Vitalian

CONCERNING S. VITALIAN, ROMAN PONTIFF.

Year 671.

Vitalian, Pope (S.)

From various sources.

[1] Pope Vitalian departed this life on the 6th before the Kalends of February, on which day his memory is celebrated in the Martyrologies--though not in very many, nor in the most ancient. Constantius Felicius, after enumerating the Saints of each day, is accustomed to append a diary in which he commemorates many things, The name of S. Vitalian in the Martyrologies even profane events, that happened on the same day. Here concerning Vitalian: "Vitalian, a Volscian, dies as Pope." But Peter Galesinius, from a manuscript codex, as he says: "Furthermore, of S. Vitalian, Pontiff." The Roman Martyrology, augmented by Baronius: "At Rome, of Vitalian, Pope." Let us also cite some other Martyrologies, somewhat older. The Carthusians of Cologne in their additions to Usuard: "Of Vitalian, Pope and Confessor, the seventy-eighth after Peter." Molanus: "At Rome, the natalis of S. Vitalian, Pope, who after Blessed Peter was the seventy-eighth, composed the Roman chant and harmonized it with the sweet-sounding organ." The MS. Florarium: "At Rome, of S. Vitellian, Pope and Confessor. He died in the year of salvation 672." It adds about the chant and organ. Several manuscripts of Usuard's Martyrology, amplified for the use of certain Belgian Churches: "At Rome, the natalis of S. Vitellian, Pope, who after Blessed Peter was the seventy-eighth, reigned 9 years and 6 months. He composed the Roman chant and harmonized it with the sweet-sounding organ." In some he is called Vicellianus, as in the Cologne Martyrology, in which he is said to have reigned 9 years, 6 months, and 21 days. Canisius: "Likewise of S. Vitalian, Pope and Confessor, who, being a great lover and promoter of the divine Office in the Church, sent the Blessed Theodore to England to preach the Gospel there."

[2] That matter about organs is reported ambiguously by Platina: "But Vitalian," he says, "intent on divine worship, both composed the ecclesiastical rule The sacred chant was arranged by him and arranged the chant, with organs added for harmony (as some would have it)." This is not accepted by Ferrarius: "Some think," he says, "that he added organs to the chant; which, however, since the Roman Church does not at all use organs in the presence of the Pontiff, and were organs also employed? seems less probable." Leander Alberti, in his Description of Latium, treating of Segni, says: "This city, Pope Vitalian, son of Anastasius, adorned by his birth; by whom the melodies which the Roman Church uses were composed, and organs were invented, as Petrarch has reported." It is sufficiently established that they were not first invented by him; but whether they were transferred to the celebration of the divine Office is uncertain.

[3] If the deeds of S. Vitalian had been committed to writing, he would surely with good reason be considered the equal of the most illustrious Pontiffs, His Acts whose zeal in propagating the Catholic religion, and whose greatness of soul, tested by various events, shone forth. But we have very little that was written by Anastasius the Librarian, concerning the arrival of the Emperor Constans in Italy and Rome. There survive in the volumes of the Councils six letters of Vitalian, letters of which the first four were written in Indiction 11, the year of Christ 668, in the case of John, Bishop of Lappa in Crete, whom, having been unjustly condemned by Paul the Archbishop and prevented from proceeding to the Apostolic See, to which he had appealed, he restored in full.

[4] The fifth letter of Vitalian was addressed to Oswy, King of the Northumbrians in England, to whom, and to his wife Eanfleda, he sent various relics of the Saints. Bede recites that letter in bk. 3 of his History of England, ch. 29. The most holy Pontiff had embraced the salvation of the English with particular zeal, care for the salvation of the English as can be conjectured from the things which historians record as done in England during his pontificate. Among other things, as was said on 12 January in the Life of S. Benedict Biscop, no. 5, he ordained Theodore of Tarsus, a monk, as Archbishop on the 7th before the Kalends of April, a Sunday, in the year 668, and commended him to Biscop (because he was a wise and vigorous man) to be conducted to Britain, together also with the Abbot Adrian, as Florence of Worcester writes. We treated of S. Adrian the Abbot on 9 January; and we shall treat of Theodore, Archbishop of Canterbury, on 19 September.

[5] In various provinces, synods were celebrated in the time of Vitalian; in Gaul, the Council of Nantes. About the Council of Chalon there is uncertainty, synods celebrated under him in Gaul although Ciacconius asserts it and Baronius presupposes it at the year 662, no. 3. It is established that it was held in the time of Clovis II, and indeed in the month of October; in which year of his reign is not established. Audobertus, Bishop of Paris, was present; therefore before the year 658, for in that year, the fifteenth of Clovis, S. Landericus, successor of Audobertus, signed the privilege of liberty granted to the monastery of S. Denis. Baronius thought that Audobertus was the successor of S. Landericus, because S. Audoenus wrote the Life of S. Eligius addressed to him; but it was written not to Audobertus but to Chrodobertus, of whom mention was made in the Life of S. Bathild on 26 January. Sigebert in ch. 58 calls him Robertus.

