ON ST. DOMINIC DEL VAL, BOY AND MARTYR, SLAIN BY THE JEWS,
AT SARAGOSSA IN ARAGON,
In the year MCCL.
PRELIMINARY COMMENTARY.
Dominic, a boy, martyr, at Saragossa in Aragon (St.)
BY J. P.
§ I. The Saint's name; various documents concerning his cult.
That in various places and times the perfidious Jews, out of their undying hatred against the true Messiah, raged against innocent childhood, the martyrdom of St. Dominic or Dominiculus, the histories record. Several victims of this kind, butchered by them with a tragic and more than brutish barbarity, I named in volume III of July, on the XII day of that month, page 462, on the occasion of Bl. Andrew, a boy who suffered a like cruelty. Among these must be numbered on this day St. Dominic, or Dominiculus by a diminutive name, in Spanish Dominguito, by which also he is called. The name Vallius (in Spanish de Val) he drew from his parents. But the arena of his martyrdom is Caesaraugusta, commonly Zaragoza (whose most celebrated church afterwards became metropolitan from being a cathedral), in the kingdom of Aragon, and its head. Of his parents and age the Acts write; but of the office which he discharged in the cathedral church of Saragossa, others. He began to be honored and adorned with miracles in the first time after his death, as we have it from the same Acts. But there remain many things to be recorded of his public veneration and of its increase, from the Dissertation on the martyrdom of our St. Dominic, published in Spanish at Saragossa in the year 1698 by the Rev. Master Diego José Dormer, chief archdeacon of St. Salvador in that same metropolitan church.
[2] At page 8 this Antiphon is given by him: Happy martyr of the Redeemer, Dominic, whose glory is held renowned in heaven, a proper antiphon and prayer of him, a confraternity a partner of the Innocents and of the martyrs, a shining gem, the strength of the Spaniards, mercifully pray for us to our Savior Christ the Lord, whose tokens you already bear, that in heaven we may rejoice with you without end. ℣. Pray for us, blessed Dominic. ℞. That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ. Prayer. O God, who didst bestow upon blessed Dominic, the innocent martyr, the reward of everlasting life, grant, we beseech thee, that, supported by his merits and prayers, we may deserve to enjoy eternal blessedness. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, who liveth with thee, etc. Of the confraternity founded in honor of St. Dominic del Val, Dormer treats at page 17 and following, gathering many Spanish documents, which I shall translate into Latin.
[3] Writing of the beginning of that confraternity he affirms that it is established that it was founded when the Saint's martyrdom had scarcely happened, from tradition, because he asserts that in its archive there are preserved Acts which were written at that time, and from the ordinances placed at the end of them, as he says Andrés observed in the History of our Martyr, and Blasco in the Life and miracles of the holy master of Épila , whom he cites; and from Blasco he reports this: In the donations, legacies, "tributations," as he calls them, and many other writings which the confraternity of that Saint preserves (of which I have seen nineteen), in all of them that blessed martyr is named absolutely St. Dominic del Val, twice or thrice in each; and some of them are two hundred or three hundred years old, and a hundred and fifty. It is said, as Dormer subjoins, in the Prologue of the first ordinances of that confraternity, which, he says, are placed at the end of the Acts: In the name of the most holy Trinity, etc., and to the service of the glorious St. Mary the Mother of God, and especially to the honor of St. Dominic del Val of the church of St. Salvador, in whose name so praiseworthy a confraternity exists, and is established and ordained. In the ordinance under the title Of the day on which they ought to dine, is this: And after the dinner let us all come in order to the church of the blessed Lord St. Salvador to give thanks to God and to St. Dominic del Val for the benefits received. In the ordinance under the title Of the day of St. Dominic at the Mass: "We establish and command that every confrere who shall be in health in the city, and shall not have been present at the Mass on the other day, on which they dine, and at the chapter , shall pay as a fine twelve pence; and if he come after the Gospel has been said, let him pay three pence."
