ON SS. LUXORIUS, CISELLUS, AND CAMERINUS, MARTYRS,
IN SARDINIA,
UNDER DIOCLETIAN.
PRELIMINARY COMMENTARY.
The ancient cultus of these Saints, their Acts, their relics, and the inept announcement of two of them in the Spanish Martyrology.
Luxorius, M., in Sardinia (St.)
Cisellus, M., in Sardinia (St.)
Camerinus, M., in Sardinia (St.)
BY G. C.
The first of these three is thus announced at this day in the Hieronymian Martyrology and in other ancient Calendars: In the ancient Martyrologies In Sardinia, the birthday of the holy Luxurius, Trajanus, Quadratus the bishop, Primus. The most ancient Antwerp transcript of the Hieronymian Martyrology adds to the same St. Luxorius other companions in this manner: In Sardinia, of Luxorius, Angerus, Eulodius. On account of those differing companions of St. Luxorius it might be doubted whether some confusion has not crept into the Hieronymian lists, and whether this whole class of Martyrs belongs to Sardinia. Fiorentini, however, in his notes on the former announcement of this Martyrology, thinks that it could have happened that the companions there attached underwent martyrdom in Sardinia with St. Luxorius. Whatever be the case with this opinion of Fiorentini, which will have to be examined elsewhere, the Appendix to the Martyrology of Ado, on the XXVI day of September, records St. Luxorius without companions thus: In Sardinia, the birthday of St. Luxurius. Certainly the veneration of St. Luxorius in Sardinia must be ancient, since St. Gregory the Great, Pontiff, in a letter to Januarius, prelate of Cagliari, makes mention of a monastery which had been built there under the name of the holy Gavinus and Luxorius, as may be seen in the latest Parisian edition of his Works, volume 2, column 931.
[2] On the XXI day of August, in the Usuardine Auctaria which our Sollier published in the Martyrology of Usuard Illustrated, these Martyrs are celebrated, the three Saints set forth in the title are reported, with their names dislocated, from a Florentine codex thus: In Sardinia, in the city of Cagliari, the passion of the holy martyrs Russor (in the Medicean codex Ruxor, and elsewhere Lusorius is read for Luxorius) Casellus and Camerinus, under the emperors Diocletian and Maximian, Dalasius presiding as governor. The Strozzian codex adds to a similar announcement the following, which it will be useful to remember below: But the head of St. Russor, translated thence, was placed at Florence in the church of All Saints. Hence it is plain that neither is the immemorial cultus of SS. Cisellus and Camerinus to be doubted. There is added the fact that Serafino Esquirro, in the Sanctuary of Cagliari, page 94 and following, adduces several trustworthy witnesses who affirm on oath that they had always seen, and had heard from their elders, that on the XXI day of August the festival of those Martyrs was solemnly celebrated every year in Sardinia. Further, in expressing the names of these three Martyrs we have followed the Roman Martyrology, which today has it thus: In Sardinia, the birthday of the holy martyrs Luxorius, Cisellus, and Camerinus, who in the persecution of Diocletian, under the governor Delphius, were slain with the sword.
[3] The most eminent Baronius notes the following on the preceding announcement of the Roman Martyrology: whose Acts we have, Their Acts Mombritius recites in the second volume of the Lives of the Saints. We have received the same in a purer form from the island of Sardinia. From the name of this Luxorius a monastery was named, concerning which see St. Gregory in the Register, book 7, to Januarius bishop of Cagliari. I do not know what sort of Acts Cardinal Baronius received from Sardinia; but I suspect that these do not differ from the transcript of Antonio Gallonio, with which our Papebroch compared another copy which had been transcribed from a codex of the Vatican library, number 6453. But although those copies here and there differ in style, nevertheless they agree in substance. Further, that Vatican transcript has been so wretchedly dislocated by an unskilled copyist that many sentences are scarcely intelligible. Wherefore after this preliminary Commentary we shall reprint the Acts of these Martyrs from the edition of Mombritius, which nearly agrees with the transcript of Antonio Gallonio, and in which we have corrected one or two manifest errors of the typesetter from the other transcripts. If nevertheless any discrepancy worthy of note should occur in those copies, it will be observed in the margin or in the Annotations.
