ON STS. GRATILIAN AND FELICISSIMA THE VIRGIN,
MARTYRS,
AT FALERIA IN TUSCANY.
Perhaps under Galerius Maximian.
PRELIMINARY COMMENTARY.
Gratilian, Martyr, at Faleria in Tuscany (S.)
Felicissima, Martyr, at Faleria in Tuscany (S.)
BY THE AUTHOR J. P.
§ I. The cult from the sacred Calendars, the arena of the martyrdom, the deposition of the bodies; whether this Felicissima is among the people of Viterbo; the time of the passion.
The public veneration of the holy champions of Christ, Gracilian or Gratilian and Felicissima the virgin, is had from various sacred Calendars in which their names are commemorated on this day: Public veneration Usuard announces them thus: Likewise in the city of Falari, the passion of Gracilian and of Felicissima the virgin, whose faces were first bruised with stones for Christ, and thereafter, being struck with the sword, they received the desired crown of martyrdom. The editor and illustrator of our Usuardine Martyrology says in his observations: Whence those Martyrs passed into the list I confess I am wholly ignorant; nevertheless that they are the undoubted words of Usuard himself the consent of all the codices most plainly proves. Their memory is extant also in Peter de Natalibus, book II, chapter 130, number 213, noted in these words: Gratilian and Felicissima the virgin suffered in the city of Phalari on the day before the Ides of August.
[2] Our manuscript Florarium, agreeing with Usuard, reports these things: from the sacred Calendars with the Roman Martyrology. In the city of Falara, the passion of the holy Gracilian and Felicissima the virgin, whose faces were first bruised with stones for the faith of Christ; then, being struck with the sword, they received the desired crown of martyrdom. Ado of the Laurentian codex, Bellinus, Greven, Maurolycus, Galesinius I pass over in silence, as also Ferrari. Finally the Roman Martyrology reads thus concerning them: At Faleria in Tuscany, the passion of the holy Gracilian and Felicissima the virgin, whose faces were first bruised with stones for the confession of the faith, and thereafter, being struck with the sword, they received the desired palm of martyrdom. Observe in passing that in the edition of Bellinus published at Venice in the year 1498 there is wrongly written Gratianus.
[3] Baronius in his Notes on the Roman Martyrology at this day discourses thus concerning the place of the arena: Notice of the place, Since in Usuard and in some other manuscripts Falari was read instead of Faleria, therefore an error crept in, so that it was read Falari in Picenum: for Falaris is a city in Picenum now almost destroyed, commonly called Falarone. Pliny places the Falarienses in Picenum, book 3, chapter 13; and Falaris was an episcopal see, whose bishop is found to have sat in the Roman council under Pope Martin. But that it should be read not Falari but Faleria, the ancient monuments of the church of Civita Castellana, where the sacred bodies of these Saints are preserved and venerated with worthy honor (for they are placed in the cathedral church), have made us so certain that no place at all for doubting remains. Of Faleria of the Falisci, Ptolemy, Pliny, Strabo, and others make mention. Wrongly therefore Galesinius in his notes at this day, the XII of August, mention having been made of Faleria, a city of the Falisci, and also of the city of Phalaris from Usuard, adds: But the written codices make no mention of the place where Gracilian and Felicissima underwent martyrdom. Further, if anyone desires a more distinct situation of this place, Ferrari's New Topography upon the Roman Martyrology, folio 51 verso, describes it thus: Falaris, which is also Falaria (commonly Falare), a city (once episcopal) of Etruria between Fiscenia and Viterbo, near the city of Ferentum, utterly destroyed, in the borders of the Falisci: whose traces are still shown, and some buildings remain which rustic men inhabit, although it once so flourished that it was reckoned one of the first XII colonies of the Tuscans. And presently, after the announcement of our Martyrs, he adds: Their bodies at Fiscenia, or Civita Castellana, which some think is Faleria. Add what he has at folio 52: The Falisci are peoples between Mount Ciminus and the river Tiber, whose towns are Faliscum, Faleria, Fescennium, and Horta. But that mountain is the same as Soracte. There may also be consulted that most distinguished and illustrious man Giusto Fontanini in the work which he published on the Antiquities of Horta, book 1, chapter 4, page 87.
