ON THE HOLY MARTYRS OF SALERNO FORTUNATUS AND CAIUS AND ANTHES
Under Diocletian.
PRELIMINARY COMMENTARY.
ON THE HOLY MARTYRS OF SALERNO FORTUNATUS AND CAIUS AND ANTHES
BHL Number: 3086
BY J. P.
§ I. The place; the bodies deposited there; the solemn cult; the translations.
The Roman Martyrology marks the yearly memory of these three Champions of Christ on this day: These Martyrs are in the Roman Martyrology, and at Salerno At Salerno, of the holy martyrs Fortunatus, Caius, and Anthes, beheaded under the emperor Diocletian and the proconsul Leontius. Their public veneration is thus proved in the notations: Concerning these, the Tables of the church of Salerno, the Breviary, and other ancient monuments of the same church. Their translation is celebrated on the Ides of May. Their bodies are kept in the cathedral church in the lower crypt: but in the upper, beneath the high altar, is placed the body of St. Felix, priest and martyr, whose anniversary celebration is held there on the XXI of February. But these things must be confirmed and set forth by us at greater length. First, therefore, we present a view of the place in which those Saints are honored with the highest veneration. Ferdinand Ughelli, in volume 7 of Sacred Italy, from column 473 of the earlier edition, thus describes the metropolis of Salerno: Between the promontory of Minerva and the river Sele, at the roots of Monte Bonio, is situated the noble and very ancient city of Salerno, metropolis and head of the Picentines, in the Hither, as they call it, Principality, 30 miles from Naples toward the southeast, as many from Benevento toward the south, and from Capaccio; standing 15 from Amalfi toward the east, 22 from Nola toward the south…
But its antiquity and fame can be gathered from this, that Cicero, Livy, Lucan, Strabo, Silius Italicus, Pliny, and Appian make mention of it… But the school of medicine and the academy of Salerno are especially illustrious, and to such a degree that thence this very city was called the fountain of medicine. Consult Pagi's Critica at the year 1087, number 13. Concerning the princes of its own which it had for many centuries, and the other ornaments adorning it, the praised Ughelli writes.
[2] In the same place, among the other things for which the metropolitan basilica is praised, their bodies are kept: these stand: There are also the bodies of fifteen Saints, whose Offices are celebrated in that church at their proper season; and especially the bodies of Fortunatus, Gaius, and Anthes, the tutelary Saints of the city, are entombed there; whose altar, which was very ancient and of the highest veneration, we ourselves (namely Marsilio, from whom Ughelli reports the eulogy or description of the said basilica) Colonna, archbishop of Salerno, by the authority of Gregory XIII, supreme Pontiff, took care to have endowed with a privilege for the freeing of the souls of the dead from purgatory, after the manner of the Gregorian altar which is in the City. Ferrari, in the Catalogue of the Saints of Italy, treats of these Martyrs at the XXVIII of August as patrons of Salerno. The feast is celebrated with an Octave on the XXVIII of August, as is plain from the proper Offices of the feasts of the church of Salerno, reformed by the most illustrious Mario Bolognini, archbishop of Salerno, and published at Naples in the year 1594. The proper lessons I shall give after this Commentary; the following I here cull from the Offices just alleged.
[3] the honorable cult of them there At first Vespers … the Hymn: Praise, honor, and glory to the holy Martyrs, who, consecrated to the Lord of heaven by their own blood, in the stead of the heavenly warfare, retain an unconquered faith. They strove to bear strong conflicts manfully, to break the enemy's ranks bravely, by the barrier of their own body, that after their deaths they might live. Set now in the King's diadem, they shine forth rather with the light of stars; these gifts did Christ, the Son of God, give to his soldiers. Of whose number they are, in whom this day our people most gladly rejoices to bring forth songs of pious praise, as befits so great lights of this fatherland. Fortunatus, enjoy thy prosperous estate together with thy merits, with whom the note of thy name likewise accords; and grant us by thy prayer to rejoice everlastingly. And thou, Caius, assent with good ways, to blunt our hearts continually, and help us happily to receive hereafter what we now ask. Anthes, splendid with perpetual light, equal to these in merit, and by right not last, do thou entreat the common Lord for us as often as thou canst. May thy Godhead, O King, confer these things upon us, binding the discordant heap into number, that with thee we may live to thee in stable peace through all ages. Amen.
