ON SS. PTOLEMY AND ROMANUS,
BISHOPS AND MARTYRS IN TUSCANY,
First Century.
PRELIMINARY COMMENTARY.
Ptolemy, bishop and martyr, in Tuscany (St.)
Romanus, bishop and martyr, in Tuscany (St.)
BY G. C.
§ I. The lawful veneration of these Saints, the seat of their see, and the various Acts of their martyrdom.
These two holy Martyrs, as the first teachers of their ancestors and the fearless preachers of the Christian faith, Although these two Martyrs are venerated to this very day by the citizens of Nepi, concerning whose city Ughelli, in the Italia Sacra of the latest Venetian edition, volume 1, column [ ], writes thus: In the plain that opens out between Rome and Viterbo there rises Nepi, a most ancient city of Etruria, which Festus affirms to have been so named from the emblem of the scorpion, which its citizens used to display in order to be distinguished in war. But its appellation varies among writers: for in the Itinerary it is both Nepis and Nepet; in Pliny it is Neps; while Strabo would have it called Nepisa. Then, after other names of this ancient city, and its varying fortune and present condition — all of which have little bearing upon our matter — he mentions its first conversion to the Christian faith thus: As it is not far from Rome, so it was among the first cities to drink in the light of the Gospel, through the preaching of St. Ptolemy of Antioch, the disciple of St. Peter the Apostle, whom he had brought with him to Rome. Among the rest he converted to Christ Romanus, a philosopher of Nepi, and washed him in the sacred font; and when in the year XLVI he had ordained Ptolemy bishop of Panthepolis,\ a city neighboring on Nepi, and Romanus bishop of Nepi itself, he was seen to have laid the foundations of a great increase of the faith: for both of them, by the mighty miracles they wrought, blotted out very nearly all idolatry.* Finally Ughelli in the same place adds other things concerning these two Martyrs, which will afterward be set forth more distinctly and more accurately.
[2] are unknown to the ancient Martyrologists Certainly we wonder that men of such sanctity were not entered in the ancient ecclesiastical Calendars nor in the earlier editions of the present Roman Martyrology. The most eminent Baronius, in his Ecclesiastical Annals at the year of Christ 69, number 44, indicates the martyrdom of both these Prelates in these words: But not far from the City, in Tuscany, there suffered at the same time Ptolemy the bishop, sent thither by St. Peter to preach the Gospel, and likewise Romanus, bishop of Nepi, and thirty Christians converted to the faith by Ptolemy; and as for the Acts having it that they underwent martyrdom under Claudius, this is to be understood of Nero Claudius, according to what has been said above concerning Claudius. Moreover Baronius, on the XIX of October in his Notes on the Roman Martyrology, on occasion of another Ptolemy the martyr, thus admonishes the reader concerning our present St. Ptolemy: There was also another Ptolemy, a disciple of St. Peter, and likewise a martyr, who, being ordained bishop by the same Peter, was sent into Tuscany to preach the Gospel; and indeed he was crowned with martyrdom on the IX Kalends of September, as his Acts declare, which we received from the church of Nepi, and with which not a few authors agree.
[3] nevertheless by the concession of the Apostolic See Yet that most learned Cardinal, who among others bestowed distinguished labor upon the correction and enlargement of the Roman Martyrology, always omitted these two Martyrs from it (for what cause, we do not know), since in the year of Christ 1672, after the proper Lessons of the church of Nepi had been granted, we first read the following decree of the sacred Congregation: Whereas the sacred Congregation of Rites, held on the XIV of May, upon the petitions of the clergy and people of the city and diocese of Nepi laid before it by the most eminent and most reverend lord Cardinal Spinola, bishop of the same city, has judged that the feast of Saints Ptolemy and Romanus may be inserted in the Roman Martyrology, and also that their festival, which falls upon the XXIV day of August, may be celebrated in the aforesaid city and diocese of Nepi, with an Office and proper Lessons to be approved by the most eminent lord Cardinal Bona; the same sacred Congregation has granted that the above-mentioned Lessons and proper prayers, approved by the same most eminent Bona, may lawfully be recited and printed. This XIV day of May, 1672. Below was subscribed: Francis, bishop of Porto, Cardinal Brancaccio.
[4] Now to these proper Lessons, of which we shall afterward make mention, they are honored in the city of Nepi, there is prefixed the following prayer: O God, who hast caused us to come to the light of the true faith by the preaching of thy holy martyrs and pontiffs Ptolemy and Romanus, grant, we beseech thee, that by their intercession we may cast off the works of darkness and obtain the rewards promised to the faithful. Through our Lord, etc. Hence also in various editions of the Roman Martyrology which followed upon that concession, these two holy Martyrs are commemorated in this twofold announcement: At Nepi, St. Ptolemy the bishop, disciple of blessed Peter the Apostle, by whom he was sent into Tuscany to preach the Gospel, and in that same city he fell asleep, a glorious martyr of Christ. In the same place, St. Romanus, bishop of the same city, who, being the disciple of St. Ptolemy, was also his companion in his passion. From what has now been related, the lawful cult of both these Saints is abundantly established; which nevertheless we shall confirm more fully in the following paragraph.
