Vitalianus

ON ST. VITALIANUS, BISHOP AND CONFESSOR

OF CAPUA AND CATANZARO IN ITALY.

Perhaps the VII century.

PRELIMINARY COMMENTARY.

Vitalianus, Bishop and Confessor, of Capua and Catanzaro in Italy (S.)

BY THE AUTHOR J. B. S.

§ I. Cult and Acts.

Among the Saints whom we have often said were first inserted into the Roman Martyrology by Baronius, is altogether to be numbered on this day St. Vitalianus, bishop of Capua of uncertain time, received from the Breviary of that church, or rather its Calendar, Although he is somewhere marked at Benevento, where, by the testimony of Michael the Monk, in the Capuan Sanctuary it is thus referred: "Of Vitalianus, bishop and confessor of Capua, double." Baronius reads: "At Capua, of St. Vitalianus, bishop and confessor"; adducing nothing in the notes except the aforesaid Capuan Breviary. Nor does any other memory of the Saint, otherwise wholly unknown to any but the Capuans, exist in any sacred Fasti or Martyrologies: for that which is marked among the Usuardine auctaria from a Vatican codex written in the Lombard character, and marked with the number 5949, makes us indeed more certain of some more ancient cult, but leaves us almost doubtful whether in both places the discourse is of the same Saint and he a bishop of Capua, since Benevento is expressly expressed, no mention being made of Capua. The words of that codex are: "At Benevento, the birthday of St. Vitalianus, bishop and confessor," where you see, from the nature of the matter and the obvious acceptation, that the Saint himself is rather to be ascribed to Benevento than to Capua.

[2] But indeed on that side we are freed from an odious investigation, since the men of Benevento agree the men of Benevento confess he is not theirs, that St. Vitalianus, although once deposited among them, is not theirs, but a bishop of Capua: for as Marius Vipera, archdeacon of Benevento, the illustrator of the Saints of that city, once wrote to Vespasian, the Vicar of Capua, there is preserved at Benevento in the monastery of St. Victorinus a Lombard codex, having these words: "The blessed father John, prelate of Benevento, translated the body of St. Vitalianus, bishop of Capua, from the collapsing church of Monte Vergine to Benevento, and placed it in the church of blessed Mary the Virgin with many other Saints"; which Michael the Monk testifies that he received from the aforesaid Vespasian, in his Capuan Sanctuary page 41, so that we are now secure enough that it is the same St. Vitalianus who at Capua, as bishop of that city, is venerated on this day with a double Office; but at Benevento, as once there deposited, is reviewed by the cited Martyrology: would that it could be rendered equally clear who that blessed John, prelate of Benevento, was, who translated the body of St. Vitalianus the bishop from Monte Vergine to Benevento, whence the age of our Saint might to some extent be uncovered.

[3] Thus there the praised Monk subjoins: "For the rest, that blessed John, as the monuments of Benevento have it, uncertain of the time when he was translated to them. succeeded St. Barbatus, which St. Barbatus died at the beginning of the year 682, but the blessed John himself died in the year 716. Hence it must be asserted that St. Vitalianus either immediately preceded or immediately succeeded St. Decorosus, bishop of Capua, who was contemporary with St. Barbatus. Hence also we gather that the body of St. Vitalianus, which by Pope Calixtus, making his journey this way, is said to have been translated from Benevento to Catanzaro, was indeed translated thither in the year 1120, in which year namely Calixtus was at Benevento." Here the writer of the Sanctuary connects many things in few, which, if they are true, the whole posthumous history of St. Vitalianus, adorned by Paolo Regio, bishop of Vico Equense, in his De Sanctis Neapolitanis part 2, must fall to ruin, where through three chapters he fully describes those things which are supposed to have happened after the burial of St. Vitalianus: nor does the most widely spread translation of the sacred body to Catanzaro or Catacium, a city of Calabria, itself sufficiently stand, as in the following paragraph it will be more laboriously discussed; here the Capuan matters must first be handled by us.

[4] No less doubtful is his Legend, I call Capuan those things which at Capua or about Capua, in life and after death, in reference to the Saint's Acts and cult, were done; in which the first thing that occurs to be observed is that the Legend in the Breviary, in the praised Monk divided into nine shorter lessons, is somewhat obscure, endued with plainly no historical marks, from which one might arrive even at the age alone of St. Vitalianus, so that if the name of Capua were absent, the whole history could conveniently be referred to almost any other cities of the kingdom of Naples, so that you may easily understand that it was written many centuries after the Saint's death, his memory being almost obliterated or at least greatly obscured, so that perhaps some things have been fitted to it, which concerning some bishop, who suffered calumnies and injuries from his own people, were more confusedly narrated; whence one might justly suspect that many things were mixed together, which now it is not easy to distinguish accurately enough, especially as the praised Paolo Regio edited those Acts, in nine great chapters through XXX pages printed in quarto form, namely from page 280 to 311, pursuing them with a very long oration, which are better by Ferrarius, and the present

Capuan Office contained in about a single page.

