ON ST. TROPHIMA OR TROPHIMENA, VIRGIN AND MARTYR
AT MINORI IN ITALY AMONG THE PICENTINI.
PRELIMINARY COMMENTARY.
Trophima or Trophimena, Virgin and Martyr, at Minori in Italy among the Picentini (S.)
BY THE AUTHOR J. P.
§ I. The cult of the Saint is certain. Her birthday, fatherland, the time, place, and kind of her martyrdom are uncertain. What is here given is not very ancient.
Minora, commonly Minori, a little town of Italy in the kingdom of Naples and the Hither Principate, on the shore of the gulf of Salerno, suffragan to the Archbishop of Amalfi, once called Rheginna minor, attends St. Trophima or Trophimena with great veneration and cult; The solemn cult who is also called Trophomenis, Trophumenis, Triphomenis, Trifomenis, Trophime; and more corruptly Phonia, Febronia, Trefonia, Triformia; and it has taken her as its patroness, its cathedral church being dedicated to her name, as Ughelli testifies. Of her the more recent Authors treat: Ferrari in the new Catalogue of the Saints, on the fifth of July, confounding her with Triphina, the companion of Agatho; and he says that her celebrity is observed on this day with the greatest solemnity. To these are added Rocco Pirri in his account of the church of Patti, Ottavio Gaetani in the Lives of the Sicilian Saints volume 1, and others. The Vatican codex, cited in the new Usuardine impression, on the fifth of November makes mention of St. Trophima, Virgin and Martyr. We have a copy of the proper Office, as well as nine lessons, composed in honor of the Martyr, which I do not judge it worth the trouble to transcribe here.
[2] on various days and in various places. The festal memory of St. Trophomena Quintus Marius Corradus, in the said Ottavio Gaetani, follows out honorably, and says that a feast day is held for her once on the Nones of November, when by divine counsel her body and divine works first began to be known by the inhabitants; before that, through many ages of men, unknown to all. Again on the third of the Ides of July, when they received it, lost for a long interval, from the people of Benevento. Then, passing to the solemnity: There is a concourse, he says, to those places and feast days, to salute the body, even from the most remote cities, and the whole matter is attended by an infinite multitude from every side and the utmost devotion of men. The great cities Amalfi and Benevento once contended with the utmost strife concerning the body of the Virgin Trophima; both maintaining that the body of the Martyr was hidden with themselves. Ottavio Gaetani writes that there is a special cult also among the people of Patti: And that lately in the same place Giovanni Matteo Vinolo ordered by his will a church of St. Trophima to be built, and endowed it. To this is added an annual supplication among the people of Minori, as Giovanni Battista d'Afflitto writes, in a little Italian work about St. Trophimena, to be mentioned below, as a token of a grateful mind for the visible protection of the city of Minori, defended against the assailing attacks of the Turks, the same Saint keeping it safe. Further, from more recent sources the cult of Trophima had to be established, since the ancient monuments are wanting.
[3] The things which can be inquired concerning the Saint's birthday, fatherland, age, martyrdom, The things which are handed down about the Saint's fatherland and the rest pertaining here, are quite uncertain and obscure, nor supported by the authority of antiquity. The more recent writers themselves assign her fatherland, Patti, a maritime city of Sicily; but only the opinion of the common people and constant report seem to favor it, deep antiquity being silent about her in times long past. Rocco Pirri asserts, in the fourth account of the church of Patti page 418, that this city of Patti is famous for the birth of St. Trophima, or Triphomena, Virgin and Martyr; and he cites in the margin a manuscript of the church of Palermo and of Minori: and he brings forward a passage from a certain manuscript in the hands of Caracciolo, a Clerk Regular; in which the holy Triphomena the Virgin is said to have been by origin Sicilian, from the city of Patti. But who would acquiesce, unless he had seen more solid monuments? Nor do the things which Ottavio Gaetani has in his Animadversions on the finding of St. Trophima prove the matter any more; saying only that the more ancient of the people of Patti thus record that the holy woman was born among them, and that this is handed down from time immemorial, and that the holy woman's name was Febronia; whose body is hidden in the city of Minori. Then, some things being interjected, he adds: That at Patti there are an ancient church and tablets with the title: To the holy Febronia of Patti: that two miles outside the city there is a ruined church, dedicated to St. Febronia; near a fountain, called from the same Febronia; that many of old, washed with that water, were relieved of various diseases, and that the mother of King Roger, Adelasia, when she had washed herself with that fountain, was rid of the leprosy by which she was disfigured. Further, that the written life of Febronia existed at Patti, but perished when the Turkish fleet plundered and burned the city. Hence it is clear by how obscure and uncertain grounds the pretended fatherland of Trophima is established, most of which, if not all, may as easily be denied as affirmed.
[4] The same Author confesses that he had inclined to make her fatherland Tyndaris, are handed down; asserting that he had brought forward reasons, by which, he says, I was moved; but because these are weak, and I would not, as is fitting, go against report, I rather confirm the report, and judge that Trophima should be attributed to Patti. The same is handed down in the city of Minori, where the body of St. Trophima is kept. But because Patti is six miles distant from Tyndaris, it came about that the shore on which each city, situated on a height, rested, was called both Tyndaritan and Pattese in equal measure; so that it is no wonder that Trophima is said to have taken flight from the Tyndaritan shore. What have you here except uncertain conjectures? Wherefore let it remain that concerning the fatherland of the holy Martyr nothing is brought forward that convinces.
[5] as also concerning the time, place of death, etc. Nor is there reason to hope for greater light concerning the time and place of her death. I know indeed that Ughelli, in volume 7 of the Italia Sacra, where he treats of the Bishops of Minori, writes that Trophima suffered martyrdom for the faith of Christ in Sicily, in which she was born, from the city of Patti; the persecution of Diocletian and Maximian still raging, in the year of the Lord, as some write, 314. Less restrictedly does the oft-named Gaetani conduct himself, when in the Animadversions on the finding of St. Trophima, page 109, he says that she was a Martyr under the heathen Emperors, persecuting the Church. But, he says, under which Caesar raging? Before Constantine the Great I would believe. And again page 111, let it be, he says, ratified and fixed, that St. Trophima was crowned with martyrdom under the heathen Emperors, harassing the Church. How much better does Quintus Marcus Corradus in the same Ottavio Gaetani page 136, when he openly professes that he found nothing ascertained concerning the circumstances of her fatherland, place, time, and the quality of the martyrdom. I inquired, he says, who her parents were said to be; in what city of Sicily so wicked a thing happened, in what age of men, under what tyrants assailing religion … but in the sea by what kind of death she perished; whether by natural death, by slaying, or by the hardship of the sea and of toils she perished; by whom at last the honor of a tomb was given her, there is nothing at all whence it may be known.
