Sirenus

ON ST. SIRENUS, OR SINERIUS, MONK AND MARTYR, AT SIRMIUM IN LOWER PANNONIA

AROUND THE YEAR 302.

HISTORICAL COMMENTARY.

Sirenus, or Sinerius, monk and Martyr, at Sirmium in Lower Pannonia (St.)

BHL Number: 7596

By J. B.

Section I: St. Sirenus was put to death at Sirmium in Pannonia, not at Fermo or at Sexi Firmum.

[1] Sirmium, a city of Lower Pannonia, once the seat of Emperors, was illuminated by the religion of Christ from the very first beginnings of the Church and ennobled by the copious blood of Martyrs. Among these Sirenus is numbered, or Sinerius, who, being one of those whom we find called "monks" St. Sirenus, monk and Martyr or "solitaries" even in the times of persecution -- men leading a solitary life on some estate of their own or in desert places -- won the palm of confession around the year 300. Because certain more recent writers maintain that he met his death at Fermo in Picenum, while others claim it occurred in that city of Baetica which Pliny, Book 3, chapter 1, calls Sexi Firmum, surnamed Iulium, the words of the ancient Martyrologies must be set forth, so that the judgment once held concerning the place of his combat may be established, and at the same time the variation of his name among the authors may be apparent.

[2] The old Roman Martyrology published by our Heribert Rosweyde reads: At Sirmium, of Sinerius the monk and forty-two Martyrs. he is recorded as having suffered at Sirmium in the Martyrologies Of these -- not forty-two, but sixty-two or even seventy-two -- we shall treat separately. The manuscript Martyrology of the monastery of Centula, that is, of St. Riquier, which bears the name of St. Bede as its title: At Sirmium, of St. Sirenus the monk, who was beheaded under Maximian. especially the ancient ones We possess very many copies of Usuard, including some of the most ancient, written not long after the author's own time, as well as not a few printed editions, with which the Roman and the one printed by Bellini of Padua about one hundred and sixty years ago agree, reading thus: At Sirmium, of Blessed Sinerius (in the Roman and certain printed and manuscript copies, Sirenus), monk and Martyr, who, being seized by order of the Emperor Maximian and confessing himself a Christian, was beheaded. Other martyrologies written a thousand or more years ago, which do not bear the name of Usuard nor follow his order and phrasing in all respects, agree on this eulogy of the Martyr. The Paris edition of Usuard from the year 1536 calls him Sinetus and says he suffered at Smyrna.

[3] The Martyrology published under the name of Bede explains the death of St. Sirenus and the place and cause of his death thus: At Sirmium, the feast of St. Sirenus the monk, who in the time of the Emperor Maximian, when he had rather sharply rebuked and driven away the wife of one of the Emperor's household servants, who was walking about at an improper hour in the garden he was cultivating for himself, was seized by order of Maximian and, having confessed himself a Christian, was beheaded. The same is found in the Martyrologies of Blessed Ado of Vienne and of Blessed Notker, except that in the latter the first four words are rendered thus: At Smyrna, of St. Synerius. In the Martyrology of the Church of St. Gudula in Brussels, it likewise reads: At Smyrna, of St. Synerius. Similarly, the manuscript of St. Maria ad Gradus at Cologne: in a very few, at Smyrna At Smyrna, of St. Sirenus the monk, who was beheaded by the Emperor Maximian. Molanus, Canisius, Ghinius, and Galesini assign him to Sirmium together with most of the more recent authorities. The last named notes in his Annotations that although he wrote Sirenus, he is nevertheless called Synerus in many manuscripts. He is therefore Sirenus, or Sinerus, elsewhere Synerius, and Synetus, variously named also Serenus and Senerus, and indeed even Sergius. For thus the manuscript Florarium reads: At Sirmium, of Blessed Sirenus, otherwise called Sergius, otherwise Senerus, monk and Martyr, under Maximian in the year of salvation 287.

