ON ST. JOHN CAMILLUS BONUS, BISHOP OF MILAN.
Circa A.D. 659
PrefaceJohn Camillus Bonus, Bishop of Milan in Italy (S.)
[1] The Roman Martyrology and Petrus Galesinius record the name of St. John Bonus, Bishop of Milan, inscribed in the sacred Calendar on January 10. John Francis Besutius is said to have written his Life, as he did for the other Milanese prelates, but we have not yet seen it. The feast of St. John Bonus Ferrarius has a summary of it in his Catalogue of the Saints of Italy. After others, Joseph Ripamontius also reviewed his deeds succinctly and elegantly in book 8, whose narrative we shall give here.
[2] Sigonius mentions St. John in book 2 of De regno Italiae under the years 659 and 669, as does Claudius Robert in the appendix to his Gallia Christiana. John Anthony Guarnerius, in the life of St. John of Bergamo, writes thus: "Sometimes also, joining forces with his own men together with the troops of John Bonus, Bishop of Milan, he brought aid to Catholics who implored assistance" -- namely against Arians who were ravaging the countryside with robbery. Part 2 of the Acts of the Church of Milan records the following about St. John Bonus: "St. John Bonus Camillius, a Genoese, joined in intimate friendship with the most holy Bishop John of Bergamo, was created Archbishop. Not deterred by the savage domination of the Barbarians, he returned from the city of Genoa, where some Archbishops had long resided, to Milan, to the station and seat of the Archbishopric; which he held with the highest praise for ten years. He came to Rome for a synod under Pope Martin I. He expelled the Arians from Bergamo; he consecrated the church of St. Maternus in the town of Desio. Famous for the renown of miracles, he died in the Lord on January 10." When he sat John is found to have subscribed after the Roman synod with his consent. Since that synod was held in the 9th year of Constans (or Constantine), grandson of Heraclius, Indiction 8, that is, A.D. 649, it follows that John did not become Bishop in 650, as Ferrarius writes, much less 659, as Sigonius states in book 2 of De regno Italiae. Ferrarius admits, however, that the chronology seems to be confused here.
[3] When the basilica of St. Michael, in which the body of St. John Bonus had formerly been deposited, was crumbling with age, St. Charles Borromeo decided it should be entirely demolished, Translation of the body especially since it was too close to the cathedral church. It was therefore deemed proper that the sacred relics should first be transferred thence with due religion. Accordingly, on the eve of the Ascension of Christ, in the year 1582, after solemn vespers had been chanted there, the holy Archbishop with his own hands placed the body of the saintly prelate into a skillfully fashioned tin casket; he then removed the head to be enclosed in a silver reliquary head. After vigils had been duly performed, on the following day -- namely the feast of the Lord's Ascension, May 24 -- a solemn procession was instituted, at which Cardinal Paleotto with the clergy and the entire people was present, and those sacred remains were transferred to the Metropolitan church (the care of souls from the parish of St. Michael being also transferred there), and placed in an altar recently built on the right side of the temple, where he had closed off a second door, dedicated in the name of St. John Bonus. So Carlo a Basilica Petri in the Life of St. Charles, book 6, chapter 3, and John Peter Giussanus, book 6, chapter 15.
LIFE FROM THE MILANESE HISTORY OF JOSEPH RIPAMONTIUS.
John Camillus Bonus, Bishop of Milan in Italy (S.)
By Joseph Ripamontius.
[1] John (a) Camillus then takes his seat -- a Ligurian, surnamed Bonus, The prudence of St. John Camillus Bonus in embassies whether this was the name of his maternal family, or a reward for his extraordinary goodness of soul, an honor bestowed on his virtue by common report. He had long been engaged in private affairs at the Roman court, and was accepted before all others by (b) Pope Gregory the Great. At Gregory's command he had once come to Milan as an ambassador to (c) Theodolinda. From that time he was in favor with the rulers and held in the highest expectation. For they had seen him held in affection and honor by the Queen; and it was well known that it was chiefly through the efforts and authority of this man that the damages inflicted on ecclesiastical affairs by the (d) first Lombard invasion had been repaired. Added to this was the fact that no one at that time was considered more prudent in all human and divine law; and he went about on everyone's lips with this fame and reputation.
