ON ST. PHILIPPUS, BISHOP AND MARTYR, AT BOLOGNA IN ITALY.
CommentaryPhilippus, Bishop and Martyr, at Bologna in Italy (St.)
I. B.
From the same Roman crypts, as I believe, the magnificent city of Bologna received distinction and protection from the body of St. Philip, Bishop and Martyr. For Pope Gregory XV donated it to the convent church of the Converted Women (as they are called). At what time, however, and by what means he obtained the crown of martyrdom, we do not know; likewise whether he completed his contest at Rome, or whether his remains were brought there from elsewhere; and also (for this too must be admitted) whether the exhumed body was found at Rome or came into the Pontiff's hands from another place. That it was donated by him to those religious women is briefly indicated by Antonio de Paolo Masini in his survey of Bologna, who records that the church of those same Converted Women is adorned with elegantly painted images of the Mother of God and other Saints.