[4] Ferrari, in the Catalogue of the Saints of Italy on this day, has woven together a sufficiently exact synopsis of the Acts in this manner: which Ferrari has abridged. Luxorius, a Sardinian soldier, in the reign of the emperors Diocletian and Maximian, worshipping Christ, when he had begun to read the sacred Scriptures, having left the military life, began to cultivate the offices of piety. Wherefore, being accused before M. Delasius the governor at Cagliari, and asked by him why he had renounced the service and did not worship the gods, he answered that it was because he had found Christ far more excellent than the gods and the emperors. But when the choice was given him either of venerating the gods or of undergoing death, when he said that he was ready to die for Christ, he was bound with iron chains and thrust into a foul prison. After some days, being brought out, when he would not acquiesce in the governor's counsels, he is most bitterly beaten with scourges, and, the torturers being now wearied, is cruelly battered with cudgels. And while amid the torments he was singing the divine praises, he is led outside the city and beheaded on the XII of the Kalends of September, and is buried by the Christians in that same place where afterwards a church was raised to his name. At the same time suffered Cesellus and Camerinus, boys not yet of age, who, born and reared at Cagliari, and taught the faith of Christ from their tender years, were themselves also accused before Delasius; and although they did not yet know how to answer in fitting words, because they were still children, nevertheless with firm mind they so retained the faith that by no means could they be induced to pay honor to the gods. Wherefore they were committed to prison until Luxorius should be dispatched. He having been sent on to heaven, the governor, having brought out Cesellus and Camerinus, when he perceived that he was persuading them in vain with those threats and blandishments, orders them to be struck with the sword on the same day; whose bodies were buried by the Christians in that place where afterwards a church was built to the blessed Lucifer, bishop of Cagliari.
[5] But the Sardinians will not be pleased with the annotation which Ferrari subjoins there to this compendium of the Acts thus: The Pisans, Their bodies are held at Pisa, having been translated thither at the time when the Saracens laid Sardinia waste, or when the Pisans subdued that island to themselves with a fleet, as seems to others; whose feast day is kept there on the XXVI of this month, as appears from the tables of the church of Pisa. Their bodies are also said to be at Pavia, having been translated thither together with the body of St. Augustine. Certainly at the third milestone from the city of Pisa there is a place overlooking the sea, as Papebroch writes in volume IV of May, page 17, which today takes its name from St. Luxorius the martyr, and is commonly called San Rossore. He is venerated here on the XXI of August with his companions Cesellus and Camerinus, having suffered martyrdom at Cagliari in Sardinia under Diocletian and Maximian; whose sacred remains were carried hither by the Pisans, when they held that island under their own dominion — others thinking otherwise — this is the opinion of some, on the testimony of Ferrari. Now the Pisans held the island, wrested from the Saracens, from the year 1016 until 1322, when they were driven thence by the Aragonese. I here repeat nothing concerning the head of St. Luxorius, which above, in the Strozzian codex, is said to have been placed at Florence.
[6] But the men of Pavia or Ticinum contend that these bodies of the Martyrs were translated to their city much earlier, the men of Pavia, and the Sardinians, claim them for themselves, since Giacomo Gualla, in the Sanctuary of Pavia, book 4, chapter 13, writes thus on this matter concerning Liutprand king of the Lombards: He also places in that sacred building the bodies of the blessed martyrs Luxorius, Cisellus, Camerinus, Robustanus, Marcus, and Appianus the bishop, translated likewise together with the divine father Augustine, in the year of salvation seven hundred and twenty-two. But it lies upon the Pisans no less than upon the men of Pavia to prove their possession by solid documents, since the Sardinians roundly deny it. Among these, Antioco Strada of Cagliari is said to have refuted the opinion of the men of Pavia with many arguments in a book entitled Spongia Sardorum, concerning which we cannot pass judgment, since that Work has never come into our hands. Nay rather, Serafino Esquirro, in book 2 of the Sanctuary of Cagliari, chapter 10 and following, narrates how the sacred bodies of these three Martyrs were found in Sardinia about the year of Christ 1615 in the presence of many witnesses. We do not wish here to examine more severely the various inscriptions which the Sardinians then found carved upon stones, and concerning which our Papebroch on the XX day of May, in the historical Commentary on the Acts of St. Lucifer of Cagliari, disputed at sufficient length. Nor do we dare to pass a certain judgment concerning the sacred relics of those same Martyrs, which the Pisans, the men of Pavia, and the Sardinians claim for themselves; and we leave to each party the free and further defense of its own possession: for it suffices us that those Saints suffered in Sardinia, and there had public veneration from time immemorial.