[4] What we have just touched in passing from Baronius and from Ferrari's Topography concerning the preservation of the bodies, to which the bodies of these Martyrs we confirm thus from the praised Ferrari in his Catalogue of the Saints of Italy: The bodies of Sts. Gratilian and Felicissima are preserved in Civita Castellana, next to Faleria, and are held in great honor: where this prayer is recited in the church: May the birthdays of the holy Gratilianus and Felicissima, Euplus and Leucius, O Lord, shine upon us as we vow them, that what conferred everlasting glory on them may increase for us with the fruit of devotion. Through our Lord Jesus Christ. The Life of St. Eutychius, priest and martyr, among us at the day XV of May, page 460, has these things: At that same time blessed Eutychius the priest had returned to the city of Ferentum .. when after a few days an angel of the Lord said to blessed Eutychius: Arise and go to the city of Faleria, to the holy martyrs Gratilian and Felicissima, where their bodies rest in a new sarcophagus, and celebrate in that place vigils with hymns, and the divine mysteries of the body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ: and then return to your own city of Ferentum .. Then blessed Eutychius the priest, as though awaking from sleep, hastily went to the holy Martyrs, where their bodies are buried, and there performed the divine mysteries.
[5] From what has been said it follows that, if you weigh all things together, the possession of those sacred pledges is on the side of the people of Faleria, are attributed. and therefore of the people of Civita Castellana, according to what was long since observed among us at the place and day just cited, where these things are read: Ferentum was a city of Etruria formerly episcopal, from whose ancient ruins Viterbo gradually grew, as we already said on the preceding day, the XIV of May, on the Life of St. Boniface, bishop of this or of another city Ferentina .. The other city indicated, Faleria, was likewise episcopal there, but was also destroyed, and its see united to the church of Civita Castellana. But now, since these things are so, what will become of the people of Viterbo, who claim for themselves the invention of St. Felicissima?
[6] Ferrari in his general Catalogue of the Saints who are not in the Roman Martyrology, at the day 2 of May, on what foundation the people of Viterbo writes thus: At Viterbo, the invention of St. Felicissima, virgin and martyr. On which in his notes he says: From the records of the church of St. Sixtus of Viterbo. Ferrari is followed by Arthur in his Gynæceum. Splendiano Andrea Pennazzi of Soriano, apostolic protonotary and vicar general of Bagnorea, in the year 1721 published in five books the Life of St. Eutychius, to which he subjoined an apologetic Sacred Archive, as he calls it; where, after he had produced the Acts of Sts. Gratilian and Felicissima, in his notes on them, from page 350, he observes these things: That the body of St. Felicissima was found at Viterbo, marginal notes have, written in an ancient hand in a Roman Martyrology printed at Rome in the year MDLXXXIII by the Basa press, in my possession. At the day 2 of May, page 99, it is thus set down: At Viterbo in the church of St. Sixtus, the invention of the body of St. Felicissima, virgin and martyr. But at the day XII of August, page 190: At Faleria in Tuscany, the birthday of St. Felicissima, virgin and martyr, who suffered under the emperor Diocletian, whose body rests in the church of St. Sixtus of Viterbo .. But at the day 2 of September, page 210: At Viterbo, the translation of the body of blessed Felicissima, virgin and martyr, whose sacred body, together with the blessed bones of the bishops Magnus of Trani and Boniface of Ferentum, was laid up in the church of St. Sixtus. And presently the praised author says: These notes are recited in choir by the canons of this collegiate church of St. Sixtus at the present time also.