[5] Since St. Ptolemy is called a bishop both in the Roman Martyrology and both are called bishops, and in the proper Lessons to be given below, it is debated among the learned over what church he presided. The most eminent Baronius, in his Ecclesiastical Annals at the year of Christ 46, number 2, makes Ptolemy bishop of Nepi. But Philip Ferrari, in his Catalogue of the Saints of Italy at the XXIV of August, weaving together a summary of the Acts, contradicts this opinion thus: Both were afterward ordained bishops by the Apostle: Ptolemy indeed of Pentapolis in Tuscany (which city was neighboring upon Nepi and Sutri), but Romanus of Nepi. Then, more plainly in the same place, in an Annotation he refutes the judgment of Baronius in these words: Baronius makes mention of Ptolemy in his annotations on the Martyrology at the XIX day of October, and in the Ecclesiastical Annals at the year of the Lord XLVI, where, in recounting the first bishops of Italy and Gaul, he records Ptolemy as the first bishop of Nepi; who nevertheless was bishop not of Nepi but of Pentapolis, as his Acts have it. But that episcopal city of Tuscany which Ferrari devises, and makes neighbor to Nepi, is unknown to all antiquity: for no memory of it is found either in the sacred or in the profane monuments of the ancients. And Ferrari wrongly digs it out of the Acts, which do not deserve great credit, as will appear from what is to be said below.
[6] one of whom, the writers disagreeing among themselves, Nicholas Nardini, in an Italian tract on the see of Nepi, endeavors to settle this dispute, and therefore in chapter 2 contends that Pentapolis is not distinct from the city of Nepi, and there rejects the opinion of Ferrari, who in his Geographical Lexicon, after enumerating the Pentapoleis of other regions, writes thus of the Pentapolis of Tuscany: There was also Pentapolis, an episcopal city of Etruria, very near to Nepi and Sutri, now destroyed; the place near Mount Rosulus is called Straccia Cappe. Then Nardini there shows by various examples that this name of Pentapolis was in different regions given to a group of five neighboring cities — which we readily admit, and which is plain from the etymology of the Greek name. Nevertheless he clings tenaciously to his former opinion, and strives to prove from the Acts of these Martyrs that the city of Nepi itself was by antonomasia named Pentapolis, because among those five cities it was the chief, and as it were the metropolis of the rest. But since Nardini saw that it followed from this that St. Ptolemy and St. Romanus were prelates in the city of Nepi at the same time, in chapter 4 and the following he endeavors to show at length that in ancient times two bishops often presided over one city. It seems that this opinion was suggested to Nardini by the Reverend Father Hyacinth de Nobili, a Dominican, who in his Italian history of these Martyrs, printed at Viterbo in the year 1620, page 10, recounts by name five cities of Tuscany, and imposes upon this district the name of Pentapolis, which he afterward attributes by antonomasia to the city of Nepi as their head.
[7] seems to have governed the church of Nepi, Giulio Ambrogio Lucenti, Cistercian abbot, in Ughelli's Italia Sacra, which he abridged and corrected, in the Roman edition of the year 1704, volume 1, column [ ], reports this judgment of both Italian writers in these words: Nepi, a city situated between Viterbo and Rome upon a plain and fertile soil, was anciently numbered among the twelve chief colonies of the Romans, whose municipium also it was. Having experienced with the Roman Empire either fortune, it passed under the dominion of the holy Roman Church. It received the Catholic faith long ago, through the preaching of St. Ptolemy, the disciple of the prince of the Apostles, who, when among the other men of Nepi he had converted Romanus the philosopher, both were consecrated bishops: Ptolemy being bidden to preside in sacred things over the whole Nepesine Pentapolis, and Romanus over Nepi itself, as Ptolemy's suffragan. Thus far these things seem probable enough, and can be explained in favor of our opinion.
[8] and the other was a regionary bishop in Tuscany. But we are by no means pleased with what Lucenti subjoins in the same place, column [ ]: That Ptolemy held the prelacy of the Nepesine Pentapolis, and that Nepi itself, as the head of that region, took to itself the name of Pentapolis, the aforesaid Nardini proves at length; and that he, together with Romanus, according to the custom of that age, declared the divine law to the people of Nepi close at hand, is gathered from worthy monuments. But what, pray, are those monuments older than these Acts? Certainly the city of Nepi, of which several ancient writers have made mention, is never by them called Pentapolis, so that this name seems first to have been devised by the author of the Acts, whose age we do not know, and whose credit we do not greatly esteem, as we shall repeat below. We therefore think it more probable that St. Ptolemy was an apostolic or regionary bishop, attached to no fixed see, who bore especially the spiritual care of those five cities. Perhaps this holy regionary Prelate, as the multitude of Christians increased, took care that St. Romanus should be set in particular charge over the people of Nepi. This conjecture we offer for want of more certain information, and in so great a silence of all antiquity we judge it not improbable. It now remains to say something concerning the Acts and their various copies.