[4] Baronius in his Notes on this day proves by various testimonies and examples that there were monks in the times of Maximian, and that very many of them were crowned with martyrdom. He adds that Peter also treats of Sirenus in his Catalogue, Book 3, chapter 147, though he says he was also a bishop. But Peter does not actually say this; for he writes thus: Serenus, monk and Martyr, suffered at Sirmium under the Emperor Maximian. For when he was cultivating a garden for himself and was an intimate friend of one of the Emperor's household servants, summary of his Life from Peter de Natalibus one day he found that man's wife walking about in his garden at an improper hour, and sharply rebuked her for the impropriety of a woman alone entering a monk's orchard at an unsuitable time, and drove her out indignantly. She complained to her husband about Serenus and lamented that he had shamefully expelled her. The husband, moved to anger by his wife's words, accused the man whom he had long concealed as a friend, denouncing him to Maximian as a Christian. And so Serenus, seized by the Emperor's order and having confessed himself a Christian, was beheaded on the seventh day before the Kalends of March. So he writes, making no mention of episcopal dignity. The Acts of St. Serenus which we shall give below, however, differ somewhat from this account.

[5] We must now hear those who transfer the contest of this athlete to Italy and Spain. Francesco Maurolico, Abbot of Messina in Sicily, together with a Martyrology compiled by himself, published in the year 1568 a Typography of the Holy Martyrs of Christ, originally composed by Primus, Bishop and Theologian of Chalon, in the year of salvation 1450, and then at last revised. In it is written: some report he suffered at Fermo in Picenum Fermo, a city of Italy in Picenum. Here Serenus, a monk, was a Martyr under the Emperor Maximian. Following him, Maurolico himself writes at the seventh day before the Kalends of March: At Fermo, a city of Italy in Picenum, of Blessed Sirenus, monk and Martyr, who, being seized by order of the Emperor Maximian and confessing himself a Christian, was beheaded. For Serenus, an abbot in the Scythian desert of Egypt, renowned for sanctity and chastity, was a different person. Maurolico's work was rendered into Italian by Constantius Felicius, a physician, in a Calendar or Historical Ephemerides published in the year 1577: Serenus, he says, monk and Martyr, at Fermo in the Marches, beheaded by order of Maximian. Serenus, Abbot of Scythopolis, in the desert of Egypt, a model of sanctity and chastity. Scythopolis, as we have said elsewhere, is a city of Palestine; but the desert in which Abbot Serenus is said to have lived, called Scithi, Scethi, or Scythis, was in Egypt.

[6] No other author, even among the Italians, as far as we have seen, agrees with these three writers concerning the place of St. Sirenus's combat. From their words, however, certain learned men seem to have found occasion to transfer him to the Spanish city of Sexi Firmum others to Sexi Firmum in Spain or Sexti Firmum. For the commentaries which in our time have been manufactured by them, or, as they would have us believe, brought forth from ancient archives, first under the title of Fragments of Luitprand and then Adversaria -- these, in the first Madrid edition prepared by Don Thomas Tamayo de Vargas, at number 158, read thus: Q. Serenus died at Samona in Galicia with a reputation for sanctity in the year 165, from the Adversaria of Luitprand leaving behind an adolescent son who became an excellent physician and a great lover of virtue and religion. The day of the elder Q. Serenus is said to have been the fourteenth before the Kalends of March in that year. The two physician sons Q. and M. Serenus suffered under Severus Alexander. Likewise a third and fourth Serenus suffered with others in Africa under Diocletian. Of these sons, L. Serenus the monk, a familiar of Diocletian, and Publ. Serenus the Martyr -- the latter suffered in Africa, the former in Spain at Sexi Firmum in Baetica under Diocletian in the year 290. In the second Antwerp edition of the year 1640, prepared by Lorenzo Ramirez del Prado, a royal counselor, and our Jeronimo de la Higuera, the same things are found at number 177, except that in place of "Severus Alexander" it reads "Severus of Alexandria." Then at number 178 follows: Likewise Zenas and Q. Serenus suffered with others, etc. -- which in the first edition was: Likewise a third and fourth Serenus suffered with others. Finally at number 179, in place of "Sexti Firmij" it reads "Sexti Firmi."

