ON SS. ANATHOLIA, VIRGIN, AND AUDAX, MARTYRS.
AT OLD THORA, OR THE RIVER TORANO, IN THE DIOCESE OF RIETI IN ITALY.
Under Decius.
PRELIMINARY COMMENTARY.
Anatholia, Virgin and Martyr, at old Thora in the diocese of Rieti in Italy (S.)
Audax, Martyr, at old Thora in the diocese of Rieti in Italy (S.)
BHL Number: 0418, 0419
BY THE AUTHOR J. B. S.
§ I. Ancient and diverse notices in the Martyrologies.
Whence the memory of St. Anatholia arose.
[1] We began to treat of the entangled announcement of St. Anatholia—joined either with other companions, or with Audax alone—in our Observations on Usuard, referring hither the arena of controversies about the names, and the resolution of the Acts; The discrepancies of the ancient Martyrologies which resolution to set forth clearly has hitherto not been so easy a path, whatever writers I have unrolled, who have stumbled against the same stone. In the most ancient Calendars, no mention is anywhere made either of St. Anatholia alone, or of a companion, male or female, or of companions of either sex: the various texts of the Hieronymian Martyrology, both on this day and the following, so thoroughly entangle the matter that you may plainly doubt whether it there treats of the St. Anatholia of the present-day Roman Martyrology together with St. Audax, or of some other virgin of the same name, who differs from her in condition, arena, kind of martyrdom, and other circumstances. The resolution of the chief knots depends on a right understanding of the Martyrologies, in which her most ancient commemorations exist, expressed in different words and on different days, which we here undertake to weigh, assigning, so far as may be, the sources from which they first flowed, thence to proceed to the difficulties that arise.
[2] The text of the codices of Lucca in Florentinius on this day these seem thus to be explained is at least grammatically faulty: At Rome, the birthday of the virgins Florianus, Faustinus, Anatholia, Felicitas, with six presbyters. Perhaps the Reichenau codex reads more purely: At Rome, of Florianus, Faustinus, Anatholius, Felicitas. Moreover the Epternach codex agrees well enough with those of Lucca, substituting Floriana and Faustina with seven presbyters: the Corbie codex, mutilated as it is, is reduced to the same sense, at least so far as concerns Anatholia. Here now the question: whether the St. Anatholia indicated in this list is the same who is venerated with Audax by the whole series of the Little Roman and of Bede, or rather of Florus? Let us hear Florentinius: I should think this holy Virgin different from Anatholia of Thora, of whom under this day the Roman Martyrology makes mention, and with it Usuard, Ado, Notker and other Latins, both because she is associated with other holy virgins, and because on the following day she is more expressly venerated in our older codex. I see no great scruple, since the whole aforesaid class pertains in no way to Thora, inasmuch as they suffered at Rome: but if the present-day Anatholia is that very one who on the following day is in the Hieronymian codices expressly placed in Sabina, with Victoria, either her sister, or at least her faithful companion and consort in guarding virginity, she is set down by the Little Roman and by Florus on the XXIII of December.
[3] because they drew their material from different sources. However you compare and weigh the various texts, the whole matter does not seem able to be more conveniently explained than if it be said that the compiler of the Hieronymian Martyrology, following the first part of the Acts, in the conjunction of those two virgins Anatholia and Victoria, but the Little Roman and Florus had regard to the latter part, when they made Marsius, or Marsinus, called Audax, the companion of Anatholia's martyrdom, keeping the day there expressed, the VII of the Ides of July, the longer elogium being thence received, which, taken from Florus by Ado, passed into the whole progeny, either whole or abridged, so at least that it may manifestly appear to have been drawn from no other source than from the Acts, or rather from a fragment of the Acts, such as Surius edited, and which exists in several manuscript codices, a little more purely, though not much better. And this distinction of the two Anatholias being admitted, the various difficulties easily vanish, which in my judgment are vainly devised, where others are not lacking that are to be explained from the Acts themselves: which, since they differ in some points, this must first be established, that neither the author of the Little Roman nor Florus saw the greater Acts, which the celebrated Aldhelm, a writer of the seventh century, related in compendium in his book On the Praise of Virgins, and Peter de Natalibus in book 1, chapter 83, and book 6, chapter 73.
[4] Aldhelm had the older Acts, That the matter may unfold itself more clearly, I shall here describe Aldhelm's verses from the edition of Canisius, volume 5, page 861, which exist in prose in volume 2 of the Orthodoxographia, page 1711. Thus the poet sings:
In the time when Decius ruled the three-cornered world, Working the perils of death upon the soldiers of Christ; There arose in Rome the fame, by chance, of two sisters, Striking with rumors the ears of the chief, Whom no torturer could conquer with torments. Though he punished the innocent with bloody slaughter, That with mind turned aside they might deny the author of life. One of the twain was called happy Anatolia; But the other bears the true name Victoria. These therefore, born of illustrious lineage to noble bridegrooms, their parents strive to join in marriage for the offspring of the race. But the mind of both, aflame with virginal fires, Burned up the tow of lust with the torch of chastity, Despising in their heart the perishable filth of the world.
[5] They scatter their riches, giving away likewise their patrimonies, while the sisters joined Anatholia and Victoria, They trample golden rattles set with purple gems; And soon they send all their ornaments to the poor wretches, Keeping nothing for themselves, they sell them for heavenly alms. A winged messenger glides down from heaven on high, Flaming in aspect, gleaming with snowy whiteness, He bore the light of scepters in his gracious right hand, He addresses both maidens with such a voice: Now drive far the pallor from your countenance, Nor let fear, shaking your loins, beat upon your fearless breast, While a bridal chamber is prepared for you in the seat of paradise, In which the fellowship of the eternal Bridegroom Shall never wholly fail, but long joys shall remain, If virginity, an undefended companion, guard you. Then both keep the fellowship of a chaste life, As the angel had given the Saints precepts of modesty, Even to the flight of life when death lurks at the threshold, Ravaging the withered breast of its vital breath. These things being done, the savage hearts of the suitors are enraged, Stained with the deadly venom of jealousy, While they behold the brides expending their ample wealth.
[6] There follows the martyrdom of St. Victoria, which being run through, he thus returns to St. Anatholia: describing the martyrdom of each.
So too happy Anatolia shone with famous signs, Having endured the exile of the savage tyrant. Behold the offspring of the consul, bound with tight bonds, Bereft of sense, wandering with brutish mind— The enemies being routed, she restores the panting breast, Whose in rude speech with divers plagues the sick They gather together, thronging around the holy woman in a crowd: To them the Virgin gave back the longed-for health: And also the bite, when the fierce viper by a charm Is provoked, that the cruel beast might tear the holy limbs, With horrid teeth and open jaws might gnaw them, Straightway she heals, breaking the bonds of the water-snake, Which before had coiled its sluggish bite in a spiral. Therefore in haste she hurries to believe in Christ, Recognizing her own salvation by so great a power. Moreover she heaped up her merit with the purple of blood, About to receive the rewards with the gracious hosts of heaven. White afterward the happy martyr follows with two garlands, Integrity a shining, and passion a red; Together they feathered the crown, adorned with slain virtue.