[4] in the Office At the Magnificat, the antiphon: May the intercession of thy holy martyrs Fortunatus, Caius, and Anthes succor us, O Lord, and everywhere protect and defend us, that by their prayers we may be freed from all evils. The collect: May thy devout Church, we beseech thee, O Lord, receive the venerable birthdays of thy blessed martyrs Fortunatus, Caius, and Anthes, and be made more devout by the love of great devotion. Through our Lord. And no commemoration is made. At Lauds and through the Hours, the antiphon: O blessed martyr, excellent Fortunatus, guardian and shepherd of the fatherland, pour forth prayers to the Lord for the people who devoutly celebrate thy martyrdom. Antiphon: This is a most true martyr of Christ, Fortunatus the elect of God, who, the world being trodden underfoot, this day gloriously deserved to ascend the heavenly kingdoms. Antiphon: This day the holy martyr Fortunatus entered heaven rejoicing, whose prayer may commend us to the Lord. Antiphon: The illustrious lights of the warfare of Christ this day poured out their blood for him; slain by the proconsul Leontius, they were made citizens of heaven. Antiphon: These are the glorious Saints, the renowned martyrs, in whose patronage the citizens of Salerno are glad and exult in the Lord.
[5] The Hymn: Hail, day dedicated to our Guardians, marked with praises, proper to them and adorned with the highest virtues of the Martyrs: who, while they duly prefer things eternal to things temporal, are swiftly proved soldiers of Christ by the stroke of the sword. Wonderful are the things which are believed to have happened here after their passing: shining birds guarded their bodies; the fatherland, cruelly besieged and almost given over to death, remained suddenly free by their victory. Now secure in thy sweet holy fellow-citizens, Salerno, offer to thy conquerors the proclamation of new praise. These are they for whom it befits thee most often to give thanks; by whose gift thou seest thyself living, fear being repressed. May these drive off the adversaries of the mind, as once the barbarians; may they afford increase of peace and the rewards of the highest life. To the Father most high be glory, and to the Son victory, and to the Spirit the praise that is due, through the ages of ages. Amen.
[6] At the Benedictus, the antiphon: When they were slain by the iniquitous proconsul Leontius, is celebrated. their bodies were fortified by the guard of holy angels, until, gathered up by the faithful, they were buried with due honor. The collect: We suppliantly entreat thy majesty, O Lord, that, as thou dost continually gladden us with the solemnity of thy holy Martyrs Fortunatus, Caius, and Anthes, so thou wouldst ever defend us by their supplication. Through our Lord. Further, these Champions were in great veneration among the people of Salerno even from ancient times; for both hymns, produced by us before, are found in the Verses of Alfanus, archbishop of Salerno, who lived in the eleventh century, in Ughelli, volume 2 of Sacred Italy, in the Appendix, columns [ ] and 1092.
[7] But that ancient veneration of the holy Martyrs among the people of Salerno had before been raised to a new splendor, The bodies of the Martyrs translated when their bodies were translated with solemn rite on the day XV of May (of which matter we then made mention among the Passed Over) in the tenth century. Gaspar Musca, in his Catalogue of the bishops and archbishops of the church of Salerno, page 21, treating of Bernard, the first of this name: In the year, he says, CMXL, an incursion of the Agarenes being imminent, fearing lest he should be defrauded of his own patrons, namely the holy Martyrs Fortunatus, Caius, and Anthes, that same excellent prelate carried their sacred bodies with due honor from their own church, where they had rested through long spaces of time beside the river which is called the Lirnus, to the church of the aforesaid St. John (built by the same prelate, as he had premised) within the walls of the city, and placed them there most honorably, an altar being erected in honor of those same holy Martyrs Fortunatus, Caius, and Anthes, and of all the blessed Apostles. The prince of Salerno at that time was Gisulf, as Ughelli relates in the alleged volume 7, column 475, where he narrates these things: Gisulf I, son of Guaimar, at the age of three years, was hailed as the tenth prince in the year CMXXXIII. He carried on the principate with varying fortune down to the year CMLXXXIII.
[8] into the city of Salerno; What Musca indicated concerning the imminent incursion of the Agarenes I set forth briefly. Among the Writers of Italian Affairs, in the second part of the second volume, published at Milan in the year 1726, there are the Paralipomena of the Anonymous of Salerno, or the remaining part of the History composed by him, not yet, as is added, published, from about the year 760 down to about the year 960; and at chapter 94, column 280, these things are written concerning prince Gisulf: The kingdom of the Greeks, of the Agarenes, of the Franks, and of the Saxons indeed obeyed him, and he held his principate unharmed. Upon which passage, because the Anonymous seemed to attribute too much to Gisulf's authority, the following is noted: Either the word is corrupt, or it must be more mildly expounded. Namely, they kept friendship with him, or conferred gifts upon him, that they might have him a friend, or at least not an adversary. But these things do not seem to hinder that the translation of our holy Martyrs happened out of fear of an imminent incursion of the Agarenes, by distinguishing the times: for he carried on the principate with varying fortune, as Ughelli said. But how hostile the Agarenes or Saracens were to the people of Salerno, the same Anonymous relates. See the index to the volume already mentioned under the word Saraceni.