[5] nor do they sufficiently stand, Better, I say, or at least less badly—for they cannot altogether please—are the things which there, and a little more fully in the aforesaid Michael the Monk, whose nine Lessons will be described below, are commemorated, more compendiously contracted in the present Office of Capua and Catanzaro. I have that one at hand, printed at Naples by Novello de Bonis in the year 1669, from which I subjoin here three Lessons as a specimen. Lesson IV. Vitalianus, born at Capua, conspicuous from infancy for innocence of morals and sanctity of life, merited by the consent of all the episcopal throne of that city. Having attained which dignity, he led a life without complaint in all chastity and humility even to old age: for in feeding widows and orphans, consoling the afflicted, and caring for the sick, and finally in aiding both souls and bodies with all help, he applied himself so happily and exactly that he proved himself a true father of his country. It is clear enough, I think, that these things are all vague and common, and recallable to any century whatever. Nor is that a wonder; for where the Saint's age is unknown, it is not indeed easy to render an exact account of his deeds: and if he led a life in all chastity even to old age in the episcopate, not aptly enough are applied to him the things which the following lesson of this kind has:

[6] Lesson V. But when the enemy of the human race was hostile to his sanctity, which in the present Capuan Office, he stirred up wicked men who tried to fasten upon the innocent old man the crime of unchastity by this contrived calumny. They secretly cast women's garments into his chamber, his own being withdrawn; and when after his custom he rose for the matins Office, he took the garments which he found, and, clad in these, going to the church, he was held up to mockery. For the most abandoned impostors straightway cried out that he who preached chastity to others consorted with women, so that he did not even fear to wear their garments. Seized therefore by the impious, when he said that he ought to have suffered these things from others rather than from his sons, sewn up in a sack, he was cast into the sea; yet divine providence preserving him, he came safe to the Roman port. Here the wicked men are called accusers; in Regio they are lascivious young men, in James Jordanus in the Chronicle of Monte Vergine book 1, chapter 16 wicked priests; they do not cohere: nor does the whole accusation better square with a man weighed down by old age. Add, that it is a gross stratagem, the substitution of the garments, which the old man would easily have noticed, at least if he be supposed to have been awake. But at what season those impostors are said to have been able to proceed so far as to sew up the Bishop in a sack, and cast him into the sea, as here it is had, or into the river Liris (Garigliano). Further, the subsequent prodigy is painted in various colors by Regio.

[7] Lesson VI. So great a crime was straightway avenged by a punishment divinely inflicted; however few things are recorded of him. for so great a drought and sterility of the earth began to be in the territory of Capua that no crop or herb was there produced. But the citizens, understanding that this deservedly befell them for the crime committed against the Bishop, becoming penitent, having sought and found him, pray that, returned to his country, he would grant pardon to those who had sinned against him, which being obtained, and the holy Prelate restored to his former see, copious rains straightway poured forth. But he, foreseeing the end of his life to approach, withdrew to the mountain which was called Virgil's, and there, a church being built to the Blessed Virgin, a little after fell asleep in the Lord on the XVII Kalends of August, and there deposited shone with many miracles. The punishment inflicted on all for the crime of a few, though I would not deny it, I would indeed wish that it stood on sufficiently firm faith. The withdrawal to the Mount of Virgil I easily admit; not likewise that which others add, that from a sacred chapel there dedicated by the Saint to the Virgin Mother of God, it drew the name of Monte Vergine, which was given many centuries after. Not content with these, Regio records other withdrawals of the Saint, into which he betook himself before he ascended the aforesaid mountain. Let us confess that to this history, not certain in every respect, great ornament has accrued. This cannot be called into doubt, that St. Vitalianus was long ago venerated at Capua, and that, as the Monk notes page 521, in the diocese of Calvi there existed his church, in the Caserta one also, and in the Caiazzo one, one in the place Baluxiano, and another in Campora longa.

[8] It is enough for us that certain indications of cult are found: Of the cult therefore, to say it once for all, there is altogether no doubt; concerning the various circumstances of the whole history I had transmitted some doubts to the distinguished man Domenico de Giorgio, a most friendly as well as most zealous promoter of the Saints' glory, and to other learned men, to be proposed; to which among others sincerely and candidly answers the excellent and most learned Canon Theologian of the church of Capua, Alessio Simmaco Mazzocchi, now intent on the history of ancient Capua, plainly feeling with me in those things which throughout this whole Commentary I had undertaken to weigh by the historical standard: but suggesting besides this, which pertains to the disquisition of the following paragraph, that there was found somewhere an old Manuscript, in which it is noted that the sacred body of St. Vitalianus was given by Pope Calixtus to William, duke of Apulia, who died in the year 1127, so that thus we may easily understand it to have come to Catanzaro about those times: unless there prevail another Italian paper, received from Monte Vergine in the year 1668, in which it is asserted that much earlier, namely in the year 970, the Emperor Otto received it from Benevento, while, about to war down the Greeks, he was hastening into Calabria. Let these things said in passing suffice, that we may more clearly perceive how, as the things which pertain to St. Vitalianus' cult are certain, so those which surround his age, finding, and translation are ambiguous, as will soon be explained a little more fully.

[9] for the things which certain Latin Acts narrate, Not to be passed over in silence here is a certain Latin manuscript Legend, which exists among us, received I know not whence, under the title, The Life of the Divine Vitalianus, bishop of Capua, which you would much more rightly call an ample and inflated panegyric oration, in which, with several oratorical figures diffused every way, almost the same things are described which we have already more briefly comprised, with new doubts added, and two miracles at the end, with a brief history of the Catanzaro translation, concerning which it must shortly be treated more fully. But that it is a mere oration, delivered perhaps somewhere before an assembly, may be gathered from this, that it is concluded with an epilogue or peroration of this kind: "From this glory of the deeds of Vitalianus, each one of you, most dear brothers, ought to be borne by zeal to contemplate divine things," etc. That writing, such as it is, we did not judge to merit the light, because it contains nothing at all worthy of the reader's attention, being, for the most part, by mere verbosity different from the already given, and to be given below, more prolix lessons of the Monk; which we thought a little more tolerable, certainly liable to sufficient difficulties, so that several were not to be summoned from such a medley, no more than from Paolo Regio or James Jordanus, whose names, in reference to the Life of St. Vitalianus, it is enough to have indicated.

