Martyrs Celerina

ON THE HOLY MARTYRS CELERINA, IGNATIUS, LAURENTINUS, AND CELERINUS THE DEACON AND CONFESSOR.

THIRD CENTURY OF CHRIST.

S. Celerinus, Deacon and Confessor, in Africa.

[7] While Celerinus was at Rome in the spring of the following year, namely the year 251, he sent a notable letter to Lucianus the Confessor, who was detained in prison, His letter on behalf of his lapsed sister, which in Cyprian's edition of Pamelius is number 21. It is worthwhile to give it here in its entirety: for it shows his remarkable humility of spirit, his solicitude for his lapsed sister, and his zeal for the divine honor: and, as Cyprian himself writes in Epistle 23, how moderate and cautious a Confessor Celerinus was, and how modest in the humility and fear of our faith. On which passage, Pamelius, with many citations from the same Cyprian and Tertullian, shows that the word sectae here is to be taken in a good sense, meaning the Christian confession. That it is the same Celerinus who was captured at Rome together with Moses and others, and who wrote that letter, Baronius judges in his annotations on the Martyrology. He who compiled the Index to volume 2 of his Annals disagrees (but incorrectly, in our judgment at least), for he writes: Celerinus the Confessor, having suffered much, is ordained by Cyprian; then: Another Celerinus, Confessor, solicitous for his lapsed sister.

[8] That this letter was written at Rome by Celerinus is proved by Pamelius sent from Rome to Carthage from the response of Lucianus the Confessor, who orders Bassianus among others to be greeted, and the entire Clergy; since from Epistle 3, which is from the Clergy of Rome to the Clergy of Carthage about the departure of Cyprian, it is said: Know that Bassianus has arrived among you. This is more certainly clear from other epistles of Cyprian, where he mentions Lucianus as his own subordinate. Then Celerinus himself says that where he then was, certain lapsed women were ordered by the Presiders to remain as they were until a Bishop should be appointed. But Carthage had Cyprian as its Bishop; the Roman See, after Fabian was killed and before Cornelius was appointed as successor, was vacant. But let us give the letter itself:

[9] To Lucianus, captive for the faith: to whom he sends congratulations. Celerinus sends greetings to Lucianus. When I wrote these things to you, brother in the Lord, I was both rejoicing and grieving: rejoicing because I had heard that you were held for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ our Savior, and had confessed His name before magistrates of this kind: but grieving in this, that from the time I parted from you, I have never been able to receive your letters. And now a twofold grief

[16] Lucianus then grants more than Celerinus had requested: In the name of Paul the Martyr and others, When the blessed Martyr Paul, he says, was still in the body, he called me and said to me: Lucianus, I tell you before Christ, that if anyone after my death seeks peace from you, grant it in my name. Moreover, all whom the Lord has deigned to call in so great a tribulation, we have by common agreement all sent letters granting peace to all. And after a few words: And therefore, brother, I ask that, just as here, he grants indulgence to those for whom he had been asked, when the Lord has begun to give peace to His Church, according to the instruction of Paul and our deliberation, having stated the case before the Bishop and having made their confession, not only these women but also those whom you know to be dear to our heart may have peace. A letter to the same effect, written by the same Lucianus to Cyprian, exists and is number 17 among Cyprian's epistles. And to all others. All the Confessors send greetings to Cyprian the Pope. Know that we have all granted peace to all those about whom, in your judgment, it is established what they have done after their transgression. And we have wished this rule to be made known through you to the other Bishops as well. We wish you to have peace with the holy Martyrs. In the presence of a Cleric, an Exorcist, and a Reader, Lucianus wrote this.

[17] S. Cyprian reproves this rash indulgence of Lucianus in many passages, and sent his letters to himself and Celerinus to the Roman Clergy, as is evident from Epistle 23, where he praises the modesty of S. Mapalicus the Martyr and S. Celerinus; but concerning Lucianus he says this: S. Cyprian censures his ignorance and temerity. Our brother Lucianus, himself also one of the Confessors, fervent in faith indeed and strong in virtue, but less grounded in the reading of the Lord's word, has attempted certain things, having long since set himself up as the leader of the ignorant multitude, so that certificates written by his hand were distributed in droves to many in the name of Paul. Which deed he reproves at length, and narrates the disturbances that arose from it. Then concerning Celerinus again: I have also sent you copies of the letter of Celerinus, that good and robust Confessor, which he wrote to the same Confessor Lucianus; and also what Lucianus wrote back to him: so that you might know both our labor and diligence concerning all things, and might learn the truth itself; he praises the modesty of Celerinus. how moderate and cautious a Confessor Celerinus is, and how reverent in the humility and fear of our faith: while Lucianus, as I have said, is less skilled in the understanding of the reading of the Lord's word, and concerning