[6] Whether our Trophima From the things which were said at the beginning of the fifth day of this month of July concerning SS. Agatho and Triphina or Triphon, a question there touched remains here to be unraveled, whether Triphomena or Trophima is to be confounded with Triphina, who is everywhere added as the companion of Agatho, as it seemed good to Ferrari to confound her, Giovanni Battista d'Afflitto thinking the contrary, in a little work, printed in the Italian tongue at Naples, in the year 1660, which treats of the life, martyrdom, and miracles of St. Trophima, or, as he himself writes, Trofimena. He there tries to prove that the one is to be distinguished from the other, because both are celebrated on different days; Triphina indeed on the fifth of this month, by reason of her martyrdom, as he asserts, then died; but Trophima on the thirteenth of this month, not that she then died, but was translated; the festal day of her glorious triumph, as he affirms, recurring on the fifth of November; and he appeals to the continued practice of several centuries, and the modern one of Minori. Then he brings forward the reasons of Gaetani, of whom above, saying: Philip Ferrari thinks that Triphina is the same as Trophimena, whose body is preserved at Minori among the people of Amalfi, but he is mistaken. They are altogether different; first from the name, then from the day of death, which for Triphina fell on the fifth of July, for Trophima or Trophimena on the fifth of November. Finally from the kind of death.
[7] is the same, or different The pretended distinction of both Saints he further proves from the diversity of the formation by which she is expressed in the Breviary of the year 1582, namely Trophimenis not Triphina. Hence he passes to an apparition, made to a certain nun by St. Trophimena, as if the matter were proved with heaven as witness; a medal, at any rate, being found by the said nun, on which was marked on one side the face of our Lord and Savior, with this inscription, Peace be to you; but on the other side, a crowned virgin, bearing a cross in her right hand, a palm in her left, and having two bulls under her feet. On the same medal, he relates, were inscribed these words: Saint Trofimena, Virgin and Martyr, Patroness of Minori. But such apparitions, before they merit credit with us, would need to be established by authentic testimonies, which can scarcely ever be hoped for in private visions or apparitions; since nothing is more common than for little women to feign dreams for themselves; and to see the things that are not as though they were the things that are.
[8] Nor do the other reasons more strongly convince, above heaped together by the same d'Afflitto, with Triphina the companion of Agatho. from the diversity of names, of solemnity, and of the time of martyrdom, from which he strives to prove the diversity of persons, of which we here treat. And their weakness flows from what has already been said: for what, amid so great a confusion of names, and so great an obscurity and uncertainty of the fatherland, the time of martyrdom, and the other circumstances pertaining here, would you find except darkness? Especially since no Acts exist; there is no writer before the sixteenth century, as I think, who by bearing a torch might dispel the darkness. It is of no use here to repeat what was set forth above, when we treated of Agatho and Triphina, that the name of Triphina, received from the Plantin Bede, seems to be restored from the Hieronymian Martyrology, and to be changed not into a woman, but into a man, Triphon. See the things there said; and you will understand that the memory of Triphina or Triphon was as unknown to the classical Martyrologies as that of Triphomena or Trophima; so that it would be no wonder if some confusion here had been introduced by the more recent writers.
[9] The manuscript which we here give, concerning the translation and miracles, sent to Bolland by Father Alegambe on the fifth of May 1644, Concerning the manuscript. at Naples, has nothing by which it is greatly commended from antiquity, the author indicating the age in which he wrote, in these words: And here I have made an end to this holy Legend of this fostering Virgin, made today the fourth day of January 1601. Two other copies have been suppressed; the one taken from a manuscript Lectionary of the monastery of St. John of the Nuns at Capua; the other likewise of Capua, of the same argument as this last; and why not
of the same source? It was transmitted here by D. Silvestro Aiossa. It is further to be observed that in this manuscript, which we shall here bring forward, matters are narrated remote by the interval of several centuries from the age of the writer; as is clear from the narration of the translation of the relics of St. Trophima to Amalfi, in the time of Sicard, Prince of Benevento, in the year 837, according to the reckoning of Ottavio Gaetani in the Animadversions on the Lives of the Sicilian Saints. There are recalled by this same writer of so recent a copy very many other things, long preceding him in time, the source being concealed from which he drew like matters; so that it is no wonder that the reader's faith wavers in many points. And indeed I candidly confess that not a little displeasing to me are such frequent visions and apparitions, which for the most part are wont to be suspect. Meanwhile it seems it cannot be doubted that the writer had before his eyes another more ancient exemplar, as is clear from this clause, which is subjoined to the narration of miracles in the Beneventan translation, made by Bishop Ursus: Many miracles were done on the same day, which we beheld with our eyes, and touched and handled with our own hands, to the praise and glory of him who lives forever and ever.
[10] But now the origin of our copy is indicated by these notes prefixed to it, which is here given. by which it is handed down that it was described word for word from an original codex on parchment pages, written in most ancient characters, which is preserved in the church of Minori, by Giuseppe Jasello, Doctor of both Laws, of Naples, in the year 1647, in the month of February. In the said copy, faulty enough, I have changed a number of points of lighter moment. I have also made a collation with the things published in Ughelli, so consonant with our manuscript that they clearly indicate one and the same source. Now I subjoin our copy.
The history of the finding and translation, and the miracles
Collated with the things published in Ughelli, Volume 7 of the Italia Sacra.
Trophima or Trophimena, Virgin and Martyr, at Minori in Italy among the Picentini (S.)
BHL Number: 8318
FROM A MANUSCRIPT.
THE AUTHOR'S PROLOGUE.
