ON ST. HELIODORUS, BISHOP OF ALTINO AND CONFESSOR,
AT TORCELLO NEAR VENICE.
FOURTH CENTURY.
PRELIMINARY COMMENTARY.
The episcopal see; memory in the Martyrologies; true praise in St. Jerome; manuscript Acts of no great faith.
Heliodorus, Bishop of Altino, at Torcello near Venice (S.)
BY THE AUTHOR J. B. S.
The memory of ancient Altino, overthrown by the Huns under Attila, has not so perished but that at least some ruins and a tower survive, which retain the name of Altino. Among the ancient geographers it was a city not ignoble, The site of ancient Altino once episcopal under the Patriarch of Aquileia, situated amid marshes near the mouth of the river Silis, of which Papebroch too made mention on the twenty-seventh of April in the life of St. Liberalis. It is recorded by Antoninus, on the journey from Aquileia to Bologna, which runs through Concordia, Altino, Padua. Of it likewise Pliny, book 3, chapter 18: The tenth region of Italy, set upon the Adriatic Sea, whose is Venetia: the river Silis from the mountains of Treviso, the town Altino. Strabo, book 5, page 148, in Cellarius: Ἔστι τὸ Ἄλτινον ἐν ἕλει, Altino is situated in a marsh, παραπλησίον, in like manner as Ravenna. Ptolemy also and Zosimus, book 5, chapter 37, Ἄλτινον. Martial, book 4, Epigram 25: The shores of Altino, rivals of the villas of Baiae. Its townsmen, says the same, are the Altinates. The inscription of Gruter, page 409, number 8: THE COLLEGE OF SMITHS OF THE ALTINATES. The river is today called Sile, but Torcellum or Turricellum long ago succeeded the town in episcopal dignity, a city quite small, bordering on ancient Altino, but sparse in inhabitants; of which Ughelli treats at greater length in volume 5, where he asserts that it is numbered among the parts of the Venetian state, and constitutes its sixth region with the neighboring islands, although it is distant from it by five miles.
[2] A somewhat fuller description the praised Ughelli will subjoin, and its brief description. given formerly by Papebroch, but which is here to be produced anew. The Altinates, after the destruction of their city, who occupied the islands sheltering the marshes around Venice, built Torcello, and called that city Torcello, as it were Turricello, from the sixth part of the destroyed city. It is now, on account of the heaviness of the air, cultivated by almost no inhabitant, nor does it show its neighbors almost any of its buildings. The episcopate was instituted almost a thousand years ago, for in the year of the Lord 635, when Rothari, king of the Lombards, had cut down eight thousand of the Romans at the Scultenna, very many of the peoples of Venetia, out of fear of him, withdrew to the lagoons. And so Paul, bishop of Altino, transferred his episcopal see, Severinus, the Roman Pontiff, approving. The cathedral basilica, under the title of the Mother of God, the Virgin assumed into heaven, was founded, an ancient, ample, and magnificent structure, conspicuous with marble columns, tessellated pavement, and mosaic and vermiculate work, and adorned with sacred relics; namely of St. Tusca, virgin and martyr, crowned together with Malicia her nurse, whose bodies were long since translated to Torcello from Ravenna, where they had received the palm of martyrdom. Thus far Ughelli. But for Malicia, read Maura, and of both Saints see in the Acts of the thirteenth of February.
[3] The bishop of this place, Heliodorus Here you observe that the institution of the episcopate is recalled by Ughelli to the year 635, unless rather is understood the translation of the episcopal see made about that time by Paul, when out of fear of the Lombards the peoples of Venetia withdrew to the lagoons. I ask, whence did Paul transfer the see? From Altino? But that had been overthrown almost two hundred years before (452) by the raging Attila. Elsewhere therefore must the bishops of Altino have lain hidden, if any between the destruction of the city and the times of the aforesaid Paul enjoyed such a title. Certainly Ughelli found none, placing Paul first in the series, nor is it easy for me to add anything to his inquiries, much less to suggest bishops of Altino who held the see before the times of Attila, except St. Heliodorus alone, whom to have been the prelate of that church is proved by an irrefragable argument from the Council of Aquileia held in the year 381, where he himself, in the Collection of Labbe, volume 2, column 990, thus speaks: Bishop Heliodorus said: The perfidy of Arius and of all the heretics, of whom Palladius is a partner, this his foolish heart, who has not confessed the truth, I, with the rest of my fellow-priests, condemn. These things are most evident for the episcopate of St. Heliodorus. Those who number Theonestus, bishop and martyr, among the Altinates, I know not on what monuments they rely. Ferrari relates other things, to be examined on the thirtieth of October.