[4] and afterwards renewed; from the ordinances It is established also, on Dormer's testimony, that this confraternity was renewed and restored in the year 1403 by a writing of the XXVII day of December before Domingo Martín Aguilón, notary of the number at Saragossa, from which I bring forward this: Let all know that the chapter of the confreres of the confraternity of St. Dominic del Val of the church of St. Salvador of the city of Saragossa, being summoned, etc. … And that the money fund of the said confraternity may be increased, and … it pertains to the service of the lord St. Dominic, and that the brotherhood of the said confraternity may be preserved and prosperous, etc. These things I have given from a mutilated fragment in Dormer, so that it is no wonder if the sense gapes. After these he cites other documents, one indeed of the year 1403; another of the XII day of March 1426; a third of the XVI of March of the aforesaid year 1426; a fourth of the XII day of December 1468. What a notary of the number is, see in this volume among the Annotations on the Miracles of St. Raymond Nonnatus, page 756. In Dormer, page 31, it is written that there is a tradition that James king of Aragon was enrolled in that confraternity, and gave a cloth of precious ancient weaving * for the burial of deceased confreres, and that it is preserved by the confraternity. Of James I the Conqueror, Blancas, to be cited below, writes at page 651, and connects his death with the year 1276. The said Dormer at page 20 indicates that this cloth is treated of in the second ordinances of the year 1403; in which writer, at page 30, I also read that the confraternity consists of laymen, farmers, and also ecclesiastics, prebendaries of the said church.
[5] No less do other ordinances in Dormer, pages 21 and 22, show the Saint's cult enlarged, of the same which declare the matter to this effect: On the IV day of the month of December of the year one thousand five hundred and three, after the chapter of the confraternity of the glorious St. Dominic del Val, martyr, had come together and been dispatched in the confraternity of St. Magdalene of the city of Saragossa, it was resolved with one accord by the whole said chapter that, to the service of God our Lord, and of his blessed Mother, and of the said St. Dominic, and for the suffrage of the souls of the deceased confreres and the increase of life of the living, twelve Masses should be celebrated at the altar of the said glorious Saint every year in perpetuity by the clerical confreres who are and shall hereafter be, on the first Monday of each month, etc.
[6] The following document also promotes veneration toward the Saint among the confreres. various Let it be heard: On Monday the first of September in the year DXXII it was ordained in the general chapter that every confrere who shall not have gone to Vespers, and to the Vespers of St. Dominic del Val, shall pay as a fine six pence, if he shall not have given a just excuse. And Dormer subjoins this notice concerning the promotion of the Saint's public and outward cult: On Tuesday the first of September of the year one thousand five hundred and eighteen it was agreed in the general chapter that every brother of the said confraternity who shall work on the day of St. Dominic del Val shall undergo a fine of ten pence without any remission, and that this fine shall be for the community of the said confraternity. The aforesaid author at page 22 and following brings forward many other testimonies by which the public veneration of St. Dominic is confirmed and illustrated, and which he says are preserved in the Metropolitan church of Saragossa.
[7] In an ancient book, he says, entitled Of the subpriorate of the metropolitan see of Saragossa, and by other documents is established which he writes was arranged for its direction and is preserved in its archive, under this title: An admonition both in the matter of the number of copes, of the relics, and of the other ceremonies which that holy church uses in the solemnity of the following feasts, in this book, he says, at folio 347 is this: The XXXI of August, St. Dominiculus ; there is brought to his chapel a part of his head, which is adorned with silver, and six basins . But where in the same place there is a treatment of the chapels of the holy church, under the title Of that which is St. Vincent's, the same Dormer affirms that this is said: In St. Vincent's there are two lamps. One, which is the first near the door of the new sacristy of that chapel, the Prior of the cathedral church maintains, and that only by night. The other on the other side belongs to the Saint's confraternity, and the confreres maintain it, and it burns when it pleases them, and they prepare it. Dormer observes that this lamp was set up by the confreres of St. Dominic del Val in the chapel of St. Vincent, because in it his relics were honored, until they were translated to the greater sacristy in the year 1496; and that this is established from a writing which was made before Alfonso Martínez Alfocea, notary of the number at Saragossa, on the XXVI day of September, and which is alleged to this effect: On the same day, at the instance of the reverend master Antonio Barberán, canon and Prior of the cathedral church of Saragossa, a public charter was made, how a stone vessel was found in the wall of the said church, which was being pulled down, when the said church ordered something to be built in the chapel which was St. Vincent's.*
[8] a continuation Which vessel was small, and in it there were found, when it was opened, certain bones of a dead person, slightly wrapped in cotton and in ancient and torn silken cloths: which bones were unknown to them, and were those of blessed Dominiculus del Val, formerly a chorister of the said cathedral, who was put to martyrdom in time past by the Jews of the said city in mockery of the passion of our Redeemer and Savior Jesus Christ, etc. Witnesses, mossen Martín Capiella, priest and sacristan of the said cathedral church, and master Miguel Gombau, master of the works, dwelling at Saragossa.* Many other things which the aforesaid Dormer diligently collected concerning the holy Boy I cull, omitting a good many which may be read in him. I shall therefore say some things from him about his feast.