[7] Relying on the authority of this writer, Juan Tamayo de Salazar considers him to be the one whom most authors record as having suffered at Sirmium, and celebrates him in his Spanish Martyrology with this eulogy: and thence inscribed in the Spanish Martyrology At Sexi-Firmum in Baetica, of St. L. Serenus the monk, son of Q. Serenus of Samona in Galicia, who, when he had once served as a courtier in the household of the Emperor Diocletian, abandoning that dangerous life, purchased a small garden and devoted himself there to contemplation; being persecuted by a certain court lady, he was first, under the reign of Maximian, exiled to Spain, and then the intrepid contestant attained the crown of martyrdom. In his Notes he proves that Sexi-Firmum, or Sexti-Firmum, was a city of Spain, which we freely grant. He adds that if he did not attain the crown of martyrdom there, he was nevertheless Spanish by lineage; but he does not prove even this with sufficient solidity.

[8] I shall not say here what most learned men, even Spaniards, have observed: that these so-called Fragments or Adversaria were fabricated by more recent authors and are not the legitimate offspring of Luitprand. For that argument is not now needed to defend the opinion of the ancient writers concerning St. Sirenus. this is variously refuted Nor shall I ask why certain things are printed differently in the second edition from the first, or what it means that the sons of these men (namely of Zenas and Q. Serenus) are called L. and P. Serenus. Which is the son of which? For both are not sons of both. Or how does Don Tamayo de Salazar know that L. Serenus was the son of Quinctus rather than of Zenas, who is named first, just as L. Serenus himself is among the sons? Let us grant that Luitprand wrote it exactly so, and quite clearly: does he even assert that this is the same Sirenus who is inscribed in the more ancient Martyrologies at the seventh day before the Kalends of March? Let us grant that he says this too: shall we rather stand by his opinion than that of St. Bede, who was more than two hundred years more ancient than he and most versed in every kind of learning? Rather than that of Usuard, who lived in the times of Charlemagne, one hundred and fifty years before Luitprand? Rather than that of Blessed Ado the Bishop? Finally, why are the sixty-two or seventy-two Martyrs who, as we shall presently relate, consummated their contest in that same city where St. Sirenus did and won their everlasting kingdoms, not also attributed to Sexi Firmum by Luitprand? Perhaps this will happen in a third edition.

[9] That Ferrari, Galesini, Molanus, and Saussay attest that St. Sirenus is venerated among the Arverni, there is no reason for us not to assent to this; but not because he is said to be venerated among the Arverni for they do not assert that he was killed there, but only that he is now venerated there on account of relics brought thither -- unless perhaps he is a different person. Nor do we follow what Tamayo writes, that learned men are wrongly pleased by a fiction polished without ancient attestation. For us, a fiction, however polished by whatever attestation, never pleases so long as it is detected as a fiction -- and not even then when there is merely a suspicion of fabrication.

Section II: The Acts of St. Sirenus; the time of his martyrdom; his relics.

[10] The Acts of St. Sirenus were briefly summarized by Usuard, Bede, Ado, Notker, and Peter, Bishop of Equilium, previously cited. Juan Tamayo says that the Acts of his Serenus have entirely perished, and that he composes them after his own fashion. The summary is: Acts composed by Tamayo that L. Serenus descended from one of the sons of Q. Serenus the physician, namely Quinctus or Marcus. He had previously said he was the son of Quinctus. The Adversaria cited by him make him the son of Zenas or Quinctus Serenus -- they make him Spanish by nation Quinctus, who suffered in Africa, being the grandson of Serenus the physician. Tamayo then relates that Lucius, educated in the finer arts at Rome, was dear to Diocletian, a courtier made one of his Household and a companion; that afterwards, loathing the deceits of the court and the Emperor's cruelty toward Christians, he withdrew from the palace and, occupied in cultivating a small garden he had purchased, then a monk lived quietly for himself and for God. That then, when he had rather sharply rebuked and expelled the wife of one of Maximian's courtiers, who was walking about in that garden of his at an unseemly hour and filling everything with her clamoring, she complained tearfully to her husband about the injury. That the husband then accused the Saint; that, banished from Rome by Maximian's decree, exiled from Rome he sailed to Spain and landed at the port of Sexi Firmum; that there, seized by soldiers, having confessed himself a Christian, killed in Spain he was beheaded on the seventh day before the Kalends of March in the year 290. So writes Tamayo, in a more expansive style.