[9] which afterwards Nor will it be beside the purpose to note some things from the proper Offices of the feasts of the church of Salerno indicated above, that it may be plain in how great honor our Champions are there, since they recall their translation with a proper and solemn Office on the day XV of May. The antiphons, hymns, and Invitatory I do not transcribe; but I give the collect alone, which is this: May the venerable festivity of the translation of thy martyrs Fortunatus, Caius, and Anthes, O Lord, implore for us thy help, that those whom thou hast gladdened by their presence thou wouldst not suffer to lie subject to human perils. Through our Lord. But the three lessons inserted into this Office contain the history of the translation. We have another manuscript copy of the same transaction, whose narrative is noted as transcribed from an ancient manuscript lectionary of the basilica of St. Matthew the Apostle, and, as is added, from the collection of Father Antonio Caracciolo, in the volume of the Lives of the Holy Martyrs; of that Antonio Caracciolo, as I suspect, who, having professed the institute of the Clerks Regular, has long since become known to the republic of letters by his writings. From this our transcript we shall bring forward the translation already mentioned; since its lessons published in print may be read among the aforesaid proper Offices. But before we exhibit the manuscript instrument itself, we propose these things to be considered concerning it.
[10] in the metropolitan basilica of that same city First, the Saints had their own church outside the city of Salerno, from which they were translated by bishop Bernard, and deposited in the church of St. John, according to Musca cited above. But afterwards they were placed in the metropolitan basilica of St. Matthew the Apostle, as we have already said from Ughelli. Musca from page 23 reports one translation of this holy Apostle at the year 954, under Bernard II, bishop of Salerno, and prince Gisulf, from the city of Pæstum to Salerno, into the greater church … of St. Mary; and another made under Gregory VII, from the said greater church to the new church built at the expense of Duke Robert Guiscard, then prince of Salerno, and dedicated to the blessed Apostle and Evangelist Matthew: which is described at greater length in Ughelli, as we indicated at number 2. Concerning the finding and translation of that same sacred body the Anonymous of Salerno, of whom before, writes at chapter 143; upon which it is said in the notes that perhaps the time must be anticipated. But, lest we determine anything too hastily in this matter, which does not properly belong here, we defer it to the XXI of September, on which this holy Apostle must be treated of with the Roman Martyrology. Further, concerning Robert Guiscard, Baronius will give more at the years of Christ 1059, 1061, 1074, and following.
[11] Secondly, our Martyrs, as is reported in the instrument of the translation they are placed. which we are presently to give, freed the city of Salerno, already hard pressed by the barbarians, coming in military garb from the parts of Africa, girt with divine power. Of the circumstances of this deliverance we have not documents at hand by which they may be proved from ancient sources. Nevertheless the substance of the matter Alfanus confirms above, when he sings these things: the fatherland, cruelly besieged and almost given over to death, remained suddenly free by their victory. And presently: May these drive off the adversaries of the mind, as once the barbarians. Thirdly, concerning Priapus, of whom mention is made in the instrument just spoken of, and whom superstitious antiquity is read to have believed the guardian and god of gardens, the poets fable various filthy things. These things being prefaced, we exhibit the instrument of the translation.
§ II. The history of the translation of the holy Martyrs.
The bodies of the Martyrs, slain near Salerno, Almighty God, who is glorious in his Saints
is shown, zealous for the salvation of the whole human race, so thirsted for the redemption of the citizens of Salerno, that their mind, hitherto overshadowed by the darkness of idolatry, might be purged by the warmth of three stars proceeding from the very true Sun of justice, and might be illumined by their encircling light. It pleased therefore the divine providence that the precious martyrs Fortunatus, Caius, and Anthes, companions of sufferings and of glory, should nowhere else than beside the walls of the illustrious city of Salerno, and near the river which is called the Lernus, under Leutius [*], who under the emperors Diocletian and Maximian held the proconsulate in the parts of Apulia, after atrocious torments, exchange life for death.