[9] of the public Doctor Pascual Mandura, canon of the Metropolitan church and perpetual rector of the royal and general hospital of Saragossa, in a book to which he gave the title The Order of the Festivals, etc., and which is preserved in the archive of the holy church, under the title Of St. Dominiculus, the XXXI of August, handed down to posterity the following: This feast the choristers perform, because that Saint was a chorister, and died a martyr … At his Vespers there is a going out for a commemoration to the chapel which is called the chapel of the Holy Spirit, otherwise the chapel of St. Dominiculus, and they say there from the common of many Martyrs … On that day Prime is entered at half past seven, and Vespers at three, and there is no anniversary, because it is deferred . To these add the following in Dormer, page 26, from the book which is entitled: The Acts of the chapter of the very illustrious men, the Prior or president, and the canons of the holy metropolitan church of Saragossa, from the year MDXCIV to the year MDCXI, where under the first day of September he asserts that this is written: Let the feast of St. Dominiculus be celebrated as hitherto, and let the church pay the expenses which may arise at the charge of the community; and let the choristers adorn the chapel, and let a scholar or epistoler assist to offer the sacred remains for veneration and to gather the offering, and*
let the lord president divide it among the choristers, and let there first be paid to the scholar who shall have had the care of it what shall seem good to the lord president. Likewise it was determined that on that day the anniversary should not be said, but deferred.
[10] of the cult In the book of the Consueta, as they call it, of the holy metropolitan church of Saragossa, on Dormer's testimony, there are not a few things pertaining to the present matter: for among others, after it had treated of the music with which the Magnificat is sung on the XXX day of August, and of the commemoration in the chapel of that holy Martyr by singing a hymn from the common of several Martyrs, this is added, which I render to this sense: The priest, and those who wear the cope, take red copes to go out to the said commemoration; in the choir two chief of the choristers offer from silver basins flowering branches to the lord canon of the week, and to two prebendaries clothed in the cope, and through each choir to the lords of the chapter, and to the prebendaries and to those holding a benefice; and they offer them at the time when the Magnificat is sung; and at the commemoration two of the chief farmers of the Saint's confraternity, which is most ancient in the holy church, offer from basins peaches to the lords of the chapter, and to the prebendaries and beneficiaries. The head and sacred pledge of the holy martyr Dominic del Val a scholar, clothed in surplice and stole, offers for veneration, and carries it, the choristers accompanying and two bearing torches, to the archiepiscopal palace, that the lord archbishop may venerate it; and he gives them in alms fifty Reals ; the Chapter also gives the choristers a hundred Reals in alms from the administration of the community, and the lord canon doctor Claudio Mateo Sorbes left them another hundred Reals, and a silver lamp which burns in the Saint's chapel before his relics. And it is added in the said book: The Salve in the Saint's chapel with music.*
[11] In the same book also, at the XXXI of August, that day is said to be, as it were, of precept to be kept * in that holy church, of this Martyr. and that there is no anniversary, nor responsories, nor chapter in that year in which it falls on a Friday; that the confreres, furnished with white candles, are present at the Mass at the Gospel, and at the elevation of the Body of Christ until the communion; that two songs are sung by the choristers, one after the Epistle, the other after the elevation, in praise of the Saint; likewise that all the choristers communicate in the Body of the Lord, the deacon and subdeacon holding a white cloth at the time of communion; that the Saint's remains are on the altar during the Mass. The same book also states that Masses are said in that Saint's chapel, and that there is a great concourse to venerate his relics; that after Vespers, from the fifth hour to the sixth, singing is again performed by the choristers before the Saint's chapel, an innumerable multitude of people flocking together. It records moreover the festive fires of the choristers in the belfry of the tower.