[7] Thus far Aldhelm, having spoken in some points rather obscurely, yet so as sufficiently to show Most Martyrologists used the Surian fragment, that he had the greater Acts before his eyes, from which he expressed the name of the juggler Marsus, or Marsinus, in his prose version. You will understand all more easily when you shall have compared these with the Acts themselves, to be illustrated below, from a manuscript of the Imperial library. The things which pertain separately to St. Victoria are to be given on the day on which we said she is venerated, the XXIII of December. This also will easily be observed, that the Acts edited by Surius are the very ones which the author of the Little Roman
and Florus followed, and which you may rightly call headless, narrating only the exile, the prodigies, and the martyrdom, those parts being cut off which set forth the cause of the exile. Of the value or trustworthiness of either part there is here no question, nor whether they can be attributed to Pope Gelasius II, as Baronius mentions from Peter the Deacon in his notes to the Roman Martyrology. These things are premised for this cause alone, that readers may understand whence the diversity of announcements could arise between the Hieronymian codices and another class of Martyrologists, whose words we shall subjoin, when we shall also have brought forward the Surian fragment, not from his edition, but from a manuscript codex of St. Maximin at Trier, collated with others, from whose very opening you will perceive that some earlier part is lacking, of which this is the sequel. Here then is the said fragment:
[8] Now when St. Anatholia had been worn thin by fastings and prayers, in which St. Anatholia frees a demoniac, and was intent day and night upon the holy Scriptures, and so rejoiced in her exile that she thought she was rejoicing in the festivity of Easter, it happened that the son of Diodorus [], who was Consular of Picenum, Annianus by name, being vexed by the devil, cried out saying: Lady Anatholia, thou art burning me. Meanwhile Diodorus, a most heathen man, while he sent him through the groves and temples [], came where there was a grove, in the neighborhood of holy Anatholia, and bursting the chains with which he was bound, he appeared before the feet of the praying Anatholia, saying: Thou art she who dost burn me with the flames of thy prayers. Meanwhile holy Anatholia breathed upon him, saying: Depart, devil, from this man. And straightway he departed from him. And when he had come back healed to his father, set among the fasces, and had made known how he had been saved by holy Anatholia; coming to her with his wife and with his sons, he adored her, offering countless money. Of which holy Anatholia receiving nothing at all, said: Go, and bestow it upon needy and destitute Christians: but do thou believe in Christ with thine own, and thou shalt be freed.
[9] she heals the sick; she is reported to Decius; she is tortured; Now the report of her went out through the whole province of Picenum, and there were brought to her the sick, whom the physicians despaired of, and the lunatics, and those full of demons: and all returned healed, believing in Christ. Now while these things were being done, the Pontiffs of the temples made a suggestion to the Emperor Decius; and he sent men to kill her there, if she should refuse to sacrifice. And so Festianus, coming to her, ordered her to be cast out thence and led to the city of Thora. Whom he ordered to be brought into his private chamber, and to be vexed with divers kinds of blows, then to be pressed with the rack and torches, and he asked whether she would burn incense to the gods, and go free wherever she wished. She answered: Wretched and unhappy man, if thou depart not from the worship of demons, thou shalt burn with them in perpetual fire. Then Festianus called Marsus to him, and said to him: Cause this woman to be shut in a single chamber, and do thou let loose serpents upon her to devour her: and I will give thee much, and will make thee my friend.
[10] unharmed by a serpent, she preserves Audax, To whom Marsus, named Audax, answered: Thou speakest of many serpents: I will let loose one upon her, and straightway it will kill her. So when she had been shut in a narrow chamber, and the serpent had there been let loose by Marsus, all night the holy Virgin, persevering in hymns and psalms and prayers, converted that most fierce serpent into gentleness. But when morning came, Marsus, invoking Mercury and Minerva, opened the chamber; and behold the serpent had girt her neck, wishing to devour her from the reed [*]. But holy Anatholia put forth her hand, and seized it, saying: In the name of my Lord Jesus Christ, go forth hence, and go to thy place. Straightway with all gentleness it departed. Then Audax Marsus adored her, saying: The true Christ is God.
[11] Now when Festianus heard Marsus confessing Christ, he called him to himself, who, converted to Christ, becomes a Martyr: and said to him: If she snatched herself from the serpent by magic arts, oughtest thou, to the reproach of the gods, to believe Christ to be God? Audax said: I believe Christ the true God, whom she invoked, and with her hands snatched the most fierce serpent from my throat. To whom Festianus said: Thou art a rich wretch, in gold and in silver and in household and in thy caskets, and thou hast a wife and sons; why dost thou not fear to die, that thou shouldst abandon all these? Audax said: I know, and have proved, the power of the name of Christ: and therefore I no longer fear to die. Dost thou not see from what a beast the invocation of His name snatched me? Then Festianus said: The report given about thee will make thee undergo sentence among the Christians. Being therefore put into custody, until the report should go and answers should come. In this interval, by the working of holy Anatholia, Audax was made a Christian. Then for the name of Christ he received the capital sentence.
[12] But holy Anatholia, being pierced through with the sword, [so] that the sword sent through the right side went out at the left: The death of Anatholia, and the burial of her body. and Christ, receiving her triumphant by this departure, consecrated her to Himself as a most sacred virgin and martyr. And the citizens of Thora seized the body of the holy Virgin, and placed it where it was revealed to them: where the Lord is blessed by it now and unto the ages of ages. Amen. Now the most sacred virgin Anatholia was struck on the seventh day of the Ides of July: and buried on the sixth of the Ides of the same. But the body of Audax Marsus the martyr, since he had been from the East, his wife and sons took, and sailed away: carrying all their goods, and the deeds which are written in this little book of the blessed virgin Anatholia, and at the end those of Audax the martyr. Amen.
Annotations* elsewhere Theodorus.
* elsewhere through divers places.
* perhaps from the head.
§ II. The cult of SS. Anatholia and Audax in the Martyrologies, the arena of their martyrdom, their relics and the veneration of them.
[13] Now we have come to this, that from what has been premised it is sufficiently clear why in the Hieronymian codices Anatholia and Victoria are joined in Sabina; From the text of Bede or Florus but why in other Martyrologies St. Anatholia alone is commemorated with St. Audax; inasmuch as no other Acts became known to the author of the Little Roman and to Bede or Florus except the fragment already described. Let us give the very words of the Little Roman: In the city of Tyre, of Anatholia and Audax, to which announcement corresponds the meter of Wandelbert, Audax on the seventh and likewise Anatolia shines. But the source of the remaining Martyrologies will unfold the matter more clearly, the text of Bede or Florus in our edition before volume 2 of March: In the city of Tyre, the birthday of SS. Anatholia and Audax under the Emperor Decius: of whom Anatholia, when she had cured many sick, lunatic, and demoniac in Picenum, was led, by order of Festinianus, to the city of Tyre, and vexed with divers kinds of blows; then, shut up all night with a serpent, she was in no way harmed: nay, she even snatched the very minister [*], who had let loose the serpent, Audax by name, in the morning from being devoured by his own serpent, and converted him to the martyrdom of Christ. For he himself after this, given into custody for the confession of the truth, was without delay crowned with the capital sentence. The Virgin of Christ herself also was pierced through with the sword, as she stood with hands stretched out in prayer, so that the sword sent through the right side went out through the left. She suffered on the VII of the Ides of July, and was buried in the morning by the citizens of Tyre. But Audax, who was from the East, was translated thither by his wife and sons.
[14] I am greatly mistaken if there does not here appear the true compendium of the aforesaid fragment, from which, or from a like one, and not from the Hieronymian codices, those things seem to have been taken which Holstenius, in his Animadversions on the Roman Martyrology, attributes to the codex of the Queen of Sweden, or of St. Columba of Sens, with the order somewhat inverted, the remaining Martyrologists took, and after him Florentinius, drawing from it not quite rightly his conclusions. Here are the words of the codex edited by us, not in the last but in the first place: In the city of Tyre, the birthday of the holy Anatholia the virgin and of Audax the Marsian, both of whom were crowned with the capital sentence. These last are not conformable to the text of the Acts; and there is besides a notable discrepancy between the words reported by Holstenius and Florentinius, and the sense of our codex, in which there is no mention of the Emperor Decius. Truly to be referred to Bede or Florus is the announcement of the codex of St. Cyriacus, praised by Baronius, and of the headless Barberini codex, of which we have said enough elsewhere. Rabanus transcribed the text of Bede almost to the letter (with Tyre changed to Tyrus); Ado likewise transcribed it (omitting "without delay he was crowned with the capital sentence"), and from him his whole progeny: where you will observe that in our edition of Bede "minister" is read for "Marsus"; which in Rabanus, Ado, Notker, nay also in those other codices of St. Cyriacus and the Barberini, is constantly set down.