[13] Their most precious bodies, by the order of the aforesaid most iniquitous proconsul exposed to beasts and birds, and exposed in vain to the bites of beasts as a truthful history reports, were by the divine will diminished by the touch of no bird or beast, nor in any way injured, but, being guarded by three angels appearing in the likeness of three eagles, were found by the faithful; who with hymns and spiritual songs bore away the holy bodies, and with due honor commended them to the earth, as the law of humanity demands, beside the aforesaid river. Where, the faithful in Christ increasing, and frequent miracles of the aforesaid Martyrs springing forth, to their honor and glory a church was built with their names; which bodies of illustrious soldiers, long laid up outside the walls of the city, how they were translated within the walls of the city, I shall take care to weave, by the aid of him who made his Martyrs glorious in confessing him.
[14] At the time when at Salerno Inolphus [], an illustrious, devout, they are translated into the same city, and provident man, by the divine grace happily guided the reins of the principate of Salerno, and of Bernard the most pious prelate, by whom at that time the noble bishopric of Salerno was ruled on a happy course, God providing for the citizens of Salerno the blessed Matthew, Apostle and Evangelist, as shepherd, whose body, the inestimable treasure of a pearl, in the time of prince Gisulf, son of Guismarius [], by the procuring of him who is the one Shepherd of all the sheep, was found in the borders of Lucania, and was placed in the parts of the city of Salerno.
[15] and there placed in the church of St. Matthew the Apostle In the midst of which aforesaid city a church of wonderful greatness, and of no less beauty, was established in honor of the aforesaid Apostle and with his name by Duke Robert Guiscard; and not undeservedly, because, just as the heart, the noblest among the members of the body, is laid up in the middle of the living creature, that it may pour its virtue in its own manner into all the parts, so also the flashing beryl, placed in the middle of the city, looking upon its citizens on every side, might govern them. But since it seemed and was unworthy that an uncultivated place should cover the most sacred limbs of such Martyrs, whose merits, with the pouring out of their own blood, had illumined the province of Salerno by most evident signs, the devotion of the faithful judged it worthy to translate with due honor their remains — yielding an odor no less than most adored flowers — which had before been laid in a humble place.
[16] they are placed: Nor did this lack reason: for they who freed the city of Salerno, already hard pressed by the barbarians coming from the parts of Africa in military garb, being girt with divine power, were so set as guardians within the walls, that like most unconquered champions they put to flight the assaults, both of mind and of body, of the enemies coming upon them. On the appointed day therefore the bishop proceeds to carry out the business of the translation, in pontifical habit, and surrounded by a company of clergy, with banners and censers, candlesticks and cross-shaped standards going before; the people too runs, the little with the greater, with an innumerable throng of lords; but their mind ran no less than their bodily steps, and they came to the first place where the treasure lay hidden, wrapped up.
[17] the tomb being opened Now the place where the bodies, gathered by the faithful, had been buried, was near enough to a structure of stones artfully constructed, where formerly the worshipers of idols, deceived by his crafty response, honored with most wicked victims the god named Priapus — alas the grief! — for the regard of the ladies who by defect of nature or of disease were unable to conceive. Nor undeservedly did the most blessed Martyrs first choose this place, that in testimony of victory and for the increase of faith, where by the punishments borne from him they had vanquished the enemy Leontius, who followed the worship of that same Priapus and of other graven images, in that very place they willed a place to be made for themselves, until the throng of the faithful should increase.
[18] a most sweet odor When therefore the monument had been broken open, where the most shining pearls, like three rays of stars, were flashing, so great a fragrance of most sweet odor suddenly issued from them, that not a sepulcher, but a storeroom of spices seemed to have lain open. For it was fitting; and this odor was so great and so marvelous that it manifestly surpassed all spices, and, sweeter among sweet odors, transcending their odor, seemed like to no natural odor at all: so that rightly, according to the Scripture, the peoples ran after the odor as of their ointments, and there was verified in them the word and that blessing of the Patriarch: Behold the odor of my son, as the odor of a full field which the Lord hath blessed.
[19] O stupendous miracle, and full of all joy! for not only was such an odor in the sacred limbs of the Martyrs, but it clung firmly also to the earth heaped up round about it refreshes those present and those absent: and to the dust of that very grave: so that afterwards, when some of it had been carried away to distant parts, many marveled most vehemently. But the devotion of both sexes toward them was so holy that each thought himself most blessed who rejoiced to have touched even the least part of the bodies, or at least the dust. For they believed — and no wonder, since all things are possible to him that believes — that those held by various sicknesses would be freed, and would be preserved from future harms: and so it came about that many were restored to the benefits of health from whatever infirmity [*] oppressed them.