[4] in the more recent calendars he is praised. Binius further observes, column 997, that our St. Heliodorus, deeply imbued with the faculty of Greek letters, is highly commended by certain letters of Jerome; … and still lives in an anniversary commemoration in the Church on the third of July. He lives indeed, although he is not known among the classical Martyrologists, nor is he found in any Usuardine codices older than Greven. He first, as far as I know, thus marked him: Of Heliodorus, bishop of Altino and confessor, to whom there exist certain letters of Blessed Jerome. I am mistaken, unless from the prelate of Equilium, his usual source, Greven took these things, and from this Molanus, whose phrase is briefer: Likewise of blessed Heliodorus, bishop of Altino. Elegantly enough Galesinius: At Altino, of St. Heliodorus the bishop, illustrious with the praise of divine wisdom, admirable eloquence, and great sanctity. Briefly Felicio; but Ferrari copied almost the whole elogium from Peter's catalogue. To adduce more Martyrologists is superfluous, nor do they dissent from those already cited, to whom Baronius too subscribed in the Roman: At Altino, of St. Heliodorus the bishop, distinguished for learning and sanctity. Nor do I see why Castellanus doubted whether the Heliodorus there praised be not different from him for whom Baronius took him, since by all everywhere the same is proclaimed, namely St. Heliodorus, familiar to St. Jerome, once his companion in Palestine, and at last Bishop of Altino.
[5] The already-mentioned encomium of Peter de Natalibus without doubt Maurolyco too saw, The Acts and encomia are badly arranged. and thence dared to add to the rest that St. Heliodorus was ordained by Chromatius, bishop of Aquileia; with a notable parachronism, since from the cited council it is certain that St. Chromatius was still a presbyter in the year 381, while St. Heliodorus held a place among the Bishops. Many things of this kind the praised prelate of Equilium badly wove together; as, that in his youthful age he was promoted to the dignity of the priesthood. Then: That the holy Bishop, having returned to Altino, ordered his church … thence went to Jerusalem, and visited with bodily sight Jerome, long desired, whom he had often seen in his writings; besides other things of that kind, which point out the muddy fountain from which they flowed: I mean the Acts, verbose and gloomy, adorned many centuries after his death, I know not by whom, which Papebroch once transcribed from the codex of the sacred Camaldolese Hermitage, folio 100, to be exhibited a little below. Meanwhile I think it will be more welcome to the reader to read those things which we have collected from the works of St. Jerome in a brief, sure epitome, from which a judgment can be formed concerning that whole history.
[6] That St. Heliodorus was sprung from Dalmatia and was a compatriot of St. Jerome, More certain things are had from the life of St. Jerome, is sufficiently gathered; nor will he stray far from the time of his birth who has fixed it between the years 330 and 340, so that he is almost the equal of St. Jerome; for through the East he had traveled with that holy Doctor and into his homeland
had returned, when the latter directed his first letter to him, about the year 366, as Martianay rightly seems to us to judge, lest, if it be deferred to the year 374, we be compelled to say that St. Jerome called himself a youth and almost a boy, who, born in 342, had then passed his thirty-sixth year. But of that letter presently at greater length. However it be, that St. Heliodorus withdrew from his homeland into Italy, to learn thoroughly the good arts, afterward returned to Aquileia, and there contracted a friendship with the praised holy Doctor, the whole series of events teaches, to be unearthed from various places. Joining himself as a companion to St. Jerome, he set out with Innocent and Evagrius into Thrace, Pontus, Bithynia, Galatia, Cappadocia, Cilicia, and Syria. At Antioch he settled a while, and there more probably heard Apollinaris, not yet recognized as a heretic. Hence, when Jerome withdrew into the solitude of Chalcis, our Saint afterward went thither, to whom Evagrius of Antioch ministered all necessaries, says Baronius under the year 372, number 44. But with matters thus properly disposed, that grievous thing above all happened, that he was deprived by death of his most sweet companion Innocent, and Heliodorus soon withdrew, yet with hope of returning. That St. Jerome had the already-praised Heliodorus, Innocent, and Evagrius as inseparable companions of his journey into the East, Tillemont thinks not altogether certain.
