ancient writers and monuments by Edmond Martène, volume 6, where some most ancient Martyrologies or Calendars are set down, the memory of our Saint is inscribed in the annual little book of the lord Bede the priest, column 644; in the ancient Gallican Martyrology, column 668; in the ancient Calendar of the monastery of Stavelot, column 674; in the Calendar of Verdun, column 681; in the Martyrology of Auxerre, column 715.

[4] His public veneration from sacred buildings, To the announcements of the hagiologists just reported it is well to subjoin other monuments of his ancient cult from buildings marked with the name of St. Euplus. St. Gregory the Great, who sat at the end of the sixth century and the beginning of the seventh, book 12, letter 10, which he wrote to Felix bishop of Messina, says: Januarius, subdeacon of the church of Messina, has suggested to us by a petitioning representation, which is contained in what follows, that he has founded in the city of Messina a basilica out of his devotion, which he desires to be consecrated in honor of St. Stephen, and Pancratius, and Euplus. In the VII century Pope Theodore I presided over the Church; in whose life, in Anastasius the Librarian, volume 1, page 126 of the latest Roman edition, these things are found: He made also an oratory to blessed Euplus the martyr outside the gate of blessed Paul the apostle, which he also adorned. In the VIII century Hadrian occupied the see of Peter, who, as is related in the same place, page 264, restored anew the portico .. which leads to blessed Paul the apostle from the gate, together with the church of St. Euplus, as far as the aforesaid basilica of St. Paul. That in St. Peter's there is seen an image of him embroidered with the needle on a most ancient umbrella, his name being woven there in Greek letters, Piazza testifies in his Sacred Hemerology at the day XII of August. In the IX century there stood at Naples a church of St. Euplius; as Ottavio Gaetani proves in the Animadversions on the miracles of St. Euplus, volume one of the Lives of the Sicilian Saints, page 86. See below, §5. Florentinius in his notes at the XII of August, page 748, observes these things: Documents on kidskin in the episcopal archive, about the year eight hundred, indicate a most ancient church (of St. Euplus the deacon) in the territory of Lucca near the city.

[5] But now that the public veneration of the Saint flourished exceedingly at Naples, of whose church there I was just speaking, by miracles, and hymns, etc. is made out from the miracles which were wrought in that city, our Saint being patron, and which will be given below. Besides these, the hymn composed by St. Joseph the Sicilian in honor of St. Euplius the martyr, on the testimony of Gaetani in the Lives cited before, page 110, where also it is exhibited translated from the Greek; likewise another hymn in the same place, page 112, concerning the same holy Champion, also rendered from Greek into Latin — do they not sufficiently indicate that his memory was most venerable and precious among mortals, and grew famous with miracles? It is pleasing to hear a few things which it has seemed good to cull to this purpose from the hymn which I named in the first place. In Ode 8 these things are sung: Your relics have power to cure various sicknesses and to expel malignant spirits: standing about which we cry out: All you works, bless and praise the Lord. And presently: O men gathered together, draw from the sepulcher of the Martyr the fitting medicine of sicknesses, and in faith cry out: All you works, bless and praise the Lord. And in Ode 9: Today Catania, the venerable metropolis, keeps festival, because it possesses you as its patron, and celebrates together with all provinces, prefectures, and cities your divine contest, which city you protect by your intercessions. Finally at the end of the hymn, after those things which are sung to the Mother of God, are these: For all eternity sitting beside almighty God, resplendent with rays, O Victor, be mindful of those who celebrate your illustrious memory, and who venerate you, O holy martyr Euplus, as a minister of the Sacraments of Christ.

[6] But in the other hymn indicated above it is sung to him: translated from the Greek Most famous Euplus .. wonderful .. luminary of the West .. glory of the Catanians, and most shining torch of the world. He is praised likewise as most fervent in zeal, full of divine grace .. being as precious ointment in the West .. you have filled the boundaries of the East, and the whole world, with your good odor. Greatly does the metropolis of the Catanians glory in you: since indeed it had you, Euplus, as its renowned citizen .. In a pious manner .. we the faithful run joyfully to the coffer of your relics, and all, obtaining health from diseases, embrace it, singing hymns to Christ .. Like a huge treasure in the West, illustrious for a most abundant display of miracles .. you have enriched the Sicilians. Further, that holy Joseph the Sicilian, named above by Gaetani, does not seem to be other than he whose Acts were illustrated among us at the day III of April from page 266: since he was both a hymn-writer and a Sicilian, according to what is there related; where also his death is probably attached to the year 883. To these add the following concerning the sacred Office and the relics. Among the proper feasts of the Saints of Catania which we have in our copy ✠ Ms. 143, folio 203 verso, at the day XII of August, on the feast of St. Euplius the martyr, a citizen of Catania, the chief patron of the city, a lesson is noted in the 2nd Nocturn from the Acts of the martyrdom, and from the Gallican Breviary. But that the Saint received some peculiar veneration among the French is indicated: 1st, because in the Calendar of the Saints which is prefixed to the Missal of Verdun, printed at Paris in the year 1554, at the day XII of August there is noted Of Euplus the martyr, III lessons. 2nd, because in the Breviary of Lisieux, published in print in the same place in the year 1624, at the day XI there is prescribed a commemoration to be made of St. Euplus the martyr. Antiphon: This is truly a martyr. Versicle: With glory and honor. Prayer: Grant, we beseech, almighty God, that by the intercession. As in the common of one martyr. But at the day XII, Antiphon: This man, despising the world. Versicle: The just shall flourish like the palm tree. Prayer as above. Ferrarius in his Catalogue of the Saints of Italy, after the Saint's eulogy which he brings forward at this day, notes thus: The body or the relics of St. Euplius are said to be preserved at Trivico among the Hirpini, of which city he is the tutelary patron.

[7] and also from the sacred remains For the rest, that cult of the Martyr is confirmed and illustrated by what I shall now say. I have Latin manuscript notices in which treatment is made of a bone of St. Euplus the martyr, translated from Trivico to Catania in the year 1656, which our Father Francesco Blandizio sent hither from Messina (whither he had come for the congregation of the province) on the XII of October in the year 1658, as I find noted by Bolland; and which hereafter, to say this once for all, I shall cite under the name of the Messina notices. In them, therefore, I read certain things to our purpose entitled thus: The answers of the most illustrious and very reverend lady, the nun sister Faustina Loffredo, to be praised below, to the questions of Father Francesco Blandizio of the Society of Jesus, concerning the sacred remains of the holy great martyr Euplus, a citizen of Catania: whence I excerpt these things: 1st. The sacrosanct remains of blessed Euplus .. are preserved in the cathedral church of our town of Trivico in the kingdom of Naples, of which the reverend Chapter of canons is the guardian. For indeed this great Martyr is the patron and tutelary of the city of Trivico. 2nd. His more notable sacred remains (such as the feet, shins, knees, hips, hands, and part of the head, whose bones are most white and fragrant, but without flesh) are enclosed in a statue

of gold. 3rd. But the remaining sacred remains are preserved in a certain little casket, covered on every side with silk: which, being well fastened, is kept within the high altar.

[8] among the people of Trivico in the kingdom of Naples; 4th. But this casket is brought forth with great veneration on the very feast day of the holy Martyr, and on all the days within his Octave, and is placed upon the altar; at which time there is a frequent concourse of the whole people to the cathedral. 5th. But on the first day preceding the feast, with a throng of all the Religious orders and with most famous pomp, the sacred remains are carried upon the shoulders of two priests adorned with white ankle-length vestments and red tunicles, a multitude accompanying on every side not only of the people of Trivico but even of foreign towns. 6th. Because also on the very feast of the most blessed Mother of God assumed into heaven, and on its octave day, together with the statue of the glorious Virgin Mary, the sacred remains of St. Euplus are carried about through the streets, lighting up the city to the great joy and applause of all. 7th. But the statue of the holy martyr Euplus is kept placed for the rest of the year in a certain little window skillfully wrought and clothed about with silk: which also on the more solemn feasts of the year is opened to be seen and venerated by all, wax torches shining round about: whose key is kept with the treasurer, who is one of the four dignitaries of the Chapter. From Naples on the day 2 of February MDCLV .. And it is subscribed Faustina Loffredo.

[9] But at the beginning of the eighteenth century that sacred body was translated by the Most Illustrious bishop of Trivico into a more becoming place, in the year 1703 translated to a more becoming place. as is established from a document which I have before me, and which is sealed with the signature and seal of the same Most Illustrious lord. It confirms our matter thus, besides other things noted in the said document: Simon Viglino, Doctor of Sacred Theology, by the grace of God and of the holy Apostolic See bishop of Trivico. To all and singular who shall inspect and read these our present letters, we make faith and testify that all the above-written things are true, and especially those which are said concerning the translation of the body of the most blessed martyr and levite Euplius, made by us in the year MDCCIII in our first diocesan synod, into a more becoming place beneath the high altar of our cathedral church, where it is at present found. In witness whereof, etc. Given at Castello from our episcopal palace on the day XV of March MDCCIX. Simon, bishop of Trivico. And a seal is affixed, and below it is signed P. de Marinis, Chancellor.

§ II. A bone of the Saint translated from Trivico to Catania; the increase there on that occasion of public veneration; the recognition of that sacred pledge, and the solemn pomp which followed it.