[15] as also the present-day Roman. From Usuard proceeded the present-day commemoration of the Roman Martyrology, somewhat enlarged over the source itself, and with the position changed in some things, which Baronius did not distinguish quite exactly. Let us hear the text of each. Thus has Usuard, the abridger of Ado: In the city of Tyre, the passion of the holy Anatholia and Audax under the Emperor Decius: of whom Anatholia, the virgin of Christ, vexed with divers kinds of blows, was at last pierced through with the sword in prayer. Audax also, given into custody, is without delay crowned with the capital sentence. Here I shall not repeat what I said in the Observations about the varied expression of the arena of martyrdom: only compare the announcement of the Roman Martyrology: In the city of Thora, near Lake Velino, the passion of the holy Anatholia and Audax, under the Emperor Decius: of whom Anatholia, the virgin of Christ, after she had cured very many throughout the whole province of Picenum, afflicted with various sicknesses, and had made them believers in Christ, by order of Faustinianus the judge, being vexed with divers kinds of punishments, when, freed from the serpent let loose upon her, she had converted Audax to the faith, at last praying with hands outstretched, was pierced through with the sword: Audax also, given into custody, is without delay crowned with the capital sentence. It is sufficiently plain whence Baronius drew the material of his enlargement, whose note is this:
[16] The arena of martyrdom by Baronius and others It was read, he says, in other Martyrologies, "at Tyre near Lake Vulsino": but for Thyrus or Thurius or Thyre, "Thora"; and for Lake Vulsino, "Velino" is set. In the Acts of the Martyrs, "Thurensis" is falsely read for "Thorensis," or "Thorana": for the ancient monuments of that church, and the firm tradition of the people, testify without any ambiguity that these Martyrs, of whom the matter is here treated, suffered there. We are not, however, ignorant that Lake Vulsino was called Tyrensis, the memory of which is had in the decree of Desiderius, King of the Lombards, which Aldus Manutius transcribed from the Viterbo records in his book on orthography; but no monument (as we have received) exists in the towns of that place concerning these Martyrs
memory; which, green and fresh, perseveres in the aforesaid Thoran church, which is (as I have received) in the diocese of Rieti. These things we received from the Reverend Master Curtius Franco, Canon of St. Peter in the Vatican, who labored much in investigating these matters. Moreover Thora is called Tiora by Dionysius of Halicarnassus in book 1, which he testifies to be distant from Rieti, toward the Latin Way, by forty stadia. The word being corrupted, the i was changed into h, so that instead of Tiora it is called Thora. Baronius could have found Lake Vulsino somewhere, but I confess that in no Martyrology hitherto have I stumbled upon such a location.
[17] Nor indeed does the change of arena, introduced by Baronius, sufficiently stand, not explained accurately enough, as is to be seen in the dissertation of our Janninck on the Saints of Umbria, prefixed to volume 1 of July, page 7, number 31, where he proves that Thora, or Tiora, was situated not near Lake Velino, but rather near the river Velino, forty stadia, according to the Halicarnassian, above Rieti. For the river Velino stands also Augustin Lubin, in his illustrated Roman Martyrology, table 5, page 162, and he holds it to be on the right or northern bank of it: but I would rather say that Thora was situated near the river Torano or Turano, a little below the Velino, as Castellanus rightly noted, on the present-day text of the Roman Martyrology; where, to the words of Baronius about Lake Velino, he says: Rather, near the river Torano in the Abruzzi, where, to the south of that river, on the left bank, are seen the ruins of old Thora, and of the church of St. Anatolia, far from the lakes which are formed by the river Velino, and they are in the duchy of Spoleto near Rieti. And these plainly agree with the animadversion of Holstenius, presently to be subjoined, from which Ferrarius somewhat departs in his Topography, thus reading: Theora, which is also Thora, once a most ancient city of the Sabines, now a little town of the Rieti territory near Lake Velino, scarcely five miles from Rieti, lying back on the road which leads to Rome: where I cannot sufficiently marvel at Leander Albertus, who interprets Thora as Todi. But neither is Ferrarius here to be called a good topographer or geographer.
[18] The observation of Holstenius on this day will set forth the whole matter clearly, it has been most rightly described by Holstenius. from whom Castellanus seems to have received his own. Thus therefore he has it: Tora or Tiora, or the city Torana, was in that part of the Sabines which is joined to the Aequicoli and Marsi and is watered by the river Torano. For even at this time great traces of it are seen on the left bank of the said river, in a pleasant plain, over which from the opposite bank the castles Castel-vecchio and Antuni, set on steep crags, hang. In its ruins even now the church of St. Anatolia stands, and is frequented by a great concourse of the neighboring peoples. The fields round about, filled with ruins, offer an indication of a great city: and in the church itself, besides columns and other traces of antiquity, an old marble inscription exists, set up to Marcus Aurelius Antoninus Caracalla. This city Torana is six miles distant from Trebula Mutuesca, where holy Victoria, sister of Anatolia, suffered, of whom I have noted below on the XXIII of December. Moreover the body of St. Anatolia was translated from the said Thoran church to the monastery of Subiaco, where it even now exists. It does not seem that the arena of our Martyrs could be described more accurately and distinctly; and from that topographical delineation of Holstenius, whatever difficulty I had reserved to be here discussed in my Observations on Usuard has been most plainly resolved.
[19] Nor will Tamayo detain me here with many words, thundering forth much with great puffed cheeks against Baronius and all those The absurdities of Tamayo are not worthy of refutation. who now for so many centuries have claimed these Saints for their own Italy, whom he laboriously contends, in his customary trifling, to have come into Spain from his usual pseudo-chronicle of Dexter of Bivar, from Luitprand and suchlike nonsense, torn apart six hundred times. He has already so often spoken against the sun, his arguments have so often been blunted, that it is irksome to enter the same arena anew, or to detain readers, not without weariness, in the tossing about of such fables. Let those whom examinations of this kind delight compare Tamayo for themselves with this commentary, or at least consult the praised dissertation of Janninck on the Saints of Umbria, in those places where he restores St. Brictius, of whom also we treat this day, by the same right carried off by Tamayo into Spain, to his ancient and true possessors. The mere announcement of Tamayo teems with such manifest absurdities that I judge I should refrain from rehearsing the rest. Here is the elogium, worthy of its author: At Thyar, a city of the Ilercaones of Tarraconensian Spain, of St. Anatholia, a most illustrious woman, betrothed of Titus Aurelius the Spaniard, sister of St. Victoria, who suffered at Turbula among the Bassetani: who, after she recognized her sister's contest, robust in the confession of the faith, dreaded neither the threats of the judges nor the punishments of the governors, but rather, arrested for the name of Christ, manfully persisting in its preaching, attained the palm, and happily bore off the glorious trophy of martyrdom, Audax the poisoner being converted.
[20] By what reasoning relics can be said These things having been rejected in passing, but deservedly, the last words of Holstenius lead us to the translation of the relics, which is subjoined to our Acts, and which perhaps he himself saw: for there is described the digging up of the sacred body, made in the tenth century, and its translation to the monastery of Subiaco; of which we must treat below. Ferrarius notes in his Catalogue of the Saints of Italy that there exists a town on the border of Picenum and Umbria, in the territory of Camerino, not to be neglected, whose name is St. Anatolia. There the body of this Virgin, who is chiefly venerated by the inhabitants, is laid in her own church. From these does not differ the Observation of Antonio Gallonio in his Italian history of the holy Roman Virgins: there, of St. Anatholia, page 137, thus writing: The body of the holy Virgin rests in a place of the Picene territory (della Marca) which has its name from St. Anatholia: two fingers, the chin, and other relics, are here at Rome in the church of St. Mary Major. There was scarcely any doubt to me that Masini too had found some in his surveyed Bologna; and behold, there in the church of St. Peter the head of St. Anatholia is said to be kept. Of the relics which the Thorans obtained from the Abbot of Subiaco, and which in the surviving church among them are without doubt even today honored, the history of the translation, of which we have already begun to speak, will say more briefly.
[21] to be preserved in the Picene territory and at Subiaco. By whom, when, and on what occasion the aforesaid relics came to Rome and Bologna, I do not indeed intend to investigate; a more curious question is—to be resolved no less with difficulty, through the lack of records—at what time the body, or a notable part of it, came from the monastery of Subiaco into Picenum, whence the town or place was surnamed from St. Anatholia, of which Gallonio and Ferrarius speak; asserting this from monuments, I know not which, which perhaps the men of Subiaco will not straightway admit, among whom without doubt, as Holstenius testifies, the tradition of the sacred body preserved in the same place must persevere. Sharper controversies of this kind are sometimes settled in no other way than by a peaceful transaction, by which each party is allowed to possess as it possesses; which we shall leave to be settled by the arbitration of Jacobilli, as you will understand below. Sufficiently marvelous are the things which he narrates in volume 2, page 18, roundly asserting that the body of St. Anatholia was indeed buried by the priests and other faithful in the same place where she had undergone martyrdom, but a little after was translated into Picenum, where the Saint herself had formerly stayed, namely into that town which we have said was named from her. Equally awry is what he subjoins, that Leo, abbot of Subiaco, obtained from Pope John XI both sacred bodies, which in the aforesaid town of St. Anatholia had been hidden for 680 years. These do not at all agree with the history of the translation, where they are said to have been brought to Subiaco not from Picenum, but from the first place of burial at Thora.