[6] In England also, in the monastery of S. Hilda, a synod was held in the presence of Kings Oswy and Alchfrid his son, England concerning the date of Easter, the tonsure of the clergy, and other ecclesiastical matters, in the year of Christ 664, as Bede writes in bk. 3, ch. 25, Florence of Worcester, and others. In Spain, under his pontificate, were celebrated the Tenth Council of Toledo in the Aera 694, or the year of Christ 656, on the Kalends of December; Spain and the Council of Mérida in the Aera 704, the year of Christ 666; but not the Ninth Council of Toledo, as Ciacconius supposed, for that was held in the Aera 693, the year of Christ 655, on 2 November, under S. Eugene. The duration of Vitalian's pontificate can be calculated thus: S. Martin was removed from Rome by Theodore Calliopas on the 13th before the Kalends of July, a Wednesday; duration of the pontificate therefore in the year of Christ 653, in which the dominical letter was F. S. Eugene reigned 2 years, 9 months, and 24 days, and died on 2 June; wherefore he seems to have been elected around 10 August, when namely it was firmly established that Martin had been relegated to Cherson and would not return to Rome--even if he did not bear the title of Pontiff while Martin was alive, but that of Vicar of the Pontiff. After his death, the episcopate was vacant for one month and 29 days. Vitalian was installed toward the end of July of the same year 656, and reigned 14 years and 6 months, until 27 January of the year 671. So, approximately, Anastasius the Librarian records. The author of the booklet on the Roman Pontiffs that is attributed to Liutprand writes that he died on the 8th before the Ides of February.

[7] Concerning Vitalian, Hieronymus Rubeus relates the following in his History of Ravenna, book 4. When he had long held in hatred and indignation the excessive insolence of the Archbishop of Ravenna, immediately upon being made Pontiff, He excommunicates the Bishop of Ravenna who refused to obey: he summoned Archbishop Maurus to Rome to plead his case. When Maurus neglected this, he was interdicted from the sacred rites by Vitalian. But Maurus, imitating Dioscorus, the Bishop of Alexandria, who had been condemned for this very reason by the Council of Chalcedon, sent letters in return to Vitalian and interdicted him in turn from the sacred rites; nor was he ever, while he lived, led away from this wicked opinion by any consciousness of his crime. Nevertheless, Pope Vitalian did not fail, forgetful of the injury as befits a most holy Pontiff, He establishes a Bishop at Ferrara. to do a kindness to the people of Ferrara by transferring the bishopric of Voghenza, which was subject to the Church of Ravenna, to Ferrara. Most authorities report that this Voghenza was the village of Egonus, not far from the place where Ferrara is now situated, and that it was called Voghenza by a corruption of the name. By this arrangement, therefore, with the bishopric of Voghenza transferred thither, Ferrara was established as a city by Vitalian around the year 663 and was made subject to the Church of Ravenna, as can still be gathered from the most ancient records of the Church of Ravenna. So writes Rubeus, who then relates the lamentable death of that obstinate Archbishop of Ravenna. Leander, in his description of Romaniola, calls that place of the ancient See "Vicaventia."

[8] In what veneration the orthodox Emperor Constantine Pogonatus held Vitalian, and how greatly the heretics, especially the Monothelites, hated him in return, one may perceive from the letters of Constantine himself to Pope Donus, which are found at the beginning of the Sixth Council; in which, among other things, the following is stated: "Great urgency was pressed upon us, both by this most holy Patriarch (Theodore) and by Macarius, the most holy Patriarch of Theopolis, that the most blessed Vitalian should be cast out of the diptychs, they asserting that Honorius is commemorated in the diptychs on account of the honor of the Apostolic See of our ancient Rome. For they did not consent that the Patriarchs who were subsequently in the aforesaid holy Roman Church should be commemorated, With Emperor Constantine opposing this, until an inquiry and satisfaction should be reached concerning the words about which there is contention between the two Sees, and thus your blessedness might consequently be commemorated. But we did not consent to this, that is, that the same Vitalian should be cast out of the diptychs; this indeed, inasmuch as we preserve all equity, whom he had helped against the tyrants, and hold both to be orthodox; and this also on account of the charity shown to us by the same Vitalian, while he was alive, in the uprising of our tyrants." Concerning Macarius, the heretical Patriarch of Antioch, we treated in the life of S. Agatho on 10 January. As for the charity shown to him by Vitalian in the uprising of the tyrants, which the Emperor acknowledges, this seems to have occurred when, after the murder of Constans, a certain Mecetius, or Mezentius, seized the throne in Sicily, against whom, as Paulus Diaconus writes in book 5, chapter 12, the soldiers of the Italian militia, some coming through Istria, others through the regions of Campania, and still others from the parts of Africa and Sardinia, burst violently into Syracuse and deprived him of life. That Vitalian then brought aid to Constantine, Baronius gathers from those cited letters, under the year 668, no. 1. Moreover, what the Emperor did not wish to happen, his name erased from the Greek diptychs, was nevertheless done, whether against his will or without his knowledge: Vitalian's name was erased from the diptychs; but it was later restored by order of the Sixth Council, as is clear from its Acts, concerning which matter Baronius treats under the year 677, no. 2, and 681, no. 6. Restored.