[9] One transcript of the Acts, which we received long ago, Various copies of the Acts are reviewed, was found among other ancient writings of Theodore Salomoni, public notary in the city of Nepi, as is noted in the margin, and it begins in this manner: All things being accomplished and fulfilled which had been foretold concerning the only Son of God our Lord Jesus Christ, after his timely death and his saving resurrection and ascension into the heavens to the right hand of the Father — the fruits and works whereof were and are daily so much the more abundant, that little by little almost the whole world was being brought to the Christian religion — the feigned deeds of Lucifer and his followers, and the worship of idols, were daily perishing. So great a multitude of Christians, "so that little by little almost the whole world was being brought to the Christian religion," does not fit very aptly with the beginnings of the newborn Church and with the times of SS. Ptolemy and Romanus. Nor is any greater credit owed to this author when he afterward calls St. Ptolemy archbishop of Antioch. There are other things too which at once offend anyone even slightly versed in history; and the very epilogue of the Acts indicates that their unskilled compiler lived in a later age.
[10] To the second copy of the Acts, which is divided into nine lengthy Lessons, transmitted to us long ago, this title is prefixed: A luminous Passion of the same holy Martyrs, gathered concisely into one from pieces scattered here and there and mutilated, by me, Victorius of Nepi. We do not know at what time he lived, or who that Victorius of Nepi was, who thus begins his prologue: You compel me to undertake a heavy labor, dearest adelphi \, by commanding such things — that I should recount to you the praises of the virtues of the holy Martyrs Ptolemy and Romanus, and, with tears already welling up abundantly, narrate their passion and that of their companions, worthy to be remembered.* Then Victorius so adorns these Acts with dialogues and disputations that they bear no mark of sincerity, and scarcely differ from the former ones, if you except one or another gross error. Here we say nothing of the Acts printed in Italian, which have been gathered from these two Latin copies.
[11] Finally a third copy of the Acts came into our hands from a manuscript codex of the cathedral church of Sutri, which agree with one another almost in the substance of the matter, and it is the shortest of all, from which the two preceding compilers seem to have drawn and amplified their Legend. We shall print it after this Commentary, because it is briefer than the rest, even though on that account we do not attribute great authority to it. Moreover the substance of this threefold copy is almost the same: for everywhere Claudius Cæsar, Aspasius the Count, and Pavo his counsellor are brought upon the stage. The most eminent Baronius, in his Ecclesiastical Annals at the year 69, number 44, relates the martyrdom of SS. Ptolemy and Romanus, and by Claudius Cæsar he understands Nero Claudius, as we noted above. But Ughelli, in volume 1 of the Italia Sacra, column [ ], following Hyacinth de Nobili, page 29, and Nicholas Nardini, chapter 1, fixed the death of the same Martyrs in the year of Christ 51, and consequently placed their martyrdom under Tiberius Claudius, the predecessor of Nero. Many difficulties could be opposed to either of these opinions. But since in this chronological darkness, so remote from our own age, no clear light is to be hoped for either from the authority of the Acts or from the reasoning of recent writers, we have cautiously assigned that martyrdom, in the margin above, to the first century.
[12] and of which we give a summary from the proper Lessons, It will now be worth while to transcribe here a compendium of the Acts, so that, before the Acts to be subjoined to this Commentary, we may see what the sacred Congregation of Rites admitted of them when in the year of Christ 1672 it granted to the diocese of Nepi three proper Lessons to be recited, which run thus: LESSON IV. Ptolemy the bishop, an Antiochene by birth, a disciple of St. Peter, brought by him to Rome, baptized a citizen of Nepi and philosopher, Romanus by name, converted to the faith of Christ; whom afterward the same Apostle ordained bishop of Nepi, and sent, together with Ptolemy, to preach the Gospel in that city and the neighboring places. Both laboring strenuously in this office, and bringing many to Christ, they were seized by Aspasius the Count, prefect of that region, together with thirty other Christians, under the emperor Claudius, and were worn down by a long imprisonment. LESSON V. But Aspasius, perceiving that the servants of God could by no means be moved from their purpose of the Christian religion, either by threats or by blandishments, commanded that they be cruelly beaten with rods, hung upon the rack, torn with hooks, and at last cast into a burning pyre. But as they recited the verse of the psalm WE HAVE PASSED THROUGH FIRE AND WATER, the fire was suddenly extinguished; and being led out of it, they broke forth still more ardently into the praises of God. And when the prefect ascribed this to magic arts, they were led outside Nepi and underwent a glorious martyrdom by the striking off of their heads. LESSON VI. Their bodies were embalmed with spices by Savinilla, a devout woman, and were buried in a crypt near the walls of the city; in which place, a church being built above, they rested for nearly fifteen hundred years, until they were found in the pontificate of Paul III, their wounds moist with fresh blood. Moved by this prodigy, the Pontiff ordered a more magnificent church to be built within Nepi, to which afterward, by the authority of Paul V, the body of Ptolemy was translated, and is honored with the greatest concourse of the faithful; while Romanus, placed beneath the high altar of the cathedral church, is honored with equal veneration and resort.
