ON SS. LEONTIUS AND CARPOPHORUS, MARTYRS,
AT VICENZA IN ITALY,
Under Diocletian and Maximian.
PRELIMINARY COMMENTARY.
Leontius, M., at Vicenza in Italy (St.)
Carpophorus, M., at Vicenza in Italy (St.)
BY J. P.
§ I. Their public veneration, the time of their martyrdom, a victory obtained by the Vicentines, their sisters — martyrs, as is reported; translations.
These Vicentine Martyrs were not indeed inscribed, so far as I know, in the ancient or classic Martyrologies; but there exist various other documents by which their lawful cultus may be proved. The public veneration of the Saints: In the more recent sacred Calendars their annual memory is woven in on this day. Maurolico has thus: In the city of Aquileia, in the reign of Diocletian, of the holy martyrs Leontius and Carpophorus, beheaded under the governor Lysias, after many torments had been overcome. Ferrari marks the same in both Catalogues. Pietro de' Natali had preceded him, book 7, chapter 87, likewise in his Catalogue, where he has a narrative of the martyrdom. Ferrari, from the monuments of the church of Vicenza, which he indicates that he read in an ancient parchment manuscript codex, recites a compendium of the passion in his Catalogue of the Saints of Italy; which, since it is very like the Martyrdom which is had in Pietro de' Natali, to be reprinted by us afterwards, it is superfluous to transcribe hither. Thus much briefly here concerning their cultus; but below at greater length.
[2] Francesco Barbarano de Mironi, in his Ecclesiastical History of Vicenza, book 9, chapter 9 and following, various uncertainties concerning them; as also the time of their martyrdom, records indeed various things to our purpose, but exceedingly uncertain ones, because they are destitute of ancient monuments; such as we could wish to read confirmed from some other source than from the Acts in Pietro de' Natali, which do not seem to me of great weight. Receive nevertheless in synopsis what Barbarano reports, not so much that you may learn what is to be said with foundation on the present subject, as what has at least been said by him. He records therefore that our Saints were born at Vicenza, and affirms that, because their parents or ancestors had set out for those tracts of the earth from Arabia, therefore the same Saints were called by the surname of the Arabs. Barbarano confesses that the time of their birth is unascertained by him: likewise that it is not exactly known on what occasion they betook themselves to Aquileia for the sake of dwelling there, with their sisters Euphemia and Innocentia. Then he sets forth the martyrdom of our Champions. But what of the time of the martyrdom? The aforesaid Barbarano confesses that it cannot be found so easily as some may think. He presently brings forward various opinions for the years of restored salvation 300, 297, 128, and 119; but he himself attaches it to about the year of Christ 128, relying on a Legend in which it is narrated that Lysias said to our Saints: I swear by my god Hadrian that I will follow you wherever you go. But of what credit or authority that Legend is he does not add; nay rather, he candidly professes that he does not know on what foundation this opinion rests, having been seen by him, as he indicates, only in a few manuscripts.
[3] concerning which What of this, that the same author also wavers? For afterwards he says that the martyrdom of which we treat happened either about the year 128, as already said, or about the year 140; and that therefore the opinion of some is false (but he does not add their names) who will have it that SS. Leontius and Carpophorus were brothers of SS. Cosmas and Damian; but he rejects this also from their names and from the place of martyrdom. I shall immediately ask of Barbarano why he marks the years just mentioned rather than the times of Diocletian and Maximian, which are noted in Pietro de' Natali, who reports that they suffered in the times of the emperors Diocletian and Maximian. For my part I do not see why we should depart from the reckoning of time there consigned, and subscribe to whatever sort of opinion Barbarano's is — which he himself not obscurely indicates to be weak — on account of some Legend or other, of which we have treated. Wherefore we have set down above the same characteristic of time which Pietro de' Natali has, or have left it untouched. But why does Barbarano not admit that characteristic of time? Because the first opinion suffers some difficulty from this, that in the year three hundred, as will be said, he says, in the Life of SS. Felix and Fortunatus (of which he treats in book 1, chapter 20 and following) the governor of Aquileia was called Euphemius, and not Lysias; unless we should wish to say that in the month of August the latter succeeded the former — which is not probable, namely that Euphemius so quickly put an end to his office, since a little after his entry he put SS. Felix and Fortunatus to martyrdom, and thus would have been governor only for some months. Thus Barbarano argues.