To the approbation of the bishop of Trivico The Catania notices just mentioned supply various things to our purpose, which we communicate to the reader in the same order of time in which they are there found: Lord Donato Paschasio, by the grace of God and of the Apostolic See bishop of Trivico. To all and singular who shall inspect and read these our present letters we have made faith, and testify, that we, for the greater glory and honor of almighty God and of his Saints, have given and consigned a part of one bone from the body of St. Euplus the martyr of the city of Catania, a citizen of the kingdom of Sicily, existing and venerably preserved in the cathedral of the city of Trivico, kingdom of Naples, and this by leave of the sacred congregation of bishops and Regulars, under the day VII of the month of May MDCLIII, so that the above-said part of one bone of the aforesaid body of St. Euplus the Religious of the Society of Jesus, citizens of Catania, may be able and have power to carry away or transmit to the aforesaid city of Catania, and to place it in the church, chapel, or oratory of the college of the said Society of Jesus of the said city of Catania, at the pleasure of those Fathers, citizens of Catania: and that the aforesaid Relic may be venerated and honored by all. And again we attest, make faith, and approve that it was truly and really taken from the said body of our St. Euplus, protector of that same city of Trivico. Which part of a bone and sacred Relic we have given to be consigned to the said Religious Fathers within a certain little box *, enclosed, covered with its lid, sealed with four seals with our ordinary seal. Within which little box we have also inserted these present letters of approbation, sealed with the same seal, to the end that greater credit may be given to the opening of it, to be made by the Most Illustrious and Most Reverend bishop, or by the Vicar General, and the Ordinary of the place, and that every difficulty may be removed. In witness, etc. Given at Trivico on the day V of February MDCLIV. D. Paschasio, bishop of Trivico.

[11] further The Catania notices praised above record some things pertaining to the preceding sacred remain and its extraction: the knowledge of which, since I judge it to concern the reader, this document will supply, marked there with this title: A copy of the letter of the most illustrious and very reverend nun sister Faustina Loffredo, daughter of the Marquess of the town of Trivico in the kingdom of Naples, to the Reverend Father Ignazio Gargano, provincial of the Neapolitan province of the Society of Jesus, rendered from the Italian tongue into Latin. My lady, my aunt Francesca the nun, has commanded me to greet your Paternity, and to write concerning the sacrosanct remains of Euplus the martyr, now sent by us to your Paternity; which commands indeed I rejoice most gladly to fulfill. I judge therefore that your Paternity well remembers that, when the three years of his magistracy in the Sicilian province were completed, he commanded that we should take care to obtain some bone from the sacrosanct remains of blessed Euplus the martyr. Whose Martyr's body, although divided into its limbs, is nevertheless kept whole in our cathedral of Trivico, of which he is the tutelary patron, who once in the Sicilian city of Catania was crowned with martyrdom, and thence his body was translated to Trivico. We have caught the scent that this vehement desire of your Paternity was kindled from the great veneration and pious cult with which the people of Catania deservedly and by right follow their own citizen, and from the benefits which are there beyond the powers of nature by miracle, and are afforded to them.

[12] concerning that sacred pledge But we have deferred until this time to send the venerable bone of the holy Martyr, because our bishop of Trivico, too eager to comply with our petitions, drew it out of its coffer without having first obtained the due faculty from the sacred congregation: for which fault, such as it was, he fell into so grave a sickness that, lying in bed, he could not move himself. Meanwhile his deacon, sleeping, dreamed that St. Euplus wished that in his own words he should announce to the bishop that the sacrosanct bone of the martyr taken away by him should be brought back to his coffer. No sooner said than done; the venerable bone being restored, he straightway recovered. But I took care that the lawful faculty of drawing out the sacrosanct bone should be obtained, and, this being had, our same bishop of Trivico sent to me the holy Relic in a certain little vessel sealed with four seals, with his own letters subscribed with his own hand, and sealed there with his own seal, and enclosed within that same little vessel: and I send it to your Paternity; whom I pray and beseech to deign to hold us commended in your holy prayers and Sacrifices: from the monastery of the queen of the city of Naples on the day XXIII of July MDCLIV. And it is signed below, sister Faustina Loffredo.

[13] notices are added; After the praised Faustina's Answers to the questions of Father Francesco Blandizio, which I have brought forward in advance, there is subjoined in the said Catania notices A copy of the letter of the bishop of Trivico to the marchioness of the city of Trivico: in which he again and again makes faith that that same Relic is truly of St. Euplus the martyr, a citizen of Catania, and, he says, patron of our city of Trivico: which indeed I cannot now determine * altogether, from the part of what entire bone and limb it was torn, because almost all the limbs of the holy body have been broken into various portions. Yet I know and testify that from them there was selected by me no small particle (but about as much as a hen's egg), long since enclosed in a little vessel well fastened, bound with linen threads, and sealed with my four seals. Which gift may be, I pray, as it were a tribute of the observance which I profess toward your ladyship and your most illustrious family. Whence I await other commands, by which I desire more and more to be honored. From Castello on the day X of November MDCLV. Your most devoted servant, D. Donato Paschasio, bishop of Trivico.

[14] To the praised notices there is next inserted A copy of the privilege of recognition. as also the recognition Of the Relic of the holy great martyr Euplus. We, lord Marco Antonio Gussio, by the grace of God and of the Apostolic See bishop of Catania, count of the Maschali, chancellor of the kindly university of the most famous city of Catania, and counsellor of the Kingdom, to all and singular the faithful of Christ, everlasting health in the Lord. Being inclined to the pious and devout petitions of the Reverend Father Arcadio Perremuto, rector of the college of the Society of Jesus of Catania, and of his Religious Fathers, we assent so far as we can, especially to those things which are set forth for the Saints dwelling in heaven and enjoying the beatific vision of almighty God, by whose benefits and helps we hope that all can be aided.

[15] Since therefore to the said Reverend Fathers of the Society of Jesus of this most famous city of Catania there was transmitted a certain fragment of a bone of the holy great martyr Euplus, of the bishop a citizen and patron of Catania and archdeacon of our cathedral, by the Most Illustrious and Most Reverend bishop of the city of Trivico (in whose cathedral the body of this holy Martyr is honorably preserved, as is plain by virtue of the privilege issued under the day V of February MDCLIV), with the leave of the sacred congregation of bishops and Regulars, as the same bishop of Trivico testifies, enclosed in a certain little vessel, closed with a covering of silk interwoven with gold, and sealed with the bishop's four seals; and exhibited to us by the hands of Father Francesco Blandizio, a priest of the same Society of Jesus (who procured it with much industry and zeal), that we might recognize the venerable Relic of the sacrosanct bone: we opened the aforesaid little vessel before the Most Reverend doctor of both laws, lord Francesco de Amico, abbot of St. Lucy and Prior of our cathedral, and before our canons D. Biagio Romano Colonna and D. Camillo de Paternione, and unsealed the seals and duly recognized all things; and, falling down, we adored the same recognized Relic of the holy martyr of the Kingdom, Euplus, and, having duly venerated it, restored it to the said Father Francesco, to be enclosed in a silver case, and we saw it again so enclosed and offered to us.

[16] Wherefore we, by the authority which we exercise, grant and impart leave and faculty that the same sacrosanct Relic be exposed for public adoration in the said college, of Catania. and be honored with all fitting pomp and veneration and cult. In witness of all which we have ordered this present privilege to be made, and have given it fortified at the foot with our subscription, and that of our master notary, and with our seal which we use, at Catania on the day XXV of April, IX Indiction, one thousand six hundred and fifty-six. Marco Antonio, bishop of Catania. D. Sebastiano Nicolosi, master notary.

[17] This lawful recognition of the sacred pledge was followed by a festive and magnificent testification of the highest veneration toward it, A notable which (although some things are mixed into the description of it concerning the Saint's priesthood, and concerning his little soul seen after his beheading to fly away into heaven: of which the latter needs further proof, but the former is not persuasive to us, from the Annotations on the Acts which we are to give, letter f) — which festive testification, I say, from the notices already often mentioned I here transcribe: The lawful recognition of the remains having now been duly performed

of the bone of the great martyr of Christ St. Euplus by the Most Illustrious and Most Reverend bishop of Catania, lord Marco Antonio Gussio, Father Francesco Blandizio had nothing more at heart than to take care that a half-statue of silver of due size should be made: which has a length of more than a cubit besides the base.

[18] display And it represents the modest countenance of a youth (for such the Greek hymn of St. Joseph the Hymnographer sings him, saying thus: In youthful years the Martyr displayed a perfect aged mind .. although more than once it hints, nay, affirms, that he was a priest); but above the golden diadem of the head there is to be seen a little silver dove, alluding to the blessed little soul of the beheaded holy Martyr, seen to fly up into heaven, as the Gallican Breviary testifies: which is encircled by a radiated rim overlaid with gold; whose beak holds a little silver palm adorned with three golden garlands (marking the three little laurels of St. Euplus, of virgin, of doctor, and of triumphing martyr); and at the shaft of the little palm there is to be seen a man's head of precious coral: a little coral chain likewise encircles the neck of the holy Martyr; but the breast and back a levitical Dalmatic skillfully wrought, with little flowers of lilies carved crosswise. In the middle of the breast an oval little window lies open, closed with crystal, whence the sacrosanct bone of the Martyr Euplus becomes visible to all; which most skilled anatomists have judged to be a large fragment of the end of the longer bone lying at the joint in the arms or the shins. But how welcome to the holy Martyr this work and the labor accomplished was, was plain: because three days before his solemn feast the sailors carried it from the city of Messina to Catania with a most happy voyage: in which three days the whole city went forward with all rejoicings, and each according to his strength was zealous to honor his holy fellow citizen, the bells often applauding, and the fiery instruments of war.