[7] But how the bodies of Sts. Gratilian and Felicissima are said by Ferrari and by others to rest at Fescennia or in Civita Castellana, claim for themselves the invention of St. Felicissima the answer readily occurs. For since Faleria had been utterly overthrown, it is easy to believe that a part of the body of St. Felicissima was translated to Ferentum, or to neighboring Viterbo, to which all the relics of Ferentum were carried at its destruction, as we said in book 1, chapter 4, number 1, of the Life of St. Eutychius. Thus Pennazzi on behalf of the people of Viterbo. But against this it can be objected: 1st, that those marginal notes in the Roman Martyrology published in print in the year 1583, written by hand in an ancient character, as the praised man said, have no greater antiquity than the XVI century, by the force of the writing as such, although it may be supposed that before that time there was a tradition among the people of Viterbo concerning the possession of the sacred deposit here in dispute; and accordingly from a document not sufficiently suited to the matter, that is not made out which they wish. 2nd, that Pennazzi's "it is easy to believe," etc., does not exceed the bounds of conjecture. 3rd, that, while he grants a part of the body to the people of Viterbo and leaves a part to those of Civita Castellana, he does not add in the same place that those sacred pledges were inspected either by himself or by another; and it is hidden from us whether the two competitors ascribe to themselves a part of the said body or the whole body: concerning which matter let those see to it to whom the faculty of inspecting those sacred remains is given.
[8] claim it for themselves. 4th, since the possession is more ancient and therefore stronger, according to what has been said above, with the people of Civita Castellana than with those of Viterbo, from these things they will be able to ask them how they prove that the sacred remains whose deposition they keep today are those of the present St. Felicissima, virgin and martyr, who was the companion of St. Gratilian in martyrdom, and not of another drawn out under that name from the Roman catacombs or from some other place? For besides that no mention is made of that companionship in the cited manuscript notes, it is moreover said in them that the Felicissima of whom they treat suffered under the emperor Diocletian, but the present one under Maximian Galerius, as Pennazzi himself judges, and as will presently be seen; where Pennazzi's explanation also will be weighed. And these indeed are the difficulties which we propose to the people of Viterbo to be resolved; yet in such a way that we do not wish to dislodge them from whatever possession of their sacred pledge they think they have in good faith. We should wish, however, that those documents were at hand for us which would solidly prove that the remains of the present Felicissima are among them; but since we are also destitute of those reasons which would overthrow the said possession, by no means
shall it stand through us but that the people of Viterbo, as also those of Civita Castellana, may go on piously and religiously to venerate that sacred pledge which they assert they have; to both of whom we leave this case to be settled. Tamayo on this day, the XII of August, using his accustomed and exotic license, drags our holy Champions into Spain, and ascribes their origin as well as their passion to Salaria, a city of Lusitania, adding that their bodies, brought perhaps into Italy at the Saracen devastation, rest honorably in the church of Civita Castellana in Tuscany. But filth of this kind, drawn from that stinking sewer — to be cleansed out only with labor like that of the stable of Augeas — of pseudo-Dexter and his followers, we send far away after our custom.
[9] Under what emperor In fixing the time at which our Champions obtained the crown of martyrdom, difficulties of no slight kind present themselves. St. Eutychius conferred baptism on St. Gratilian; and he on St. Felicissima, from their Acts, and therefore the contest of those three ought to be referred to the same time of persecution, since we have from the same source that the thing was done in the fourth year of the emperor Claudius; but wrongly. Which, says our Henschen in the Commentary on the Life of St. Eutychius at the day XV of May, page 458 and following, if understood of the first emperor of this name, would mark the year XLIV of the Christian era. But he did not proclaim a persecution against the Christians, and only expelled the Jews from the City. But if you understand the second of that name, you will indeed have the time of some persecution begun in the year CCLXIX; but you will find no fourth year of his reign: because that tyrant reigned not much more than two years, being carried off by plague in the year CCLXX, and his brother and successor, declared Quintillus, was slain by the soldiers on the seventeenth day after, and Aurelian was raised up, who in the year CCLXXII, new edicts being published, revived the persecution, which was again lulled at his death in the year CCLXXV. The twofold persecution of that Claudius and of Aurelian could have been confused into one, and the author of the Acts, deceived thereby, wrote Claudius where Aurelian should have been written.
