ON SS. DONATUS, ROMULUS, SYLVANUS, VENUSTUS, AND HERMOGENES, MARTYRS,
AT FORUM JULII IN ITALY,
UNDER DIOCLETIAN.
PRELIMINARY COMMENTARY.
Cultus, sacred remains, Acts.
Donatus, M., at Forum Julii in Italy (St.)
Romulus, M., at Forum Julii in Italy (St.)
Sylvanus, M., at Forum Julii in Italy (St.)
Venustus, M., at Forum Julii in Italy (St.)
Hermogenes, M., at Forum Julii in Italy (St.)
BY J. P.
The city of Forum Julii is situated in that region of Italy which was once that of the Carni, and now is called the province of Friuli, taking its appellation from its chief city. Notice of the place: The river Natiso, mentioned by ancient writers, cuts through the middle of it: the Julian Alps close its rear, while in front a vast plain, notable for its fertile soil, spreads out. So Filippo dal Torre in the Dissertation on the Forojulian Colony, which is found after the Monuments of Ancient Antium, published by him at Rome in the year 1700, from page 322. The etymology of the place Paul the Deacon, On the Deeds of the Lombards, book 2, chapter 14, sets forth in these words: Of this Venetia the city of Aquileia was the head, in whose place is now held Forum Julii, so called because Julius Cæsar had established there a market for trade. The curious reader will find more concerning this place in the aforesaid Filippo dal Torre.
[2] the cultus of the Saints there, This city, then, our Martyrs of today have obtained as the seat of their public veneration, wherewith they are there honored from time immemorial, as the aforesaid Filippo dal Torre testifies, whom I read in a certain writing of ours, that, while in the year 1692 he was auditor to the most eminent Cardinal Imperiali, legate of Ferrara, he taught the following concerning their cultus in a letter sent hither on the X day of June of that year: The Acts of St. Donatus and his companions — which the illustrious Man had added to his letter, and which we shall give below — have been transcribed from most ancient breviaries which our church once used, arranged according to the lessons … In the treasury of sacred relics of the same church there is preserved the head of St. Donatus, laid up in a silver casket, which, on the recurrence of the festival day of the XXI of August, is exposed to public cultus together with the other relics of his companions. How these sacred pledges were translated from Pannonia to Forum Julii, and when St. Donatus and his companions were adopted as patrons, I have found nothing handed down to memory, nor ascertained by tradition. But certainly monuments of the most ancient time record St. Donatus as patron of this city, and he is noted in the Fasti of the sacred codices.
[3] Ferrari, in the Catalogue of the Saints of Italy at this day, and likewise at Aquileia: from the monuments of the church of Cividale, that is, of Forum Julii, and from an ancient breviary of Aquileia, reports a martyrdom in which only St. Donatus, an anonymous priest, and Venustus are mentioned; but he would have more considerable relics of them carried thither than we have just now narrated on the testimony of Filippo dal Torre, writing thus: The bodies of which Martyrs … having been translated to Forum Julii, are there venerated with especial honor: for the people of Cividale adopted the holy Martyrs as the tutelary patrons of their city. But the same author perhaps takes a part of the body for the whole, as not rarely happens. Certainly dal Torre did not indicate the body of St. Donatus, but the head; nor the bodies of his companions, but their relics; and he would probably have said more, if more concerning these sacred pledges had been ascertained by him. Now to the cultus of St. Donatus and his companions there is added this, that it was propagated not among the people of Forum Julii alone, but also among those of Aquileia, as is plain from the Aquileian Calendar from the Vallicellian library, Codex N., a transcript of which is with us in the wrapper marked S 19, and in which at the XXI day of August is noted: Of Donatus, and of his companions.
[4] Their Acts, as was indicated before, were sent hither by Filippo dal Torre, whence the Acts are taken. who noted there whence they had been taken. The testimony, moreover, which had been added to them, stands in these words: These Acts of the holy martyrs Donatus and his companions
I, Tommaso Minisini, canon and archivist of the same chapter, extracted and copied from an ancient manuscript breviary existing in the archive of the most reverend chapter of the city of Forum Julii, and I have secured them with my seal. But of what antiquity this breviary may be, as also those which dal Torre above called "most ancient," is hidden from us. Further, the reader will see certain words omitted in our transcript which could not be read; and certain others enclosed in brackets, that their defect may somehow be supplied by conjecture. The remaining matters bearing on this will be said in the Annotations, when I shall have added this one thing here: namely, that the St. Donatus of the same name, of whom we treated in volume III of February, on the XVII day of that month, assigned to Concordia in Italy, is not to be confounded with the Saint of today: on which matter the historical sylloge at that day, §1, number 5, may be consulted.
