Apollinaris

ON ST. APOLLINARIS, BISHOP AND MARTYR,

AT RAVENNA IN ÆMILIA OF ITALY.

ABOUT THE YEAR 75.

PRELIMINARY COMMENTARY.

Apollinaris, bishop and martyr, at Ravenna in Æmilia (St.)

BY THE AUTHOR J. P.

§ I. Ravenna praised by many;

the memory of the Saint in the Martyrologies; his eulogies; his native land; the time of his ordination, of his see, and of his death.

Ravenna, the most ancient and foremost

city of all Italy in former times;

and the seat first of the Gothic kings, then

of the ancient exarchs,

is on this day made illustrious by St. Apollinaris,

her first bishop, her apostle

and singular patron. That Leander Alberti, in his Description

of Italy, recounts many of the ornaments of that city, Various heralds of the Ravennate affairs are cited.

we indicated in the first volume of February, page 83,

in the notes on the Life of St. Severus, bishop of the same

city; concerning whose beginnings also, its adornment,

its vicissitudes, the antiquity and power of its prelates,

the structure of its temples, and the Saints there

born, and so forth, Ughelli treats in the second volume of the Italia Sacra from

column 324. Hieronymus Rubeus embraced the deeds of the Italian and Ravennate

histories in eleven books

in Latin; Hieronymus Fabri described the sacred monuments

of ancient Ravenna in Italian, and

most recently Benedict Bacchini, abbot of St. Mary

de Lacroma, of the Order of St. Benedict, of the Cassinese

congregation, brought forth from the Este library the

Pontifical Book, or the Lives of the Pontiffs of Ravenna, of Agnellus or Andrew, abbot of St. Mary

ad Blachernas and of St. Bartholomew of Ravenna,

illustrated and enlarged it with dissertations

and observations and so forth,

and dedicated it to the most serene Rainald of Este, duke of Modena, Reggio, and so forth,

in a work published in Latin in two volumes on this subject in the year 1708.

[2] The name of our most renowned Prelate is inscribed

on this day in the Kalendars of Allatius and of Fronto, The memory of the Saint is noted in the most ancient Latin Martyrologies; in each

most briefly. And in the former, indeed: On the tenth day before the Kalends of August,

the birthday of St. Apollinaris. In the latter, however:

On the 23rd day of the month of July, the birthday of St. Apollinaris.

I find nothing in the Sacramentaries edited by Pamelius

and Menard. Likewise an ancient Kalendar,

at the beginning of the fifth volume of the Anecdota edited by Edmund

Martene, reports him thus on the same day:

The birthday of St. Apollinaris, martyr of Ravenna; and all the ancient

Martyrologists record him, the Hieronymian copies,

Bede enlarged from Florus, the Little Roman,

Rabanus, Ado, Notker, Wandalbert.

In the Hieronymian Lucca codex it is written Apollenaris;

in the most ancient Epternach codex, Apollinaris; in this

last one he is announced on the preceding day. Bede records thus:

The birthday of St. Apollinaris, bishop at Ravenna,

who at Rome, etc. In the Little Roman it is given

in these words: At Ravenna, of Apollinaris, bishop

and martyr. In Rabanus, thus: The deposition

of St. Apollinaris, bishop at Ravenna. In Ado:

At Ravenna, the birthday of St. Apollinaris,

bishop, without the title of martyr. In Usuard: The birthday

of Blessed Apollinaris, bishop, who, ordained by the Apostle

Peter at Rome and sent to Ravenna,

afterward endured for the faith of Christ diverse and

manifold sufferings. Furthermore, Wandalbert

proclaims him in the following little verse:

Hence the illustrious Apollinaris honors the tenth day.

[3] That the memory of this Saint is inscribed also in the Greek

tables, we note on this day among those things Not unknown to the Greeks and also to the Slavo-Russians. which we produce

concerning Sts. Apollonius and Eugenius, Martyrs.

Vitalis or Vitalius, with the title of bishop of Ravenna,

there commemorated together with our Saint, both there

and here we strike out, since we find him neither in Ughelli's

catalogue of those prelates, nor in Rubeus

from page 892, nor in Fabri from page 396, nor

in Bacchini. The Slavo-Russian Menologium

reports our Saint thus: St. hieromartyr

Apollinaris, bishop of Ravenna, who was a disciple

of Peter the Apostle, suffered under Claudius, under Messalinus

the deputy governor, and under Vespasian was

cut asunder by the sword by the idolaters,

and died on the seventh day,

in the year 77. It is not at all fitting here to heap up the announcements of the more recent

Martyrologists. Let it suffice to have given the ancient

sources.

[4] St. Peter Chrysologus, the most worthy successor of the same Saint

in the see of Ravenna, embraced his praises in a brief He is praised by St. Peter Chrysologus, Blessed Peter Damian,

sermon, the 128th, in the fifth century; from which I cull

these few things: Blessed Apollinaris, he says,

by the first priesthood alone adorned this church of Ravenna

with the native and illustrious honor

of martyrdom. Deservedly is he Apollinaris, because

according to the command of his God he here lost his soul,

that he might find it unto life everlasting.

(The reason for this etymology will be given in the notes.)

Blessed is he, who so finished his course; who kept the faith,

so that he was truly found to be the first

among believers in his place. Nor let anyone believe him lesser

by the appellation of confessor than

martyr, whom by the will of God he beholds returned

daily and manifoldly to the contest

… He did not therefore persecute the Martyr,

because he did not inflict death; but he proved the Martyr,

because he did not let go * the faith .. Often did the Confessor

pour forth his blood, etc. Blessed Peter Damian

celebrated St. Apollinaris in three sermons

(which are the 30th, 31st, and 32nd, also printed by Lipomanus

in the 8th volume, from folio 246 verso), addressing him

with the title of apostolic martyr. Here and there

he also mentions him in Sermon 6, which is on St.

Eleuchadius, converted to the faith of Christ by our Prelate,

and thereafter raised to the government of the see of Ravenna.

[5] Ado, contrary to custom, adorns our Saint with a double

eulogy; with the one, indeed, and by others, which he placed among

the Festivals of the Apostles, and which he either

took himself from Bede, or which was from himself

transferred into Bede: so great is the agreement between the two.

But he inserted the other into his Martyrology, unfolding therein so long

a series of Acts that it embraces almost the whole

life of the apostolic man; from which

Usuard culled those few things which we have just

set forth. Rabanus transcribed Bede's eulogy; Notker

slightly altered its phrasing. All

of which, because they sound almost the same, drawn namely from the same

source of the Acts, we do not here transcribe,

as neither those things which have been reported by us on this day from the more recent authors among the supplements

to Usuard; likewise those things which are noted in our manuscript Florarium, in Rubeus, Ferrarius,

Fabri, and so forth.

[6] To this pertains that saying of St. Gregory VII, from

Book 6, Held in great esteem also by St. Gregory VII, Pope. Epistle 10, in Labbe's tenth volume of the Councils,

column 203, addressed to the people of Ravenna, who,

he says, love blessed Peter and his son, namely holy

Apollinaris. And in the same place,

Book 8, Epistle 13, column 261: We believe, he says,

that it does not escape your knowledge that the church of Ravenna

was accustomed to cleave to the Apostolic See

more closely than the rest, and that it was specially

beloved by it, and that whatever of dignity and

honor it held anciently through blessed A … (Apollinaris),

it had received, namely, by the gift of the aforesaid

See. Let the Roman Martyrology stand as a conclusion,

which uses the following eulogy: The birthday of St.

Apollinaris, bishop, who, ordained by the Apostle Peter

at Rome and sent to Ravenna, endured for

the faith of Christ diverse and manifold torments;

afterward, preaching the Gospel in Æmilia,

he recalled very many from the worship of idols.

At length, having returned to Ravenna, under

Vespasian Cæsar he consummated a glorious martyrdom.

To these may be added the brief eulogy of the Saint

from the Life of St. Severus, bishop of Ravenna, in the first volume

of February, page 82; to say nothing of another in

Bacchini, Part 2, in the appendix, page 4. His

deeds and honors likewise our Antonio Macedo briefly and aptly

touched upon, from the Camaldolese history, from Rubeus and

Fabri, in his singular work

On the Tutelary Divines of the Christian World, published in Latin at Lisbon

in 1687, from page 133.

[7] The Life does not so expressly mark the native land of our holy

Prelate, [The native land of St. Apollinaris is discussed; it is not established that he was one of the 72 disciples of Christ.] but somehow tacitly

hints at it, when to St. Peter the Apostle, having set out from Antioch

to Rome, it joins many Christians who accompanied him at the same time

(among whom was St. Apollinaris),

who, ministering to him, came with him to Rome.

Bede's eulogy says nothing of his native land. Agnellus or

Andrew, in the Life of the Saint, in the aforecited Bacchini,

page 124, sets him down as Antiochene by nation,

whether he found this expressly stated somewhere in the Acts, or elicited it from

that departure from Antioch which we have mentioned.

Ado in his eulogy only reports that,

having followed the Apostle Peter from Antioch, etc. Peter

de Natalibus, in the Life, Book 6, chapter 128, says: An Antiochene

by birth. Rubeus, at the year 44,

an Antiochene man; Fabri, page 85, and Ughelli, in the

Italia Sacra, volume 2, column 327, also say he was an Antiochene;

and to us, indeed, this so little displeases that we not

unwillingly grant the Saint to the Antiochenes; although

it is plainly not yet established to us with certainty concerning that matter, nor

is it more fully ascertained whether the Saint, as is

handed down concerning him, was one of the seventy-two disciples of Christ,

according to those things which have been said concerning them

on the 15th day of this month.

[8] Likewise to determine exactly the time of his ordination and of his see

is not so ready at hand. Ughelli sets down that he was ordained

about the year of Christ 44. On the time of his ordination, Bacchini,

in the series of the Pontiffs of Ravenna, which he wove

from page 46, affirms that he was ordained in the year 50,

and indeed (if we believe him) on the 19th day of June. Rubeus

writes that this happened not so very long after the year 44,

when, as he adds, Peter had

betaken himself to Rome. Whence it follows, if that ordination

was accomplished not so very long after the first coming of St. Peter to the City,

as Rubeus was pleased to hold, that it can be placed

for about that year. Nor do the Acts strongly protest,

when they indicate that St. Apollinaris was ordained after much time from that

coming: for if this is true (and how will you prove it false?),

it already follows that this ordination

occurred some years later, about the year of Christ 40 and after.

But to what determinate year it is to be bound,

who can affirm, since concerning the year of St. Peter's first entrance into

the City it is plainly not established; and,

grant that it be established concerning him: it still remains uncertain

how much time is to be interposed between the entrance and

the ordination of our Saint; and

therefore the time of the disputed ordination here remains equally

uncertain.

[9] and of his governance. Nor have we anything more certain concerning the time in which

the most holy Prelate presided over the see of Ravenna.

Bede, cited: He ruled, he says, the church for twenty

years and eight days. So our Dijon manuscript; but

in the same place four other things are noted, which read: for twenty-

eight years and four days. The Vatican codex, erroneously,

thirty-eight years; the Laetian likewise faultily,

eighteen years and four days.

Ado, in the Festivals of the Apostles and in his Martyrology,

together with the Acts printed in Surius, numbers

twenty-eight years, one month, four days.

The copy of the Life which we give to the press has:

twenty-eight years, four days. Just as much

time is marked in Mombritius. Concerning other

manuscripts an account will be given in the notes. Rubeus, at the year

74, numbers 29 years; to which Fabri, Part 2,

page 397, adds one month with four days.

Bacchini gives him twenty-eight years, five

months, four days. Baronius, at the year 75,

assigns twenty-nine years to his governance, from Blessed Peter Damian's

sermon on St. Eleucadius, where he speaks thus:

With how great glory, with how great excellence

Apollinaris shines, we cannot worthily

admire, whose martyrdom was drawn out through the space of

twenty and nine years through innumerable

torments. Add Agnellus, who sets down

twenty-eight years, one month, four days.

How great is the variety here! Since, however, in the number of twenty-nine

years the cited authors for the most part

agree, nothing prevents us too from standing on their side,

and attributing to the Saint's see just so many years, whether completed

or at least begun.

[10] His martyrdom occurred under Vespasian; He consummated his martyrdom, Bede being our witness,

under Vespasian Cæsar, when Demosthenes was patrician.

Ado agrees in both places indicated above. Vespasian

alone is expressed by our Life, by Agnellus,

as also by the Roman Martyrology. Vespasian, declared

emperor in the East in the year 69 of the common era,

entered Rome in the year 70; he died in 79. Hence

it appears sufficiently at about what time St. Apollinaris

suffered martyrdom, but not in what determinate

year; which is not easy to determine from

Demosthenes the patrician, otherwise unknown to us. In

Peter de Natalibus that martyrdom is fitted

to about the year of the Lord 70. Baronius, cited,

says that the Saint departed this life by martyrdom in these

times of the emperor Vespasian. Ughelli marks

the year 74 with Fabri, which year (not, indeed, the year

80, as Bacchini imputes to him in the Observations

on the Life of the Saint, page 134, out of his first book)

Rubeus also adopts approximately.

Our Riccioli, in the second volume of the Reformed Chronology,

in the great and select Chronicle, sets down the year 73.

Into a year different from these Bacchini departs, in

the series produced above, writing that the Saint was crowned with martyrdom

in the year 78; concerning which matter he treats in the Observations,

page 135. But that year is not proved

by the fact that, as he there says from Agnellus, after

very much time from Peter's coming to Rome,

the Saint was ordained bishop and sent to Ravenna.

Nor again by the fact that, as he hands down from

Agnellus, he was made stooped by the exceeding

fullness of days.

[11] For if we should fix the coming of St. Peter to

the City in the year 40 of the common era, uncertain in what year, which is nonetheless here established. or somewhat later

(See what has been disputed in the historical-chronological

Treatise preliminary to the fourth volume of July,

concerning the patriarchs of Antioch, at the beginning), our

ordination will seem to have been made after very much time,

if we grant it a latitude of about four or five

years after Peter's coming to the City;

which, though not absolutely, yet considering the circumstances

of the matter, can seem to be reckoned a long time. But

now, as to what Bacchini argues, that the Saint was made stooped by the exceeding

fullness of days, this here proves nothing;

since two or three years, concerning which, as will soon

appear, there is here controversy, do not always equally,

still less ordinarily, induce or increase in old men

a stooping. Come now, that we may accommodate the three aforesaid

epochs of ordination, session, and martyrdom to their several

years somehow; let us fix the first, indeed, in

the year of Christ about 46, after much

time at any rate, according to the Acts, from the coming of the Prince

of the Apostles to the City. Let us add the years of session,

about 29; now the martyrdom will be able to concur

with the year about 75; not on the 7th day before the Kalends of July,

as Bacchini notes in the cited series of bishops,

but on this 23rd day of July, which all

the ancient Martyrologies (with one single codex excepted, as we have said)

most constantly assign to him, together with the Acts and with Ado

in his eulogy. But Bacchini is not sufficiently

consistent with himself concerning the day of martyrdom: for on the cited page 135,

he fixes the year and day, indicated above by us out of him,

to the beginning of the pontificate, keeping, he says,

the day on which his birthday is marked in all and the most ancient

Martyrologies, the 23rd of July.

Who might reconcile these things?

perhaps elicited for extorted*.

§ II. The tomb and body of St. Apollinaris;

its continued possession among the monks of Classe; its translation to a more seemly place.

He was buried, says our Life, outside the walls

of Classe in a stone chest by his disciples.

Concerning the tomb, Bede enlarged from Florus is silent, The body of the Martyr buried outside Classe, together with Agnellus

and Ado in the Festivals of the Apostles;

but this last, in his Martyrology, agrees thus with the Acts:

The most glorious Martyr Apollinaris .. was buried

outside the wall (of the city of Ravenna) and

his body enclosed in a stone chest beneath the earth. And

he was buried outside the walls of Classe, as Rubeus rightly says

at the cited year 74. Now Classe

was a town of Æmilia, now a lake of the Romagna,

scarcely three miles from Ravenna to the south.

The etymology of the name Augustine Lubin hands down in his *Notitia

of the Abbeys of Italy*, page 103. Concerning this place

see Rubeus's Index at the end of the aforesaid work, Cluverius,

Book 1 of Ancient Italy, page 305; Fabri,

Part 1, page 92; and among us the 31st day of January,

page 1100.

[13] At the right of the basilica of Classe, on the authority

and inspection of Mabillon in his Italian Journey,

volume 1, page 41, and thence translated into the inner sanctuary of the church; there is seen an ancient mausoleum

elegantly made of white marble; and near

it there is set upon the wall a most ancient inscription,

by which it is said that the body of St. Apollinaris

lay in that place until it was translated by Maximian

the archbishop into the inner sanctuary of the church,

the epoch being noted as the 7th day before the Ides of May, in the twelfth

Indiction, in the eighth year after the consulate of Basil the younger.

The Life of this St. Maximian we illustrated on the

22nd day of February from page 293. Whether he died

in the year 556, which we there noted, or in 552, which

Bacchini alleges, page 47, this diversity in no way

troubles us here: for the twelfth Indiction falls in the year

549; and thus, that inscription standing, the body

remained there until that very year, until thence, through

St. Maximian, it was translated to a more seemly place.

Consult what is there said in the Life, chapter 3,

number 14 and 15.

[14] it is proved; Rubeus, at the year 648, mentions another translation,

which happened under Maurus, archbishop

of Ravenna: The holy corpse of Apollinaris, he says,

he most honorably placed in the middle of the temple,

with silver plates added,

on which the history of that placement was inscribed.

Fabri, page 94, likewise reporting the deed,

adds that that body was deposited beneath the altar of the Blessed

Virgin, and that it is the same which stands in the middle

of the church, most worthy of great veneration on account of

the memorable vision which St. Romuald there had,

as will be said below. But the inscription

which Mabillon a little before gave in substance,

is there added in its proper terms by the aforesaid Fabri,

and sounds thus: In this place stood the chest

of blessed Apollinaris, priest and confessor, from

the time of his passing until the day *; from which

it was translated by the blessed man Maximian the bishop,

and brought into the basilica which

Julian Argentarius built from the foundations,

and dedicated by the same most Blessed man,

on the 7th day before the Ides of May, in the twelfth Indiction, in the eighth year after the

consulate of Basil the younger. Agnellus in the Life of this Maurus,

and concerning the same, as far as I gather, in Bacchini,

Part 2, page 278, speaks thus: This man, the body

of blessed Apollinaris, which * had long been

buried in the atrium * belonging to him by the prelate Maximian together with Julian

Argentarius, thence took away, and placed it in the middle

of the temple, and fixed the history of the same Martyr

on silver plates. Therefore in nearly the same

place the body remained for the first six centuries.

[15] [where it seems even still to have been kept in the 6th century, from St. Gregory the Great,] St. Gregory the Great, Book 5, Epistle 33, in

Labbe's fifth volume of the councils, writing

to Castorius the notary concerning the use of the pallium to be restored to the

bishop of Ravenna according to the ancient custom,

has thus: Let them come before the body of St. Apollinaris,

and having touched his tomb, let them swear; which custom

was in force before the times of bishop John (of Ravenna,

the third of this name). This epistle was written

before the year 595, in which, according to Rubeus,

Ughelli, and Bacchini, John is marked as having died.

Concerning that dispute about the pallium, Rubeus says more

at the year 593. But to our matter. From what has been said it is clear

that the body of St. Apollinaris, at the close of the sixth century,

rested at Ravenna; and why not long before? As

the custom of swearing before John's

times seems to indicate: for customs of this kind are wont to indicate a longer

span of time. Whatever it be, the presence

certainly of the said body at Ravenna at that

time is clearly indicated by the formula of the oath appended to Gregory's

epistle: I swear therefore * by the

Father, and the Son and the Holy Spirit …

and this body of blessed Apollinaris the martyr, etc.