[22] With greater faith, I think, are supported the things which he relates of the second finding, made at Subiaco in the year 1095, after the sacred body of holy Anatholia had not been uncovered for 163 years, Jacobilli [says more of these things,] and some doubted so much whether it there still truly rested under the principal altar of the sacred Grotto, whither the novices of the monastery were wont to hasten, about to make their religious profession, in whose formula these things were expressly stated: To the honor of God almighty and of the blessed Virgin Mary, and of our most blessed Father Benedict, and of the blessed Anatholia, virgin and martyr, whose sacred body rests in this present church. The Abbot therefore of that time, John by name, found the sacred body whole in the said place, with the greatest joy of all, a few little bones excepted, which were separately exposed at Subiaco to the veneration of the people, and which Gallonio said were honored at Rome. A large arm-bone was granted to the townsmen of St. Anatholia in Picenum, who, in return, in the year 1326, offered to the Abbot of Subiaco the arm of St. Victoria, as Jacobilli narrates, to whose arbitration in the end we have already said all controversy, if any remains, about the sacred relics would be settled. He testifies therefore that all the sacred remains are laid up in the aforesaid church of the sacred Grotto, and that the body of St. Audax is kept under the high altar of the church of St. Scholastica, as appeared in the last recognition made in the month of March of the year 1643. These things are briefly abridged from Jacobilli, which, if they be admitted by the men of Bologna, I do not at all see by what reasoning the head of this holy Anatholia came to them.
[23] To the solemnity of the cult of both Saints wonderfully contribute the things which the praised Jacobilli has gathered here and there, adducing various places and churches marked with the name of St. Anatholia. concerning the various places, lands, or villages glorying in the name of holy Anatholia in his Umbria and Tuscany. Meanwhile the chief festivity perseveres in the Subiaco monasteries of St. Scholastica and of the sacred Grotto, which keep the precious pledges even today; in which under a more illustrious rite all things are performed this day with an Octave. It is added that another church also, in the same Subiaco territory, is dedicated to St. Anatholia, in which by the same rite—let us say by pious rivalry—veneration is instituted every year. Equal is the celebrity in the oft-mentioned town of St. Anatholia in the Picene territory, nay in the whole diocese of Camerino. Add another village or castle of the diocese of Spoleto, also named with the name of Anatholia, with a parish church, sacred to the same Saint: whence in that whole diocese there is an Office under the semidouble rite: to which Jacobilli adds other places of less moment, marked with the name of St. Anatholia, which can be seen in him. Whether in each of these the sacred relics of the Saints are honored I have not ascertained: from these, I think, it appears that nothing is wanting to the knowledge of the relics. Now the rest, pertaining to the passion of St. Anatholia and her companion, must be weighed.
Annotation* read Marsus.
§ III. The age of the Saints, and the history of their passion and translation.
[24] The Acts testify that they were crowned in the time of Decius, The epoch of their age and martyrdom historians and Martyrologists drew from no other source than from the Acts, whether the longer ones, such as ours are, or the mutilated ones, as Surius edited them, in which everywhere are marked the times of the Emperor Decius, the most notorious persecutor of the Christians. Baronius, at the year 253, number 29, with not a few other writers, not only connects the passion of the holy Anatholia and Audax with the aforesaid times of Decius, but determinately marks the year 253, in which, according to the most approved and now most received chronology, Decius could not be surviving, having already, a whole two years before, been slain while fighting against the Goths, together with his son, after XXX months of empire, or about three years; so that consequently, if the Martyrs were crowned in the time of Decius, this can at the utmost be deferred to the year of Christ 251. Well known is the discrepancy of Baronius from the true chronological calculations, who, down to the times of Decius, deviate by a whole two years. I will frankly confess that we are not furnished with those monuments to weigh these things more accurately, since the Acts only intimate this, that either the holy sisters Anatholia and Victoria suffered under the Emperor Decius, or at least by his order were driven into exile by the arts of their suitors or betrothed; if indeed even these things can be admitted safely enough: for the history of the Acts does not seem placed in such a degree of authority that from its trustworthiness the controversies occurring may be certainly defined. Meanwhile nothing greatly hinders that at least the martyrdom of the holy Anatholia and Audax be referred to the times of Decius.
[25] For the rest, as I was just saying, such an epoch is no less doubtful not genuine nor free from interpolations. than the Acts themselves are in many points, so little redolent of the sincerity of the ancient Acts that Ruinart did not even call those Saints by name. This we set beyond controversy, that they are ancient, and existed at least in the seventh century, as the things which we gave from Aldhelm in paragraph I evidently prove; but not even that age exempts from every mark of interpolation and freer amplification a narrative crammed with so many visions, prodigies, and miracles, so that to me at least it is by no means probable that it can be ascribed to Pope Pelagius II, who departed this life in the year 590, which we noted above that Baronius insinuated in his notes from Peter the Deacon. Still less credible is what Jacobilli attributes to the same Peter the Deacon, that the Acts were written by Pope Julius I, scarcely a whole century later than the martyrdom. Meanwhile it is not to be denied that either Pelagius himself, while still a private man, or another writer of that time, could have collected some Acts of our Saints: but that they were adorned by him in such a manner is not credible. It was not the lot of one martyr's passion alone that, first honestly, truly, and simply composed, it found orators to whom nothing pleased except what seemed marvelous and astounding. But here to heap up commonplaces of this kind is not needful; the Acts themselves, as they lie, no one will easily admit, inasmuch as they sufficiently show that very many amplifications accrued to the original simplicity; so that the oft-praised Jacobilli could easily have refrained from enlarging matters.
[26] Tillemont in his notes to volume 3, page 703, is displeased by many things, Very many things displease the critics, those especially which are recorded of Anianus and the serpent; the visions of angels displease him, and the usual clause in apocryphal Acts about the deposition of the body by revelation, where the Lord is blessed by it now and unto the ages of ages. Another hypercritic rejects nearly everything, but we do not delay with them: we shall go more safely by the middle way. To the original Acts perhaps can be ascribed the substance of the deeds done, the ornament here and there to the interpolators. I said above that only a fragment was published by Surius, exhibited by us above, to which the whole prior part is lacking, or, as we have divided it, about the whole first chapter, constituting with that fragment a fairly full history, which our Franciscus Baert transcribed from a manuscript of the Imperial library, whose elogium, he having died not long ago, is prefixed to this volume. He himself noted that the Imperial manuscript is corrupted by many errors, the harder of which could be corrected, as most have been restored by us to their first purity. The rather frequent dialogues, sometimes arranged beyond the grasp of virgins, sufficiently prove that decorum was not everywhere kept to the line; but to call back each detail to a stricter examination we have not thought worth the labor. Now it is sufficiently plain what our opinion is about the aforesaid Acts.
[27] I would not omit to observe what is not obscurely gathered from a comparison of the Surian fragment and the Aldhelmian poem with our Acts, which can very hardly be salvaged. namely that Aldhelm had a somewhat purer source before his eyes; and that the fragment itself, described above, is somewhat simpler than the Imperial exemplar is, in which most things are adorned more verbosely. It is therefore permitted to suspect that the last writer of our Acts, whom you would not undeservedly call a monk of Subiaco, composed the history of the translation perhaps in the twelfth century or later, who, having an older Legend before his eyes, enlarged it, as was frequent through those centuries, according to his own wit and pleasure, adding the clause which we shall mention below, invented for this end, that he might assert not only the body of St. Anatholia but also that of St. Audax to have been found, and both translated to Subiaco; contrary to what is most expressly recorded in the Acts, that the body of St. Audax the Marsian was carried elsewhere by his wife and sons. That we may not longer be occupied in vain in an obscure matter, one might not ill judge that Acts, if not quite sincere and genuine, at least less extensive, shone before that writer, of which a fragment survives to us, and which, would that for both parts they had come to us a little more complete. It remains to weigh briefly the history of the translation, which here constitutes the third chapter.