[20] But O, how most worthy of praise, that this health of bodies was followed by health of souls, so that, uplifted by the benefits of such great miracles, they conformed themselves forthwith to Christ! At last, by the order of the aforesaid pontiff, with all reverence, joy, and devotion the bodies were raised from the aforesaid graves, the translation carried out with solemn rite: and laid in a shrine covered about with cloths of gold, and reverently set upon the shoulders of sacred persons with proclamations of praise; and thus in procession, as they had come before, but with a happier pace, they brought them to the walls of the aforesaid city, namely to the greater church. Nor did the divine providence suffer those to be separated in death whom in life it willed to be made companions in sufferings. And who of little faith could doubt that at their coming the unclean spirits, whom in the tyrants they had vanquished, were put to flight?
[21] For the demons, making a great wailing and running through the air the demons put to flight: while the most sacred bodies were being carried, grieved indeed for the possession they had lost, seeing the fiery devotion of the people, and that they had lost those whom they had long invaded by crafty suggestions. Nor is it a wonder: for there is no partaking of light with darkness, nor of Christ with Belial. The limbs therefore entire, which the divine power, when they were once exposed, preserved unhurt from the bites of birds and beasts, being translated by the aforesaid leaders, arrived at the aforesaid place.
[22] Three stars, therefore, namely Fortunatus, Caius, Salerno as it were illumined by these three stars. and Anthes, were joined to a greater luminary, that the brightness, now united to many splendors, might appear glittering the more, and that the city of Salerno, adorned with such great radiances and irradiated with multiplied lights, might feel that it had lost the darkness of all night. Exult therefore, faithful and noble city, governed by three guardians and one prince; know thoroughly that through them thou hast been defended from the aforesaid harms, and hope to be freed from adversities to come, by the aid of him who is glorious unto the ages. Amen. Thus far the narrative of the translation, to which we add nothing, because we have premised various remarks upon it at the end of the preceding paragraph.
Annotationsread Leontio*
elsewhere Gisulphus*
elsewhere Guaimarii*
perhaps invaletudine*
§ III. Other Saints mingled with the Acts; the miracle which is narrated in them, confirmed from elsewhere; their characteristics.
We give the Acts from the proper lessons of Salerno: Since I find in our collectanea no manuscript copy of the Acts, there will be given those which are printed in the proper Offices of the church of Salerno, and are read throughout the Octave of the holy Martyrs, distributed into various lessons; three days excepted: for on the XXIX of August the Office is of the beheading of St. John the Baptist, on the XXX of SS. Felix and Adauctus, Martyrs, on the XXXI of St. Augustine. But with the said lessons other martyrs are mingled, namely Felix, bishop of Buzocum, and with him Donatus and Adauctus, priests. But different from these are the Felix and Adauctus who, led out on the Ostian Way, at the second milestone from the City, were struck with the axe. Ferrari in the Catalogue of the Saints of Italy at this day has the martyrdom of Fortunatus, Caius, and Anthes in compendium; in which he also treats of Felix, Donatus, and Adauctus, crowned in Apulia; but seeing some difficulty in this matter, he endeavors to meet it thus in an annotation: The Acts of these holy Martyrs seem to be confounded with the Acts of SS. Felix, Januarius, Adauctus, Fortunatus, and Septimus, who suffered at Venosa. Unless we say that there were two Fortunatuses, and that these are companions of those. Let us briefly propose the matter, so far as suffices for the present design.
[24] various Saints We do not sufficiently perceive how aptly there are mingled with the proper lessons Felix, bishop of Buzocum [], as he is called in those same lessons, and with him Donatus and Adauctus, of whom the first and the third (concerning the death of the second there is silence there) underwent martyrdom, being led out on the Ostian Way near Rome, after they had before been arrested together with our Martyrs and brought to the prætorium of the proconsul Amaglenianus. Nor do the Felix, Donatus, and Adauctus in Ferrari cohere with these in any way, since they are said to have been crowned in Apulia. Tillemont, in volume 5 of the Ecclesiastical Monuments, in the notes at page 665 and following, in the article on St. Felix of Thibaris in Africa (elsewhere of Tubzocum), heaps together various difficulties concerning the place of his bishopric, which he affirms to be unknown; concerning his different Acts; concerning those who were arrested with him; concerning the companions of his martyrdom; and finally concerning the sentence passed upon him. But to unravel these tangles is not the business of this place: it may be elsewhere, namely either at the day XXIV of October, on which is marked in the Roman Martyrology at Venosa in Apulia, the birthday of the holy martyrs Felix, an African bishop, Audactus and Januarius, priests, Fortunatus and Septimus, lectors: who in the time of Diocletian, by the procurator Magdellianus, etc.*; or at the day XXX of August, on which in the same Martyrology Felix and Adauctus, martyrs of Ostia, are announced. Meanwhile the observations on our Usuard at the days just assigned may be consulted.