[10] And thus far concerning the Saint's Acts and cult, as here it is restricted to the Capuans and the surrounding places; and the circumstances of the translation are very doubtful. another disquisition, sufficiently ambiguous, is furnished us by the men of Catanzaro in Calabria, to whom they would have the body of St. Vitalianus translated by Pope Calixtus II, some with the praised Michael the Monk, in the said Sanctuary, in the year 1120, others with the most illustrious Regio, from an instrument to be produced below, in the year 1122, in which very year namely the Supreme Pontiff set out into Calabria, to settle, as they say, the discords between William, whom they call duke of Italy, and Roger, count of Sicily, his cousin, when also he consecrated the church of Catanzaro, the year before, 1121, the episcopal see of Tres Tabernae having been translated to Catanzaro, as the men of Catanzaro think they prove by splendid monuments produced, but which long ago were overthrown by Ughelli, Italia Sacra tome 9 from column 483. And of these indeed let it be enough to have made mention in passing; hither pertains most nearly the history of the finding of the sacred body on the Mount of Virgil, and of its translation first to Benevento, then to Catanzaro, clothed with circumstances of various kinds, not carelessly to be examined: then indeed the more recent revelation and visitation of the relics of St. Vitalianus instituted by Nicholas Horatio, bishop of that city, in the year 1583, concerning which it must now be disputed in the second paragraph.

§ II. The finding of the sacred body, its translation, and the last visitation at Catacium or Catanzaro in the year 1583.

Hither leads us the celebrated veneration of St. Vitalianus at Catacium or Catanzaro in Calabria, where he is said to be venerated as chief patron. Description of Catacium in Calabria, But Catanzaro is, as Ughelli describes it tome 9, column 483, "a small and inland city of Calabria, which, between the boundary of Crotone and Locri, and the river Alli, situated in a high and salubrious place, and fortified by nature and by art, at the sixth mile from the Ionian sea, moreover by the temperateness of the air, and the pleasantness of its situation, has grown, so that at this time it is numbered among the chief cities of Calabria. That it was an ancient colony of the Greeks Solinus writes, and that it became ample from the ruins of Magna Graecia made by the Saracens, and thence was called Catanzarium from the very summit of the mountain where it is situated, 'Catazorios' in Greek, in Latin is interpreted 'peak' and 'summit' (understand from κατά and ὄρος, 'above the mountain,' a sigma or zeta being interposed for a smoother pronunciation). Others would have it that, after Calabria was devastated by the Moors, it was founded by Flagitius, general of the forces of Nicephorus, Emperor of Constantinople, on the plain of three mountains, and called Catanzanum from a Greek word which signifies 'I sit' (at least from the sufficiently near affinity from the verb καθίζω), because these, the place for founding the city being chosen, sat down here." More things may be seen there.

[12] Behold the place to which, as we were just saying, the body of St. Vitalianus was translated from the Mount of Virgil, to which the Saint's body was translated by Calixtus II, or Virgiliacum (today Vergine) or Benevento, which cannot be sufficiently distinguished, but certainly by Pope Calixtus II, the disquisition of which matter must here be repeated a little higher. The Lessons just related and others a little longer leave Vitalianus on the said mountain, nor produce the Vitalianian history further; but the praised bishop of Vico Equense, Regio, extends it far more fully, whose polished Italian oration we did not think it worth the trouble here to render into Latin, since its office can be conveniently supplied by the briefer compend of the Monk page 41, by which he confesses that he contracted the narrative of Regio in this manner: "Vitalianus being dead, daily was working greater miracles, and therefore his sepulcher was frequented with the highest veneration; but when the impious Saracens had occupied Campania and the rest of the provinces, the towns being laid waste, and the peoples dispersed, not only the veneration of the sepulcher, but even the notice of the sepulcher utterly fell away." Whence Regio received these things, neither does he himself distinctly indicate, nor have I thus far been able to gather from elsewhere; for the rest, these things had to be so arranged, that a way might be conveniently paved to the following history. Thus from him the Monk proceeds:

[13] After many years certain shepherds playing at discus,

long before found by shepherds playing at discus: instead of a discus, used a great stone, which, departing, they left thrown down. Then a few days after, again and again they observed that stone removed from the place into which, departing in the evening, they had cast it back, and had left thrown down. They marvel, they inquire among themselves concerning the cause; and behold each one is admonished in dreams by St. Vitalianus that it was the place of his sepulcher, in which so often they had found the discus. The matter being brought to the bishop of the place, the earth is dug up again, the sepulcher is found, the body is received with immense joy, and at last translated into the monastery of Monte Vergine. Pope Calixtus II, when he made his journey this way, wished to venerate the body of St. Vitalianus, and, when he was staying at Catanzaro in Calabria, ordered it to be carried thither, and deposited it in the church which he consecrated in that city, and there also in this age it is venerated with the highest celebrity and veneration. Thus far (subjoins the Monk) from the Life written in Italian by the bishop of Vico Equense, which he seems to have embraced entire, yet not so but that he openly contradicts himself, when from Marius Vipera he hands down that the sacred body was translated to Benevento, and indeed by the blessed John, prelate, and thence at last had to be translated to Catanzaro in the year 1120, as from his words you have above at number 2.