[2] And so when he came to assume the solemn duties of the pontificate, it seemed to all good men that a new light had dawned. Magnanimity in the episcopate The Monothelites, however, and (f) whoever preferred the Catholic cause to be without a head and leader -- or at any rate would have shunned such a head and such a leader -- were horrified. What above all struck terror into that depraved class of mortals was that, undaunted and unshaken himself, with no regard for the tumults and no trepidation, as soon as he was declared Archbishop he came to take up his pastoral office -- as though throwing himself in the way of dangers and voluntarily provoking the very things that others, anxious and cautious, had partly avoided by retreating to Liguria and partly by hiding at home.
[3] (g) John was another Bishop of Bergamo, His helper, St. John of Bergamo whose loftiness of spirit and zeal for uncorrupted religion were well matched with the character and holiness of John Bonus -- a man likewise keen and vehement in intellect, who, in whatever direction he applied himself, pressed on to the end of his goals. Because he needed the excellent help of this John for conducting affairs and healing souls, John Bonus formed a friendship and intimacy with him. Nor did the other refuse his share of the labor; he offered himself as a companion for confuting the doctrines of the Monothelites, which were growing stronger every day.
[4] A miracle of the latter On account of this business, while traveling back and forth between Bergamo and Milan and from Milan back home, he is said to have walked upon the river (h) Adda with his feet; and in the sight of many, to have often passed over it as though on solid ground. There are (i) those who attribute the glory of this miracle to the Milanese bishop, when he in turn would visit the other on account of duty or assistance. I too would prefer it to be true of ours; but more authorities have leaned toward the other.
[5] John builds a church at Desio John Bonus, using both his own strength and that of his ally, having weakened the Monothelite heresy, turned his attention to what was nearest at hand. He built, among other places, a notable church especially at Desio, with an attached college of priests who would chant the psalms at appointed hours and perform the other duties there pertaining both to the worship of God and to the salvation of souls. Desio is a town ten miles from the city, which drew the Bishop's special attention either for the convenience of its location, in that it embraces many not insignificant villages in its pleasant surrounding plain, or for its size, in that it numbers many families, so that he thought it should be ennobled in this way. The church was dedicated to (k) Maternus; revenues were assigned, laws were prescribed for the Canons; and nothing was omitted that pertained to establishing discipline there.
[6] Then a cruel war broke out in which (l) Pertarit and Gundepert, Disturbances among the Lombards armed with the customary hatreds between brothers for mutual destruction, ruined both themselves and the state. (m) Nor did Grimoald, conqueror of both, enjoy better fortune; and the affairs of the Church were miserably tossed about amid these calamities of kings. A small thing, one might say, revived and strengthened them; but one that won so much authority for the Catholic religion that a sense of shame at violating and despising it arose in all. (n) There was in the territory of Taranto an anchorite, unkempt in appearance and dress, with a great reputation for severity; about whom the belief, confirmed by the success of many events, was that whatever he predicted would come to pass with inevitable necessity, and that all his prophecies would have the most certain outcomes. Whether he announced adversity or prosperity to kings and peoples, A defeat foretold to the Greeks by the hermit the sadness or joy of either fortune occupied their minds no less than if the damage or advantage were already present. This man the Emperor of Constantinople, hostile to the Lombard name, having perhaps at that time sent an army into Italy, went to visit, eager to inquire what end to the war he foretold, and whether he would return victorious from the battle. When the hermit did not hesitate to affirm that the undertaking would be sad and the efforts in vain -- because, he said, the Baptist was protecting that nation which had adopted him as their patron -- the Emperor nonetheless went on to try his fortune, and, not at all moved by the prophetic warning, prepared for war energetically, just as he had planned. Battle was joined with the utmost force on both sides -- [The defeat inflicted on the Greeks by the Lombards, by the aid of St. John and the strength of Amelongus] with the great intensity that was to be expected in a contest whose outcome would bring to the victor the glory of recovering Italy and to the vanquished shameful flight, the end of their resources, and the worst of evils. At first, with neither side gaining the advantage, the fight went on for a long time with equal hands and uncertain victory. Then Amelongus on the Lombard side performed a feat that stunned the imperial army, which, after wavering for some time as if thunderstruck, immediately turned tail and voluntarily conceded victory to the enemy. Amelongus happened to be holding the royal lance, and in the heat of battle, when many were falling or being wounded on both sides, he caught sight of a Greek soldier charging more fiercely; he suddenly hurled his lance, skewered the man, and lifted him up in the air, and, being of enormous bodily strength, was shaking the body stretched out through the air in a playful manner. This spectacle, presented before the imperials' eyes, was the beginning of their flight and gave the Lombard his victory. Nor was there any doubt that the slaughter, greater than human power could explain, had been wrought by the aid and presence of the Baptist, their patron. Thus the Church gained strength and authority; and the Milanese pontificate, which the tumults just described had suppressed, was revived.
