ON SS. RUFUS AND CARPON, CARPONIUS, OR CARPOPHORUS, MARTYRS,
AT CAPUA IN CAMPANIA IN ITALY,
Under Diocletian.
PRELIMINARY COMMENTARY.
Rufus, martyr, at Capua in Campania in Italy (St.)
Carpon, Carponius, or Carpophorus, martyr, at Capua in Campania in Italy (St.)
BY J. S.
That the holy martyrs Rufus and Carponius have long been venerated in the church of Capua, and that this Rufus is with more probability to be distinguished from another of the same name, The cult of the Saints in the church of Capua: we have said in the Acts of St. Rufus, bishop (as is believed) and martyr, concerning whom we disputed on this very day. Wherefore in this place I shall add only a few things there passed over. The Roman Martyrology on the XXVII of August announces these Martyrs thus: In the same place (at Capua), of the holy martyrs Rufus and Carpophorus, who suffered under Diocletian and Maximian. In three Capuan Calendars, which Michael Monachus inserted into his Sanctuarium from page 404, the memory of the holy martyrs Rufus and Carponius is found on the same day. Then the praised Monachus, on page 538, at the fifth Calendar, which he illustrated with notes and in which again these Martyrs are placed on the XXVII, observes this: From the time of Cardinal Bellarmine the Office on this day has been of St. Rufus, bishop and martyr, and the Office of SS. Rufus and Carponius has been transferred to the day after the beheading of St. John. In the diocese, near St. Tammarus, there was formerly a church of SS. Rufus and Carponius, and it belonged to the chapter of Capua. These things are confirmed from the Capuan Breviary, both the old and the new. For in the old Breviary the Office of these Martyrs is read on the XXVII of August, but in the new on the XXX of the same month, on which the feast is celebrated to this day.
[2] In the old collect concerning their Martyrs the Capuans recited these words: their bodies preserved at Capua, Who rest in this present church; on which Monachus, page 55, notes the following: This collect teaches that the bodies of the holy Rufus and Carponius rest in the cathedral church. I myself have learned that a few years ago a custom was discontinued whereby, on their feast, when Vespers had been sung, the priest of the week went to the altar which stands on the north at the head of the aisle, and there, vested in a cope, sang the collect Propitiare. And so the tradition is that in that altar the bodies of the holy Rufus and Carponius were laid. In former years I learned that these holy bodies were preserved in the city of Rieti: I saw to it that letters were sent thither, and when these had been sent, the answer came that the bodies of the holy Rufus and Carponius, martyrs of Capua, whose name a church bears, had indeed once been kept there; yet that by certain Religious, to whom the church had been granted, they had been secretly carried off thence, the church of course having been abandoned by them. It is to be believed that not the whole bodies of the Saints were translated elsewhere from this our city, but some part of them; nay, that some part was also granted to a parish church within our city called by their names: and since I myself was priest of it, often testing with a rod thrust in, I ascertained that under the altar there is a wooden chest, in which we think with the greatest probability there were the relics of none other than the Titulars: there were, we think, but are not now, because of certain signs of stones having been removed, which we examined.