[7] Since the frauds of Tamayo are now commonly known, and recur on this very day, we had determined merely to indicate them in passing, while certain pseudo-writers had not Cardinal Aguirre, in the Greatest Collection of the Councils of Spain, volume 1, page 322, wished on the occasion of these Martyrs to expose more fully the gross imposture of that Spanish Martyrologist in these words: But in this very place similar fables of the same Higuera and Tamayo occur concerning others who took part in this council, such as Luxurius de Drona and Camerinus, whom they reckon among the Martyrs at the XXI day of August in the Spanish Martyrology, because a commemoration of them is made on the same day in the Roman. But there is no shadow, even the slightest, of a foundation, I do not say for judging, but not even for suspecting, that the Luxurius the priest mentioned in this place is that Luxorius (for so he is named, and not Luxurius) martyr, who is venerated by the universal Church on the XXI day of August. But because those two pseudo-historians read there that Camerinus is joined to Luxorius as a companion of his martyrdom, lest the deceit should be detected, or rather that the deceit might be doubled, they added that Camerinus, bishop of Tucci, who subscribes to this council in the fourth place, is that very Camerinus who was the companion of Luxorius in martyrdom in Sardinia; whereas in fact neither of them was a priest or a bishop, nor is this recorded by Mombritius in the second volume of the Lives of the Saints, or by St. Gregory the Pope in book VII of the Register in the letter to Januarius of Cagliari, whence their commemoration passed into the Roman Martyrology. Nay, the Acts of Mombritius also testify that that Camerinus suffered in Sardinia and was crowned with martyrdom when he was a little boy, so that he did not know how to frame words fitting for the governor. How therefore could he, slain at so tender an age, afterwards have been bishop of Tucci, and at length (which is a new fiction) of Toledo?
[8] fraudulently dragged two of them into Spain. So many fabrications concerning Camerinus are so open and disgraceful that, after he had brought them forward at the XXI day of August, page 529, under the letter I, afterwards, as if struck with scruple, at page 541 he acknowledged that the narratives published under the name of Julian teem with errors in that part; but he would say better that they are nearly everywhere full of fables and disgraceful lies. Further, from these and from very many other things, among other harms, this
evil, I fear, has followed: that in many churches and among many peoples of Spain, deluded by excessive simplicity and credulity, several feasts are celebrated of those Saints who by no title at all belong to them save a fictitious one; nay, even of those who were indeed Spaniards, but were never reckoned by the Church among the Saints. I judge it worthy of that supreme Inquisition of the Spains, and indeed of this holy See, to inquire into all these matters, and to lay upon certain most weighty and most select men the burden of examining with all zeal and candor those six volumes of the Spanish Martyrology, and of cutting away the innumerable like fables with which they teem in a matter so grave and sacred. That most eminent writer brings forward in the same place many things which deserve to be observed, and which it will be useful to remember when a little below we shall illustrate the Acts of SS. Bonosus and Maximianus, Eastern martyrs, whom the same pseudo-writers dragged off into Spain. In the meantime we shall now give the promised Acts of these three Martyrs, and shall compare them with the Vatican transcript.
ACTS
From the Mombritian edition, volume 2, folio LXIII, which we have compared with another manuscript transcript.
Luxorius, M., in Sardinia (St.)
Cisellus, M., in Sardinia (St.)
Camerinus, M., in Sardinia (St.)
BHL Number: 5092
FROM PRINTED SOURCES.
Luxorius, under the reign of Diocletian, In their own times the emperors Diocletian and Maximian were kindled by the devil with such savagery against the Christians that they overthrew the basilicas and burned the books: for they also afflicted with divers punishments many who believed in the faith of Christ, hoping by their cruelty to overcome those whom the Lord by his mercy called forth to the palm of martyrdom. Therefore, when the madness of their idol-sacrificing mind did not suffice to rage against the Christian in the place where they dwelt, they sent judges throughout the whole world with their commands to persecute the Christians, that they might be turned to the worship of their gods a, or be put to death by divers punishments. At the same time they had sent to Sardinia a certain governor, Delphius b, that he might fulfill the same commands in the province committed to him. And when he was searching in divers places to see whether he could find any of the faithful who might consent to him, it happened that Luxorius, a thoroughly pagan officer c, was called to the Lord, and by his inspiration had a mind toward him.
[2] Now he kept a Psalter by him, when he wished to read; reading the Psalms of David and while in reading he was running through the order of the psalms, he came to the eighty-fifth psalm, where David the prophet says: All nations, whatsoever thou hast made, shall come, and shall adore before thee, O Lord, and shall glorify thy name, for thou art great and doest wonderful things; thou alone art God. When this psalm had been thoroughly searched out, the understanding of Luxorius was opened, and he hastened to be a Christian. And when he was signed with the cross of Christ, he was made a catechumen. Then entering the church he heard men singing: Give reward to thy servant; I shall live, and shall keep thy words. Hearing this, he was strengthened in the faith of Christ, rejoicing in mind and praising him. Wherefore he began now to execrate the vain and empty images, and began, at intervals of days, to observe the judge d, and without intermission to devote his mind to the Scriptures. Within a short time he committed to memory the Psalter and some of the prophets.