[28] As nowhere in the Acts themselves does a trace occur, whence with at least some verisimilitude you might make out It seems the same person interpolated the Acts who described the finding, by whom and at about what time the first Acts were collected, so also there are lacking the indications through which we might certainly arrive at the author of the translation and amplification. I have already insinuated the suspicion that he was a monk of Subiaco. Certainly he shows himself such, in that prodigies pleased him wonderfully even in the narration of his translation: I should have preferred that he had taken such care to distinguish the whole matter a little more accurately by his chronological marks. The series of the Abbots of Subiaco I have not hitherto found; this writer notes Leo, the digger-up of the sacred bodies; who, if he truly governed the monastery in the time of Pope Benedict VII, since he held the Roman see from the year 975 to 984, that abbot Leo must fall into those times, with which also must be placed Anastasius, Bishop of Rieti, as one who approved by his reckoning the transaction entered into between the Thorans and the Abbot. Ughelli found a certain Anastasius, Bishop of Rieti, in the appendix of volume 5, for the year 948, whose age could without difficulty be prolonged to the year 975, unless there a successor to Anastasius were given, Heldebald, whose subscription is had in some document of the year 975, so that consequently some error in the combination of these names must be acknowledged, and consequently gathered that the author was not so near to the very event as he decked it out quite marvelously.
[29] and in many things also worthy of censure. The hunt ordered by Leo, Abbot of Subiaco, into the foreign territory of Thora, distant from Subiaco by at least thirty Italian miles, whom would it not offend at first sight, at least one who knows how to measure the distances of places, and to examine the congruities of things? What? that the Abbot is supposed to have had no right at all by which so to deprive the Thorans of those sacred pledges, that they afterwards were compelled, to obtain some part of them, to grant some little right in their regions, by written instruments donating to the monastery of Subiaco the place where the holy bodies had rested, with all its appurtenances; in which, so crudely set forth, what appearance of equity may appear, I ask, who can sufficiently demonstrate. The sleep of the Abbot and what followed it seem introduced without any necessity: nor does that untamed horse rest on greater authority, which, bearing the sacred burden, not only laid aside its ferocity, but immediately died. Nor does that whole history agree with the most widely published Acts of Surius, in which it is most expressly said that the body of Audax the Marsian martyr, since he had been from the East, his wife and sons took, and sailed away; so that at least you may certainly conjecture that the bodies of the holy Anatholia and Audax were not buried in the same place, and thus that the last clause of the life is an addition in our Acts, invented studiously to pave the way to the oft-mentioned history of the translation. Have now the Acts themselves as they were transcribed by Baert.
ACTS
From a manuscript codex of the Imperial library, marked with number 724 above; below 185.
Anatholia, Virgin and Martyr, at old Thora in the diocese of Rieti in Italy (S.)
Audax, Martyr, at old Thora in the diocese of Rieti in Italy (S.)
BHL Number: 0417
FROM A MANUSCRIPT.
CHAPTER I.
St. Anatholia, having turned away from marriage and cultivating virginity, is punished with exile.
[1] Anatholia, through fear of persecution, secretly serves Christ; In the times of Decius Caesar there were at Rome the most sacred virgins of Christ, Victoria and Anatholia, who from their very cradles had been Christian; but fearing with womanly weakness and keeping themselves in their own houses, they rendered a clandestine service to Christ, thinking it better to persist secretly in religion and in the precepts of God, so far as ability might suffice, than to abandon the holy faith by openly showing themselves, and, if they confessed the name of Christ openly, to deny it under compulsion by tortures. For they had heard from the priests of Christ that He Himself, when He was sought by Herod to be slain, fled into Egypt, and commanded His disciples, saying: When they shall persecute you in one city, flee into another. Now there were Eugenius and Aurelius Titus, most illustrious and most powerful men, who by the intercession of noble matrons sought to join those women to themselves by conjugal right. But they, not yet so perfected in the love of Christ that they believed they could receive the palm of martyrdom through torments, that the religion of the holy faith might remain in them undefiled, put them off with continual prayers, and promise the accomplishment of such a thing a.
[2] But when Aurelius pressed that the promise might be more quickly fulfilled, being sought in marriage, but in a vision taught the endowments of virginity, Anatholia by her promises deferred the young man's hope. Meanwhile the Virgin of Christ prayed unceasingly to her Lord, whom she actively served, that He would snatch her from the hands of the enemy, namely lest she should take a husband entangled in the errors of heathendom, and lest perhaps it should befall her to deny the holy name of the Lord, her husband compelling. Meanwhile whatever she had of household substance in gold and in silver, or in jewels and precious garments, she bestowed by clandestine distribution upon the poor of Christ. And on the following night, after she had bestowed upon the poor a part of all the things which she had at home, as she slept an angel b appeared to her, bearing a most brilliant diadem upon his head and adorned with gilded garments,
whose countenance rivaled the brightness of the sun, who, turned toward her with his whole light, and gazing at last upon her with intent eyes, began to praise virginity in these words: O holy, O blessed virginity! O bride of the everlasting Bridegroom, wholly ignorant of corruption and of sorrow, free from death, near to God, who is everlasting life! This is a treasure full of gold and weighty: no thief touches it: no moth wastes it, no rust consumes it. In great glory, O Anatholia, thou art strong, abounding in great riches; guard these with a solicitous mind, watch for these, preserve these, lest thou be defrauded of the glory which the Lord has prepared for thee in heaven.
[3] By this vision and angelic address Anatholia, she refuses to contract them; the virgin of Christ, was so strengthened and perfected in the love of Christ that for virginity she would rather be slain than conquered. All the wealth of her household therefore being distributed, as we have said, when the day of the marriage drew near, she feigned sickness: Aurelius pressed on, now to terrify the virgin's mind with threats, now to soothe it with blandishments. She to the raging man opposed her infirmity; and that she could not be burdened with the marital yoke, whom weakness alone rendered feeble more than enough. But when the bridegroom, impatient of love, strove by all means and every effort to fulfill his desire, and she under pretext of sickness denied that she could take up the marital burden, she was reported to her betrothed as being a Christian. But Titus, unwilling to betray his betrothed for being of this faith, lest, like the rest, she should at last be punished with grievous penalties and with death, and he himself be left powerless of his desire, tried by blandishments to turn her from her purpose, and by the same means hoped to bring it about that she should depart from the faith, by which he had brought it about that she had promised the bond of his marriage.
[4] So he went to his friend Eugenius, and with entreaties demanded that he assist him. means being applied by the suitor Aurelius through his friend Eugenius Which Eugenius answered: I cannot sufficiently marvel why thou dost entreat him whom thou hast found ready to obey thee in all things, to undergo death also, if it be expedient, to endure the wrath of the gods, the indignation of the princes, in whatever perils, if only he might provide for thy safety. If therefore thou weighest that any counsel, any help in this matter can be contributed to thee by me, command me as thy most faithful and most obedient servant, and thou shalt find me a truthful friend in dangers. Then Titus: Come, he said, I pray, O friend, quickly send thy betrothed Victoria to her, that by the threatenings of threats and by blandishments she may persuade her not to refuse to join herself to my marriage. Soon Eugenius indicates to his betrothed Victoria the reasons: he asks that she bend Aurelius's betrothed Anatholia, namely her foster-sister, by what means she can, to Aurelius's petition.
[5] by the efforts and prayers of Victoria; At her betrothed's prayers, Victoria without delay went to Anatholia; to whom she also said c: The greatness of thy charity, sweetest sister, compelled me to come to thee. For although I remember that thou hast done all things advisedly and prudently, as befitted thy noble birth; this one thing—with what mind, with what counsel thou dost contrive to reject a husband—I do not know. Hear then, sister Anatholia, my counsel: believe my persuasions: do not remain in an obstinacy once begun: do not carry out in deeds whatever thou hast conceived in mind, nor be content with thine own counsels alone: do not of thine own accord thrust thyself upon death. If Christ Himself commanded to yield for a time to persecutors, why dost thou thyself desire persecutions, thyself seek them? Consider, I beseech thee, dearest sister, the straits of this time, the afflictions of our people, the flights, the hiding-places, the tortures, the prisons and the exiles, and give assent to my words. Titus Aurelius, an illustrious man, sprung of a royal family, supported by royal wealth, to whom, being asked, thou thyself didst promise consent to marriage, I persuade thee not to defraud of the promised marriage. And when Victoria had made an end of speaking, Anatholia answered: Learnedly and prudently enough, sister, and in Christian fashion, hast thou tried to persuade me to take a husband, to receive my corruptors. Now therefore lend patient ears to my words, that what I likewise speak in secret, thou mayest lay up in the secret places of thy mind.
