ON THE HOLY MARTYRS OF BOLOGNA: HERMES, AGGAEUS, AND CAIUS.
CommentaryHermes, Martyr at Bologna (St.) — Aggaeus, Martyr at Bologna (St.) — Caius, Martyr at Bologna (St.)
[1] Hermes, Aggaeus, and Caius suffered at Bologna on the day before the Nones of January, concerning whom the Roman Martyrology records: "At Bologna, the holy Martyrs Hermes, Aggaeus, and Caius, Birthday of the Saints, who suffered under the Emperor Maximian." The same are mentioned by Usuard, Bellinus, Maurolycus, Galesinius, the German Martyrology, the manuscript Florarium of the Saints, Ferrarius in his Catalogue of the Saints of Italy, Peter de Natalibus Book 11, last chapter, number 27, Baronius vol. 2, year 303, number 122, and various manuscript Martyrologies.
[2] But the Martyrology of St. Jerome has: "In the East, in the city of Bonania: Hermes, Aggaeus, Caius." Likewise a very ancient manuscript of the monastery of St. Martin at Tournai, place of martyrdom, bearing the names of St. Jerome, Eusebius, and Bede: "In the East, in the city of Bologna: Hermes, Aggaeus, Gagius." Some printed codices also read "in Banonia." The manuscript Martyrology of Usuard belonging to the Sisters Regular of the Lac de Sainte-Marie near Leiden, in the vernacular: "In the city of Balona, in Thrace, Saints Hermes, Caius, Aggaeus."
[3] Concerning these (for the Acts have been lost), Carolus Sigonius writes briefly in Book 1 of the Bishops of Bologna: "Hermes, Agaeus, and Caius suffered on the day before the Nones of January; Proculus on the Kalends of June; Vitalis and Agricola on the day before the Nones of November. And so the Church celebrates their days." burial, Their bodies were cast among the tombs of the Jews without the knowledge of the Christians. The places are still pointed out, marked with stone crosses as a perpetual memorial, where each is said to have been put to death by sacred martyrdom.
[4] Cherubinus Ghirardaccius also mentions these three holy Martyrs in Book 1 of his History of Bologna, where he relates that their relics were placed by Bishop Eusebius in the church of the Holy Cross, where this twofold inscription is read: "1303. Relics. This work was made by Lord Munsus de Sabbatini, in honor of God and the blessed Martyrs Hermes, Aggaeus, and Caius, buried here, and for the salvation of his soul and of all his kinsmen." The other: "To the eternal memory of the holy Martyrs Hermes, Aggaeus, and Caius, the Sabbatini family made and dedicated this. M. Antonius Sabbatinus de Pratis, mindful of the family's right of patronage and of piety, restored the church, ruined by age, with all its furnishings, in the year of Salvation 1580."