The examples of the saints are to be followed. It is known to all, dearest brethren, that they who faithfully serve God walk by treading the path of the journey, by which they may attain the greatness of the heavenly kingdom after the running of this life: since Scripture says: Strait and narrow is the way that leads to life; broad and spacious that which leads to death. No one comes to the Father, says the Lord Jesus, but by me. I am the door: if anyone enter in, he shall be saved. He shall go in and go out, and shall find glad pastures. Surely therefore, by the gift of this promise of St. Trofimena, we ought by no means to doubt, most beloved brethren, but rather to be mutually roused, that through that door we, following after, may deserve to enter, through which, their most sacred merits going before, entered the Prophets, Apostles, Martyrs, Confessors, and holy Virgins. No one lights a lamp and puts it under a bushel, but upon a candlestick, that they who enter in may see the light. And elsewhere: A city set on a height cannot be hidden, that it may be seen by all. Wisdom saying: It is good to conceal the secret of the king, but to reveal the works of God is honorable.
[2] The works of God There was therefore a time when Israel, as is depicted in the history of the Old Testament (whose sacred pages you are not ignorant of, but, as I think, know very well), served the Egyptians with the hard works of clay and brick. And when they were multiplied at least in number, and had become stronger than they, the Egyptian King commanded the midwives to kill the males, but to keep the harmless girls. It happened meanwhile that Moses, a boy of three months completed, according to the command of the Pharaoh [*], was set by his father in a little basket, and placed here on the very bank of the river, his father's sister standing far off, and watching what should befall. For when Pharaoh's daughter came down, to wash in the river according to custom, when she had seen that same little basket, she ordered it to be brought to her, and, unfastening it, found the infant, and, taking pity on it, gave it to a certain woman to be nursed, and when grown adopted it as a son, and called his name Moses, because she took him from the water. And he became a most prudent man, and most meek among all the men of the East, [and] the oracles of the Lord were entrusted to him.
[3] to relieve But when the courses of many years had run by, and the people of the Hebrews were wasting under the yoke of servitude, and the Lord beheld the affliction of his people, he commanded that same Moses to lead his people out of the land of Egypt with a strong hand and an outstretched arm. And so, the children of Israel having entered the Red Sea, Moses being their leader, the waters became for them a wall on the right and on the left, and they walked through the midst of the sea dry-shod. But the chariots of Pharaoh, and his army, were sunk in the midst of the sea. This indeed is the secret of the king, which the father of Moses hid in the little basket, and by it the works of God were honored, which the daughter of Pharaoh preserved. For of this the excellent preacher says: Whom he foreknew, he also predestinated to be made conformable to the image of the Son of God. And again: Those whom he called, them also he magnified. But all these things happened to them in a figure. For these things were written for our sakes, upon whom the end of the ages has come.
[4] glorious. And in another way it is good to conceal the secret of the king for him who by the practice of good conversation has so seized the way of holiness that he cannot at all be looked upon by men. But to reveal the works of God is honorable; those, namely, which the faithful soul, now rejoicing in the endowment of its reward, enjoys, and, the working of a perfect work being consummated, begins to appear in every good work. Thus it is written: Let them see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven. But because something is lacking, which of this sentence has not yet been more expressly said, with the Lord's help, as far as we can, let us also relate it more truly. For one is seen laden with the rubble of vices, truly slothful, whose heart also is dull to the divine commandments. To this man the secrets of the king are by no means to be laid open, but rather to be kept concealed, so far as the holy thing be not given to dogs, and pearls be not scattered before swine. To these it is rather more fitting to exhibit the works of God, who hear the word of God with a perfect and excellent heart, that they may bring forth fruit in patience. The tilling of the field therefore is broken open by the plowshare of the tiller, there by the husbandmen. Where the clod is so rich, it yields to its cultivators a hundredfold fruit, and never at all ceases to be sown.
Annotation* Elsewhere: of the king.
CHAPTER I.
The Finding and Translation of the body of St. Trophimena.
You compel us, dearest brethren, to touch upon in adorned words certain miracles of the most holy Trofimena, which the Lord has worked through her, The body of St. Trophimena we who scarcely are able even to file to clearness the common letters, laden as we are with the bilge-water of vices. Wherefore I seek the good office of fraternal charity, that you intervene for us before God, and our Lord Jesus Christ, so that he may open the door of our heart for expressing the miracles of her, who once bade a lowly little ass utter human speech. I believe indeed, nay, I truly hold, that by your intercession this may rather avail to soothe the hearts of many, than that anything be adorned by the persuasion of our unskillfulness. For this holy Virgin, brought from the Aeolian a borders, as the verses of her tomb declare b, deserved, an Angel being her guide, to obtain undefiled the shore of the people of Rheginna c d. And when she lay hidden, uncared for, in her tomb on the shore of the aforesaid coast, at length at some time a certain woman, by the river, by the will of God, where the filth of garments, or the working of the distaff, is wont to be washed, began to beat strongly upon the tomb of the most holy Trophimena, which the common little women call filatum e.
[6] how it was found, And when the neighboring caves resounded the more subtly from this, and she, as has been said, beat strongly: suddenly her hands were withered; they lost the womanly office which they were performing. She therefore, touched to the marrow with grief, when she was asked by the inhabitants of this place what was the cause of her infirmity, said: Unless you call together for me the presbyters who dwell here, I will dare to give you no answer at all. And they said: Why? But she: I fear, lest he who withered my hands strike away perhaps the native speech of my tongue. In those times, therefore, in the aforesaid place many Neapolitan f presbyters were dwelling together with the priests of Amalfi g, because, just as it is now plainly decreed, there were many churches for the priests of Christ, which now are almost destroyed and widowed. The presbyters therefore being called together in order, what had happened to that woman began to be related with the utmost effort. Which miracle the priests seeing, and hearing such things astonished, with swift and hurried course they go to the shores of the coast, the people praying, where the tomb of the most blessed Martyr had been brought. And when the priests of the Lord long tried from what part they could mark out the hidden treasure of the tomb, and know whether it were the sanctity of a man or of a woman, being inspired by divine instinct, and turned to the head of the aforesaid tomb, they find verses thus concealed with poetic eloquence h:
You who, having entered, seek to learn the reasons of the tomb, here of the Martyr Trophime, and of the untouched Virgin, the limbs and holy members rest, who, while she shuns the precepts of the profane age and the polluted altars of the world, a devout maiden fleeing her Sicilian parents, in the midst of the sea rested by the lot of nature. Her limbs she gave to the people of Rheginna, her soul to the Thunderer. Hence she feeds among the fragrant halls of Christ.
