ON SAINT CANDIDUS, MARTYR, OF ROME, AT VOLTERRA IN ETRURIA.
CommentaryCandidus, Martyr, Roman, at Volterra in Etruria (Saint)
I. B.
[1] Volterra, a most ancient and most noble city, once reckoned among the twelve chief cities of Etruria; the Volterrans once powerful among the Etruscans, afterward joined to the Roman people by such loyalty and goodwill that Cicero in his speech On His House says of its citizens: "Even today," he says, "the Volterrans, not only citizens but also the best of citizens, enjoy this state together with us." But a greater glory belongs to that city for the memory of all posterity: that it is said to have received from the Apostle Peter himself, before he reached Rome, certain rudiments of the Christian religion, among the first of the Italian cities, glorying in their citizen Saint Linus, and then gave to the world its second Pontiff, the first of Latin origin, Linus. After so many ages and vicissitudes of affairs, it still excels not only in the constancy of its orthodox faith but in the most sincere cultivation of piety, both in the administration of the sacred mysteries and in preserving and propagating the honors of the heavenly Saints.
[2] Many (for it must be said, and proclaimed again and again with grateful praise) many, I say, learned men, of every rank and from all peoples, among the many who have aided our work on the Saints, many Prelates and Princes, after they learned what we were undertaking concerning the Acts of the Saints, of their own accord sent us either manuscript codices or even printed books, lest we be ignorant of the deeds of their order, family, or nation: and unless we confess that we owe them the greatest gratitude, we shall both depart very far from the humanity of the Saints whom we endeavor to praise, and shall also rightly be judged unworthy of the favor of mortals. Yet no city or congregation, even of religious men (which may be said without envy), has yet surpassed or equaled the zeal of the Volterrans.
[3] For after our plan to search out and illuminate the deeds of the Saints from every quarter became known among them, they at once decreed by public resolution that all the records of Saints, by public authority, all relics and shrines being thoroughly examined, whether citizens or strangers whose relics were there, with the assent of the Most Illustrious Bishop Niccolò Sacchetti, should be most carefully examined. Leading members of the Senate and Chapter were chosen for the task, whose names we shall express elsewhere -- men truly worthy of perennial praise. These, examining the shrines and archives of all the churches and monasteries both in the city and in the suburbs, at great labor and expense, caused whatever relics and sacred records they found to be exactly and elegantly described by the work of a public notary, and sent to the most learned and most devout Father Dom Cyrinus Santius, of the Order of Saint Benedict, they sent a notable written account of these to us, Professor of Sacred Theology at the University of Pisa, a lengthy commentary on these matters, so that he might forward it to us: which was arranged through the Reverend Father Leo Santius, his brother, a priest of our Society, most celebrated for having taught philosophy and theology at the Roman College and for his published books -- so that we owe the greatest gratitude to both of them.
[4] We shall give that commentary in its entirety on the fifth of June, when the annual feast of Saints Justus the Bishop and Clement the Presbyter, Protectors of the city, is celebrated, to be published in its proper place, or wherever it may seem more opportune, to the everlasting praise of that most illustrious and most devout city. Elsewhere, at the feasts of other Saints, we shall briefly touch upon what pertains properly to each.
[5] And indeed on this day, the third of the Nones of February, they venerate Saint Candidus the Martyr, they honor Saint Candidus on the third of February, whose relics they received not long ago from Rome. For they believe (as we have reported here that our Fathers at Antwerp determined concerning Saint Fortunatus) that he is that Candidus whose memory, along with many others who died as martyrs at Rome, is recorded in many Martyrologies on the day before; but on which day, because of the solemnity of the Purification, public veneration of him, to be carried out with the Ecclesiastical Office and sacred rites, could not be established. There is no reason for us to discuss at length whether or not this is the same Candidus. Thus the Volterrans in the cited commentary, treating of the relics of the Cathedral Church:
[6] There is shown to us (on the twelfth of December, 1647) the head of Saint Candidus the Martyr, with the neck, breast, and shoulders: of whom the Roman Martyrology makes mention on the fourth of the Nones of February; whose head is in a silver case in the Cathedral, but the Church of Volterra celebrates his feast on the third of the Nones of the said month, on account of the concurrence with the Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary: on which day also his head is solemnly carried through the city. His entire head was found enclosed in a silver image. This effigy of the Saint, Father Marcus Casarellus, a man distinguished for the integrity of his morals and the devotion of his soul, caused to be made from the offerings of the faithful. His head was brought from the rest of the body to the Cathedral church from the church of the Augustinian Hermits. The rest of the body is kept in the chapel of the Fei family, in the said church of the Augustinians.
[7] The remaining relics of the same holy Martyr, visited on the sixteenth of December 1647, are recorded as follows in the same commentary: Immediately, in the presence of the aforesaid, the aforementioned Prior (Giovanni Venturi of Pisa) and the appointed Deputies went to the chapel of Saint Catherine: in the same, through an iron grating one and a half cubits high, the body at the Augustinian Fathers, they saw placed under the altar a gilded wooden chest, a little more than one cubit high; and on the epistle side a small door closed with two locks. One key is kept by Lord Camillo Bava, as son-in-law of Lord Emilius de Feis: which key, in his name, because he was suffering from ill health, the Canon Lord Alexander Bava brought. The other was handed over by Father Baccalaureus Friar Mario Gioanellio of Volterra, already granted to him as the senior among the native sons of that convent. Then by the Prior and the Friars, the chest with the gilded Fei family coat of arms was carried from the said altar to the high altar: which was unlocked with two keys, as we said above about the small door. Inside it we found a leaden casket, well secured with tin poured over the joints, which Master Thomas Guerrerius, summoned for the purpose, opened. In it we saw the bones of Saint Candidus, except for the head, which (as we noted above) is preserved in the Cathedral church.
[8] The body of this Martyr, as is asserted, together with two others, given by Urban VIII to the Duchess of Bracciano, was formerly given by Urban VIII, Supreme Pontiff, to the Most Excellent Lady Isabella de Mendoza, second wife of the Most Illustrious and Most Excellent Lord Paolo Giordano Orsini, Duke of Bracciano. She, however, in consideration of the longstanding service which the aforementioned Lord Knight Emilius, formerly Cosimo de Feis, by her to Emilius Feo, Patrician of Volterra, a Patrician of Volterra, had rendered faithfully and for a long time to the Orsini House, most generously granted the aforementioned body of Saint Candidus to the same Knight. He arranged for it to be brought to his chapel at Volterra, in the church of Saint Augustine: on this condition, however, that the head of Saint Candidus might be transferred from there to the Cathedral; as was afterward done in the year 1633. When we had examined the relics of the holy Martyr, the chest was sealed by the aforesaid craftsman with molten lead poured over it: the casket and the altar itself were closed with both keys, which were returned to those who had brought them.
[9] So much for Saint Candidus: nor have we found anything more about him elsewhere, except that his name is celebrated in many Martyrologies, if he is truly one of those twenty-eight who are recorded as having completed their martyrdom at Rome on the fourth of the Nones of February. Concerning the other Saints of this most noble city, elsewhere: Raphael of Volterra the writer is also famous for his reputation of holiness, among whose rolls we trust that in the meantime Raphael Maffei of Volterra will be entered -- a man most illustrious for his nobility of birth, the abundance and elegance of his writings, but especially for his continence, modesty, austerity of life, and piety, and after death held in great veneration by many, his body remaining incorrupt for many years.