[13] on which we make some remarks. We observe in passing that in these three Lessons no mention is made of an episcopal city of Tuscany named Pentapolis, over which Ferrari affirms that St. Ptolemy presided as bishop. Moreover it is here expressly said that the holy Apostle Peter ordained St. Romanus bishop of Nepi, whereas no determined see is assigned to St. Ptolemy; but it is only asserted that he preached the Gospel there and in the neighboring places. Hence in these Lessons nothing occurs that is contrary to our conjecture, from which we above surmised that St. Ptolemy was a regionary bishop, and had especially the care of the Christian faith in the five cities of Tuscany, and in this sense could be called prelate of the Pentapolis. In these Lessons also there is no word of Pavo, the counsellor of Aspasius the Count, who was slain by an angel; nor of the earthquake which Count Aspasius escaped by the help of his servants; nor of the executioners suddenly converted to the Christian faith — even though all these prodigies are expressly narrated in the shorter Acts themselves, which are to be published after this preliminary Commentary. For the rest, in the last Lesson the posthumous glory of SS. Ptolemy and Romanus is indicated, which in the following paragraph we shall endeavor to illustrate from authentic instruments.
ANNOTATIONS\* read Pentapolis. \* that is, brethren.
§ II. The posthumous glory of these holy Martyrs, proved from authentic instruments.
These Martyrs enjoy an immemorial cult, The above-praised abbot Lucenti, in Ughelli's Italia Sacra abridged, volume 1, column [ ], sets forth the burial and translation of these two prelates, after first relating their martyrdom, in these few words: The bodies of the Martyrs were laid by Savinilla, a noble matron, in a cave, until the piety of the faithful raised a church to their name, where for a thousand years (others add five hundred, as will appear from what follows) they reposed. At length Pier Luigi Farnese, lord of Nepi, while he was overturning that ancient church and strengthening the city itself with new fortifications, the bodies of the holy Martyrs appeared still moist with crimson blood, Paul III himself beholding the wonderful spectacle with his own eyes. The sacred pledges were thereafter received into a new sacred edifice within the city in the year 1606, on the XXIV day of August, which they cherish as their chief patrons. The body of St. Romanus already rests beneath the high altar of the cathedral church, as we have reported above in the proper Lessons.
[15] Before that finding of the sacred bodies and their solemn translation, the memory of St. Ptolemy was celebrated, as is plain from the Papal bull, as is evident from the Bull of Pope Sixtus IV, which in our manuscript copies from Nepi runs thus: Sixtus, bishop, servant of the servants of God, to all the faithful of Christ who shall inspect these present letters, health and Apostolic benediction. Although he, of whose bounty it comes that he should be worthily and laudably served by his faithful, out of the abundance of his loving-kindness, which exceeds the merits and the prayers of suppliants, repays to those who serve him well far more than they can deserve; nevertheless, desiring to render the people acceptable to the Lord and a follower of good works, we invite the faithful themselves to please him, as it were by certain alluring gifts, that is to say by indulgences and remissions, that thereby they may be rendered the more fit for divine grace.
[16] Desiring therefore that the greater church of Nepi and that of St. George, and that in which the body of St. Ptolemy rests — the church, namely, of St. Ptolemy himself outside the walls of Nepi — toward which, as we have learned, our venerable brother Roderick, bishop of Porto, vice-chancellor of the Holy Roman Church, bears a great affection of devotion, which Sixtus IV issued in the year 1479. may be frequented with fitting honors and supported with ecclesiastical ornaments, and that the faithful of Christ may the more willingly flock to them for devotion's sake and the more readily stretch out helping hands to the support of such ornaments, seeing that thereby they perceive themselves the more abundantly filled with the gift of heavenly grace: trusting in the mercy of Almighty God and in the authority of his blessed Apostles Peter and Paul, to all who are truly penitent and confessed, who on the festivals of St. Romanus and St. Jerome in the greater church, and of St. George himself and of St. John the Apostle and evangelist in the said church of St. George, and likewise on the festivals of St. Ptolemy himself and of the Epiphany, shall devoutly visit the aforesaid churches yearly from first vespers to second vespers of each of these festivals, and shall stretch out helping hands to such support, we mercifully relax in the Lord twelve years and as many quarantines of the penances enjoined upon them, for each of the said festivals, these presents to be valid for perpetual times to come. But we will that if at other times any other indulgences have been granted in perpetuity to those visiting the aforesaid greater church and the churches of St. George and of St. Ptolemy, or for the support
of such ornaments, or to those bestowing other pious alms there, or if any other indulgence, to last in perpetuity or for a certain time not yet elapsed, has been granted by us to the same greater church and to the churches of St. George and St. Ptolemy, this relaxation and these present letters shall be of no force or moment. Given at Rome at St. Peter's, in the year of the Lord's Incarnation 1479, on the fifteenth Kalends of August, in the eighth year of our Pontificate.