[10] Meanwhile the Legend of St. Eutychius also names Claudius .. But there is added the memory of Sts. Valentine the priest Our Martyrs suffered. and Hilary the deacon, as crowned together with Sts. Eutychius, Felicissima, and Gratilian. But their passion, to be given at the day III of November, names instead of Claudius Maximian, who began to reign only in the sixteenth year after the death of Claudius. If therefore, when these suffered, Eutychius was still alive — the same and not another of whom we here treat — he was crowned not only not under Claudius, but not even under Aurelian. This was noted by Doctor Tullio Cima, who in the year MDCXLV, being governor of Soriano for the Duke of Altemps, turned the aforesaid Legend from Latin into Italian, and then in the year MDCLVIII had it printed at Ronciglione in his native place: where, rendering the Latin context almost word for word, he substituted for Claudius the emperors Diocletian and Maximian: which is assuredly far more fitting than to substitute two Eutychii for one, one of whom is commemorated in the Acts of Sts. Gratilian and Felicissima, the other in the Passion of Sts. Valentine and Hilary. So long since Henschen judged to our purpose. But another modern author, in preference to other emperors, substitutes for Claudius, whom he expunges in the Acts of our Martyrs, Maximian Galerius Armentarius, not Herculius, who was indicated above; concerning which matter we are about to treat in the following paragraph.
§ II. The rest concerning the time of the martyrdom weighed; the conversion of St. Gratilian's parents; the copies of the Acts and their value.
Other notes of time Splendiano Andrea Pennazzi of Soriano, praised above, among the other lucubrations on the Saints which he made public, in the year 1721 published in print the Life of St. Eutychius, priest and martyr, inscribed to the Most Eminent lord Annibale Albani; to which at page 166 is subjoined a Prospect of a sacred archive, distributed into five shelves. But on the second shelf, page 234 and following, there is proposed the controversy under what emperor that holy Eutychius suffered; but what the praised author there diffusely and laboriously heaps up we contract into fewer words, and divide into these points. 1st. He affirms that the holy Martyrs Eutychius, Valentine and Hilary, Gracilian and Felicissima suffered together, from the words of the Acts of St. Eutychius, which, on account of the agreement of the manuscripts, are with him genuine; but among us, volume III of May, page 461, are held to be intruded. 2nd. He lays it down as certain that the adverb "together" is not to be understood as meaning that they completed their martyrdom on the same day, place, and year; but under the same tenth persecution. 3rd. He holds it for certain that Sts. Valentine and Hilary were crowned with martyrdom under C. Galerius Maximian Armentarius in the year of the Lord 306, from their Acts which he cites, and from the lessons. 4th. He affirms that the martyrdom of St. Eutychius is placed under Claudius in his Acts which he brings forward, as also in the Acts of Sts. Gracilian and Felicissima. 5th. Pennazzi, endeavoring to unravel these tangles which arise from the discrepancy about the emperor, reckons eight conditions which ought to fit the tyrant under whom the Martyrs enumerated in the Acts of St. Eutychius consummated their contest: which, when he has denied them to all those other emperors whom he brings into the midst, he asserts fit C. Galerius Maximian Armentarius, and draws the matter out at length, as may be seen in him, and weaves it in with the year 306 according to Baronius, or 307 in the opinion of Pagi, as concurring with the fourth year of the tenth persecution of the Christians.