[25] mingled with them: Among the Auctaria to the same Usuard at this day, the XXVIII of August, we said that in the Vatican codex number 5949 these things are added: At Salerno, of the holy martyrs Fortunatus, Gagius, and Anthes. And of the holy martyrs Septiminus, Januarius, and Felix. But that these latter are either annexed to the former in the same place, or at least honored there, is gathered from this, that presently there is subjoined in the same place: And the dedication of the three altars of this church. In the transcript
of ours from the church of Bovino (in Apulia, in the Capitanata), those three latter also are set down whom I mentioned; who, after the interrogation of Valerian, confessing Christ, were ordered to be beheaded in the city of Venosa on the fifth of the Kalends of September. Where you see Valerian put for Magdellianus. And let it suffice to have pointed out as with a finger, on this day, the above difficulties, which will in their own time afford no small matter for further inquiry. For it is enough and abundantly enough for us that we have Fortunatus, Caius, and Anthes, who are honored on this day among the people of Salerno; concerning whose lessons these things remain to be observed.
[26] The things which the lessons of the church of Salerno below, at number 7, narrate concerning the church of our holy Martyrs profaned by the king of the Saracens, death divinely inflicted upon the impious Saracen king and the death inflicted upon him, the Anonymous of Salerno, already often alleged, sets forth at greater length; from whom, that this fact may be the more confirmed, it has seemed good to recite the following from chapter 113: That tyrant of the Agarenes (Abdila) was dwelling with his satellites in the most holy house of the blessed Fortunatus and Gaius and Anthes, and was so seething in luxuries and various defilements, that that Abdila ordered a couch to be prepared for himself upon the most sacred altar; and there he mocked the maidens whom he had wickedly carried off as spoil. But so monstrous a contagion, nay rather presumption, did not long endure, by the assent of the Divinity. For when a certain Christian maiden, and a most beautiful one, had been offered to him, he immediately ordered her to be carried to his couch. But while he was busy to ravish her, and she resisted him with every effort, and even said to him in her own tongue: "I will sooner lie down to death than pollute the most sacred altar, since many sacrifices have been offered upon it" — the tyrant king, mocking her words, tried to overpower her by force; when suddenly, by the hands of angels, a beam was broken off from on high, and fell upon king Abdila, and without delay killed him. And by the wonderful power of God that maiden was in no wise touched by that beam, and remained unhurt.
[27] And lest perchance the Agarenes should pretend that it had not been done by God's clemency, divinely brought upon him but happened by chance — as very often very many churches are seen ruined through age, and not only beams but even walls laid low to the ground — assuredly it was cut [] not far [] from the altar itself; and where that contumacious man, hateful to God, was disporting himself upon the most sacred altar of God, he cast down the beam and laid him dead. And to this day, on the southern side, the Redeemer has left to his faithful the end of that beam in testimony. And not only that tyrant, but many also of them he destroyed by a sudden contagion, and forthwith snatched them from this light.
[28] For from that day, although the heathen by no means entered the said church in that fashion, it is confirmed from the Chronicle of Salerno. the Christians unceasingly praised the Redeemer of all. The Agarenes, on the contrary, were by no means astounded. That tyrant king being dead, as we have said, the Agarenes at once created a king by name Abemelec, although he was a eunuch. Toward human affairs he was bold and shrewd. The lessons of Salerno report that together with the king his son perished; but here no mention is made of him. Baronius at the year 874 says: There was added, for declaring the evidence of the miracle, that that beam, standing far off from the perpendicular of the altar, could not but by divine power have been thrown upon the sacrilegious Saracen profaning the altar.
[29] For the rest, as regards the martyrdom narrated in the same lessons, the Acts. I do not indeed see genuine characteristics in it, by which it could greatly be commended as primitive and genuine. But we give the miracles on the credit of the author; because in the Anonymous of Salerno I find none, except that of which there has just been discourse. And this appears to us somewhat strange, since he indicates that the people of Salerno relied upon divine aid and implored its help against the Agarenes. In chapter 93 are these words: The men of Salerno, relying upon the power of God, at once with bold spirit rush upon the Agarenes, and crush them on every side, and slay many of them, so that they filled the shores of the sea with their gore. Chapter 94: That Peter already mentioned … immediately invoking the Lord and his Martyrs, before whose church he was entering [] the contest, namely the holy Cosmas and Damian, forthwith hurled at him (the Agarene) the spear which he carried in his hand …, and without delay he was slain. The Christians all together praised the Lord.*
AnnotationsTubzocensis*
dirupta*
read prostrati*
perhaps procul without haud*
perhaps tectum*, that is, that part of the roof whence that beam fell.
read inibat*
ACTS
From the proper lessons of the church of Salerno.