[17] It is related from a public instrument of a Notary, This veneration of the holy Martyrs grew not a little when in the year 1540 their sacred bodies were found, as is narrated in the juridical instrument of a public notary which we long ago received from the city of Nepi, and which we here faithfully transcribe: In the name of the Lord, Amen. By this present public instrument of extraction let it be evidently plain and known to all everywhere, that in the year from the saving Nativity of the same our Lord Jesus Christ one thousand six hundred and ninety-one, in the fourteenth Indiction, on the thirtieth day of July, in the first year of the Pontificate of the most holy father in the same Christ and our lord, the lord Innocent, by divine providence Pope, the twelfth of that name, I, the undersigned public notary, extracted from a certain book entitled Of the Roman Province of the Order of Preachers, composed by the Reverend Father Friar Vincenzo Maria Fontana, master of sacred theology, and delivered to me the notary by the Reverend Father Friar Jacopo Salvati, Vicar of the Convent of St. Ptolemy at Nepi, for the making of the said extract; in which book, at folio 215, title XXXIII, is contained the finding of the bodies of the holy Martyrs Ptolemy and Romanus and of thirty-eight companions, and likewise the translation of the bodies of those holy Martyrs from the catacomb or crypt of Savinilla in the old church of St. Ptolemy outside the city, to the church within the city formerly called St. Andrew's and afterward St. Ptolemy's; of the following tenor, namely:
[18] how the bodies of those Martyrs "Title XXXIII, folio 215, of the Convent of St. Ptolemy at Nepi. The bodies of the holy martyrs and bishops Ptolemy and Romanus, and also of thirty-eight others, who under the emperor Claudius, in the year LI from the birth of the Savior, having completed a glorious contest, ascended victorious into heaven, were laid away in a crypt outside the walls of the city of Nepi by Savinilla, a holy woman; where, when tranquillity had been granted to the Church, a church was afterward built by the faithful in honor of the same Martyrs. But when after many centuries that church had fallen into ruin, by the pious care of the people of Nepi the crypt in which the precious bodies had been laid was shut up with a strong wall, lest they should be found, and a small church was fitted up out of the ancient one in the same place; which, on the XXIX of May in the year 1533, the lord Jacopo Bongallo, bishop of the same city, and the Canons of the cathedral church, to whose care it had been committed, gave to our Order, by a public instrument drawn up through the Acts of Pietro Paolo de' Galeotti, Friar Lazarus Scassa of Viterbo stipulating and accepting it for the Roman province by mandate of the Master General John of Finario."
[19] "In the reign of Paul III, Pontiff supreme, when Pier Luigi Farnese, duke of Nepi, had determined to fortify that city with a citadel, he willed that the church, with the house adjoining it inhabited by our Friars, should be pulled down in the year 1540, were found in the year of Christ 1540, and granted us a more suitable place within the walls for the building of another monastery with a church. In the overturning, then, of the foundations of the ancient church, the wall by which the crypt of the holy Martyrs had been closed up fell down, and the sacred pledges appeared, among which there stood out a sepulchre of marble with an inscription, wherein lay buried the body of St. Ptolemy, whole and incorrupt, sprinkled with fresh blood after about fifteen hundred years since the accomplishing of his contest — all men being astonished and giving thanks to God, who is ever wonderful in his Saints. The matter being reported to the Supreme Pontiff, there was great joy in the Roman curia, from which many flocked, with the Pontiff himself, to visit the sacred bodies. Moreover, that a new church might be built for the holy Martyrs, in which their bodies might be honored with a more seemly tomb, the same Pope Paul bestowed many and singular indulgences upon those who stretched out helping hands for its building, an Apostolic Brief being promulgated."