[12] concerning their martyrdom are weighed. On page 244 the praised author calls to his aid Papebroch in the Annotations on the Acts of St. Secundus at the day 1 of June, volume 1 of that month, page 54. These things being premised, in chapter 3, page 245, he asks the cause why the name of Claudius was written in the Acts of Sts. Eutychius, Gratilian, and Felicissima; and he adds, and by the adducing of very many examples shows, that variation in the name of tyrants of this kind is not singular to these Acts, but common to several others; where at page 246 he treats diffusely of the causes of the blunders which have crept into the copies of such works. Finally at page 249 Pennazzi confesses that the name of Claudius in the Acts of the holy martyrs Eutychius, Gracilian, and Felicissima is a blunder of copyists. We should nearly support Pennazzi's opinion, if it were established that the Acts of the holy Valentine and Hilary are true in this chronological point. Let us meanwhile hold them true in that, until they be proved false in it; deferring their discussion to the day III of November, on which those Saints are noted in the Roman Martyrology. I said "nearly"; because then there still remains the question about those words of the Acts of St. Eutychius which indicate that the five Martyrs above mentioned suffered together, as we noted a little before. Now those words run thus: The Passion of the Saints who were crowned together: Eutychius the priest, Valentine the priest, Hilary the deacon, Gratilian, and holy Felicissima. Pennazzi at page 235 says: This period all the manuscripts of the Acts to be given on the third shelf most constantly retain; AND THEREFORE what was annotated on these Acts by Henschen at the place cited above in no way stands against us. He is nevertheless to be excused; for that distinguished man could not have noticed the agreement of so many manuscripts, which were hidden from him; and, if he had seen it, he would never have so annotated. But from that agreement of the Acts nothing seems to be made out. For just as the agreement of the Acts is false in the placing of the false emperor Claudius, of which above, why could they not also agree in that intruded period? That it was therefore genuine and not intruded, Pennazzi had to prove not from agreement alone but from elsewhere. For as there is often found in the Acts of the Saints an agreeing truth and an agreeing falsehood, so too there can be an agreeing intrusion. Not therefore, because several manuscripts of the Acts are in agreement, are they on that account genuine. Since nevertheless that period, although long since held among us as intruded, may be true, therefore Sts. Gratilian and Felicissima were perhaps crowned with the laurel of martyrdom under C. Galerius Maximian Armentarius, according to what we have said above from Pennazzi.
[13] The conversion of St. Gratilian's parents is confirmed. What the writer of the Acts touches in passing concerning the conversion of St. Gracilian's parents, among us at number 11, the Passion of St. Eutychius at the place cited confirms in these words: The parents of blessed Gratilian, coming, cast themselves at the feet of blessed Eutychius, saying: We give you thanks, holy father, because through your preaching the Lord our God Jesus Christ has gained our son Gratilian, and us together with him. Then blessed Eutychius admonished them concerning the faith and doctrine of our Lord Jesus Christ, and at that same hour departed, and returned to his own city of Ferentum. On this occasion we observe that the Martyr's father is called Maximus in the Olivetan manuscript, of which presently we shall treat; but in the Castellan, Maximianus. These are the things concerning which we have judged the reader should be forewarned: the rest we reserve for the Annotations on the Acts; concerning whose copies we subjoin these things.
[14] We have one which is thus entitled: Of Felicissima and Gratilian, Martyrs, from an old manuscript Legendary A notice of the copies of the Acts which is among the Olivetans at Naples, collated with the Castellan manuscript, where the bodies are. Papebroch transcribed it; but Henschen noted the variant readings on it. Another copy of ours is indicated as taken from a manuscript of St. Maximin at Trier, and is marked with this title: The Passion of St. Gracilian the martyr. To these two there is added a third from the Utrecht manuscript of St. Saviour's, which is entitled The Martyrdom of Sts. Gracilian and Felix, for Felicissima. Pennazzi, praised above, thus indicates in the same place, page 341, the Acts which he published in print on shelf 3, chapter 4: These Acts were copied from a certain manuscript codex in larger or Augustan folio and of parchment, written in rather large characters, in which the Acts also of other holy Martyrs are written, which at present is kept with great veneration in the shrines of the cathedral church of Civita Castellana, in which the bodies of the aforesaid holy Martyrs are laid up. Baronius had these Acts, and Ferrari, which I found among the manuscripts of Teseo Pennazzi my father; but mutilated at the edge, now however entire, and collated with its archetype by the help of the most illustrious prelate of that church. Their text the editor illustrated also with a good many notes. A compendium of the Acts is extant in Ferrari on this day, the XII of August.