[7] and translated. Who then would not be amazed at the prerogative of this matter, when with prophetic spirit the eloquent poet painted such poems in the aforesaid tomb, and concealed them? Therefore when the aforesaid verses were read by the aforesaid priests, and they perceived that in that same tomb a precious pearl lay hidden, with ripe course they hasten to the thresholds of the Bishop of the see of Amalfi, that the treasure, which had long been unknown to all, might be published to all the faithful. At that time therefore Peter i, girt with the pontifical height, was governing the church of Amalfi: for he, led by exceeding love, when from those same priests, astonished, he had drunk in more orderly so great a miracle, having called his Deacon and Primicerius, and the rest of the presbyters, with all diligence began to relate to them, as he had heard, the account; and while the venerable Bishop, as for a day of great festivity the island was being adorned, the clergy being joined with him, they hasten to Rheginna, where the virginal glory and precious pearl abode. This finally is it, and assemblies of both sexes being made: the Bishop and the priests, having taken with them the inhabitants of this place, began to embrace the holy burden, the throng of the faithful watching from afar, and with praises, such as they could, rendering thanksgiving to the Lord in common.
[8] For, shoulders being set under it, while they wished with all their effort to carry the holy burden to the enclosure, where now its basilica is seen to be, it cannot be moved from its place by men, it was in no way permitted, in a wondrous manner, even to stir it ever so little. Wherefore, when in a work of this kind the course of the day was ended, and it had not permitted itself to be moved, nor at all to be drawn by any force applied; at length, using good counsel, the aforesaid Bishop ordered most beautiful heifers to be brought, which were free from the yoke and ignorant of coupling, that they might be assigned to that office. Therefore, they being brought, and the yoke set upon their necks,
the sacred burden was set in motion with so great swiftness, that it seemed not that it was carried by them, but they by it. But when it had been brought to where now its church is built, and the faithful little folk, holding lighted candles in their hands, were chanting psalmody to the Lord; the woman, whose hands had been withered, while, placed about her bier, she took care to handle it the more eagerly, so returned to her the office of her former health, as if she had never at any time suffered any harm.
[9] The assembly of the worshippers of Christ therefore being called together into one, but, carried by the heifers, it is laid away with solemn rite. and the Bishop commanding that all should hold lighted candles in their hands, and with tuneful voices alike offer praises to the most holy Virgin, hoes being brought, where now her holy altar is seen to be built, there the aforesaid Bishop, marking out the place, and the priests, their legs being bared, began by turns to dig. For, the mausoleum being hollowed out, and dug down to no small depth, together with that little coffin in which she had been found, they laid the holy body in precious spices, where now, to the praise of her name, many wonders are done, the Lord co-working. As for the times of her passion and persecution, since they are not more evidently noted, let no faithful person, I beseech, be in doubt. For she who assuredly bestows so many benefits on those who ask her, without doubt shed her blood unhesitatingly for the name of Christ. What wonder if the earthly judge, and the persecutor, be uncertain; when through her the Lord works very many and most certain miracles. Whose gifts of sanctity and marks of miracles it is agreed to be here; there without doubt, where is rest, blessed she exults among the Angels, associated with the holy Martyrs. These things therefore being premised, because the discourse demands an end, and the weakness of my breast constrains me, I beseech that if you shall find anything inept, O reader, you attribute it not to fault, but rather to pardon. I believe indeed that I shall receive a reward from the Lord, if by the intervention of you who read I deserve to be helped. Whence as a suppliant I beg by word of mouth the suffrages of your holiness, that you judge me not unworthy, as if I had described anything from my own store, but, inquiring and learning, I wrote this which was related by faithful men.
ANNOTATIONS.
* Elsewhere: many.
* Elsewhere: and not at all.
CHAPTER II.
The Repeated Translation of the body.
It pleases me, dearest brethren, to touch briefly, with the Lord's assent, upon something of the miracles of the most holy Virgin Trofimena, Diseases cured because now, as can be conjectured, concerning the finding of her body it has been sufficiently published to all the faithful. For it must be judged very preposterous, if this is not made known to faithful ears, through which the Lord ceases not diligently to work very many wonders, since even he who was seen to compose these things is reported to have been cured by her of an unheard-of infirmity, unknown to physicians. Deservedly therefore it behooves us to praise her, who by the privilege of her sanctity never ceases to bestow most abundant suffrages on those who ask. For who of the sick, or of the ailing, hastening piously to her basilica, does not straightway receive health? For those beset by various languors and diverse infirmities, she is reported to cure not only invisibly, but also visibly.
[11] But now let it be recited how she has cured, and cures, visibly; because the style turns to her other miracles, the same Saint favoring, it shall be told in what follows. of body and of spirit With this privilege, brethren, the holy Martyrs are endowed, that those who shall have come to their fellowship with pious devotion and faithful mind, being sick or ailing, may be cleansed not only outwardly, but also inwardly, from the blemish and filth of sins. The holy Apostles therefore, through whom the Church of God took the beginning of the faith, and by whom the first-fruits of the Martyrs were dedicated, when they were sitting in one chamber, received this answer from the Lord: Receive, he says, the Holy Spirit; whose sins you shall forgive, they are forgiven them. And elsewhere: And he who despises you, despises me; and he who despises me, despises him who sent me. Behold, the Lord willed the members to be this which the head itself also is: for the Lord himself works powers in his Saints, who, pouring out the price of his blood for the whole world, returned in triumph from the pit of the nether world.