[7] But indeed it is beyond doubt that St. Heliodorus was even then a monk, and from various bound with such bonds that it was not open to him to look back to the world, of which thing St. Jerome is witness in that whole most elegant letter, in praise of the solitary life, addressed to him, in which he shows not obscurely that he is anxious lest by the blandishments of his parents or of his widowed sister (the mother of Nepotian) he be torn from his most holy purpose. He presses further, now here now there, more sharply, as from a few places of the same letter you will most openly understand. The Son of Man, he says, has not where to lay His head, and you measure out ample porticoes and huge spaces of roofs. Whence it is clear that the parents of St. Heliodorus, still surviving, were in wealthy and well-gotten estate. Jerome proceeds: Expecting the inheritance of the world, you cannot be a coheir of Christ. Interpret the word "monk," that is your name. What do you do in a crowd, you who are alone? Nor does he stop here. But you have promised that you will be perfect; for when, the warfare abandoned, you castrated yourself for the kingdom of heaven, what else did you follow but the perfect life? … Therefore, to conclude; if you are perfect, why do you desire your father's goods? Full of precepts of this kind is the praised letter, from the reckoning of which Jerome gathers that sum: that a perfect monk cannot be in his own homeland: but to be unwilling to be perfect, is to sin.
[8] in his letters. It would be necessary to copy out both this and other letters, if I wished to pursue each detail: to the summary of St. Heliodorus's deeds it pertains, what Jerome indicates at the very beginning: With how great love and zeal I strove that we might likewise abide in the desert, the breast conscious of mutual charity recognizes. With what laments, with what grief, with what groaning I followed you departing, these letters too are witnesses, which you see blotted with tears. But you, like a delicate little child, cherished the contempt of the one asking by blandishments. No less clearly does he complain in letter 3, chapter 6, where, treating of Nepotian, he expostulates as a friend: another perhaps would write that for his safety you dismissed the East and the desert, and suckled me, your dearest comrade, with the hope of returning. These things indicate that St. Heliodorus, returning to his own, promised a return to St. Jerome; yet so that, called away elsewhere, he could not keep his word, there remaining meanwhile a constant and perpetual intimacy between the two. What St. Heliodorus did afterward through several years is not sufficiently established. That he had the care of his nephew, promoted to the priesthood, then to the episcopate, St. Jerome again teaches, in another notable letter, second in order, to Nepotian himself, in which he prescribes the norm of living to be kept by clerics and monks: I know indeed that from your uncle, the blessed Heliodorus, who is now a pontiff of Christ, you have both learned what things are holy, and daily learn them, and have the example of his virtues as a norm of life. But that St. Heliodorus never returned into the East, the silence of St. Jerome abundantly proves, so that, if anyone of that name is found in the holy Doctor, Tillemont rightly observes, volume 12, page 621, that he was different from ours, a brother or monk, perhaps the go-between of Rufinus.
[9] The books of St. Jerome, dedicated to him and to Chromatius. This letter to Nepotian Martianay judges to have been written in the year 394, when St. Heliodorus had long since obtained the infulae of Altino, whom we demonstrated above to have been present as a bishop at the Council of Aquileia in the year 381. But the epitaph of Nepotian, or the aforesaid letter, third in Marianus Victorius, he judges to have been given in the year 396, or, as Tillemont, in the year 397. Of the other things done by St. Heliodorus in the episcopate, singly, nothing can be deduced from the letters of St. Jerome, except those which were written to Nepotian. For the rest, it is established that Saints Heliodorus and Chromatius sought from St. Jerome various books of Holy Scripture, translated into Latin by him, of which to speak separately is not worth the labor. In the new edition of Martianay the preface to the book of Tobit is inscribed to Chromatius and Heliodorus the bishops, and begins: I do not cease to marvel at the insistence of your demand; for you require that a book written in the Chaldean tongue I should draw over into the Latin style. In book 2 against Rufinus, chapter 8, he testifies that he also translated the books of Solomon … from the Hebrew and dedicated them to the holy bishops Chromatius and Heliodorus. Add the commentaries on Hosea, Amos, Zechariah, and Malachi from letter 115, concerning which see Tillemont, volume 12, page 136; although they are found inscribed to others also, which it is not ours here to discuss at length.