[15] The Utrecht transcript is briefer than the others, and their value. which agree in substance. Further, we shall forbear to note all the variant readings, being content to assign some of them where it shall seem good. But the Pennazzian one, although it can now be read in print, we shall nevertheless here reprint; the others, however, not being wholly neglected for the Annotations. Concerning their value we observe the following. Although we do not traduce those Acts as false, we nevertheless propose some points from them to men skilled in matters of this kind, asking their judgment whether the whole text of the Acts was drawn as from their genuine and original source. 1st. There occurs among us below at number 1 Claudius, of whom it has been said
more than enough. 2nd. The letter of the Count to the emperor, and the latter's reply to him, number 5. Finally 3rd. The punishment of that same Count, number 13.
THE ACTS
From the edition of Splendiano Andrea Pennazzi, collated by us with other manuscript copies.
Gratilian, Martyr, at Faleria in Tuscany (S.)
Felicissima, Martyr, at Faleria in Tuscany (S.)
BHL Number: 3630
FROM THE EDITION.
At that time in which Claudius a Cæsar, throughout the whole world that was subjected to his rule, St. Gratilian, undaunted by the persecution, in the fourth year of his reign put forth an edict that wherever Galileans were found they should be punished without a hearing. But this calamity Gratilian *, with undaunted mind hoping in the Lord Jesus Christ, did not tremble at, but steadfastly received suffering in the name of Christ. This being so, since he was his parents' only child, his parents bestowed great care upon their son. But being made a youth instructed in the doctrine of Christ, he took the book of the Gospels and read in that place where Christ says: He who wishes to come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. And: He who loves father or mother or brother more than me is not worthy of me.
[2] is baptized by St. Eutychius, and is refreshed with the synaxis When blessed Gratilian had read this, he went to blessed Eutychius b the priest, and said to him: I adjure you by Christ, whom you preach, to tell me what gain they obtain from Christ who both confess him and believe in him. And Eutychius the priest answered, saying: Whoever shall believe in Christ shall have eternal life and remission of sins. Then Gratilian says to him: By the divine readings of the Gospels I adjure you not to delay to show me the faith of Christ and to baptize me. And he made him a catechumen; and after three days he baptized him in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit: and he was clothed in white garments, and they celebrated the mysteries c of Christ. And, his white garments being laid aside, they partook of the Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ.
[3] He then returns to his parents, who grieve over his conversion. But returning to his parents, he said to them: That you may know that I am a Christian and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, I shall never offer sacrifice to your gods. Then his parents said to him: Do not despise us, son, nor lose the flower of your youth: for if count Thraso d shall hear this, he will afflict you with divers punishments. Gratilian says to them: By Christ the Son of God, I never fear your terrors, for I hope in him in whom the three Hebrew Children hoped: for he himself will deliver me from all my enemies; and he has taught me the way of truth. Maximianus his father says to him: What is truth? Holy Gratilian answered and said: The Lord Jesus Christ himself is the truth and the light, for he himself thus preached: I am the way, the truth, and the life: he who believes in me shall not die for ever. Then his father says: Sacrifice to the great gods, and be our son. But his mother mourned for her son, saying: Woe is me, how have you forsaken me, son, and lose the flower of your youth, and the bereavement of my bowels, beating her breast. And the afflicted father and mother mourned daily for their son.
[4] He is seized, and his constancy is assailed in vain by count Thraso: Meanwhile, hearing this, the count of the city of Faleria e, by name Thraso, sent his officers, and they seized him. And when he had been brought before the Count, the Count took up these words, saying: Why, most foolish man, have you been initiated f into the religion of the Christian magicians, as I hear, and have yourself become a magician? Gratilian says to him: I have believed not folly but truth, because Christ is the truth: and whoever believes in him shall not die for ever: and whoever do not believe in Christ shall receive eternal punishment. The Count says to him: You rave, Gratilian, because you speak foolishly: sacrifice to the great god Apollo, and restore yourself to your parents: for your begetter is our friend; and restore yourself to your birth, and do not lose the flower of your youth. Gratilian says to him: I indeed am a Christian, and remain in his fear: and your blandishments shall never seduce me: and I shall not depart from the love of Christ, but confess him day and night.