[11] Other Acts, more ancient and more authentic, we have transcribed from an old codex of St. Martin's at Utrecht, which read as follows: other old Acts from a manuscript

In the city of Sirmium, Syrenus, a foreign monk and a Greek citizen, having come from places abroad, began to cultivate a garden so as to sustain his life from it, a Greek by nation since he knew no other trade. In the time of persecution, fearing bodily punishment, he hid. he had hidden out of fear of persecution And while he was cultivating his garden, one day a certain woman entered his garden and began to walk about at an improper hour. When the holy man recognized that she was wandering about for purposes of wantonness, he rebuked her, urging her to leave the woman expelled from his garden and to conduct herself with propriety, as an honorable matron should. But she, having gone out of the garden of the man of God in shame, began to rage, grieving not because she had been driven out, but because she had not fulfilled the purpose of her lust. And immediately she wrote to her husband, who was a Domestic of the Emperor Maximian, informing him of the injury she had suffered.

[12] When her husband received the letter and read it, he immediately complained and said to the Emperor Maximian: accused by her husband "While we remain at your side, our wives in distant places suffer injury." And the Emperor gave him authority to take vengeance through the Governor of the province. He therefore went to the Judge and presented to him the Imperial instructions, lodging a complaint against Syrenus. The Governor said to Syrenus, who had been brought before him: "Why did you do injury to the wife of so great a man?" He answered steadfastly: "I did no injury to any woman; he narrated the matter as it happened but I recall that some days ago a certain woman was walking about in my garden at an indecent hour, and I rebuked her, and I said that a woman who had left her husband's house at that hour was not behaving properly." When her husband heard this, he blushed and fell silent, and dared say nothing more to the Governor.

[13] But the Governor began to reflect within himself upon the holy man's frank rebuke, and said: "This man is a Christian, for it displeased him to see a woman behaving shamelessly in his garden." And he said to him: "Of what profession are you?" Without any delay he answered: "I am a Christian." The Governor said: "Until now, where have you been hiding, or how have you evaded the requirement of sacrificing to the gods?" he confessed himself a Christian He replied: "As it pleased God, He has preserved me in the body until now. But now, since He has willed me to be made manifest, I am ready to suffer for His name, that I may have a share in His kingdom." The Governor, hearing this, was vehemently angered and said: "Because until now you have despised the Imperial commands by hiding and refused to sacrifice to the gods, beheaded at Sirmium we order you to be beheaded." He was immediately seized, led to the place of his passion, and decapitated.

[14] Saussay, in the supplement to his Gallic Martyrology on this day, asserts that the St. Syrenus, or Syreneus, who is venerated among the Arverni in Gaul, is this same man of Sirmium. this or another Sirenus is venerated among the Arverni Certain others had already written that he is venerated at Clermont, but did not indicate where he had fought for the faith. John Molanus in his supplement to Usuard has this on this day: In the territory of the Arverni, of St. Syreneus, an outstanding Martyr. Peter Galesini: At Clermont, of St. Syrenus, who was crowned with an outstanding martyrdom. Ferrari in his General Catalogue of Saints, who cites Galesini in his Notes: At Clermont, of St. Serenus the Martyr. Nor does Saussay seem to have known anything more when he began to compose his Martyrology, for in it on this day he wrote thus: At Clermont in Auvergne, of St. Syrenus the Martyr, who, for his outstanding constancy in confessing the name of Christ, having endured dreadful things and completed an illustrious struggle, received the palm of everlasting glory.

[15] But in the supplement to his own Martyrology he expressed the matter more fully in these words: In Auvergne, in the town of Billom, the reception and veneration of the precious body of St. Syrenus, monk and Martyr, who, confessing himself a Christian, his relics having been brought to Billom was beheaded at Sirmium by order of the Emperor Maximian. His sacred remains were afterwards translated to Gaul and deposited for veneration in the collegiate church of the aforesaid town, together with the bones of the holy Martyrs Juvenal and Maximinus the Bishop and Confessor. There is a continual concourse of the inhabitants to the patronage of so great a heavenly citizen, who especially when there is need of fair weather or rain, he is invoked for fair weather and rain faithfully recurring to the protection of this their glorious patron, obtain the desired help through his merits and intercession. The memory of this most blessed Martyr is celebrated with the highest veneration twice a year: on this day, namely, in the aforesaid church of Billom; venerated at Clermont on May 10 and on the sixth day before the Ides of May by the metropolitan church of Auvergne -- perhaps because the latter celebrates the translation, while the former venerates his feast day with its own proper solemnity. So writes Saussay.