[19] and pomp But the statue, on the early morning of the feast day, in the cathedral basilica, the greatest of all in Sicily, adorned round about with silken hangings (where the holy Archdeacon had while living discharged his office), was placed upon the high altar, and after the Hour of Terce had been chanted the Most Illustrious and Most Reverend bishop, lord Marco Antonio Gussio, in pontifical array celebrated Mass, the Most Illustrious Senate assisting, and the Most Reverend Chapter, with the same applause of bells and of cannon and of musical harmony. But after the Mass, until the hour of Vespers, a throng of every sort went and returned to venerate and kiss the sacrosanct bone. And when Vespers had been chanted, the sacred procession began to move forward: at which there were present all the families of the Religious orders, whom there preceded a society of men anciently instituted under the standard of the holy martyr Euplus, carrying lighted torches, with the Most Reverend Chapter, before which went a numerous clergy. Behind followed the litter, surrounded with various flowers, beneath a purple canopy borne by six senators: and the litter was carried set upon the shoulders of four Clerics of the senatorial order: and behind followed the Most Illustrious bishop and the royal magistrates, carrying lighted torches in their hands; and through the famous streets of the city, through which the holy Martyr with the Gospel hung about his neck had once been led about in mockery and reproach, he was now led in triumph, the walls of private and public buildings being adorned with a varied display of hangings.

[20] But the pious students of our college drew up their own company: instituted among the people of Catania bearing an angelic appearance, they came forth to meet it; these carrying palms in their hands, those censers breathing forth various odors, and baskets filled with leaves and flowers, and strewing them into the air and on the ground, and singing sacred hymns with this refrain: Long live St. Euplus; long live our holy fellow citizen, doctor and martyr. But when it had come to the sacred building of our college, so great was the multitude that the greatest part had to remain outside the doors, while meanwhile musical voices and instruments roused the hearts of the citizens to piety toward the holy Martyr, and they exulted for joy and gladness. But the blessing being given, night came on, and at the windows of the buildings, of the senatorial palace, and on the towers of the cathedral basilica, very many kindled torches turned night into day.

[21] But scarcely had day dawned (for it was Sunday) when, behold, there is a frequent concourse to cleanse the stains of conscience and to receive the Sacrament of the sacrosanct Eucharist, and to hear the Mass agreeably seasoned with musical harmonies. are described. Which being finished, our priest delivered a truly brilliant panegyric on the holy great martyr Euplus. On which account a far greater piety and observance grew up toward the holy Patron and tutelary. Which was very finely done also in the following year: and in this third year, MDCLVIII, there was added a liberal alms for the poor: and to all who stood by there was distributed cotton wool, applied to the sacrosanct bone of the Martyr, for the curing of the sick.

* that is, a small box, or little vessel

* perhaps: to discern

§ III. The Saint's name, manner of life, martyrdom, and some circumstances of it.

The Saint's name Now let us consider some points which pertain to the Saint's name and to the things done by him. His name is Euplus (Eupolus in the Hieronymian above at number 3 is singular, if not corrupt), which elsewhere is written Euplius. The first form is the more common: for it occurs among the Greeks in the Menology of the emperor Basil, and in the great Menæa published in print, which through the course of his Office always so utter that name; likewise in the Menology of Sirleto, the Typicon of St. Sabas, the Menæon of Chifflet, and the Martyrdom which from a Greek manuscript codex was published in Latin in Gaetani; likewise in the two hymns concerning the Saint in him; and also in the twofold copy of the Martyrdom which Cotelier published, with which agree the Acts in Mombritius and our two parchment manuscript codices, of which below; add the Martyrologies with St. Gregory the Great, which we cited before: so that from this it may be concluded that that form is by far the most common both among the Greeks and among the Latins. Euplius is written in Baronius in his Acts, which we shall afterward give; likewise in the Roman Martyrology, as also in Surius. Gaetani in the Animadversions, page 85, says: Surius calls him Euplius; in the Greek, however, he is always called Euplus: the Latin Acts vary; some Euplus; but the more correct, as he will have it, and more faithful, Euplius, which we have followed. But of the Acts it will be treated elsewhere.

[23] his birthplace, That his birthplace was Catania, a city of Sicily, the Greeks report in the Basilian Menology above at number 2; add the great printed Menæa, which in the Saint's eulogy say: He was of the city of Catania, of the province of the Sicilians. The matter is confirmed by the words of the hymn just produced: Greatly does the metropolis of the Catanians glory in you: since indeed it had you, Euplus, as its renowned citizen. In the Martyrdom indeed which Gaetani published in Latin from a manuscript codex of the said monastery of St. Saviour, it is thus read: A certain stranger here, whose name is Euplus. Gaetani in his Animadversions on this passage notes that Surius says: There is in this city a certain man by name Euplius: but he adds that in the Greek it is "a foreign stranger." (In Cotelier's edition, among the Monuments of the Greek Church, volume 1, page 196: "there is here a certain stranger.") And presently, when Gaetani had produced for the Saint's Catanian fatherland the Menology of the Greeks and the words from the Troparion or hymn which I have just given, he says: Perhaps he was thought a foreigner by the Gentiles from the dress in which he was clothed. By no means is the Martyr's birthplace established for us from the Acts of better character; concerning which consult our Annotations, letter c.

[24] his manner of life, He was a deacon, as is established from the Acts published by Baronius and from the other documents produced above; but not a bishop; which Gaetani notes is wrongly written in the other Vatican copy, in his Animadversions on the Acts which he gives from a Vatican manuscript Codex: besides, that in the Menology of the Greeks (which he does not there name) it is written "archdeacon." In the title of the Passion in Mombritius he is called a levite. That he was likewise a priest is not proved to us. See the Annotations on the Acts below. If you look to his manner of living, that he professed strict poverty even this one thing seems to hint, that in the Acts in Baronius he says before the judge: I have no house. Which saying is confirmed from the Martyrdom which Cotelier made public, page 192; likewise from the Acts which Mombritius published, where he answers: I have no house here. To which reading our two parchment manuscript codices give assent. For the rest, that the words of divine Scripture were his love, and that by the reading of them he strengthened the Christians, is made out from his Acts. Nay rather, from the sacred codex of the Gospel, which while living he had borne in his heart, he was not separated even when about to die; concerning which matter see the same Acts, to be subjoined to this Commentary. And these are the few things which I have judged should be noted concerning the manner of life of our Champion. More remain concerning his sacred contest, and the various circumstances which preceded, accompanied, and followed it.

[25] his martyrdom, and its circumstances. Concerning the torments that preceded the martyrdom the Acts in Baronius speak most briefly and indeterminately: Calvisianus the consular, interposing, said: Since his confession has become known, let him be questioned under torments, let him be handed over to the torturers; and when he had been handed over, etc. And presently it is said: Calvisianus the consular said to Euplius set in torments, etc. Then: Let Euplius .. be tortured. And when he was being tortured, etc. And a few words interposed: After he had been long tortured, the executioners were ordered to cease. Finally: Calvisianus ordered him to be tortured again more sharply. And when he was being tortured, etc. But the Martyrdom published by Cotelier in the first place, page 193, dispatches the matter in even fewer words: Then Calvisianus the corrector: Let Euplus be stretched out and beaten with blows, until, etc. Having therefore suffered many torments, at last he endured the contest of martyrdom. The compendium of the Acts which Ado exhibits in his Martyrology, most succinctly: Calvisianus said: Let Euplus be tortured until he confess, etc. The judge .. ordered him to be tortured further. The Greek Acts of a later character, after their manner, draw out and determine the present subject more. For indeed in the Martyrdom which is found in the praised Cotelier in the second place, and which he indicates is extant in Symeon Metaphrastes, it is thus narrated, page 197: Calvisianus .. ordered a stake to be fixed in the ground, and him to be hung upon it; and also iron hands to be made, and his flesh to be torn. And page 198: He commanded mallets to be made, and his legs to be beaten. And page 199: He ordered his servants to bind blessed Euplus, and to bruise his ears with iron hooks. Similar things occur both in the manuscript of the monastery of St. Saviour in Gaetani, and in Surius. Now let us discuss the companions of his martyrdom.