[10] Let it suffice to have tasted these things for the solid praise of our Saint, The Acts are given, though badly arranged. although they are by no means such that from them the order of his life or deeds can be understood: just as neither would those letters serve that purpose, which under the name of Chromatius and Heliodorus to St. Jerome, with his responses to them, were once wont to be prefixed to the Martyrologies, long ago convicted of falsity by Baronius, but inserted into the Acts now to be subjoined, which Florentinius and others have vainly attempted to defend. Still less is it open to me to defend the aforesaid Acts, which, as I had begun to say above, are verbose and gloomy, filled with many false and many improbable things, which have been rejected upon Equilinus and Ferrari by the more recent authors, inasmuch as they had not seen that history, such as it is, hitherto, as far as I know, unpublished. That it could have been neglected, I do not indeed deny, but by the custom received among us, we publish even such Lives as we do not approve; here, however, this alone could impel us, that we wished to exhibit the spring from which upon Equilinus and Ferrari all things flowed. But whoever compiled that history, dared to assign neither the manner of death nor its time. The rest we shall elucidate in the annotations.
THE LIFE
From the manuscript codex of the Sacred Camaldolese Hermitage, folio 100.
Heliodorus, Bishop of Altino, at Torcello near Venice (S.)
BHL Number: 3801
FROM MANUSCRIPTS.
PROLOGUE.
At that time, from which, out of divers provinces, the holy Fathers gathered by divine nod the multitudes of the nations into the unity of the true faith and the belief of the Catholic Church: The holy Fathers contending against the snares of the demon from that time also the malignant spirit, with wolfish mouth, circles the folds of the faithful, lying in wait, studiously seeking the death of souls, and without ceasing daily tears in pieces not only bodies but also souls. But because through the admonitions of the holy Fathers it is known that the Christian religion has been gathered from the peoples of both, namely Jews and Gentiles, now the holy Church of Christ rejoices as one sheepfold through the whole world; which the ravening wolf, the greater he knows it will be, the more he strives to devour it with rapid bite, even through the human creature, deceived by his art. Wherefore the holy and religious men, persevering in the faith of Christ, and in the contest of so great a labor, blooming with flowery ruddiness and snowy whiteness, stood so greatly against the cunning arguments of that same wolf, until through divers kinds of torments they reached the palm of martyrdom; for very many, denying their own wills, and discussing them by an inner examination, and guarding themselves from those things which are contrary, with spiritual temperance and soberly, having broken through the wall of passion, violently ascended to the kingdoms of heaven.
[2] and conquered both the torments and the world; Since, as the divine eloquence teaches, that there are two kinds of torments no faithful one doubts: for one is that of the persecutors, who, raging, tear in pieces the members of the Martyrs with divers torments, cast them to be rent by beasts and birds, and cause them either to be dissolved in the waves, or through the burnings of flames to be reduced to ashes: the other kind of torment indeed is that by which the human race is drawn by its own will to the divers enticements of this world. To rule the motions of the mind and modestly to appease its perturbations, to rein in upon oneself the impulses of anger and pride, to strive daily against one's own vices, from empty speech and detestable work, as from noxious foods, not unknowingly to abstain, it ceases not. To do such things too is of the grace of the divine condescension, by which very many of the Saints, being illustrated, foresee with the eyes of the inner man the reward of future remuneration, as through a certain species of figure. It is necessary, therefore, to unfold the life of so great Fathers and to bring it to the notice of the faithful or the unfaithful and to make it public, that the faithful may more perfectly grow from virtue to virtue, and those who are perverse, instructed by such examples, may be able to come to the one and only God, without any intermission.
[3] Now therefore, brethren, take care to hear the words of this reading with attentive ears, at least of the heart, among whom St. Heliodorus. and of the many small things which we speak, as far as is possible, take care solicitously to know them by your powers, so that, gathered in the granary of your mind, possessing them as great riches, you may with one voice praise the glorious God in His Saints. On which account, that from few things many may be known, we have preferred to weave in part the life of the holy and most blessed Heliodorus the Prelate, and gratefully to intimate in what manner his conversation was in human affairs.