[14] all which rest on very recent authority. The more attentively I unroll, weigh, and discuss all these things, the more, I candidly confess, do they appear entangled and as it were studiously wrapped up, no solid vestige anywhere occurring where you may safely and certainly fix your foot. The history of the sacred building erected by St. Vitalianus, and of its and the sepulcher's overthrow by the Saracens, its plainly miraculous finding by shepherds playing at discus; again the building of a new church on the aforesaid mountain, and the cult of the sacred body there down to the monastery founded there by St. William, and to the times of Pope Calixtus II; finally the last transportation of the same thence into Calabria by the Pontiff himself, or by his order, seem to rest on the authority of Regio alone, writing toward the end of the XVI century; besides those things which from the instrument of Nicholas Horatio, bishop of Catanzaro, to be given below, I could to some extent gather; although the instrument itself also, in that part where it reviews the translation and its time, rests on no greater faith than the rest. Of the found relics of St. Vitalianus it indeed gives undoubted faith; but of the time when that body was brought to Catacium, and of the identity with St. Vitalianus, bishop of Capua, all things are not equally clear, as from a brief deduction of the matter I shall make you understand more clearly.

[15] Nor is anything established concerning the Saint's age, As from truth truth follows, so that from doubt only doubtful things can flow, is confessed. First of all therefore, it is not established at what time St. Vitalianus truly lived, what he did, or in what year he died; nor is it any better known how long his body remained buried on the Mount of Virgil. We have heard the men of Benevento asserting the body translated by the blessed John, bishop of Benevento, which John the Monk says died in the year 716, so that before that time St. Vitalianus was deposited at Benevento; which if it is true, the whole Regian narrative of the Saracens and the playing shepherds, and of the finding through them, plainly falls to ruin. But we do not undertake to defend that chronotaxis of the Monk, since it seems ridiculous that the relics of a Saint deceased not long before, as they would have it, should be translated from a collapsing church which he himself had built, contrary to what a little before we saw the same Monk relating from Regio. Whence also the praised James Jordanus impugns him from page 193, candidly and truly first professing that there occurs among the writers a very great diversity concerning the time when, and the place to which, the relics of St. Vitalianus were found and translated. But that is not at all new to us, since we detect it everywhere in those writers who, disputing about an uncertain matter, most freely fabricate systems and hypotheses, into which they imagine that the deeds can be interwoven, little solicitous about prefixing a solid foundation.

[16] Nor does Jordanus himself much depart from that method, nor concerning the Benevento translation, who, the opinion of the Monk being impugned at length, more laboriously inquires which, among several Johns, archbishops of Benevento, that one was who translated the body of St. Vitalianus. And first indeed he proves well enough that none of that name toward the end of the VII century or the beginning of the VIII held the see of Benevento; but that he should not ascribe that matter to John II, who flourished about the year 755, this seems to stand in his way, that he undertook to save the circumstances described by Regio, concerning the depopulation of the Saracens, and the miraculous finding through playing shepherds, etc., about which the Monk seems not to have labored so solicitously. More urgently for the other John, namely of that name the fifth, bishop in order the XLVIII, he brings an argument from the chronology of Vipera, adopted also by Ughelli, tome 8, column 79, in which for the middle of the X century these things are read: "At this same season the body of St. Vitalianus, bishop of Capua, was translated by our bishop John from the collapsing church of Monte Virgiliaco to Benevento, and honorably placed in the church of holy Mary the Virgin, which is today the cathedral"; from the same Benevento library, in the manuscript Legend of the Saints part 1, page 176.

[17] If here Jordanus had stopped, he would bear some deserved praise, or into the church of Monte Vergine, but after he deservedly judged these things to be probable page 195, terrified in some way by the authority of the Regian Legend, which mixes many things concerning the oratory of St. Vitalianus destroyed by the Saracens (at what time they came thither, uncertain), and concerning the Saint's memory in that manner utterly lost, he torments himself vehemently to find sufficient time between the Saracen incursions and the Benevento translation just mentioned, in which the memory of St. Vitalianus could be said to have perished, so that on that account he judges the finding of the sacred body must be removed to at least another century. There come also destructive arguments, the first of the Monk, who, adopting various things and contradicting himself, would have the found body translated into the monastery of Monte Vergine, first begun to be built in the XII century, the other of the praised Paolo Regio, roundly asserting that Pope Calixtus II, passing that way in the year 1119, translated that very body of St. Vitalianus from the aforesaid monastery to Catanzaro in Calabria, or, after he had arrived there, ordered it to be brought to himself: which nevertheless are all far more doubtful and uncertain than the Benevento translation expressed in the Chronicle of Vipera and elsewhere, confirmed by an old and certain monument, namely the memory in the ancient Florentine Usuardine codex cited above at number 1, which to me certainly is of more value than all those things which have been disputed by Regio, the Monk, Vipera, Jordanus, and others.

[18] You have the arguments of Jordanus—shall I say, or the scruples—as well as the foundations on which they rest, or at last that Calixtus II ever saw Catacium, wavering, from which nevertheless, and from other suppositions of that kind fetched from afar, he sets about to determine the age, at least the death of the Saint, with no greater profit. To say it in a word, after a long oration he at last comes to this, that he accommodates himself to the opinion of Regio, at last page 197 refuting other fabrications of I know not what more recent writer, which are not even worthy of mention. I would indeed wish, and all sensible men will wish with me, that he had taken a little greater pains in investigating the true epoch of the Catanzaro translation, so roundly and confidently ascribed to Pope Calixtus II, in which matter this first had to be sought and proved, that that Pontiff was ever in Calabria or saw the city of Catanzaro with his own eyes. Hear what Ughelli feels, tome cited above column 484, on occasion of the pretended consecration of the church, made by the same Calixtus, thus writing: "This they would have Pope Calixtus II to have consecrated in the year 1122, on the V Kalends of January: but it seems gratuitously asserted: since from the Acts of Calixtus in Baronius and others it cannot be gathered that Calixtus ever went to Calabria: as I think can be evidently demonstrated; whatever those writers, whom we have already abundantly praised, thrust upon us to nausea." Let the rest be seen, long ago received among the men of Catanzaro as undoubted, which Ughelli there rightly argues to be supposititious, if he does not altogether prove it.