[6] I answer to thy name, from the meaning of thy name I exhort thee: I commend that thou hasten to be but in vain. what thou art called, that thou mayest conquer the devil, that thou mayest be proved a true Victoria. God, the omnipotent Father, making all things by His Word in the beginning, formed man also, namely the rational creature, from the slime of the earth, the other living things being now created, and commanded him to preside over all the other irrational creatures. Whom, when He had disposed all things in their places, He set alone in paradise, and joined to him Eve as wife afterward. And when upon the earth these two alone lived together, and God willed the whole world, which He had created for men, to be filled with men, He commanded them to increase and multiply, to procreate children and fill the earth. But after the omnipotent Lord Jesus Christ, the Word of the Father, through whom all things were made, deigned to descend from heaven to earth for our salvation, and to assume our flesh from the womb of the immaculate Virgin Mary, not ceasing to be God, which He was, but beginning to be man, which He was not; He Himself both remained a virgin and loved virgins remaining such more than the rest.
[7] For therefore it is read in the Gospels that He loved John above the other disciples, The praise of virginity asserted by Anatholia; whom He also permitted to lean upon His breast at the Supper, and, to repeat what I said above, before the Gospel, though all the Prophets and Patriarchs are read to have pleased God, He caught up in a fiery chariot only Elijah, who remained a virgin in body, and by the prayers of him alone He closed and opened heaven. If therefore, before Christ was born of a Virgin, virginity was of such glory before God that He caught up in a fiery chariot him who had remained a virgin, and Christ chose for Himself a virgin mother; how great glory must it now be believed to have, when the Virgin Mary abides queen of heaven itself and of the Angels and of men. In her indeed virginal glory is exalted above the Angels; but in the flesh of Christ she is placed at the right hand of the Father. When Anatholia had said these things, Victoria broke into these words: Shall then virgins alone possess a place in heaven? Shall the married and the widows perish? Is no portion of the heavenly joys to be given them? Anatholia answered: To the married indeed and to widows there is their place in heaven, theirs is the palm, the light, the joy and the crown; but to all those a more excellent glory shall be granted who, following Christ, shall have remained virgins. Virgins enjoy the Word of the Father Himself. Virgin brides more closely behold the countenance of the Father.
[8] But these things which I assert seem to thee marvelous and beyond belief; narrating the vision of the angel; but whence I have known this, thou shalt hear, if thou ask. She testified that she supremely willed it, that she had long awaited it. Then Anatholia said: After I sold whatever I had in gold and silver, in garments and ornaments, and expended the price of them in relief of the poor, on the following night, as I slept, a young man appeared to me, crowned with a golden diadem, exceedingly splendid like the sun, his whole body covered with gilded and jeweled garments; who, turned wholly toward me with his light, and contemplating me long with intent eyes, began to call virginity the bride of the King, wholly ignorant of perpetual sorrow and of corruption. He called it that light over which no darkness might prevail; that glory which no confusion might dim, no suffering deform; without part in death, sharer of life; which, he said, is nearest in heaven to the true and eternal life, which is God. Having heard these things, when I had awoke, he who spoke to me vanished; whereat, made sad, and prostrate on the ground, I continually prayed the Lord that the vision taken away might be restored to me. Again the young man was present to me and began to address me with true words, and to call virginity the purple of the true King and the pearl of the royal crown, an eternal treasure, abounding in gold and gems, which no fraud of thieves may snatch away, no age, no rust consume. These riches, he said, this glory, were at hand for me, which could never be taken away from one unwilling. He promised me great glory of virginity prepared by God, that I might guard it more intently and more solicitously. Repeating the same often, he admonished me; So great therefore from that time did the love of virginity glow in me that I would rather perish by any death than change the purpose of virginity.
[9] which being again shown to both, After Anatholia gave an end to her speech, Victoria at her feet prayed that the vision of the same young man might be granted to her. Then Anatholia, prostrating herself, prayed the Lord that He would show the same vision to both, and when they had likewise poured forth their prayer; behold an Angel of the Lord appeared to them in the same garb. Whom when both had seen, terrified with exceeding fear, they fell upon their faces, and, astounded with exceeding dread, were struck dumb. But the Angel of the Lord comforted them, saying: Fear not, beloved of the Lord: for a crown is prepared for you by God in heaven, if ye shall have remained virgins. Victoria therefore joyful, her fear laid aside, asks the Angel what is the glory of virgins in heaven, what the difference of the married or of widows from virgins. All which, as she had asked, the Angel explained to her in order. Soon Victoria, strengthened by the Angelic words in the love of Christ, returned home.
[10] [Victoria gives her goods to the poor, and burns with the love of the heavenly Bridegroom.] Whatever she had laid up in gold and silver and in precious garments, imitating Anatholia, she distributed to the poor, that she might deserve to be made the bride of that poor One, who, whereas He was rich, according to the Apostle became poor, that us, who were poor, He might make abounding in His riches. When Eugenius had perceived this, he quickly opened the whole matter, and discussed at great length what must be done in these matters. If they should betray them, they knew assuredly that, they being punished with the sentence of death, the treasury would seize their estates; and they themselves would be deprived, together with their betrothed, also of their marriages. So they found a counsel by which both those women, if they would not consent to them, being afflicted with tortures, should at last be punished with the destruction of death, and they themselves should not lose their goods d. By agreement therefore they go to Caesar; they demanded leave to conduct their betrothed to the country: which being granted, made eager, Eugenius conducts his betrothed Victoria into the Tribulan territory to his possession, Titus Aurelius conducts Anatholia into the suburbs of the city of Thora, and command them to stay in uncultivated and squalid and desert places, charging their servants to torment them with hunger and divers injuries, until they should bend their minds to their own pleasures. So Anatholia the virgin, set in exile for the love of Christ, lacking the solace of parents, friends, and all men, made an exile from her father's house, her estates, and all things which had come to her by maternal or paternal right, soothed her human unhappiness with the divine solace of love and the hope of heavenly joys.
ANNOTATIONS.
frequent visions of angels of this kind, which recur again in numbers 8 and 9, which nevertheless ought not on that sole ground to be suspect, provided sufficient authority of an ancient and approved writer be added.
CHAPTER II.
The Saint's deeds in exile; miracles; the judge's sentence upon her; the conversion of Audax and the martyrdom of both.
[11] By the impious bridegroom's ministers she was worn thin with hunger, yet she fed herself with the food of the heavenly word. Christ alone was her bread a, Punished with exile, she consoles herself with Christ; the unfailing food to her hunger, Christ the fount of life, the refreshing drink to her thirst; Christ was her homeland, Christ her parents; to His virgin Christ clung as an inseparable companion. Continually intent on prayers, she passed wakeful nights: the things which were thought to be inflicted upon her for misery and punishment, she reckoned to the glory of herself and of all who suffer for Christ. Meanwhile, by the providing clemency of God, an unclean spirit seized Anianus, son of Diodorus b, the consular of that same province, and cried out through his mouth with immense voices: Anatholia, thou dost burn me with thy prayers. But Diodorus, a most thoroughly pagan man, began to offer incense and to immolate victims to the demons, and sent his son round through various temples; who, while he was being sent through the shrines of the demons, came to the place where Anatholia the virgin of the Lord dwelt, day and night persisting in divine praises. But when the demon who vexed the boy beheld the virgin of God, falling before her feet, he began to cry out with voices stronger and more dreadful than usual: Thou art, he said, Anatholia, who dost burn me with the flames of thy prayers.
