Mansuetus

CONCERNING ST. MANSUETUS, BISHOP OF MILAN.

After A.D. 680.

Mansuetus, Bishop of Milan in Italy (St.)

By G. H.

[1] Among the holy Bishops of the Church of Milan, the thirty-second to be enrolled in the Roman Martyrology, Mansuetus is venerated on February 19, concerning whom this testimony is found therein: "At Milan, St. Mansuetus, Bishop and Confessor." The same is found in Galesinius with this brief eulogy: "Whose piety shone forth in every action, but especially in the sixth ecumenical Council held at Constantinople, at which he was present" — the last part of which, as will be said presently, would better have been omitted. He is celebrated with a greater encomium by Ferrarius in his Catalogue of the Saints of Italy, by Ludovico Zacconi in his Lives of Saints published in Italian, and in the proper Lessons approved for use by those in the Church of Milan who follow the Roman rite, and on September 2 in the Ambrosian Breviary as augmented and revised. Donatus Bossius in his Chronicle, John de Deis on the successors of St. Barnabas at Milan, John Francis Besutius in his Pontifical of Milan, Joseph Ripamonti in decade 1 of his Histories of the Church of Milan, book 9, and Ughelli in volume 4 of his Italia Sacra, and finally the Tables of the Archbishops of Milan, published separately and among the Synodal Acts held by St. Charles Borromeo, part 2, from page 835, all treat of the same. In most of these authorities the celebration of his feast on February 19 is affirmed.

[2] There survive two ancient documents concerning the tenure of St. Mansuetus and the deeds accomplished by him: one of a synod held by him at Milan, the other of a Roman synod convened by St. Agatho the Pope, at which St. Mansuetus was also present. The heresy of the Monothelites had already been spreading for some time; Baronius relates that its beginning was laid in the year 633 by Cyrus, Bishop of Alexandria. For this reason, when discussions had taken place between the Emperor Constantine Pogonatus and the Roman Pontiffs concerning the convening of a universal Council, and St. Agatho the Pope had received from the Emperor a letter written to his predecessor Donus on this matter, he ordered synods to be assembled in various regions, in which the heresy of the Monothelites was condemned — in Italy, Gaul, and England, as the letters of the same Agatho to the Emperor attest. St. Mansuetus then obeyed the Pontiff, and having convened a synod of the Insubrian Bishops at Milan, he condemned the Monothelite heresy and issued a profession of the orthodox faith. This was contained in a synodal letter sent to the Emperor Constantine, so that, since those Bishops were unable to journey to the ecumenical Council at Constantinople, the pernicious heresy might at least be condemned by their written vote.

[3] That this synodal letter was written in the name of St. Mansuetus by St. Damian, Bishop of Pavia, is attested by Paul Warnefrid in book 6 of his History of the Lombards, chapter 4, in these words: "At that time, Damian, Bishop of Pavia, composed under the name of Mansuetus, Archbishop of Milan, a most useful letter of true faith on this matter, which carried no small weight in the aforementioned Council of Constantinople." St. Damian is venerated on April 12. The inscription of the synodal letter is as follows: "To the most serene and tranquil Lord, crowned by God, the most religious Emperor Constantine, from Mansuetus, unworthy Bishop of the Metropolitan Church of Milan, and from the entire holy fraternity of Bishops which has assembled in this great royal city, eternal salvation in the Lord." The letter then begins with these words: "If we have recognized the pinnacle of imperial majesty and the insignia of most sacred power as having been bestowed from heaven upon your ancestors and forebears, and we know it has been transmitted to you for meritorious deeds, it is fitting that you match the footsteps of those whose eminence you possess," etc. This letter survives before the Sixth Ecumenical Council, or Constantinopolitan, after the Imperial Rescript directed to Pope Donus and another to George, Archbishop of Constantinople. Near the end of this letter, the following profession of faith against the Monothelites is contained: "We truly confess that our Lord Jesus Christ has two natures in the one subsistence of divinity and humanity, without confusion and unchangeably; and so also we hold that He has two natural wills and two natural operations, as perfect God and perfect man, one and the same Lord Jesus Christ, as the rule of piety instructs us," etc. This synod was held in the year 679.

[4] St. Agatho the Pope, continuing what had already been done in various provinces, assembled a synod of one hundred and twenty-five Bishops at Rome in the year 680. Among them, St. Mansuetus subscribed in the fifty-fourth place with this formula: "Mansuetus, by the grace of God, Bishop of the holy Church of Milan, have likewise subscribed to this petition which we have unanimously composed for our Apostolic faith." In this synod the heresy of the Monothelites was again condemned and the orthodox faith was strongly reinforced. Three legates — John, Bishop of Porto, Abundantius, Bishop of Paternae, and John, Bishop of Reggio — were chosen to proceed to Constantinople for the universal Council. They were given the letter of St. Agatho the Pope and of the Roman synod of 125 Bishops, with which the said legates, fully instructed, faithfully carried out their appointed task. That letter survives near the end of the fourth session of the same universal Council, with the subscriptions of nearly all the Bishops, including, as we have said, that of St. Mansuetus himself. By some who examined this carelessly, he was believed to have subscribed to the Council itself, and not merely to the letter whose text was inserted into the Acts — for which we believe there is no other foundation. The words of the Ambrosian Martyrology and the proper Lessons are these: "Mansuetus, a Roman, was especially distinguished in the sixth Council of Constantinople, at which he was present and to which he subscribed." Ferrarius also noted this error in his notes to February 19.

[5] The following is affirmed about him by the same Ferrarius: "Mansuetus, a Roman of the Sabella family, was raised to the episcopate of Milan after St. Ampelius, during the pontificate of Agatho, on account of his supreme erudition and excellence of character. He presided over the Church entrusted to him for nine years with the highest praise and to the benefit of that same Church." The Tables of the Archbishops of Milan and, following them, John de Deis, Besutius, Zacconi, and Ughelli also assert that he was descended from the Sabella family. John de Deis attributes five years to his tenure; but Ripamonti and Ughelli relate that, having returned from the Synod at Rome, he died shortly after in the contagion that afflicted Insubria. But in that case, even if he had sat for only five years, he could not have been created Bishop during the pontificate of Agatho, who reigned only from the year 679.

[6] Concerning his death and burial, the following is read in the Ambrosian Breviary: "Having administered the Church holily and steadfastly, at his death he was buried in the Ambrosian basilica. His sacred body, however, is preserved in the basilica of St. Stephen the Greater, and there he is reverently venerated."