[12] To these I add certain observations concerning words occurring in the documents alleged, Certain observations on the foregoing documents. enclosing the Spanish in parenthesis. Capitulum (capítol) in numbers 3 and 5 is here taken for an assembly of the confraternity. In Du Cange it is taken, among other things, for a chapter of canons or monks; who may be consulted at the word capitolium. In number 7, cappae (capas). I suspect that copes, as they call them, are here designated. Mossen in number 8 is a title of honor: of which in the Annotations after the Saint's Passion. In the same place, by the name infans (infante), and very often elsewhere — for which below is also read infantuli (infantillos) — I understand a boy who is taught singing from his early years and is employed in the choir, that together with the ecclesiastics he may sing the divine offices, and is maintained at the expense of the church which he serves, or of a pious foundation for this purpose. And indeed our Martyr in Dormer, page 136, is called a chorister of the choir (seyse, o infante del choro); and at page 63 he gives him the name of son and alumnus of the church, namely of Saragossa. Scholaris (un escolar) is set down in number 9. But of what kind those are who are called by this name among the Spaniards, although I do not certainly know well enough, I nevertheless suspect that by this word canons scholastici are understood. In the cited number 9, epistolaris (epistolero) is the subdeacon. Gestantes cappam (caperos) in number 10. See what was just said of the word cappa. In the same number 10, mala Persica (melocotones o duraznillas) I believe signifies in the Spanish peaches of different kinds under the conjunction o, in Latin aut or vel. In the same place, the canonicus hebdomadarius (canónigo semanero) is he who performs the sacred duties for the week. In the same place occur rationarii (racioneros), who among the Spaniards are officers over the ecclesiastical accounts. The synod of Valencia of the year 1565, in Cardinal de Aguirre, volume 4 of the Councils of Spain, page 80, column 1, speaks thus: Nay, it commands all curates, and the officers of the ecclesiastical accounts, whom we call rationales, etc. In our volume VII of May, in the Posthumous Glory of St. Ferdinand, king of Castile and Leon, page 370, is this: A small image of the Mother of God was carried … in the hands of a rationarius.
Annotations\* Elsewhere, Bl. Peter of Arbués, martyr.
\ Spanish, capítol*, here and below.
\ Spanish, de brocado*.
\* Read MDXXII.
\ In the Spanish it is a la viespara*.
\ In the Spanish, Dominguito*.
\ Spanish, seis fuentes*.
\ Spanish, obrando*.
\ Or in fine cloths. Spanish, en cendales*.
\ se puso ultra*.
\ In the Spanish, mayordomos*.
\ In the Spanish, mayordomos*.
\ Spanish, reales*.
\ es como colendo*.
§ II. His relics; the visitation of his chapel; his Acts; the writers who treat of the Saint.
The Saint's relics, and their inscription. Dormer at page 37 and following, from the said book called the Consueta, writes of the Saint's relics, recording this: In the house in which the Saint suffered martyrdom, a light was seen in the well, which led to the drawing out of his head and hands, which they had cast into it; and together with the body they were placed in the urn in which they are honored, with this inscription: HERE LIES AN INFANT, A MARTYR FOR THE NAME OF CHRIST, THE BLESSED DOMINIC DEL VAL. This same inscription, written in ancient letters, Tamayo brings forward from Andrés's little book, chapter 9, folio 96, where, he says, he treats of the ancient veneration with which the see of Saragossa honored the holy Martyr from the time of his passion, and brings forward a marble column set at his sepulcher three hundred years ago. This inscription our engraver has thus imitated from Tamayo's facsimile in a smaller form.
As regards the Saint's relics, it is well to remember that they were in the chapel of the Holy Spirit; then in the chapel of St. Vincent, from which they were translated to the greater sacristy in the year 1496, from what was said at number 7; and add that on the XXI of July 1600 the chapter restored them to that same chapel of the Holy Spirit in a marble chest, as may be seen in Dormer, with this inscription: THE BONES OF ST. DOMINIC, A CHORISTER, SON OF SANCHO VALL AND OF ISABEL HIS WIFE, CITIZENS OF THIS ILLUSTRIOUS CITY: WHO AT SARAGOSSA, THE SYNAGOGUE OF THE JEWS ORDERING THAT HE SHOULD BE PUNISHED WITH THE HIGHEST PENALTY, WAS FASTENED TO A WALL WITH NAILS, AND AT LAST, HIS SIDE PIERCED WITH A SPEAR, CARRIED OFF THE ILLUSTRIOUS CROWN OF MARTYRDOM ON THE DAY BEFORE THE KALENDS OF SEPTEMBER IN THE YEAR MCCL. THIS HOLY METROPOLITAN CHURCH ORDERED THEM TO BE PLACED HERE ON THE XII OF THE KALENDS OF AUGUST IN THE YEAR MDC. In the aforesaid author, page 39, is this concerning the Saint's head, which he affirms was adorned with silver about three hundred years ago, and contains these words engraved round about: O MOST BLESSED MARTYR DOMINIC, NEW LITTLE PLANT OF SARAGOSSA, PRAY FOR US THY FELLOW CITIZENS, THAT WE MAY BE FREED FROM THE ASSAULT OF EITHER ENEMY. THIS MARTYR, MOST HOLY OF SAINTS , WHOSE SEVENFOLD GARLANDS …, WAS PIERCED THROUGH BY THE JEWS AT SARAGOSSA IN THE YEAR OF THE LORD ONE THOUSAND TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTY. There were here several other errors, which I have corrected.