[4] at sufficient length But I answer, first. The Acts of those two holy Martyrs of Aquileia were illustrated among us on the XI day of June, volume 11 of the same month, page 460; where their martyrdom was fixed not in the year of Christ 300, but in the year 296. (See the Annotations in the same place, page 462, letter a.) Although at the end of the Acts that year is not expressed. For thus they have: And the Saints of God, Felix and Fortunatus the martyrs, were martyred on the fourteenth day of the month of May, our Lord Jesus Christ reigning, etc. But Barbarano in his Italian Martyrdom marks the three hundredth year; concerning whose genuine reading would that we were assured! For indeed that year conflicts with the Acts of the Martyrdom which have been published among us with this beginning: Under the emperors Diocletian and Maximian, in the twelfth year,
an edict went forth, etc. But Henschen in the Annotations cited above observes that this year began from the XVII of September of the year 295, in which St. Caius, Pope and martyr, died in the year 216, on the XXII of April, on which day we gave his Life. For Diocletian was elected emperor on the said XVII day of September in the year 284, as may be seen in exact chronologists. If therefore it shall please one to compare the Latin Acts of SS. Felix and Fortunatus, which I was just now citing, with the Italian ones published by Barbarano, you will not obscurely perceive that these last were interpolated either by the zeal of Barbarano or of others. With what security, therefore, the note of time by which the martyrdom of those Champions is assigned in them to the three hundredth year can be admitted by a reader who is not led by party zeal, I for my part do not sufficiently see: and so I altogether judge that we must not depart even by a nail's breadth from the year 296, which from the Latin Acts has already been designated for their martyrdom. Which reckoning of time being admitted as the more probable, satisfaction seems to have been made to the difficulty which Barbarano raised above from the governor of Aquileia being, as he will have it, Euphemius and not Lysias, since in our system of time four years intervene between the one year and the other.
[5] I answer, secondly. Granted, but not conceded, that only a short time intervened in which Lysias succeeded Euphemius: shall I therefore presently expunge the name of Lysias from the Acts of our Martyrs, which Pietro de' Natali published, where it is clearly expressed? Shall I on that account erase from that exemplar the times of Diocletian and Maximian, in which they are said to have suffered? By no means. For since it is our part to defend the Acts of the Saints, so far as we can with truth preserved, and since on this point no open falsity is shown, we retain what we said before, namely that their martyrdom occurred in the times of Diocletian and Maximian. For why could not Euphemius have exercised at Aquileia the office of governor, and after a short time either have himself laid it down, or have been removed from it by another? For these reasons, above at the beginning of this paragraph, as I indicated before, I marked the martyrdom of SS. Leontius and Carpophorus under the said emperors, until some better notation of time be assigned me. Now let us pursue other matters.
[6] That the Vicentines were defended against the Paduans by the protection of these holy Champions, A victory obtained by the Vicentines through the Saints' protection: Barbarano narrates in chapter 15. Receive the sum of the event. In the year one thousand one hundred and eighty-six the Paduans, having gathered a copious army and brought it up to the city of Vicenza, had all but taken it. There was sharp fighting on both sides: the Paduans are repulsed with the greatest slaughter. During the struggle SS. Leontius and Carpophorus were seen above the walls of the Vicentines, being assuredly the presiding authors of the victory won. As a token of a mindful and grateful spirit, a solemn supplication was instituted by them, which is performed every year on the XX day of August, on which their festal day is celebrated; but formerly it used to be observed with an octave, as appears from the Calendar of the year 1606, which was prescribed by the most eminent Giovanni Delfino, bishop of the Vicentines. But in the Office, when the prayers are said, a commemoration is made of them, as also of St. Vincent, in this manner: The holy men shed their glorious blood for the Lord; they loved Christ in their life, they imitated him in their death, and therefore they merited triumphal crowns. ℣. The just cried, and the Lord heard them. ℞. And delivered them out of all their tribulations. Let us pray. Bestow upon us, we beseech thee, O Lord, thy help, appeased; and, thy blessed martyrs Vincent, Leontius, and Carpophorus interceding, stretch forth over us the right hand of thy propitiation. This history has been extracted by me from Barbarano and reduced to a compendium; as also the things which I subjoin concerning the finding and translations of the bodies, of which he treats in chapter 15.