[3] and found in the year 1712 beneath a certain altar in the metropolitan church, The bodies of these Martyrs, which had long lain hidden, were found with four others in the year 1712 in the sacred metropolitan church of Capua, and within the recess of a certain altar, as the Acts of the finding, to be cited hereafter, have on page 17. Nicolò Coleti, who reprinted the Italia Sacra of Ughelli, mentions the matter thus in volume 6, column 366: The bodies of SS. Priscus, first bishop of Capua, of Quartus and Quintus, clerics, of Rufus the deacon and of Carponius, martyrs — before unknown because long hidden — having lately been found and enclosed in silver cases, the most illustrious Nicholas Caracciolo, archbishop of Capua, placed in the treasury of the church. The Acts themselves of this finding, drawn up by the archbishop's command and confirmed by the subscription of his name, which were printed at Naples in the year 1727, were most courteously transmitted to us by that distinguished man Domenico de Giorgio, often praised in our Work. They bear a title of this kind: Acts of the finding of the bodies of the holy Martyrs Quartus and Quintus, and of SS. Priscus and Decorosus, Rufus and Carponius, Quartus and Quintus, bishops. The first two were found in the year 1711, as is said on page 4; the other six in the year 1712, on the day XXVII of June, whose finding is reported to have taken place when the prelate of Capua was seeking the body of St. Rufus the bishop, as is set forth on pages 6 and 7 in this manner: When the most illustrious and most reverend father and lord in Christ, Don Nicholas Caracciolo, by the grace of God and of the Apostolic See archbishop of Capua, had learned from the ancient monuments of his metropolitan church that the sacred body of St. Rufus, bishop of Capua, rested in the same church, and properly within the recess of a certain altar near the door of the sacristy, he took thought of digging it out and finding it: wherefore today, the XXVII of June MDCCXII, in the morning, about the fifteenth hour, accompanied by the most reverend canons — namely Baltassar Stellato the dean, Robert de Azzia the treasurer, Charles della Ratta, Joseph de Rosa, Andrew Salerno, Matthias Joccia, Dominic Forgillo the penitentiary, and Philip Rossi, clothed in their canonical insignia — … he came to dig out the sacred deposit of his holy predecessor, and kneeling before the aforesaid altar,
after the litanies of the blessed Virgin Mary and other prayers had first been recited, he caused the stone table to be removed by masons from the top of the aforesaid altar; and when this had been removed, there appeared another stone table of lesser length and breadth, firmly adhering to the fabric of the altar itself; and when this had been raised, there was found a certain hollow space made of small marble slabs disposed in the manner of a chest, and divided into six little compartments: and in each of them a certain little wooden coffer had been laid.
[4] And it was further observed that on the under surface of the aforesaid stone table, with the due inscriptions: which covered the said hollow after the manner of a lid, there were graven in a semi-Gothic character six inscriptions, and that each of them corresponded to the several aforesaid compartments in which the aforesaid wooden coffers were placed; and upon the lid of these there appeared also other inscriptions graven, which were read in a loud and intelligible voice by the aforesaid most illustrious and most reverend lord archbishop. Graven upon the stone were these inscriptions relating to our Martyrs: Here rests the body of St. Rufus the martyr. Here lies the body of St. Carponius, martyr. And those upon the lids of the little coffers: Relics of St. Rufus the martyr. Relics of St. Carponius the martyr.* The rest do not concern us here. Then the author of the instrument adds that the chests were diligently examined and found secured with a seal, and at last deposited in the chapel of the Treasury, until they should be raised and more honorably placed.
[5] The elevation was made in the year 1719 by the praised archbishop, but raised in the year 1719 by the Cardinal Archbishop, then Cardinal of the Holy Roman Church, as is reported in the aforesaid instrument, pages 17 and 18, in these words: In the name of the Lord, amen. By this present public instrument let it be open to all men everywhere, and evidently known, that in the year from the Nativity of the Lord one thousand seven hundred and nineteen, Indiction XII, on the XXVI day of the month of February, and in the pontificate of the most holy father in Christ and our lord Clement, by divine providence the XIth Pontiff, in his XIXth year, happily, amen. Whereas in the holy metropolitan church of Capua, and within the recess of a certain altar, there had been found the sacred bones of six Saints, namely of St. Priscus, martyr, first bishop of Capua, of the holy martyrs Rufus and Carponius, of St. Decorosus, and of SS. Quartus and Quintus, prelates of Capua, which the most eminent and most reverend lord Nicholas Caracciolo, Cardinal Archbishop of Capua, commanded to be kept by way of provision in the chapel of the Treasury in a certain wooden chest covered with leather and secured with a key and with seals, to the end that they might be more becomingly and nobly placed and exposed to the public veneration of the faithful; and whereas by the like piety of the said most eminent and most reverend lord Cardinal Archbishop two separate silver urns had been constructed, furnished with crystals, to the effect of there placing the aforesaid sacred bones of SS. Decorosus, Rufus, and Carponius, described and noted in the instrument of the finding by my hand,* etc.