[5] his letter to Cæsar, and Cæsar's reply. Then the Count, when he saw his constancy, ordered him to be shut up in a private prison. And count Thraso sent a report to Claudius Cæsar by his own writing g, charging him thus: that indeed Maximianus has a son in your servile city of Faleria h, the only child of his bowels, by name Gratilian, flourishing in the first bloom of youth, and he has been detained among us as a Christian. Let your clemency give command concerning him. And Claudius Cæsar wrote back to him, saying: Worthy of all good things is Thraso our count. Claudius the most unconquered Augustus greets you, most diligently and well keeping our commands and setting them first according to our edict i. But if he shall not sacrifice to the great gods, try him with divers punishments and give him over to death: but if he shall consent to our ceremonies, send him hither to us, and I shall make him one of those at my side. Farewell, most dear Thraso.
[6] When count Thraso had read the command of Claudius Cæsar, He is beaten with blows, and consigned to prison, he ordered Gratilian to be presented to him: and when blessed Gratilian had been brought before the Count, the Count says to him: Behold what report I sent about you to Claudius the prince: and this he deigned to write me, that you sacrifice to the great gods: but if you do not sacrifice, you shall be given over to death. Blessed Gratilian answering says: Let them sacrifice to them who are theirs, and who have given their souls to the devil along with your gods. Then the Count saw that he did not consent to him to sacrifice: he ordered him to be beaten with blows, saying to him: Do not despise the commands of the princes: and he ordered him to be thrust into prison until he should determine concerning him by what death he should punish him. But to his parents no consolation at all was given; but they mourned daily for their son.
[7] While blessed Gratilian was in prison, he wrought great wonders; he works wonders there, he gave light to the blind and cured paralytics: he even raised the dead in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. And a certain widow woman by name Fortunata, hearing of the repute of St. Gratilian, that he wrought many wonders while set in custody — she had an only daughter, who was blinded in her bodily eyes, exceedingly beautiful and comely of face, a most prudent virgin and beloved of the Lord — came by night to blessed Gratilian in custody with her daughter, by name Felicissima, a virgin devoted to the Lord: and she began to ask him that he would deign to place his hands upon her eyes, that by the power of Christ and by his prayer Christ might give her light. Then blessed Gratilian says to her: If you shall believe with your whole heart, you shall now be enlightened: not only because the eyes of your body shall be enlightened, but Christ will at the same time enlighten also those of your heart and soul. Fortunata says to him: If I had not wished to see her enlightened, I should not have brought her to you: but when you shall have enlightened her, she will presently believe in Christ.
[8] And he placed his hand upon her eyes, praying and weeping, He restores sight to Felicissima, and confers baptism; saying: May Christ the Son of the living God enlighten you, who enlightened the blind man and made clay from his spittle: may he enlighten you in body and soul, that you may believe that there is no other Lord but Christ the Son of the living God. And he made the sign of the cross upon her eyes, and straightway her eyes were opened, and she saw the light of heaven and the face of St. Gratilian: and St. Felicissima asked him, saying: By Christ whom you preach I adjure you, Gratilian, servant of God, that you now show mercy to me and show me how to follow Christ. Then blessed Gratilian says to her: I indeed show you, my sister, the way of Christ. And then blessed Felicissima offered him a pitcher with water for k her enlightenment: and he baptized her, her mother standing by. And blessed Gratilian says to her: I baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. And when she had been baptized, she gave * thanks to God and to blessed Gratilian, who had enlightened her by the power of Christ. Blessed Gratilian says to her: Go to blessed Eutychius the priest, and he will anoint you with the chrism of salvation, that you may know perfectly the way of Christ.
