Candida

ON ST. CANDIDA, VIRGIN AND MARTYR, AND ON SS. FELIX, FORICIA, ADAUSIA, AND GEMELLINA WITH THEIR COMPANIONS, MARTYRS,

AT ROME.

Candida, V. M., at Rome (St.)

Felix, M., at Rome (St.)

Foricia, M., at Rome (St.)

Adausia, M., at Rome (St.)

Gemellina, M., at Rome (St.)

Companions, MM., at Rome

J. P.

St. Candida known in many Martyrologies, Many Martyrologies, both more ancient and more recent, record on this day St. Candida the virgin; but some omit the title of martyr, others add it. Certain Hieronymian transcripts exhibit St. Candida mingled with other martyrs. The Augsburg and the Labbean, in our work after vol. VII of June, record the bare name of Candida, as also another manuscript in Florentinius in the notes on the XXIX of August. The Corbie transcript there has Candida the virgin. Usuard: On the same day, St. Candida the virgin. So also our manuscript Florarium. Rightly, however, in the present Roman she is both called Martyr and said to have suffered at Rome, because this is abundantly gathered from her companions, whom we shall presently assign. Take, then, the words of the Roman Martyrology: Likewise at Rome, St. Candida, virgin and martyr, whose body Pope Paschal the First translated into the church of St. Praxedes. On this passage Baronius observes the following: On the marble tablet which is in the church of St. Praxedes, Candida is found described among the other martyrs there laid. Ferrari has the same in the Catalogue of the Saints of Italy. Piazza in the Sacred Hemerology of the City of Rome on the XXIX of August reports the following of St. Candida: St. Candida, virgin and martyr of Rome, to whom Hadrian I dedicated a church outside the Porta Portuensis, in which her body was placed, and afterwards translated to the church of St. Praxedes by Paschal I, as the Roman Martyrology affirms. Part of her head is preserved in the church of St. Mary in Campitelli, the other part in that of the Virgin of Loreto. So much for Candida. Now let us search out her fellow-martyrs.

[2] who was a martyr along with the others here recounted. For although Candida is reported alone by Usuard and by the other martyrologists who followed him — which may have come about from the translation of her body — I do not doubt that she is the same who in the Hieronymian Martyrologies is joined with four others. In D'Achery, vol. 2 of the reprinted Spicilegium, page 17, the Corbie Martyrology assigns these martyrs to the XXIX: At Rome, on the Ostian Way, the birthday of Saints Felix, Candida the virgin, Foricia, Adausia, Gemellina, with their companions. The same martyrs, and indeed in the same order, are found in three copies of Florentinius, but with the names not a little disjointed. In the text he published thus: At Rome, on the Ostian Way, Felix, Candidus, Foriga, Adaufia, Gemellina, with their companions. From another most ancient manuscript, in the notes: At Rome, Felix, Candida, Furina, Adavisa, Gemellina. His third manuscript is the Corbie, already given. From these I gather that these five martyrs suffered together at Rome on the Ostian Way with other anonymous companions; and I conjecture that the names given in the title from the Corbie Martyrology come nearest to their genuine names. Nor does it stand against Candida's martyrdom that Peter de Natalibus in his Catalogue*, book 11, chapter 130, number 229, says that Candida rested in peace on the IV of the Kalends of September: for since he confesses that he found nothing concerning the deeds of the Saints whom he recounts in that chapter, he will not have found even the death of St. Candida; but he was led into that opinion because he did not find the title of Martyr in Usuard or in others. More concerning these martyrs I do not find: for neither the notes of Florentinius nor other more recent martyrologists bring more light.

that is, Ostiensi.*

for Candidæ.*