ACTS
From a Forojulian manuscript Breviary.
Donatus, M., at Forum Julii in Italy (St.)
Romulus, M., at Forum Julii in Italy (St.)
Sylvanus, M., at Forum Julii in Italy (St.)
Venustus, M., at Forum Julii in Italy (St.)
Hermogenes, M., at Forum Julii in Italy (St.)
BHL Number: 2309
From a manuscript breviary.
[St. Donatus the deacon, steadfast in the faith, is put to death by the order of Victorianus the governor.] In those days, while the emperors Diocletian and Maximian were reigning, they decreed that with immense persecutions a they should persecute the Christians out of their cities and strongholds, whoever there might be who diligently served Christ, so as to make them turn aside from the faith of Christ. And behold, Victorianus the governor, coming by the command of Diocletian into the parts of Sirmium b to torture the Christians, took his beginning thus from the clergy. Having seized St. Donatus, deacon of the holy church of Singidunum c, … he cast him into prison. But on another day, at the first break of dawn, Victorianus the governor said: "Donatus, who persuaded thee not to worship our gods, as both we and our judges do?" St. Donatus said to him: "Thy gods, deaf and dumb, I do not worship: but I worship my Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the living God, who is the true and almighty God." But Victorianus the governor, being angered, said to him: "Withdraw from this folly." Blessed Donatus said to him: "Thou art the fool, and thy judges." But the governor, hearing these things, kindled with fury, ordered him to be seized, and appointed that he should undergo capital sentence.
[2] [There are added St. Romulus the priest and St. Sylvanus the deacon, together with St. Venustus, the brother of blessed Donatus.] A priest also, Romulus by name, of the church of Sirmium, who together with St. Donatus, deacon and martyr of Christ, was fighting bravely for the constancy of the faith and for the people committed to him, the cruel man advanced by a like sentence having condemned him beforehand to the heavenly palm. Likewise another deacon also, St. Sylvanus by name, of the same church, who renounced the idols and despised the impious commands, he handed over, worn out by various kinds of torments, to a temporal death, that he might live in eternity. But since his cruelty had not been sated in them, he determined to traverse the neighboring cities; and when under the appearance of public necessity he had come to the city of Cibalæ d, concerning which … it is known to be most Christian, it happened … that St. Venustus, own brother of St. Donatus the martyr, was seized by the ministers of that same most impious Victorianus, and he commanded him to be set before his officers: and when he had looked upon him, Victorianus the governor said to him: "Venustus, dost thou remember how I caused thy brother Donatus to have his head cut off? Take counsel … thou … for thyself; come and sacrifice to our gods, whom both we and our princes venerate, lest I command the like to be done to thee." St. Venustus, smiling, said: "My Lord Jesus Christ liveth: for I know not that there are many gods, as thou sayest; but I know one God, living and true, the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, who is both three and one God." Victorianus the governor said to him: "Why more words? Sacrifice." St. Venustus said to him: "I do not sacrifice to thy vain gods, but I sacrifice to God the Father a sacrifice of praise, who reigneth in heaven." Then Victorianus the governor, filled with fury, ordered his ministers to seize him and to lead him outside the city, and there to behead him; and when he had prayed a long while to the Lord, he was beheaded in that same place.
