ON ST. EUGENIUS, BISHOP, AND HIS COMPANIONS
AT NOLI IN LIGURIA.
From the letters of John Stephen Fieschi, S.J.
CommentaryEugenius, Bishop, at Noli in Liguria (S.)
The Companions, at Noli in Liguria
BY THE AUTHOR J. B. S.
However freely we may confess that Philip Ferrarius was a most diligent investigator of the Saints of Italy, this we cannot dissimulate, that his attention was sometimes found wanting; of which matter this day furnishes us a most manifest example. On the day VII September, treating of St. Paragorius and his companions, martyrs of Noli, Passed over by Ferrarius, he expressly says that he himself saw the church of St. Paragorius outside the city of Noli not far from the walls; whence, unless I am greatly mistaken, it is plainly perceived that he even entered the city itself, and could so most easily have understood who was its chief patron, namely St. Eugenius the bishop, and that he is venerated on this XVI July; whereas meanwhile in his whole great Catalogue of the Saints of Italy, he makes not the least mention of him; so that you may not at all doubt that he left ears of grain here and there behind him, which would that others might busy themselves to collect, to profit us in their time. On this no little labor was long ago bestowed by our John Stephen Fieschi, deservedly praised in several places in this work, to whom also on this day we owe the aforesaid St. Eugenius the bishop, chief patron of the aforesaid city, wont to be solemnly celebrated on this day XVI July with his companions, as his letter, given to our Janning on V October 1694, will teach, from which we have whatever concerning that Saint could thus far be found.
[2] Into the affairs of Noli, and especially into the Bishops of that place, John Stephen Fieschi suggested to us, Ughelli, according to his design, studiously inquired, as he himself testifies Italia Sacra tome 4 from column 1398, but without the hoped-for fruit, since he was compelled to gather his own from elsewhere, when "no monuments of the church of Noli," he says, "could bring us, as we were writing, any light." He there describes the small city (Noli) near the sea on the Ligurian shore, situated toward the setting sun, of which for the rest Fieschi supplies sufficient notice. Ughelli further narrates on what occasion a very small town or village was raised to the dignity of a city, whence flowed the little verse, "The village deserved to be called a city, its name being changed." This makes to our purpose, that from the church of St. Paragorius outside the city, the episcopal chair was translated by Gregory XIII into the church of St. Peter (namely within the city), where "the bodies of the holy bishops Eugenius, Longinus, Parthaeus, and Parthenopaeus are kept with the highest honor." Of Parthaeus or Partheus and Parthenopaeus, not bishops, as I indeed think, but companions of St. Paragorius, it will be treated in its place, namely on the already cited VII September; here it is enough for us to have shown that St. Eugenius was not altogether unknown to Ughelli; the rest, which indeed could be known, receive now from the letters of Fieschi. Thus he writes:
[3] with those things which are known of him. At Noli in Liguria is celebrated the feast of St. Eugenius, bishop and confessor, chief Patron of this city, on the day XVI July, which nevertheless is not the day of his death (I sincerely relate what I have received), whose sacred body lies in the altar dedicated to the same Saint, in the cathedral church, with the relics of two companions, whose names, as is established from a certain Apostolic visitation of the year 1585, are Ennius and Euginius (perhaps Longinus). St. Eugenius is said to have preached the Gospel on the shores of Liguria, especially in the city of Savona and the castle of Vado. He died on an island, on which he often stayed, and which lies between Vado and Noli, distant two miles from each town. On it there is still seen a well of wondrous depth, which some years ago still flowed with sweet water. In the year 991 Bernard of Holy Church, bishop of Savona, built on that island, which was of his diocese, a notable church, and the following year a monastery, of which there still exist not small remains, where the monks of Lérins lived in the custody of the sacred relics. It was a most celebrated and most rich abbey up to the year 1239, in which Noli, from a town, was marked with the title of a city, and the said abbey was aggregated to the new episcopal see, the monks being dismissed to their ancient seats: and on that occasion the sacred relics were translated into this city. All these things are had both from tradition and from some manuscripts, extracted, as is reported, from the annals of Savona. Those annals we have not seen, but the things which Ughelli brings forward confirm at length the matter here indicated in passing by Fieschi, the diploma also of Pope Innocent IV being adduced, by which he approved the erection of the episcopate made by Gregory IX, and augmented the episcopal mensa with the monastery of St. Eugenius, which he perpetually disjoined from the church of Brumiacum. See there more things collected accurately enough by Ughelli; it is enough for us here to have shown in passing that the memory of St. Eugenius in that monastery was ancient, although antiquity has begrudged us the series of his deeds. Behold now the rest of the words of Fieschi: There are also seen at Noli paintings, almost consumed by age, in which St. Eugenius is beheld in a certain skiff, betaking himself from the said island to the neighboring shores of Liguria, to preach the word of God.