[19] as Ughelli long ago showed. And he certainly proves it, as long as it is not shown from elsewhere that Calixtus II went even to Catacium, of which journey neither the cause thus far, nor the verisimilitude, has been adduced from elsewhere than from those very monuments which bear the most open vestiges of novelty. Someone calls in as a support Pandulf, Falco, the Ostian, and Peter the Deacon; but from these no one has proved that Calixtus, whether in the first Benevento journey of the year 1120, or in the second, of the year 1121 (concerning which see Antonio Pagi disputing in his Critica, and Franciscus in the Breviarium), advanced beyond Salerno. But whereas from the diploma of Calixtus in Ughelli column 501 the men of Catanzaro think they demonstrate this; if they will hear me, they will not trust that instrument. It is said to be "Given at Catanzaro … on the V Kalends of January, Indiction XV, in the year of the Lord's Incarnation 1122, but in the fourth year of the pontificate of the Lord Pope Calixtus II." There all the chronological marks are false: for on the V Kalends of January, or XXVIII December, when the Pontiff could have been in the kingdom of Naples, the year 1121 was still running, and the Indiction XIV: nor indeed was it the fourth year of his pontificate but the second from the I February of the year 1119; not to examine the rest which Ughelli shows deservedly suspect. But if they would have the pretended consecration of the church to have happened in the following year, 1122, then certainly they will be convicted of a more manifest falsity, since it is more than evidently established that at that time Calixtus was far from Calabria.

[20] But whoever was the author of the translation, From wherever meanwhile, or at whatever time at last the precious remains of St. Vitalianus came to Catanzaro, this is certain from the authentic instrument, already more than once alleged and to be produced below, that the body of some St. Vitalianus in the year 1583, Nicholas Horatio, then bishop of Catanzaro, presiding, was found, which, as I would not deny to have been the sacred remains of that bishop of Capua, of whom we treat, so indeed I am compelled ingenuously to confess that concerning the identity of the two it is not yet sufficiently established to me; for although in the often-mentioned instrument number 3 it is expressly asserted that on the front or outermost marble of the little altar in which several bodies of Saints were enclosed, these words were read, "The body of St. Vitalianus, archbishop of Capua," these manifestly betray a more recent writing, from which the same at number 2 would be had, that the relics of some St. Irenaeus (of which homonyms there are several) were of none other than St. Irenaeus, archbishop of Lyon, and indeed one of the LXXII disciples of Christ, namely who prolonged his life even to the times of the Emperor Severus, and whose finding Ferrarius records in the general Catalogue XXII June: of all which not even a shadow appears in the Acts of St. Irenaeus of Lyon illustrated at XXVIII June. It is not necessary to add more, that anyone may most easily understand that of a more recent

fabrication all these things are, carved too freely from the opinion of the vulgar, and are better to be softened from the more ancient inscriptions.

[21] Much simpler are, and so also far more probable, the body of St. Vitalianus was found at Catacium in the year 1583. nay true, unless I am mistaken, the inscriptions found in the ancient coffins, and carved on several plates at number 7 in this manner: "The body of St. Vitalianus," as also at number 8, "The relics of St. Irenaeus"; whence it most plainly appears that of Capua or of Lyon there was no thought, when the relics of each Saint were deposited in their first coffins; as neither then did it occur to anyone to believe Fortunatus to have been bishop of Todi, of which name there are nearly innumerable Saints. Those skilled in these matters see that material for more than one dissertation is hence supplied, which thus far it has not seemed good to discuss more scrupulously: these things have been disquired by me solely for understanding and illustrating the truth, nor are they, I think, to be taken in another sense either by the men of Capua or by those of Catanzaro; no more than by the men of Osimo in Picenum, who record the finding of the body of the same St. Vitalianus made among them on XVI June; in Ferrarius on that day in the general Catalogue. To me certainly it is a matter of indifference whether at Capua, Benevento, Osimo, or Catanzaro rest the relics of St. Vitalianus, bishop of Capua; let the last venerate them, as they have venerated them thus far; but let them permit us, according to our standard, to discern doubtful things from certain, false from true, and let them learn that for historical truth not panegyric orations but firm and solid weights of authority are required. Now let the lessons of the Monk follow, to which we shall subjoin the instrument of the finding or visitation: but at last, by way of an appendix, will be added a more recent testimony of the whole Chapter of Catanzaro, sent to Bolland by Silvester Aiossa, concerning the manna formerly gushing from the tomb of St. Vitalianus, as there will be seen more fully. Behold the text of the Monk.

THE ACTS

From the Lessons of Michael the Monk in the Capuan Sanctuary, from page 36.

Vitalianus, Bishop and Confessor, of Capua and Catacium in Italy (S.)

FROM MANUSCRIPTS.

The Roman Martyrology on the XVII Kalends of August: At Capua, of St. Vitalianus the bishop. The Breviary in the Calendar; Born at Capua and there bishop, XVII Kalends, of Vitalianus, bishop and confessor of Capua, double, and in the Office; On St. Vitalianus, bishop and confessor. Lesson I. Therefore holy Vitalianus, born and nourished of the city of Capua, when he was strong in good morals, by the providence of God was ordained bishop in the same city. Living in chastity and simplicity, he bestowed alms without ceasing, as he could, on the poor: he was an assiduous nourisher and consoler of widows and orphans: whoever had come to him sad, returned glad; who sick, in the virtue of God and by his merits was healed: fair in aspect, illustrious in mind.

