ON SS. POECLANUS OR HECLANUS, MERCURIUS, BASILLA, MAXIMILIAN, QUINTUS OR QUINTINUS, SEVUS, VICTOR, PRIMUS, VICTOR, AND PERHAPS TWENTY-FIVE SOLDIERS, MARTYRS.
From the Hieronymian copies.
CommentaryPoeclanus or Heclanus, martyr (St.)
Mercurius, martyr (St.)
Basilla, martyr (St.)
Maximilian, martyr (St.)
Quintus or Quintinus, martyr (St.)
Sevus, martyr (St.)
Victor, martyr (St.)
Primus, martyr (St.)
Perhaps XXV Soldiers, martyrs (SS.)
J. P.
Among the Hieronymian copies published by Florentini these Martyrs are brought forward from the Martyrology of Corbie: Various XII (perhaps VII) Kalends of September, in the city of Salona, the birthday of St. Anastasius the martyr … in the city of …sia, of SS. Poeclanus and Mercurius, martyrs. At Rome in the cemetery, the birthday of SS. Basilla, Maximilian, Quintus, martyrs. On the Prænestine Way, of twenty-five soldiers. At the city of Arles, the birthday of SS. Sevus, Victor, Primus, and likewise Victor. Receive these observations upon the foregoing announcement. Concerning St. Anastasius, martyr of Salona, and another martyr of the same name — to whom in some place perhaps a third priest of the same name is added — consult the Passed Over at this day. But what does that gap … in the city of …sia mean? In the text of the Martyrology itself which is attributed to St. Jerome, and which Florentini endeavored to illustrate with continuous notes, there is set: In the city of Apolli, the birthday of the holy Heclanus, of Mercurius the martyr. Florentini in his notes says: We are here compelled to acknowledge a most ancient manuscript defective, in which the name of the city is passed over in silence, and out of a Martyr a city is made. The name of the city, worn away also by age in the Corbie manuscript — the city in which St. Heclanus or Poeclanus and Mercurius completed their contest, or in which they had veneration — can be supplied from our books, in which (he meant to say, in which plural) is read In the city of Apolli; which from the Corbie manuscript, as he adds, might be supplied Apollonia,
the last syllable being added, which age has not obliterated. But how many cities are there among the geographers under the name of Apollonia? Which of these it may have been, I could not assert save rashly.
[2] Nor would it be absurd to retain even the name Apolli, concerning these Martyrs since there are in Ptolemy two cities of this name in Egypt, the greater and the lesser. In one of these the holy Martyrs might have received their crown; for the butcheries of Saints in Egypt were frequent. But these mere and uncertain conjectures of Florentini do not clear up an entangled matter. For in the Animadversions upon the Roman Martyrology which Holstenius published, it is thus read on this day from the manuscript of the Queen of Sweden: In the same city (namely Rome), the birthday of the holy Martyrs Mercurius, Maximilian, Quintinus. But in the Martyrology of St. Willibrord in Florentini in the notes are these words: And at Elanum, of Mercurius. Where you see the proper name Heclanus marked as the place of contest; and in Holstenius Mercurius announced at Rome, who from the day, the place of contest, and his companions seems to be distinct from those two of whom we made mention among the Passed Over of today. For one of them, who is in the Roman Martyrology on the X day of December, is announced at Lentini in Sicily, and unnamed companions are added; but the other is there set alone on the XXV of November, and at Cæsarea in Cappadocia.
[3] are given It was related above from the Corbie manuscript: At Rome in the cemetery, the birthday of SS. Basilla, Maximilian, Quintus, martyrs. But in the text of the Martyrology upon which Florentini composes his notes, for Basillæ is written Basilli, and for Quintus, Quintinus. In the Martyrology of St. Willibrord in the same Florentini it is: At Rome, of Quintus, Maximian, no mention being made of Basilla or Basillus. But whether by the cemetery, which the Corbie manuscript did not name, is to be understood by antonomasia the cemetery of Callistus on the Appian Way, or that of St. Basilla on the Salarian Way, is an altogether uncertain matter. Florentini has more upon this argument in his notes, from which I add this: The holy Martyrs, XXV soldiers, whom the Corbie Martyrology adds on the Prænestine Way, are lacking, he says, in our books, and perhaps they are the same who on the preceding day are recounted in the same on the Nomentan Way, eighteen in number. Of these we treated yesterday; today among the Passed Over we noted the holy Martyrs seventeen. If soldiers were added, the suspicion would be greater whether they were not those of yesterday, since errors not rarely creep into copies concerning arithmetical numbers. Concerning the Martyrs of Arles mentioned above from the Corbie Martyrology, certain things occur which it will not be beside our purpose to have observed. In the text which Florentini expounds these things are read: In Gaul, in the city of Arles, the birthday of the holy Sevus, Victor, Primus, Victor. The Martyrology of St. Willibrord alleged agrees in substance, saying thus: At Arles in Gaul, of Sevus, Victor, Primus, and likewise Victor. These things being noted, I have judged that the holy Champions whom I found in Florentini were to be announced above in the title prefixed to these observations in that manner and order in which you see them there. Nor are there other things at hand in which I may instruct the reader.