[26] The two announcements which we gave at number 3 from the Hieronymian copies, It is inquired whether St. Euplus in one of which there are added to St. Euplus Nericia and Veneria; but in the other the name of Serapion, or, according to what is there written, Serapioni — are the cause why we have judged it should be inquired whether, and what, companions of martyrdom our Champion had. That he had none, expressly named in the ancient monuments which we at least have seen, is plain from the original Acts,

the sacred records, and the eulogies of which we spoke above: expressly named, I say: for from the Acts in Surius, Gaetani, and Cotelier, which are of a later character, we have that many were enlightened with the light of faith by the Saint when he was already to be beheaded, through the reading of the Gospel. But what does this make to our purpose? But although companions of the sacred contest are by no means proved to us for the Saint, since they are unknown to others, nevertheless of the two whom we named the Corbie manuscript makes mention in Florentinius in the notes at this day, the XII of August, in these words: II of the Ides of August. In Sicily, in the city of Cathenæ, the birthday of the holy Euplus, Verecia, Veneria. The aforesaid author says that from the silence of the writers, who do not add Nericia and Veneria as companions to Euplus the Sicilian Deacon, it might be doubted whether they were natives of another place; unless the most ancient Antwerp manuscript, as he calls it, plainly taught it; in which not Nericia, but Veracia and Veneria together with others are attributed to Syria and not to Sicily. He subjoins the text thus: II of the Ides of August. In Sicily, of Euplus. In Syria, of Julian and Marcus, of Veracia, of Veneria. In Syria, the birthday of Sts. Macarius, Julian, etc. Observe that hence not all hesitation is entirely removed, since both Veracia is there written, and the word "of Syria" appended to it is repeated immediately after.

[27] But what if Sts. Nericia and Veneria suffered at Catania in Sicily, had companions in his sacred contest. on the same day indeed as our Martyr, but in a different year; whence it came about that they were somewhere joined to him? If that conjecture, so uncertain, does not please you, suggest a fitter way for the present difficulty. But because the Hieronymian copies, on which alone it rests, are found in very many places so corrupt, confused, and wrenched, perhaps the suspicion will please you better that both in those two and in Serapion, associated with St. Euplus, an error has been committed. Which suspicion I cannot convict of falsehood. But of these more than enough: since other things connected with our Saint's martyrdom call us away from here. Let it therefore now be said on what day it happened.

[28] The sincere and genuine Acts which Baronius gave place his interrogation, torture, and beheading on the day XII of August; for at their beginning they mark this and this only day, Certain things being observed concerning the day of the martyrdom, nor do they repeat another in the course of them: On the day before, they say, the Ides of August, etc. The Passion in Gaetani, page 108, attaches the consummation of the martyrdom to the same day. The Acts which are extant in Cotelier in the second place, page 200, write thus: The martyrdom .. was completed on the twelfth (Lipomanus, volume 7, and Surius, the eleventh) day of the month of August. Further, of the Hieronymian copies, of the two old Roman Martyrologies (one of which Rosweyde, the other Fronto published), of the Calendar of Allatius, of the Martyrology of our Bede or of Florus, of Usuard, of Wandelbert, of Rabanus, there is a harmonious agreement in the said twelfth day which they note. Others mark other days: for in the Greek Calendars above at number 1 it is the day X and XI. Ado indeed announces the Saint on the twelfth day; but in the compendium of the Acts he says: He was beheaded on the fourth of the Ides of August: which the manuscript Proper Feasts of the people of Catania cited above, folio 205 verso, also set down. But Notker: He was beheaded on the third of the Ides of August: although he likewise announces him on the day XII.

[29] and two confessions of the Saint It is singular that in the Baronian Acts a twofold confession of the Martyr is set down under the same day; which in some other copies is indeed likewise set down as twofold, but with a different day for each. For indeed in the first and sincere Acts of Cotelier, page 192, immediately after the consuls are noted, there follow these words thus rendered there from the Greek: On the third day before the Calends of May .. when Euplus cried out, etc. And afterward, the same consuls being marked again, page 193, these things are subjoined: On the first day before the Ides of August .. blessed Euplus stood in the midst before the tribunal. The Mombritian Passion also supports two confessions, which it notes indeed on the same day, but on one different from that of Cotelier's Acts: for it says at the beginning, on the fourth of the Ides of August; and then, on the day the fourth of the Ides of August. Our parchment codex Q Ms. 6 marks the first confession under the day "the day before the fourth of the Ides of August"; but the second under the day the fourth of the Ides of August. Our other parchment codex Q Ms. 7 agrees in these days: and although in this, in the first note of the day, the words "day" and "fourth" are almost rubbed out, yet from the traces left I judge that it was once so written in that codex also. But from what has been said above the authority seems to me stronger for the day XII of August, on which our Athlete consummated the course of his sacred contest, than for any other. But that singular fact concerning the Saint's two different confessions deserves a certain singular observation. After which we shall discuss the year of the martyrdom.

[30] being observed, Both those confessions, according to the Baronian Acts, are assigned to one and the same day, the twelfth of August; according to the Mombritian, to the tenth; but the first confession to the ninth, the second to the tenth day of the same month, according to our codices just cited. The Baronian Acts indeed distinguish the one from the other, when they record thus: Since his confession has become known, let him be questioned under torments, let him be handed over to the torturers. And when he had been handed over, a second examination was begun by torture. And presently there follows: Calvisianus the consular said to Euplius set in torments: What you said today by your confession, what do you say now concerning them? Euplius, signing his forehead with his free hand, said: What I said then, I confess now also, that I am a Christian and that I read the divine Scriptures. You see, I say, the one examination here distinguished from the other; but although a twofold confession on the same day may perhaps have been rare or unusual, and accordingly may appear singular, nevertheless, since it is so expressly stated in Acts of the first character, who would dare prudently enough to gainsay it? We do not deny, however, that both of Cotelier's, which we exhibited a little before, being attached certainly to different times, are easier to understand: for neither was it unusual to interpose either some days or some months after the judge's first interrogation, before proceeding to the second. Let examples be the Acts of Sts. Tarachus, Probus, and Andronicus; likewise those of St. Philip of Heraclea, both published by Ruinart among the sincere and select: the latter indeed from page 443, but the former from page 457 of the Paris edition.

§ IV. The twofold confession, the year of his death, his burial.

are given The writer just praised, to the Acts of our holy Deacon which he exhibits from Baronius, subjoins presently, page 440, his second confession, from the Vallicellian and Colbertine manuscripts. And although even from this passage — The languors of all the sick are healed even to the present day, as you have it there at the end — it is plain that that narrative is later than the Baronian, nevertheless it is pleasing to take this later one from there, so that the brevity of the former may be supplied; especially since that later one seems to be sincere and of good character. Thus therefore it runs: In the ninth consulship of Diocletian and the eighth of Maximian, on the day before the Ides of August, when blessed Euplus had been handed over in the midst, Calvisianus the consular said to blessed Euplus: What you said today by your confession, what do you say concerning them? Then blessed Euplus, making the sign of Christ on his forehead, said: What I said then, I confess now also. Calvisianus the consular said: Have you ever had readings which the most pious emperors have forbidden? Blessed Euplus answered: I have had them. Calvisianus the consular said: And where are they? Blessed Euplus answered: They are with me. Calvisianus the consular said: Let Euplus be tortured until he confess that he adores the true almighty gods, Mars, Mercury, and Asclepius *. Blessed Euplus answered: You have spoken well, Calvisianus, that I should adore the inseparable Trinity, which Trinity is the unity of the deity. Then the most impious Calvisianus, hearing the words, thought that blessed Euplus was speaking of his own gods, and was filled with joy, and said: Sacrifice, therefore.

[32] To whom blessed Euplus answered: I sacrifice and offer myself to the Father, those and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. Then Calvisianus, hearing this, moved with anger, ordered him to be tortured further. And while he was being tortured a very long time, he sustained the contest of the orthodox faith *. Then the most impious Calvisianus the consular gave sentence, saying: Euplus, who is opposed to the gods, and denies the imperial command, and thereby sins, by whom the writings of impiety have been displayed, we order by our just judgment to be slain with the sword. Then blessed Euplus gave thanks to God and to the Lord Jesus Christ, that the time had come to him of receiving the crown. For as he went with joy, all the people followed his steps, marveling at the fortitude of his mind. But he shone, the grace of Christ cherishing him, and, glad and with recovered spirit, walked as though going to a wedding, and, filled with the Holy Spirit, sang, saying: Great is your glory, O Lord, in your servants whom you have deigned to call to yourself. And for all who followed him he prayed, saying: Lord, be present to your servants, and do not forsake them even to the end, that your name may be glorified for ever and ever. And he hastened his steps, being now indeed near to be crowned with victory.

[33] from Ruinart, Then, stretching out his hands to heaven, he said: I give you thanks, Lord Jesus Christ, since your power has consoled me, and you have not permitted my soul to perish with the impious, and have given me the grace of your name. Confirm now what you have wrought in me, that the boldness of the adversary may be confounded. And then, looking toward the people, he said: Most beloved brethren, hear, pray to God, and fear him with your whole heart: since he is mindful of those who fear him before they depart from this world; and after they have departed, then the angels will meet them and lead them to his holy city Jerusalem. And when he had completed these words and made an end, bending his knees, he prepared his neck, and the most blessed Euplus was beheaded . Then he received the everlasting crown of faith, and, exulting in the host of the angels and of the holy Martyrs, entered into the sight of the Lord our God Jesus Christ. And his body was laid up in a venerable place , embalmed with spices, to the praise and glory of almighty God and of our Lord Jesus Christ: in which place benefits are bestowed on those who touch his sepulcher; and the languors of all the sick are healed even to the present day, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, who lives always and reigns for ever and ever. Amen. So it is there. But now let us pursue other matters connected with the martyrdom.