[3] At last St. Hermogenes the lector is seized, And behold, blessed Hermogenes drew near; and when they had recognized him, they led him to the governor: and when he had caused him to be presented to him, the governor said to him: "Tell me, Hermogenes, dost thou too wish to be seduced?" Blessed Hermogenes said to him: "Thou art the one seduced, wretched man." Victorianus said to him: "Perhaps thou too art called a Christian?" Blessed Hermogenes said to him: "I am called a Christian." Victorianus the governor said: "What office of Christ dost thou bear?" St. Hermogenes said: "That of those who are accustomed to read knowledge to the peoples e." The governor said to him: "What commandments dost thou read, or the joys of what salvation dost thou teach?" St. Hermogenes said: "The pious and holy commandments concerning my Lord Jesus Christ, the king of the ages." The governor said: "And what God dost thou adore?" Blessed Hermogenes said: "One true God, who made heaven and earth, the sea and all things that are in them." The governor said to him: "Are our gods then not true gods?" Blessed Hermogenes said to him: "Thy gods are of wood and of stone; nor have they anything divine in themselves, nor can they furnish salvation to thee or to anyone." The governor said to him: "Hermogenes, take counsel for thyself: come and sacrifice to our gods: for I will cause thee to be punished very speedily." St. Hermogenes answered: "I told thee long since: I do not sacrifice to thy vain gods, dumb and deaf." Then the governor, angered, ordered him to be thrust into prison. The guards, seizing him with his hands bound, dragged him to the prison.
[4] And while he was being dragged along, catching sight of an idol, having made the sign of Christ, [and while he is being led to prison the idol and a part of the temple fall down, and a demon takes possession of the governor's daughter:] he threatened the spirit which lay hidden in it: and straightway the greatest part of the temple fell; and behold, the demon going out from it cried out, saying: "What have we to do with thee, man of God? Thou art come before the time to torment us." And it entered into the daughter of the governor, and cried out through her mouth, saying: "Unless the man of God come, whom thou hast cast into prison, I go not out hence." But the governor, hearing these things, ordered him to be brought to him in silence: and when blessed Hermogenes had come to the governor, the governor said to him: "Hermogenes, thou canst make my daughter whole." Blessed Hermogenes said to him: "Not I; but my Lord Jesus Christ: in his name I can make her whole." The governor said to him: "If thou canst, do what thou sayest."
[5] The man of God said to him: "If thou believest in my God Jesus Christ, the Son of the living God, whom St. Hermogenes drives out. who on the third day rose again from the dead, I will do what I have promised." The governor said: "If I now see my daughter whole, I will believe in thy God." St. Hermogenes said: "I know that thou wilt deceive, and wilt not believe; because thy heart is hardened: but for the sake of the people standing by I will make her whole." And he placed his knees upon the ground, and besought the Lord, saying: "Lord God almighty, who art the knower of all things, grant that by thy power the demon may go out of this girl." And saying these things, he raised himself, and laid his hand upon the girl's head, and having made the sign of Christ he said: "I command thee, unclean spirit, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, depart from this girl, and dare not to trouble her further." And straightway it went out from her, and she became as one dead. And she lifted up her voice, praising and glorifying God, who had made her whole.
[6] And her father, seeing that she was blessing the Lord God of heaven, Victorianus, in no way moved by this miracle, with hardened heart said to her: "Daughter, thy gods have made thee whole." The man of God, hearing this, said smiling: "Thy gods are vain, even as thou too art known to have become; and they can furnish nothing to thee nor to others." Victorianus the wicked governor said: "Hermogenes, utter not words so vain and so useless; but come and sacrifice to the gods, who have made my daughter whole." St. Hermogenes said to him: "My Lord God liveth, who made thy daughter whole: for him I adore, and I cease not to sacrifice to him." Victorianus the governor said: "Hermogenes, I grieve for thy comeliness, and unless thou more speedily yield to me, I will command thee to be afflicted with most protracted punishments." After this he ordered him to be seized and shut up again in prison: and not long after, he ordered him again to be set before his tribunal \*. And while he was standing before the tribunal, the governor said to him: "My lords the emperors have commanded that the ceremonies be performed f." St. Hermogenes said to him: "Neither do I obey the commands of the emperors, nor do I yield to thy words." he orders his head to be cut off. Then Victorianus, filled with fury, ordered a bridle to be put into his mouth, and commanded him to be led outside the city and there beheaded. And when he had come to the place of the condemned, he placed his knees upon the ground, and besought the Lord Jesus Christ that he would receive his spirit: and straightway he was beheaded in that same place. But religious men, coming and taking up his body, buried him near the bodies of the holy Martyrs. Now the most blessed men of Christ, Donatus, Venustus, and Hermogenes, suffered on the twelfth day of the Kalends of September, under the reign of the emperors Diocletian and Maximian; our Lord Jesus Christ reigning, to whom be honor and glory, praise and power through the endless ages of ages. Amen.
ANNOTATIONS.
\ sisti*