[12] Hence indeed the Psalmist, full of the Holy Spirit, through the Saints. said, when he said: God is wonderful in his Saints, the Lord God of Israel; he himself will give power and strength to his people, blessed be God. And elsewhere: They shall utter the memory of the abundance of thy sweetness, and shall exult in thy justice; thine, not their own; they shall speak the glory of thy kingdom, and shall tell of thy power; that they may make known to the sons of men thy power, and the glory of the magnificence of thy kingdom. Therefore, the finding of the body of this Blessed one being set aside, and how, driven by favoring west winds, they brought her to the shores of Rheginna, having been more evidently unfolded, turning the point of her matter to the translation of the holy body, by favor of divine clemency, let us publish that which was designated clearer than light to many faithful.
[13] In the times therefore of the excellent Prince of Benevento, Sichard a by name, whom almost all Ausonia b obeyed, there arose no small dissension between the two peoples, namely the Amalfitan and the Salernitan. In the time of Sichard, Prince of Benevento And so, while the aforesaid Prince governed the helm of his kingdom most moderately, and the chief men of the city prevailed by his counsel and the highest fortitude, certain of the elders of the Amalfitani, bearing ill their native soil, of their own accord subjected themselves to his dominion: who, when they received from him infinite gifts, by letters secretly sent, with what art they could and with blandishments, ever admonished their kinsmen and brethren to seize each their own possessions, and to hasten as quickly as possible to the aforesaid gifts. Who when by such admonitions, as has been said, they were long persuaded, he is reported forthwith to have sent them back this counsel: To you the silver, and to us the gold, and to all our people; unless you distribute by oath the whole region of Lucania and the neighboring estates, we will never give assent to your persuasions.
[14] Meanwhile, the condition being secretly confirmed, it came about The body of St. Trophimena that the glorious Prince went round the islands of the Tyrrhenian sea and all the places of Ausonia, in order that he might carry to Benevento with due honor the bodies of the Saints, as many as he could find. By the counsel of the common people, the elders of the Amalfitani giving their effort, before this region should be laid waste by the famed nation of the Lombards, the blessed Martyr of Christ was taken from her own hall, as your fraternity is about to hear. As the term of the destruction of the aforesaid city drew near, when the people were held by the greatest dread, lest perhaps, the Lombards pressing in, they should be defrauded of their own Patroness, a multitude of people being gathered and ships appointed, they go where the holy Martyr of God lay hidden. The altar therefore being torn open, under which the Virgin of Christ dwelt, and Peter the second c imposing the antiphon: Praise the Lord in his saints, Praise him in the firmament of his power. Praise him according to the multitude of his greatness: the soldiers of Christ began to dig with hoes where she was entombed, the clergy also singing this antiphon, and alike by turns, Rise up, Saints, from your dwellings, and set out on the way prepared; sanctify the place, bless the people, and keep us your servants in the faith.
[15] carried to Amalfi, And when they persevered the more eagerly with devout mind in a work of this kind, at length they find her whom they sought, long desired in mind, under three chambers wondrously constructed, the holy Martyr of Christ unimpaired in her little coffin, as she had been entombed in ancient times. But the little coffin itself, resting upon most bright pumice-stones, had three flasks of precious work, of which one, which bore oil of wondrous odor, sat at her head. But of the rest one observed the print of the foot of that same Saint, the other the other. For who, as far as can be conjectured, doubts that this pertains to the glory of the deific Trinity, and to the confirming of the testimony of the Psalmist, who to every faithful soul, following justice and hating iniquity, inflamed by the Holy Spirit, sang: Thou hast loved justice, and hated iniquity, therefore God, thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows. These things therefore being done, so great a fragrance of odor was indeed diffused round about, that not only they who were present tasted the perfumes of all spices, but even those who had stayed to watch the ships asserted that they had never elsewhere perceived so great an odor of such power. But when this vision was made manifest to all, the ships being left, the sailors run not far from the shore, and behold they find Peter the Bishop, with his Peter the Archdeacon, and the rest of the presbyters, in their own arms bearing together the holy Martyr in a most fine cloth.
[16] flowing with blood, Who, when the Bishop was overwhelmed by the exceeding tumult and the outcry of the people, and stopped for a little while before the vestibule of the holy basilica, the aforesaid Virgin being handled by certain persons, they by a happy robbery furtively snatched away from her members what they could. A wondrous thing, and acknowledged by all the faithful, so drop by drop did her blood flow to the ground, after the courses of so many years, again, as if she were struck in her own throat by the executioner and the tormentor. Meanwhile the concourse of both sexes for the glory of this spectacle was not otherwise than as, in the time of the wheat harvest, you might see ants by turns carrying grain on their own necks, until they fill their storehouses, by which in their own times they may be sustained, and their most slender bodies sated with their food. it is honorably placed in the temple of the holy Virgin Mary. For the venerable little body of the most holy Trophimena the ship's timber bore with great honor to Amalfi, and they placed it in the church of the most blessed Mother of God and ever-Virgin Mary most honorably. And there also, certain of the clergy obeying the pontifical command, exhibiting day and night faithful service to God, to the glory of her name, at certain hours of the day fulfilled songs of praise.
[17] The punishment for violating the holy Martyr's tomb The course of the eighth day therefore being completed, in the dead of night, when weary bodies are pressed by heavy sleep, the aforesaid Bishop, placed in ecstasy, sees in a vision the aforesaid Martyr of Christ, covered with a ruddy cloak, and other Virgins following her, and pointing at him with her hand, and with a threatening address
saying: Why, Bishop, have you rashly dared to violate my tomb, and likewise to reveal my little body to all the common folk, and violently to tear certain limbs from my body? Truly, because there was no shame in you on my account, know that you shall shortly die, and that your corpse shall be cast out of the sepulcher, and devoured by dogs: for all the Bishops have slept each in his own throne, but you alone shall be driven from your sepulcher. At length the Bishop, awakened, when trembling he had begun to revolve within himself what in horror he had seen of the nocturnal vision, soon orders a sepulcher to be made for him in the wall, about three cubits above the ground, toward the North, in the church of the blessed John the Forerunner and Baptist, where by the wave of holy purification and baptism a new offspring is reborn, and a fruitful progeny.