[34] The year of the martyrdom from the consuls The consuls are a mark of the year to which it should be attached. Ruinart in the Admonition to the Acts of St. Euplus, page 483, says: In most manuscript codices St. Euplus is said to have suffered in the ninth consulship of Diocletian and the seventh of Maximian: but this could not be, since the ninth consulship of Diocletian

cannot be combined with the seventh of Maximian. More correctly in the Cotelier edition the ninth consulship of Diocletian and the eighth of Maximian is assigned, that is, the year of Christ CCCIV: which year Baronius reports was noted in his manuscript codex, in his notes on the Roman Martyrology at the day XII of August; although the Acts which he inserted into the Annals exhibit the preceding year. For they thus begin: In the eighth consulship of Diocletian and the seventh of Maximian, which denote that year. From what has been said it follows that Mombritius, and our parchment codices Q Ms. 6 and Q Ms. 7, must be corrected, which mark their matters under the ninth consulship of Diocletian and the seventh of Maximian. In the Martyrdom which Surius gives in the first place, but Cotelier and Gaetani in the second, even if they were of better character (which nevertheless they are not), the history is attached to the times of the emperors Diocletian and Maximian, and accordingly a determinate year cannot be drawn from it. These things being so, it follows that the Martyr seems to have been put to death in the year of Christ 304. The praised Gaetani in his Animadversions, page 83, upon those words of the consular Acts which he had produced from the Vatican codex, "In the eighth consulship of Diocletian and the seventh of Maximian," suggests another reason which makes against the year of Christ 303. I fear, he says, lest there be an error in the consuls: I am moved by this, that in the eighth consulship of Diocletian and the seventh of Maximian, Paschasius was governing Sicily by consular right; who on the Ides of December put to torment Lucy the virgin of Syracuse.

[35] is determined. For he was accused by the Sicilians of having plundered the province, and some months before Lucy's death had been brought to trial before the emperors or before the senate: wherefore he does not seem to have been able to succeed Calvisianus, who in the month of August was administering Sicily. For if from the Ides of December, on which Paschasius the consular was led bound to Rome, you subtract those days in which the accusations of the provincials were carried from Sicily to the City and heard by the senate; and likewise those days which intervened until those sent from the City to arrest him arrived in the island (they must be said to have been at least two or three months), what time of administering the province will you give Paschasius? Scarcely two months. That in this very short time he wrought so many examples of avarice, so many crimes, that he deserved to be removed from the province, bound, and condemned, does not seem likely. Nay, I judge that from this it is rather proved that Paschasius ruled Sicily some years before; but that Calvisianus succeeded Paschasius: and accordingly that the martyrdom of St. Euplius must be thrown back to the following year, and that it should be written in these Acts: In the ninth consulship of Diocletian and the eighth of Maximian. These things Gaetani observes there. But since they are connected with the year in which St. Lucy died, and with her Acts, they would press more strongly if those had now been discussed, weighed, and approved among us. But it will belong to our successors to treat of them at the day XIII of December, on which that Martyr is inscribed in the Roman Martyrology. We meanwhile shall dispatch the remaining circumstances of St. Euplus's martyrdom.

[36] The Baronian Acts mention his burial thus briefly: Where the Martyr was buried. Afterward his body was taken up by the Christians, and, embalmed with spices, was buried. The second Acts of Cotelier say more: But certain monks, lovers of Christ, gathering his precious relics, laid them up in a notable place: where cures of diseases are performed. In the copy which is extant in Gaetani from the Greek manuscript codex of the monastery of St. Saviour: His precious relics certain monks beloved of Christ placed in an honorable place. But Surius has: But certain religious men, etc. The original word "Christians" pleases us better. As regards the place and day of the buried body, Ado thus determines them: His body was buried in a venerable place of the city of Catania, on the II of the Ides of August. With Ado, Notker agrees in both those points, and with both those writers the Colbertine codex agrees in the place of burial, above at number 33, where we noted it in the margin on Ruinart's credit. It remains that something should also be said concerning the judge under whom our holy Champion carried off the laurel of martyrdom.

* Mombritius and Baronius: Æsculapius

* The Colbertine adds: blessing God.

* The Colbertine adds: on the day before the Ides of August.

* The Colbertine adds: in the city of the Catanians

§ V. The judge, the fount produced by a miracle, etc. The Acts of the martyrdom.

Whether Calvisianus the judge was a consular In the genuine Acts in Baronius he is called Calvisianus the consular. But in those which are also of the best character and were published by Cotelier in the first place, there occurs "Calvisianus the most illustrious corrector"; which corresponds to his Greek text: "Calvisianus the most illustrious corrector." The praised editor of those Acts, Cotelier, at column 753 in his notes observes these things: It is also written κοῤῥήκτωρ, κοῤῥίκτωρ, κορήκτωρ, and in ancient notitiæ κορίκτωρ. The Life of John the monk in Bolland at March XXX, number 1: "a certain corrector (so I read) by name Pompeianus." But concerning that word Meursius's Glossary must necessarily be read; as, concerning the correctors of Sicily, those men of the highest erudition in these letters, Jacques Sirmond and Henri de Valois, on the letter of Constantine to Chrestus, which Eusebius inserted into his History, book 10, chapter 5, and from which we also learn that about the times of Diocletian Sicily, whose city is Catania, was ruled by correctors. But because afterward consulars administered it, or because the name of corrector either was not understood or seemed more unfamiliar, it seems thence to have come about that in other Acts Calvisianus is called not corrector but consular, and governor, ἔπαρχος.

[38] or a corrector? To these observations of a learned man I add my own. The passage from Eusebius just cited, because it makes very much to our purpose, it is well to know here. You have therefore in the same place, page 392: We have judged that we should write to you also, that, a public conveyance being received from the most illustrious man Latronianus, corrector of Sicily, etc. That instead of κοντήκτορος, which is in the Greek, κορρήκτορος * must without doubt be written, Valois notes in his annotations, page 196. Hence it follows that Gaetani in his Animadversions, page 83, denies this too positively, being about without doubt to speak otherwise if he had read this text of Eusebius. For upon the words "Calvisianus the consular," he says: The other Vatican copy has "Calvisianus corregor" for "corrector"; correct it without hesitation: for the magistrate of Sicily in the age of Diocletian was not a corrector, but a consular. The above-cited Meursius asks, page 269: But when did this dignity arise? And he answers: It seems soon after the Cæsars, as the empire declined. And I find it first in the times of Aurelian. Eutropius in his account of his deeds, book IX: Which Tetricus indeed was afterward corrector of Apulia, and lived a very long time as a private man. But in the Greek text published at Frankfurt in the year 1590, which I have before me from page 123, in the deeds of Aurelian concerning Tetricus it is said: "And he appointed him to govern the province of the Lucanians for the rest of his life." Where I find neither the word κοῤῥέκτωρ (although the Latin translator used it there), nor the name of the province of Apulia, but of Lucania.

[39] It is likewise asked whether a certain other legate should be added to him. But now it can be asked whether a certain other legate, and one indeed of greater authority than Calvisianus was, should be added to him. The Acts which are given in Surius in the first place affirm it; as also in the second place in Gaetani and Cotelier. The narrative of the latter, from which you will also understand the context of those two, runs thus: But the emperors sent a certain man by name Pentagurus into the borders of the province of Sicily, who should set up all the idols, and should destroy the Christians with impunity, and torment them with grievous punishments. When therefore he came to the city of Catania, Calvisianus after the custom ordered the common people of the city to go forth to meet him who had been sent by the emperors. For this is the custom of the Gentiles. And Pentagurus entered the city. Then Calvisianus ordered his tribunal to be set up in the place which is called Achillius: besides this, that heralds be sent through the streets of the city, that all might assemble. Therefore, when Pentagurus sat on his diabolical throne together with Calvisianus, all the people were gathered before their tribunal. Then Pentagurus demanded, using these words to Calvisianus: Do all these observe the religion of our gods? Calvisianus answered thus: All these whom your piety beholds are devoted to the worship of our gods. Which when he had heard from Calvisianus, he ordered the crowds to be dismissed. Then Pentagurus disclosed the edict of the emperors to Calvisianus, and declared him governor of the city, and also delivered to him the imperial edict, that he should search out the Christians. Straightway therefore Pentagurus directed his journey to other cities: and he hastened to make for the city of the Agrigentines. Thus far Cotelier's copy: in which matter, whatever be the case as to its truth, that candid simplicity of the original Acts is wanting. Consult what we shall give at number 48.

[40] We judge the same concerning the miraculous production of a fount in the prison, The miraculous production of a fount, etc. and the voices heard from heaven, which are reported in the three copies just named. From Cotelier's I cull these things: Then a voice from heaven was heard of this kind to him: Trust, Euplus, be of brave mind: for a true garment has been prepared for you .. With hands outstretched he prayed: O Lord, Lord Jesus Christ, our true God, who give food to all flesh; who through Moses your servant bestowed abundance of water on the sons of Israel; who bedewed Samson with water brought forth from a jawbone; who have gladdened us with the precious and most glorious baptism; who by the stream of Jordan and by the laver of immortal life have crushed the enemy even upon earth; do you yourself now, Lord Jesus Christ, command a fount of living water to spring forth from this prison: with which may I be satisfied, that all may know that there is no other God but you, Lord. When he had completed this prayer, suddenly an abundance of water flowed within the prison … For the rest, after those seven days, the Saint is again ordered by Calvisianus to be led to the tribunal. And when the lictors had come and had opened the prison, straightway they saw the abundance of waters. But blessed Euplus rebuked the water with his hand, and it vanished … Afterward, when he had prayed, he heard a voice from heaven saying: Be of good mind, Euplus: blessed are you; come, rest with those who from the beginning until now have pleased me. But these things are indeed splendid for ornament rather than supported by due authority. Behold for you now the various judgments of the learned, both concerning these and concerning other Acts of greater value.