[14] The archbishop of Saragossa The most excellent lord Don Antonio Ibáñez de la Riva Herrera, archbishop of Saragossa, etc., in the visitation of the metropolitan church and of the temple of the Savior, instituted in the year 1695, as Dormer records, declared many and various things about this holy Martyr and his chapel, etc., which are found in the register of the said visitation. From a longer Spanish instrument which the said writer brings forward at page 41 and following, I extract this into Latin: On the XII day of July his Excellency the lord archbishop visited the chapel of St. Dominic del Val, in whose place, before there came to it the enlargement and greatness which it now has, there were two chapels, one of the Body of Christ, and the other of the Holy Spirit; today there stands only one altar with the invocation of St. Dominic del Val: in which his Excellency found the altar, the altar-cloths, and the frontal very well prepared and seemly, as befits the many Masses which through devotion toward this Saint are celebrated in his chapel and at his altar.
[15] Above the altar, in the middle of the wall, there is a hollow place with an iron lattice and a border of carved gilded work; visits the Saint's chapel, within which appears a tomb of alabaster, where is and is honored the body of St. Dominiculus, so commonly named, except the head, which is among the relics of the greater sacristy, enclosed in gilded silver; and it is carried at times of the year to the sick, who obtain many and very singular benefits through his intercession; and at Vespers, and on the day on which this Saint's feast is celebrated, it is publicly exposed in the church before his chapel upon a small table seemly adorned, with two lights placed at the sides, and a priest offers it to the people for veneration. In the middle of the tomb toward the front there is an angel holding in his hands this inscription, whose characters are ancient, and such as were formed three hundred years ago, which can all be read from without, and run thus:* HERE LIES AN INFANT, etc., as at the beginning of this paragraph.
[16] Above the hollow place and the tomb is a great canopy of silk cloth of Damascus work, of crimson color , and various and in its midst an effigy of St. Dominiculus carved with the habit of a chorister or choir-boy , set upon the cross of his martyrdom, his right side opened with a lance, and having upon his head a nimbus or little silver crown; and from the arms of the cross hang some votive offerings and memorials, offered by the faithful for benefits which by the merits and intercession of the Saint they obtained from our Lord. Before the Saint, in the middle of the chapel, is a silver lamp which burns day and night, the greater sacristy supplying the oil. On the Gospel side is a sacristy, in which his Excellency visited the ornaments which are for the use of the altar, and found them very precious and seemly; which also the greater sacristy supplies.*
[17] The festival of St. Dominic del Val is celebrated in that city, things concerning the public veneration of the Martyr his native place, on the XXXI day of the month of August with universal gladness; and since the Saint was a chorister or choir-boy in that holy temple of the Savior when in the seventh year of his age he obtained upon the cross the crown of martyrdom, the choristers have the care of celebrating his feast
of that holy church every year, of adorning his chapel with precious tapestries, and the altar with many lights and jewels , and of committing to the press very pious and ingenious songs, which are sung in that chapel and distributed at the hour of Vespers to the whole choir, and afterwards to the people. Doctor Master Claudio Sorbes, canon of this holy church, left for that feast an annual rent of a hundred Reals, which he willed should be given every year to the choristers to relieve the expenses which they incur, and the table of the community pays it.