[9] whom likewise he anoints with chrism, as also her mother. Going therefore to blessed Eutychius the priest, they cast themselves at his feet, saying: By Christ, whom we have come to know through his servant Gratilian, we adjure you not to delay to anoint us with the chrism of salvation: for he himself directed us hither to you. And he anointed and signed her with the chrism of salvation: and he taught her to love Christ. And Fortunata says to blessed Eutychius: I shall go, and shall return to you, that I too may come to know Christ.
[10] Sts. Gratilian and Felicissima are kept in prison; But the jailers ran to the Count, and announced to him all that they had heard and seen done by blessed Gratilian. And the Count says to them: Go, and seize them as you can. The jailer therefore took men from the Count's staff, and they went where blessed Felicissima was. And when they had come to the house of blessed Eutychius, they entered and seized her; but blessed Eutychius sprang out of their hands, and, fearing, slipped away in flight: and they led her to the prison where St. Gratilian was shut up.
[11] then, being brought to the tribunal, they are sentenced to death. But on another day he sat for judgment in the forum, and ordered them to be brought bound. And when they had been brought before the Count, the Count said to blessed Gratilian: Where did you learn these sorceries, that you might seduce men by your sorceries? And St. Gratilian answered and said to him: These are not sorceries, but the benefits of Christ, who does not permit me to be overcome by the devil your father. And blessed Felicissima says to him: What constrains you, devil, to practice these things against the servants of God? Then he ordered that her mouth be beaten with stones. And, being angered, he ordered them to be beheaded outside the gates of the city, not far from the city of Faleria beside a stream l. And when St. Gratilian and St. Felicissima had been led out, they prayed, saying: Lord of all things visible and invisible, who sent your only Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, to redeem us from our sins, deign now to send your holy angel, who may receive our souls in peace, and bid them stand in your sight, who are blessed for ever
and ever. Amen. And, their necks being stretched out, straightway blessed Gratilian and blessed Felicissima were beheaded by the devil's executioners. And it came to pass, when they beheaded them, that the blood which went forth from the body of blessed Gratilian was white as snow. But his parents mourned daily for their Son: and, taking away their bodies, they buried them in the field of blessed Gratilian, which his father had bought in his name, on the day before the Ides of August, in the place which is called Maulanus m.
[12] Their apparition, And his parents had great lamentation, and mourned daily for their children. And after three days, unlooked for, in the silence of the night, blessed Gratilian came with blessed Felicissima, and two young men with them clothed in white garments, to the parents of blessed Gratilian, saying to them: See me your son to be whole by the power of our Lord Jesus Christ; do not mourn us as though we were dead; for we are joined in the choir of the holy Apostles and Martyrs: and my sister Felicissima remains with the queen, the Mother of our Lord Jesus Christ. And I announce to you the peace which has been given n to the Church of God: and in this month Thraso, the enemy of the Christians, shall be slain, and shall be killed by Claudius, and given over to death by Cæsar. Do not mourn me as though dead, my parents, but believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, who can grant you the remission of all your sins, and bestow eternal life for ever. They were taken away from their eyes.
[13] After the third day Claudius Cæsar sent a tribune, Eleutherius by name, [The punishment of Thraso, the conversion of St. Gratilian's parents to the faith.] and he brought count Thraso bound before Claudius Cæsar, because he had plundered the province and the city: and he ordered him to be tied to the tail of untamed horses, and thus he was destroyed, so that pieces of his flesh remained scattered through many places. And thus our Lord Jesus Christ defends his Martyrs, who suffered for his name. But his parents, when they saw that what their son had said in the vision had been fulfilled, believed in Christ, and were instructed in the doctrine of Christ: they had no sadness about their Son, because they received him rejoicing with Christ, who lives and reigns with the Father and the Holy Spirit for ever and ever. Amen.
ANNOTATIONS.
* otherwise: Gracilianus
* otherwise: Thrason
* or: privately, or "private"?
* he did
* saying