[6] And the same most eminent Cardinal Archbishop, wishing for the aforesaid end and placed in silver cases, to place the aforesaid bones in the said sacred silver urns, today, on the aforesaid day, having summoned to the sacred function the most illustrious and most reverend lord Joseph Schinosi, bishop of Caserta, with the assistance of the most illustrious lord Nicholas Michael, abbot and vicar general of Capua, caused the aforesaid chest, in which the said sacred bones were laid and kept, to be carried by the most reverend canons of this metropolitan church, vested in their insignia, from the aforesaid chapel of the Treasury to that of this archiepiscopal palace; and it being set upon a table, the aforesaid most eminent and most reverend lord Cardinal Archbishop showed it to me the notary, and to the most reverend lords Joseph de Capua the dean, Nicholas de Baucio the archdeacon, Philip Rossi the precentor, Bernardino Cuccaro, Francis Maria Pratillo, and Sebastian Boccardi, canons of this metropolitan church, as witnesses, who had been present at the sealing of the chest, that they might recognize the seals impressed in Spanish wax, and the linen bands with which it had been bound in four parts, whether they were in good order; and when observation had been made by the said witnesses, and when they had seen and observed that all was in good order, as they said, it was commanded by the same most eminent lord Cardinal Archbishop that the said seals be removed and the aforesaid bands cut, as was carried out by the said lord precentor Rossi.
[7] they were deposited in the chapel of the Treasury. Thereupon the same most eminent archbishop, having taken the key of the aforesaid chest, which he kept by him, opened it; and when the hymns Christo profusum sanguinem, etc., Iste Confessor, etc., had been sung by the aforesaid most reverend lord canons, and the silver urns had been blessed by the said most illustrious and most reverend lord bishop of Caserta, there was drawn out from the aforesaid chest by the aforesaid most eminent archbishop another little wooden coffer, in which were found laid up the bones of St. Decorosus, bishop of Capua, and of the holy martyrs Rufus and Carponius; and he handed it to the aforesaid most illustrious lord bishop of Caserta, who with his own hand drew the sacred bones out of the aforesaid coffer, and placed them in three round glass vessels with their covers, namely, in one the bones of St. Decorosus the bishop, in another the bones of St. Rufus the martyr, and in a third the bones of holy Carponius. The vessel with the relics of holy Decorosus was laid, with its epigraph, in one of the aforesaid silver caskets; and the two vessels with the relics of SS. Rufus and Carponius were laid and placed in another silver casket furnished with crystals: which caskets, well composed and closed with keys and iron bolts, and also secured with seals by the most reverend chapter and canons, were carried in solemn pomp and in procession to the aforesaid chapel of the Treasury; concerning which, done as above, etc., in the presence of the above-named witnesses, well known to me, specially had and called for the aforesaid. And in witness whereof I have drawn up this present instrument, and have published it, and have signed it with my accustomed sign, being required thereto — I, Don Alexius de Abusso, priest of Capua, public notary by apostolic authority, and chancellor of the archiepiscopal curia, etc.
[8] Acts and Offices. The Acts of SS. Rufus and Carponius are little authentic or genuine, but are stained with various faults which lessen their credit. We have a twofold manuscript transcript of them, of which the one is noted as taken from the Belfort manuscript, the other from the manuscript codex 148 of the library of Monte Cassino. These manuscripts differ in various places; but one could not easily say which is to be preferred to the other. Nevertheless, that learned readers may be able to judge of them, I shall put the Cassinese manuscript to the press, correcting the chief errors and indicating the differences of the other manuscript, and of the ancient Office, which had been composed from these Acts, where it shall seem worth the labor. Michael Monachus, in the Sanctuarium, page 55 and following, illustrated the ancient Office with notes, and endeavored to explain very many things which otherwise are apt to offend the learned reader. Yet not even so could he clear that Office of all error, much less our Acts, in which more things occur needing correction than in the aforesaid Office. The faults of the earlier Office furnished the occasion of abrogating it and of composing a new one in which those things should be passed over. This was done in the year 1669, and approved by the sacred Congregation of Rites; but since it can be at everyone's hand, it is not necessary to recite it in this place.
Annotationsread incisas* (graven). that is, corio* (with leather).
PASSION
Rufus, martyr, at Capua in Campania in Italy (St.)
Carpon, Carponius, or Carpophorus, martyr, at Capua in Campania in Italy (St.)
BHL Number: 7378
By an anonymous author.