[18] to the memory of posterity There are present also at the commemoration of Vespers, and at the antiphon Salve, and also at the Mass, the confreres of St. Dominic del Val, furnished with lights. That confraternity is most ancient, so that there is no memory of its beginning; and it has very ancient ordinances. On the Saint's day, after Prime, a very solemn Mass is sung in his chapel and at his altar, which a prebendary performs, the whole choir being present, with much music and some songs; and at the communion all the choristers go up, and receive it from the hand of the celebrant. On that day after noon a great crowd flocks together for the siesta , as the Spaniards call it, which is sung by the musicians.*
[19] he left recorded. The most eminent lord Don Francesco Barberini, cardinal deacon of the title of St. Agatha, nephew of Pope Urban VIII, and legate a Latere in the kingdoms of Spain, passing through Saragossa in the year MDCXXVI, at the petition of the choristers of this holy metropolitan church, being informed of the martyrdom of St. Dominic del Val and of his veneration and cult, granted plenary indulgences to all the faithful who, having confessed and been refreshed with communion, should visit the chapel of St. Dominic del Val, where his glorious body is, from first Vespers until sunset of the following day, and should there pray to God our Lord for the exaltation of holy mother Church and the extirpation of heresies, for his Holiness, and for peace and concord among Christian princes. Thus far the instrument of the aforesaid visitation; which afterwards treats of the written Passion and Martyrdom of the Saint, and of the miraculous finding of the relics, likewise of the translation from the church of St. Giles to the metropolitan, from the Acts of the Martyrdom. But that in various years a translation was made to various places of this church has been said above.
[20] The Saint's cult in America: What of this — that the cult of St. Dominic passed even into America, as the following narrative declares, which, written in Spanish, I received at Saragossa on the XXX day of April in the year 1722 from the Rev. Master Diego Navarro, canon of that same holy church and keeper of the archive? I render it into Latin to this sense: Master Jerónimo López de Arbizu departed for New Spain, being promoted by the king to the dignity of master of the schools of the holy metropolitan church of Mexico; and as soon as he arrived at that residence, he wrote to Master José Velázquez y Liñas, canon of the holy church of Saragossa, asking that he would send him the Life of St. Dominiculus del Val, who underwent martyrdom from the Jews of that city: because he had found in the choir of the metropolitan church of Mexico a stall, on the part of which the back rests, St. Dominiculus del Val crucified in carved work of medium relief ; which stall the choristers of that holy church adorned with laurel and flowers, and set up lights on the day before and on the very day of St. Dominiculus del Val, which is the XXXI of August; and in the seminary or college where the said choristers dwell there was an oratory whose altar was dedicated to the said St. Dominiculus del Val.
[21] his image at Saragossa: On the occasion of the image of our holy Boy, of which mention was made before, I note that we have this facsimile, which was dedicated to the most illustrious Chapter of the metropolitan church of Saragossa by the choristers of the said holy church, as its Spanish inscription records. We have caused this image to be engraved on copper; and although at our command the engraver has reduced it to a smaller size, he has nevertheless tried to imitate the Spanish exemplar in this manner.
In Dormer, page 3, mention is made of an ancient writing which is preserved, of most ancient character, with a painting of the Saint crucified upon a wall; but whether this pious image was published after that exemplar, I have nothing whereby to determine safely enough.
[22] Of the Acts of St. Dominic del Val, Dormer offers the following notices at page 1 and following: ancient In a very ancient parchment which is preserved in the archive of the holy metropolitan church of Saragossa, of a character now deformed by dust and time, is set down the account of the martyrdom of St. Dominic del Val; and for a memorial this copy was transcribed by the command of the holy church into one of its parchment codices, which are called cartularies, in which its more principal records are deposited, by Master Diego Espés, prebendary and secretary of that same church; which is noted in the said cartulary at the end of the Acts in these words: "These things have been written by the decree of this holy church from an ancient little parchment laid up in the archive of this metropolitan church, its letters almost eaten away by dust and age, and from another of the society of blessed Dominic del Val" — from Juan Francisco Andrés, whom Dormer cites, adding that the ordinances of the Saint's confraternity were not transcribed, and that his Acts are also found in two other parchments which the confraternity keeps, seen and examined by the chroniclers Jerónimo de Blancas, Master Francisco Jiménez de Urrea, and Master Juan Francisco Andrés de Uztarroz, who assign to one of those writings more than three hundred and fifty years of antiquity, as Andrés notes, whose passage he alleges.