[25] A greater contest was then offered to our Celerinus, in which, although he was not entirely prostrated, he certainly began to slip: but soon, aided by the grace of God, he rose again valiantly. He had been drawn along with other Confessors into the schism which Novatian, the first Antipope, devised together with Novatus the African; Confessors drawn into the schism of Novatian: concerning whom the book On the Roman Pontiffs states under Fabian: At the same time (that is, after the death of Fabian), Novatus came from Africa and separated Novatian from the Church, together with certain Confessors, after Moses the Presbyter had died in prison, where he had been for eleven months, as had many others. This entire controversy pertains indeed to the Life of S. Cornelius, which we shall give on the fourteenth of September; but since mention of the Novatians frequently occurs, we shall touch upon a few points here from the epistles of SS. Cornelius and Cyprian.

[26] Novatian (as Eusebius writes from the epistle of S. Cornelius to Fabius of Antioch in book 6, chapter 35, although he calls him Novatus, as do other Greeks who confuse him with Novatus the African, the satellite of that frenzy) — Novatian, I say, who without any commendation of piety was freed from a demon, had not spent his life from his earliest years in the Church, was not distinguished by any contests undertaken in her defense, was not tossed by dangers for the sake of piety, but from Satan (who had entered into him and dwelt long in the depths of his heart) he first obtained the occasion for believing. For when he had been freed from that evil spirit by Exorcists, and afterward had fallen into a grave illness, sick and baptized in bed, being believed at the point of death, he received baptism in the very bed on which he lay, having been sprinkled with water: if indeed a man of this sort can truly be said to have received baptism. For after he recovered, he received none of those things which are prescribed by Ecclesiastical Canon, nor afterward confirmed, yet made a priest, and was not even anointed with Chrism by the Bishop. How then, lacking this, did he obtain the Holy Spirit? Nevertheless he afterward attained the office of the presbyterate by a certain private favor and benevolence of the Bishop: who, when the entire Clergy and very many of the laity objected and denied that it was lawful for one baptized in a bed on account of illness, as this man had been, to be enrolled in the Clergy, against the Canons; entreated them to allow him alone to be ordained by himself.

[34] But what charges, after all, could have been so seriously made against Cornelius that the Confessors themselves should shun a man of proven virtue, elected by sixteen Bishops, as Cyprian says? Eusebius, or rather Jerome in his Chronicle at the first year of Gallus and Volusianus, indicates: That he was indiscriminately receiving apostates. Novatus, a Presbyter of Cyprian, coming to Rome, associates Novatian and the other Confessors with himself, because Cornelius had received penitent apostates. Cyprian explains everything more clearly in the cited epistle to Antonianus: But as to the dishonorable and malicious things which are spread about him (Cornelius), I do not wish you to wonder: since you know this to be always the work of the devil, to lacerate the servants of God with falsehood, and to defame a glorious name with false rumors, so that those who shine with the light of their own conscience may be soiled by others' gossip. Know, moreover, that our colleagues have investigated and most truly ascertained that he was stained by no disgrace of a certificate of sacrifice, that he was a libellaticus, as some spread abroad; but that he united with us only those whose case had been heard and whose innocence had been proved. For also concerning Trophimus, about whom you desired that I should write to you, that he had restored Trophimus, a lapsed man, to the rank of the priesthood; the matter is not as rumor and the falsehood of malicious persons has reported to you. For, as our predecessors often did, our dearest brother Cornelius yielded to necessity in gathering our brethren: and since with Trophimus a very great part of the people had departed, now that Trophimus was returning to the Church and making satisfaction, whom, however, as a penitent and returning with a great part of the people, and by the penitence of his prayer confessing his former error, and recalling with full humility and satisfaction the brotherhood which he had recently drawn away, his prayers were heard, and it was not so much Trophimus as the very great number of brethren who had been with Trophimus that was admitted into the Church of the Lord: all of whom would not have returned to the Church by common counsel, unless they had come with Trophimus as their companion. After deliberation was held there with many colleagues, Trophimus was received; he had admitted him only to lay Communion. for whom the return of the brethren and the restored salvation of many stood as satisfaction: yet Trophimus was admitted on this condition, that he should communicate as a layman; not, as the letters of malicious persons have reported to you, that he should usurp the office of the priesthood. But as to the report made to you that Cornelius communicates indiscriminately with those who have sacrificed, this too arises from the fictitious rumors of the apostates