[20] We have in another instrument this Bull of Pope Paul III entire, as Pope Paul III testifies, which is very lengthy. Wherefore, after the example of the Reverend Father Vincenzo Maria Fontana, we give from it only the following fragment: Paul, bishop, servant of the servants of God, to all the faithful of Christ who shall inspect these present letters, health and Apostolic benediction… Whereas therefore, as we have learned, lately, while digging was going on near and outside the walls of the city of Nepi, by the will of the Most High there were found the bodies of forty holy martyrs, among which was the body of blessed Ptolemy, bishop of Nepi, who while he lived among men was a disciple of the blessed Apostle Peter, and who under a certain tyrant of the Christian faith, the emperor Claudius, carried off the palm of martyrdom; and, what seems wonderful to tell, though a thousand and five hundred years or thereabouts have flowed by since their martyrdom, the wounds and the blood in the limbs of some of these same Saints appeared moist at their finding, which are no slight tokens of their sanctity, etc. Given at Rome at St. Peter's, in the year of the Lord's Incarnation one thousand five hundred and forty-two, on the sixth Ides of January, in the ninth year of our Pontificate.
[21] Then the aforesaid Father Fontana thus continues his narration: and afterward from the church of St. Andrew, There was present also at the finding of the sacred bodies Friar Master Thomas de' Strozzi of Florence, of our Order, who in his printed Confessional adds this concerning them: "But lately in the Convent \* of Nepi were found the bodies of so great a Martyr and of his companions, which even now bear both wounds and traces of gore, so that it is not only wonderful to behold, considering so great a lapse of time, but also delightful to think upon… Turning these things over in his mind, our most holy lord Pope Paul III, when he had also beheld with his own faithful eyes what we have narrated — the prodigies of such and so wondrous relics — determined, not without the Spirit of God, as we must piously believe, that a church should be built to the glory of God and of his glorious Martyrs, etc." From which it appears that the same Pontiff went to the place of the Martyrs; after which visit the bodies were closed up in chests, and thereafter not opened. In the demolition of the aforesaid church and of the house in which our Friars dwelt, they received from the bishop the church of St. Andrew, with its adjoining dwelling within the city, to inhabit, until the Convent and church should be built on the site granted us by Duke Farnese — which was not accomplished until after many years. To this church, then, was carried the body of St. Ptolemy the bishop, in the same marble tomb in which it had been laid from the beginning, together with the bodies of the other thirty-nine martyrs, closed up in seven wooden chests; where they remained until the year 1606, in which our Friars passed over to the new Convent.
[22] where they had rested for some years, In the year 1569 Friar Camillo Campeggi, bishop of Nepi and Sutri (the sees of Nepi and Sutri were united by Pope Eugenius IV, an authentic testimony of which union may be read in the Italia Sacra of the latest Venetian edition, column [ ] and following), of our Order, being moved by a singular devotion toward these holy Martyrs and desiring to venerate their sacred relics, willed that their coffers should be opened on the XXVI of December, in the presence of his vicars general of Nepi and Sutri, together with Friar Innocent de Vico, our Vicar of Nepi, and several others; and the bodies were found reduced to ashes, save for a shoulder-blade of the body of St. Ptolemy sprinkled with blood, which, being taken out by the aforesaid Friar Innocent, is kept in the sacristy of our church, a public instrument having been drawn up in this matter by Pietro Salomoni. Here that is omitted which nevertheless Hyacinth de Nobili relates in his Italian History of these Martyrs, page 34, and which he asserts to have then become publicly known in the city of Nepi: namely, that the above-mentioned Friar Innocent, on account of that removal of the shoulder-blade, was afflicted with a most grievous sickness for four years, and found no remedy for his disease until he replaced these remains of the holy Martyr, wrapped in paper, in the sepulchre, where they were found in the year 1606, in which the solemn translation of the sacred bodies took place, as we now go on to relate from the same instrument.
[23] they were translated to the new church, In the year 1606, the new church of St. Ptolemy being brought to completion, the sacred bodies were translated into it with solemn rite on the XXIII day of August, the Bishop, our Friars, many from the City and from Viterbo flocking thither, and a copious multitude of the people standing by; and they were placed beneath the high altar. Their sepulchre Friar Giovanni Battista de Marinis, Master of the Order, adorned in the year 1664, a statue of St. Ptolemy being set up, and the rest of its ornaments being made by Friar Vincenzo Poesio, Vicar. Finally the public notary confirms the authentic credit of this instrument by this customary clause: I, Angelo Savo, citizen of Nepi, by the grace of God and by Apostolic authority public notary, enrolled in the archive of the Roman curia, have extracted all the above from the above-mentioned book, exhibited to me as above and afterward restored to the same; and having first made collation, I found it to agree. Therefore I have written, subscribed, and published it, and signed it with my accustomed sign, being so required.