[7] Another weighty circumstance also contributed to its confirmation and stabilization. For King Grimoald, The conversion of King Grimoald through the efforts of the Bishop of Bergamo, whom I mentioned as the companion and helper of John Bonus, completely renounced Arius and his perverse doctrine. As a monument to this event, a church was dedicated in the Catholic rite to St. Alexander on the (o) gravel-bed of the Adda, which the leaders of the Arian sect had previously profaned with Arian rites.
[8] The death of St. John Bonus Not long after this, Archbishop John Camillus Bonus died. His body lay hidden in obscurity until the time of (p) Heribert, without the veneration owed to the relics of a heavenly soul. Heribert, discovering it by divine guidance, The discovery of his body placed it in the altar of St. Michael, with suitable pomp and solemn ceremonies.
Annotationsa After Phortius, or Fortis. Ferrarius writes that he long declined the dignity.
b St. Gregory died in the year 604. John must have been very advanced in age when he died, if Gregory had employed him on embassies...
c Theodolinda was the daughter of Garibald, Duke of Bavaria, married to Authari, King of the Lombards, in 585...
d This occurred in A.D. 568.
e More commonly and correctly they are called Monothelites, because they assert only one will in Christ, thereby removing the diversity of natures. Their principal leaders were Athanasius of Antioch, Pyrrhus of Constantinople, and Cyrus of Alexandria, toward the end of the reign of Heraclius.
f Those called Acephali who fostered heresy without a definite head. First, this name was applied to those who, after the Council of Ephesus, still defended the errors of Nestorius and followed the party of neither St. Cyril nor John of Antioch, but held assemblies separately without a head. So Baronius at the year 433, no. 21, from the deacon Liberatus. But more commonly, those who condemned the Council of Chalcedon and did not accept Zeno's so-called Henotikon (document of union), and seceded from Peter Mongus, the pseudo-bishop of Alexandria who had embraced it, were called Acephali, or "headless," because having left their Patriarch they communed separately. As Baronius explains more fully at the year 482, no. 42. Severus later made himself their leader, and Emperor Anastasius was their patron. From these arose the Monothelites, who, although they pretended to accept the Council of Chalcedon, denied two wills and operations in Christ. They too were therefore called Acephali. Concerning the Monothelites, more will be said shortly in connection with St. Agatho. Ripamontius seems here to have wished to interpret the name of the Acephali, but too broadly.
g We shall give the Life of St. John, Bishop and Martyr of Bergamo, on July 11.
h The Addua (in some authors Abdua; in Polybius Adoas; in Strabo Adouas; now commonly Adda) flows from the ridge of the Rhaetian Alps, through the Valtellina and Lake Larius (or Como), and finally joins the Po above Cremona.
i Among them is Ferrarius.
k St. Maternus, the ninth Bishop of Milan, is venerated on July 18.
l Aripert their father divided the Lombard kingdom between them in 661, as Sigonius writes in book 2, so that the former would reign in Milan, the latter in Pavia.
m Why the author writes this, we do not know. Grimoald died in the tenth year of his reign, i.e. A.D. 672 according to Sigonius; converted to the faith by St. John of Bergamo, and distinguished by several victories. Consult Sigonius at the place cited, Paul the Deacon, etc.
n Paul the Deacon, book 5, Sigonius, and others record the following prophecy and the defeat of the Greeks.
o Leander Albertus writes that the region enclosed by the Adda and Serio rivers up to the mountains of Bergamo is called the gravel-bed of the Adda; and that Merula calls it the Fulcherian Island; and that it is exceedingly fertile and well populated with villages and settlements.
p Sigonius mentions Heribert in book 8 of De regno Italiae at the year 1047. In the Acts of the Church of Milan he is said to have been ordained by Benedict VIII (who sat from 1013 to 1024) and to have sat for 27 years.