[12] To whom the blessed virgin said: I command thee in the name of my Lord Jesus Christ, she casts out the unclean spirit. unclean spirit, go out from this man: and at once the boy was freed from the demon. Returning therefore to his father unharmed, he related in what order he had been saved. And the parents rejoice for their son's safety, all the citizens congratulate Diodorus the consular, and the report of the virgin suddenly spread through the province. Diodorus came with his wife and sons and all his household, to render thanks to the virgin for his son's safety and bringing infinite gifts. But holy Anatholia, opening her mouth, taught them concerning the kingdom of God and the salvation of their souls: but the moneys which he had brought to offer her for his son's safety, she ordered to be distributed to the poor Christians, saying that nothing was necessary to her, to whom Christ the Lord would bestow both in this world what was enough, and in the age to come an eternal kingdom and perpetual life, which is troubled by no miseries, no hardships, no sorrows; to whom there would always be light, always joy and gladness, never to be ended, never subject to death, which He would give in heaven.
[13] She grows famous by miracles; Thou, she said, forsaking the demons, believe in this true and omnipotent God, and thou shalt be saved. So the fame of so great a miracle went out into the whole province, and the name of holy Anatholia being everywhere spread abroad both by men and by demons: there ran to her those laboring with various sicknesses, despaired of by physicians, and those who had lunatics or the possessed brought them to her. All whom she cured by her prayers in the name of Christ, and, exhorting them to believe in Christ, sent them away freed from their sicknesses. And so far did the report of her sanctity and miracles grow, that the fame reached even to Decius c. Hearing which, and being, as he was, a greedy persecutor of the Christian name, seized with excessive fury, he dispatched a certain man named Festianus d, a most impious man, to Thora, that he might compel the sacrilegious virgin Anatholia by tortures to sacrifice, and he decreed that if she refused to offer libations to the gods, she should be punished by the sword.
[14] Festianus therefore, coming to the city of Thora, commanded Anatholia to be presented to him, his officers [*] being sent; she is brought before Festianus, and interrogated by him whom, gazing at with grim eyes, Art thou, he said, Anatholia, who dost persuade men, the piety and religion of the gods being despised, to honor with divine worship some man I know not, slain by his own fellow-tribesmen? Anatholia answered: I am. And Festianus said: Sacrifice to the gods, whom manifest divinity has proved to be true gods. Anatholia answered: I do not sacrifice to hand-made idols, which, since they are the works of men, are utterly devoid of sense; and though they have ears, they hear not; though they have a mouth, they speak not; though they have nostrils, they smell not; though they have feet, they walk not. Festianus said: Do not in thy pride despise the precepts of the Augusti, to whose service the whole world is subject.
[15] The martyr's answers, Anatholia answered: To thy Augusti and to all who obey their command, eternal burning and punishment without end is owed, in which they shall be tormented forever for their crimes. Festianus said: Thou dost threaten perpetual torments and eternal fire to the august gods and to us, who obey their will; but unless thou more quickly appease the gods with sacrifices, and fulfill the commands of the Augusti, thou thyself shalt first experience punishments in thy body, and, though not forever, burning. Anatholia answered: Do e what thou wilt; for I will never sacrifice to demons: by no threats, by no tortures shall I be moved from my purpose. Then Festianus ordered her to be hung upon the rack and tortured, and while she was being tortured, they also applied burning lamps to her sides, and, mocking, cried out: Sacrifice to the gods according to the precepts of the Princes, and go freely wherever thou wilt.
[16] her fortitude in torments. But she said to them: Wretched and unhappy ones! I indeed for a moment of time feel the pain of the body, and forever shall I rejoice with my God. But you, unless you be converted to my Lord, shall burn together with your deities in everlasting fire f. And so Festianus, seeing so great constancy of the virgin, had her taken down from the rack, and calling to himself a certain Marsian g named Audax, said to him: Take this sorceress, who deceives men by her tricks, and, shutting her up in a sack, cause her to perish by the bites of serpents, and I will bestow on thee much money, and make thee the chief of my friends. The Marsian answered Festianus: If I put in but a single serpent to her, she will straightway perish: for the Marsi are wont to be most skilled and most powerful in sorceries of this kind. The most holy virgin is shut up with a serpent in a sack: the innocent one is punished by the example of parricides; but the just judge of all does not forsake the innocent.
[17] The whole night the virgin passed shut in the sack, persisting in the praises of God and in prayers, Shut up with a serpent in a sack, she is not harmed by it; giving herself to psalms and the accustomed vigils, and the serpent, made gentle, having piously laid aside its nature, did not touch the handmaid of its Creator. But when morning came, when the Marsian had invoked Mercury, to whom in his caduceus the power of life and death was said to have been granted by Jove, and Pallas, who bears the most savage Gorgon, the Marsian opened the sack, which the serpent, attacking at once from the neck, began to handle with dreadful bites. But the virgin of the Lord Anatholia, stretching out her hand, seized it, and said: In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, for love of whom I endure these things, go forth hence and go to thy place. Which the serpent hearing, without delay going forth at once from the sack, departed with pious gentleness. Then the Marsian cried out with a great voice, saying: Truly Christ is God and besides Him there is no other.
[18] Festianus, hearing this, was astounded, and, calling Audax to himself, by which miracle Audax is converted, said: What is this? Did I not hear from thy mouth, O Audax, when I handed her over to thee for this purpose, that thou shouldst kill by the bites of serpents her who refused to be converted to the deities of the gods? Thou, on the contrary, turning thyself also away from the god with piety, hast become a partner of her madness. Audax said: I know how great is the ferocity in serpents of this kind, how great the force in the venom, how great in the bites: and therefore I confess the name of Christ, and adore His majesty; since, though there be so great a force of death in the serpent, it could in no way harm by its own force the handmaid of Christ, and he who is wont by mere touch to extinguish in a moment men, or whatever animals he has bitten, did not presume to touch the handmaid of Christ, though shut up with her the whole night in the sack. Moreover, me, who am wont to soothe him with flesh and medicines whenever I wish, he would have extinguished with his bites, had she not come to my aid. To this Festianus: If she by more powerful sorceries restrained the serpent's wrath and by the same acts freed thee from its bites, oughtest thou for this cause to break forth into an outcry, and wickedly to proclaim the Name? Audax said: The gods whom thou namest are truly, as the holy Virgin asserts, demons: for when I, opening the sack, had invoked them, the gods whom I have served from infancy afforded me no help, but rather, because of their invocation, the serpent, indignant, seized me, and, as I have already said, unless the holy Virgin had restrained it, it would have ended together with my life all knowledge of the maleficent art in me.
[19] The true God, the true God is Christ, to whose service holy Anatholia being devoted, could not herself be harmed by the serpent, He confesses Christ, and did not permit it to harm others. Festianus said: Thou art mad, O Audax, and therefore dost pursue these things. Audax answered: Truly I have been mad hitherto, while I worshiped mute and deaf images; while I adored those who are not, as though they conferred existence on others, and invoked them for my help. But now I am truly wise, since I acknowledge the true God, and believe and confess. Festianus said: Look back, wretch, and deny this name of a wicked man, which the Princes persecute, and hasten to appease the gods with libations, that they may pardon thee for the words which thou hast hurled to their injury. Audax answered: Do what thou wilt, for I will never sacrifice to idols. Festianus said: At least have pity on thy sons and thy wife, and do not choose to condemn thyself by thine own will. Audax answered: Now I have no care for a wife, no anxiety weighs upon me. The true God, to whom I have once clung, I will not forsake.
[20] [with Anatholia he is committed to prison; and he himself is crowned with martyrdom;] Then Festianus, seeing that by no threats nor by any blandishments he could be torn from the love and confession of the name of Christ, ordered him to be committed to prison-custody, and had Anatholia kept with him in the same custody. And so, when both were held in the workhouses, day and night the blessed Virgin did not cease to exhort Audax concerning the kingdom of God and patience, and, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer for the name of Christ, they resounded thanks to God in hymns and praises with continual voices. Hearing which, Festianus promulgated a capital sentence against Audax, and thus, baptized in his own blood, he passed to the Lord. But many of the Thorans, seeing the signs and marvels which the Lord worked through the blessed virgin, forsook their idols and believed in Christ. Perceiving which, Festianus, fearing lest through her passion's
constancy, and the marvels which she did in the name of Christ, the greater part of the people, having forsaken the worship of images, should be converted to Christ, acting by threats and blandishments that she might offer incense to the demons, when he perceived that by no means could he bring the Virgin's mind to it, ordered that she should be struck with the sword in the place where she stood.