[18] But when the Bishop's command was fulfilled, and the burial prepared, foretold in the vision as has been said, soon there followed at once a fever so most cruel that scarcely for the space of three days did he seem to enjoy this light. When, the times of his life being run through, and the term ended which no man can pass, bidding farewell to his flock, and taking with himself the viaticum, he put off the man, full of days. For, these things being premised, when not long after the desolation of that land was imminent, the wiles of both peoples being confirmed, by the malice, namely, of the Lombards, the city was captured, and utterly depopulated without shedding of blood. And while they went ranging here and there over the places of this city, and went round the inmost parts of the chambers, and the entrances of the churches, if perchance they might find hidden and secret treasures, especially since they had been enriched with very many riches, at length at some time they come to the tomb where the Bishop lay buried close by. Who, while they hoped, because of the obstacles of the recent structure, that gold or silver lay hidden in the Bishop's tomb, breaking it open, found the Bishop's corpse already foul in the monument, the frame of the body loosened and dissolved in almost all its members. O incomprehensible judgment of God, and his ineffable power! The whole throng was forced back, and the sepulcher was left open, by no means covered.
[19] The destruction therefore being accomplished, and all the walls of the city being ruined, and then fulfilled. while the citizens still dwelt there, dogs, barking with raging mouth, running with ripe course, drag away from the tomb the aforesaid corpse of the Bishop, as had been prophesied to that same Bishop by the holy Martyr of Christ, and revealed. Hence it is that the Lord says to the Apostles who had been sent to preach: He who hears you hears me, and he who despises you despises him who sent me. And elsewhere: But he who shall be ashamed of me on earth, I also will be ashamed of him before my Father who is in heaven. And so it came about that they depopulated everything round about, [and] not only the fortification of the city within, but also without, all the estates lay subject to devastations: so that for one continuous year and more, the fruits of so great a density did not so grow up as before, that you would think the shrubs no other than of old, unclipped.
[20] The repeated translation of the body Truly, while the people of Salerno and of Amalfi were being ground together, and became one people, and were bound by mutual bond of marriage, although they received infinite estates from the excellent prince, and were increased with very many gifts, who had been willing to obey the dignity of the royal hall, nevertheless, having used the fullness, on account of the trick of the Lombards, who accused them to the prince, that certain of the Amalfitani bent their head to the Duke of Naples, they began to revolve within themselves, that the destruction which they had lately suffered from them they would work upon the city of Salerno. Amid these things it happened that the princely height was disposing the helm of the Beneventan see at that very time, and that the castaldi d of the same governed the rights of Salerno; but that same Prince had then perhaps departed from Benevento, and for the sake of sport, or by the art of hunting, had pitched his tent on the estate of Abella e. Who, while on a certain day he sent forth his hawk, as report is, and a bird had been caught by its long legs: alas! (O grief!) slain by his own men with no slight wounds, he ended his life together with his kingdom.
[21] At Benevento For he was generous, and bountiful to all, especially to the Amalfitani, in bestowing gifts, a most brave athlete in acquiring the bodies of the Saints, prompt, of excellent stature, and comely in mind, in one thing only, which we say with shame, dissipating all his goods (O shame!), broken by the disease of lust, more often gave his effort to the pleasure of his flesh. But because it is long to narrate all the things which he did, let us turn our style to those which we have omitted. The death of the Prince therefore being more evidently ascertained, the people of Amalfi at once plundering the ornaments of the sanctuary of God, and setting fire beneath and burning the ancient walls of the city, with exceeding joy and the palm of victory returned to their own homes. For deservedly by its own desert did that city receive such destruction with worthy satisfaction, which never at any time knew how to spare the basilicas of the worshippers of Christ and the dwellings of the people of Amalfi. Therefore, because it was omitted what contention both peoples had concerning the body of the most holy Virgin Trophimena, when they departed hence and dwelt together alike, in a compendious discourse with one miracle of hers, God favoring, we faithfully declare it.
[22] to the people of Minori At length the multitude of the Amalfitan soldiers proceeding hence, [and] the Elders with the people of Rheginna, and the clerics, who seemed to be theirs, asked the prince that the body of the holy Virgin Trophimena be restored to them. Which being said, it was granted, and commanded by the prince, that legates be sent to Benevento, if perhaps from the venerable Elect Ursus f they might obtain such things. Wherefore, the venerable presbyter Constantine and the venerable priest Sergius, fellow-citizens of Rheginna, being sent on the business of that same matter, partly began to ask the venerable Elect with peaceful words; partly by no means to obey the prince, unless they obtained from him the body of the blessed Virgin Trophimena. Which heard, the Man of God the Elect groaned, and drawing sighs from the inmost of his heart, is reported to have given them this reply: O venerable priests of the Lord, what you ask we are by no means able to fulfill. Nay rather, among the hidden shrines of the Saints, where also the body of the blessed Apostle Bartholomew rests, she alone in the night-time flames like a shining candlestick; so that the sacristan, led by her light, surveys all the approaches where the bodies of the Saints rest.
[23] But because it is preposterous that you should be defrauded of your own Patroness, obtained we neither give her to you, nor keep her. To whom when the aforesaid priests said, How do you give, or how do you keep? Straightway the same Elect answered: From the joint of her foot up to the top of her head, we are torn from all the members of that body of the blessed Trophimena, and with a placid mind we bestow her, that both you may obtain her little body piece by piece, and we be not utterly defrauded of her: for the Lord works through her so great wonders, as it is manifest none of the Saints resting here works. And when these, and greater miracles than these, were being told of her, what the venerable Elect had promised to the legates, he honorably fulfilled. From all the members of the fostering Virgin he granted, and the Elect, inclined toward the people and the legates, thence bestowed ample gifts, namely both foreign treasures, and sent them back rejoicing to his own people by right.
[24] But when the legates came with the body of the Virgin into the city of Salerno, the translation the sun sending forth its rays under a shade, the people eagerly awaiting, when they had received the body of the aforesaid Virgin the blessed Trophimena, the clergy and people of the said city received it with great joy, and through that night the aforesaid legates with so illustrious and precious a pearl rested in the said city, where, to the praise and glory of her name, within, near the walls of the city, they built a church, and in that same place, which up to the present day is called the ward of St. Trophimena, she received a seat, chose it, and rested. On the third of the Ides of July, in clear light, the sun illuminating with its rays, the aforesaid legates, together with the clergy and people of the said city, honorably and in procession accompanied the said precious and most holy body of the Virgin up to the shore of the sea.
