ON ST. FORTUNATUS AND HIS THIRTY-TWO COMPANION MARTYRS OF ANTIOCH
Historical Digest.
Fortunatus, Martyr at Antioch (St.) Thirty-two Companion Martyrs at Antioch
Author G. H.
[1] Those ancient Martyrs whom we present under this and the following heading—St. Fortunatus and his companions, and St. Felix—are not commemorated, at least in the printed Martyrologies, by Bede, Usuard, Rabanus, or Ado. Others afterward joined them together, as if they had suffered in the same place, which however they did not specify. Thus Bellinus, Molanus, and Greven in the supplements to Usuard, as well as some manuscript copies of the same augmented for the use of the Belgian churches, likewise the Martyrology printed at Cologne in the year 1490, the manuscript Florarium, Maurolycus, Canisius—whom Baronius followed, asserting in his Notes on the Roman Martyrology that they were drawn from the aforesaid manuscript codices, and reporting them in the same words as those authors: Likewise of the holy Martyrs Fortunatus, Felix, and 27 others. No mention of these is made in the manuscript Martyrology of St. Cyriacus, which Baronius used extensively. Peter of Natali records the same in book 2 of his Catalogue, chapter 2, number 77, and designates Fortunatus as a Priest.
[2] In other Martyrologies, and indeed the more ancient ones, they are separated, and to St. Felix is assigned the arena of martyrdom at Alexandria; to Fortunatus and his companions, Antioch. This is however expressed with some uncertainty in the most ancient Roman Martyrology, that is, of St. Jerome, which has been in our possession for nearly a thousand years, in which these words are read: Anthi[och]. Of Fortunatus and 32 others. In Alexandria. Of Felix. In the Reichenau manuscript, also very ancient, somewhat more light appears in these words: At Antioch, of Fortunatus and 35 others. These companions, however, were noted among other Martyrs not in their proper place, as we noted above. In the manuscript Martyrology of Centula, that is, of St. Riquier, which in its title is inscribed "according to Bede through the cycle of the year"—into which however some error has crept through the carelessness of the copyist, as anyone will easily perceive when reading this: In the city of Perge in Pamphylia, of St. Fortunatus the Bishop and Martyr, and 32 others. This we consider should be emended thus: In the city of Perge in Pamphylia, of St. Nestor the Bishop and Martyr—of whom we have already treated. Then the remainder appears to be supplied thus: At Antioch, of St. Fortunatus the Martyr and 32 others. This Fortunatus is also called a Bishop, however, in the ancient manuscript of Utrecht of the Church of St. Mary, in which he is thus commemorated without place or companions: Likewise of Fortunatus the Bishop. In the manuscript of St. Mary ad Gradus at Cologne, this is found: Of St. Fortunatus the Martyr and 35 others. See now how the number of companions varies in these Martyrologies: 32, or 35. The former number is preferred, since it is found in the Martyrology of St. Jerome, and the word "two" is expressed in the Centula Martyrology; and thus the error of others is more easily corrected, since someone made a V out of the number II, and conversely those later writers who report 27 companions must be said to have formed V from a third X.
[3] Galesinius, having taken a different path from the rest, has the following: At Rome, of the holy Martyrs Fortunatus the Priest, Felix, Theonius, and twenty-six others. He then notes that he reports these things from a manuscript Martyrology and the Roman one. The name Theonius he states he drew from a manuscript codex. But this pertains to the crown of the eight Martyrs mentioned above. The Roman Martyrology that is cited is that of Bellinus, in which no mention of the city of Rome is found in the Venetian edition of the year 1498 or the Parisian edition of 1521. But "Priest" is established from Peter of Natali.
[4] Thus far we have separated Fortunatus from Felix and assigned to the former the illustrious arena of martyrdom at Antioch, being about to give to the latter Alexandria. But certain Spaniards, as reported by Juan Tamayo Salazar, contend that these same should be joined together. He adorns them with this eulogy in his Hispanic Martyrology for the 26th of February: At Uxama-Barca among the Autrigones, Saints Fortunatus and Felix with 27 companions, who in the persecution of the Emperor Gallienus, variously tortured for the faith, at last came as intrepid champions to the laurel of martyrdom. The place of their contest is established from the Chronicle published under the name of Flavius Lucius Dexter, in which at the year 268, number 3, in Bivarius, these words are read: At Uxama-Barca among the Autrigones, a people of Hispania, St. Fortunatus, illustrious Martyr of Christ, and 28 with him. These they immediately believed to be the same as those who are read on this day in the Roman Martyrology, with no added evidence of place or time at which they suffered—which we have already provided, showing that Fortunatus and his 32 companions suffered at Antioch. The Autrigones were a people of Hispania neighboring or perhaps subject to the Cantabrians, where Uxama-Barca, or Uxama-Barea, was a town known to Ptolemy and others. Some report that it is now Ordunia, the famous city of Biscay; others identify it with Laredo. As far as this concerns us, if there was some Fortunatus who was a Martyr there with 28 companions, they appear to be different from those whom we have recorded.
[5] In the same Chronicle of Dexter, at the year 360, number 8, the following is read: At Caprea in Vettonia, the holy Martyrs Felix and Fortunatus are venerated. Tamayo Salazar adds in his Hispanic Martyrology that these Martyrs were brought from Uxama-Barca to the city of Capara, and there earned illustrious veneration, until, with the city destroyed, the head of St. Fortunatus was transferred to Plasencia and honorably preserved in the sacristy of the Cathedral Church there. The same Tamayo, in his history of St. Epitacius, describes all the relics of the Church of Plasencia, and on page 400 asserts that in the first tier of the reliquary, on the sacristy side, there are preserved the heads of St. Fortunatus the Martyr, St. Fridolinus the Confessor, and one of the Theban Martyrs, with four portions of unknown relics. But among so many holy Martyrs who bore the name Fortunatus, it is not established that the sacred head preserved at Plasencia is that of the Fortunatus who is said to have enjoyed celebrated veneration at Caprea, nor of the one who is reported above to have suffered at Uxama-Barca under Gallienus, much less of that Fortunatus whom we have said is commemorated in the ancient Martyrologies on this 26th of February as having been slain for Christ at Antioch.