[7] the finding and translation of the bodies. At what time they were translated to Vicenza, the same historian affirms that nothing certain can be had for want of documents: but he adds that this is certainly established, that today (namely in the year 1649, in which he brought out his History) they rest in the cathedral. Then from an ancient manuscript, as he calls it, which is entitled Chronicle for the memory of past, present, and future time, he reports that in the year 1455, on the X day of August, the bodies of SS. Leontius and Carpophorus, MM., were found in the cathedral church of Vicenza; and that on the XX day of the same month, on which the feast of the said Saints is celebrated, a solemn supplication was held; that afterwards likewise, in the year 1467, on the XX day of August, a most solemn supplication was instituted, and those sacred pledges were carried through the city, and remained uncovered all that day, so that they could be seen by every one; that besides, they were then placed in a stone chest, and in that place of the church where now, says the aforesaid author, stands the greater chapel, by name the choir; and that they were preserved there until that fabric was begun, which happened in the year 1482; at which time he commemorates that they were again shown to the people and transported to another chapel; where they remained until the year 1573, as he says is to be said in chapter 17, where he treats of the translations of our Saints and of SS. Euphemia and Innocentia. But there I read the year 1563 noted. And to the year 1613 is attached the last transportation of those bodies to another chapel of the aforesaid church; and the solemn pomp, the adornment, the throng of people, the supplication and its train are given to be seen described at greater length in chapter 18. Not out of place shall I add to these the inscription which our Papebroch left noted by his own hand in his manuscript Roman Itinerary, which is preserved in our museum and marked ✠ Ms. 146, in these words: Latina Montia, great-grandmother of Orazio Porto, begotten by a vow piously made, caused these tablets of SS. Leontius and Carpophorus to be painted in 1617: Anna Sessa his mother adorned them with coverings (understand handsome stone borders) in 1635. And that those tablets were large, four in number, expressing on one side the martyrdom of the Saints, on the other their judgment, the aforesaid Papebroch premises to the said inscription.
[8] Whether SS. Euphemia and Innocentia were the full sisters of these Champions. And these things indeed, which thus far have been set forth by us, sufficiently favor the traditions or accounts of the Vicentines: not so, however, but that some difficulties remain, which I shall now set forth. One of them is, if anyone should ask whether SS. Euphemia and Innocentia were the sisters of our Martyrs. Barbarano affirms this in chapter 16, but does not sufficiently prove it. Ferrari, in his New Catalogue of the Saints, at the XVI day of September, in the notes, cites the records of the church of Vicenza, in which they are reported to be the full sisters of SS. Leontius and Carpophorus. Which expression are reported is weak enough. Nor do I know of what character and time those records are. Likewise I read nothing of this matter in the bishop of Jesolo, cited above several times; nothing in the compendium of the martyrdom which I cited before. For indeed the earliest matters concerning these holy women appear exceedingly obscure and uncertain: whence therefore, and with what credit, they are reported in the said records to be the full sisters of our Martyrs, I do not know. But since they are announced by Ferrari at the XVI day of September, on which they are venerated among the Vicentines, it will perhaps be possible to treat then at greater length of that point, if documents sufficiently apt shall appear which may pave the way to further investigation.
[9] The second of the difficulties can be raised against the various translations of SS. Leontius and Carpophorus from those things Certain difficulties are set forth which the Spicilegium of d'Achery records in volume 5, where is had the Finding of the Saints discovered by the lord Bishop Theoderic of Metz and translated to the city of Metz; in which document these things occur in chapter 3, page 145, to our purpose: The city of Vicenza is not far from Venice, to which formerly the Lombards, when they invaded Italy, are said to have come as the first of cities. In it the martyr Leontius was venerated in a celebrated monastery. The bishop of this place promised his relics to our most reverend prelate, if he would intercede with the imperial majesty on his behalf. Presently, Rothard the deacon having been sent thither, when the bishop had made himself exceedingly difficult in giving beyond only what he had promised, at last, overcome by the continual insistence of the one demanding, having retained a few pledges for himself, he bestowed the whole remainder of the body. The inhabitants asserted that this man and blessed Carpophorus had suffered at Rome, and had been translated from that city not long before: where also a once noble monastery of St. Felix was seen, where also they were reported to have been first laid; but when this had been burnt by the Hungarians, who are near neighbors of those very places, and their assiduous incursion prevented its repair, they were deposited at the episcopal see within the city beneath the altar; whence also the aforesaid Rothard the deacon took holy Leontius indeed entire, and no small relics of holy Carpophorus, from that very altar in which they were enclosed, the sepulchre being broken open. They said that their Passion had perished in the fire. Their birthday is celebrated on the XIII Kalends of August. Teudo carried them off with great and universal celebration of the church.