[16] and to Venantius Fortunatus Venantius Fortunatus, educated at Ravenna,

and having set out from Italy into Gaul about the year 565,

and there, at the beginning of the sixth century, made bishop of Poitiers,

is authority, says Tillemont in the second volume of the

Monuments of the Church, page 103, to one of his friends, that he betake himself

to Ravenna, and prostrate himself in the church

and at the tomb of St. Apollinaris; but he is deceived in

that friend: for it is a prosopopoeia addressed to the little book or

books which Fortunatus wove concerning the Life of St. Martin;

where, near the end of Book 4, he sings thus, in a few

words, using a singular expression of veneration toward the Saint:

Again lick the threshold of precious Apollinaris,

poured out * upon the ground, a suppliant.

Fortunatus had just before set down, concerning the place, these things:

Thence more sweetly seek the pleasing city of the people of Ravenna, poured out

running again through the religious pulpits of the Saints:

[17] To which he reckons the threshold of our Saint, namely his temple

or tomb; an eyewitness at any rate; add St. Peter Chrysologus: doubtless an eyewitness

before his departure from Italy, of the singular veneration

with which the sacred deposit of the most holy Prelate

was frequented. Why, since a whole century before,

St. Peter Chrysologus, who died about the year 450,

testifies clearly enough in the cited sermon,

that the body of St. Apollinaris in his own time rested among the people of Ravenna

(yet do not thence infer that it was in the cathedral

church itself, as seems to Tillemont). What

more, he says, brethren? She has brought it to pass, holy

mother Church has brought it to pass, that nowhere should she be separated from her

Bishop. Behold, he comes; behold, as a good shepherd

he stands in the midst of his flock: nor is he ever

separated in spirit, who in body went before for

a time: he went before, I say, in outward condition. But

she herself rests among us in the dwelling of his body.

[18] Yet although these things, which we have given from St. Peter Chrysologus,

St. Gregory the Great, and Venantius Fortunatus,

which indicate that the Saint then rested at Ravenna, but are explained at first sight seem to conflict

with the translation made by St. Maximian, they can

nevertheless somehow be reconciled with it, if it be said

that those three authors could speak thus because the body

was in a place near Ravenna, close by, and, so to speak,

morally the same; and therefore the body could be said to be morally present

at Ravenna, although physically it was

among the people of Classe: for things which are so little distant

scarcely seem to be distant; and what holds elsewhere

should hold here too, that a little is reckoned as

nothing. There is added to this, that Ravenna

could be expressed by them rather than Classe, as being a

more famous place, and one more pertaining to St. Apollinaris.

[19] But most of all this presses here in our favor, that

Ravenna anciently bore the name of Classe, in favor of the people of Classe. on the witness

of Jornandes, On the Gothic Affairs, chapter 29. For, he says,

the city itself glories in a threefold name,

and exults in a triple position; that is, first

Ravenna, last Classe, in the middle Cæsarea, etc.

Nay rather, Rubeus, at the year 655, attributes five

parts to Ravenna, and those noble ones (among which is Classe).

Ortelius, however, in his Geographical Thesaurus, at the

word Ravenna, accuses the cited Jornandes of hallucination,

because he makes it three-named .. and out of three

neighboring places makes one: for these, he says,

were rather its suburbs. But be it so: what conflict

is there in their having been both suburbs, and yet having been

synonymous with their own city? Whatever it be, the body

certainly of the Saint was by no means at Ravenna in the 9th century, on the witness of Rubeus at the year

856. Understand the matter as it happened from him.

[20] Deusdedit, archbishop of the people of Ravenna,

having died, A controversy having arisen between the monks of Classe and of Ravenna John the eighth of this name is put in his place:

in whose archiepiscopate, on account of the incursions

and robberies of the barbarians, which we have mentioned,

very many report that the corpse of Apollinaris

was carried from that temple (of St. Apollinaris of Classe) into Ravenna,

and placed in that of St. Martin in the Golden

Heaven, and that for that reason thereafter

that church was called by the title of St. Apollinaris the New.

But they are deceived, as I think, since from the

authority of the Pontifical documents,

especially of Alexander III, in the year 1173 from the Virgin's

childbearing, who, to declare and remove the matter and controversy,

sent the cardinals Ildebrand and

Theodinus, Gerard being then archbishop of the people of Ravenna;

and from the marble monuments in

the very church of Apollinaris at Classe,

it is established otherwise. Moreover, occasion for this error

and dispute was afforded by John,

this archbishop, who, when the Saracens were devastating

all things, as has been said, since he

feared lest the holy corpse of Apollinaris

should be seized, took care that two corpses of holy men,

under the name of Apollinaris, be transferred to St. Martin

in the Golden Heaven on the 17th day before the Kalends of August,

about the year of Christ 856, as

Fabri, soon to be praised, notes. In the notes on the

Spicilegium of Ravennate history, to be cited hereafter, page

534, it is said that this John, bishop of the people of Ravenna, is elsewhere

called the seventh, and perhaps ought so to be called.

Besides, upon the ciborium of the church of Classe, broken

by the barbarians, certain verses are said to be read,

which are there produced from a manuscript. But let us proceed with Rubeus.

[21] Of which matter this too can be sufficient argument,

that, as we have written above, he says, concerning the possession of the sacred deposit, settled by Apostolic authority,

in the times of Alexander III, the bones of

Apollinaris, together with three most ancient silver

plates (concerning which below in the Analecta),

found on the fifth day before the Kalends of November, and raised

on high, were shown to all: when

Ildebrand, priest Cardinal legate, and

Theodinus likewise priest Cardinal, Gerard

archbishop of Ravenna, the metropolitan bishops

subject to him by right, and innumerable

priests besides and lay people were present.

Now on the third silver plate it was thus

written: "Here rests the most sacred

body of the most blessed Apollinaris, martyr and priest

of Christ. But what is here lacking, in

this same church with the greatest care has been

hidden away." Ildebrand, the penalty of anathema

being proposed to those who should affirm the holy body of Apollinaris

to be elsewhere, commanded that a feast and

solemnity be kept in perpetuity thereafter on the day of this finding,

and each year granted the penalty of a year's span

due to sins to those visiting

that temple on that day, yearly. All

of which was approved by Alexander the Pontiff.

[22] Silvano Razzi, in the *Lives of the Saints and

Blessed of the Camaldolese*, printed at Florence in 1606 an excommunication laid upon transgressors;

in the Italian idiom, folio 4, notes this finding,

whatever others may say, he says, in the same

year 1173. We have a manuscript fragment, which is

marked as extracted from the latter part of the Camaldolese

histories by Augustine (Fortunius

the Florentine, cited by us in the third volume of

March, page 918); from which, Book 2, chapter 19, various

things are noted concerning the body of St. Apollinaris: from which I excerpt

certain things, partly also cited by Fabri, page

96, from the juridical and solemn decree which, in the already

mentioned controversy concerning the Saint's body, was laid down by Ildebrand,

and sounds thus: We at length, so great a

treasure of relics having been discovered, immensely

gladdened, strengthening our faith by these annotations,

and that of nearly all men most certainly, and

utterly refusing the fabrications of the rivals, as

we have received in the Apostolic mandates, do bind

those who henceforth shall presume to believe or frequent the presence

of so great a body elsewhere than in the church of Classe,

by the authority of the Apostles

Peter and Paul, with the bonds of perpetual excommunication…

[23] These things being thus accomplished, Alexander III himself,

Supreme Pontiff, confirms the sentence of Ildebrand. which is thereafter confirmed by the same authority.

Given at Viterbo, on the 11th day before the Kalends of December. And after him

Lucius III, and Urban, and Innocent, on the Kalends

of November, in the 9th year. Gregory IX. Given at Perugia,

on the Ides of January, in the 3rd year. And Innocent IV. Given at

Perugia, on the 3rd day before the Nones of November, in the 9th year. In

testimony of which matter (for it is enough to adduce one example out of

many) these are the words of the page of Urban III:

"Urban … to Berard, abbot of

St. Apollinaris in Classe, and his brethren …

following the religious life, it is fitting that the Apostolic

protection be present." Then, all and singular the possessions being enumerated

and received into protection by name,

the Bull is at last thus concluded: "To these there are things which, of pious

"memory,

Ildebrand, priest Cardinal of the basilica of the XII Apostles,

legate of the Apostolic See,

to whom the question which had arisen between you and

the monks of St. Apollinaris the New concerning the body of that

Martyr, Alexander our predecessor of happy recollection

committed to be heard,

by provident deliberation is known to have decreed,

that the body of that same Martyr,

which he had found at your monastery,

let no one presume to venerate in another place,

as though it were present there, than in your monastery at Classe.

So also we hold the Cardinal's constitution

ratified and firm, and confirm it by Apostolic

authority … Given

at Verona on the Ides of March, in the third Indiction, in the year of the Lord's Incarnation

1185." Those things which I subjoin firmly establish the continuation

of the same most celebrated deposit among the people of Classe.

[24] The memory of the place having recently perished, on the witness of Fabri, page 96, citing

the Camaldolese history, Part 2, Book 4, chapter 16,

Urban Malombra, abbot of Classe, after three hundred and more

years, that is, about the year 1490, the pavement being ordered to be excavated,

found the sacred deposit within water, and placed it in a more honorable

place, the Lord not ceasing to bestow various

benefits on the sick who, out of pious religious

affection toward the Saint, drank of this water. Most recently

too, as Rubeus reports at the place

assigned above, and from him Fabri, in the year 1511, on the fourth day before the

Nones of April, when Julius II, Supreme Pontiff,

was staying at Ravenna, Francesco Soderini,

priest Cardinal of the basilica of the Twelve Apostles,

the bones of Apollinaris, drawn out from the underground

cave where they had long lain hidden,

placed in a monument of marble, beneath the archway

of the greater vault, before the eyes of all the people of Ravenna,

and granted a remission of a hundred days of penalty

due to sins, and

willed that each year the day of its finding and translation

be kept. Which things he doubtless received

from the Camaldolese history, in whose aforesaid

fragment the substance of the matter is set forth.

§ III. The body translated to Ravenna;

again brought back to Classe not without controversy; its most strict

custody; its present state.

In the year 1515 the monks of Classe, after the famous

storming and pillaging of the city of Ravenna a few years before,

which Rubeus describes gravely and pathetically at the year of Christ 1512,

departed into that same city. Meanwhile the sacred

body of the Martyr remained in its former place; and therefore,

fearing lest sufficient care were not taken for that most worthy

deposit, if it should continue to lie in a solitary and abandoned place,

they began to think of transporting it into the city itself,

and placing it in the new church of St. Romuald.

At length in the year 1637 the beginnings of the translation

were laid, the sacred Congregation of Rites committing

the direction of the matter to the most illustrious Ludovico

Capponi, then archbishop there. The matter meanwhile crept on

until the year 1650; but, the difficulties which had before

thrust themselves in being lulled to rest, it was then resumed,

and the apparatus necessary for its execution began

to be prepared on the 2nd of April. Then again new

obstacles thrust themselves in concerning the place of translation;

the canons of the metropolitan church contending that, if

the body were raised, it must be replaced in no other place than in the

metropolitan of Ravenna. The reasons produced for the

right of that church may be read in Fabri,

page 105, from whom we narrate these facts, he being namely

the author and agent, as will soon appear.

[26] [a controversy

concerning it having arisen, it is for the time being deposited in the metropolitan:]

Now those reasons, as we learn from the same,

seemed to the sacred Congregation of Rites, before which the suit was

pending, of so great weight, that on

the 13th day of July in the year 1652, when the aforesaid

Fabri, as he himself narrates, was staying at Rome

long beforehand to promote that business in the name of the chapter,

it decreed that the sacred body,

which, the suit being pending, had been secretly carried off by the monks

to the monastery of St. Romuald, be brought from

that place into the metropolitan by way of

deposit, while meanwhile it was being decided where it would be more expedient

to place it, according to that which is read

in the epistle written concerning this matter to Cardinal John Stephen

Donghi, then legate of the Romagna:

by whose command, on the evening of the 17th day of the noted month,

the chapter, clergy, the said Cardinal

and the magistrate assisting and being present, it was transported thither,

and, in the principal altar, where the bones of many other

bishops of Ravenna likewise rest,

it was carried and set down. But it did not remain there long: for the

Saint, as though seen to will to rest nowhere else, after

various negotiations moved, as it is fair to believe, the minds

of those judges, so that it was carried back again to the church of Classe,

whence it had been translated by the monks:

which was done on the 4th day of June in the year

1654.

[27] [but

by decree of the Congregation of Rites it is given back to the people of Classe,]

Now on what conditions the sacred Congregation of Rites

granted this, you will understand from its decree,

which we here transcribe from Fabri: Formerly, on

the 10th day of May 1655, the sacred Congregation of Rites adjudged

to the church of Classe, existing outside the walls of the city of Ravenna,

the body and relics of St. Apollinaris,

and on that account ordered them to be brought back from the cathedral

church to the same church,

an obligation nevertheless being made by the Camaldolese monks

to refit the church, and to render fitting worship

to those same sacred bones. Therefore,

lest in future times it happen to be doubted by anyone

whether the parts of an obligation of this kind were fully

fulfilled by the aforesaid monks,

so that they might be further set forth, the same

Congregation deemed it very opportune presently to measure out

and declare, namely, that

the aforesaid monks whiten that temple, diligently

purged from its highest peak,

and repair the glass windows for keeping out birds;

and that, as often as necessity should require, they repeat this without

delay. That they cause the chest, containing the body or relics of St.

Apollinaris, to be placed in the same underground

place where it is now situated, and over which the

greatest altar looms, in such a way that

it may be set conspicuous among the iron gratings to those entering

the church.

[28] But to that same sacred chest, by that blind

and underground passage, let access never

lie open, under certain conditions; except only on solemn days and in light

by no means doubtful. Then indeed at least once

daily let them offer sacrifice, and on the feast of St.

Apollinaris, on any first Sunday of each

month, and on each Friday of March, in place of the private

Mass let them celebrate a solemn Mass there;

which, however, beyond the other burdens due to be rendered

in the same church, if any there be, entirely

under the penalties contained in the aforesaid obligation,

the same sacred Congregation ordered to be fulfilled by the same monks

on the 19th day of September

1654. A duplicate of which decree was issued

on the 7th day of August 1655. John, bishop of

Tusculum, Cardinal Sacchetti, Francesco Maria

Phoebeus, secretary of the sacred Congregation of Rites. And

because, from the chest placed in the place where the sacred Congregation

had ordered it to be placed, the sacred body was recently

raised without the intervention or knowledge

of the chapter of Ravenna, on the witness of Fabri, thence it came to pass that

it was no longer in anyone's discretion, at any

time, to remove it without the consent, knowledge,

and presence of the same chapter; a decree being issued by the same

Congregation, confirmed by Alexander VII, then Pontiff,

by which it sanctioned that thenceforth the chest be closed,

and fortified with three keys, of which the first

should be consigned into the hands of the archbishop, the second

with the chapter, and the third key at last should be

with the monks themselves. Behold for you the decree itself, as

it stands in Fabri, page 107:

[29] The chapter and canons of the cathedral

of Ravenna set forth, which here from authentic documents that most recently by the

monks of Classe, without the knowledge and consent of the same petitioners,

the body of St. Apollinaris the martyr

had been translated from the ancient tomb to another.

For which reason the most Eminent fathers, set over the sacred Congregation

of Rites, lest hereafter anything

be innovated by those monks concerning the aforesaid body,

except with the assent, knowledge,

and presence of the archbishop and chapter,

ordered that body to be kept under three keys,

of which one should be guarded by the archbishop, another

by the chapter, and the third by the monks:

and the same sacred Congregation strictly enjoins

the fulfillment of all the aforesaid; and

lest they innovate anything in future concerning

the aforesaid body, without the knowledge,

assent, and presence of the aforesaid, it forbids it, on the 7th day of

August 1655. Report of the aforesaid, moreover, having been made to the most Holy Lord,

His Holiness approved,

and ordered it to be executed on the 13th day of the same

month of August, in the same year 1655. J., bishop of

Tusculum, Cardinal Sacchetti, Francesco M. Phoebeus,

secretary. Thus the decree: which was sent to the

most Eminent Cardinal Ottavio Acquaviva,

then legate of the Romagna, on the witness of Fabri, of the following

tenor, in him from page 107:

[30] they are produced; Most Eminent and most Reverend Lord.

The chapter and canons of the cathedral of Ravenna

most recently set forth to the sacred Congregation of Rites,

that by the monks of Classe, without

any knowledge of themselves and the petitioners, the body of St.

Apollinaris the martyr had been carried away from the chest, the chest

itself translated to another place, and

the body soon restored and hidden away in it.

Wherefore the same Sacred Congregation,

lest hereafter anything be innovated by the aforesaid monks

concerning the aforesaid body,

except with the archbishop and the petitioning canons

knowing, assenting, and being present,

decreed, also with the assent and mandate of the most holy

Lord, that this body be kept under three keys

for the future; of which one, etc.

And that, lest otherwise it be defrauded of its due * execution,

it deemed it should be commended to the vigilant solicitude of Your Eminence,

and to your singular obedience toward the commands of that same most Holy

Lord; as I myself

fulfill by these letters, while I reverently kiss

Your Eminence's hands. At Rome, on the 28th of August

1655. Your Eminence's most humble and most devoted

servant, Julius Cardinal Sacchetti. Francesco

M. Phoebeus, secretary of the sacred Congregation of Rites.

[31] [the monks

of Classe supplicating in vain for their mitigation.] But after the said monks, having interposed their

recourse, as Fabri continues, had supplicated for the revocation

of the matter, not only did they obtain nothing whatever,

but a new confirmation followed, in other letters given to

the same Cardinal legate, expressed in these

words: Most Eminent and most Reverend Lord, most worthy of observance. The

Camaldolese monks most recently supplicated the sacred Congregation of Rites,

that it deign to moderate the decree issued

concerning the preservation of the body of St. Apollinaris

under three keys,

lest the chapter happen to claim for itself any right in the church of Classe.

But the same sacred

Congregation judged that it must abide by the decrees

approved by the most Holy One, and

that this be so committed to execution, that the same

body remain perpetually enclosed by an iron grating.

And above, moreover, let it be covered

with wooden boards, to be opened and closed by the aforesaid three

keys, of which

the archbishop shall retain the first, the chapter the second,

the monks the other. Their

fulfillment, by solicitous zeal, Your Eminence

will bestow, I do not doubt: whose

hands I myself reverently kiss. At Rome, on the

27th day of November 1655. Your Eminence's most humble

and most devoted servant, Julius, bishop of Sabina,

Cardinal Sacchetti. Francesco M. Phoebeus, secretary of the sacred Congregation

of Rites.

[32] And by these decrees, indeed, most carefully was provision made

for the security of this most precious treasure, [Similar controversies formerly concerning the bodies of other Saints; the state of the body of St. Apollinaris,]

and most wisely was counsel taken for the honor and adornment due to the Saint,

most highly esteemed among the people

of Ravenna and of Classe. Nor further is it new or

unusual that controversies of this kind be moved concerning the remains

of the Saints.

Two examples Fabri brings forward, page 108;

the one, of the city of Poitiers with that of Tours, concerning the body

of St. Martin, citing the epistle of Sulpicius Severus

to Bassula; in which, however, I find nothing similar.

But to treat of this matter does not pertain here, but to the

11th of November; the other, concerning the body of St.

Maro, from Theodoret; concerning which he treats in the Philotheus,

chapter 16; and we long since on the 14th of February,

page 767. These things in passing. Meanwhile let us proceed

to our matter. Thus, then, as Fabri continues, the body of

St. Apollinaris lies in that church

within a marble chest, locked with the said three keys;

in which likewise are kept three silver

plates, placed there by the Archbishop

Maurus when he translated it beneath the altar in

the middle of the church; concerning which matter above.

[33] In this state, therefore, among the people of Classe, in the middle

of the 17th century was the body of St. Apollinaris in the times of

Fabri; [in the middle and at the close of the 17th century: very few relics of him elsewhere.] and in the same it continued in the years 1685 and

1686, in which Mabillon, cited above, made his

Italian journey, at which time he visited Ravenna,

affirming, in the volume and page indicated, that now beneath

the greater altar, in the crypt, is seen the tomb

of the same Saint, of marble. But for a fuller

and necessary knowledge of the sacred body and its parts,

it helps to recall to memory the things said above

in number 21, expressed on the ancient silver plate:

Here rests the most holy body of the most blessed

Apollinaris … But what is here lacking, in this

same church with the greatest care has been hidden

away. This plate, on which those words were engraved,

is one of the three there remembered from Rubeus, which

was placed upon the sacred body, in the 6th century under Maximian,

and thereafter in the 7th century under Maurus, archbishops

of Ravenna (concerning which matter consult number 14);

which plates, beside the bones of the Saint, under Pope Alexander

III, in the year 1173, on the 5th day before the Kalends of November, were found.