[16] What he calls the "town of Billom," I believe to be Billom, a town of Lower Auvergne, he has a collegiate church dedicated to him at Billom or of the Limagne. For Francois Ranchin, in his Description of France, page 296, writes that the principal church of that town, in which there is a numerous college of canons, is dedicated to a certain Saint whom he calls in French Cerneuf -- which I believe to be Serenus or Sirenus. Who St. Juvenal the Martyr and St. Maximinus the Bishop and Confessor are, we shall inquire elsewhere, either on the proper day of each when we have ascertained it, or where it seems convenient, when mention must be made of another Saint called by the same name.

[17] Moreover, the feast of our St. Sirenus has in certain Martyrologies been transferred to other days -- by others he is venerated on February 21 and 22 whether by the carelessness of the copyists who transcribed them, or for some other reason, I do not know. In the Martyrologies of the monasteries of Marchiennes and Anchin, he is inscribed under February 21, in the words that Usuard uses on this 23rd day, together with the sixty-two Martyrs who suffered at Sirmium, and Severus (for Sirenus), monk and Martyr, as we have indicated there. But on the 22nd, the manuscript of St. Jerome, or the most ancient Roman, reads: At Sirmium, of Serenus and thirteen others. The manuscript of Reichenau on the same 22nd day: At Sirmium, of St. Severus and seventy-one others. The old manuscript of the monastery of Liessies: At Sirmium, the feast of Serena, who in the time of Maximian received martyrdom by beheading. The manuscript of St. Martin at Tournai varies with a few words erroneously expressed: At Sirmium, it says, the feast and on the 23rd of St. Serena, who in the time of Maximinus received martyrdom by beheading. Richard Whitford, in his English Martyrology published at the beginning of the previous century, assigns him to February 24.

[18] Moreover, it does not appear that St. Sirenus died in the year 290, as Juan Tamayo writes in the Adversaria of Luitprand; still less in 287, as the Florarium has it; but perhaps around the year when did he undergo martyrdom? 302 or 303. The Governor certainly expresses surprise, as the manuscript Acts state in number 13, that he had hidden until now, or how he had evaded the requirement of sacrificing to the gods. But the Martyr replies: "As it pleased God, He has preserved me in the body until now." He was not, therefore, killed at the beginning of the persecution, when Christians were not sought out with such great diligence, but after it had blazed up so immoderately that no hiding place could conceal them and no corner could shelter them -- which occurred especially in the two last years of the reign of Diocletian and Maximian, 302 and 303. And perhaps the sixty-two or seventy-two Martyrs who are here appended after Sirenus had in fact attained the palm before him in the same city. Peter de Natalibus, Book 3, chapter 150, writes that they suffered under the same Emperor as Serenus.

ON THE SEVENTY-TWO MARTYRS AT SIRMIUM IN LOWER PANNONIA

The Seventy-Two Martyrs at Sirmium in Lower Pannonia (SS.)

J. B.

[1] In the same place as St. Sirenus, seventy-two other Martyrs fought gloriously for Christ, as most codices have it, or sixty-one according to others, and perhaps before him, as we have said. They are certainly inscribed in the Martyrologies together with him on the seventh day before the Kalends of March, on which day the printed Bede and the manuscript of the monastery of Centula have: Likewise of sixty-two others who suffered in that same place -- Martyrs of Sirmium, seventy-two or sixty-two that is, where Sirenus had suffered, of whom it had just been treating. Ado has the same, as do many manuscript Martyrologies. Notker likewise, but he sets the number at seventy-two; and since he had written that Sirenus was killed at Smyrna, the logical consequence would be that these also should be assigned to Smyrna, had we not shown that error to be corrected by the consensus of the majority. Usuard reads: Likewise the feast of sixty-two who, having consummated the contest of martyrdom in the aforesaid city, won everlasting kingdoms. Most others follow Usuard; but among these, the Roman Martyrology, Maurolycus, and very many others set the number at seventy-two. The old Roman cited above in the entry on Sirenus has forty-two. The manuscript Florarium: The feast of the seventy-two holy Martyrs in the aforesaid city -- Sirmium, namely. Galesini: Moreover, in that same place, of the sixty-two other holy Martyrs who, fortified by heavenly protection and divine constancy to endure every torment, were crowned.