[2] Lesson II. Upright in all things; no one ever could find him in any crime, adorned with very many virtues, or hatred, or wrath, or detraction: but in all things illustrious, and modest, humble and meek, and simple in all things: and so he lived to himself in this world, that he lived in all things, spurning none, hurting none, despising none; he despised insults, he shunned hatred. Who when for all the days of his life from his youth he so lived, the envious devil, who never failed the human race in adversities, and who in his hidden places perpetrated many things, and the Lord always subjected him in all things to His servant; yet openly brought in his satellites against him thus.

[3] he displeases wicked men, Lesson III. When he was seventy years old, that the Lord might find him proved to Himself, as gold by fire, certain malignant men, enviously devising false testimony against him, say: Let us take counsel, perhaps we may depose him from the episcopate and cast him out of our borders, and one of us may receive this honor. This iniquitous counsel being entered upon, the liars accused him of having committed fornication with harlots; many were gathered together, consenting to this evil, and money being given, on a certain night certain of them secretly entering his chamber, taking away the garments with the shoes with which the holy Man was wont to be clad, placed there women's garments, and likewise shoes.

[4] who substitute women's garments; Lesson IV. He, as he was wont, when at the hour of waking he rose, simple as he was, and upright in all things, in the solicitude of prayer, put on the garment which he found, and, shod with the woman's shoes, went to prayer: the prophetic word speaking; Our years shall be considered as a spider, the days of our years are in them seventy years; but if in the powers eighty years, and most of them labor and sorrow. But the matutinal hour being applied, as is the custom, the people and clergy being gathered, celebrated the Office.

[5] clad in which, appearing, Lesson V. Which being completed, and the day dawning, as they were wont, all sat down before the doors of the Capuan Bishop: but those evil betrayers, like Judas, and garrulous dogs, through their rapid mouths resounded such perverse words: Hear, O peoples, a crime so most wicked, which this our iniquitous Bishop works daily: for to us he preaches chastity, but he himself commits fornication with harlots: he preaches humility, he raises himself into pride: he says he hates women, and day and night stays with them, eats and drinks: for if you do not believe us, behold with your eyes, and believe the works, with what shoes and garments he is clad.

[6] he suffers calumny and deserts the city. Lesson VI. Hearing this, the man of the Lord Vitalianus groaned; comforted however in the Lord, silence being made, he said to them: Hear, sons: you say truly, that I am a sinner, and have done many evils to my God! Whence also you have brought this upon me: yet this I ought to have suffered from others, not from you, who are sons and heirs of the Church: and looking to heaven he said: Thou, God, who governest heaven and earth with thy right hand, who searchest the reins and hearts, and knowest all things before they come to pass, destroy this false speech: and saying farewell, he departed.

[7] Cast into the sea, he is preserved: Lesson VII. But those liers-in-wait, as we have heard from faithful, God-fearing men, went after him, and, seizing him, put him in a hide and, sewing him up, cast him into the sea. But as he rowed, by the providence of God, he came into the Roman port sound and whole. From that day also, until six months and twenty days were completed, from which the holy man was cast out thence, it did not rain there, and so great a sterility came upon them that no crop or herb was there produced.

[8] but the punished Capuans bring him back; Lesson VIII. When therefore for so long a time in that city, or in its regions, it did not rain, they knew that on account of the Man of God these things had come upon them. Greatly saddened, and vehemently contrite, they inquired where the Man of God was, and prostrate at his feet, they asked pardon. To these things the most holy man of God Vitalianus, as he was pious and merciful, did not render them evil for evil, but as he saw them repent with their whole heart, gave thanks to God, who consoles His Saints in magnificence, and corrects the evil, that they may be converted to good; and rising he went with them. And when he had come to the city, by his prayer rain came upon the earth.

[9] who, withdrawing to a mountain, holily dies. Lesson IX. Then by revelation the Lord deigned to show him the place where now the time of his life would fulfill its end, and he would receive the reward which through many years he had wrought. Rising thence, he came into the mountain which is commonly called by the inhabitants Virgil's, where it had been revealed to him by the Lord, in which, a little time being applied, he built a church of the holy Mother of God Mary; in which place he rested in peace on the XVII Kalends of August.

ANNOTATION.

The barbarous words which here occur, such as "tulentes" (taking away) and others of that kind, are easily understood. It was not necessary to describe the notes of the Monk, since the chief points have been discussed in the Commentary.

Concerning the finding of the relics of St. Vitalianus and other Saints.

We Nicholas Horatius, Doctor of Both Laws, of Bologna, by the grace of God and of the Apostolic See bishop of Catacium, to all and each who shall inspect, While the church of Catacium is being repaired, see, read, and likewise hear these present letters. We make known, and in the word of truth attest, that when for the repair of our church of Catacium, which on account of its age seemed to threaten ruin on every side, it was necessary to rebuild a certain wall of the greater nave of the church, on that part in which the sacristy is placed, and dividing the said sacristy from the church itself: which wall indeed on days past in the time of Lent, and especially on the day of Saturday before Passion Sunday, which was the XXVI of the month of March of the present year 1583; while we, together with the greater part of the clergy and the excellent lord Girolamo Pistoia, syndic of this faithful city, and the magnificent John Baptist Manarino, sworn master of the said city, and a very great throng of people, both men and women, were in the church to hear the word from the preacher, the Reverend Father Brother Girolamo of Castello of the Order of Capuchins, who had been chosen preacher in the said church this year, on a sudden for the greater part fell down, and had hurt no one, which was effected by the very great grace and miracle of God almighty.