ON THE HOLY MARTYRS OF SALERNO FORTUNATUS AND CAIUS AND ANTHES
The Saints arrested, Lesson I. Under the emperors Diocletian and Maximian, the tenth a persecution after Nero was stirred up, which was so much crueler than all that had gone before, that for ten years burnings of churches, proscriptions of the innocent, and slaughters of martyrs were carried on incessantly. Through fear of these, Felix, bishop of Buzocum, and with him Donatus and Adauctus b, priests, Fortunatus, Caius, and Anthes, when they had gathered together into one place, persevering in prayers and giving thanks to God, were arrested by soldiers and brought to the prætorium of the proconsul Amaglenianus.
[2] and by no threats Lesson II. When the proconsul had seen them, he terrified them with menacing words, and ordered them to be afflicted with chains, prison, and other penalties, and at last threatens death, unless they should offer libations to the gods. And when they had boldly detested this, Felix and Adauctus, led out on the Ostian Way at the second milestone from the City, were struck with the axe c. But Fortunatus, Caius, and Anthes, Leontius, proconsul of Apulia, brought with him to Salerno, and, sitting on the tribunal, addressed with flattering words, saying: With suppliant entreaties we beg you that, laying aside this obstinacy and the superstition of the Christ-worshipers, you would bend your necks to the almighty gods, and with us enjoy their benefits.
[3] from the worship of the true God Lesson III. Then Fortunatus, the athlete of Christ, answered: Proconsul, swelling with gall and guile, thou desirest to destroy the souls of the innocent, and, to the injury of the highest Creator, thou compellest the servants of God to bend their necks to corrupters and adulterers, whom now hell holds. To whom the proconsul, being angry, said: How are they not gods, who thunder above the sky and govern the world with perpetual order? Blessed Fortunatus, opposing him, said: Your poet Diogenes reported that verse: "Rightly therefore do I despise Jupiter, whose mother is avaricious." And when the proconsul felt his voice stick in his throat, he ordered the holy Martyrs to be brought to the temple of Priapus d, and to sacrifice to him.
[4] not being terrified, Lesson IV. But the holy Martyrs, neither deceived by the smoothness of words nor overcome by the bitterness of torments, said: Be it known to thee, proconsul, that we never offer incense to demons, nor bend our knees; but to the one almighty God we offer ourselves as a sacrifice, who is the sower of all things and the origin of the world's light; who rules heaven and earth with supreme governance: him, the almighty, we adore, him we venerate, him with lips and heart we confess; him with all our inward parts we desire — the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
[5] they are beheaded: Lesson V. And presently St. Fortunatus added: O spectacle of a most noble city, O high-born throng, consider that to which impious error has driven you. What sort of gods do you think these to be? At these admonitions and these bolder words the proconsul, being straightway indignant, ordered the executioners to lessen their heads with the sword, and to leave their bodies unburied to the birds and beasts. And they at last, not terrified even by the penalty of death, bravely giving their heads, passed to the heavenly kingdom on the fifth of the Kalends of September.
[6] Lesson VI. The bodies of the Saints, exposed to beasts, their bodies divinely preserved unhurt: were found unhurt under the guard of three angels in the appearance of three eagles, and were buried by the faithful with hymns and spiritual songs beside the river which is called the Lirnus e, near which they suffered. At length, the number of the faithful of Christ increasing, a basilica was erected in honor of the holy Martyrs; and there they rested buried, until they were translated f within the walls of the city to the cathedral church. Yet everywhere they were famous for not a few miracles.