ANNOTATION.
There is nothing in this whole, rather long exordium, which could not be adapted to six hundred Saints, if only you except the name of St. Heliodorus.
* read "contended."
CHAPTER I.
The first labors of St. Heliodorus in the conversion of the Altinates. He confers with St. Chromatius. He is ordained bishop and sets out to St. Jerome in Palestine.
For in the time of the Emperor Theodosius, by whom many peoples of the province of Italy were held in the perfidy of the Arians, This man, adorned with many virtues, the holy and venerable man Heliodorus was leading his life at the city of Altino. For this man was of great abstinence, of approvable life, Catholic in faith, upright in works, just in judgment, whose prudence so excelled among his virtues,
that through the many spaces of the lands one like to him could not be found, who among other things stood forth as a wondrous preacher of the divine word, so much so that Altino, at once a most noble and most opulent city, which formerly had been bound by divers errors, he recalled to the way of truth through the most sacred laver of regeneration. For this city, once wondrously adorned with gold and silver, was strong with great might, and among the other cities of Venetia was called most noble; nay, nowhere was the throne of Augustus held more precious. What more b? A city once full of riches was suddenly destroyed, as the true history relates: and when Attila was hastening as swiftly as possible to war down Italy, he first came to Aquileia, and took it and consumed it with fire: then he vehemently seized and dissipated and burned many castles and cities, among which cities he also plundered this most opulent city and destroyed it to the ground, and there found many talents of gold and silver, which had been hidden away, and, very many being slain, going out from it, passed on elsewhere.
[5] Therefore, after the overthrow of the most noble city has been briefly told, Altino, a city once noble it is now fitting that, setting aside the order of the history, we return to the deeds of the holy man. For the aforesaid man of God, when he flourished in youthful age, attained the dignity of priest more in heart than in body, and, all cares of earthly things being despised, he bore the habit of holy conversation in his very heart. Of this man I have not learned all the deeds, but the few c which I relate. And so, when he discharged the priesthood in the same city which I have mentioned, he remained assiduously for the love of the citizens, and by holy exhortations he skillfully won the whole people to the Lord. For in that time great confusion was stirred among the citizens, so that they sacrificed to the gods and built temples for praying, and intently served the idols. Then this holy Man, seeing the whole d people utterly sacrificing to the gods, compelled by their error, gave himself with tears to prayer: who, rising from prayer, forthwith saw an Angel exceedingly bright, saying to him: Heliodorus, man of God, be of stout heart, for your prayer has been heard, and know that this people, defrauded by serpentine persuasion, will be redeemed through you.
[6] When he had recognized this, the man of God was terrified with exceeding terror: He is said to have led them from idols to Christ, but after a little, returning to himself and trusting in the angelic words, he came intrepid to the people; and when all were gathered there, Blessed Heliodorus strenuously admonished the throng of the peoples, and beginning, strove to press upon them the whole series of the Old Testament and the New: he comforted them, that, the error of images being abandoned, they should turn to the true God, and taught them how God had come among men, saying: Since this life is subject to chances and is fleeting; so that when it is least thought, it flees away as though undermined. Therefore light descended to us from heaven, sent by the unbegotten Father, and descended into the womb of a virgin, who conceived of the Holy Spirit, and brought forth God and man. For He Himself showed another life, which has a beginning without ever an end, there never grief or groaning, there nothing adverse, but always joy and gladness reign without end, where also the choirs of Angels sing, saying: Glory in the highest to God and on earth peace to men of good will. Where the number of Prophets, Apostles, Martyrs, Confessors, Virgins, and all the elect rejoices through the infinite ages of ages.
[7] to have overthrown the temples and built churches. But these images are vain, deaf, and mute, having nothing true in themselves; for the devil himself persuades you to serve these idols, that your souls may come into his power: for truly these golden and silver figments, which have been cast, are fashioned at the discretion of man, and then you are ignorant of Him who created you, in whose name all things are created. When the blessed Man was saying these and like things, all the citizens believed on that day and were baptized. And when they had believed, Blessed Heliodorus commanded all the images and all the temples which had been built in the city to be utterly destroyed and burned with fire. And these things, as said, were straightway accomplished. Then indeed the most holy Man ordered many churches to be built in the city, among which he also wondrously constructed a church in honor of the holy Mother of God Mary.