[24] in which a public miracle occurred. The aforesaid Hyacinth de Nobili, in his History of the same Martyrs, page 35, describes that solemnity of the translation more distinctly, and in the same place narrates in Italian a miracle which happened at that time, much in this manner: When a boy named Giovanni Battista, son of Ottavio Cerbelli, captain of Nepi, had been so injured by a fall from a high place that for some years he was deprived of the use of his feet, upon hearing the report of the aforesaid translation he began firmly to hope that by the intercession of St. Ptolemy he would be restored to his former health. Having therefore conceived a great confidence, he had himself led to the church by the help of other boys, his companions; where, after praying for some time before the relics of the holy Martyr, he at once rose to his feet of his own accord before all the people, and returned home rejoicing, without any help from his companions, publishing everywhere the benefit conferred upon him by the merits of the holy Martyr. "That miracle is very well known," says the Reverend Father Hyacinth, "since both the son and the father are still living, and the father, to the glory of God and the honor of the holy Martyr, related that benefit to me and to many others, not without pious tears." Moreover the crutch on which the boy had been accustomed to support himself was hung up at the Saint's tomb as a perpetual memorial of the event. Behold all that we have been able to gather concerning these holy Martyrs and Bishops. It therefore only remains that we set forth their shorter Acts, as we promised above, and illustrate them with the usual annotations.
ANNOTATIONS\* elsewhere: in the city of Nepi.
ACTS
by an anonymous author of uncertain date
From a manuscript Codex of the cathedral church of Sutri, which we collated with other manuscripts.
Ptolemy, bishop and martyr, in Tuscany (St.)
Romanus, bishop and martyr, in Tuscany (St.)
BHL Number: 6985
While the heathen priests accuse the Christians, At the time when Claudius a Cæsar was returning
from the battle in the region of Aquileia b, there met him the pontiffs of the temples of the cities of Tuscany, saying: "Most pious emperor, ever august victor, triumpher over all the nations that dwell in the whole world, and mighty over the lands: let thy magnificence know for certain that the almighty gods are angered on account of the abominable and faithless Christians, who mock and insult our sacrifices, by which the world flourishes and the Commonwealth conquers and thy empire is increased." Claudius Cæsar answered and said: "And are there faithless Christians in these cities?" One of the priests of the city of Pentapolis c, Porphyrius by name, answered and said: "Here indeed in our suburban city of Pentapolis there is a certain execrable fellow who works injuries against the gods, daily seducing the peoples by his magical incantations; by name he is called Ptolemy d, and he has with him about thirty disciples, and those disciples of his have been made like unto him, and daily they work many marvels by the invocation of one — I know not who — a crucified man, whom the Jews hanged upon a cross. Him do these magicians worship, and all the people run after them. But let your piety command that they offer incense and sacrifice to the gods, lest this city, your servant, perish."
[2] Then his counsel pleased Cæsar, and he called to himself Aspasius e the Count and tribune of the city of Pentapolis and of Tuscany, these two Prelates are seized together with their disciples, and said to him: "Go and compel them to sacrifice to the almighty gods and to offer incense of libation; but if they refuse, put them to death with divers torments; and if they do sacrifice, enrich them with honors and great riches." And then Claudius Cæsar set forth an edict that wherever Christians should be found, whether in camps or in the cities of the towns, they should be punished without a hearing; but that those who sacrificed should be enriched with great honors and riches. At the same time there was in the city of Nepi a prelate, Romanus f the bishop, who had been a disciple of the holy and venerable Ptolemy the bishop; full indeed of holiness, and abounding in every grace of God, he fed the poor, healed the sick, cured the paralytic, and by a word alone drove out all infirmities in the name of Christ. Now Aspasius the Count and tribune, coming into his city of Pentapolis, sent soldiers and seized by night the blessed Ptolemy the bishop, whom they found at prayer with the blessed Romanus, together with other priests and deacons, and likewise clerics, who in vigils and hymns were rendering glory to God. And all those believing in Christ were thirty-two in number. Then they laid hold on them all and led them before the Count.
[3] who, being brought before the governor, Then Aspasius the Count ordered all the soldiery and all the people of that city of Pentapolis to stand and behold the spectacle of them, and Aspasius the Count ordered a tribunal to be set up for him in the forum. And when he had taken his seat upon the tribunal, he ordered all the prisoners to be brought forward. And the holy Martyrs came in their chains, singing: The way of the just is made straight; the path of the Saints is prepared. And then the Count, hearing them sing, says to his counsellor, Pavo by name: "What are these men saying?" But Pavo answered and said: "Behold, they are chanting magical arts, that they may be able to overcome thee." Then the Count said to them: "Which of you is the chief?" They all answered and said: "We have a lord and father stronger than thou, the most holy bishop Ptolemy, and another bishop, his disciple, the lord Romanus. In holiness indeed they are beyond compare, and mightier than all men in the power of our Lord Jesus Christ."