[25] And in that same place were three little boats, which had come from Rheginna with the Amalfitan clergy, solemn and the Neapolitan joined together with the clerics of Rheginna, and received the body of the aforesaid Virgin the blessed Trophimena with great joy and honor, and placed it in one of them, which was in the middle, singing, exulting, and saying: O how illustrious and glorious is the kingdom of God, in which all the Saints rejoice and exult with Christ, clothed in white robes, they follow the Lamb whithersoever he goes. Move, Saints of God, from your dwellings to the appointed places, which are now pleasing to you, and prepared. And behold the people, keeping judgment, and doing justice and gladness at all times. In thee have they hoped, O Lord, forever. The way of the Saints has been made straight, and their journey safe; walk, Saints of God, and pray for us to the appointed place, prepared for you by God.
[26] Which by many And as it pleased the Lord, in swift course, before the sun illuminated the whole world with its rays, they landed at Rheginna, in the place where she had chosen her home, and there was the Bishop of Amalfi together with his clergy, and the clerics of Rheginna joined, and the Neapolitan … and with any others whatsoever, with a great people of Naples and of Amalfi, and thus received the aforesaid body, praising, and saying: Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, because he has visited, and wrought the redemption of his people: and Praise the Lord in his Saints. Hosanna, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. With gladness shall you go forth, and with joy shall you be led: for the mountains and hills shall leap up, awaiting us with great joy and exultation. Walk, Saints of God, and enter into the city of the Lord: for the church of God has been built for you, where the people ought to assemble, to adore the majesty of the Lord of hosts. Walk, Saints of God, to the appointed place, which has been prepared for you from the beginning of the world, and forever. And then the aforesaid Lord Bishop with his Archdeacon and Primicerius, and other nobles both lay and clerical, of Naples and of Amalfi, with great jubilation and joy jubilant and rejoicing, and keeping a great feast, strewing silken cloths on the ground, bearing olive branches in their hands, now received the said holy body of the holy Virgin Trophimena, and bore it on their own shoulders up to the first place given and chosen for her by God, singing, and saying: Enter in, Saints of God, for the dwelling of your seat has been prepared by our Lord Jesus Christ. And the faithful people too with great joy follow your journey, that you may pray for us.
[27] here is described And they placed it in that same place, where she had first chosen for herself a dwelling, and in the same she rests, all thus singing, and saying: The Saints shall exult in glory, they shall rejoice in their beds: sing to the Lord a new song, his praise in the Church of the Saints. Under the altar of God all the Saints cry out,
and you have received a seat, intercede for us to our Lord Jesus Christ. Confirm this, O God, which thou hast wrought in us: from thy holy temple, which is in Jerusalem, Kings shall offer thee gifts: the bodies of the Saints are buried in peace, and their names shall live forever, and they gleam with various and diverse miracles.
ANNOTATIONS.
* Elsewhere: obtained.
CHAPTER III.
Miracles.
A certain Neapolitan presbyter, by name Maurus, who dwelt there, on a certain night a rheum came down upon him from his head, Speech restored to a mute on account of which he lost all his speech for three years and eight months, in such wise that except by nod and by writing he could say and utter nothing. But when that same aforesaid Maurus saw the body of the blessed Virgin the blessed Trophimena, as the aforesaid legates had shown to the aforesaid Bishop of Amalfi, and to the other nobles, in the said place where before it was, and now is, as the Lord Ursus, Elect of Benevento, had assigned to them, and had a public instrument made for himself, how the legates themselves, namely the presbyter Constantine, and the presbyter Sergius, and others, assigned the said holy body whole and entire from foot to head, and nothing was thence diminished or taken away: whence the aforesaid legates wished thus to assign and show it publicly. And then the said presbyter Maurus went devoutly, and saw. And when he had kissed the feet and hands of the holy body, at once the bond of his tongue was loosed, and he spoke publicly: Blessed be God.
[29] A certain boy, of the age of nine years, who from his birth was lame, gait is restored to a lame boy and deprived of the power of walking, who could never rise nor walk, being carried by his parents, so great a miracle having been seen, and immediately, as they carried the said little boy in their arms to the tomb of the said blessed Virgin Trophimena, at once, as he himself saw, he rose up whole, and returned home on his own feet, magnifying God. And many innumerable miracles were done there on the same day, which we beheld with our eyes, and saw, and handled with our hands, to the praise and glory of his name, who lives and reigns for infinite ages of ages. Amen.
[30] After the desolation of the city of Amalfi, when the body of the most holy Virgin Trophimena had been taken away from thence, The Saint, appearing to a certain presbyter a certain presbyter, sacristan and keeper of this church of Rheginna, grieving most vehemently over it, daily saddened, weeping and wailing, went to and fro. Who, while, careless and negligent, he ceased to perform the office, as though the Virgin of Christ no longer remained there, having entered the church at the morning hours on one of the days, saw the most blessed Virgin, holding a censer in her hand, and fumigating her basilica with precious spices; for when the presbyter perceived such things, astonished, he pressed the ground with the print of his foot, and did not dare to enter of his own accord. And when the Virgin of Christ had finished all things according to her custom, at the hour she wished, she addressed him with these words, saying: O keeper and overseer of my basilica, presbyter, why dost thou not at fixed hours render to the Lord God vows of praise to my honor? To whom the presbyter: Who art thou, my Lady, from whose mouth I taste words so honeyed?
[31] she exhorts him to her cult And she: I am Trophimena, keeper of my church, and dweller therein forever. To whom the presbyter: And how, Lady, can I enter thy church and raise the praises of laud, when thou hast been taken away from hence, and the hall of thy blessedness has remained unhonored? To whom the Virgin: Do not believe, she says, presbyter, that I have been taken from hence, because where my former tomb persists, there rests also my blood, which I shed for the name of Christ in the midst of the sea. Wherefore, venerable presbyter, hold it fixed, according to the word of Paul, that I am here in spirit, even if in body I am not with you; and ever look in this place, where the conversation of my ancient dwelling was. When she had said these things, she vanished from his eyes, and mingled herself with the dark shadows, namely to the heavenly realms, where reigns our Lord Jesus Christ forever and ever.