Add those things which have already been reported to have happened at various successive

times concerning those most precious remains;

and you will gather, from those relics which under the name

of the present-day Prelate are honored elsewhere,

that exceedingly few of them are his: for what here

is lacking, in this same church (of Classe, according to

the earlier observations) and indeed with the greatest care

is affirmed to have been hidden away; and thus the parts

which then were lacking to the composition of the whole body, are

sufficiently manifestly indicated not to have been carried abroad.

Therefore we thought it not amiss to note this,

that we may the better determine concerning the Saint's relics, kept elsewhere

under his name; concerning which

it must be spoken in the next paragraph.

§ IV. The relics of St. Apollinaris falsely

ascribed to several places; the enumeration of others;

a church dedicated under his name in the 6th century.

[34] Jacopo Gualla, in the Sanctuary of Pavia, Book 3, chapter

7, will have it that the sacred body (of this our Saint)

was in the course of time carried to Ticinum (Pavia), and there

buried in a very ancient crypt in the sacred church. The body of the Saint was never translated to Ticinum,

Stephen Breventano, in the history of the antiquity

etc. of the city of Ticinum, Book 4, chapter 2, thinks the

same, affirming thus in somewhat fuller words: The sacred

body, many years since carried to Ticinum,

was honorably placed in that church

outside the city on the eastern side, named

by his name. But that translation, besides

being noted by its assertors neither with authentic

testimony nor with any epoch of time, is abundantly

refuted from what has been said. Fabri further testifies, page

96, that at the last opening of the sacred tomb, among other

relics, there was found a head divided into several parts,

and three bones of the arms whole and

one broken. Whence he most rightly argues, that

that head is not the Saint's, which is preserved in the church

of St. Apollinaris the New among the people of Ravenna, and is most certainly

established from the preceding paragraph: although

the inscription, which is placed there in the little chapel of relics,

affirms it: concerning which let Cardinal Ildebrand,

many times mentioned above, be heard, what he thought, in the

aforesaid author of the Camaldolese history, Book 2,

chapter 19, from our fragment cited above; where,

the occasion of the controversy soon following here having been related from the egg (from the beginning),

he hands down these things:

[35] nor is his head at Ravenna, Ildebrand, by the grace of God priest

Cardinal of the Holy Roman Church, legate of the Apostolic See,

to all the faithful of Christ eternal salvation

in the Lord. Since concerning the body of Blessed Apollinaris

the martyr, between the monks of St. Apollinaris

the New and our beloved sons of Classe, no

small contention had for a long while been agitated, the aforesaid

monks of St. Apollinaris the New, in proof of their

error and to strengthen the doubt conceived

among some, secretly, enticed by too great

temerity, dared in the night to violate a certain

stone chest which had already been in the said church;

and having found there not a few relics,

they entitled them, by a false epitaph, with the name

of the said Martyr, and publicly proclaimed

that they had found his most sacred body. But we, that

the seedbed of the false opinion might be removed, etc.

Whence it will be fitting to say, as the same Fabri

rightly observes, that that head which is venerated in the said

church of St. Apollinaris the New belongs to those

Saints whom the archbishop John carried thither under the name

of the holy Martyr, concerning which matter

we have already spoken; therefore that this inscription is false:

The sacred body and the sacred bones of St. Apollinaris,

first Pontiff of this city, are piously

venerated in this little chapel. See Fabri, page 123.

[36] nor at Cison in Flanders; nor several other relics Saussay errs in his Martyrology when

he writes that the head of the same Saint, carried into Gaul

to Oson (Cison, commonly Cisoin, which is

a monastery of Canons Regular of St. Augustine)

near Lille in Flanders, is kept in the cenobitic

church of the ascetics of this place, and is

venerated with frequent devotion of the pious people. Into which error

also fell our Peter Halloix, in the second volume of the *Illustrious

Writers of the Eastern Church*, page

809, Rayssius in the Belgian Hierogazophylacium, page

153, and our Willot in his Hagiologium. They will

likewise have it that at Paris there is kept one of his arms in the church

of St. Martin des Champs; as a recent

French legend-writer observes. That with an arm of St. Apollinaris

(he does not add of which) the Premonstratensian monastery of Floreffe,

situated near Namur on the Sambre, is ennobled,

the same Rayssius is authority, page 217. Carlo

Bartolomeo Piazza, in the *Sacred Hemerologion

of Christian and gentile Rome*, asserts that in the

temple of St. Apollinaris of our German College is exposed

an arm of the same Saint; but Fabri rejoins that it

is not of this Saint of whom we here treat; especially

saying that, according to that which is read in the authentic document

seen by us, it was carried thither

from Germany; whither his relics were ever

translated, is not known. See the analecta

after the Acts. Bucelinus, in the Benedictine Sacrary,

in which are recounted the relics kept in various

monasteries of St. Benedict, page 19,

will have it that notable relics of his body are kept in

the monastery of Fulda; the remaining and principal

parts in the monasteries founded under his name

at Ravenna; although, he says, at Rome in

the German College more notable and nobler

members are asserted to be. But concerning these there will be a place

to speak in the said analecta.

[37] Masini, in Bologna Surveyed, notes relics

at St. Peter's, and at St. John on the Mount.

Ughelli, in volume 7 of the Italia Sacra, column 647, says that in several other places,

in the sacrary of the cathedral church of the city of Campania (Capua)

is kept … a part of the arm. Giovanni Battista

de Grossis, in Sacred Catania, page 7, among the relics

which he there commemorates, recounts the name of Apollinaris, bishop and martyr.

Gelenius, On the Magnitude of the City of Cologne,

recounts relics under the name of St. Apollinaris,

page 264; a notable part of Apollinaris,

page 266; of St. Apollinaris, bishop and martyr,

page 378; of Apollinaris, disciple of the Lord,

bishop and martyr, page 310; of St. Apollinaris, bishop

and martyr, a part of the shin the size of a finger in

the larger silver shrine, page 509; a part,

finally, of the skull of St. Apollinaris the martyr.

After the Offices of the church of Brindisi, in an octavo of parchment,

on the last folio are likewise placed relics of St. Apollinaris,

bishop and martyr. We have a manuscript history of some

monk of St. Benignus of Dijon, on the miracles

which were done in a certain church of St. Apollinaris,

built, as is there reported, by St. Clotilde; who

had placed in it certain relics of that Saint, brought from Ravenna,

memorable afterward for several miracles;

concerning which matter it will be treated among the analecta; where also the aforesaid

history will be given. That a bone of the arm of St. Apollinaris

was given by the emperor Charles the Bald to the abbey

of Saint-Denis in Gaul, Doublet is authority in

the history of the same abbey, Book 1, chapter 46, at the beginning.

Concerning certain relics of the same, as they will have it, Saint,

carried into lower Germany, of which

the argument is longer than can conveniently

be inserted here, we shall speak after the Acts among the analecta.

[38] Furthermore, upon those who claim for themselves the more notable relics

of St. Apollinaris of today, upon whose assertors it lies to prove it, it lies to prove by some solid testimony

that these are truly of this kind,

and not of another synonymous with him, or drawn out under that

name from the sacred crypts; for not lightly

do those things incommode them which above, concerning almost all

and singular the integral parts of the sacred composite,

and their custody, we have produced. See now, how

various Saints named Apollinaris are noted under the same name.

One we gave as a martyr on the 1st of February,

page 47; one in Africa, with the Roman Martyrology also

a martyr, on the 21st of June, page

72; a martyr also of the same name from the ancient

Kalendar of St. Maximin, among those passed over, on the

5th day of June, page 418. A synonymous one, likewise, is marked as having suffered

on the 4th day before the Kalends of May in Pannonia, in Peter

de Natalibus, Book 11, in the last chapter, among other

Saints there related, number 132. Add the one of Rheims

in Gaul from the Roman Martyrology on the 23rd of

August; the one at Trieste in Istria, with the title of subdeacon

and martyr, from Ferrarius in the *Catalogue of the Saints

who are not in the Roman Martyrology*, on the 6th day

of December; and finally, the homonym at Valence in

Gaul, concerning whom, with the Roman Martyrology, it must be

treated on the 5th of October, who indeed with the title of martyr

is related by Notker, but without it by Ado,

Usuard, and the said Roman, as also by Peter de

Natalibus in the place last indicated, number 272; concerning

which matter, however, there must be examination on the said day.

[39] Whether Wandalbert was not forgetful of himself when,

after he had, [since among so great a number of Saints homonymous with our own, one can easily be confused with another.] as we have seen, on this 23rd day of July

related

St. Apollinaris, he again wove concerning that last one,

on the said 5th day of October, these things, better

to be referred to the same 23rd:

On the third day before the Nones, then, the illustrious Apollinaris,

the Prelate, honors; whose temples frequent Ravenna crowns.

Certainly, just as the Valentine Apollinaris, though

not a martyr among the ancient Martyrologists, he confused

with the Ravennate; what wonder would it be, if among

so great a number of homonymous Saints, and indeed martyrs,

some confusions were made of one with another;

then especially when there is question of the more notable relics;

whose possessors it is so common to trumpet forth

Saints of great antiquity and of great name and honor,

that it ought not to be believed. Let there be for an example

St. Christina, virgin and martyr, whose body,

if we believe its assertors, one and the same,

must needs be kept in very many places; as

will be seen on the 24th day of this month. Consult also

what has been said on the 20th of the same concerning the more notable remains

of St. Margaret, virgin and martyr, lest we heap up more

examples of this kind.

[40] Other relics of our Saint, which are said to exist at Ravenna. But now let us return to our Saint.

Among the notable relics of the holy bishops of Ravenna

of the church of St. John the Evangelist at Ravenna

is placed by Fabri, page 210, one of the rods with which

our St. Apollinaris was struck and martyred.

A truly most beautiful relic, and worthy of the sight. Page 165, on occasion of the most ancient church of St. Euphemia,

consecrated, if we believe him, by St. Apollinaris himself,

for the use of a baptistery, in which

he baptized the gentiles converted to Christ, he asserts that even today

there still survives a well (but he by no means

proves it), whose water he used in that sacred

mystery. In the church there of St. Romuald of the Camaldolese,

page 325, on the witness of the same author, there is

a pastoral staff of white and black bone, which is said

to have been that same Saint's; likewise a pectoral cross of

gold, wrought with encaustic work; gloves, a ring

with a blue gem, which seems to be a sapphire

(but was it sufficiently used in those times by the first bishops?),

and a mitre of the same St. Apollinaris;

concerning which let him himself see. Meanwhile may be consulted

those things which, concerning the antiquity of the pontifical vestments,

the aforesaid author there adds.

[41] A church erected to him by St. Bassianus in the 6th century. In the Life of St. Bassianus, bishop of Lodi,

who died at the beginning of the 5th century, which on the 19th of January, from page 221,

we illustrated, chapter 2, concerning

the church erected by that prelate in honor of our Saint,

these things are handed down: But he (fleeing to Ravenna),

not unmindful of the way, directs his step, by which

he had himself proceeded; where he preferred to place his seat near the

basilica of Blessed Apollinaris, so that,

the throng of citizens being removed, he might more freely

be able to obey God. Rubeus, Book 2, at the year

454, says: A man distinguished in holiness and doctrine

.. bishop of Reggio, Prosper of Aquitaine,

near the city of Reggio, dedicated a temple to Blessed

Apollinaris; and dying on the 7th day before

the Kalends of June, willed to be buried in it. But, Christian

piety increasing day by day, and the amplitude of the sacred

buildings, when the temple itself of Blessed Apollinaris

seemed already too ignoble,

he commanded Thomas, then bishop of that city, in his sleep,

that the temple be made more spacious, and the tomb more noble,

etc.

§ V. The sacred edifice of Classe and

the monastery; others built in various centuries under the Saint's name; the adornment of the Roman one.

Among all the churches consecrated under the name of St. Apollinaris,

by far the most celebrated is that of Classe,

notable once for its distinguished monastery, by no means

to be confused with the synonymous one of Classe of Sts. John

and Stephen, near Ravenna; concerning which Mabillon,

Annals of the Benedictine Order, volume 1, pages 7 and 226;

or of Sts. John and Paul, page 236. The dimension

and magnificence of this church of Classe, of which

is here our discourse, Leander Alberti describes

in the description of Italy, region 14. Rubeus, Book

3, at the year 545, records thus: About the same time

Ursicinus, archbishop of Ravenna, exhorts Julian

Argentarius, who was engaged in the building of the most august

temple of St. Vitalis, to add to the temple of one

patron of the city another for St. Apollinaris, and, with doubled

piety, to honor both the tutelary Divines of Ravenna.

When Argentarius had signified this to Justinian,

and Cæsar had assented, he built at

Classe, where an ignoble temple had been erected to St.

Apollinaris, a greater and nobler

temple. Which stands to this day,

presenting the very admirable antiquity of its excellent work.

[43] It helps to hear that which already from the ninth century

Agnellus, in the Life of St. Ursicinus, by whom it was built, among the other Lives of the Pontiffs

of Ravenna edited by the aforesaid Bacchini,

Part 2, from page 66, writes to our matter:

And this holy Man (Ursicinus) commanded, he says,

and admonished, that the church of Blessed Apollinaris

be founded and completed by Julian Argentarius.

Who, soon fulfilling the commands, God willing,

it was built by that holy Man with precious stones

from the parts of Italy. There is no church

like this, in that at night, as by day, it is

almost lit up *. Costanzo Felici, on this

day, attributes the building of this work to Narses,

the prefect under Justinian; but both he and

others who think the same are refuted by what has been said.

[44] Add Rubeus, at the cited place: It does not escape me,

he says, and it was consecrated that many write that this was built by Narses:

but with Ricobaldo and others, ascribing it to Justinian

through Argentarius, or to Argentarius himself,

I, for very many reasons, more willingly

assent, there being added to these a most ancient

stone in the very middle of the temple, carved with letters

of that century: on which, that we may say this again,

it is read that Maximinus *, archbishop of Ravenna,

consecrated that temple, built by Julian Argentarius

at the command of Ursicinus the archbishop.

And at the year 555 he has thus:

About to discharge afterward the vows (Narses) which

at the beginning of the war he had vowed to God, from the spoils

won in war, he dedicated temples both at Rome and Ravenna, and at Venice:

and that then he built

the church of St. Apollinaris in Classe, many

think, magnificent with a fourfold row of columns,

and with walls incrusted with precious marble.

But although Narses, as he there repeats,

did not build this, yet to the already erected house

he added an excellent building and many splendid ornaments.

[45] Leander Alberti, cited, writes thus: Founded

by Justinian, ought to be reckoned. nephew of Justin I, in the year 534

after the birth of Christ, and in the 29th year of Justinian's reign,

we read expressed in letters in the very edifice.

But that inscription both is deservedly refuted

by him, and merits no credence; because it conflicts not

only with what has already been said, but even with itself,

connecting most ineptly the year of Christ 534

with the 29th year of Justinian, who began to reign in the year

527 only. Biondo Flavio, in the Italy Illustrated,

region 6, somewhat after the beginning, says that this basilica

was the work of Theodoric, first king of the Ostrogoths.

But in Decade 1 of the Histories, Book 7, near the end,

inconsistent with himself, he lays down that Narses built,

and adorned at his own expense, in the town of Classe,

a monastery (thus far we think he errs,

as will become plain a little later) and the basilica

of St. Apollinaris: to which, both in

magnificence of works and in adornment, very few equal

are now seen in Italy. It is Leander's opinion,

however it be, that these things at least in Justinian's

times were built, whether by Narses, or by whatever

other author at last it must be reckoned. So he

wavers.

[46] A few things are noted concerning its consecration, its structure Concerning the consecration of the same temple, made in the year 549

by St. Maximian, bishop of Ravenna,

it is treated in the Life of the same Saint, given from Rubeus,

on the 22nd of February, page 296. Now that Gervase

Ricobaldo of Ferrara, canon

of Ravenna, flourished about the year 1291; as the same

Rubeus is authority, Book 6: who also recounts his writings.

Furthermore, the notable structure and ornaments

of that temple, after the said Leander Alberti, Fabri

sets forth, page 93. But now that this church

was anciently held in notable veneration by all,

both from Venantius Fortunatus and from the oath

to be taken before the body of the Saint by the prescription of Gregory

the Great, Pope, abundantly appears.

[47] and the veneration shown to it by St. Gregory the Great and others. That great Shepherd, says Fabri, page

98, from the Camaldolese history, Part 2, Book 1, chapter

4, willed to come to the temple of Classe; who,

with bare feet for reverence, when he entered through the door

which abuts on the monastery, his foot

on the threshold was received by the underlying stone as though

by soft wax: where an iron grating is seen in testimony

to this day, endowed also with indulgences,

on the witness of the same Fabri, page 111; who

also, on the same page 98, reports that the door through

which the Saint entered, which is at the right hand

of the greater one, in reverence of so great a Pontiff,

remains closed to this very day. We could wish

that of this deed of St. Gregory the Great it were established to us

from elsewhere, from ancient documents. For indeed we find nothing

of the kind in the double Life of the aforesaid St. Gregory

on the 12th of March. However these things may stand,

certainly several illustrious men honored this place with their presence.

Concerning Louis II the emperor, in the 9th century,

we learn this from Rubeus at the year 866: Louis turned aside,

he says, to St. Apollinaris in Classe;

and while he was there, he granted many things to the monastery of Monte Cassino, Angelarius,

provost of that monastery, requesting it.

Add the emperor Otto III, concerning whom Blessed

Peter Damian, in the Life of St. Romuald, chapter 7, thus testifies:

Through the whole of Lent also, in the monastery of Classe

of Blessed Apollinaris .. he remained; where, intent on fasting

and psalmody as he was able, clad in a hair shirt

next to the flesh, he was covered over with gilded purple.

Moreover, though his bed was strewn with shining

coverlets, he himself, on a mat made of papyrus,

wore away the tender, delicate members of his body. The

deed Baronius also narrates at the year 996 from

the same writer.

[48] What shall I report of the men, notable in dignity,

exceedingly munificent to this place? The munificence of illustrious men toward that church: Narses

we have already mentioned. Concerning Sergius, bishop of Ravenna,

Rubeus speaks thus at the year 768: He also built

in that part of the temple of St. Apollinaris

of Classe, in which the men, while they were present at the sacred rites,

were accustomed to abide, a place to which the name

Cellæ was given; and he bestowed on it many estates

for the use of the priests

who should perform the divine service. And concerning John VI, prelate of the same

see, at the year 777, he says: The greatest altar of St. Apollinaris

in Classe, of silver

and gold, he adorned with a vault in the likeness of a pyramid:

whose huge metallic crosses he gave to it as a gift.

His veneration also there he willed to be attested,

Pope Zachary, taken from the living in the year 752;

concerning whom Rubeus, at the year 755, near the end, inserts

the following: Whom (Zachary) they report..

returning from Gaul, to have performed the sacred rites

at St. Apollinaris of Classe at Ravenna, and to have given as a gift

most precious sacred vestments,

on which his name was inscribed;

and to have reduced that basilica

to the institution and discipline of cenobitic monks,

since it had before been assigned to canonical

priests, by no means keeping a community

of life.

[49] But this epoch conflicts with what

Lubin, cited above, has, and on the same occasion it is discussed when the monastery of Classe was built. who, to the translation of the body

of St. Apollinaris in the year 549, adds that 26 years after

the monastery was built near the church:

that in the year .. 731, through John, bishop of Ravenna, it became a celebrated

abbey; into which, about the year 775,

Benedictine monks were introduced.