[4] fearlessly maintain the faith of Christ, Then the Count in anger ordered the blessed Ptolemy and Romanus the bishop to be separated from them, and the Count said to them: "Sacrifice to all the gods, and be the friends of Cæsar and the chief priests of our gods, and be enriched with great riches." But Ptolemy answered and said: "We indeed are servants of our Lord Jesus Christ, and never do we bow our necks to empty stones and to demons; for the Scripture bears witness, saying: Let them that make them become like unto them, and all that trust in them. And thou biddest us offer sacrifice to stones, which can bestow benefits neither on themselves nor on others; and, if thou givest us leave, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ we will burn them." Then the Count, hearing this, blazed out into his wrath, and ordered them to be hung upon the rack; and while they were long tormented, the Martyrs sang and said: Have mercy on us, O Lord, have mercy on us, for we are exceedingly filled with contempt, and our soul is exceedingly filled with thy praise, O Lord.
[5] and after various torments Now the holy Martyrs Ptolemy and Romanus the bishop were tortured upon the rack, and cried out nothing else but: "O Christ, help thy servants." And he ordered iron plates and hooks to be brought, to tear their sides, that they might breathe out their spirits. And when they saw such torments made ready, hanging upon the rack they prayed, saying: "Lord Jesus Christ, only-begotten Son of the Father, who camest to make firm a broken world and to give light to a blind age, that all flesh might know that thou art the true light; who didst deliver Daniel from the den of lions, deliver us also, thy servants, from the hands of this tyrant, and send thy angel, who shall destroy him g and all who lay hands upon us, and his father the devil with his angels." And suddenly, as they hung upon the rack, there was a great earthquake. And the angel of the Lord, who guarded them, struck down his counsellor, Pavo by name. But the Count, seeing the earthquake, fled from the forum by the hand h of his servants, and left Pavo lying dead in the forum; and when the Count had fled, he ordered them to be thrust back into prison, until he should consider by what death he might destroy them.
[6] And he ordered all the martyrs who were with the blessed Ptolemy and Romanus and the martyrdom of the others, to be led bound outside the walls of the city of Pentapolis and to be beheaded. And the martyrs walked rejoicing and singing: In thy hands, O Lord, are our times; O Lord, receive our spirit in peace. Then the executioners did as they had been commanded, and beheaded them on the IX Kalends of September i. And the executioners, returning to Aspasius the Count, announced to him, saying: "We saw men standing beside them in white garments, and straightway fear and trembling laid hold on us, and immediately we believed in Christ; and we knew not that these men worshipped the true Lord; and we worship the Lord Jesus Christ, and him alone do we serve; and even if thou command us to be slain, we will never sacrifice to demons." Then the Count said: "If these men be not destroyed, many will be seduced by them, and there will be divers acclamations of the people, and sedition will arise among the people." Then he ordered them to be beheaded, [whose bodies a most Christian matron, Savinilla, gathered up, and she buried the martyrs of Christ in her little estate not far from the city of Pentapolis, eight in number, of both sexes k: for in the same place were laid away another thirty martyrs of Christ, who had suffered before, clerics of Christ l, in the inner part.
[7] Now after thirty-two days m the most impious Count ordered they remain unharmed in the fire, that the holy martyrs Ptolemy and Romanus the bishops should be brought before him in the forum. Then the Count ordered a furnace to be kindled in the midst of the forum, and commanded that with their hands bound they should be cast into the fire. And when the ministers of the devil had brought them forward to cast them into the fire, the Count says to them: "Behold, now you have slain my counsellor by your magical incantations. What more will you do? You shall not escape from my hand, by the great gods." And when the holy martyrs Ptolemy and Romanus the bishops saw the fire, they said: We have passed through fire and water, and thou hast brought us into a place of refreshment. O Lord, do thou quench this flame of that fire. And when the ministers had cast them into the fire, they made upon their foreheads the sign of the cross, and immediately the fire was extinguished, so that not even any trace of fire was found. Then the holy Martyrs of Christ said to the Count: "Raging dog n, we praise thy brow. All the saints who were with us thou hast slain for the name of Christ. Behold, thou hast prepared for us a burning, which has touched none but thee and thy father the devil."
[8] Then the Count, seeing that they publicly confounded him, being vehemently enraged ordered them to be beheaded before the triumphal gate. and both are at last beheaded. And straightway the executioners went to behead them: for the martyrs of Christ, Ptolemy and Romanus the bishops, went rejoicing and singing: Thou hast commanded thy commandments, O Lord, to be kept exceedingly. O that our ways may be directed in thy sight, O Lord. And giving one another the kiss, they prayed together, saying: "Lord Jesus Christ, reward us not according to our sins; but send thy angel, who shall receive our spirit." And when they had finished the prayer, the executioners beheaded them on the ninth Kalends of September; whose bodies the blessed Sabinilla, a most Christian woman, gathered up, and buried them in the same crypt where the other holy martyrs are laid away. And she buried, with her servants, the blessed Ptolemy the bishop at the entrance of the crypt, and the blessed Romanus in the inner part, where their prayers flourish unto this present day, our Lord Jesus Christ granting it, to whom be honor and glory unto the ages of ages. Amen] o.