The friendship of SS. Rufus and Carponius; the baptism of the latter: Under the emperor Diocletian and Maximian the Cæsar a there was a persecution of the Christians in the province of Campania, in the temple of the Capitol b at Capua. There was a certain deacon by the name of Rufus, fair of countenance, a man of all holiness, who on account of the sedition of the pagans was not easily seen in public; but with many Christians he lay hidden in the most secret crypts: to whom also a man named Carponius, most holy in dignity, who was versed in the art of medicine, being taught by the Holy Spirit, came daily to meet blessed Rufus, and prostrating himself at his feet kissed them; and through the grace which Christ had bestowed upon him he was on very friendly terms in the palace of the emperor Constantine c. This man had been baptized by St. Sylvester d: who, being asked by him, What is your name?, answered, I am called Calpurnius; to whom St. Sylvester said: Since you have received the grace of Christ, Carponius e shall be your name. Then in those very times Sibylla f, a persecutor of the Christians, held rule at Rome: and while she was persecuting the Saints of God there, blessed Carponius, fleeing thence, came into Campania to the city of Capua. Here, hearing of the life of the most blessed martyr Rufus, he inquired concerning him from the men of the city, and learned in what place he lay hidden; and, as was said above, blessed Rufus was daily visited by St. Carponius. Now blessed Rufus was about twenty-seven years of age.
[2] What more? Theodosius g being consul, a pagan, who had come from Greece to slay all who believed in the name of Jesus Christ, St. Rufus is seized, this man too was very well acquainted with blessed Carponius, since he had been in the palace of the emperor Constantine. But blessed Rufus together with Carponius often hid themselves, and their one converse was in the love of Christ. And while the fury of Sibylla blazed out through all the provinces, and blessed Rufus with a company of Christians lay concealed in the most secret crypts, then there arose a sedition of the pagan people concerning the name of Rufus, and they went to the proconsul of Campania, named Cassellianus, crying out and saying: Behold, there are here men who despise the imperial commands, and worship in secret I know not what Christ: and if this be permitted them, our religion is undone, and our gods will be reckoned as nothing. Hearing this, the proconsul commanded that they be seized by his officials and presented to him. Then those who sought them found them and brought them to the proconsul. Then the proconsul commanded them to be consigned to the workhouse-prison with the utmost diligence and care, until their examination should be held. And when blessed Carponius had learned this, he did not put off visiting him daily in prison.
[3] But the guards of the prison, wishing to please the proconsul, reported to him, saying: and St. Carponius visiting him: being questioned they confess Christ: Behold, to those whom your excellency had ordered to be shut up in prison a multitude of Christians come daily. We have inquired of them of what sort they were, and they answered: We are Christians, worshiping and adoring the Son of God. Then Cassellianus gave order to the prison guards that they should arrest them, and commanded a tribunal to be prepared for himself: and sitting on the tribunal he ordered blessed Rufus with blessed Carponius to be presented to him; and he questioned them, saying: Of what religion are you? They answered: We are Christians, and we confess Christ. The judge said to blessed Rufus: What is your service? or what office do you hold? St. Rufus answered: I am a deacon. The judge said: Of what city? St. Rufus answered: Of the church of Capua. The proconsul says to blessed Carponius: Are you too a Christian? And he answered: I too the same Christ, the Son of God,
the living God, confess, who made heaven and earth; for I am ready to die for the love of Christ.
[4] and they refuse to sacrifice to the idols before the emperor, And when the proconsul had heard these things, he sent letters to the emperor Diocletian h, in which he indicated that he had found men who believed in Christ: for he ordered them to be led back to prison. Then the emperor Diocletian, when he had heard, gave this command to the proconsul: I hear that they are born of a great family, and therefore send them to us, and we shall examine them diligently. Hearing this, the proconsul, having read again the command of the prince, could not detain them, because blessed Rufus was born of a noble family, and he sent them off to the city of Rome. But the other Saints he kept bound in prison. When blessed Rufus and Carponius had arrived at Rome, it was announced to the emperor, and he commanded them to be received into prison. But after the third day the emperor orders a seat to be prepared for himself in the amphitheater, and ordered them to be brought forward. And when they had been brought and had stood before the emperor with cheerful countenance, the emperor said to them: Come forward and sacrifice to our gods according to the decree of our command, and depart unharmed. Then blessed Rufus together with Carponius said: We have never obeyed your gods; for we have a King of the heavens, to whom we offer ourselves as a sacrifice of praise, not to your gods, which are vain, deaf, and dumb, which neither see nor move a step.