[21] [whom Anatholia also, tempted in vain with threats and blandishments, followed, and was buried by the Thorans.] But the executioner, coming and finding her standing, as she was praying, with hands outstretched, struck her with the sword on the right side, so that the left side also was pierced only by the point of the sword. In this order Anatholia, virgin of Christ and martyr, consummating the hardships and labors of this world, came to the joys of eternal life, which are to be consummated with no end, where, adorned with the fillets of martyrdom, associated to the holy bands of Martyrs and Virgins, and joined in heaven to the everlasting Bridegroom, whom she had sought with all desire, to whom she had panted with the utmost zeal on earth, she is glorified together with Him unto the ages of ages. But the Thoran citizens, seizing the body of the holy Martyr, laid it in the place which had been shown them by revelation, in which place Jesus does not cease to grant many benefits to His servants who ask through the merits of the most holy Virgin, to the praise and glory of His name. Now the blessed virgin and martyr of the Lord Jesus Christ Anatholia suffered on the seventh of the Ides of July, in the reign of Decius, Festianus presiding, and she was buried at Thora by faithful men who had believed through her.
[22] But after the courses of many years had rolled by from her passion, her body was translated together with that of the blessed martyr Audax h to the place which is called Subiaco, The translation of the body. distant from the city of Rome by forty miles, and was placed in the place where even now it rests, namely in that Cave in which Benedict, the man of the Lord, escaping naked from the shipwreck of the world, except for the monk Romanus, unknown to men, lay hidden three years. Whose merits and prayers commend us to God the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, that we who for our own deeds do not deserve it, may by their intercessions deserve to attain eternal life. Amen.
ANNOTATIONS.
* that is the apparitors.
FINDING
Of the sacred bodies of Audax and Anatholia.
Anatholia, Virgin and Martyr, at old Thora in the diocese of Rieti in Italy (S.)
Audax, Martyr, at old Thora in the diocese of Rieti in Italy (S.)
BHL Number: 0421
FROM A MANUSCRIPT.
[23] It is useful to human ignorance to accommodate doctrine and to praise marvelously the marvels of God, The bodies of the holy Martyrs, long buried under the earth, who in rude times renews ancient works, increasing Himself in the bosom of His bride, whom He bought with His precious blood. Wherefore He shows forth the various tokens of the deeds of the pious combatants a. For He is marvelous in His saints, and enduringly keeps all their bones, that not one of them be broken. For we have deemed it worthy to be recorded how the bodies of Anatholia the virgin and of the holy martyr Audax, which long lay hidden, were found. When the savage tempest of Decius had arisen, in the times of that most atrocious King, and he had ordered the aforesaid Martyrs to be slain, as is read in their acts, their holy bodies were left in the field, where they were buried by the faithful. But for many years they rested hidden in the same place, the heathen remaining in their idolatrous error. But at length, after peace was restored and the reproach of the cross was fully marked by all, the arbiter of all things willed to declare the precious bodies of the aforesaid Saints, which lay hidden in dark pits, that the perfect bones might rest in a more perfect place, the kindly faith now pressing on.
[24] At that time indeed Leo b presided as abbot over the first monastery of the blessed father Benedict, in the time of Leo, Abbot of Subiaco, which is called Subiaco, by the working of divine clemency, so that he might find the holy bodies in the valley of Thora; he took care to send out from among his own men a hunt c, who, when they had carried out the ordered hunting, came into the aforesaid valley. When therefore they had drawn near to the venerable place where the holy bodies rested, by divine command the dogs dared not direct their steps thither, and if any of the dogs approached thither, straightway madness entered into it, the canine sense being lacking. When this had been done rather often, the huntsmen being astonished, one announced it to the aforesaid Abbot, narrating in detail the deeds of this matter. And forthwith the Abbot came with the same huntsmen to the venerable place, ordering that his men should bring with them digging-tools. When therefore the venerable place was shown to the Abbot, he began to entreat God, whom nothing escapes, that He would deign to show him the treasure hidden from him. Little by little, meanwhile, they began to dig, and, their arms slackened by digging, they came to excessive labor, the earth being dug down to a deep foundation while they labored in vain.
[25] marvelously uncovered, But the Abbot, seeing such a work to be wholly without fruit, esteemed himself as it were mad, and repented that he had lightly set himself upon so great a journey. Straightway, he said to his companions; foolishly have we come out hither: but wisely let us return to our own places, without any means of finding it out. These things said, he suddenly mounted his horse and went back by his own way, his companions following. But not far as he went, a huge drowsiness seized him so heavily that he could in no way remain seated on the horse. Then he said to his men: Let me rest a little: for sleep greatly overtakes me. But they said, If it please thy greatness, Lord, this is not a useful resting-place: because, as thou seest, a great grove holds this place, lacking the frequenting of men. To whom he answered: I cannot use your counsels, but be ye watching; I will enjoy a little rest. As soon as he was set upon the ground, in his sleep an oracle was divinely spoken to him: Turn back, it said, Kyrie [*], and strive to fulfill the work which thou hast begun. For thy desire He will accomplish, who brought salvation to the whole world. As He revealed Himself, he awoke and arose. And the Abbot, returning to the begun work, made known to the rest what he alone had heard.
[26] The forces of the earth therefore being broken through [*], they found the precious treasure, the tombs being marked. But when they beheld the precious bones, they rendered vast thanks to the thundering King, who is mindful of His holy word, that the hairs of the head of the just shall not perish. The tombs of the Saints being opened, they took away the precious bones and laid them in the hide of a certain animal, and caught an untamed horse, which they honorably loaded with the aforesaid bones; which, forgetting its wonted wildness, peacefully and without any noise came with the holy burden along the whole way. But when they had come to the predestined place, namely the Cave, in which the kindly father Benedict happily, as thou more fully knowest, dwelt, the burden being laid down, the horse straightway expired, God foreseeing. For it was not fitting that he should any longer bear sinful flesh, who had once carried the most sacred bones.
[27] But honorably the relics of the holy martyr Audax d were brought into the altar proper to the sacred virgin Scholastica by the hands of the supreme Pontiff Benedict the Seventh, Pope. where they were laid up; But the bones of the virgin of Christ Anatholia were laid up near the aforesaid Cave in their own proper place, through which many benefits are bestowed on the faithful, the Lord working, unto the present day. Meanwhile this miracle was everywhere spread abroad, and the inhabitants of that land, namely of Thora, dwelling round about the place where the bones had first been buried, decreed to come to the already aforesaid Abbot, that of the sacred relics which he had taken away he might, for divine charity, grant them at least a little, so that they might consecrate a church in honor of the virgin Anatholia in the place whence they had been taken. To whom he answered: The thing which you ask seems small to you, but presents a great burden to our hearing: yet if you wish to soften our compliance, which has sounded rather hard to our ears, use the divine writings: for, they say, Give, and it shall be given to you. Our mind is pleased that this monastery should obtain a little of right in your regions e. But if you satisfy my eager wishes in this matter, although the thing you demand is difficult, yet we will grant the holy object of your petition, since otherwise you will go away from us empty.
[28] To whom the aforesaid inhabitants say: Without the consultation of the other inhabitants we can by no means establish this. And the Abbot to them: Consult therefore your fellow-dwellers: on what condition the relics of Anatholia were granted to the Thorans. who, if they give assent to our petition, we will fulfill your will, and perpetually you, both present and future, who shall be born of you, shall here obtain a prayer before the thundering King. And so the men, being converted, announce to the whole people whatever they had learned from the Abbot. But the whole people gratefully promised that they would do whatever the eager Abbot had demanded. And a legate being sent to the Abbot hastened to go, and took care to bring with him one of the shoulder-blades of holy Anatholia. At length, instruments being written, they took care to give in perpetuity to the monastery of Subiaco, by donation, the place where the holy bodies had rested with all its appurtenances, both those which were present and those which should come, the shoulder-blade which the Abbot had brought being restored to them. All these things were done with the consent of the Bishop, Anastasius by name, who then governed the church of Rieti,
ANNOTATIONS.
* that is dearest.
* that is the entrails, and dug out.