[3] Having therefore read through in part the divine Scriptures, he searched out the divine law, is converted to the Christian faith; and with all desire received holy baptism. Then he committed to memory the Apostle and the holy Gospels. He became living in spirit; and while he followed the service of the world negligently and acted secretly, he was unwilling to bring the matter forth. When he had come to the innocence \ of Christ, suddenly that adversary and enemy of innocent souls suggested to the governor through his attendants that Luxorius the officer held the power of his judgment in contempt e, and wished to follow that — I know not what — superstition of the Christians. On hearing this, the governor, moved with anger, ordered by other \ officers that Luxorius be presented to him in bonds, that he might have one upon whom to slacken the reins of his malice.
[4] Beholding him, he spoke to him thus: "Luxorius, whom, when the governor of Sardinia could by no means what madness has led thee away from the good course of thy life? I held thee in the highest affection, and had thought to give thee honor among the chief men of my staff; but thou, in contempt of the emperors and to the injury of the gods f, hast thought secretly to withdraw thyself from the power of my judgment." To whom Luxorius said: "If I were still engaged in that error of the idols, I should never have obtained a good honor. But now, through the living God Jesus Christ, I believe that I shall receive a most excellent honor." To whom the governor said: "Is he then better whom thou namest, than our emperors, or the immortal gods?" Luxorius said: "Those emperors are earthly; my Lord Jesus Christ is a heavenly king, who suffered and died, and rose again, and now lives, and abides forever; but your gods never lived g." The governor said: "If thou wouldst escape the power of my sword, sacrifice to the gods." And Luxorius said: "I have learned to sacrifice the sacrifice of justice, that is, to pray to the Lord Jesus Christ, and not to comply with vain demons; since they who consent to these shall perish with them forever." The governor said: "Let Luxorius be brought back to prison, bound with the heaviest fetters of chains, and let him consider with himself what is expedient for him."
[5] call him away from that profession, And when he had been shut up, there were brought before him two little boys, Cissillus and Camerinus, neophytes. Then the governor asked those who had brought them what they had learned about them. And they said: "We have heard that they are Christians." And because their age was not fit for giving answer to interrogation, he ordered them to be under the guard of his staff. After some days he ordered Luxorius to be presented at his tribunal. And when he was present, he said to him thus with savage voice: "How long, Luxorius, wilt thou mangle thyself in these torments? Take counsel for thy safety. Deny thy God, and sacrifice to the gods." Luxorius answered: "I cannot deny my God Jesus Christ, whom a Christian soul confesses, as I also do." The governor said: "Adore the power of the gods, that life may be granted thee." Luxorius said: "How can I venerate and adore figures of stone or gold or silver, which cannot move their eyelids to look upon me, nor are able to open their mouth to speak to me?"
[6] together with two Christian boys The governor, moved to anger by these words, ordered St. Luxorius to be scourged by four groups of four h. But the servant of God stood secure in Christ amid the blows, so that one might say that another than himself was being continually beaten. Then he ordered him to be battered with cudgels. And the Elect of God, strong and steadfast amid the strokes of the cudgels, sang praises to the Lord, so that you would understand that no torment touched his body. But when the most wicked governor saw that St. Luxorius could not be made to fail by the most savage punishments, but rather that his own impatience was being overcome by the other's patience, he pronounced sentence on the twelfth of the Kalends of September upon those little boys Cissillus and Camerinus and upon St. Luxorius. The little boys, however, he ordered to be executed by the sword outside the city of Cagliari, and their bodies to be left unburied i. Whose bodies that impious man reckoned should be cast out; but the Lord Jesus Christ received unto himself the precious faith of their innocence: for the Christians took them up by night, and buried them where now is the see of St. Lucifer the confessor.
[7] he ordered to be slain with the sword. But St. Luxorius he ordered to be beheaded in some hidden and deserted place, that the Christians might not gather him up and make him a martyr for themselves. Accordingly they led him into the territory of Forum Trajani k, and beheaded him outside the town. And whereas those most wicked men supposed that they could destroy St. Luxorius in the wilderness, Christ for his own name's sake showed him paradise in that very place: for so great a multitude of Christians gathered there from divers places at the fame of this Martyr that no one could number it l. Him they buried with hymns and divers lights, embalmed with sweet spices, outside the town in a crypt; whose Passion, if any hold in faith as is needful, and shall have invoked him, they shall obtain salutary benefits, giving thanks to Jesus Christ our Lord, who crowned unto himself so worthy a Martyr, whose is the honor and glory unto the ages of ages. Amen.
ANNOTATIONS.
\ al. militiam*
\ al. suis*