[23] But although it cannot be clearly drawn from the Acts who their writer was, his Acts the aforesaid Dormer indicates at page 3 that Andrés holds that their author is the lord bishop Arnald de Peralta, who is praised in the same place, and in whose time the martyrdom of St. Dominic happened. Jerónimo de Blancas, in the Commentaries on the Affairs of Aragon, which are among the writers of Spanish affairs in volume 3, published from Pistorius's library, after the martyrdom of the holy Boy, page 658, says: It is established that Arnald Peralta, a man of great religion and much versed in the knowledge of letters, was bishop at Saragossa at that time, who was sprung of a most noble family. He was called bishop: for the church of Saragossa was raised to metropolitan dignity in the year 1318, as Dormer writes at page 16, and he adds that this is reported and celebrated by various writers, of whom he weaves a long list in a marginal addition. The same author at page 3 indicates indeed that the opinion of Andrés about Arnald as author of the Acts is founded by Andrés himself; but since I do not find in our museum the History of our St. Dominic written by him, and therefore it is not easy for me to examine his foundations, I shall give the Saint's Acts without the author's name, as I see was done by the other editors of them whom we have.
[24] various authors have published from the same source: Jerónimo Blancas narrates the Martyrdom from page 657 from the archive of the greatest temple (of Saragossa). It is extant also in Tamayo on the XXXI day of August, from a most ancient parchment manuscript codex. To these add Dormer, page 4 and following. The title of the Acts in them is the same: Here begins the Passion of blessed Dominic, martyr and Innocent, of Saragossa, as Dormer has it; but the other two, Caesaraugustani. The same is the beginning of the Martyrdom: To the honor of our Lord Jesus Christ our Savior and Redeemer, who is the salvation and life of all, etc. The same also is the end: And blessed Dominic suffered in the month of August, in the year of our Lord's Incarnation MCCL, our Lord … reigning, etc. The source of all, therefore, is the same. What is read in Dormer teems with errors; but I, when I was at Saragossa and had received the copy published by Dormer, brought a cure to the corrupted text, and collated it with the manuscript parchment cartulary of the metropolitan church of St. Salvador of Saragossa on the XXVII day of April in the year 1722 in the archive of the said church. Under this name, therefore, I shall publish that copy, since the copy of Dormer, as it has been emended by me, is conformable to the said manuscript of Saragossa.
[25] there are enumerated others who have written of this Saint. Dormer after the Acts, at page 10 and following, weaves a lengthy catalogue of the writers who have treated of this Saint, namely of Aragon, Castile, and Navarre, adding to these the foreigners Bzovius, who in the Ecclesiastical Annals, volume 13, at the year 1250, number 17, transcribes the Passion from Blancas; and Friedrich Mathenesius, canon of Cologne, whom he cites in the Epitome of the Annals of Bzovius, book 8, at the year 1250, number 5: to whom I add the most illustrious Spondanus the Frenchman in the Continuation of the Annals of Baronius at the year 1250, number 25, where he reports a compendium of the Martyrdom. Which things are an argument that the most celebrated name of the holy Martyr shone excellently. The aforesaid Dormer fills the greater part of his book by proving the immemorial cult of that Martyr both by his own judgment and by that of other learned men. But those things I do not transcribe here: for his public and ancient cult has been so proved above that I cannot doubt that in this holy Martyr there is a case excepted from the decree of Pope Urban VIII. It remains that I bring forward the Acts, elucidated by my observations.
Annotations\ Perhaps Sanctor., that is, Sanctorum*.
\ Perhaps septem*.
\ Spanish, un nicho*.
\ Spanish, de damasco carmesí*.
\ Spanish, infantillo*.
\ Spanish, o seyse*.
\ jocalia*, that is, necklaces, gems, or other precious things of that kind.
\ a los infantillos*.
\ prebendado*.
\ a la siesta*.
\ Perhaps scholastici*.
\ In the Spanish, de medio relieve*.
PASSION
by an anonymous author
From an ancient manuscript parchment codex of the church of St. Salvador of Saragossa.
Dominic, a boy, martyr, at Saragossa in Aragon (St.)
BHL Number: 2247
BY AN ANONYMOUS WRITER.