[2] And when the greater part of the foundation of the said wall was already laid, various relics are found, and for its perfection it was necessary to destroy a certain chapel dedicated to St. Vitalianus, protector and patron of this city, which itself also, on account of the ruin of the said wall, had been devastated and broken, and since the sacred thing could not be performed in it before the chapel itself was destroyed, we ordered the altar which was in the said chapel to be removed, lest, while the chapel itself was devastated, the marble stones of which the said altar was built should be broken: the workmen, while they wished to remove the said altar, found that there was not one altar there, but three little altars, so joined and connected together, by means of certain marble columns, that they presented one whole altar; and each little altar had on the marble of the front part certain ancient letters, carved both in Latin and in Greek in these words. On the marble which was before the middle little altar, these words were read: "In this altar are the arms of the holy Irenaeus, archbishop of Lyon, one of the LXXII disciples of Christ, and of his companions; of Sixtus the Pope, of St. Leo bishop of Catacium, of Ermilaus the priest, and of Margaret the Virgin."

[3] also the body of St. Vitalianus, On the marble of the altar placed on the right side, these words were carved: "The body of St. Vitalianus, archbishop of Capua." On the marble of the altar placed on the left side, was carved: "In this altar are contained the relics of the holy Fortunatus the bishop, the arm of Zoticus, and the relics of Januarius the martyr and of other Saints."

On none, however, of the said stones did there appear carved days, months, and years: but the Greek letters, on account of the antiquity of time, were so devastated that they could by no means be read even by those skilled in the said language: yet the aforesaid magnificent lord syndic, master Sworn, and the elect of the city urged upon us that, for the perpetual memory of the matter, some notary should draw up a public instrument concerning the said letters. Wherefore to the excellent notary Nicholas Francis Vento of the said city of Catanzaro, that he might satisfy the just desire of the said magnificent lords syndics and elect, it was enjoined, who on the nineteenth day of June of the same year, before the aforesaid little altars were destroyed, drew up a public instrument.

[4] which they think was brought thither by Calixtus II. But when the rumor crept through the whole city that the altar of St. Vitalianus was destroyed (for by this one name and title those three little altars were commonly called), straightway almost the whole people, both men and women, came together to the church, led by the greatest hope, and moved by zeal of devotion of visiting and venerating the body of St. Vitalianus, which was believed to be reposited in the said altar. For they report that formerly the Roman Pontiff Calixtus, in the year 1122, came into these regions for the sake of composing peace between William, duke of Italy, and Roger, count of Sicily, and translated the body of St. Vitalianus from Capua into this city, and placed it in the greater church, and consecrated it, and that the body was reposited in the altar of the said chapel. But since so great a multitude of people had come together on this account into the church, it was feared lest, if the altar were removed openly and in the sight of the people, and no relics should appear, the people should lose the devotion which they always had toward the aforesaid St. Vitalianus, on account of the credulity which the whole city had, that in the said chapel and altar was reposited his body, especially because many, on account of the length of time, would not believe that there was, or ever had been, such a body there, as antiquity assured for certain;

[5] We ordered the workmen not to destroy the aforesaid altar except at night time and with the doors of the church closed, The chief men of the clergy being convoked, and all witnesses being removed except a single priest, which indeed was diligently executed. But the altar, or the aforesaid three little altars, being destroyed, nothing was found in the trunks of those altars, but under those altars appeared three marble coffins well closed: for under each altar there was one coffin; which as it was reported to us, on the following day, which was the day XXII June of the same year, we commissioned two priests that, the doors of the church being closed, and all persons removed, they should open the coffin which was placed on the right side, which was straightway by them diligently and secretly executed, and they reported to us hastily and joyfully that in the aforesaid coffin were the relics of St. Vitalianus. Which when we understood, straightway we ordered to be summoned to us several canons and presbyters of our church, and the Reverend Father Rector of the college of the Society of Jesus, with two other priests of the same Order, and also the magnificent syndics and elect of the city, and very many other nobles.

[6] Which being convoked, the invocation of the Holy Spirit being premised, the coffins are examined, we saw the account of all those things which had been done, and a long discourse was held among us as to what should be done; and although the opinions were various, nevertheless it was concluded that the said relics should be removed from the said coffins; both because on account of the humidity of the place they began to be devastated and corroded, and also that, placed in a more decent and honorable place, they might be venerated with greater devotion; and meanwhile there should be prepared a wooden chest lined with a red silken veil, and distinguished and separated into three parts, in which the relics of the Saints might be separately reposited, as they were found separate in the said places; which being straightway prepared, and secured with three different keys, of which one should remain with us, another be kept with the chamberlains of the church, the third the said lord syndic should guard. At about the hour of the second of the night, accompanied by very many canons and other presbyters of our church, by the Reverend Father Rector of the Society of Jesus, by the Reverend Fathers Guardians of St. Francis of the Observance and of St. Francis of Assisi with their companions, and by two Reverend Capuchin Brothers, and also by the aforesaid Lord syndics, sworn master, and elect, and many nobles of the city, among whom were three most excellent and most skilled doctors of arts and of medicine, who were employed that they might, according to their skill, examine the bones which should be found in the said coffins.

[7] We came to the church, and adoration and prayer being first made to the most holy Sacrament, especially the relics of St. Vitalianus, we betook ourselves to the place where the aforesaid coffins were, and the Cross and stole over the rochet and the mitre being received, and very many lights being kindled, we first blessed the chest, into which the aforesaid relics of the Saints were to be reposited, according to the order of the Pontifical, and the blessing of the said chest being made, we ordered to be opened the coffin placed on the right side; which being opened, straightway were found two leaden plates, on one of which, in the Latin tongue, on the other in Greek letters, were carved words of this kind: "The body of St. Vitalianus," and in the aforesaid coffin were found the following relics of the same Saint, as the aforesaid most excellent lord physicians, according to their skill, reported and examined, namely XXIII bones, small and great being counted, of the head of St. Vitalianus; besides a fragment of the lower jaw. Likewise seven vertebrae of the back, both whole and broken. Likewise three fragments of the vertebrae of the "schina," he meant to say the spine of the back, as also he calls other parts in half-Italian, which it would avail nothing to enumerate here, sufficiently explained by Paolo Regio in the Life chapter 9. He proceeds.