[8] With St. Chromatius he sought books from St. Jerome. When these things had been accomplished, he went to Blessed Chromatius, an illustrious man, bishop of Aquileia, and narrated to him in order all that he had done. Then Chromatius, seeing Blessed Heliodorus full of such sanctity and wisdom and virtue, loved and honored him with all affection. Daily they disputed among themselves how the divine offices ought to be celebrated in the holy churches of God. But at the same time they sent to Blessed Jerome, that he should translate the book of Tobit, written in the Chaldean tongue, into the Latin style. Hearing this, the venerable Jerome, most skilled in both languages, set forth the aforesaid book in Latin speech and prefaced it with his own canon and sent it back to the holy men. Likewise also he transmitted the commentaries on Hosea, Amos, Zechariah, Malachi, which they had asked of him to copy out, as also the three Solomonic volumes—Emaioth, which the Hebrews call Parables; Coheleth, which in Greek is called Ecclesiastes; Syracyrim, which is turned into our language as the Song of Songs—he wrote out for them in Latin speech.
[9] For holy Heliodorus, made a Prelate f, returned to Altino and by diligent preaching admonished the people, and assiduously ordained in the churches priests or levites, or the rest, To whom, having set out, the writer says, when he was already a bishop. according to the ecclesiastical grades. But the man full of God, not long after, having taken counsel, for the sake of prayer went to Jerusalem g, and there diligently besought Christ, for himself and for all the sons of the holy Church. When Blessed Jerome heard of his coming, he gladly received him, and addressed him with venerable words: I give thanks to God, who has offered you to my gaze. And holy Heliodorus tarried with him, so long as he remained there.
ANNOTATIONS.
CHAPTER II.
He obtains the arm of St. James. Letters concerning the Martyrology to St. Jerome, and his response. His withdrawal to St. Marcellianus and his death.
But in that time Bishops came from the borders of Gaul to the Emperor Theodosius and asked of him the body of the most blessed James the Apostle, son of Zebedee a, [Here the Bishops of Gaul are said to have obtained the body of St. James, and ours his arm.] brother of John, which was placed in Judea, saying: He was our preacher, grant us the body, most pious Emperor. When he had heard this, the venerable Augustus sent to Jerusalem and ordered the body of Blessed James to be given to the citizens of Gaul. But when the body had been given, Blessed Heliodorus, by no means ignorant of this matter, came to the men of Gaul and addressed them with soothing words, that they should grant him something of his most sacred body. And they, appeased by his words, gave him the right arm, and with great gladness returned to their own. Holy Heliodorus of God, his devotion at Jerusalem completed, and leave received from St. Jerome, returned to his homeland and blessed it with a gratuitous piety: for he carried back with him the relics of Blessed James, which he honorably laid away in the oratory of St. Andrew the Apostle, wherefore immense joy arose among the citizens.
[11] At the same time the aforesaid Augustus ordered all the Bishops of the province of Italy to be gathered together, and there they established a council b: among whom were present Chromatius and Heliodorus, most illustrious men. After a certain council I know not which, And when in the same council the feasts of the Martyrs were celebrated by the other Bishops, at the morning and evening hours, the aforesaid Pontiffs Chromatius and Heliodorus began to inquire of them concerning the very birthdays of the Martyrs, in what order they should be celebrated. From which matter a great contention arose among them, so that on account of the same contention Chromatius and Heliodorus sent their legates to Jerusalem, with a letter to Jerome the presbyter written thus.
[12] with St. Chromatius he requests the birthdays of the Martyrs, To the holy Lord and Brother Jerome the Presbyter, we, Chromatius and Heliodorus, Bishops, direct greeting in the Lord. When the most religious Augustus Theodosius had entered the city of Milan, and had invited all the Bishops of Italy, on account of certain Bishops who had defiled their souls from the Arian dregs: it happened that our littleness too came to the same council, in which, when those things which were to be said had been said and those to be defined were finished, the most Christian Prince began to bring forward St. Osorius*, Prelate of the Church of Cordova, that on every day, not fasting at the morning offices, or fasting at the evening, unfolding the Masses of those Martyrs whose birthdays they were, the names of very many were commemorated. It came to pass that we all alike resolved to write to your Charity, that, inquiring for the most famous Feast-list, from the archive of St. Eusebius, Priest of Caesarea in Palestine, you should direct to us the feasts of the Martyrs, that this office may, through your holy industry, be better and more perfectly exhibited to the Martyrs of God.