The Saint's parents, wonders at his birth, the Jews seek out little Christians; To the honor of our Lord Jesus Christ our Savior and Redeemer, who is the salvation and life of all, to whom every knee is bent of things in heaven, on earth, and under the earth; and also to the honor of his innocent martyr by the name of Dominic, who was born at the city of Saragossa with wondrous signs, namely with a crown upon his head and a cross upon his right shoulder; whose parents were Sancho del Val, notary, and Isabel his wife. And when Dominic was of the age of seven years and was learning his letters, and a monstrous and wicked agreement had been made among the hostile and impious nation of the Jews of that City, accustomed to iniquities, that whoever should secretly steal or seize a little Christian and deliver him to them to be put to death should be exempt d from all taxes a, tributes b, and impositions c whatsoever to be paid by them *;
[2] thereupon Mosse e Albayuceto, a Hebrew, privy to the evil, a most savage imitator of the wicked traitor Judas, by the devil's suggestion secretly seized and
suddenly carried off Dominic, by whom St. Dominic is crucified. His body is revealed from heaven, and, having bound him with a rope, delivered him to the Aljama f of the Jews; who, most cruelly renewing the blood of Christ, fastened the little boy to a wall with nails, and grievously pierced his side with a lance. And thereupon, taking pains that so detestable a crime might not be disclosed, choosing a fit time, they hid the Martyr's body on the bank of the river Ebro g. But Christ, the searcher of hearts and the knower of secrets, for whom holy Dominic had suffered, willed that his body should now be revealed. And so it came to pass that, while those who kept the little boats which were at the gate * of the aforesaid city h were watching carefully, on several nights they saw heavenly lights shining exceedingly i above the place of the bank where the holy body, as has been said, had been hidden, wondering what this might be.
[3] When this had been reported to the city, some of the citizens, going to the aforesaid bank, and with solemn rite found the body of the martyr without its head and hands, bound with ropes. And when the clergy and people knew of it, it was carried thence to the aforesaid city, and placed in the basilica of St. Giles; from which, some days having passed, when the Martyr's body was being carried out, it showed itself indeed miraculously, without any doubt, on bended knees, before the door of that church, to the people standing by k.
[4] And when the sound of the proclamation had been made generally through the city, to the cathedral church and the bishop l and clergy were coming to the aforesaid church with great solemnity and with the famous devotion of the people, wondrous miracles shining forth, a holy assembly of all was made; and by the hands of the priests who sang and chanted psalms to God m, all others most devoutly praising the Lord in his Saint, a solemn procession being with one accord arranged, and to so notable a spectacle the citizens, soldiers, nobles, and men and women of every condition n (all these being stirred up o) running, and bearing white tapers in their hands — where the most sweet melody of all musical instruments and the sonorous harmony of trumpets was not wanting — being first summoned to the church of St. Giles and there duly received, the holy body was joyfully carried [p] through all the other churches, and at last, as they went out through the Cineja gate , was thence solemnly translated to the holy see [q] of the aforenamed city.
[5] Mosse Albayu at last, contrite in heart, [the conversion of the Jew: the benefits obtained at the Saint's tomb: the time of his death.] leaving the way of the iniquity, impiety, and deceit of the Jews, accepted the Sacrament of baptism. Let us contemplate, then, dearest brethren, the patience, the passion, and the innocence of blessed Dominic, assiduously visiting his sacred tomb: he is a companion of the Innocents and of the Martyrs, bearing the tokens of Christ. And also those set in sickness and other necessities feel him a helper when he is invoked with confidence. By whose merits and prayers may we be made partakers of the kingdom of God. Amen. And blessed Dominic suffered in the month of August [s], in the year of our Lord's Incarnation MCC and fifty, our Lord Jesus Christ reigning, who with the Father and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns through infinite ages of ages. Amen.
ANNOTATIONS.
p. Wrongly Tamayo and Dormer, recipi ab omnibus.
q. To the holy see, that is, to the church of St. Salvador, from the Preliminary Commentary; which was then only a cathedral, as was said in the same place.
r. So also Dormer writes that name; Blancas, Albayhu; Tamayo, Albayzetus. Above it is written Albayuceto.
s. No day of August is here determined; but on what foundation the inscription of the year 1600 given above says he carried off the crown of martyrdom on the day before the Kalends of September, I do not understand.
\ Tamayo and Dormer, pro eis*.
\ Tamayo and Dormer, portum*.
\ Dormer wrongly, oris*.
\ Tamayo and Dormer wrongly, & ad sancta insigne spectaculum*.
\ Blancas, Cignesiam*.