[5] at whose command they are beaten, and are sent back to the judge: Hearing this, the emperor ordered them to be beaten with leaded scourges i: and when the beaters had ceased, the emperor said to them: Why have you thus insulted my gods? Blessed Rufus together with Carponius said: We do not insult your gods, but those who worship them. For you, O emperor, if you knew how mighty our God is, would confess Christ with us. Then the emperor, hearing these things, was silent, and ordered his counselor to send them into Campania to the proconsul, saying: I cannot put them to death on account of Sibylla, since Carponius was very well known to her; and he sent an order to the judge that he himself should hear them or put them to death, if indeed they should persevere in believing in that Jesus Christ who was crucified by men in Judea.
[6] tortured on the rack, again they are urged Then the judge received them with great severity. But on another day he ordered blessed Rufus and Carponius to be brought forward, saying to them together with his counselor, named Apronianus: Sacrifice to the gods according to the command of the emperor Diocletian and of Maximian the Cæsar. And the holy martyrs Rufus and Carponius, answering, said: Your emperor Diocletian and your Cæsar Maximian go astray in their affairs, and therefore we despise them, and believe in Christ the Son of the living God, who made heaven and earth. The proconsul said: Take counsel for your nobility, and do not end your life too swiftly. Then the holy Martyrs answered and said: Once for all we have told you that we shall never consent to your gods of stone. Then the proconsul ordered them to be hung up on the rack and tortured. While they were being tortured, with cheerful countenance they gave thanks to the Lord God, saying: We give you thanks, Lord Jesus Christ, that we have been counted worthy to suffer these things for the love of your name. And St. Rufus said to the proconsul: O if your emperors Diocletian and Maximian knew what manner of one is Christ the Son of the living God, they would forsake their idols, deaf and blind and dumb, which are tormented daily in the fire, and would adore the Lord their living Creator, who made the heavens by his power; and you, O judge, full of iniquity, would no longer presume to torment those who confess Christ, but through you the empire of Diocletian and of Maximian the Cæsar shall come to ruin.
[7] The judge said: Why have you thus insulted our emperors? in vain the Saints are invited. Why have you spoken so proudly? Blessed Rufus together with Carponius said: We are not proud, but we are simple, like the doves of Christ: for we do not at all cease to confess and praise our Lord Jesus Christ, and to bless the Savior of the world. Then the proconsul ordered them to be received back into prison, until he should consider how he might destroy them. But on another day he ordered a seat to be prepared for himself in the forum, and sitting on the tribunal he orders blessed Rufus to be presented to him; but holy Carponius he ordered to be kept in prison. And when blessed Rufus with the other martyrs stood before the governor, the judge says to the other Saints: Obey our command and sacrifice to the gods. The Martyrs answered and said: We offer our own selves as a sacrifice of praise to the King of the heavens: for to you we shall never consent. And when the proconsul had heard this, he ordered them all to be beheaded in that same place.
[8] And while they were being beheaded, blessed Rufus prayed, saying: Lord God almighty, St. Rufus answering the judge freely, receive the souls of your servants in peace, and command that I be swiftly summoned out of this world, for it is time to praise your holy name. And when he had finished the prayer, the proconsul says to him: Come forward and sacrifice to the gods, Rufus, lest you end too swiftly the life of your youth. St. Rufus answered and said: Hear me, proconsul: never will I consent to your vain sacrifices, which are reserved for you unto your perdition; but I trust in almighty God, who is leading your gods to your destruction. The judge says: Have done now, and sacrifice to the gods. St. Rufus answered and said: Such is the emperor Diocletian as are your most wretched gods; but I hasten to draw near to that eternal life, and to receive from the Lord an everlasting crown. The judge said: Take counsel for your soul, and yield. St. Rufus said: What you threaten, execute upon me the more swiftly. The judge said: How long can I bear your insults? By the safety of the gods, were it not that you are born of a noble family, I had already ordered you to be handed over to the wild beasts. St. Rufus answered: Do what you will, Cassellianus, cold devil k, for you too have become such as your gods are.