[7] On the I day of September, of the Octave … Lesson IV. the profaners punished: After no many courses of years almighty God deigned to show many miracles through them: for when the Saracens, coming from Africa and laying waste a great part of Italy, directed their columns against Salerno, and pressed its circuit with a siege, their king with his son, boldly and shamelessly entering the church of the blessed martyrs Fortunatus, Caius, and Anthes, commanded a bed to be spread for them upon their altar; and as they slept there — wonderful to say — immediately a beam of that church came forth from the walls, fell upon them, and by a single blow both were killed g. Lesson V. But another, in contempt of the deed and of the Saints, attempting to foul the same altar by relieving himself, was immediately seized by a demon, and falling to the ground expired. Lesson VI. Thence the Saracens, terrified, withdrawing, drew nearer to the walls of the city. Where also, if they had awaited the just judgment of God through the intercessions of the blessed Martyrs for the protection of the people of Salerno, they would assuredly have felt his avenging hand.
[8] On the II day of September, Lesson IV. Another miracle also the merciful God wrought through his martyr Fortunatus: St. Fortunatus, appearing, promises his help to the people of Salerno: for he, beautiful and flourishing in age, clothed in the habit of the Greeks, appeared to a certain man who had entered a dense wood for the sake of hunting; who, being asked by him concerning his name, answered that he was a servant of Christ, and was coming to protect the city of Salerno. Lesson V. I am, he said, Fortunatus, the servant of Christ; and the Lord has willed me to go to Salerno, and has constituted me its defender; and I betake myself thither, that I may utterly remove and drive back the Saracens who afflict it with their sieges, and may deliver their spoils to the men of Salerno to be divided, and may subject those same Saracens to the swords of the Franks h and of the men of Salerno. Which was so done, to the praise of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has glorified his Saints unto the ages of ages. Amen.
[9] Lesson VI. Besides, it is not to be passed over in silence obtained how God, who is proclaimed wonderful in his Saints, on account of the illustrious merits of his blessed martyrs Fortunatus, Caius, and Anthes, the enemy being laid low, freed Salerno from the hands of the wicked. For in the time of Guaifer, prince of Salerno, a certain king of the Agarenes, Abdila by name, coming from the parts of Africa with a huge multitude of Agarenes, arrived at Salerno. And when he had found that city of Salerno fortified with walls and with vigorous soldiers, he could not enter it. He prepared its siege on the southern side about the walls, and they encamped upon the shores adjacent to the aforesaid city.
[10] On the III day of September. Lesson IV. When therefore on a certain day the aforesaid king with his army had walked beside the sea, by the merits of the Martyrs near the aforesaid walls of the city, the guardians of the walls, watching the army in silence, though they might have struck him with stones, no one dared cast even a pebble at them
to cast. Whence the Agarenes returned unharmed to their camp. Taking courage therefore, they very often did such things, since no one resisted them. Lesson V. And so it came about that the Agarenes thought the men of Salerno most timid, afflicting them with injuries and revilings and great reproaches; they even threatened no small destruction, to such a degree that, had not the divine mercy — which by no means forsakes its own to the end — been present, that city would assuredly have been taken by the wicked.
[11] against the Agarenes Lesson VI. Nevertheless the Agarenes, satellites of depravity, because twice, fighting with the men of Salerno, they had returned victors to their camp, very many of them being wounded, a few slain, but all struck with no small fear, being made bolder, and wishing to destroy everything with fire, sword, and stratagems, challenged them all to battle on an appointed day.
On the IV day of September. Lesson IV. But they used a very unfair device in fighting: for in the morning they would enter the contest against the men of Salerno from the east, but in the evening from the west, so that, the splendor of the sun overcoming the keenness of their eyes, the latter should lose their strength against the wicked, or at least should cast their blows upon them in vain. From which it came about that they not only harassed all the men of Salerno in their persons, but also plundered their goods. Wherefore the king of the Agarenes was lifted up into such pride that he did not fear to profane the sacred houses of God.
[12] victory won by the men of Salerno. Lesson V. The men of Salerno, however, unable to bear the injury of God and of his Saints, and being also very often provoked to battle, relying upon the help of almighty God, who saves those that hope in him, and upon the protection and intercession of the holy martyrs Fortunatus, Caius, and Anthes, on the day already mentioned, with brave spirit and fortified with arms, going forth from the city, rushed upon the nations of the Agarenes, and crushed and slaughtered them on every side, whereas out of the vast multitude of the men of Salerno only seventy perished. Whence the victors, laden with the spoils of their enemies, entered the city exulting; and, giving thanks to God and to blessed Fortunatus, the booty having been divided among them, each returned to his own. Lesson VI. The shores therefore grow red with the blood of the infidels, and, as of the Egyptians at the Red Sea, their bodies appear laid low by cruel death. The king therefore and the Agarenes, seeing the slaughter of their men, with pipe, sackbut, and all kinds of warlike instruments, and with trumpets clanging and resounding, called together the few soldiers who remained, and left the city and the siege i.