[8] which into a more recent casket, Likewise a little sack of the dust of the body of St. Vitalianus: which relics were all with the greatest veneration lifted thence by the hands of one priest clad in a surplice, and reposited in the said chest in the right part. Then was opened the coffin which was placed in the middle, in which were likewise two leaden plates, one carved in Greek, the other in Latin letters in these words: "The relics of St. Irenaeus": and there were found in the said coffin the relics which follow; namely, one bone of the arm not whole; likewise one small bone of the arm whole, likewise a whole bone of the heel… Likewise a little sack of the dust of small bones; which also themselves, lifted thence by the hands of the aforesaid priest, were reposited in the middle part of the said chest. Lastly we ordered to be opened the third coffin, placed on the left side, where likewise were found two plates similar to the former, which had these words written both in Greek and in Latin letters: "The body of St. Fortunatus"; and there were the following relics: namely XII bones of the head or skull, both small and great: likewise a whole bone of a vertebra; likewise two small fragments of a rib, etc.

[9] afterward were reposited. Likewise a little sack of the dust of the said relics, which were brought back into the left part of the said chest; for in what order they were placed in the said coffins, in the same order they were reposited in the said chest, which, straightway closed by the priests singing "Te Deum laudamus," with the greatest veneration, and with the devotion of the people, who at the sound of the bells had come together, was carried into the holy of holies, and placed upon one altar near the greater altar, at the horn of the Gospel, in which place the aforesaid relics are and shall be kept until the church itself and the aforesaid chapel shall be rebuilt, and until there shall be made silver vessels in which they may be guarded, to the praise and glory of God almighty, and of the blessed Virgin Mary, and of the holy Apostles Peter and Paul, and of St. Vitalianus, patron and protector of this most faithful city, and of all the other Saints, men and women, of God. In faith of all which we have subscribed these present letters with our hand, and ordered them to be secured with our seal. Given in the episcopal palace of Catacium on the XXII day of the month of June in the year from the nativity of Our Lord Jesus Christ 1583, Indiction XI, in the time of the pontificate of the most holy Father in Christ and our Lord, the Lord Gregory, by divine providence Pope XIII, in his XII year, happily. Amen. Nicholas, bishop of Catacium.

[10] The extraction and concordance of this transcript from the original itself Antony Ducatus of Catacium, himself also a Notary, attests with his own hand and marks, on XIII July 1637. Another instrument. It remains that here I subjoin another instrument, which above at number 21 I promised. Of the authenticity of the testimony there is altogether no doubt, since it is subsigned with the hand of the dean and of the several canons, and duly legalized, as they say, by James Tavano, presbyter of Catacium, Apostolic Notary. This I would have observed, that the time when the immodest woman is said to have been buried near the Saint's tomb, is noted in the margin by the hand of Silvester Aiossa to have been the year 1584; not opportunely enough, I think, for at that precise juncture a new altar was being prepared, in which the already mentioned relics of the Saints might be more decently reposited, being meanwhile carried into the holy of holies and placed upon one altar near the greater altar, etc. But since all were enclosed in the same coffin both before and after the finding, it does not seem so thoroughly ascertained from what part the manna was wont to distill. I propose the matter as I found it described.

APPENDIX

Concerning the manna gushing from the body of St. Vitalianus.

Vitalianus, Bishop and Confessor, of Capua and Catacium in Italy (S.)

We the undersigned dignitaries and canons of the cathedral church of this city of Catanzaro, in the word of truth, Concerning the distilling of the manna. and with breast touched, attest that we have received from the ancient immemorial tradition of our elders, that from the sacred body of the most holy confessor Vitalianus, citizen and bishop of Capua, our chief Patron, whose sacred relics were about the year 1120 granted to our city by Pope Calixtus II of holy memory, when he personally visited these regions, and deigned to consecrate the cathedral itself, and are kept in the same cathedral together with the sacred relics of the most holy martyr Irenaeus, bishop of Lyon, and of Fortunatus, bishop of Todi, Patrons less principal, manna long gushed forth, up to the time [*] when there was buried near the place where the sacred pledges lay hidden the corpse of a certain dishonorable woman: as though the most holy Pastor were indignant, as was the constant judgment among all, at a burial of this kind, on account of the very great solicitude which always held him for his own chastity, so that he doubted indeed to be in some way defiled by the nearness of that immodest corpse; just as once in his life certain impious persecutors of his attempted to charge him with immodesty by substituted women's garments, as is plainly read in his Life in the Sanctuary and Capuan Breviary, and in the book concerning the Saints, Patrons of this city, by the Most Illustrious and Most Reverend Lord Paolo Regio

bishop of Vico Equense of blessed memory, given to print. In faith of which, etc. Given at Catanzaro this day XXVIII of the month of October 1658.

There subscribe: Francis Lopes, dean; Francis Cifolli, Doctor of Both Laws, cantor; Dante Biasi, Doctor of Both Laws, treasurer; Abbot Vitalianus Marescanus, Doctor, chief chaplain; Julius Misaro, subcantor; Fidelis Zeccone, canon; Charles Songo, canon; Joseph Micisetta, canon; John Antony Cifolli, canon; Francis Maria Cinna, canon; Luke Longo, canon; Paul Pelitus, canon.

* that is, up to the year 1584.