So he, asserting much in few words, but proving

nothing. We have more certain things concerning that monastery at least

from St. Gregory the Great, Pope, Book 5, Epistle 1,

to Marinianus, bishop of Ravenna, given in the 14th Indiction

(that is, in the year of Christ 596); in which,

treating of the testament of John, who had immediately preceded

Marinianus, the third of this name according to

the catalogues of Rubeus and Fabri (whatever Mabillon,

Benedictine Annals, volume 1, page 7, may call him the fifth),

he has thus to our matter: But because

(John), while he lived, more often sought from us,

that those things which he had conferred on that monastery

which he himself had built near the church of St. Apollinaris,

we should by our authority

confirm, etc. And, Book 5, Epistle

28, writing to the same, he says: The monastery which

your predecessor founded, etc. Through which, if anything

other than that of Classe of St. Apollinaris should be understood, we desire

to be informed of it. Furthermore, John III in both

said catalogues is noted as having sat from the year 575;

who died in the year 595 according to Rubeus in the history of Ravenna

at that year, and Fabri, Part 2,

page 433.

[50] St. Leo III, Pope, magnificently adorned the said basilica,

The church of Classe restored by St. Leo III, Pope. as Anastasius the Librarian handed down to memory

in the aforesaid Leo; concerning which we have treated

on the 12th of June. The basilica, says Anastasius, most recently

edited in Roman type in the year 1718, volume 1,

page 311, of Blessed Apollinaris, martyr and pontiff,

which is founded near the city of Ravenna,

whose beams, from too great age,

from the courses of years and from times of old,

had too greatly withered, and were now almost about to fall

at that time, that venerable

father, divinely inspired, sent thither,

and by his most skillful and provident care

newly and firmly restored all the roofing of that church,

together with its quadriporticoes,

and reduced it to a better state. But over

the altar of that sacred basilica, for the honor

of Almighty God and of Blessed Peter the Apostle, from

whose gifts and grants he made a silken rose-colored vestment,

having in the middle a cross of gold-thread work,

with little orbs, and silken wheels,

having the histories of the Annunciation, or of the birthday

of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the Passion

and the Resurrection, as also the Ascension into the heavens,

and the Pentecost, adorned round about

in like manner, as also the vestment of gold-thread work.

But he also made there a basket of purest silver

with its little chains, weighing

fifteen pounds. Concerning that church restored by the said

Leo, Agnellus, cited above, likewise treats, Part

2, in Bacchini, page 466.

[51] [Concerning which, as also the Camaldolese introduced in place of the Benedictines to the monastery of Classe,] Lest we be here longer than is fitting, we subjoin

some things in brief. The indulgences granted to that church

Fabri recounts, page 111; the plunderings

of the Saracens Rubeus, at the year 846; the restoration

in many respects through Dominic the archbishop,

there, at the year 897, with verses added, which

can there be read: the Benedictines introduced thither

we said a little before; and Fabri treats of that matter, page

102, as also of the revenues, privileges, splendor, and

illustrious men of the monastery of Classe, held in the highest

esteem by Blessed Peter Damian, as from his words,

which are cited in the same author, page

103, becomes plain. The Benedictines were succeeded by the Camaldolese;

which there, page 104, from the Camaldolese history,

Part 2, Book 2, chapter 17, and Part 1, Book 2, chapter 11,

is narrated in these words: In those days, namely in the year

1138, on the 20th of October, Walter,

most reverend archbishop of Ravenna, drawn by the fame

and veneration of the sacred hermitage, rode up into

the mountains, and there, greatly admiring the family, the institution, and the sanctity

of St. Romuald, judged it exceedingly conducive

to the use of his church to bring over a colony from the hermitage to the monastery

of St. Apollinaris of Classe,

and *, where the holy father had consecrated the beginnings

of his conversion, there too a perpetual station

might come to pass, by his authorship, that his disciples

should have it.

[52] [many things are here heaped together; but the Camaldolese, fleeing to Ravenna because of the wars,] And so, with an ever memorable and most munificent

largess, he granted and confirmed the monastery of Classe

to Azo, the prior general, for reformation,

together with many towns, monasteries,

territories, and estates, concerning which there is mention in its

register. Certain things pertaining to that temple and

monastery Rubeus suggests at the

years 1450, 1454, and 1455; whose

Camaldolese monks at length, says Rubeus at the year

1515, when in the earlier disaster (which was

fatal to Ravenna, in the year 1512) they had received

the greatest damages from the army which

had plundered Ravenna, Andrew Zecchino the abbot himself,

strenuously fighting and defending the monastery,

having fallen pierced with many wounds, begin a new

monastery in the city of Ravenna, at the house

of Mercy, Paul of Lodi being abbot,

and with elegant structure, in a short time complete it.

[53] And such indeed was the state, in past ages, of this most flourishing

church, the place has been miserably reduced to a solitude. and of the once most celebrated monastery in Italy,

very much (such is the vicissitude of all human

things) unlike that of today,

concerning which Mabillon, at the place cited above, number 13:

Having departed from Ravenna, he says, the very ancient monastery

of Classe, distant nearly three thousand paces

from the city, in passing we saw, not without

a groan, pitying the ruins of the monastery

and the solitude of the church. For the place is

administered by one Camaldolese lay-brother, the monks

having been translated into the city, who send one of theirs

daily to perform the private sacred rite in the

basilica of Classe; according, namely, to the prescription

of the sacred Congregation of Rites; as you may see

at number 28.

[54] Various temples bearing the Saint's name: Concerning the temple of St. Apollinaris the New and its

etymology we have already spoken. It was once a Benedictine

abbey; but that Franciscan Observants were afterward

introduced there, Rubeus hands down at the year 1513;

concerning which matter he had also, near the end of Book 8, made mention:

which church Fabri describes at length from page

119. To these two churches of Ravenna add two

others in the same place, and one indeed of St. Apollinaris

(commonly called in Veclo), ancient in age

and parochial, concerning which Fabri, page 117; the other

of the same appellation, likewise ancient (which

is commonly also called St. Apollinarino), and is an oratory

for the laity; concerning which the aforesaid author, page 129:

who also, page 117, weaves an entire catalogue of the principal

cities, not only in Italy, but even

in Dalmatia, which, by erecting churches under the name of St. Apollinaris,

gave not obscure or by any means doubtful

tokens of their goodwill toward him,

especially, says Fabri, in the cities, dioceses,

and territories of Bertinoro, Cesena, Faenza,

Forlì, Rimini, Fano, Pesaro,

Ferrara, Rovigo, Bologna, Reggio,

Milan, Pavia, Cremona, Venice,

Florence, Pola, Zara.

[55] Anastasius the Librarian, in St. Symmachus,

Pope, says: He made …, among which the Roman one adorned by two supreme Pontiffs: an oratory of St. Apollinaris

of silver, and a confessio with an arch

of silver, weighing thirty pounds. And in Honorius

I, Pope, he says: He made a basilica of blessed Apollinaris

the martyr in the city of Rome, in the portico

of blessed Peter the Apostle, which is called ad Palmata

* from the ground, where he bestowed many gifts;

and he decreed that through every week, on Saturday

day, a litany should go out to Blessed Apollinaris, and

that to Blessed Peter the apostle, with hymns and canticles,

all the people should hasten to meet. Concerning the site

of the said church a few things are noted in volume 7 of June, page

159. Rubeus, at the year 772, records another temple

at Rome thus: Adrian (Pope I) ..

at Rome, in the Flaminian meadows, where before was the temple of Apollo,

and round about which they then called Apollinar, as Livy

hands down, raised a temple

to St. Apollinaris: which Pandulf, doorkeeper of the Lateran

church, handed down to memory:

but this seems to Biondo to have been done for no other reason

than that, in a celebrated place in the City,

the appellation both of the place and of the temple of Apollo, by the rite of the gentiles, in the course of time,

might be turned into the memory of St. Apollinaris, prelate

of Ravenna.

[56] The same writer, at the year 1314, at the end mentions

the Venetian Rampana family, which was also of origin

from Ravenna, the founders of the Venetian temple; notice of two others. and on that account at Venice had built

and dedicated a temple to St. Apollinaris.

That at Brescia too there stood a church sacred to the same Saint,

we have from the fact that thence relics

of St. Ursicinus, bishop of the same city, are said to have been translated,

in Ughelli, volume 4 of the Italia Sacra, column

729. Mention of another church, moreover, is made by Masini

in Bologna Surveyed, which stood in

the hall of the old palace, of the community, of the praetor

or judge as it is called, which from the year 1250 was

destroyed. Among the epistles of Innocent III, Pope, edited by Baluze

in two volumes, volume 2, Epistle 201, mention

is made of the parish of the church of St. Apollinaris of

Venice.

* perhaps he means to say that the ascent to it is made.

* Maximian

* that

al. palmaria*

* is it so today?

* which

* chest

perhaps ego* (I)

* Rubeus, erroneously

* due

§ VI. Apparitions, feasts, sodalities, altar, proper Masses.

On the 28th of March, in the Historical Commentary on

St. Sixtus III, Pope (taken from life in the year 440),

paragraph 2, [The Saint appears to St. Sixtus III, Pope, warning about the episcopate of St. Peter Chrysologus.] was set forth the apparition which happened

to that same Pontiff on occasion of a new bishop of Ravenna,

to be confirmed by him: for, warned by Sts.

Peter and Apollinaris, he makes the election of the bishop of that city,

already before ratified among the people of Ravenna, void,

substituting in his place St. Peter Chrysologus,

who had been divinely shown to him. But this

repeated apparition of St. Apollinaris, which

fell to St. Romuald, ought deservedly to be held notable beyond all other apparitions,

at that time when,

a murder having been perpetrated by his father Sergius, at which he too had been present,

though himself subject to no wound inflicted, he withdrew to the monastery

of St. Apollinaris of Classe, to devote himself for 40

days to penance, after the manner of homicides. The matter

Blessed Peter Damian describes in his Life, chapter 1, illustrated

among us on the 7th of February. But because that

month, on account of its rarity, cannot be equally

conveniently at hand for all lovers of the saints, it seemed good to transcribe

the text itself here: There, he says, macerating

himself continually with strict penance, he began with

a certain lay-brother to have daily converse;

from whom also, according to the mediocrity

of his understanding, he often heard the counsel

of good exhortation.

[58] Another apparition made to St. Romuald Whom, when the lay-brother frequently admonished

to put off entirely the secular life,

and to hasten to the order of holy conversation,

but could by no means humble his mind

to this; at one time, among other things, as though

congratulating, he interposed, saying: If I

show you Blessed Apollinaris in bodily appearance, so that you can

manifestly see him, what reward

shall I carry off from you? To this Romuald: I bind

myself, he says, by a firm and inviolable obligation,

that as soon as I see the blessed Martyr,

I will no longer remain in the world.

The lay-brother therefore exhorts that on that very night Romuald

put off sleeping, and together with him

within the church keep vigil in prayers. And when

in the silence of night both persisted long-sufferingly in prayer;

behold, about the cockcrow

of the night, Blessed Apollinaris, these two manifestly seeing,

came out from under the altar which is seen to be constructed

in the middle of the church to the honor of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

He was seen to come out from the

eastern part; from there, namely, where the porphyry

marble lies. But immediately so great

a splendor filled the whole church, as if the sun

were confining the rays of its brightness within those very walls.

[59] wholly singular: Then the most blessed Martyr, wondrously

adorned with priestly insignia, bearing in his

hand a golden thurible, incensed all the altars of the church:

and this done, straightway, whence

he had come out, he returned; and soon all that splendor,

following, ceased to appear. So the

lay-brother, a hard exactor indeed, began

vehemently to press Romuald, and anxiously to demand

that he fulfill what he had further promised.

And when Romuald still resisted, and

begged again to behold the same vision;

on another night they likewise persist in prayer, and

behold the blessed Martyr in all respects as before.

Whence also afterward, if concerning the body

of the aforesaid Martyr any question should

arise, Romuald utterly affirmed that it was hidden away in

that same church: and as long as the

holy man lived, he did not cease to offer this

testimony.

[60] and likewise another shown to him. Behold for you another apparition, there in chapter 6,

in these words: But at one time the holy man

remained not far from Catria (concerning which there in the notes).

And when he tarried there for some time,

Blessed Apollinaris manifestly appeared to him, and, that

he should proceed to his own monastery, and there

rather dwell, commanded with great authority.

Which the holy Man, deeming by no means to be neglected,

the place in which he was tarrying

deserted without delay, and to where he had been sent

diligently hastened. Guido Grandi, of the Order

of Camaldoli, in his Dissertations, edited at Lucca

in the year 1707, Dissertation 2, chapter 7, page

81, weaves in that apparition in the year 990 (which

he also repeats in the second chronological table appended to that dissertation,

page 127), concurring with St. Romuald's

year of age, as he adds, of 83.

[61] Let us come to the festive apparatus with which the day

sacred to the Saint was accustomed to be celebrated. [That the feast of the Saint was celebrated with most honorable and most crowded concourse] So much

with solemn pomp was it frequented at Ravenna, that besides

the most numerous concourse of people, a certain illustrious and

sacred majesty was added to the most religious festivity

by the intervention of the comprovincial bishops,

who by force of ancient custom were bound to be present

at Ravenna on that day; and all, clad in sacred habit,

exhibiting a noble crown of attendants to the archbishop

vested in pontifical robes, came thither

by the rite of supplication with all the clergy: as may be seen

in Fabri, page 100. St. Gregory

the Great, Book 4, Epistle 11, in the month of October, in the 13th Indiction

(in the year of Christ 595), writing to John,

bishop of Ravenna, concerning the use of the pallium; among

the few excepted days on which he grants him this use,

sets the day of Blessed Apollinaris the martyr. Why, that

on that very day on which the suffragan bishops had been consecrated,

they took an oath to the archbishop of Ravenna,

to come yearly to the solemnity of Sts.

Apollinaris and Vitalis, as appears from the instrument

of obedience by which Octavian, bishop of Bologna,

bound himself to Philip, archbishop of Ravenna, by a solemn oath,

after the custom, in the month of May

of the year 1263; which Rubeus produces at that year:

from which I cull the words pertaining here:

[62] But on the festival of the holy martyrs

Apollinaris and Vitalis, except by cause of infirmity,

it is established: the birds too bringing their contribution thither. or by certain canonical excuse,

I promise obediently to come, unless by your

license or that of your successors I remain away.

That the clergy too, together with the bishops, adorned this festivity,

is clear from the formula of the oath in

the same Rubeus at the year 1299, which Antony,

bishop of Cervia, took to Opizo, archbishop

of Ravenna: With the orders of my church

I PROMISE obediently to come. There is added to this,

that the Vigil of St. Apollinaris is noted with

a fast in the Kalendar or Directory of the Metropolitan

church of Ravenna, edited in the year 1660. Concerning the

circus of the city of Ravenna, adorned with three notable marble

columns by the Venetians, and on one of them

a statue of the Saint set, Fabri makes mention, page 332.

What shall I record? that the birds of heaven too .. that

Saint's feast do seem in a certain fixed way to venerate and celebrate:

for every year on the 23rd

of the month of July .. from all sides to Ravenna

fly together in crowded ranks crows, rooks,

jackdaws, and other birds of that kind, from various

fields of Italy, with their shrill song in a certain manner

keeping the feast. Which is so certain and

constant, that a custom has already long obtained

of always setting out for those bird visitors

the carcass of a horse, on which they may feed. So the aforesaid

Macedo, page 135, from our Silvestro Petrasancta

in the work which is entitled *Thaumasia

of the true religion against the perfidy of the sects*, edited at Rome

in the year 1646, volume 3, page 135.

This matter, indeed, as it is reported, it seemed good to narrate;

let the free judgment concerning it rest with the reader; but the credit

rest with the author.

[63] Fabri, page 126, treating of the alumni of St. Apollinaris

the New, reports that the Saint's feast is celebrated with much

solemnity by them, the chapter of the metropolitan

church there chanting the Vespers, Other things likewise concerning the same solemnity. and in the morning,

a solemn and general supplication of all the clergy,

even the regular, being held; and this by a custom introduced

in the time of Cardinal Pietro Aldobrandini, and confirmed by Pope Paul

V by Apostolic authority, in a Brief edited at Rome

in the year 1610, according to that which, in the second

synod, says Fabri, of that Cardinal, is read in

ample words; in which author, in the series of the bishops

of Ravenna, the aforesaid Pietro Aldobrandini is set down

as having sat in the year 1604; and to have been founder

of the pious house of the Converted, or penitents, page 252.

The sacred pomp had been preceded by a certain civil and public

rejoicing: for Rubeus, at the year 1503, records that money

had been destined for a new public work, which

on the feast days of St. Apollinaris and St.

Vitalis was accustomed to be spent on two coverings, prizes for a race.

At Rome likewise the feast of today's Saint is celebrated

solemnly with plenary indulgences:

most exquisite music in his temple of the German

College, as Piazza, cited above, hands down.

Let it suffice here merely to have named this College, by far

most celebrated; concerning which Panciroli says more in the *Hidden Treasures

of the City of Rome*, Region 6 of the Bridge, church

3; and among us it may be said in the Life of St.

Ignatius, to be illustrated on the 31st of this month.

[64] Sodalities, altar, Rubeus, Book 6, at the year 1213, on occasion

of the ancient sodalities, of which he there treats, having made

a descent to later times, to our purpose

hands down these things: But when very many had come to an

end, two especially were instituted by pious

men, in our, he says, age; of which

one is that of St. Apollinaris. Their members, especially on feast

days, gathered together, at dawn, noon,

and evening, recite the horary prayers to the Virgin Mother of God,

and the seven penitential psalms of David,

and give their labor and zeal to the Christian

virtues. In Gelenius, *On the Magnitude of

Cologne of Agrippina*, Book 3, Syntagma

44, among the things which he has concerning the church of the Brethren Hermits

of St. Augustine, §5, where the fraternities are enumerated,

is placed one of St. Apollinaris. By way of

supplement let there be added the altar erected at St. Romuald's of Ravenna;

concerning which matter there stands in Fabri, page 317,

the following inscription: To God, Best and Greatest. On the Kalends of May 1637,

this temple to St. Romuald, and the greater

altar to St. Apollinaris the martyr, solemnly

consecrated Aloysius Cardinal Capponi, archbishop.

It will also be of help here to take account of the Masses which

are prescribed for the altars in the ancient Missals.

[65] In the Milanese Missal of the year 1522, from folio

188, there is a proper Mass. Ingressa: The proper Masses from the Missal The just man

shall not be troubled. Super populum: The clemency

of Thy majesty we suppliantly beseech,

almighty and merciful God, that, as

Thou didst pour into the hearts of the peoples the knowledge

of Thy only-begotten Son, through the preaching

of Thy most blessed priest and martyr Apollinaris,

so, by the aid of his merits, they may

be strengthened in stability of faith. Through the same. Epistle: We would

not have you ignorant of tribulation. ℣. in alleluia:

Come and hear, and I will tell you, all you

who fear God, how great things the Lord has done

for my soul. Gospel: I am

the shepherd. After the Gospel: Over the blinded

eyes of Blessed Apollinaris he made the sign of the cross,

and restored to him light. Super syndonem:

Rejoicing in the yearly festivity of Thy blessed priest

and martyr Apollinaris, Thy clemency,

as suppliants we implore, almighty God, that,

as he, on account of the contest of so great a struggle,

exults crowned with a triumphal crown, so we too,

sustained by the suffrage of his prayers,

overcoming the darts of temptations, may rejoice in the eternal prize. Through.

[66] Offertory. Blessed Peter the Apostle said to his disciple

Apollinaris: the Milanese, Arise, go to Ravenna:

a multitude of people abides there: preach

to them the baptism of penance in the name of Jesus.

℣. Behold, thou art instructed in all things which

Jesus did. Thou who sittest with us; arise,

go. Super Oblata: To this our service and

sacrifice, most clement God, which in commemoration

of Thy most celebrated priest and martyr

Apollinaris we exultingly offer,

deign, we beseech, graciously to insert the presence

of Thy majesty, that by his merits it may be

both acceptable to Thee, and profit us unto pardon.

Through. The Preface consists of a brief compendium

of the Acts. Confractorium: Apollinaris, martyr,

through the only-begotten Son of God, and the crown

which thou hast merited, intercede for us. Transitorium:

O illustrious martyr of the Lord, Apollinaris, who

by blessed prayers didst restore light to the blind, and

didst grant healing to the tribune's wife. Postcommunion:

it coincides with the collect of the Roman Missal on the vigil

of Sts. Peter and Paul.