[2] Maurolycus, who, as we said, had placed the martyrdom of Sirenus "at Fermo" (for such is his text), a city of Italy in Picenum, and had added that Serenus was an abbot in the Scythian desert of Egypt, then adds: not of Fermo Likewise the feast of the seventy-two holy ones who, having completed the contest of martyrdom in the aforesaid city, won everlasting kingdoms. What is that "aforesaid city"? Fermo, I suppose; for in the Scythian desert there were many cells of ascetics but no city in ancient times. More obscurely, Constantius Felicius places Serenus the monk and Martyr at Fermo in Picenum and Serenus the abbot at Scythopolis in the desert of Egypt; then these words follow: Seventy-two Martyrs killed in the above-mentioned city. Scythopolis? Or Fermo? Those who place St. Sirenus at Sexi Firmum in Spain must determine the same for these, if they wish to draw the ancient Martyrologies to their side -- simply substituting Sexi Firmum for Sirmium.

[3] The manuscript of St. Jerome, as we said in treating of Sirenus, places him on February 22 with thirteen others, who are these very same, with the number altered. elsewhere assigned to February 22 and 21 In the manuscripts of Anchin and Marchiennes they are placed on February 21, as is Serenus, in the very words of Usuard. We have found nothing further concerning their Acts.

ON SAINTS SENEROTES, ANTIGONUS, RUTILUS, LIBIUS, AND ROGATIANUS, MARTYRS IN PANNONIA.

Senerotes, Martyr in Pannonia (St.) Antigonus, Martyr in Pannonia (St.) Rutilus, Martyr in Pannonia (St.) Libius, Martyr in Pannonia (St.) Rogatianus, Martyr in Pannonia (St.)

By J. B.

The most ancient Roman Martyrology, or that of St. Jerome, indicates that these Martyrs also completed a glorious contest at Sirmium, like the preceding ones. these Martyrs suffered at Sirmium, or In it the following is read: At Sirmium, of Sinerotis, Antigonus, Rutilus, Libius. The Reichenau manuscript agrees: At Sirmium, of Senerotis. Most others assign them to Pannonia in general, without specifying any particular town or place: elsewhere in Pannonia -- uncertain Bede, Rabanus, Notker, the Martyrology of the Church of Aachen, Hermann Greven, Galesini: In Pannonia, of Senerotes,

Antigonus, Rutilus, Libius. He whom the Reichenau manuscript and those of St. Jerome call Senerotes, others call Senetorus; also the manuscripts of Bede, names variously written while the printed editions read Seronetus, as do Galesini and Ferrari. Antigonius is the reading of Bede and Rabanus, while he is Antigonus in the rest. He who is Rutilus is called Rutulus by Bede, Notker, Galesini, and the Liessies manuscript; Rotulus by Rabanus, Greven, and the Aachen Martyrology. The name Libius and Libi is written interchangeably; Labi is found in Greven. The Liessies Martyrology has only: In Pannonia, of the holy Antigonus, Rutulus, and Libius -- omitting Senerotes. The manuscripts of Marchiennes and Anchin add a fourth, Rogatianus, whom it would have been wrong for us to omit, since those are Martyrologies of very good authority. They read thus: In Pannonia, of Senerotes, Antigonus, Rutulus, Libius, and Rogatianus. Another Rutilus who suffered in Pannonia is mentioned in the Roman Martyrology on June 4, but he is different from this one; for the manuscript of St. Jerome reports the latter as having been killed at Sirmium with three companions, and the former at Sabaria with two.