[41] Among the various editions of the Acts of St. Euplus, I consider chiefly four copies, which, although they are not in all things quite conformable, The Acts are praised are nevertheless good, and can compete for the palm of primitive sincerity and genuine candor and be compared among themselves: namely the Baronian, the first Coterlian, the Mombritian, and add the Ruinartian, published indeed from the Baronian, but collated with other copies and in places supplied. Of these four therefore I shall speak first. Those which Baronius at the year of Christ 303, number 146, wove into the Ecclesiastical Annals, deservedly

are praised in the same place, as written very briefly indeed, but faithfully. And presently the praised author says: Let us close the present year with the illustrious Acts of Euplius the martyr, which run thus, as they were publicly taken down. The same were published among the Lives of the Sicilian Saints, volume 1, page 106, by our Ottavio Gaetani as consular Acts; that is, as he has it in the Animadversions on those Acts, in the volume cited, page 83, Acts which were publicly taken down by notaries before the consular, or (if they be proconsular) before the proconsul of the province: accordingly they were written with great fidelity. Bolland, volume 1 of February, at the day V of that month, in the Preliminary Commentary on St. Agatha, virgin and martyr at Catania in Sicily, page 598, praises the same Acts. And then he culls a part also of the Acts of good character, and adduces it as an example, whence the freer interpolations of Metaphrastes or of his copyists may be distinguished.

[42] Thierry Ruinart among the Sincere and Select Acts of the First Martyrs gave them a place, published by Baronius; and in the Admonition which he prefixes to their edition, page 438 of the Paris printing, says: Further, we here exhibit the Acts of the Passion of blessed Euplus from Baronius's edition at the year CCCIII, number 146; because they seemed to us more genuine than all the rest, and we have collated them with the Vallicellian manuscript, with the Greek text of Cotelier, and with Bolland's fragments. But since the variants of the second examination are too full to be able to be put in the notes, it has seemed good to bring hither this whole examination from the Acts which our Michel Germain transcribed at Rome from the manuscript codex of the house of the Reverend Fathers of the Oratory of the Vallicella, when he was staying there, collated with Mombritius and with the Colbertine codex. And so much for the Baronian Acts, of which I had determined to treat in the first place.

[43] Cotelier's Cotelier, in the Monuments of the Greek Church which he published, presents the Martyrdom of St. Euplus in Greek and Latin, volume 1, from page 192, and in the notes which he added to that volume, column 752, thus commends it: I think it will be doubtful to no one that these Acts, which very concisely narrate the martyrdom of Euplus, are genuine, authentic, and archetypal or original in comparison with those Metaphrastic, Lipomanian, Surian, Baronian, and Bollandian ones. As to the first three points which the learned writer marks out, I altogether agree with him: but there is greater difficulty for me about the two remaining, and there will be perhaps for others who have had leisure to compare them with Cotelier's. There was indeed such difficulty long ago for Ruinart, who was engaged in this kind of study with so great praise of erudition, when he preferred the Baronian to Cotelier's as worthier of the press, as we saw a little before. Tillemont, Ecclesiastical Monuments, volume 5, page 275, speaking of three editions of the Acts, prefers the Greek (understand Cotelier's) to the others. And in the same place in the notes, page 694, he asserts that the title of corrector, which in Cotelier's is given to the governor of Sicily, is worth more on that account than that of consular in the Mombritian and Baronian, because the governors of Sicily had the title of correctors at the beginning of Constantine's reign, from Eusebius, whom we produced above at number 38; and he would have the notice which attributes to them the title of consular to be later.

[44] are weighed But even if the word corrector was employed by Constantine in the said signification, was that alone and only so in use then for Sicily that the word consular had no place there at that time? But it had place in Italy; and that before the reign of Constantine, and was indeed employed by writers contemporary with the matter of which we treat. For Ælius Spartianus, who flourished in the times of the emperor Diocletian, among the writers of the Augustan History printed in the edition of Salmasius at Paris in the year 1620, in his Hadrian Cæsar, page 11, says: He appointed four consulars as judges throughout all Italy. But Trebellius Pollio, contemporary with Spartianus, in the Thirty Tyrants, which are contained in the History just mentioned, page 196, treating of the elder Tetricus, records these things: Aurelian .. made him CORRECTOR of all Italy, that is, of Campania, Samnium, Lucania, the Bruttii, Apulia, Calabria, Etruria and Umbria, Picenum and Flaminia, and of the whole grain-supplying region. Since therefore the word consular as much as corrector was then in use among Latin writers for signifying the governors of provinces, why should he who noted down in the Latin tongue the original and authentic Acts of St. Euplus before the governor of Sicily have used the word corrector rather than consular, since both words, from what has been said, denote the same office of governing? And so that the former word is earlier than the latter, because Constantine used it in Eusebius, the said collector of the Ecclesiastical Monuments does not sufficiently persuade me. But that the Acts were first taken down in Latin he himself confesses in the same place, as will presently appear.

[45] For these words, One of the friends of Calvisianus, by name Maximianus (which he says are in Mombritius and Baronius), he judges savor less of his original text and are commended. than "Maximus the most illustrious" in Cotelier's Acts: but he does not prove his statement. But Baronius reads Maximus; concerning which matter see below our Annotations, letter h. But he will perhaps say that that title prevails because it is conformable to Eusebius cited above, where mention is made of "the most illustrious Latronianus." But why is the condition of the Greek text of Eusebius better? Why should greater account be had of the Greek translator of the Acts of St. Euplus than of the Latin writer, if from the latter he took his version, as Tillemont confesses? From what has been said it follows that I cannot approve what the cited collector adds, namely that the text published by Cotelier, even if it be nothing else than a very bad translation from a Latin original, nevertheless seems better than all, at least as far as the Saint's examination. For, so far as concerns that examination and the pursuit of it, that it is very briefly abridged; but in Baronius longer and very beautiful, and so simple that it gives no place for doubting that it too is most consonant to the truth. Although therefore in the Greek it is more contracted, it is nevertheless not, as Cotelier thought, more sincere: which is plain from the sentence which in the Surian Acts (namely those which Surius has in the second place, taken from Baronius) is recited according to the customary form from a tablet by the governor, as Ruinart says in his notes on the Acts of St. Euplus. But if the confession of the Holy Trinity is expressed more perspicuously in the Baronian Acts, as the cited collector of the Ecclesiastical Monuments remarks, than it was wont to be found in the writings of that time, he nevertheless adds that it is certain that this was then the common faith of the Church, and that that faith seems to have been expressed in a clear and neat manner rather in the West than in the East. Thus from that author; who, since he is otherwise so rigid an Aristarchus of Acts, ought by no means to be suspect to us as being too prodigal in praise of these Acts of which we treat.

[46] In the third place I said that treatment must be made of the Acts which Mombritius brought to light. Mombritius's They are extant in his Sanctuary, volume 1, folio 252 verso. But although we do not deny that marks of good character shine in them, no one nevertheless will doubt that those Acts are later than the Baronian, when he shall have read toward their end: Benefits are bestowed on those who touch his sepulcher, and all the languors of the sick are healed EVEN TO THE PRESENT DAY. Further, those Acts are besides greatly damaged by the placing of the consuls, and that indeed twice repeated, and expressed expressly and entirely without numeral marks (whereby it comes about that there is less suspicion of an error) thus: In the ninth consulship of Diocletian and the seventh of Maximian. Consult what was observed before at number 34.

[47] Concerning the fourth edition, which is read in Ruinart inserted among the Sincere and Select Acts of the First Martyrs, and Ruinart's edition of the Acts. besides what I have briefly said above, nothing greatly occurs to be added here. I give notice, however, that the variant readings dug out of the copies there cited will be of use to me in the Annotations. These things I had to say of the Acts of the first character. But far inferior are certain others, as will become clear from the following observations concerning them. I begin with those which Surius gives at the day X of August, page 104.

[48] We shall look into here, first, of what value those Acts are. 2nd, whether they have as their author Metaphrastes, under whose name they are circulated. Of what value those Acts are, Bolland, cited at number 41, after he had praised those of which he exhibits a part, says at page 599, number 22: Let him now compare who will the same Acts published from Metaphrastes by Lipomanus and Surius; and he will perceive how ragged, nay, how ineptly patched together they are, not only various kinds of torments but also very many miracles being added. Even the very seizure of Euplius, and the first examination — how frigid! The arrival of a certain Pentagurus in Sicily and in the city of Catania with new edicts of the emperors being recorded, he then subjoins these things concerning Calvisianus (whom, although the Latin Acts call him consular, he himself says was only GOVERNOR IN THAT CITY, and confirmed in that governorship by Pentagurus); which, because they are both said there and can be read in Surius himself, it is wearisome to repeat here, especially since the story of Pentagurus has been treated above at number 39 from Cotelier. Let us go on therefore with Bolland in the same place, number 24: Is anyone so great an admirer of the Greeks, and so great a friend of Metaphrastes, as to think these Acts true and legitimate in preference to the Latin ones which we have reported? Thus Bolland there, a censor of Acts otherwise not too rigid, much less unfair, as the learned know. For the rest, on what credit the miraculous production of the fount and the heavenly voices rest is plain from what was said at number 40. Further, since those Acts agree in substance with those which are among the Lives of the Sicilian Saints in Gaetani, volume 1, page 107, rendered into Latin from a Greek codex of St. Saviour near Messina, as you have in the Animadversions, page 86; as also with those which Cotelier gave in Latin and printed at the place indicated above (for I forbear to note discrepancies of lighter moment), it follows that they must be held of far worse value than the others which we have praised above. But is Metaphrastes their author?

