CONCERNING ST. AGAPE, VIRGIN MARTYR, AT TERNI IN UMBRIA.
ABOUT THE YEAR 273.
CommentaryAgape, Virgin, Martyr at Terni in Umbria (Saint)
G. H.
[1] For four consecutive days, the Church and diocese of Terni in Umbria celebrate with a double rite, as they say, the feast of their patron Saints. Chief among these is St. Valentine the Bishop, Among the patrons of Terni, the most faithful Pastor of the rest, to whom the fourteenth of February is sacred, on which day we gave his Acts. Next comes St. Agape, or Agapes (for the name is found written both ways in ancient sources), Virgin and Martyr, St. Agape is venerated on February 15, to whose veneration the fifteenth of February is assigned. To both, several companions are added in the Martyrologies: to Valentine are joined Proculus, Ephebus, and Apollonius, who are venerated on February 16; to Agape are joined Saturninus, Castulus, Magnus, Lucius, Rogatus, John, and others, whose sacred veneration has been transferred from the fifteenth to the seventeenth day, when we shall treat of them together with the Church of Terni. On this day, therefore, we give Agape alone, to whom, when in the manuscript Martyrology of the Charterhouse of Utrecht there is joined a sister Thionia, which is Chionia, another Agape is substituted for this one -- the one who suffered at Thessalonica under Diocletian on April 3, as will be told on that day.
[2] Celebrated on this day in very many Martyrologies is the memory of St. Agape, whom alone Usuard, Bellinus, Canisius, the manuscript Florarium, the manuscript Martyrologies of St. Riquier, of St. Mary at Utrecht, of St. Gudula at Brussels, and others report in these words: Inscribed in the Martyrologies either alone, "At Terni, of St. Agape the Virgin." Notker: "At Terni, of St. Agape the Virgin." Maurolycus: "At Terni, of Agape the Virgin." Galesinius: "At Terni, of St. Agapis the Virgin." Wandelbert: "Hence on the fifteenth the merit of Agape shines forth." Nowhere in these authors is there mention of her martyrdom; and Equilinus, in book 2, chapter 130, number 67, of his Catalogue seems to deny her that laurel: "Agape the Virgin," he says, "in the city of Terni fell asleep in the Lord on the same day (the fifteenth before the Kalends of March)."
[3] Others add companions. Rabanus: "At Terni, of St. Agape the Virgin, Or with various companions: Saturninus, Castula." Bede in print has the same; in the manuscript of Richenberg, Agabe is written. The manuscript of St. Martin at Tournai and Ado's manuscript of St. Lawrence near Liege: "At Terni, the birthday of St. Agabe the Virgin and thirty Martyrs." The manuscript Roman Martyrology attributed to St. Jerome: "At Terni, the birthday of St. Agapis the Virgin, Saturninus, Castula, Magnus, Lucius, Rogatus, John, and twelve others." But the current Roman Martyrology clearly expresses the martyrdom: "At Terni, of St. Agapis the Virgin and Martyr. Likewise, the birthday of the holy Martyrs Saturninus, Castulus, Magnus, and Lucius." Juan Tamayo de Salazar, from a certain manuscript, adds Camillus, as will presently be said. Concerning the companions, as we said, inquiry will be made on February 17. The Acts of St. Agape are set forth from the records of the Church of Terni by Ferrari in his Catalogue of the Saints of Italy.
[4] Agape, a noble Virgin born at Terni, flourished under Valentine, Bishop of Terni, Her Acts from Ferrari, one of the number of those who, by the instruction of the same St. Valentine, lived in a community as in a convent and as nuns. When the worshippers of idols raged against the Christians and persecuted them most fiercely at Terni, after the death of her Master, she too was seized at Terni, and since she remained immovable in the confession of Christ, she was put to death by the sword and added the palm of martyrdom to her virginity on the fifteenth day before the Kalends of March. Her body was laid to rest in the place called Inter-turres (Between the Towers) by the Christians, where a church was erected in her name by St. Anastasius, Bishop of Terni. The head of this Virgin is said to be preserved at Rome in the basilica of the Holy Apostles.
[5] Tamayo, in his Hispanic Martyrology, published certain Acts of St. Valentine, Bishop of Terni, from a manuscript Legendary of Astorga, in which these words are read: "Valentine, invested with this new burden of the Episcopate, A pious institution under St. Valentine, turned his mind to propagating the Christian faith, and established two congregations, one of Clergy and one of Virgins, from whose cloister a certain wonderful Virgin named Agape came forth." Ludovico Jacobilli, in his Italian-language Life of this Saint, written with the Acts of the Saints of Umbria, adds that St. Agape had been bound to Christ her spouse by a vow of virginity, and for love of Him had distributed her possessions among the poor, and at last, after a life lived piously and holily, died a Martyr under Leontius, Prefect of the Emperor Aurelian, in the year 273.
[6] Bishop Anastasius, who built the church of St. Agape, is venerated on August 17, inscribed in the Roman Martyrology; The church, but the date of his See is disputed, for some contend that he was elected in the year 542 and died in the year 553. Ughelli, in volume 1 of his "Italia Sacra," asserts that under Pope St. Martin he attended a council in the year 652, which will be examined in its proper time. Octavius Pancirolus, in his "Treasures of the City of Rome," region 3, chapter 5, also relates that the head of this holy Virgin and Martyr is preserved in the church of the Holy Apostles. Relics at Rome, Jacobilli adds that some relics of the same Saint are found in the church of St. Peter in the chapel commonly called the Sancta Sanctorum; the remaining bones had remained in the cemetery of the aforesaid church, And at Terni. which was destroyed in the year 1174 by the army of the Emperor Frederick Barbarossa, along with the Benedictine convent of nuns. Our Laherius also treats of St. Agape in his Menology of Virgins.