[67] The Speyer Missal, printed, as is inscribed, before

the year 1540, the Speyer, sets down another Mass. Introit: The priests

of God, as in the Roman. Oration: O God, who

didst deign to call the multitude of the peoples, by the instance

of Blessed Apollinaris Thy martyr and pontiff, to the knowledge

of Thy holy name: mercifully

grant, that of him whose solemnities we celebrate,

we may also feel the patronage. Through. Epistle:

By various doctrines. Gradual: I have found David,

as in the Roman. Alleluia. Blessed is the man

who endures temptation. Gospel: There arose

a contention (as in the Roman), which Gospel

is designated by a written character in the said

Missal, in place of the other, No man lights a lamp, in the same

previously assigned. Offertory: My truth,

as in the Roman. Secret: Be favorable, O Lord,

to our supplications, and, St. Apollinaris Thy martyr

interceding for us, grant that we who serve

these heavenly sacraments may be free from all

fault; that, Thy grace purifying us, we may

be cleansed by the same mysteries which we serve. Through. Communion: Once I have sworn. Complenda,

nearly as in the common of Doctors in the Roman

Missal.

[68] In the Mainz Missal of the year 1493 is noted,

for the commemoration of the Saint, the following Collect: the Mainz, and the Tournai.

O God, who hast this day given us the saving

gladness of the passion of Apollinaris Thy priest

and martyr; grant, we beseech, that we may both

experience the distinctions of his manner of life, and

glory in his intercession pleasing to Thee. Secret.

Let our sacrifice, we beseech Thee, O Lord,

be in its very action pleasing to Thee, and, by the intercession

of blessed Apollinaris Thy confessor and pontiff,

become acceptable unto the increase of our salvation.

Complenda: We are satisfied, O Lord,

with the sacred gifts; which we believe will profit us so much,

by how much these, the holy merits

of Blessed Apollinaris interceding, we

trust ourselves to have received. Through. Nor indeed does it seem to be doubtful,

that our Belgium too had already long ago something

singular concerning the Mass: for in the Missal

of Tournai of the year 1498, at the Mass of the Saint, this peculiar

Collect is prescribed: Let the prayer of Thy blessed priest

and martyr Apollinaris, O Lord, we beseech,

commend us by his intercession:

that, sustained by a suffrage pleasing to Thee, we may

merit to obtain pardon of our sins. Secret.

As Thou didst look with favorable countenance upon

the gifts of Abel, O Lord: so, we beseech, may these sacrifices

be pleasing to Thee, that we may worthily perform

the votive solemnities of blessed Apollinaris

Thy priest and martyr. Through. Postcommunion.

Grant, we beseech, almighty God, that,

as Thou gavest manna in the desert to the ungrateful and to the elect;

so, by the prayers of Blessed Apollinaris Thy priest

and martyr, Thou mayest grant to those who have obtained it the food of eternal

salvation. Through. To this also pertain the proper Offices,

concerning which we shall now treat.

§ VII. Proper Offices; hymns; memory in the ancient Litanies; whether and in what sense the Saint was a martyr.

The propagation of the cult of our most holy Prelate

grew indeed in past centuries in the ecclesiastical Offices; The Saint's name and Office in the Breviaries

nevertheless, in the Roman Breviary printed in Plantin type

at Antwerp in the year 1557, and previously

directed to Pope Paul III by Cardinal Francisco Quiñones,

I find absolutely nothing concerning him except only

the name in the index of Saints, or Kalendar,

which is prefixed to the book. Gavantus, in the Commentaries

on the Rubrics of the Roman Missal and Breviary, section 7,

chapter 9, says: Simple, in the manuscript and in 1550. Semidouble

by Pius V, with a proper Homily, which,

together with three lessons of the second nocturn, and

a proper oration, we read in the likewise Plantin Breviary,

edited by order of Pius V, in the year 1572. The most ancient,

however, at least in Italy, sign of the cult in the divine Office

is most certain, that in the Antiphonary

(if it truly is, as it is wont to be called) of St. Gregory

the Great, there are placed concerning the Saint things which

pertain to him. Gavantus adds the Sacramentary of the same

Pontiff; but in it, as we indicated at number 2, we find

nothing. Today in the Roman Breviary

the feast is celebrated under the double rite: which was not yet

noted in that which came out in quarto form

in the year 1673; but it began to be such by the mandate

of Clement X, who then sat (as may be seen in

the new Offices), and who died in 1676. Of the same Saint

the author of the Micrologus likewise makes mention, chapter 43.

[70] and in the Kalendar of Ravenna. In the cited Kalendar of the metropolitan of Ravenna

he is noted as patron of Ravenna, and is prescribed to be

venerated with the rite of double of the first class with an Octave. At

the foot there is this proper commemoration concerning the Saint:

Antiphon to the Magnificat in both Vespers.

Holy Apollinaris, priest and martyr of Christ,

intercede for thy people, whom from the nations

thou hast acquired: for we are thy people, and

the sheep of thy flock. Intercede for us to the Son

of God. ℣. Pray for us, etc. ℞. That we may be worthy,

etc. Let us pray: O God, who through Blessed

Apollinaris Thy martyr and pontiff didst will

to imbue us with apostolic teachings;

grant us, we beseech, both rightly to keep

those things which he taught, and to attain to that which

he promised. Through. Antiphon to the Benedictus:

Arise, receive the Holy Spirit, and together

the pontificate, and journey abroad * to the city which

is called Ravenna. The versicle, response, and oration

as above.

[71] A Sapphic poem under the name of Blessed Peter

Damian (which, however, we do not know to be found anywhere in him)

composed in praise of St. Apollinaris

Rubeus exhibits near the end of his Work. [A Sapphic poem, under the name of Blessed Peter Damian, composed concerning the Saint,] There will be

doubtless those who desire to see it here. It sounds thus:

Consul of the eternal kingdom, robed in state, with devoted mind

we ask, labor, to unbar the court of heaven

to thy people, Apollinaris. May the pious doorkeeper of highest

Olympus assent to this for the servants of so great a Foster-son: who

rejoice to resound thy praises with sweet hymns.

Ravenna, oppressed by inmost darkness,

gaping after the various rites of demons, thou, illustrious,

coming from the Eastern shores, enterest as the morning star.

The blind boy of the bereft Hirenæus proves thee to redden

as a favorable star: thou who to the father openest the eyes of the heart,

and to the son the eyes of the brow. The medicine of ailing

Thecla can do nothing, nothing the number of profane gods;

thou makest her heart turn to heaven, and to lift up a glad

countenance. The joyful citizen of Classe moves his lips,

unlocked by the power of the sacred tongue: the eternal Word

of the Father, restored, his words confess.

The maiden dead by a double death thou restorest

to each life, in thy pity: breath here fills the flesh,

God there the mind, forthwith.

Let us render glory to that Father, who to worthy ministers

grants such things. Let there be honor to the Son, and to the holy

Spirit, through every age.

Let the choir of the Heavenly ones exult, let the throng of the faithful applaud;

let the passion of Apollinaris be the exultation of the world.

He, in the fervor of the spirit, while he preaches

to the gentiles, what things pierce his members, the tongue

cannot relate. Christ, placed in the fire,

he attests with loudest voices; one, forsooth, is being cooked,

and there is another who speaks. He is hung

on the rack, his twisted flesh is torn asunder: now pain

tortures pain, and wound wounds wound.

Now his members, scorched with fire, are boiled

in seething water: thus two sacrifices

are made from one victim. So great a glory of Ravenna

is borne from Antioch: this sends, that receives, this

begets, that slays. Glory be to the Trinity, which

so disposes created things, that the crimes of the ancients,

the new ages may turn to gain. Amen.

Just as the said poem, so the Rhythm—whether it is found anywhere

in Peter Damian—we hold to be unascertained.

[73] When Pope Gregory XIII had instituted the German College

at Rome at St. Apollinaris; An ode of the German College: from

that college, to our seminary, says Rubeus,

this ode was sent; which he himself in type

published at the end of his history in these words:

The kindly light of the illustrious Apollinaris has gone forth to the world.

You from your blessed seats, come hither, ye Heavenly ones.

Tell how many things Apollinaris did

bravely, while first he brings the standards of heaven

to the walls of Ravenna. Cudgels, chains, prisons,

and savage burnings he bears, and as an exile

sails the sea, and is drenched wholly in blood. O what thanks

wilt thou, Ravenna, repay to so great a Prelate,

who put to flight the mockeries of demons from thy seats?

Be present with thy kindly divine will

to our concert, O God: thou who to the Martyr, to the Prelate,

givest victory over the enemy.

[74] By way of an epimetron we add to these, that tokens

of a most ancient cult and of a long most esteemed veneration toward this Saint

reveal themselves in the very old Litanies, the Saint's name in the ancient Litanies, etc.

in which his name is inscribed: of which kind

are especially those which, as ones of many,

used in the time of St. Gregory the Great, Pope, among the

people of Ravenna, but afterward abolished by Cardinal Giulio della Rovere,

archbishop of Ravenna (he is here set down as having sat

in the year 1566), the aforesaid Rubeus there sets down

with this title: The Litanies of the assembly of the parochial

priests of the city of Ravenna, which

are translated from Greek into Latin; in which,

after the Apostles and the protomartyr Stephen,

is placed the name of St. Apollinaris, Ij (twice, which I interpret

is to be pronounced). Likewise in the Treatise *On the

ancient discipline of the Church, concerning the celebrating of divine

Offices*, printed by Edmund Martene the Benedictine in four

volumes at Lyons in the year 1706, in the Litanies which,

from a booklet of prayers, and from a manuscript of Fleury, of years,

by his own judgment at least, about 900, are given in volume 4, from

page 629, St. Apollinaris is also invoked; not to

say that he is inscribed in other Litanies, edited under the name of the same

St. Gregory the Great, in Wion's Wood of Life, volume 2,

page 620. Bacchini, many times cited, at the end

of Part 2 of the Pontiffs of Ravenna, from page 142,

exhibits a Kalendar of the church of Modena, which,

as he warns, page 141, he judges to pertain to the beginning

of the eleventh century, in which St. Apollinaris is marked.

[75] whether and in what sense You will ask whether St. Apollinaris was a martyr in the strict and true

sense of a man, or in the broader and improper?

St. Gregory the Great, above at number 15, calls him a martyr.

On the contrary St. Peter Chrysologus most openly indicates,

as we saw at number 4,

that he was not properly such. The most ancient Martyrologies

are there not consistent with themselves in marking that title.

If we believe the Acts, he ought to be reckoned a martyr in the most proper

sense, and, morally speaking, to have died in the torments endured for the faith:

for having been apprehended, they say, ..

he was beaten so long, that he was left, being thought

dead. Thereupon … he survived seven

days … then the most blessed martyr

died … and was martyred.

But with us the authority of St.

Peter Chrysologus has more weight than that of the Acts, which, though very

ancient, in several things, if they do not waver,

are at least proved not everywhere to be genuine. Certainly, if

in his time the same Saint had anywhere found in the Acts

tokens of a properly and strictly so-called martyrdom, he ought

wholly otherwise to have spoken here. Yet rightly he can both be called

a martyr, and be celebrated under that title by the Church,

just as under that is celebrated the most renowned Felix

of Nola: concerning whom see the preliminary Commentary

on his Life on the 14th of January, paragraph 1.

[76] For the title of martyrdom was formerly given to Saints

who had suffered torments for Christ, he can be called a martyr. although they had not

died therein; which therefore agrees with St. Apollinaris on more than

one ground: as one who often and much

suffered for the faith, often shed his blood,

often battled with the enemy, often burned

with desire

of martyrdom: so that not so much he was wanting to martyrdom,

as martyrdom to him. Wherefore

let him rejoice in the double honor of martyr and confessor:

nor let anyone, as the same St. Peter said above,

believe him lesser by the appellation of confessor

than martyr; whom by the will of God he beholds

returned daily and manifoldly to the contest …

Often did the confessor pour forth

his blood, etc. And in this sense, with most deserved right,

you may call him a martyr; to which Ado doubtless

had regard in the eulogy, when in it he is written

to have suffered a final martyrdom.

* proceed

§ VIII. The disciples of St. Apollinaris; his peregrinations; the Acts; the shorter Life; and its author.

Blessed Peter Damian, in Sermon 3 on St. Apollinaris,

which among others is the 32nd, speaks thus: The holy

disciples of Blessed Apollinaris, The disciples of St. Apollinaris are indicated. Adheritus .. and

Calocerus, Marcianus and Eleuchadius; concerning whom

likewise the Acts of our Saint and Agnellus, among the Pontiffs

of Ravenna with the observations of Bacchini,

Part 1, from page 137. Concerning St. Adheritus, Adheretus,

or Aderitus, there must be treatment on the 27th of September

with the Roman Martyrology. St. Calocerus

we gave on the 11th of February; where also concerning his discipleship

under St. Apollinaris, number 1 and 2 of the historical Commentary.

St. Marcian is venerated on the 22nd of May,

on which it was treated of him. Finally, St. Eleuchadius

you have on the 14th of February: who, as concerning other things

of theirs we have already long since indicated from

the aforecited St. Peter Chrysologus, although they were by no means

struck by the executioners' sword, are nevertheless believed

to have been by no means strangers to the desire

of martyrdom. Fabri, Part 1, page 165,

treating of the church of St. Euphemia, says it is fitting

to believe that the Saint there ordained as priests

Sts. Aderitus and Calocerus; and as deacons

Marcian and Eleocadius. But these things can more easily

be affirmed than rightly proved; and be believed, than solidly

refuted. To these said disciples of St. Apollinaris

there may be reckoned Rufus the patrician, according to

our Prelate's Passion, chapter 2, whatever sort of person at last

that Rufus be; concerning whom in the notes on the same

chapter, letter ^c.

[78] The Acts attribute enough, not to say too many, peregrinations

to St. Apollinaris, His peregrinations are discussed; for us to reckon among these new

journeys, neither handed down by the ancients, nor acknowledged in the same Acts.

Yet I confess we are destitute of a suitable

foundation by which even a single

one of all those which they recount we might convict of falsity.

Judge otherwise concerning the peregrination into Spain,

which, in his manner here again exotic and

singular, that famous trifler pseudo-Dexter dreams up,

at the year of Christ 50, associating, among the companions who followed St. Peter

the Apostle into Spain, Apollinaris

of Ravenna.

[79] But on what writer, on what documents, on what faith?

Certainly the learned have long since known, among which the Spanish one is fictitious. and we too, in six hundred

places, have openly professed, that the trash of this sort of pottery-kiln

is to be esteemed as nothing: since they are nothing

else than most absurd fabrications, hammered out from an idly

busy brain, and worthy of indignation and

laughter rather than of relation, still less of refutation. If

anyone has leisure for it, he can go to the aforesaid Bacchini, many times cited,

page 128, where he will find both pseudo-Dexter himself,

and his commentator Bivar, at the said year 50 (not 1, as Bacchini wrongly),

confuted. Into the same pit of error fell

Fabri, Part 1, page 86, following the same masked

Lucius Dexter, a chronicler, as he will have it,

most ancient, but more truly a recent impostor,

lurking under an affected mask of antiquity.

so much do they agree among themselves in substance. The longer ones

(concerning the shorter, it will be spoken in its place) will be given

from our manuscript, which once belonged to our college

of Fulda. And of this manuscript indeed we have a double

copy under that name; one

in a codex of larger parchment form: the other

taken down on paper; whose discrepant readings, when

the appended letters did not indicate otherwise, we thought

to pertain to the Puteanus manuscript, with which it was collated.

Furthermore, in the wrapper of the aforesaid paper copy

I find noted a list of various manuscripts

to which that copy is written to have been collated,

namely of St. Maximin and St. Martin of Trier,

(whence are drawn those things which we enclose in brackets [ ]

in our text) and of St. Omer;

add the very ancient manuscript of the distinguished man Puteanus; likewise these same things are noted to exist

in the Vaucelles manuscript, of the Île de César,

as appears from the catalogue of Father Grothaus, and

in the 13th codex of Queen Christina of Sweden.

[81] of this Saint, Likewise the Life is ascribed as existing there in the

manuscript codex of Anchin, in the Catalogue of Father Beatillo, number 48,

and in that of Lord Schenckinck, as also at St.

Hubert; not to say anything of the manuscript of Monte Oliveto

at Naples, where the Passion of our Saint too is held.

And these things indeed were indicated in the said wrapper:

nor is there reason that the other

copies should detain us, one of which is noted among us in a paper

manuscript codex, which was once Isaac Vossius's, P. Ms. 6,

and another, moreover, in a parchment of larger form, sufficiently

ancient, Q. Ms. 7. Briefly the deeds of the Saint are touched upon by

the parchment codex ✠ Ms. 87, containing several

Legends of Saints, which once belonged to the house

of St. Alban, a monastery of Trier, of the Carthusian Order.

So much concerning the manuscript Acts; now concerning the printed.

[82] and edited in type; Mombritius edited them in volume 1. Ferrarius

exhibits a compendium of them from the Breviary and from Surius;

which before him likewise Peter de

Natalibus had abridged, Book 6, chapter 128. The Acts, moreover, are printed

after the history published under the name of Abdias, first bishop

of Babylon, at Paris in the year 1571,

from folio 143 verso. They are held likewise in the

Christian history of the ancient Fathers, edited in the same

place in the year 1583, and corrected by R. Laurent de la Barre;

which also Rubeus and Fabri inserted into their often

named books; the latter indeed in Part 1,

from page 85: the former in Book 1, at the year 44. What

the Golden Legend of Claude de la Roue, of the Order

of Preachers, printed in the year 1531, has here, agrees

with what the cited codex of the Carthusians of Trier reports.

A historical Collection Tillemont has

in volume 2 of the Ecclesiastical Monuments from page 102,

and a recent French Legend-writer compiled the Life in his manner.

Finally, a Life edited from the Este manuscript codex

lately appeared in the Spicilegium of Ravennate history; and it is held

in volume 1, part 2, of the Work *On the Writers of Italian

affairs*, which most elegantly at Milan

has lately begun to be printed, from page 529; but that

Life, collated with our copy which we edit,

contains the same substance of matters, although

it varies in minutiae of lighter moment: of which

somewhere too, in its place, account can be taken.

[83] which though they be ancient, are yet not everywhere genuine, That the Acts are ancient no one will deny, who

remembers that they were employed by the most ancient Martyrologists,

especially by Ado in the ninth century, who culled a eulogy

of a good length from them. That they are ancient, moreover,

Tillemont himself confesses; yet he seems, both here and elsewhere often,

to be more than fairly severe,

when he affirms that they teem with several things which take away

from them all authority, as may be seen in his notes.

Therefore he preferred to gather the things pertaining to the Saint

from Chrysologus, Gregory, and others. Nor indeed

did Ruinart give them a place among the genuine and select;

nor without reason. Likewise the French Legend-writer,

following Tillemont, takes away almost all credit from them

in the critical table of authors and Acts in volume

2, before the 1st of July. But I, having not once

fixed my eyes and mind upon them, judge that one should think

more mildly of them; which, though they cannot be reckoned

among the proconsular Acts, nor are everywhere genuine,

and free from all interpolation, ought not nevertheless on that account

to be handed on as wholly lacking all credit.

[84] With both the character of genuine and authentic Acts

that deed openly conflicts, but interpolated. to

omit others, at number 21: The Christians, seeing

so great impiety, were moved, and rushing

upon the pagans, so great was the collision, that

suddenly the Christians slew more than two hundred most impious

men. But they were also planning to kill the Vicar.

Which things assuredly are exceedingly at variance with the gentleness of the first

Christians, which St. Apollinaris, taught

by the Prince of the Apostles and others by word

and example, had likewise taught his neophytes.