[49] which are circulated under the name of Metaphrastes. Cotelier, alleged above, asserts that the Acts which he brings forward in the second place in Greek and Latin, page 194, are extant in Symeon Metaphrastes. Papebroch in the Greek-Muscovite Ephemerides before volume 1 of May, page XXXVII, judges that the Acts of our Saint which are found in Lipomanus, Surius, and Cotelier are not Metaphrastic, even from the style as an indication, especially since Metaphrastes did not touch the Acts of the Saints of August. Allatius in his Diatribe on the writings of the Symeons, page 77, numbers the Martyrdom of St. Euplus among those Acts which are indeed attributed to Metaphrastes, but are nevertheless not his. And on page 124, where he weaves a catalogue of the Acts which he affirms are truly Metaphrastes's, I find none of St. Euplus, none of the other Saints of the month of August.

Which reason perhaps impelled Papebroch to say that Metaphrastes did not touch the month of August. Gaetani in the Animadversions, page 85, on the Martyrdom of St. Euplus which he gives in the second place, says: It is uncertain whether Metaphrastes composed it from ancient Acts — on whose authority Surius published it — or whether Metaphrastes took the Sicilian Acts themselves into his Lives. But I should rather believe the latter. Certainly Metaphrastes in Surius varies from these Acts in very many things: in whom likewise there are some things which are wanting in these; and some are lacking which are found in these. But those reasons seem to obtain either little or nothing. For who would deny that in variations of this kind, which happen to the substance of Acts, the style of the translator counts for very much, especially if it be either somewhat interpolated, or turned from Greek into Latin with a freer license. But whether these Acts were composed by Metaphrastes or by another author of this sort matters little to us, since these things have been set forth by us incidentally, as it is said, leaving further criticism to the judgment of the learned reader. Further, it has seemed good to us, out of all the Acts thus far enumerated, to destine for the press those which Baronius published: which before we do, we shall give these miracles of the Saint.

* perhaps: κοῤῥήκτορος

§ VI. Certain miracles of the holy Martyr.

Some things are premised. Two miracles which happened in the city of Naples our Ottavio Gaetani reports, volume 1 of the Lives of the Sicilian Saints, page 108, from a manuscript codex, as he indicates in the Animadversions, page 86, of Bartolomeo Chioccarelli, jurisconsult of Naples; adding that the wording was changed by himself with fidelity. Their author is anonymous, and the time uncertain. He asks in the same place, page 86 cited, whether the John who is named below is John surnamed Compsimus, prefect at Naples under the emperor Heraclius in the year of Christ DCXV, whom Anastasius the Librarian mentions. See him in the article on Deusdedit. Further, elephantiasis, of which presently, is a melancholic and contagious swelling, changing the whole body into the likeness of an elephant, says Gorræus in his medical definitions, where see more. But concerning the church, of which mention is also next made, Gaetani says in the same place that he has been informed that no monument of this building of St. Euplius exists today in the city of Naples: nevertheless from the documents of the monastery of St. Severinus, which is in the city of Naples, I have learned that that building was situated in the Forcella region, and was subject to that same monastery: but indeed in the book or inventory of documents, in a certain document drawn up under the emperor Basil the Great (or the Macedonian?), number 42, is read "the church of St. Euplius." In a document under Frederick II, number 55, "The church of St. Euplius, of the Forcella region." In a document under king Charles I, number 6, "St. Euplius of the Forcella region." And in another document under king Charles II, number 8, "The public street which is called St. Euplius, of the Forcella region": which last document was drawn up (perhaps dated) in the year of Christ the Lord MCCCVI. These things being premised, I now give you those two miracles: to these I shall add from elsewhere a third miracle or singular benefit, as will appear below.

[51] The liberality of St. Euplius, attested by many miracles, was spreading everywhere, A certain woman with elephantiasis John being consul of the city of Naples. A woman who could scarcely move her hands, seized with elephantiasis, came as a suppliant to his church. She, earnestly commending herself to the Martyr for many days, that he might obtain her ready access to God, never withdrew from the temple, and meanwhile came into great hope of obtaining health. To you, she kept saying, holy one of God, I commend myself again and again. Help me, though unworthy: whom, when not a few oppressed and afflicted, some with the calamities of diseases, some with the tyranny of demons, invoked, they felt themselves relieved: may I, wretched woman, not call upon him in vain, but, having obtained my wish and being freed from these bonds, may I be able through you to render thanks to your God. Meanwhile, when she strove to lift on high her hands, which she carried bound with bandages and fastened to her breast, as is the manner of one praying, to the incredible admiration and astonishment of all present she was most fiercely opposed by the devil, lest she should dare it.

[52] invokes St. Euplus, Wherefore all with groaning said: Holy Euplus the levite, servant of God, most merciful physician, although absent, yet be present to this most wretched handmaid of yours; and you who afford help to all, do not hold her forsaken. And the woman, driven by the fiercest goads of the raving spirit, cried out, demanding aid from the holy Man, and crying aloud that it was not right that, while all the rest departed from that temple in sound health, she alone should be left abandoned and lie there cast aside. Therefore on the night preceding the Lord's day, she felt that at that time at which the psalms are wont to be recited in solemn assembly at the hours of matins, the Saint was present, and, taking her hands, addressed her thus: Come now, woman, stretch out your hand, and imprint the sign of Christ on your forehead. She is roused from sleep, and, filled at once with dread and with gladness, lifting her now ready hands to heaven, said: Lord almighty, great and wonderful, who are glorious in your Saints, doing marvels in heaven and on earth. Then in broad day, the priest sacristan of that temple, beholding that woman, thus accosts her: You are cheerful, as I see, woman: I believe you have recovered your lost health. And she: Indeed, my lord, being helped by the Lord and Savior.

[53] and is cured Being asked the reason of the thing, she so set forth the matter in order as to explain that there had appeared to her a young man of fair aspect, that he had then taken her palms, and had bidden her, with right hand raised, to sign her forehead. Here, to the man inquiring more curiously about the bearing and dress of the young man, she answered: He was clothed in loose garments, and with a stole * hanging at his neck. By these signs he perceived that it was Euplius the levite who had most bountifully succored the woman laboring under so grave a disease; and he said: Hereafter, since it is expedient to be grateful, lest something worse befall, renounce the world and be zealous for God your healer, if you are wise, woman. And she, having undertaken that she would be mindful of so signal a benefit, and would defile herself with no stain of crime, thanks being rendered to God and to holy Euplius, returned to her own people well and cheerful. The rest, who saw her snatched from so grave a disease and made whole, could not but receive and celebrate with the highest praises God the best and greatest, who wrought such great and such admirable things through his Saints.

[54] Another woman Nor must it be passed over in silence what happened to a woman whose name was Fasana, vexed by a most foul spirit. She had been born in the village of Villanova: being brought unawares to Naples, she wandered frantic to and fro through the public streets of that city, not without the dread and terror of those who saw her foaming and beating herself most fiercely, carried wherever the devil drove her headlong. And so certain pious and religious men, taking her up, lead her to the church of St. Euplius. But, the doors being barred, they were shut out from entrance; nor was there any doorkeeper. They considered in mind about letting her down through the tiles or the windows: but while they were deliberating there was one who informed them about the keys of the doors, entrusted to the elder priest. Therefore, having brought her in, they began earnestly, with the priest who had lately arrived, to commend her to God and to Euplius: but since the guardian of that church was absent from the city, though he was expected on that day, the prayer being finished, each betook himself to his own house.

[55] possessed by a raging demon, The woman was left alone within the building, with hands and feet bound. A little after, a certain priest, entering the temple, began to press upon that frantic woman with vehement prayer. But she, prostrate on the ground, as she rolled at his feet with horrible bellowing, bit him most savagely, and, a wound being inflicted, compelled him to depart from her sight. Another, both priest and monk, went to St. Euplius's for the sake of visiting her, and, entering, said: Fasana, may the Lord Jesus Christ save you. But she with grim gaze and terrible voice: Ablavius, you madman: when I wished to see you, you were unwilling to come to me; now I can by no means look upon you.

[56] Impious one, said the priest, be silent, pestilent one; and not freed by the priest's adjurations, cease now to utter such things through the mouth of God's creature: and at the same time he besought with most urgent prayers that he who by his nod and will governs all things would have mercy on her who through the merits of the most blessed levite and martyr Euplius awaited mercy, and would not disdain to turn aside for a while the streams of his power and clemency upon her, he who had divided most abundant floods to others. Lastly he said that it seemed unjust that the tyrant and common enemy should triumph over his Christian handmaid, whom, loaded with the tightest bonds, he had now long afflicted. The woman most vehemently strove to make an onset upon him as he prayed; but the priest broke that fury with rods and scourges, and while beating her pressed the besieging spirit with these words: Go out from her, Satan, because Christ commands you, who from the woman of Gennesaret drove your colleagues into a herd of swine; and who will bind you, wretch, in the abyss. Why say more? A month had passed, and that truculent fury could neither be cast out by any execrations, nor restrained by scourges or by bonds, nor did its rage seem able to be quieted by supplications poured out to God.