[23] Another sick presbyter For Constantine, the venerable presbyter, of whom we made mention above, when near the basilica of the blessed martyr Erasmus he was consigning to burial his uncle, by name Peter, because he had died, the obsequies being completed, going before according to custom, for the sake of prayer entered the church of the most blessed Trofimena. And when he was more attentively beseeching the Lord for his sins, so sudden a languor invaded him, that he could scarcely go out from the thresholds of that same church. Who, while he was burned by the excessive ardor of a fever; and the nobility and the whole family of his kindred awaited his near death, because he could be sustained by the cure of no physician, at length at some time they resolved to carry him to Naples, in order that there, the Lord assenting, he might receive health. Wherefore, a ship being prepared, and landing at once, they rested a little in the church of the blessed ever-Virgin Mary, awaiting from their stewards whatever things should be necessary for his health.
[33] punished for irreverence Meanwhile, while these things were being done, a certain woman, who was the faithful handmaid of that same Bishop, came to visit him, and, as is the custom of women, while many conversations were drawn out between them by turns, she persuaded him, and gave him a potion made of certain herbs: which when he had tasted, forthwith he fell asleep; and behold he saw in a vision, for the sake of visiting, two girls standing before him, whose beauty was such that it surpassed the brightness of the sun and moon. For it was fitting, since they who are betrothed to Christ, that the sun and moon should marvel at them, for they keep faith to that sun alone, they commit themselves with total devotion to him alone, whose mother is a virgin, whose father knows no woman. These at length held in their hands each a green and flowering reed. But one of them wore on her neck a ruddy veil. But the other, as far as can be conjectured, bore no mark of this matter, except only the reed which she held in her hand.
[34] But when they drew near, that they might stand before him, he is restored to his former health they saluted him with gentle speech, and said to him: May our Lord Jesus Christ save thee. To whom he answered: Welcome, my Ladies; welcome. And repeating: Who are you, Ladies, or whence have you come? But they answered, saying: We discharge an embassy of the most holy Trophimena. Wherefore we wish thee to be made certain, Presbyter, that thou hast been chastised by the blessed Virgin, into whose hall thou didst enter polluted, when thou wast performing the obsequies of thy uncle: for chastising she chastised, but delivered thee not to death, for she prayed to the Lord, and by her intercession, behold thou art made whole. See that thou presume not further to do such things: and saying these things, they fixed the reeds at the head and the feet of his little bed, and, curving them, made them in the manner of an arch, and above spread the ruddy cloak which one wore on her neck, and, as if making a bridal chamber, said farewell, and vanished from his eyes. These things therefore being done, the venerable Presbyter, being awakened, when his kindred mutually exhorted one another that what they had begun should be completed, suddenly, commanding silence with his hand, said: Thanks be to God, thanks be to God. Blessed be the name of the Lord: blessed be the glory of the Lord from his place. Do not be saddened, nor be troubled; for through the intercession of the most holy Trophimena, behold I am made whole. Then all in common began to render thanks to the Lord, the creator of all, who saves those who hope in him. And so, all these things being premised, back, whence they had come, they returned home: where, no delay preceding, lights being prepared, with great devotion they went to the memorial of her name, paying vows for him to the most blessed Trophimena, by whose intercession he was restored to his former health.
[35] In the times also of the most pious Prefect Pulchais the prefect, a certain girl, A certain girl most bitterly tormented by name Theodonanda, was given in marriage to a certain man, by name Maurus. She therefore, joined to her husband, because she was not yet of marriageable age, lying at the point of death for very many seasons, daily awaited the most wretched end of her torment. At that same time there flourished at Salerno with no mean healthfulness of medicine an archiater, Jerome, who, when she had been brought to him by her parents, that he might succor her with some profitable remedy of medicine, spurning her, cast her off, saying: Her passion is incurable, I shall not be able to cure her. But as they besought him to have pity on her, at length at some time, overcome by their prayers, he asked with how many seasons she labored with this ruin? They answered, saying, four months. Wherefore, brought by the misery of despair, sorrowful, we have come, that, the clemency of God preventing, through thee she may receive health.
[36] the physician despairing of a remedy, By these prayers therefore the archiater, the servant of God, overcome, began to seek the immense volumes of the books of his art, if perhaps he might recognize by the care of reading the title of this infirmity: and when he read these and those maladies of passions, and could nowhere find with what ailment she labored, he said: Return hence, brethren, for I can offer her no solace of medicine; but this know, that either she is to be saved by the mercy of God, or to be punished by just judgment. Which heard, they began to weep with bitter grief, and, bidding farewell, they came to Rheginna, that they might mourn her, given up, according to the archiater's saying, there. Amid these things therefore, speaking of this and that, by mutual exhortations they rose up, that they might carry her to the basilica of St. Trophimena [but she was on her own little estate not far from the enclosure of that same church. The girl therefore being brought to the tomb of the holy Trophimena a], a certain nun, by name Agatha, taking hold of her, cast
her half-dead before the altar, praying, and with her parents for three days awaited her end. But the state of her body was such; for she tossed her arms upward, and again, lowering them below, like a kite, when in long flight it beats the air.
[37] she is healed by the aid of St. Trophimena. But when the girl was wearied with these languors, her parents left her with the aforesaid nun, and went hither and thither seeking what she had need of. But while the nun was praying, she took a little sleep before the altar, and behold the girl, going out step by step, sought the river alone: for the channel of the river had not yet hastened. And behold she saw a girl, the most beautiful of girls, giving her three rods upon the back, and saying: Why hast thou dared to go out from the temple? Return, and ever have fear of us. And when the girl, trembling, went and told the nun, she straightway rejoiced that holy Trophimena had appeared to her especially. Being touched therefore by these benefits, the same nun, seeing again the pavement sweating exceedingly with oil, and full of odor, most intently praying to God, invoking the holy Trophimena, ordered her to strip her body of its garments, … who anointed her little body with the holy oil, and immediately she was made whole from her infirmity.