Ado certainly either did not read those things in the copy which he used;

or judged that they should be struck out: since he does not make mention even by a word

of that matter. Why, that someone might perhaps

suspect that they were absent at that time from

the Acts, and were afterward added. For a like

cause among others, expressed here in the Acts, deservedly by

us were reprobated the recent fabrications of the Martyrology

of Brescia; as may be seen in volume 2 of April, in the

Propylæum antiquarium, part 3, chapter 4. The brief dialogisms

interspersed here and there seem to be an indication that the author,

when he wrote these things, had before his eyes

Acts of a better sort, from which he drew his own, having added

perhaps other things either by his own effort or another's,

as his zeal for adorning and amplifying the matter suggested to him.

[85] Concerning the Pontifical book, or the Lives of the pontiffs of Ravenna,

written by the author Agnellus or Andrew, Agnellus, the writer of the Life,

and its clearer-out, illustrator, and editor,

Benedict Bacchini, discourse fell elsewhere

through the course of this commentary. In the aforesaid

work, volume 1, from page 124, is produced the Life, or

rather a brief compendium of the same, concerning the deeds of St. Apollinaris.

But lest it, although already for some years published

in type, be perhaps here desired by someone,

it seemed good now to reprint it anew, both because it suggests some new

notices, untouched in the common Passion, and because it is brief

and ancient. Its notes the aforesaid editor added,

to be of use to us. But if anyone will collate this a little

more attentively with the common Acts, he will perceive

at once that these same things shone before Agnellus. Most sparingly,

however, did he use them, the longer history being compressed into a very brief synopsis,

with a few things too added of his own.

[86] Furthermore, Agnellus flourished about the year 840;

the barbarity of whose speech, and the incredible ignorance of things

both sacred and profane, when he flourished, and how absurd things he wrote under which he labors,

etc., the same Bacchini sets forth in his

preface, prefixed to volume 1, from page 2. Meanwhile,

however, he says, he swells with bile against the prelates

of his own times, whose both Simoniacal stain

and vices he so assails, that whoever reads

can scarcely believe that the bishops of his age were infamous

with so many crimes, and rather doubts

the credit of the writer, elsewhere in like matters suspect.

But he himself, when occasion is given … greedy of a little glory,

more than once commends himself, and labors

under the insane disease of self-love, etc. Concerning these things ..,

he says, it was worth the while to have warned you (reader),

that .. you might understand another, above all detestable, vice of this

Agnellus, and might know how much

credit a writer of this kind merits, when he assails

the most holy Pontiffs of the Roman See,

and hands down those things which extenuate the rights of the first See over

the bishops of Ravenna, infected already then

with a stain of vengeance, hereditarily propagated to himself from the times of his great-grandfather;

as Bacchini narrates, page 3,

setting forth the cause of the deed.

[87] Whence it came about that he eagerly adopted the little tales

born among the people in the time of the schism, that one especially

which is circulated concerning the erection of the metropolis of Ravenna

by Valentinian III, against the supreme Pontiffs, and, chanting of the pallium

handed down both from the beginning and on other occasions by the Augusti,

and, what is akin to these, the monster of autocephaly (αὐτοκεφαλία),

born in heretical and schismatic little brains,

and afterward, with madness playing midwife, adopted and propagated

in furious fashion against the holy See; which

Bacchini refutes from page 20, spending a good large part

of his learned preface upon that undertaking.

A modern bibliographer, in the Commentaries *On the ecclesiastical Writers

and writings*, volume 2, from column 156,

treating of that author, cites the Acta eruditorum

of Leipzig of the year 1710, in the month of August, pages 330 to

336, which "bring, he says, an accurate and genuine

judgment concerning this author, and confute and eliminate

the injuries and reproaches with which Benedict Bacchini undeservedly

defamed him, so that I would not dare to depart

from the words of their analysis." Which, after he had

produced, he scrapes together another fragment, in which some tasteless

and shameless babbler rails against the Roman See.

Such leaders, forsooth, his itch for scribbling against the Roman

Catholic Church—which as an infamous deserter,

having at once changed and laid aside, together with the Roman rites, his institute

of religious profession, he had basely deserted—taught Oudin to follow. Certainly

to carp, to nibble, to gnaw, is a manner too usual to erring vagabonds

of this kind, at whatever even in appearance seems

to lay open a chink, by which access may be given for raving

against the Roman institutions. But let us return to Agnellus.

[88] and their rights; Why he edits this writer, whom he asserts not

only inept, but also impious, and injurious to the most holy See of Peter,

and its rights, and therefore

on several counts to be proscribed, [as] the same

Bacchini asserts, page 5, why, I say, he

edits him, he sets forth from page 4: for, as he has to our matter,

page 13, although Agnellus is barbarous, ignorant

and careless of things and times,

it cannot nevertheless be denied that from his work one may

obtain several things which help sacred and profane history …

The holiness of the prelates of Ravenna, especially of those

whom with public vows the Catholic Church venerates, he first of all

praised, and brought it to pass that we should know their Acts,

which otherwise would have perished: in the first

place indeed those of Sts. Apollinaris and Severus, whom

those of posterity who have venerated them with encomiums,

no one will deny to have had Agnellus as precentor.

I pass over other things which the same author pursues in Agnellus's praise

there, having merited the greater credit, the more

remote he stood, by an interval of time, from the deeds which he handed on to posterity, and hence from vengeance.

[89] [of what parentage he was sprung, not to be wrongly confused with another synonym.] Concerning the double name of the same, and the family of his father

and mother, his birth, education, and manner of life,

Bacchini makes mention in the aforesaid preface,

from page 15, rightly warning that they err who confuse this man

with Agnellus the archbishop, who flourished in the last years of Justinian;

and correcting Vossius above all,

who wrongly carved out from Rubeus that Agnellus,

archbishop of Ravenna in the times of Louis

the Pious, and indeed the tenth in order, existed.

See Rubeus, Book 5, at the year 824, and the index

of the archbishops of Ravenna, subjoined to his

work. But now, before I take my hand from this

tablet, I cannot pass over without

signifying that Agnellus's book of so great merit seemed

to those who lately edited the most elegant work *On the Writers

of Italian affairs*, such that they judged it should be reprinted from Bacchini's

edition at the beginning of volume 2,

together with a preliminary preface of the distinguished man Ludovico

Antonio Muratori, where he discourses concerning the author and his book.

It remains that concerning the verses prefixed to the aforesaid Life

of St. Apollinaris, which we shall give a little later,

we forewarn a few things.

§ IX. The verses prefixed to the Life of St. Apollinaris, which Agnellus wrote, and here reprinted from those edited in Bacchini.

[90] And these verses indeed we thought by no means

to be omitted, with Bacchini: which anyone who merely reads

will detect as alien, he says, Certain observations, from Agnellus's style;

yet that they are of the same or of a slightly more recent age

is shown by the corrupt Latinity, and the marvelous hyperbata

in the syntax. This too must be added,

that they recite the light of the eyes of Boniface of Classe, received back

by the aid of St. Apollinaris, concerning which

Agnellus says nothing; (but the longer Acts, at number 10,

record only that speech was restored to him)

Thecla too is said in the earlier verses to have been freed from disease;

(concerning whom also the Acts, number 4) by Agnellus

omitted; who in her place affirms that the anonymous son of Herenæus,

blind, was enlightened, with

the Acts, number 3.

[91] What the first word of the seventh hexameter,

Plamone, explanations means, is obscure. So Bacchini:

on which a most distinguished Man tries to shed light, writing thus: Since,

however, a syllable is wanting to the integrity of the verse,

and since we know elsewhere that the river Lamone

flowed not far from the city of Ravenna

into the Padusa, it seems that by the copyist the letter P

is to be placed by itself, which, being previously marked with a transverse line,

would compendiously express the preposition POST,

signifying, according to the genius of the age, time,

so that the sense would be that after these things

at the Lamone, that is, at the river Lamone, St. Apollinaris

was crowned with martyrdom.

[92] In the following hexameter verse, in the same sense,

is exhibited the same particle POST. and corrections, Hence,

moreover, it would be concluded, according to the mind of the author of these

verses, that the place where St. Apollinaris ended his day,

which others commonly set outside Classe,

toward a hamlet called by the surname of the Lepers,

was at the river Lamone.

But we defer so little to that anonymous poet and of uncertain time in this matter,

that he should or could prevail over the Acts.

Furthermore, the following title is prefixed to the verses,

in the same tenor as it is in Bacchini,

here reprinted: Here begins the verse of the meter, and

for the name of blessed Apollinaris this too is read. But

the text we correct thus: in the first verse

we place almos for almis; in the fourth hexameter

ut for &; in the seventh sit for fit; in the ninth metrum

for mertum; in the tenth prenset for perset;

finally in the last pentameter pace fruatur

(Bacchini substitutes pace feratur) for *pacem

servatur*.

[93] Finally, the little poem is concluded with this clause:

Here ends the pentameter and hexameter meter; they are prefixed to the verses which are here reprinted.

whoever does not grasp it, let him turn to prose.

Behold for you now the verses themselves:

The kindly Apostle, and the firm prince of the others,

Whom by holy admonitions he taught to be his disciple,

Giving to each the highest see of the pontiffs, Ravenna,

Sent him rightly to call the people of God.

To the bereft he gave light, and raised up Thecla

And her who long lay sick in her members upon her bed.

Joyful as he came to the highest capitols, he cast down

The demonic hordes by the name, in the Lord's.

Dashing the cables of greedy death, the daughter

Of Rufus he brought back to life through the Lord.

The gift of the tongue he restored through God

To the man of Classe, whose name is Boniface.

Though he was crowned with martyrdom at the Lamone,

Before that he bore many wounds of scourges.

By the law of heaven recalling, afterward his spirit seeks

The assemblies of heaven, and the angelic choirs.

He who is not able to comprehend the meter,

Let it not displease him, I humbly beg.

But taking the journey, let him grasp it, and through byways direct

His steps, and with me, rejoicing, enjoy peace.

For itiner, which is in the text, outside it Bacchini

noted iter; but let it be noted in passing that itiner

was in use among the ancients, which the aforesaid author

seems not to have known; otherwise he could have refrained from

his correction, by no means here necessary; unless

perhaps for clarity's sake he placed it. It remains that

now we subjoin the longer Acts themselves.

* of the Lord

THE PASSION

From our Fulda manuscript, collated with several others,

WRITTEN BY AN ANONYMOUS AUTHOR.

Apollinaris, bishop and martyr, at Ravenna in Æmilia (St.)

BHL Number: 0623

FROM THE MANUSCRIPT

CHAPTER I.

The Saint, sent to Ravenna by the Prince of the Apostles, shines with prodigies; wins very many unbelievers to Christ; is grievously beaten.

[1] After St. Peter had come to Rome; In the days of Claudius ^a Cæsar, Peter,

apostle of Jesus Christ the Nazarene, coming from

Antioch into the city of Rome [converted very many to

the Lord], and many Christians with him,

ministering to him, came to Rome;

who straightway going up to the synagogue of the Hebrews

became known, and Peter gave them notice,

saying, that he too was a Hebrew,

and had come from Judæa on account of love for the brethren.

But when for many days he was discoursing

with the Jews, he introduced concerning the name

of Jesus, that he was truly the Son of God, who

made whole all the human race, showing

them how many operations and virtues in

Israel * he had done according to the prophetic voices.

But many of the Jews, doing penance

for their ignorance, believed in

Jesus, Peter preaching. Not only however

the Jews, but also the Romans, receiving

the word, rejoiced that God had visited

the human race with a visitation, sending his Son

to renew the world: and believing

in Jesus, they were baptized.

[2] But after much time, blessed

Peter the apostle said to Apollinaris ^b * his disciple:

Why sittest thou with us? thence he sends St. Apollinaris to Ravenna: Behold, thou art instructed in

all things which Jesus did, arise, and receive

the Holy Spirit, and together the pontificate, and

proceed to the city which is called of the Ravennates *;

for a multitude of people abides there:

preach to them concerning the name of Jesus, and

fear not; for it is established with thee, that he is truly

the Son of God, who restored life to the dead,

and by a word brought healing to the sick. And

after many things, blessed Peter, giving a prayer,

blessed him, and placing his hand upon

his head, said to him: May our Lord

Jesus Christ send his angel, who may prepare

thy way, and grant what thou shalt ask; and kissing

him, he sent him from himself.

[3] And when blessed Apollinaris had come

not far from the city of Ravenna, where he converts a blind man, having enlightened him, to the faith. he remained with

a certain soldier, an Asiatic , named Herenæus ;

to whom, showing whence he had come, and

what he was doing, that soldier said to him: Guest,

my son is blinded: but if there is any virtue

in thy preaching, apply the medicine,

that he may see, and I will follow * thy God, believing

in him. Whom, the boy, blessed Apollinaris briskly

commanded to be brought to him. All *

who were present seeing, Apollinaris, doing nothing else than

making the sign of the Cross over the eyes of the blind man, said:

O God, who art not locally, but everywhere, do thou

send in the knowledge of thy Son, our Lord

Jesus Christ, into this city, that thou mayest not

only enlighten these bodily eyes, but

also open the interior eyes of the gentiles dwelling

in this place, that speedily, recognizing

Jesus Christ thy Son to be their Lord

God, they may be converted, that

a place of preaching may be granted me with great

effect. These words being finished, the blind man

saw, and prostrated at the feet of blessed Apollinaris

together with his parents, believing in Christ,

they were baptized in a river ^c not far from

the city of Ravenna.

[4] But the matron of a certain tribune of the soldiers,

by name Tecla, for very many years was held

by a most grievous infirmity, Thecla, the tribune's wife, from a long-standing infirmity which none of the physicians

could raise up. It came to pass that a Christian

soldier stood before the tribune, and, a conversation arising,

the tribune spoke concerning his sick wife *: The soldier said:

There is with me a certain pilgrim, of advanced

age, who also enlightened my son without

any medicament; if thou permit

him to see her, she will soon recover *. The tribune said to him:

And whence has this man come? Who answered:

From the city of Rome. The tribune said: Then

is he a Roman by birth? He answered: I know not:

yet he seems rather to be a Greek. The tribune said to him:

Secretly bring him into my house,

that I may know the things thou sayest to be true. And when

Apollinaris had entered the city of Ravenna,

signing himself about, he said:

[5] O God who workest with Peter my master,

The Saint heals; work also with me, that thy name

may be glorified, and thy will be done. And entering

the tribune's house, he was most obligingly received;

[and] the tribune said to him: Well

hast thou come, physician, and what is sweeter to one burning

than cold water? To whom blessed Apollinaris

answered: May the peace of the Lord and

our God Jesus Christ rest upon you. The tribune

said: Who is he of whom thou speakest? Apollinaris

answered: The Son of the living God, who renewed

the lost world. The tribune said: As I see,

thou art a Galilean. Apollinaris answered: Even so.

The tribune said: Knowest thou cures? Apollinaris

answered: Nothing without the name of Jesus. The tribune

said: And what virtue is there in Jesus? Apollinaris

answered: Call together here thy soldiers,

and, all beholding, thou shalt recognize the virtue

of my Lord Jesus Christ, that he himself is

the living God, and there is none other besides him.

The tribune said: Let the chief men come, that

we may know the virtue of Jesus. And when they stood by,

the tribune said: Behold my wife is held on her bed,

sick for very many years, to whom all

medicine has proved contrary: for if there is any virtue

in thee, work.

[6] and washes them, together with his family, in baptism; To whom Apollinaris answered: May God open

the eyes of your heart, that seeing his marvels,

you may believe Jesus to be God. Then taking

the woman's hand, he said: Arise in the name

of the Lord and our God Jesus Christ, and believe

in him, and say no more that another

is like him. Immediately the woman rising rose,

came down healed from her little bed, crying out

and saying: That there is no other God besides

Jesus, whom Apollinaris preaches. But the tribune

and the soldiers seeing, were astounded,

saying: Because this is truly God, who did

such things *. For this one is powerful, if he be loved,

to afford us aid even amid wars.

Meanwhile the tribune himself, with his wife

and children, and his household, believing in Jesus,

were baptized; and many others also of the pagans,

who were present, received the faith of Jesus

Christ.

[7] likewise he adds several others to Christ. Meanwhile blessed Apollinaris dwelt in the house of the tribune within

the city of Ravenna, and daily

many of the people came to him, and

he taught them secretly, saying: Believe in Jesus;

for he is the God of heaven and earth.

And believing, they were baptized. But many nobles

gave their sons to blessed Apollinaris, that

by him they might be instructed in sacred letters. But for those

who now believed in Christ, blessed Apollinaris performed his Masses *, and

baptisms in the house of the tribune, with his disciples.

And so within

twelve years he ordained two priests, Adheretus

and Calocerus; and Marcian,

a most noble man, and Leocadius * the

philosopher, he made deacons. For he appointed six clerics,

with whom day and night he sang psalms

to the Lord.

[8] He is set before the Judge And when the report of blessed Apollinaris grew

concerning the preachings of Jesus Christ, and a multitude

of the people had believed in the faith of Christ, and

now it could not lie hidden, it was announced concerning

him to the judge * Saturninus; who bringing him forth,

set him before the pontiffs of the capitol of Ravenna,

and the duke interrogated him, what he wished

to be. To whom Apollinaris with a loud voice answered:

I am a Christian. The duke said: Who is Christ?

Apollinaris answered: The Son of God, through whom

every creature lives, which [is] in heaven, and

which on earth, and which is in the sea. To whom

the duke said: And did he himself send thee to us, that thou shouldst empty

the temples of our gods? Or dost thou not know the sacred

name of Jove? for great is the inhabitant

of the capitol ^d of this city? To whom it behooves thee

to humble thyself. Blessed Apollinaris answered:

Who the inhabitant is, I know not; and what sort of

temple he has, I have not known.

[9] The pontiffs say: Come and see the great

temple, wondrously adorned, and there thou shalt behold

the image of the most invincible Jove. and is grievously beaten by the pagans as one. And when blessed Apollinaris

had entered the capitol, smiling

he said to the pontiffs: These so great ornaments

of gold and silver could better be distributed to the poor

than hung up before the sight of demons.

Then the pagan pontiffs, rushing

with the people upon him, mangled him with excessive

slaughter; and casting him to the sea,

they left him half alive: whom his disciples

gathering, hid him in the house of a certain

Christian widow woman, applying

care to him.

[10] And after six months a most noble man, by name

Boniface, Having freed a girl from an unclean spirit, a citizen of Classe, suddenly became mute,

to whom, when very many physicians profited nothing,

it was indicated that the servant of God

Apollinaris was alive, and lay hidden with the widow.

Then his wife, sending to him, besought

that he would bestow a visitation upon her husband.

And when he had come to his house, a girl

coming out from that same house, having an unclean

spirit, cried out saying: Depart hence,

Servant of the living God; for I will cause thee to be dragged

from this city with thy feet bound. To whom St. Apollinaris

said: Be silent, devil, and go out from her,

and speak no more in men. Who straightway

departed from her. But the most blessed Man, going up

to the house of Boniface, saw him lying

mute and said:

[11] Lord Jesus Christ, who didst close the mouth

of this man, he restores speech to the mute one with great increase of faith. that he should no more invoke idols

for his aid, open forthwith his mouth,

that he may invoke thy name, which is blessed,

and believe that thou art God living unto

ages of ages; and when it had been said by the Christians:

Amen; in that same hour his tongue

was loosed, and he praised God saying: There

is no other God besides him whom the most blessed

Apollinaris preaches. In that same moreover

day more than five hundred men believed

in Jesus Christ, giving thanks to God

and to Blessed Apollinaris his servant, through whom they were

enlightened.

NOTES.

CHAPTER II.

He raises a dead woman; is beaten; condemned to starvation, is fed by an angel; wanders as an exile through various places; cures a leper.

S. Apollinaris is beaten in vain by the pagans, Not after many days, some

of the pagans were inflamed by an unclean spirit:

doing their own will, they seized him,

and, beating him a long while with cudgels, forbade that he should make

any mention concerning the name of Jesus:

who, lying on the ground, cried out that truly he himself

is God, who of his own accord willed to suffer bodily

for the salvation of all. And the pagans not bearing

this testimony, made the most blessed Apollinaris

stand with bare feet upon burning coals.

But he cried out the more,

testifying to Christ. And the most impious

pagans cast him out from the city of Classe, saying

to him: Although thou dost work cures, our city

do not enter, and thou shalt live: for

the most blessed Apollinaris was lying outside the walls,

and preaching concerning the name of Jesus Christ incessantly.