[13] to whom with a long letter Then St. Jerome, seeing this letter, directed his own to the Pontiffs in this manner: To Chromatius and Heliodorus, holy Bishops, Jerome. It is established that God and our Lord receives every day the triumphs of His Martyrs, whose passions we have found written by St. Eusebius, Bishop of Caesarea. For Constantine Augustus, when he had entered Caesarea, and said to the aforesaid Prelate that he should ask some benefits about to profit the Church of Caesarea,
things about to profit the Church of Caesarea, Eusebius is read to have answered that the church, enriched by its own wealth, was compelled by no necessity of asking: yet that there was in him one unmoved desire, that whatever had been done in the Republic by the Roman judges against the Saints of God throughout the whole world, he might inquire out by careful scrutiny, examining the public monuments—which Martyrs, by what judge, in what province or city, on what day, by what passion obtained the palms of their perseverance. And these things, taken out of the archives, the royal Prince ordered to be directed to Eusebius himself, whence it came to pass that, being a fit relater, he both reviewed the ecclesiastical history and, as a diligent historiographer, declared the trophies of almost all the Martyrs of all the provinces of the Romans, so that on every day, offering sacrifice to God, they might commemorate the names of those who on that very day, on which sacrifices are offered, had stood forth as victors over the devil, and Martyrs, strong and exulting in their triumphs, had come to their King Christ.
[14] St. Jerome responds For this cause we have written the feasts of the several months and the several days, believing that the name of our littleness will have perennial memory, since on all days, through the spaces of so many years, the names of the Saints have been festively celebrated: and because through the several days, of the divers provinces and divers cities, more than eight hundred and nine hundred thousand names of Martyrs are named, so that there is no day which cannot be found inscribed within the number of five hundred Martyrs, except the day of the Kalends of January: considering that among the innumerable throngs the mind of the reader can grow weary within one month, lest this happen, I have succinctly and briefly, of those who are in a most ample festivity, in their places only above all others, made mention, so that, tedium being cut away, one little book, inscribed, may suffice for all. Indeed in the first part of the little book we have written the feasts of all the Apostles, that the varying days may not seem to divide those whom one dignity has made to be sublime in the heavenly glory.
[15] These and many other things, necessary for the holy Church, Jerome directed to Chromatius and Heliodorus c, his most dear ones: The episcopate abdicated, but because it is too long to narrate each thing, it behooves us briefly to conclude the life of St. Heliodorus, lest we seem to have bred tedium in our hearers. But when St. Heliodorus was full of days, he convoked his clergy, and admonished the people, and foretold the future ruin of the city. Lastly the excellent man of God said to the peoples that they should choose another man, who by the order of his turn might hold the episcopate, because he himself, on account of old age, could not bear the pastoral care. But they, straightway saddened, with all their might interceded against the reasoning which he had spoken, and utterly refused to have another prelate while he lived: but he so far strengthened their spirits, until they chose a venerable man, named Ambrose, who himself too studied to please God in morals and deeds. When these things had been accomplished, Blessed Heliodorus, having received leave from all the citizens, sought the desert; but not long after, he was admonished by the Lord to be, for the sake of preaching, near to the new peoples over whom he had presided, and to have one dwelling with the Blessed man Marcellianus.
[16] Hearing this, the holy Prelate came to the blessed man Marcellianus, he withdraws to St. Marcellianus and dies. who dwelt on an island set in the sea, which was not far from the aforesaid city, from whose name even now it is called Marcelliana. Seeing him, Marcellianus received him with great honor and vehemently besought him that they might alike end their life in the same place. Then Blessed Heliodorus, with the great charity with which the holy Man had asked him, promised that he would remain there. In the same place the holy Pontiff dedicated a church, in which neither by day nor by night did he cease from vigils and prayers: but in the same year St. Marcellianus, on the fifth day of the month of June, migrated to the Lord: and holy Heliodorus placed the body of the holy Man in the same church, with great honor. But when the time drew near in which the holy Man [was] to pass from death to life, he convoked the priests, and said to them that the day of his death was imminent. And when the day of his departure came, he preached the word of salvation to all his own who were there present, and, confession made, his holy soul was loosed from the body: to whose funeral came the aforesaid Ambrose, with the clergy and an infinite multitude of peoples, wishing to take up his body, but not being able to do this, buried it in the aforesaid church beside the cemetery of St. Marcellianus, on the third day of the month of July. In which place the Lord had done many miracles through him, who lives and reigns with God the Father, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, through the eternal ages of ages. Amen.
