ON ST. NARNUS, BISHOP AND CONFESSOR,
AT BERGAMO IN ITALY,
About the year LXXV.
HISTORICAL SYLLOGE.
Narnus, bishop and confessor, at Bergamo in Italy (St.)
BY J. S.
Just as the cult of St. Narnus, the first bishop of the people of Bergamo, is certain and beyond doubt, The cult of St. Narnus certain, his deeds almost uncertain: so his deeds are almost uncertain and destitute of the authority of the ancients. His memory is announced by the Roman Martyrology on the XXVII of August in these words: At Bergamo, of St. Narnus, who, having been baptized by blessed Barnabas, was ordained by him the first bishop of that city. Baronius adds in his notes: Concerning whom the records of the church of Bergamo, from which Galesinius also has him on this day. Ferrarius agrees, in the Catalogue of the Saints of Italy on the same day; but he weaves a longer eulogy for him, which, drawn from the ancient Office, agrees also with the new Office. Furthermore, that the Saint is venerated on the XXVII of August with a double rite is confirmed by the proper Offices of that church, both the ancient and the new, from which we shall transcribe below the Office of St. Narnus, since his deeds, more probable than the rest, are related in it. But from what time the feast of St. Narnus began to be celebrated at Bergamo is not sufficiently established. There might be a suspicion that his cult is not very ancient, because among the chief martyrologists, such as Ado, Usuard, and the others of nearly the same period, no memory of him is preserved. Nevertheless, if his body was translated in the year 908 together with the bodies of St. Alexander and of other Saints (as the writers of Bergamo hand down, with whom Ughelli agrees in Italia Sacra, volume 4 of the last edition, column 427, where he says that it was brought in by Bl. Albert, bishop of Bergamo, into the new church of St. Alexander), then it must be that from the tenth century at least his relics were held in veneration among the people of Bergamo; and thence it is likely that the Saint's feast was already celebrated at that time.
[2] In the year 1561 the body of St. Narnus, with the bodies of other Saints, was found in the church of St. Alexander, his body found and translated in the year 1561: which was destroyed at that time on account of the new fortifications of the city, and was carried into the church of St. Vincent, to which the name of St. Alexander was afterward given, as we have said more fully on the XXVI of August in the treatise on St. Alexander, number 24. These things are reported in the letters of Frederick Cornelius, who then presided over the church of Bergamo, in the praised Ughelli, column 500 and following. First, at column 500, it is said that beneath the choir of the church there was a subterranean place supported by columns and a vault, in which were three chapels and as many altars; and that in that chapel which was placed on the right hand the body of St. Narnus had been kept, as is proved, he says, by irrefragable records. Then the finding of the body is set forth thus, at column 501: But the other (altar), on the right, dedicated to holy Narnus, and a little chest almost adjoining in the fashion of a sarcophagus, made of stones and mortar, having been removed in like manner, after the pavement had been dug through and the stone which lay beneath had been torn up, and the ground had been excavated somewhat deeper, another stone was uncovered, which, as it was being lifted, appeared split lengthwise. It covered a monument
of white marble, three cubits in length or somewhat more. In it were three ounces of clear water, and the bones of a human body, disjoined indeed one from another, and the skull broken; but for the rest lying as it were in the order of the joints, with the water flowing round about. These are declared by ancient traditions to be the relics of holy Narnus. He adds presently, at column 502, that fragments of marble were found, on the larger and less broken of which only this much concerning St. Narnus could be read: Bishop III, Narnus, confessor of Christ, whose successor was the most holy Viator. The numeral placed there does not signify that he was the third bishop: for other numerals also presently follow which signify nothing, unless perhaps the division of the lines. For the rest, these and the other relics found at that time were honorably translated to the church of St. Vincent, today called St. Alexander's, as is there set forth at greater length.