[13] But there came to him many from the

city, fearing God, [making greater progress for

Christ.] and they ministered to him:

for the throng of Christians was not small,

especially of nobles. For the Christians had

a hut not far from the wall, where St. Apollinaris

performed Masses. And he baptized in the sea

in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.

But after very many years the most blessed

Apollinaris went on to Æmilia ^a, teaching

secretly the peoples whom he could draw

by the word. Meanwhile Calocerus the priest governed

the church which was at Ravenna, secretly

doing many virtues in the name of Jesus

Christ. Not after much time, having returned

from the city of Æmilia ^b, the most blessed Apollinaris was

received by the Christians with all joy.

[14] He raises the daughter of Rufus the patrician; At the same time Rufus ^c the patrician and

consul * held the dukedom of Ravenna, whose only

daughter was sick. It was therefore indicated to him concerning

the name of Apollinaris, the most blessed priest, whom

he soon commanded to come to his house, and to visit

his daughter. But when he had entered the house with

his clerics, Rufus the patrician was crying out, saying,

straightway the girl died: and when the most blessed Apollinaris

had heard the lamentations,

he knew that she had passed away. And coming down, Rufus the patrician

rebuked him, with tears

saying: And would that he had not entered my house!

for the great gods were indignant,

and would not save my daughter; but thou,

in what way canst thou cure her? And all who

were present wept with him. To whom the most blessed Apollinaris

said: Act with confidence, patrician, and

swear to me by the health of Cæsar, that thou wilt permit

the girl to follow her Savior: and presently

thou shalt recognize * the virtue of our Lord Jesus

Christ. Rufus the patrician answered: I know that

the girl is dead, and lives not; yet if

I shall see her standing and speaking, I will praise

the virtue of thy God, and I will not forbid her

to follow her Savior. But the whole multitude

wept bitterly.

[15] But he himself, having confidence in the Lord

Jesus, and baptizes her, as also very many others. approached and

touched the girl, saying: Lord

Jesus Christ, my God; who to my master

Peter, thy Apostle, didst give a place of obtaining

with thee what he desires; do thou raise up this

girl: for thou art the creator; and there is no other

God besides thee. And looking upon the girl, he said:

Why liest thou? Arise, confess thy Creator.

Who straightway rose, and spoke, crying aloud,

and saying: Great is the God whom Apollinaris preaches,

his servant; and there is none other besides

him. And there was in that hour great joy

before all the Christians: for the name of the Lord

Jesus Christ was magnified.

And the girl was baptized, with her mother and household,

of both sexes, souls three hundred and twenty-

four. But many others also of the pagans believed

in Christ.

[16] But Rufus the patrician, fearing Cæsar,

secretly loved the most blessed Apollinaris

and ministered to him. [On account of which, being accused before Cæsar, he is set before Messalinus the vicar:] But his daughter was consecrated

to Christ, and remained a virgin. But this was announced

to Cæsar by the pagans, that a certain

man coming from Antioch, by magical incantations

introduced the name of Jesus Christ the Hebrew

into the city of Ravenna, and a great multitude

obeys him, even the house of Rufus the patrician. To whom

Cæsar, sending a successor, wrote to the vicar

by name Messalinus ^d, that a presumptuous man

of this kind he should either bend to the gods, or far

send [him] into exile. And so Messalinus

the vicar summoned into his praetorium

the most blessed Apollinaris, and said to him before the pontiffs

of the capitol: Who art thou called? He answered:

I am called Apollinaris. Messalinus ^e

the vicar said: Whence hast thou come hither? The most blessed

Apollinaris answered: From Antioch. Messalinus

the vicar said: What art dost thou practice? Apollinaris

answered: I am a Christian, and a disciple

of the Apostles of Christ.

[17] The vicar said: And who is Christ?

Apollinaris answered: by whom he is interrogated concerning Christ: The Son of the living God; who

made heaven and earth, the sea, and all things

which are in them *. Messalinus the vicar said:

Dost thou speak of that Christ who, a few

years ago, while he called himself the Son of God, was slain

by the Jews? Assuredly, if he was God, he could

neither die, nor be afflicted with insults; but

acting proudly, he was injured, and delivered to death.

By what reasoning thou countest him in the number of the gods,

we know not. The most blessed Apollinaris

answered: This one, of whom we speak,

Jesus was God, and is unto eternity; but willing

to snatch the human race from the servitude of demons,

he emptied himself, and was incarnate

of the Holy Spirit: he was born of a

Virgin, who never knew a man.

Messalinus the vicar said: This too has been heard

among us; but it can be believed with difficulty.

[18] The most blessed Apollinaris answered: Hear,

judge, what I say, manfully. God was abiding

in a body; but replying intrepidly, he did marvelous marvels

to the world; for * that he was seized by the Jews,

or crucified; the flesh, which was taken

from the Virgin, suffered; for God remained impassible

and immortal: who also

raised that same flesh on the third day from the dead,

and appearing to many, ascended into the heavens, whence

God had descended: and he granted so great virtue

to those who believe in him, that in his name

demons go out, the sick recover, the dead

rise. Messalinus the vicar said: Thou canst

not persuade me, that I should follow unknown gods,

who have not been received by the senate: but

these being set aside, approach the capitol, and with thy hands

place incense to the great god Jove the thunderer,

that thou mayest be able to live: for otherwise, by

the health of Cæsar, having scourged thee, I will send thee

with various punishments into exile.

[19] and unwilling to sacrifice to Jove, he is beaten, But the most blessed Apollinaris answered:

Consider me now brought into the capitol,

be assured, because with my hands I will not

place incense ^f. But to my Lord Jesus Christ I will offer

incense of praise and sweetness ^g. But the pontiffs,

crying out, said: Ignorant, judge,

because this man imposed upon himself the name of pontiff,

that under our name he may seduce the crowds. But do thou

examine him concerning his presumptions. The vicar

said to the Officium ^h: Strip him, and beating him

say: Come to thy senses, and sacrifice to the gods. And when

he was being beaten, he cried out saying: I am a Christian;

do what seems good to thee. But while these things

were being done concerning the Servant of God, one

of the pontiffs of the demons said to the vicar:

Let him be hung on the rack, and, tortured a long while, let him give

honor to the immortal gods. But the most blessed

Apollinaris, while he was being tortured, said:

I confess the Lord Jesus Christ to be the living God,

and no other.

[20] and boiling water is poured into his wounds. Then Count Messalinus said: Tell

me, pestilent one, what recompense is there for thee for

these punishments? The most blessed Apollinaris answered:

It is written: For if any one shall persevere

unto the end, he shall be saved. And:

If he shall have died in Christ, he shall live: this

is the recompense of the Christians. Then all

who were present, hearing these things, glorified

the God of heaven, in that the most blessed

Apollinaris was the stronger, while he suffered from

those who administered the torments to him. The judge said

to the torturers: Let him be scourged again, and over his wounds

let boiling water be poured; then, under the voice

of a herald *, let him be led to a ship, bound with a heavy

weight of iron, and be relegated in exile to the parts of Illyricum.

But a certain man, who had been more savage

against the Servant of God, seized by a demon,

suddenly expired.

[21] [His mouth is bruised with a stone, and he is afflicted with starvation, but is fed by an angel.] And when the most blessed Apollinaris had been raised

from the ground, he said to the vicar: Most impious one,

why dost thou not believe in Jesus the Son of God, that

thou mayest be able to escape eternal punishments? Then, indignant,

the judge commanded his mouth to be bruised with a stone. But

the Christians, seeing so great impiety,

were moved; and rushing upon the pagans,

so great was the collision, that suddenly more than

two hundred most impious men the Christians slew.

But they were also planning to kill the Vicar

ⁱ. But the judge, disturbed, shut

himself up; and the most blessed Apollinaris, with a most heavy

weight of iron, he commanded to be thrust into a horrifying

prison, and his feet stretched in the stocks,

and nothing to be administered to him *, so that thus he might fail.

But an angel of the Lord, coming to him by night,

the keepers seeing, fed him, and

comforting him, departed. So on the fourth day the judge

knew that he still lived: who, secretly, having chained

him, put him on a ship, and

sent him into exile. But there followed him three men of

his clergy, who ministered to him.

[22] Meanwhile the church which was at Ravenna

was governed by

priests and deacons; Punished with exile, he wanders through various places: but the

number of the Christians increased. And when

they were sailing on the shores of the Corinthian sea ^k, suddenly

a storm arose, and the ship being driven onto dry ground,

was broken to pieces, and they were cast out on the shore. But the most blessed

Apollinaris with his clerics

and two soldiers escaped alive: but the rest

died in the sea ^l. And the soldiers said to

the most blessed Apollinaris: Lord

father, whither shall we go? What shall we do? To whom

the most blessed Apollinaris said: Be baptized in

the name of Jesus Christ, and you shall live. Who straightway

renouncing the idols, were baptized in the name

of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.

[23] Then they began to go from place to place,

and passed through Mœsia ^m, he heals a leper of disease and of unbelief. preaching

there the word, and no one received them. But

the brother of a certain first and great man was made

a leper; and when the most blessed

Apollinaris had seen him, he said to him: Wilt thou be made whole?

Who answering said: I will. The most blessed

Apollinaris said to him: Believe in the Lord Jesus

Christ and thou shalt be healed. But he said:

He who shall make me whole, he is my God.

And the most blessed Apollinaris, invoking the name

of our Lord Jesus Christ, touched him; and

straightway he was made whole, who also himself, renouncing

the images, believed in the Lord

Jesus Christ: and was baptized, and remained

with him very many days, and thence passed on

to the banks of the Danube, and joined many

to the Lord.

NOTES.

CHAPTER III.

The Saint's exile; his return; the image of Apollo overthrown; sight restored to a blind man; new tortures; his death; his burial.

[24] The Saint, betrayed by the malignant spirit, And when it had become known to the pagans that the most blessed

Apollinaris was an enemy of the idols,

they wished to kill him; who, fleeing,

went down into the parts of Thrace ^a, and remained

there many days. But there was in the city

* a temple of Serapis ^b; who in those very days

would give no response to his own; but while

they offered him many things, scarcely at length at some time

the spirit of demons spoke, saying: Know you not,

that a disciple of Peter the Apostle of Jesus

Christ has come hither from Rome, and has bound me,

preaching Jesus? If this man be not expelled

from these places, we cannot give you

responses. And an inquiry being made, the most blessed

Apollinaris was found, whom,

examining what he was doing in those borders,

he narrated to them: Because I am a Christian, and for

the name of Christ from the city of Ravenna hither into exile

I have been sent.

[25] and compelled to change his abode, he returns to Ravenna. Who, stripping him of his garments, having beaten him

a long while with cudgels, caused him to be led to the sea.

But asking the governor of the province,

that with the use of a ship running to Italy he would put the most blessed

Apollinaris with all his men aboard,

saying: It is better that

he dwell there, whence he came, and subvert the people;

than here empty the worship of

our gods. And so after the third year

he enters the city of Ravenna; whom the Christians,

receiving, rejoiced with great joy,

glorifying God, who recalled to them their father and

teacher. For many marvels

through him the Lord showed on the shore of the Dalmatias,

while he was returning.

[26] But it happened, after much time,

while he was holding Masses among the Christians, He is led to the temple of Apollo; in the suburb

of Pyrenæus * the senator, suddenly a sedition

arose in the city among the pagans concerning the name of Apollinaris:

and the peoples, rushing upon him, bound

led him to the forum, beating and

wounding him. Whom the pontiffs of the capitol seeing,

were indignant, saying: This man is not

worthy to be presented to the great god Jove,

because he has frequently mocked him; but let him be led to

the temple of Apollo, and there let him recognize the virtue

of the immortal gods. And when he had been led,

many noble men, both pagan

and Christian, together with the people, followed

him. The pagans therefore said: Let us see, then,

if this man has come to his senses. And when he had come to the temple,

and had seen the image of Apollo, the most blessed

Apollinaris said to the bystanders: Is

this the god in whom you take auguries? The pagans answered

and said: Even so; the first among

the gods, and he himself is guardian of the city.

[27] The most blessed Apollinaris answered: Never

may it be well with this one, where he overturns its image. but when this shall be destroyed,

the guardian of the Christians dwelling in

this place shall be the Lord Jesus Christ, who truly is

God, and, giving * a prayer, the image was dissolved,

and the temple of the devil was destroyed.

But the pagans, seeing what was done,

cried out saying: Let the impious old man be killed,

through whom all things have been diminished. But the Christians

gave thanks to God saying:

That truly he is God, who works such things through this

our father. And a part of the pagans, being moved,

delivered him to the judge, whose

name was Taurus, that he might kill him.

Who, gathering all the nobility of the city

into his praetorium, began to address him with these words, [him,

before them]: We ask thee, deign to disclose

to us, in what virtue thou dost exercise such things,

or where thou makest thy assembly, and thy sign?

And why so great a crowd follows thee.

[28] The most blessed Apollinaris answered: There is no virtue

other than that of our Lord Jesus

Christ: He is interrogated by the judge, for we have the house of God in our hearts;

yet if thou seekest a building,

it is not far from the city, there where to the Christians

we deliver the divine oracles. Taurus the judge

said: Hast thou any helpers? The most blessed

Apollinaris answered: Even so, very many. Taurus

the judge said: And where are they now? The most blessed

Apollinaris answered: In this city of Ravenna

they abide. Taurus the judge said:

Is there in thee any virtue of divinity? Blessed

Apollinaris answered: I have already told thee, there is the virtue

on high of our Lord Jesus Christ. Taurus

the judge said: Behold, with me is a son,

born naturally blind; invoking the name

of that one whom you assert to have been crucified by his own people, open

his eyes, and we will believe that truly God

himself he is: but if otherwise, we deliver thee to the fire to be burned

for thy crimes.

[29] But the most blessed Apollinaris said: Let the blind

man come into the midst. and, healing the judge's son of blindness, he converts many to the faith. And when he had come,

the most blessed Apollinaris said to him: In the name

of the Lord Jesus Christ open thy eyes and

see. Who straightway opening his eyes, received

light *. But all the potentates who were present,

being stupefied, said: That

truly this is God, who works such things. And many

of them believed in the Lord Jesus

Christ. Then Taurus the judge drew

him out from the people, and sent him by night into

his estate, as though to guard him: and

he remained there four years: for it was

at the sixth milestone from the city. There all the Christians

hastened to him; and were taught by him:

whoever, sick, had been brought to him,

returned whole, with whatever infirmity

he had been held.

[30] A decree having been laid down by Vespasian against the Christians, But in the times of Vespasian ^c,

the augustus, so envious a report * of the pontiffs

of the capitol of Ravenna, who were over three hundred

altars, ran to Rome against the most blessed

Apollinaris, so that they said: If you do not put to death

this seducer Apollinaris,

who preaches things contrary to your kingdom and to the safety of the commonwealth,

he delivers the Roman ceremonies to extermination:

for no small multitude,

seduced by him, daily rages in insults against the immortal

gods. For this man by magical

arts has destroyed the temples *; and it is necessary

that Apollinaris alone, of bent age, be

deprived of life, that the Roman name may remain.

And so Vespasian Cæsar directed such a command

^d, that [if] anyone with rash mouth should inflict an injury

on the gods, for the very patience of the gods let him either

make satisfaction, or be deprived of the city. For it is not

just that we should avenge the gods, but they themselves

will be able to avenge themselves on their enemies, if they are angry.

Farewell well.

[31] St. Apollinaris appears before the judge, For soon, the command being given, he ordered *

[it] to Demonsten ^e, an illustrious man and patrician,

but altogether most pagan; who, the execution being sent forth,

commands Apollinaris to be brought before him:

and when, already bent with excessive age

and on account of various sufferings, he stood, being commanded, in the sight

of the judge; it was cried out by the pagans: Inquire nothing

from him: we all know that he is a Christian,

and a destroyer of temples: either punish

him, or cast him farther from this city, lest

we perish.

[32] and is interrogated by him, Demonsten the patrician said: Tell me,

old seducer, of what religion art thou? The most blessed

Apollinaris said: I do not envy

your glory, but I speak the true word;

I am a Christian, and instructed by blessed

Peter the Apostle, and by him directed into this most happy

city, that through the name of Jesus

Christ the inhabitants of this place, believing, may merit to obtain

salvation. Demonsten the patrician

said: What need of many words? It is time that, receding

from thy vanity, thou make satisfaction to the gods. The most blessed

Apollinaris answered: I offer myself as a sacrifice

for the salvation of my sons,

whom I have acquired for myself.

[33] and is condemned to punishments. If anyone shall not have receded from the gods and adored

the God of heaven, and of earth, and of sea,

who with the Lord Jesus Christ, and the Holy

Spirit, reigns unto eternity, he shall be consumed in

perpetual fire; but whoever shall have believed and been baptized,

shall have eternal rest,

and immutable riches. Then the judge, kindled

with fury, delivered him into custody to a certain

centurion, who himself too was already a Christian

secretly, thinking with what torments

he might afflict him *. But the centurion, receiving him,

led him to Classe ^f into his house.

But after some days the centurion said to Apollinaris:

Lord father, do not so quickly deliver thyself

to death: for thy life is necessary to us;

but go out by night, and go into the hamlet where

the sick dwell, until the fury of the people be quieted.

And in the middle of the silence of night he released

him, that he might flee.

[34] And when it had been known to the pagans,

they followed him. He is beaten unto death, Who, apprehended not far

from the gate *, was beaten so long, until

he was left, being thought dead. Thereupon

before dawn, gathered by his disciples, he was led

into the hamlet where the lepers dwelt; and

there, lying among the Christians, he survived seven days,

admonishing the church, that from the faith

of Christ they should not depart; announcing to them, that

there would be many future persecutions for the name

of Jesus Christ, and that after these very many trials

* even princes would come to the faith of Christ,

and all the names * of demons

be emptied, and freely in the whole world

victims be offered by the Christians to the living God. But if anyone

shall have remained in the faith of Jesus Christ, he shall live in life,

and shall not die.

[35] These and many other utterances being finished,

the most blessed martyr and bishop

of Christ Jesus, Apollinaris, died, then he dies, and is buried by his disciples. and was buried

outside the walls of Classe ^g in a stone chest by his disciples:

which chest was placed under the earth, on account of

fear of the pagans. But he governed

his church twenty-eight years, four days

^h. And the most blessed

Apollinaris, priest of the Lord and martyr of Christ,

was martyred in the city of Ravenna ⁱ under Vespasian the augustus,

on the tenth day of the Kalends of August,

the Lord God and our Savior

Jesus Christ reigning: who lives and reigns in

the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, through all ages

of ages. Amen ^k.

NOTES.

THE SHORTER LIFE,

Written by the author Agnellus or Andrew, and edited by Bacchini in part

1 of the Pontifical book, or of the Lives of the Pontiffs of Ravenna, from page 124.

Apollinaris, bishop and martyr, at Ravenna in Æmilia (St.)

BHL Number: 0624

FROM THE PRINTED EDITIONS.

CHAPTER I.

St. Apollinaris's native land, cult, and ordination. He comes to Ravenna;

preaches the faith of Christ, works miracles. The conversion of Rufus the patrician,

and his tomb.

[St. Apollinaris's intercourse with St. Peter the Apostle is honored with miracles:] Saint Apollinaris, an Antiochene by nation,

learned in Greek and Latin letters,

a disciple of the Apostle Peter, and with him came

into the city of Rome. Who, after very much

time, ordained him pontiff, and by the

imposition of hands bestowed the Holy Spirit,

and gave him a kiss, and from the city of Rome

about thirty miles came in common with

him. In which ^a place is situated the monastery ^b

of blessed Peter, which is called at the Janiculum ^c.

Where the Apostle prayed to Christ, and where he placed his knee,

the stone appeared soft, like wax from

the fire, and in the manner of it, the stone is hollowed by his knee ^d.

And at another monastery of the same

Apostle, which is called at the Elm ^e,

on that same night they were likewise put to sleep, and there appear

pits in that stone, where their head, or backs,

and buttocks, and legs rested, unto

this day ^f.