§ II. The difficulties concerning the translations of the bodies and the arena of the martyrdom are weighed.
concerning their translations The credit of this narrative, which I was just now producing, is thus commended in d'Achery, cited, among those things which he prefixes to the reader, page 15: The history of the Finding of the Saints discovered by Deodericus or Theodericus, bishop of Metz, while in the company of the emperor Otto he was surveying the churches and monasteries of Italy, transcribed by himself from a written codex of the monastery of St. Symphorian of Metz, that most excellent man Hadrian de Valois … most courteously … granted to me to publish. The author of this narrative everywhere discloses that he was present when those bodies of the Saints were being translated. Thus he there; so that I do not see why full historical credit should not securely be attributed to the said author in the narrative which we here have in hand. Now let us explain it by some observations. Otto I obtained the crown of the empire in the year of Christ 962. But Theodoric, the first of this name, is written by the most illustrious Meurisse, in the History of the Bishops of the Church of Metz, book 3, page 317, to have been raised to that chair in the year 964. In marking the same year Sigebert had preceded in his Chronicle: but in the Sainte-Marthes' Gallia Christiana that dignity is deferred until the year 966, from Alberic, in these words: In the year 966, Adalbero, bishop of the people of Metz, having died, Theodoric, cousin of the emperor Otto, is substituted as bishop. Jacques Longueval, in the History of the Gallican Church, volume 6, at the year 965, page 552, records that he succeeded in the see of Metz to Adalbero, who died on the first day of May of the preceding year. But there is no reason why so slight a difference of time should cause us delay, which perhaps crept into Alberic from the chronological notes being transposed, VI for IV.
[11] among the Vicentines, More closely pertinent hither is the fact which we are examining, concerning the body of St. Leontius the martyr, and that indeed entire, as we saw above from the anonymous writer, carried off from Vicenza by Theodoric. Sigebert at the year 969 narrates the event thus: Theodoric, bishop of the people of Metz, bound to the Emperor by blood, affection, and familiarity more closely than the rest, while for three years he served under him in the Italian expedition, many bodies and pledges of the Saints
from various places of Italy, in whatever way he could, he collected. (On the meaning of the verb militare consult what I said on the XVI day of this month, page 272.) But among the several others whom he there commemorates, he says that Leontius, bishop and martyr, was carried off by him from Vicenza, concluding the matter thus: All these … with many other pledges of Saints, the prelate Deodericus translated into Gaul in this year, and placed in the church of St. Vincent the martyr, built by himself on the island of the city. You see, reader, that another Leontius is here designated — namely a bishop and martyr — than was expressed above by the anonymous author.
[12] and the place of the arena: Whence a controversy must necessarily be raised, which of these two was obtained by Theodoric, bishop of Metz, and carried off from Vicenza to the city of Metz. Now as, according to what I reported before from d'Achery's observation, the anonymous author of this narrative everywhere discloses that he was present when those bodies of the Saints were being translated, so he seems in some way to insinuate that he was present when the body of St. Leontius M. was delivered to Theodoric, for he says: The inhabitants asserted that this man and blessed Carpophorus had suffered at Rome, and had been translated from that city not long before. Likewise: They said that their Passion had perished in the fire. Hence also arises a difficulty against Aquileia as the place of their arena, and against the opinion of those who record that their bodies were translated thence to Vicenza. But besides, another trouble arises against the possession and the translations of the body of today's St. Leontius among the Vicentines after the tenth century, of which treatment was made above: for in the tenth century the bishop of Vicenza, a few pledges having been retained for himself, bestowed on Rothard the deacon … the whole remainder of the body (of St. Leontius), according to the anonymous author, who a little after subjoins these things: Rothard the deacon took holy Leontius indeed entire, and no small relics of holy Carpophorus, from that very altar in which they were enclosed, the sepulchre being broken open … Teudo carried them off with great and universal celebration of the church. If you understand these things of today's Leontius, with the anonymous author, nothing, or as good as nothing, remained of his body among the Vicentines after the tenth century. But if you follow Sigebert, the difficulty vanishes, because he speaks of a martyr and bishop of the same name. But which is the more probably to be believed, the said anonymous author, whose credit was commended above from place and time, or rather Sigebert, who flourished at the beginning of the twelfth century, and was a monk at Gembloux in our Brabant?