[3] His Life written by various more recent authors, The Life of St. Narnus has been written by various more recent men of Bergamo; but they do not assign the sources from which they drew it. Marcus Antonius Benalius began a Latin Life of him, which John Antonius Garnerius completed and published in his Commentaries on the Life and Deeds of the Saints of Bergamo; but no ancient author is anywhere cited. By nearly the same method Marius Mutius wrote this Life in Italian, in the Sacred History of Bergamo, and Cælestinus of the Order of Capuchins in his Fourfold History of Bergamo, volume 2, page 17 and following. Nor are there wanting others who more briefly hand down concerning St. Narnus the same things which these adorn with many words and sentences. And so, since it is not our custom to publish the writings of recent authors on ancient matters, and since nearly everything which they wrote may be read in the Office of St. Narnus, it will suffice for our purpose to recite here the lessons of the second nocturn from the proper Offices of the church of Bergamo, printed in the year 1707. These occur on page 73 for the feast of St. Narnus on the XXVII of August, in this manner:
[4] a summary of which Narnus flourished at Bergamo in wealth, honors, and renown of genius at the time when the holy apostle Barnabas, having laid at Milan the foundations of the Christian faith, betook himself to Bergamo to propagate religion. Stirred by his preaching, Narnus gave himself to searching out the truth of the Christian religion. In a short time he made such progress in it that, since he surpassed the rest of the citizens in the knowledge of divine things, he was declared by the same Apostle the first prelate of the church of Bergamo: which burden, though he refused to undergo it, saying humbly that he was a novice in the faith, yet, fearing that he might incur guilt, he took upon himself, led by Barnabas's persuasion and exhortation. Upon what authority the preaching of St. Barnabas at Milan rests, which some think uncertain, may be seen in his Acts, volume 11 of June, page 429 and following. That St. Narnus was the first bishop of Bergamo, and that he was appointed by St. Barnabas, the people of Bergamo believe from tradition, I suppose; but this tradition I cannot confirm by the authority of the ancients.
[5] from the Office Although in those turbulent times it was a matter of great labor to draw a rude and unskilled multitude away from the superstition of the Gentiles, especially while persecutions raged, yet by the fatherly zeal of Narnus all difficulties, both open and hidden, were met not only steadfastly but also prudently; and the unlike diseases of men were provided for with an unlike kind of remedies. And so, when he had received the church of Bergamo newborn, and therefore weak and feeble, he left it strengthened by the discipline of the faith, and expressed by the holiness of his life and by his teaching that image of a true pastor which the Apostle has embraced in his writings. Certain writers of Bergamo add to the deeds of St. Narnus that he made a pilgrimage into Spain to the tomb of St. James. But this is not only destitute of the testimony of the ancients: it appears also little likely or credible.
[6] When therefore for many years, and amid great peril, he had most holily governed the church of Bergamo by his authority, is recited. his example, and his watchful care, as age grew heavy upon him he appointed Viator of Brescia as his substitute; and at length he passed to the Lord, whom he had served with all his strength, on the sixth Kalends of September, and left the greatest longing for himself to the whole city. And first he was buried in the chapel of St. Peter, which he himself had founded; thence he was translated into the church of St. Alexander, and, when that was destroyed, into that of St. Vincent. And when this was afterward, by decree of the Apostolic See, dedicated to St. Alexander alone and substituted in place of the ancient cathedral of the same, he was there placed in the high altar together with St. Alexander and his companions. The writers of Bergamo commonly report the chapel built to St. Peter. I could wish they had added upon what foundation that matter rests. Garnerius, in the Life, folio 10, ties the Saint's death to the year of Christ 75; and with him others of Bergamo commonly agree, and Ughelli also, volume 4, column 410. Some attribute thirty years of episcopate, others — and these the more numerous, with Ughelli — only twenty. I have no wish to entangle myself in these matters, or to discuss them more studiously, since no ancient monuments are assigned. I have therefore tied the Saint's death, following the opinion of the people of Bergamo, to the year 75.