[9] It also pertains to the praise of S. Vitalian that, just as he sent relics of the Saints to King Oswy, as has already been said, so also he transmitted them to S. Wandregisel when he requested them. Thus it is related in his life, which we shall give on 22 July: "For the aforesaid man of the Lord built in that very place basilicas of outstanding workmanship, four in number, in honor namely of Peter, the Prince of the Apostles, He sends relics of the Saints to S. Wandregisel. and likewise of Paul, the Doctor of the Gentiles, and of Saints Lawrence and Pancras, Martyrs of Christ. Moreover, the same man of the Lord, while he was engaged in this work, sent his aforementioned nephew (Godo) to the city of Rome for the sacred relics of the blessed Apostles and Martyrs of Christ, so that once the basilicas were built, he might have at hand the relics of the Saints to whose name and honor he had resolved to dedicate them. He, most willingly complying with the wishes of his pious Father, went to Rome, while Pope Vitalian at that time was governing the See of that same Church; and having received from him very many relics of the Apostles and Martyrs of Christ, together with the Apostolic blessing, he brought them back with him on his return, along with a not inconsiderable supply of sacred books; and having completed the journey with a prosperous course, he returned rejoicing to the man of God, and the same man of the Lord reverently received all that he had brought."

[10] But the sacred relics of Vitalian himself, Relics of S. Vitalian. as Octavius Pancirolus attests in his Hidden Treasures of the Nurturing City, region 7, church 17, are preserved in the Vatican basilica of S. Peter.

LIFE

By Anastasius, Librarian of the Holy Roman Church.

S. Vitalian, Pope

[1] Vitalian, by birth from Signia, in the province of Campania, son of Anastasius, sat for fourteen years and six months. The embassy of S. Vitalian to the Emperor: He sent his representatives with a synodal letter, according to custom, to the imperial city, to the most pious Princes, informing them of his ordination. And when they were received, they returned having renewed the privileges of the Church; and the Emperor's clemency, through those same envoys, sent to the Blessed Apostle Peter a golden-covered book of the Gospels, adorned round about with white gems of wondrous size. Gifts sent by him to Rome. He preserved the ecclesiastical rule and discipline in every way, as was customary.

[2] In his times, the Emperor Constantine Augustus came from the imperial city by the coast to Athens, and thence to Taranto, His arrival at Rome. thence to Benevento, and to Naples, during the sixth Indiction. Afterward he came to Rome, that is, on the fifth day of the month of July, a Wednesday, in the above-mentioned Indiction. And the Pope went out to meet him with his clergy at the sixth milestone from the city of Rome, and received him. And on that same day the Emperor went to S. Peter's for prayer, and offered a gift there. On Saturday he went to S. Mary's, and likewise offered a gift. Honorable reception. On Sunday he proceeded to S. Peter's with his army. All went out to meet him with candles, gifts offered to the churches, and he offered upon the altar a pall woven with gold, and Masses were celebrated. Again on Saturday the Emperor came to the Lateran, and bathed, and there took his meal in the basilica of Julius. Likewise on Sunday there was a station at S. Peter's, and after Masses were celebrated, the Emperor and the Pontiff bade each other farewell.

[3] Plundering of the City. Remaining in the city of Rome for twelve days, he stripped everything that was in bronze for the adornment of the city; and even the Church of the Blessed Mary at the Martyrs, which was covered with bronze tiles, he uncovered. And he sent them to the imperial city along with the other various things which he had stripped away. And afterward, on Monday, having departed from the city of Rome, he returned to Naples. Thence he went by land to Reggio, and entered Sicily during the seventh Indiction. And he dwelt in the city of Syracuse, and imposed such affliction upon the people, vexation of the provinces; both the inhabitants and the landowners of the provinces of Calabria, Sicily, Africa, and Sardinia, through assessments, poll-taxes, and compulsory naval service, for many years, such as had never been since the beginning of time, so that they even separated wives from husbands and sons from fathers; and they suffered many other unheard-of things, so that no hope of life remained for anyone. And they also seized the sacred vessels and treasures of the holy Churches of God, his murder. leaving nothing behind. And afterward, on the fifteenth day of the month of July, during the eleventh Indiction, the aforesaid Emperor was murdered in his bath.

[4] Death of S. Vitalian. And not long after, the aforesaid most holy man ended his life. He performed four ordinations, ordaining twenty-two priests, one deacon, and ninety-seven bishops in various places. He was also buried at the Blessed Apostle Peter's, on the sixth day before the Kalends of February, and the episcopate was vacant for two months and thirteen days.

p. By Andrew, son of Troilus, as Baronius has it.