ON ST. FAUSTINUS, BISHOP OF BRESCIA IN ITALY.
AROUND THE YEAR 370.
Commentary
Faustinus, Bishop of Brescia in Italy (St.)
G. H.
[1] We celebrated on the fifteenth of February the tutelary Saints of the church of Brescia, the holy brothers Faustinus and Jovita, Martyrs; to whom in the manuscript Ado Martyrology, now belonging to Her Most Serene Majesty Queen Christina of Sweden, formerly of the Church of Toulon in Provence, Bishop Faustinus is joined on the same fifteenth of February, and, to distinguish him from the Martyr Faustinus, is called a Confessor. The following is read: "Likewise of St. Faustinus, Confessor of Brescia, who collected the bodies of Sts. Faustinus and Jovita." But since that day is occupied by the solemnity of the Martyrs, he is venerated on the following day, on which the following is found in the ancient manuscript Martyrology of St. Maximinus: "At Bri... Faustinus." The Roman Martyrology clearly agrees, in which the following is read for the sixteenth of February: "At Brescia, of St. Faustinus, Bishop and Confessor." Galesinius adds: "Born in the household of the blessed Martyrs Faustinus and Jovita, a man of singular piety, succeeding Ursicinus as Bishop of that city, he kindled ardent love of Christian virtues in the hearts of the Brescians both by sacred discourses and by the example of his life." So says Galesinius, and indeed, as he notes, from the records of the Church of Brescia. Elias Capreolus in book 2 of his History of Brescia, Ascanius Martinengus in the Life of this St. Faustinus published in Italian together with the Acts of other Saints of the city of Brescia, and Giovanni Francesco Florentini in the Chronological Index of the Bishops of Brescia also say that he was from the household of those Martyrs.
[2] St. Ursicinus his predecessor attended the Council of Sardica held in the year 347, where however "Ursatius" is read instead of "Ursicinus." Florentini and Ughelli in their lists of the Bishops of Brescia assert that St. Faustinus succeeded him in the year 350. His successor was St. Philastrius, who attended the Council of Aquileia celebrated on the Nones of September in the year 381, in the consulship of Syagrius and Eucherius, so that it is necessary for St. Faustinus to have departed this life before that time. St. Ursicinus is venerated on the first of December, St. Philastrius on the eighteenth of July.
[3] Galesinius, Ughelli, Martinengus, and others relate that the Acts of the Martyr Saints Faustinus and Jovita were committed to writing by this St. Faustinus. Martinengus asserts there were seven epistles, and that they have perished, in which not only the final contests but also other remarkable deeds accomplished by them throughout their lives were set forth, as we said before their Acts at number 5. Ughelli adds that the Acts of St. Apollinaris were also composed by the same Faustinus; concerning which inquiry should be made at his feast day on the twenty-third of July. There was moreover at Brescia a church of St. Apollinaris, which Ughelli also mentions under Ursicinus. But Florentini says that he wrote the Acts not of St. Apollinaris but of St. Apollonius, a Bishop of Brescia. The latter is venerated on the seventh of July.
[4] The sacred bones of St. Faustinus were discovered in the basilica of Sts. Faustinus and Jovita in the year 1107. In the following century they were confirmed by Bishop Albert to be those of the Saint, with this inscription added: "Here lies the body of the blessed Faustinus, Confessor and Bishop of Brescia." We gave the instrument of the reposition of the relics of the Martyrs Sts. Faustinus and Jovita and of this Faustinus the Confessor on the fifteenth of February, part of which we repeat here. It reads as follows: "In the year from the Incarnation of the Lord one thousand two hundred and twenty-three, Indiction eleven, on the eighth day of August, the chest of the holy Martyrs Faustinus and Jovita was opened, and it was placed in this location together with the bodies of the same Martyrs and of the blessed Faustinus the Confessor, in the presence of the Archdeacon and Archpriest, together with the Brescian clergy, and Brother Jordan, Master of the Order of Preachers, and Brother Guala, Prior of the same house with his brethren; and this was done with a solemn procession. And then the bodies of those Saints Faustinus and Jovita were placed in this wooden chest, and the body of St. Faustinus the Confessor in this other one, by our venerable Father Albert, Bishop of Brescia." We have added some details about Albert and his successor Guala at the fifteenth of February. We gave the Life of the blessed Jordan on the thirteenth of the same month.
[5] The same sacred bones were transferred from the old altar to a new one in the year 1538 with wonderful devotion by Hieronymus Uselenus (others say Vascherius), Bishop of Guardia and Suffragan of Andrea Cornelio, Bishop of Brescia. This is related by Martinengus, Florentini, and Ughelli. We do not, however, agree with the latter when he writes that he was the ninth Bishop of Brescia, since others generally call him the seventh. Concerning the intrusion of St. Antigius into the Catalogue, we treated before the Life of Sts. Faustinus and Jovita at number 15, where we said that his body was brought from Gaul to Brescia.
[6] Masinus relates in his survey of Bologna for this day that certain relics of St. Faustinus the Bishop are preserved at Bologna in the church of St. James Major, which belongs to the Augustinian Hermits.