ANNOTATIONS.
* Others read Gregory.
CHAPTER III.
The translation of the episcopal see and of the sacred body, with others.
Paul, bishop of Altino, compelled to flee by the Lombards, But when some courses of years had passed, after the overthrow of the aforesaid city by Attila, as we said, was accomplished, King Alboin, with a great multitude of Lombards, came to dissipate Italy. For first he took Venetia, which is the first province of Italy, without obstacle; since indeed all Italy, the rage of the Lombards increasing, was invaded. When these things were being done, Paul, a most illustrious man, held the governance of the church at Altino; but he himself, seeing their fury growing worse round about, and remembering the threat which St. Heliodorus had foretold would come thither, the bodies of Saints Theonestus, Tabra, and Tabrata or Liberalis being taken up, with the excellent arm of St. James the Apostle, or the other pledges of the Saints, went out thence by night, and with those whom he could, came to the maritime islands of spacious Venetia, which are not far from the same place. But in these times Heraclius ruled the Roman empire at Constantinople, after whose death Heraclius his son, with his mother Martina, took up the governance, and when his life departed, Constantine his brother obtained the empire of Heraclius. But because we have made mention of the most pious Augusti, and in part of their sons, it behooves us to return to the first series.
[18] with the sacred bodies of the Saints he migrated to Torcello. But when the Prelate had chosen to dwell in the aforesaid islands, he lived not more than one month. But the inhabitants who had remained at Altino partly set out to the other part, partly came to the same islands, and all, taking counsel, made there a bishop, which they called new Altino: but afterward the common folk, the name being changed, called it Torcello; and they chose a man named Maurus, whom they constituted their Pontiff. For this Prelate built divers churches and constituted congregations through the several islands. When he died, Julian succeeded, because he had indeed been a procurator and a preacher. And when he had died, they chose as Pontiff for themselves Deusdedit, full of virtues, whom we can truly say to have been given by the gift of God; for this man founded the church of the holy Mother of God Mary, in the same likeness as it had been, and there most worthily placed the bodies of the saints, and laid the arm of St. James the Apostle with honor in its crypt or coffer.
[19] After several years finally the body of the blessed Marcellianus was secretly taken away, His successors: and the translation of St. Heliodorus. and because God did not wish to deprive His own people of so great a patron, that same night the Prelate, who at that time presided there, was admonished by the Lord to take up the body of St. Heliodorus from the same place, because others were attempting to snatch him thence. But in the morning, the same Prelate convoked the clergy and the people and narrated to them all that he had seen by night. Then all with the venerable Pontiff came to the aforesaid church of St. Marcellianus, in which the holy Man rested: they took up his body and with immense joy conducted it, and most fittingly placed it in the church of the holy Mother of God beside the altar of the same holy Mother of God Mary of Torcello; where his prayers flourish, to the praise of our Lord Jesus Christ, who with God the Father and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns through the immortal ages of ages. Amen.
ANNOTATIONS.
Neither are these things exact enough. Let rather Ughelli, praised in the commentary, be seen, who calls the second Bishop Mauritius. But in him Dandolo thus speaks, in the fourth Bishop Deusdedit, about the year 697. The elders, he says, with the devout people of the diocese of Torcello, Bishop Deusdedit presiding, who had succeeded Julian, built anew the cathedral church of St. Mary: placing in it the bodies of the saints Heliodorus, Bishop of Altino, Liberalis the confessor, Trabas, Trabata, and Theonestus the martyrs, with the arm of St. James the Apostle. Of St. Liberalis it was treated on the 27th of April. Trabas and Trabata I do not yet know. Tabra and Tabrata in Ferrari, from Peter, are placed on the 22nd of November, to whom we refer their Acts to be weighed. Theonestus is venerated on the 30th of October by Ferrari, with Tabra and Tabrata.