[9] Then the proconsul, filled with fury, ordered blessed Rufus to be beaten with leaded scourges: [he is beaten with leaded scourges unto death, and St. Carponius dies upon the scaffold:] and while he was long being beaten, looking up to heaven with cheerful countenance he said with tears: I give you thanks, Lord Jesus Christ, who live and reign together with the Father and the Holy Spirit: I ask that you hasten my soul now, for you are my God and my strength. And when he had said these things, he gave up the spirit. The bodies of the Saints of whom mention was made above were carried off by the Christians, and laid in the crypts where they had before lain hidden. And when the proconsul learned this, he was greatly angered, and ordered the body of blessed Rufus to be guarded by soldiers. And he ordered St. Carponius also to be presented to him, and sitting on the tribunal the proconsul questioned St. Carponius, saying: Are these things true which I hear, which are alleged against you by Probus? That while you were in prison you taught great crowds of Christians, and preached to them I know not what crucified Christ, and reckoned our gods as nothing? But he kept silence. Then the judge was angry that he made no answer, and said to him: Speak, you wicked man; what is this that I hear? Then Carponius again kept silence, and beating his breast looked up with his eyes to heaven. Then the judge in anger ordered his jaws to be beaten. St. Carponius said to him: Man full of iniquity, evildoer, why do you persecute the Servant of God? Then the proconsul, kindled with wrath, ordered him to be tortured upon the scaffold. And when he had long been tortured, with cheerful countenance he blessed the Lord, saying: Lord God almighty, deliver me from the hands of Cassellianus the proconsul; you who delivered your handmaid Susanna from a false charge by your servant Daniel, so may you deign to receive my spirit, for you are my God. And when he had thus prayed, he gave up the spirit.
[10] the bodies secretly carried off by the Christians and buried. Then the proconsul ordered his body to be laid beside the body of holy Rufus, and to be so guarded, saying: Perhaps those who buried the others will come, that they may bury these also; and take them and bring them to me. Then, by God's help, the guards fell asleep; and the Christians, hearing of it by night, while they slept, carried off their bodies, and embalmed them with precious spices, and laid them with the highest honor and joy in the most secret crypts, praising together our Lord Jesus Christ. These things were done in the times of the emperor Diocletian and of Maximian the Cæsar, and of Cassellianus the proconsul, who served the most filthy gods in the capitol. Which capitol, in the city of Capua, Christ, at the prayers of the holy Rufus and Carponius, destroyed with his thunderbolt l, and the persecution of the pagans arose no more. For the deposition of the martyrs Rufus and Carponius is on the sixth day of the Kalends of September; by the help of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom be honor and glory and power for ever and ever. Amen.
ANNOTATIONS.
words Monachus admits, if they are to be understood of the Sibyl the prophetess; especially since contradictory things are said of the Sibyl: for here the Sibyl is introduced as persecuting the Christians; at number 5 the emperor does not dare to put Carponius to death at Rome, lest he should offend the Sibyl, as he notes. Yet Monachus adds that perhaps the Sibylline books are to be understood; or that Sibylla was a lady of the first rank, to whom, he says, Carponius, as a physician, could have been known and dear. Hence he strives to reconcile the fear both of Carponius and of the emperor: that the former might fear her out of hatred of the faith; but that the emperor feared, on account of Sibylla's friendship with Carponius, lest his death should displease her. Yet these things appear more subtle than probable, and that persecution of Sibylla's is to be reckoned among the fables.
ON SS. OLLIUS AND STEPHEN THE DEACON, MARTYRS OF CONSTANTINOPLE.
From Florentinius.
CommentaryOllius, martyr, of Constantinople (St.)
Stephen, deacon, martyr, of Constantinople (St.)
J. P.
We have transcribed these two Martyrs hither from the text in Florentinius, in which they are thus reported: At Constantinople, the birthday of the holy Ollius and Stephen the deacon. But in his notes he observes these few things concerning them: The Martyrology of St. Willibrord, already adduced, omits these Byzantine Martyrs, perhaps from some lacuna, which imposed upon the copyist so that he set Stephen between Hermes and Basilla, Roman martyrs; who in our books is a Byzantine deacon, and in the Corbie copy only a martyr. But in our shorter Corbie copy he does not occur on this day. Both are likewise marked as of Constantinople, and Stephen is given the title of deacon, in our transcript from the manuscript of St. Maximin, which is contained in the folder S 19. In D'Achery, volume 4 of the Spicilegium, in the Martyrology published there under the name of St. Jerome, page 668, they stand thus: At Constantinople, the birthday of the holy Olius and Stephen, martyrs.