[13] I meanwhile propose this intricate controversy for a while to the learned Vicentines to be considered, casting upon them the burden of defending their own cause themselves and of settling this dispute, if they can dig out more ancient documents by which they may overturn the above narrative of the anonymous author. which controversy, being very entangled, we leave to others to disentangle. More ancient documents, I say, which it is established by a trustworthy author were written before Sigebert and the same anonymous author; not indeed Pietro de' Natali, book 11, chapter 66; not the most eminent Baronius at the year of Christ 969; not Ferrari in the New Catalogue of the Saints at the XVI day of November in the notes; not, finally, Barbarano, chapter 19; not Ughelli, volume 5 of Italia sacra, column [ ] of the most recent Venetian edition; who from Sigebert write that St. Leontius, bishop and martyr, was translated from Vicenza by bishop Theodoric, and therefore all these and each of them ought to be judged of no greater weight than Sigebert himself, whom they adduce. But St. Leontius, bishop and martyr, is venerated in the church of Vicenza on the XVI day of November, as is given to be seen in Ferrari and in Barbarano in the places just designated, and he is placed by Ughelli, cited, as the second bishop of the Vicentines. And thus much thus far. But since I do not wish to interpose myself as arbiter of the difficulty now set forth, therefore those things which above in § I I premised concerning our present holy Martyrs from the common opinion I leave in their possession, and I had rather speak with the many than be wise with the few. Let there meanwhile be given such as they are their
ACTS
By an anonymous author,
from those published in Pietro de' Natali, book 7, chapter 87.
Leontius, M., at Vicenza in Italy (St.)
Carpophorus, M., at Vicenza in Italy (St.)
BHL Number: 0000
By an Anonymous author.
The Martyrs are accused, Leontius and Carpophorus, martyrs, suffered in the city of Aquileia a in the times of the emperors Diocletian and Maximian, under the governor Lysias. b Who, since they were physicians by art, healed whatever sick persons of every languor, not so much by the natural medicines of their art as by the invocation of the name of Christ: for they were most faithful Christians. But Lysias the governor, hearing their fame, when they had been accused before him by his officials, and that they were destroying the worship of his gods, caused them to be summoned before him: and he asked what were their names, what their country, what their condition, what their fortune. And they answered to each point: namely that their names were Leontius and Carpophorus; that their country was Arabia; c their condition, Christian; but they said that Christians know no fortune. Then the governor began to persuade them to sacrifice to the gods, promising that they would thereafter be exalted with honors; or, if they refused, would be punished with divers torments.
[2] And when they answered that they were in no way willing to offer sacrifices to demons, and said that Christ was their helper in all things, and despised the torments he threatened, the governor ordered them to be grievously tortured in hands and feet. And when they, constant, derided this punishment, they are delivered from heaven from death and torments, the governor ordered them, bound with chains, to be cast headlong into the sea. And straightway an angel of the Lord was at hand: and, their bonds being broken, led them unharmed from the deep to the shore. And when the governor ascribed this miracle to magic arts, and they on the contrary preached to him the power of Christ, and he said that he was willing to follow them in the name of his god Hadrian, d immediately two demons were present, and struck the governor on the face with heavy blows for one hour. But at the prayer of the Saints for him, the demons straightway departed.
[3] they are set free, Then the governor began to say that the gods, being indignant against him because he had said he was willing to abandon them, had exercised such vengeance upon him. And he ordered the Saints to be thrust into prison, until he should consider in what way he might destroy them. On the next day, having brought them out, and they more constantly refusing to sacrifice to the gods, he commanded them to be cast into a great kindled fire. But nevertheless the fire in no way harmed them; but, a great earthquake having occurred, the flame bursting forth burned up very many of the pagans standing round. And those Saints, being led out of the midst of the fire, appeared utterly untouched, not only in their bodies, but even in their hair and garments. They are ordered therefore to be hung on the rack and scraped with hooks: but an angel guarding them, the executioners being exceedingly wearied, they are set down before the governor.
[4] and at last they are beheaded. And when, being urged again and again by the governor, they refused to render worship to his gods, Lysias the governor caused them to be raised upon crosses and stoned by the people standing round. But the stones returned upon the throwers and wounded very many. Then he commanded them to be pierced with arrows by four of the soldiers. But the arrows did not harm the Martyrs, but, turned back, pierced the archers. And they killed not only them, but many others standing by. But Lysias, seeing himself confounded in all things, ordered the Saints of God to be smitten with the sword: and thus the executioners, approaching, cut off their heads with swords. Whose bodies the Christians, seizing, buried beside the walls of the city of Aquileia. e And the holy Martyrs Leontius and Carpophorus suffered on the XIII Kalends of September.