ON ST. PATERNUS, MARTYR,
AT FONDI IN LATIUM,
UNDER DECIUS.
HISTORICAL SYLLOGE.
Notice and cultus of this Saint from the Roman Martyrology, from Ferdinando Ughelli, and from manuscript Acts.
Paternus, M., at Fondi in Latium (St.)
BHL Number: 6478
BY G. C.
Today the Roman Martyrology celebrates the memory of this Martyr thus: In the Roman Martyrology, At Fondi in Latium, St. Paternus the martyr, who, coming from Alexandria to Rome to the memorials of the Apostles, and thence withdrawing into the territory of Fondi, was seized by a tribune while he was burying the bodies of the martyrs, and expired in chains. Ughelli, in the latest Venetian edition of Italia sacra, volume 1, column 719, testifies that at Fondi in Latium his feast is kept every year on the XXI day of August, and briefly indicates this concerning his deeds: At Fondi the Egyptian St. Paternus was crowned with martyrdom: for when he was making his appointed journey to the thresholds of the Apostles, and had turned aside to Fondi, and there, under the compulsion of piety, was diligently committing to burial the unburied bodies of the martyrs, being at length arraigned before the judge for the Christian religion, he who had been the caretaker of martyrs was himself made a martyr, that he might carry off the most ample reward of his pious and exhausting labor. In the church of Fondi the vigil day of that Martyr recurs on the XXI day of the month of August.
[2] That exceedingly few documents concerning this holy Martyr survive, and this Saint is mentioned by a few other writers, Antonio Caracciolo sufficiently declares when he writes thus in his Sacred Monuments of the Church of Naples, chapter 2, section 2: Likewise in the Roman Martyrology, on the XXI day of August, concerning Paternus the martyr this only is read: that he came from Alexandria in Egypt into Italy and Campania, and cared for the burial of the martyrs slain for Christ in the territory of Fondi. But a manuscript codex of the church of Fondi, from which some extracts were lately sent to me at the command of the most illustrious bishop Belmosto, sets these matters forth somewhat more fully, and relates that under the emperors Decius and Valerian two thousand five hundred and ninety-seven Christians were slain throughout those places. But in what year, under what governor, or by what kind of death they were put to death, there are no monuments at hand to relate. And yet, both in merit and in number, these are such men that a sure and distinct memory and knowledge of them ought to survive at Fondi. Alas, how many things does time reap with its cruel scythe!
[3] this Saint is commemorated, What is here said of the two thousand five hundred and ninety-seven martyrs, and will be repeated in the Acts to be given below, is probably taken from the Acts of St. Magnus, martyr in Cappadocia, or of Andrew the Duke, slain by Antiochus together with many others in the defiles of Mount Taurus, which have been confused with the Acts of St. Magnus, bishop of Trani, as we proved at length on the XIX day of this month. Further, as regards the time in which St. Paternus obtained the laurel of martyrdom, we have attached it to the reign of Decius, since he died three days after St. Magnus, prelate of Trani, and we have placed the latter under Decius. Since nevertheless in the Acts presently to be published it is said that the fame of St. Paternus and of St. Magnus reached the ears of Decius and Valerian, and the latter is handed down to have suffered under Decius, I shall not greatly object if anyone should place one or the other, or both Martyrs, under Decius or Valerian, for the reasons which we shall allege more fully in the historical Commentary on St. Cyriaca the widow on this very day.
[4] whose Acts, from a Fondi manuscript, Now it only remains that we report the Acts of St. Paternus, such as they are, from a manuscript codex of the church of Fondi, a transcript of which our Papebroch once received from the collection of Antonio Caracciolo; which runs thus: The divine Paternus was born of Alexandrian stock. Passing over many things which, with God's help, he did in his boyhood and in his native land, having left Alexandria his native place he betook himself to Italy, to visit the tombs of the Apostles. First he came into Campania, and long tarried in a villa which is called Fregellanus, otherwise Ceperanus, which is situated near the streams of the river Cornillus, and there he built a church in honor of St. Peter the prince of the Apostles. When these things were done, as it pleased the Lord, he came to the city of Fondi, and not far from the city he found a spring in the Demetrian field, near which he found caves, and in the same place he dedicated a church to the Virgin Mother of God. And when he was sorrowful because no priest assisted him, he besought the Lord, and in a dream an angel of the Lord appeared to him saying: "Paternus, servant of God, the Lord hath heard thee, for he will send thee a faithful priest."
[5] Roused from sleep, glad at the angelic apparition and kindled with divine favor, we here set forth, he gathered together many men fearing God, who were leading a Christian life in those places. When therefore some days had passed, while the feast of the blessed Virgin was being solemnly celebrated by them, before the door of the aforesaid church there appeared the blessed Magnus, bishop of Trani, driven out from his own church, as appears more fully set down in the Legend of his Life; and being recognized by the blessed Paternus he cried out: "Art thou he whom the Lord hath sent as priest?" To whom answering he said: "Most certainly I am he." But because it would be long to recount everything, many things are omitted, and besides these the miracles which the Lord displayed through the intercession both of St. Paternus and of St. Magnus.
[6] When these things were done, the report came to the ears of Decius and Valerian, and, guards and officers being dispatched, Magnus and two thousand five hundred and ninety-seven Christians gathered together to the honor of God were slain by them, and of martyrdom
they obtained the crown on the XIX day of the month of August, although they are excerpted from the Acts of St. Magnus, on which the festival of St. Magnus is celebrated. Wherefore that valley was made illustrious, drenched with the blood of the Saints and filled with the bodies of the Saints. But the divine Paternus, seized with fear, fled to a hidden mountain; and on the third day, coming down from the mountain to bury the bodies of St. Magnus and of the others, he saw the lifeless body of blessed Magnus, and found the head severed from the body; and when the bodies of the Saints had been buried, as he was returning to his own place, he was taken by the aforesaid officers and was being compelled to sacrifice to demons.
[7] and they do not appear to have great authority. But when the silence of night came on, and the guards were overcome with sleep, the divine Magnus was present, saying: "Paternus, come, and let us feast together, for we have been separated in body for three days." At that same hour he expired in chains on the twelfth of the Kalends of September, whose body is now laid up beneath the high altar of the cathedral church together with the body of the most holy abbot Libertinus. Likewise in a certain Addition to the Italia sacra of the latest Venetian edition, volume 1, column 720, we read the following: In the cathedral rest the bodies of the holy Paternus the martyr, Libertinus the abbot, and St. Maurus the martyr, and other notable relics. Our predecessors would have placed St. Libertinus the abbot in our Work on the XIII day of January, if notice of this holy abbot had been furnished to them in good time. Since that notice afterwards came to us, and is preserved in our cabinets under the said XIII day of January, it will be able to find a place in the supplement of the first two months. But who that Maurus the martyr may be among so many of the same name, and on what day he is venerated, let the men of Fondi not think it burdensome to inform us. For the rest, these briefer Acts of St. Paternus will receive some light from the Acts of St. Magnus, which we have illustrated as best we could on the XIX day of this month, although neither of them appears to bear the marks of great antiquity.