[44] In what manner and with what feeling of the faithful those returning were received, Cornelius himself writes in Epistle 46 to Cyprian: With great joy of the good: How great was the solicitude and anxiety we endured concerning those Confessors who by the deceit and malice of a cunning and crafty man had been ensnared and nearly deceived and alienated from the Church; so great was the joy with which we were affected, and we gave thanks to almighty God and to Christ our Lord, when they, having recognized their error and understood the venomous craftiness of that malicious man, like that of a serpent, returned to the Church from which they had gone out, as they themselves profess from their heart, with a sincere will. And first indeed our brethren of proven faith, lovers of peace and desiring unity, announced that the pride of these men was already softened. Yet the evidence was not sufficient first they signify their wish to return: for us to believe readily that they had been entirely changed. Afterward, however, the Confessors Urbanus and Sidonius came to our Presbyters, affirming that the Confessor and Presbyter Maximus equally desired to return with them to the Church. But since many things done by them had preceded, which you too have learned from our fellow Bishops and from my letters, it was decided, so that credence should not be rashly given to them, to hear from their own mouth and confession those things which they had communicated through their delegation. When they had come, the Presbyters reproaching them for the calumnies hurled at Cornelius, and the Presbyters demanded from them an account of what they had done, and finally that letters full of calumnies and curses had been frequently sent in their name to all the churches and had disturbed nearly all the churches, they affirmed that they had been deceived, and had not known what those letters contained: they had merely been led astray, and had committed themselves to schismatics, and had been the authors of heresy, to the extent that they had suffered hands to be laid upon him as though upon a Bishop. When these and other matters had been reproached, they seek pardon: they begged that they might be wiped away and removed from memory.

[45] When therefore all that had been done was reported to me, it was decided to convene the presbyterate. Five Bishops were also present, who were present today as well, so that by a firm resolution what should be observed regarding their persons

whether or not this was the Bishop of Belley: Saussaius asserts that he was. On this matter below, when we treat of Lupicinus. The Spanish Chronicle, which more recent authors ascribe to Flavius Dexter, has the following at the year of Christ 270: whether some Spanish Felix and Hippolytus are Bishops here, "At Carthage in Spain, Saint Hippolytus, Bishop of the same city, with whom also suffered other Martyrs." Bivarius confidently asserts that this is the one whom Baronius, from the manuscript of Saint Cyriacus, entered into the Martyrology with Felix and Symphronius; they were wrongly thought to be Africans, because they suffered at Carthage, but the Carthage of Spartaria. Yet at the year 300, commentary 3 number 10, the same Chronicle reads thus: "At Carthage of Spain, Felix the Bishop, Martyr, and companions." Bivarius judges that these are the ones of whom in the common edition of Bede on March 23 it reads: "In Africa, of Felix and twenty others." Yet he then doubts whether these are the same who are honored on the third of February: Felix, Symphronius, and Hippolytus. Juan Tamayo de Salazar in the Spanish Martyrology records on this day Saints Hippolytus, the fifth Bishop of Carthage Spartaria, Felix, and Symphronius, Martyrs. All proof depends upon the authority of Dexter.

[3] Baronius assigns several companions to the African Felix. For he writes thus in the Roman Martyrology: "In the same place (in Africa), of the holy Martyrs Felix, whether Symphronius and Hippolytus are companions of the African Felix, Symphronius, Hippolytus, and companions." He notes in the Annotations that all these have been restored from a very ancient manuscript codex of the monastery of Saint Cyriacus in the Baths. Not very successfully. The manuscript of Saint Cyriacus reads thus: "In Africa, of Felix, Symphronius, Laurentius, Hippolytus, Felix, and Saint Blasius." The manuscript of Saint Jerome sheds more light on the matter, in which the following is found: "On the third of the Nones. Birthday of Felix. At Forum Sempronii, of Laurentius, Hippolytus. Felix. Celer. At Vapincum, the passion of Teridius and Remedius. At Lyons, the burial of the Blessed Lupicinus." When these are weighed and compared with the manuscripts of Aachen and Saint Cyriacus, there seems to be no doubt that these refer to the saints of Forum Sempronii, Laurentius and Hippolytus, of whom we spoke on the second of February. And indeed they are not listed on the second of February in either of those manuscripts; in the manuscript of Saint Jerome they appear in a plainly ambiguous manner, as we indicated there. It seems that "Celer" was put for Celerinus, and another Felix for Felicitas, whether another Felix and Celer, unless it can be made clear from another source that both Celer and another Felix should be placed here.

[4] Certainly in a certain concise Martyrology, which our Alexander Wiltheim copied for us from a very ancient codex of the imperial monastery of Saint Maximin, the following is found: Euphraxius and Lucianus? "On the third of the Nones of February. In Africa, of Felix, Celer, Lucianus, Euphraxius." No Euphraxius has yet come to our attention. A certain African Martyr named Lucianus is mentioned on the thirteenth of June. Whether this is the same person, or that Lucianus who was both blamed and praised by Saint Cyprian and was the friend of Saint Celerinus, we cannot determine.

[5] Finally, in a recent manuscript of the Charterhouse of Brussels, after the name of Felicitas is added "and Geminianus." Who this might be Geminianus? we cannot say.