Honorata — Acta Sanctorum

ON ST. HONORATA, VIRGIN, AT PAVIA IN ITALY.

Circa A.D. 500.

Preface

Honorata, Virgin at Pavia (S.)

Author: Phil. Ferrarius.

Ferrarius in his catalogue of the Saints of Italy testifies that the life of the Virgin Honorata exists in manuscript, from which he compiled the summary given below. He adds that her memory is venerated at Pavia on January 12th, on which day he records her; but that day is one of translation, On which day she is venerated. not of death, which is entirely unknown. On January 11th, from ^a handwritten old Martyrology and ^a calendar of the Church of Pavia, she is recorded by Galesinius and the Roman Martyrology: "At Pavia, of St. Honorata the Virgin." The manuscript Florarium Sanctorum also mentions her on this day. But the Carthusians of Cologne in their Additions to Usuard and the German Martyrology have: "At Steinfeld, of Honorata the Virgin. Likewise on the same day, the translation of Saints Potentinus the Deacon, Felicius the Priest, and Simplicius the Martyr." There is no memory of her at Steinfeld.

LIFE, BY PHIL. FERRARIUS.

Honorata, Virgin at Pavia (S.)

[1] Honorata the Virgin, sister of St. Epiphanius, Bishop of Pavia, She becomes ^a religious. was the youngest of the sisters -- that is, younger than Luminosa, Speciosa, and Liberata. From ^a tender age she entered the monastery of St. Vincent, which was situated outside the Palatine gate, and was entrusted by St. Epiphanius, as he was about to set out for Rome, to Luminosa, that she might instruct her. At that time, when King Odoacer had plundered the captured city of Pavia, Luminosa and Honorata together with other nuns were carried off into captivity. She is captured by enemies. When Epiphanius had ransomed them and Luminosa had died shortly afterward, Honorata, instructed in excellent morals, survived for some years, remarkable for wonderful holiness and devoted to pious works, until she too closed her last day. She dies.

[2] Her body was first buried in the same church of St. Vincent. Afterward, by St. Litifredus the Bishop, who was admonished in ^a dream, ^a three-day fast was proclaimed, and the vision was made known to the people. The body was then translated to the church of St. Mary the Elder, which is now called St. Mary of the Hoods. Her translation, made illustrious by many miracles. In this translation ^a miracle occurred. For near the basilica of St. Michael, as the clergy went before and the people followed, the body remained immovable for such ^a long time that the holy Bishop placed his own pallium upon it. A certain sick woman also, who could neither move from her place nor speak, upon seeing the body of the holy Virgin and imploring her help, recovered complete health -- besides other persons with bodily defects and illnesses, and demoniacs, who were healed at that time. Because of the fame of the miracles, many flocked from neighboring places, so that the body of the Virgin was preserved in the middle of the church for three days; and on the 3rd of the Ides of January, it was fittingly deposited at the altar of St. Mary of the aforesaid monastery -- the one called "of the Histories," which belongs to the nuns.

Notes

a. We shall give the life of St. Epiphanius, written by Blessed Ennodius, on January 21st, in which honorable mention is made of St. Honorata: "He had a sister, younger by birth but not inferior in religion, named Honorata, whose life would take long to recount through each kind of virtue; yet it suffices as the crowning praise to have called her a sister worthy of so great a man."

b. Ennodius in the life of St. Epiphanius: "In the very year in which he returned from the embassy, he consecrated her; yet he committed her to be trained in heavenly disciplines -- as though knowledge would suffice for her by nature -- to a certain Luminosa, a woman of astonishing holiness and singular example, whose noble lineage it would perhaps be fitting to recall, except that her life was more distinguished than her blood." Whether two Luminosas should be distinguished, since this one does not seem to have been the sister of Epiphanius and Honorata, is treated separately. We shall discuss Luminosa on May 9th.

c. Baronius refers this embassy of St. Epiphanius to the Emperor Anthemius to his Annals, vol. 6, at A.D. 471, the same year in which he observes Honorata was consecrated, in his Notes on the Martyrology, from the cited words of Ennodius, which we shall examine on January 21st.

d. Odoacer became King of Italy in 476. We treated of him on January 8th in the life of St. Severinus, Apostle of Noricum.

e. Bernardus Saccus discusses the plundering and destruction of Pavia in book 7 of his *History of Pavia*, ch. 7, but incorrectly assigns it to the year 470.

f. Ennodius: "His holy sister is also carried off and led away in separate captivity. All the families of the nobles are separated from their own. Luminosa, that most glorious woman, is bound by the same condition of necessity."

g. Ennodius: "He rescued his venerable sister before the disastrous light of that day could fade into evening." He is silent about Luminosa; perhaps she is to be counted among the mothers of families then liberated by him.

h. St. Litifredus is thought to have attended the Council of Pavia in A.D. 855. We shall treat of him on March 8th. Ferrarius writes in his life that before he was admonished in a dream, he had attempted to translate the body of St. Honorata but was unable to do so.

i. There is some confusion here in Ferrarius. For in the life of St. Epiphanius he asserts she was buried in the old monastery called "of the Histories," near the bishopric. From there, on April 7, 1597, she was translated to the monastery of St. Mary, called "of the Hoods." Saccus, book 5, ch. 15, says her bones were placed in the chapel of the old monastery, commonly called "of the Histories," and that when an attempt was made to carry them from that place to be deposited in a more prominent shrine, they could not be moved by any human effort.

k. Ferrarius in the life of St. Litifredus calls it the church of St. Nicholas.

l. Something seems to be missing here for the sense to be complete.