[57] When behold, at midnight a young man of illustrious aspect and countenance, with garments most fragrant in odor, she is made whole by the Saint. turning to the woman, said with strained and lofty voice: Arise, Fasana, arise; I tell you that you are whole. She stood up straightway, and humbly venerated the young man. Meanwhile the demon cried out and rebuked the possessed woman: Why after all did you come to Euplius? Behold, he tears me from you and casts me down. But indeed if occasion be given of invading you, verily I should be a fool if I let you go! This audacity the Saint thus beat back: Be silent, and never dare such things: now depart; may the Lord Jesus Christ banish you into the lowest abyss. The woman was straightway made whole, and, thanks being rendered to God and to the lord Euplius, and some votive gift also being left in memory of the benefit, she passed the remaining time of her life in health, magnifying God and her deliverer Christ Jesus, who lives and reigns.

[58] To these two, long since printed, let us add another miracle or benefit; A violent pain of the head removed. concerning which our Father Francesco Blandizio, praised above in my Preliminary Commentary, records these things in a letter given to Bolland on the day V of January in the year 1655: I shall not be silent here about relating to your Reverence another miracle, of which our Father Paolo de Franciscis made me aware, a priest adorned with many virtues and exceedingly dear to all the people of Catania, and he was then to our men and to the whole city as it were a father, whose confessor I was. He labored for some years under a violent pain of the head, especially of the back of the head, where he felt the sinews contracted and suffered no slight gnawings: whence the physicians feared lest he should be seized with apoplexy. They persuaded Paolo, therefore, to change the air, and to leave off or interrupt the office of the congregation of nobles over which he presided. He came therefore to me, then at Messina

staying, and teaching rhetoric to our brethren, in the year MDCXIX. It was the month of August, near the feast of St. Euplus the martyr, and I urged him to have Mass said to the holy Martyr and to implore his help. He acquiesced in my words, and did what I urged. On the next morning he tells me a dream, through which he seemed to himself to have seen St. Euplus the martyr thrice trace a circle on his head with his holy finger, and that straightway all that prickling of the sinews had ceased. Wherefore, thanks being rendered to God and to holy Euplus, he returned with me to Catania to his office of the congregation: where every year he went to his church, mindful of the benefit conferred.

* that is, a stole

CONSULAR ACTS

From the Annals of Cardinal Baronius, volume 2, at the year CCCIII, number 146, collated with other copies.

Euplus, Martyr, at Catania in Sicily (S.)

BHL Number: 2728

FROM THE EDITION.

The Saint, brought before Calvisianus the consular, In the eighth consulship of Diocletian and the seventh of Maximian ^a, on the day before the Ides of August ^b, in the city of the Catanians ^c, when Euplius ^e the Deacon ^f was outside the curtain of the court chamber ^d (who, having been found by the informers reading the Gospels and teaching the Christians, was seized by them and brought forward with the book), he cried out, saying: I am a Christian, and I desire to die for the name of Christ. Hearing these things Calvisianus the consular ^g said: Let him who cried out come in. And when Euplius had entered the judge's chamber, carrying the Gospels, one of the friends of Calvisianus, by name Maximus ^h, said: It is not fitting that he should hold such papers, contrary to the royal command.

[2] he makes his first confession: Calvisianus the consular said to Euplius: Whence are these? Did they come out of your house? Euplius answered: I have no house ⁱ; this my Lord Jesus Christ also knows. Calvisianus the consular said: Did you carry them hither? Euplius said: I carried them hither myself, as you yourself also see; they found me with them ^k. Calvisianus said: Read them. Euplius, opening, read: Blessed are they who suffer persecution for justice' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven; and in another place: He who wishes to come after me, let him take up his cross and follow me. When he read these and other things ^l, Calvisianus the consular said: What does this mean? Euplius said: The law of my Lord, which was delivered to me. Calvisianus the consular said: By whom? Euplius answered: By Jesus Christ, the Son of the living God. Calvisianus the consular, interposing, said: Since his confession has become known ^m, let him be questioned under torments ⁿ, let him be handed over to the torturers. And when he had been handed over, a second ^o examination by torture was begun.

[3] to which he added a second In the eighth consulship of Diocletian and the seventh of Maximian, on the day before the Ides of August [p], Calvisianus the consular said to Euplius set in torments: What you said today by your confession, what do you now say concerning them? Euplius, signing his forehead with his free hand, said: What I said then [q], I confess now also, that I am a Christian and that I read the divine Scriptures. Calvisianus said: Why did you keep with you, and not hand over, these readings which the emperors have forbidden? Euplius answered: Because I am a Christian, and it was not lawful to hand them over, and it is more expedient to die than to hand them over. In them is eternal life: he who hands them over loses eternal life: that I may not lose it, I give my life. Calvisianus, interposing, said: Let Euplius, who according to the edict of the princes did not hand over the Scriptures but read them to the people, be tortured. And while he was being tortured, Euplius said: Thanks to you, Christ: keep me, who suffer these things for you. Calvisianus the consular said: Cease, Euplus, from this madness: adore the gods, and you shall be set free. Euplius said: I adore Christ, I detest the demons: do what you will, I am a Christian. These things I have long desired; do what you will, add others, I am a Christian. After he had been long tortured, the executioners were ordered to cease, and Calvisianus said: Wretch, adore the gods, worship Mars, Apollo, and Æsculapius [r]. Euplius said: I adore the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit; I adore the holy Trinity, besides which there is no God [s]. Let the gods perish who did not make heaven and earth and the things that are in them. I am a Christian.

[4] Calvisianus the Prefect said: Sacrifice, if you wish to be set free. he is tortured, Euplius said: I sacrifice myself now to Christ God: what more I should do, I have not. You strive in vain, I am a Christian. Calvisianus ordered him to be tortured again more sharply. And while he was being tortured, Euplius said: Thanks to you, Christ; succor me, Christ: for you I suffer these things, Christ. And he said it often *, and, his strength failing, he said these or other things with his lips only, without voice. Calvisianus, entering within the inner curtain, dictated the sentence: and, having come out, bringing a tablet [t], read: Euplius the Christian, despising the edicts of the princes, blaspheming the gods, and not coming to his senses, I order to be punished with the sword; take him away.

[5] Then the Gospel with which he had been apprehended was hung about his neck [u], and he is beheaded. the herald proclaiming these words: Euplius the Christian, enemy of the gods and of the emperors. Euplius joyfully kept saying: Thanks to Christ God; and when he had been brought to the place, kneeling he prayed at length: and again giving thanks, he offered his throat, and was beheaded by the executioner [x]. Afterward his body was taken up by the Christians, and, embalmed with spices, was buried [y].

ANNOTATIONS.

p. Concerning the day noted here the Commentary from number 29 may be read.

q. Our codex Q Ms. 6 briefly: Then blessed Euplus, making the sign of Christ on his forehead, said: What I said then, I confess now also. Calvisianus the consular said: Have you ever had readings which the most pious emperors have forbidden? Blessed Euplus answered: I have had them. Calvisianus the consular said: And where are they? To whom blessed Euplus answered: They are with me. Calvisianus the consular said: Do you have them? Blessed Euplus answered: I have. Calvisianus the consular said: Let Euplus be tortured until he confess that he adores the true almighty gods, Mars, Apollo, and Asclepius. Our other codex Q Ms. 7 uses the same brevity, though less correctly. Consult besides Bolland and Mombritius. Cotelier too dispatches the matter briefly: Blessed Euplus said: What I then set forth, behold, now also I confess the same. Calvisianus the corrector said: Do you keep forbidden readings? Blessed Euplus: I keep them. Calvisianus to him: And where are they? Let us see in what manner they are contained. Blessed Euplus said: They are with me. Calvisianus said: If you have them now, produce them here for us. Blessed Euplus: They are here. Then Calvisianus the corrector: Let Euplus be stretched out and beaten with blows until he shall promise that he will sacrifice to the gods. These things Cotelier thus turns from the Greek in his edition. But is this more sincere than Baronius's? Consult our Preliminary Commentary, number 45.

r. Otherwise Asclepius; who is said to have been the grandson of Æsculapius.

s. This clear and perspicuous profession of the Holy Trinity is not proved to stand in the way of the sincerity of the Acts, according to what is said in the Commentary, number 45.

t. Of that tablet I read nothing in our two manuscript codices, in Cotelier, or in Mombritius. Consult what I premised about it in the Commentary, number 45.

u. This too I do not find in the copies just cited; yet it does not follow that it is the less sincere.

x. Death

Cotelier describes very briefly; more things, not recorded either there or in the Baronian copy, occur in Mombritius and in our two manuscript codices.

y. Concerning the burial Cotelier is silent, page 194: on which see the Commentary, number 36. That the Mombritian Acts are later than the Baronian we noted in the same place, number 46, from their words: which, since they are read also in our two manuscript codices, let the same judgment be made of those codices.

* otherwise: seven times