[2] St. Apollinaris likewise exercises miracles and apostolic works: And after that he directed him to Ravenna: and

he himself, the most Blessed one, before ^g he entered

the city of Ravenna, enlightened the blind son of Herenæus

(Herenæus indeed is understood peaceful ^h)

and outside this city performed very many

virtues. He overthrew the temples of the gods,

and broke the images to pieces, ordained priests and deacons,

healed the sick, put demons

to flight, cleansed lepers ⁱ. In the Bedente

In the basilica of blessed Euphemia ^l, which is called

at the Ram ^m, he first performed baptism,

and where he stood with his feet, that stone

was liquefied, and the footprints as a sign were

impressed ⁿ.

[3] The daughter also of Rufus ^o the patrician, dead,

he raised, he raises a dead woman. and, in the house of that patrician, the episcopal residence

[p] of the church of Bologna, we behold to the present

day. And thus that house is entire and safe, just as

anciently. And now nearly for five years

Theodoric [q], prelate of Bologna, the stone

chest, where Rufus the patrician with his

daughter had been placed, took away, and carried

to his own church of Bologna, that after

his death he might be buried there. But what

did it profit him? Who expelled others thence, and he himself

was not placed in it; for more sluggishly did he

cause it to be established.

NOTES.

CHAPTER II.

St. Apollinaris's prison; exile; and, after his return, his Acts, and martyrdom.

The Saint shut up in prison; fed by an angel; suffers exile; Therefore the most blessed Apollinaris, with a huge

weight of iron, was sent into prison, not

far from the capitol ^a of this city of Ravenna.

In which, the keepers looking about,

angels ministered to him heavenly food. And again

they compelled him, and cast him from the city

not far from this, at the 6th milestone, where

an ancient church of blessed Demetrius ^b is built.

After these things he was led captive to the parts of Illyricum.

Then through Salona ^c, Pannonia also

along the bank of the Danube, and through Thrace, and

there, and on the shore of Corinth, many marvels through

him the Lord wrought. Returning after

three years to Ravenna, he came back, and by his faithful

sons, and his priests, with great

joy was received.

[5] his deeds after that; his martyrdom. Whom the raging pagans, after beating him a long while,

made stand with bare feet upon coals,

and exercised many other torments upon him.

The temple of Apollo, which was before

the gate which is called Golden ^d, next to the amphitheater,

by his prayers he demolished. Whose

beatitude and gentleness was so great, that

never, while he suffered, did he do injury to anyone,

or rebuke him: except that, while he was strongly

tortured, he said to the Vicar: Most impious one, why

dost thou not believe in the Son of God, that thou mayest escape eternal

torments? By the exceeding fullness of days

he was made bent. In the times of Vespasian

Cæsar he was crowned with martyrdom. But he lived

in the pontifical throne 28 years,

* one month, 4 days.

NOTES.

ANALECTA.

Apollinaris, bishop and martyr, at Ravenna in Æmilia (St.)

BHL Number: 0627, 0628, 0630, 0631, 0632

BY THE AUTHOR J. P., FROM MANUSCRIPTS, FROM PRINTED EDITIONS

PART ONE.

The miracles of St. Apollinaris in the territory of Dijon in Burgundy.

Preliminary observations

What manner of life he professed, who

wrote the following history concerning the cult of St. Apollinaris among

the people of Dijon in Burgundy, The writer of these miracles seems to have been a monk of St. Benignus; and concerning his relics

brought thither, and enriched there with a most frequent

number of miracles,

is more certainly established to us than at what time he lived;

when, and with what fidelity, he wrote his account; from whom

he received these things, and the rest which here can be inquired,

and which he himself left untouched, the circumstances. That he was a monk

at Dijon in the monastery of St. Benignus, we have from those things

which are set forth below, number 4 and 5. For although

both there and in the remaining course of his narration, in express

terms, he does not say this, yet he affords

a very probable suspicion, that to himself, the writer,

happened those things which he reports concerning the abbot of St. Benignus, and his

mandate for publishing the miracles of our Saint; add

the narration of this argument, begun by that command, but soon

interrupted, and, a vision of the Saint appearing to the writer

being offered, again resumed, as

there it is to be read; all of which seem to indicate an alumnus of the aforesaid

monastery, either this same one,

concerning whom these things are narrated, or certainly another, who

narrates the same things concerning that one, as concerning another person:

which is more probable, I would not easily say.

[2] Likewise it took away from us a great torch, which

might shine before us in determining the time who seems not to have written before the 10th century in which the aforesaid writer

lived, since he did not

express the name of that abbot: which if he had done, much more easily

would it have been for us to fix at least some epoch of time,

with the aid of the Benedictine Annals in Mabillon,

who in various places there recounts them, as

is clear from the indexes subjoined at the end of the said Annals.

Furthermore, that this history of the miracles was not written by

him before the tenth century, there is argument in

that he narrates, number 7, concerning the irruption of the Hungarians,

still gentiles, into Gaul, and

concerning the burning, attempted in vain by them, of the church of St. Apollinaris of Dijon.

Concerning the invasion of the Hungarians

into Gaul, Flodoard, canon of Rheims,

treats, a synchronous author, and therefore in time and

place a present spectator of that matter, concerning which he speaks thus

at the year 937: The persecution of the Hungarians,

from the same part (he had just treated of the castle of Theodoric),

followed on through France. By which the villas

and fields were depopulated, houses and basilicas

burned, a multitude of captives carried off.

[3] it is proved: Yet some churches, fires being applied,

they were not able to burn. The church

of St. Macra *, though two ricks of grain

which nearly adhered to its walls were burned,

they could not kindle. Into the church

of Blessed Basolus, when a certain one of the Hungarians, striving to climb

upon the altar, had applied his hand to the altar,

his very hand adhered to the stones of the altar,

nor could it at all be torn away; until, the rest of

the Hungarians cutting the stone of the altar around that hand,

the heathen was compelled, to the admiration of all,

to bring forth a part of the stone which had adhered to his hand. A few things he there superadds

which do not properly pertain here: but these

it pleased to transcribe from him, both that concerning the time of our matter,

done by the Hungarians, the reader may judge, and at the same time

may discern that no mention by name is made by that writer of the same;

although by those general terms *some .. churches, fires being applied,

they were not able to burn*, he could likewise comprehend this one of St.

Apollinaris of Dijon. For the rest, concerning the Hungarians,

converted to the faith of Christ in this same century, Baronius treats at the year 989,

and among us is set on the 23rd of April, from page

174, their Apostle St. Adalbert, bishop and

martyr; where, concerning the Hungarians being instructed, in the Life, chapter

4, page 192, and among the notes on that chapter.

[4] [but concerning the determinate epoch of his life it is not established; in certain things which he narrates,] And from what has been said we have indeed the epoch of the deed,

of which our anonymous author treats, sufficiently agreeable;

but we cannot yet thence conclude whether

in the same century, or in some later one, he lived and wrote:

for the words which he has, number 9: *Which,

enduring even to our times, was a token of a most manifest matter,*

are too indeterminate

for you to hammer out a certain chronological epoch from them.

Tillemont, among those things which concerning St. Apollinaris

he collected in volume 2 of the Ecclesiastical Monuments from page

102, could determine nothing more concerning our writer,

affirming this one thing, that he lived at the earliest

in the tenth century. Therefore concerning his fidelity in all

things which he here recounts, I would not dare to make myself surety;

especially in those things which he reports, number 8, where

are read these things: *Then indeed, the ministers of their

shrines being called together, they compelled them, that

after their manner they should immolate goats to Wodan, their

god; and that they should ask him how he might give

to the fire strength to burn up the temple of God

of a foreign people. They also straightway, exercising their profane

and inept immolations,

and all unanimously shouting together with one voice

their Wodan.*

[5] not meriting full credit. And while they were longer occupied in such things,

again the fire which had been applied to the church

perished. Which the very princes of the Hungarians beholding,

they rushed upon the ministers of their shrines,

and raged against them with a most grievous slaughter.

But do not these things smack of an episode of the author?

For who, I pray, would be persuaded

that, in the utmost perturbation of things, in an irruption

and depredation, in which nothing is wont to be settled, nothing

deliberated, nothing meditated, but with loosened, unbridled, and

hurried impetus all things to be mingled and thrown down,

plundered and overturned, that it was so much at heart to the barbarian

plunderers, so trifling a burning of one church,

that at leisure in a manner, and even after their manner

religiously, with victims offered to their idol, they dreamed of obtaining it from the same?

[6] The copy from which we publish the miracles of the Saint

was sent hither by our Pierre-François Chifflet,

most praised in six hundred places in this work, Various notices are given

noted with this title, which he himself in his own hand inscribed:

*A book concerning the miracles of St. Apollinaris, bishop and martyr

of the people of Ravenna, done near Dijon,

by the author, a monk of St. Benignus,

written about five hundred years ago.

From four Ms. codices, namely

of St. Mary of Acey, of the Valley of Lucent, of the Mount

of St. Mary, and of Troyes, which by the most distinguished

and reverend man Nicolas Camusat was lent

to us.* We have likewise a transcript from

the Troyes Ms. codex, as the aforesaid Chifflet

noted on it, whether the same as the above or different?

Papebroch likewise left us a copy,

transcribed in his own hand; adding that it

is held after the ordinary Acts of St. Apollinaris in

the Cistercian Mss., volume 4, number 8.

[7] Where and when this copy which we give

borrowed something of correction or light from another,

will be indicated both in the margin of the edition concerning the various copies of these miracles.

and in the notes. The Roman numerals which

you will see noted in the same margin, existed in

the copy itself; which we have distributed into new titles, chapters, and

numbers after our manner. But when

mention is made in the margin or notes of the Troyes codex,

we wish it to be understood as that one, whose distinct copy

is with us. Furthermore, besides these we have nothing

with which to detain the reader; if we shall have added this one thing,

that we do not know that the miracles which we here edit

were ever edited by another. Now receive them.

al. Magra*

MIRACLES

From several Ms. codices, so far as we know, unedited.

BY AN ANONYMOUS AUTHOR, A MONK, AS IT SEEMS, OF ST. BENIGNUS.

CHAPTER I.

The church of the Saint in the territory of Dijon; his relics brought thither by St. Clotilde, famous for several prodigies.

To the great Founder of all things, therefore, for the

thorough knowing everywhere of the immensity of his honorableness

and benignity toward the salvation of the human race,

St. Apollinaris venerable among the people of Ravenna there are to be commended

to memory those very many miracles which most evidently

come to pass through the merits of the Saints themselves. If therefore

it happens that, by their quantity, they exceed the

capacity of any studious person, let at least some,

retained out of many, be lent to mutual

knowledge: and while the zeals of the faithful

for those things shall be remembered, for the obtaining of the Lord's

mercy for themselves, let them the more attentively demand

the suffrages of the same. Meanwhile there stand, almost everywhere in the provinces

of Christendom, among the other

heralds of Christ, very many oratories of churches

consecrated by the name and merits of the excellent pontiff and

martyr Apollinaris. Who namely,

as the deeds of his passion described testify, being consecrated

by the holy Prince of the Apostles

Peter, and to Ravenna, the most noble of the metropolitan

cities of Italy, was appointed the first

archbishop. There also,

preaching the word of life, he washed the greatest

multitude of the people with the baptism of the most sacred font,

and, having imbued them with the doctrine of the divine word,

converted them to the knowledge of Christ the Lord. Then indeed,

the contest of his passion being completed, in

that same city he happily migrated to the fatherland blessed without

end. In which also (as is fitting)

he is honorably buried, is venerated, is honored with glory

and merits.

II.

[2] But since (as we premised) in honor of the same

name there stand very often in the world basilicas; a church is founded in Burgundy; whither St. Clotilde brings his relics: which namely both the frequency

of the faithful people, and the health restored to various

sick persons, as also the grace obtained of various

benefits, adorns; in the parts of Burgundy,

in the district of Dijon ^a,

there is held a church consecrated to the name of the aforesaid

Martyr, distant more or less from the aforesaid

castle ^b two miles: on the eminent

hill of that same castle, indeed, on the Eastern

side, on an estate, surnamed Aquiliacus ^c. For it is reported,

by the relation of ancient men ^d,

that this same church, on account of the victory over his enemies

once granted to king Clovis in that same place ^e,

was first there constructed by his most Christian consort Crotechildis

* ^f, namely the queen.

Moreover too, by the industry of that same

queen, pledges of the relics of the aforesaid

Martyr, brought from the city of Ravenna, and

placed in that same basilica. Which church, namely,

both from the royal liberality,

and also from the largess of the pontiffs of the

see of Langres ^g, was given to the monastery of Dijon

^h, which is established to have been anciently built

in honor of God and our Savior

Jesus Christ, and of his undefiled Mother

Mary, and of the most excellent first propagator of the divine

word of that region, the martyr

Benignus ⁱ.

III.

[3] where very many miracles happen: In which church, namely, the almighty

Lord, by the merits of the pious intercessor Apollinaris,

without doubt his martyr, bestowing, so manifold

miracles of benefits abound, that,

if they could be gathered from everywhere, they would raise up the volume

of a very great body ^k. But since

that has by no means happened, partly oblivion

blotting them out, and some being neglected by plebeian

inertia and set aside; a very few, however, out of many,

in whatever style, we shall attempt to insert into the little book,

the Lord being merciful: and

yet this not by the insolence of presumption,

but rather by that reason which we are shortly to show.

But when, the miracles of virtues in the

aforesaid church growing almost daily,

and swift fame all around, urgently

moving the peoples, compelled a multitude of every sex and

age to flow together to the same;

then the bountifully-flowing goodness of Almighty God,

to the glory of his name and the honor of the Martyr,

gave to appear evidently in various

bodies of the sick, no less new

than worthy spectacles of healings.

[4] which, commanded to be committed to writing, When therefore the aforesaid Martyr

had already long been recognized in such things by many by the highest

experience, and the heap of the miracles

wrought there exceeded the memory of those relating them;

it seemed to certain persons piously worshiping God,

that so many and so great things, which, if they knew them, would avail

for an example to those to come, ought by no means to lie hidden.

And thus it was suggested by very many to him who then

presided as abbot over the monastery of Dijon above

mentioned, that those things which, by a relation as truthful

as faithful, were asserted to have been wrought by God in honor

of his martyr Apollinaris, either

he himself in his own hand (which was very easy for him)

should describe, or should also command some one of his own to accomplish it.

But he (as he was a man gentle,

and of most sincere reverence) for a good while

deferred to do it: at length, indeed, certain

brothers beseeching, nay rather compelling,

who from the very city of Ravenna to the aforesaid

monastery of Dijon, on account of the venerable

institution of holy religion and discipline of the monks, had come,

which is openly vigorous in that same

monastery, most excellent of the rest, it was begun.

IV.

[5] By whose prayers that same father, compelled;

although he deferred to accomplish this himself humbly,

but, being interrupted, they are commanded to be written by the Saint appearing, yet to one of his own, how he should accomplish it,

he took care to command. But he, having received

the abbot's command, desiring to obey as was fitting,

at the beginning of this little description,

when he had performed five or six pieces ^l,

a certain torpor of mind invaded him,

and stole from him all hope of accomplishing the begun work:

for this reason above all, because,

of those things which were to be written, he was believed to be found a less

suitable relater. It repented him also

that he had begun inconsiderately what he distrusted

that he could by no means accomplish: and the little which he

had begun, he was thinking in his mind to plane off from the tablet.

It was therefore then the sixth day of the days of the solemnity

of Pentecost ^m *. After namely the matins

of that solemn day, the sky now growing white through

the whole from the supervening light, a little

he laid his reclined head upon his little bed, about shortly to rise:

when behold, suddenly, to him almost waking,

there stood a Man bearing a religious

appearance in a clerical habit, sprinkled with gray to the middle,

presenting in his right hand an open little book;

whose outermost leaves indeed were seen to be eaten away, and

corroded by a certain rust, and, with damage

to the writing itself, frequently perforated.

Whose pages also, lo *,

were seen to be marked with very frequent red;

and above too, in the margin, purple

numbers, chapter by chapter, terminated up to seven.

For that same Man seemed thus

to address him:

[6] Since, he said, formerly you had a care

to join me to your society, they are commanded to be written down. I ask that

this which I bring, in part condemned, may

by you be able to be restored. For lately the brothers had decreed by common counsel, out of love

of devotion, that in their supplication

of the litany of the Saints, the name of this Martyr

should be written down next to the name of his patron Benignus.

He speaking to the end, that same

brother, shaking himself from his little bed, sought the monastery: and

a prayer being sent before after the custom, then to one of

the special elders, in order, what he had found,

or what he had thought within himself, he first

related. But he, hearing it, with eager mind

broke out into these words: Blessed, he said,

everywhere be God in his almighty virtue and glory,

who, among the other benefits conferred through his excellent Martyr,

deigned also to bring forth for us

at present through the same such a prodigy. Who forthwith,

following on, added: For certain, he said, (my

brother) hold it, that it is the will of God,

that this which by common vow we had decreed,

concerning the annotation namely of the miracles of his holy

martyr Apollinaris, be fulfilled as quickly as possible.

At the same time also, in the part of the little book, which seemed

gnawed and pierced, and, with

detriment to the writing, condemned, one ought to understand

the consumer and defrauder of all good,

oblivion: which namely, though

many things wrought by his merits, if they had been kept,

would have profited men, it has hidden. Nor yet

does the clemency of the invincible witness of the Lord cease,

but that, as at present they ought to be collected and reformed,

to be transmitted to the knowledge of those to come,

more frequent than usual, now by the assiduity of miracles

demonstrating, it may certify.

VI.

[7] This therefore seems worth the while, to commit

to memory, The Hungarians bursting into Gaul that although the aforesaid church of blessed

Apollinaris, when afterward its roof

was several times consumed by fire,

yet in the time of the infestation of the Hungarians

could by no means be burned with fire. When therefore that people,

going out of the den of their dwelling,

to devastate the human affairs of Gaul once and twice,

came to the same church, as being

desolate of all human service; as they intended to burn

all the other dwellings of men,

it pleased them all that this should be set on fire. They placed also below

and above kindled torches, and half-burned

fragments of firebrands, and even cast in

whatever dry things of stubble there were. Then they somehow drove

the blasts with crackling puffs; and by scraps ⁿ

of their * the breezes were peevishly agitated,

for the consuming as quickly as possible of that same

basilica. But in vain: for the fire,

hungry, failing, was dying, amid

abundant food of wood. Which when they had done a long while,

and had seen that they in no way prevailed:

now indeed the barbarians, understanding

that what resisted them was above

human, were stupefied and wasted away.

[8] they strive to burn the church of the Saint, but in vain; Then indeed, the ministers of their shrines being called together,

they compelled them, that after their manner they should immolate

goats to Wodan ^o, their god; and that they should ask

him how he might give strength to the fire

to burn up the temple of God of a foreign people.

They also straightway, exercising their profane and

inept immolations, and all

unanimously with one voice shouting together their Wodan:

and while they were longer occupied in such things,

again the fire which had been applied to the church

perished. Which the very princes of the Hungarians

beholding, they rushed upon the ministers of their

shrines, and raged against them with a most grievous slaughter.

Furthermore, placing the fire of the kitchen of their

foods at the door of that same church,

they urged it a long while, that it might burn. But

it in no way harmed the boards of that door, except

only what, for the knowledge of those to come, the divinity

permitted to be done; namely, a hole of a rounded

shape, as though of a gimlet, it gradually ate out, and

the chinks of the joinings a little darkened. Which,

enduring even to our times, was a token

of a most manifest matter. And thence, confounded,

the barbarians going out, departed elsewhere. Yet the aforesaid

church remained untouched by them.

But although the virtue of God had then most evidently

lain open to the veneration of his Martyr, this

nevertheless is held in wonder by many, that

afterward, in time of peace, it happened by chance that

the wooden material of that same church could be

burned. But to one wondering at such things, by a most certain

reason, without doubt, it can most easily be answered;

for that, at that time, was a sign brought forth by the goodness of God

to, as it were, bestial and unbelieving minds. But this

which now happened to be done, is given as a most certain

token of the purgation of faults, and of the correction of

errors, as of a most dear father toward his sinning

sons.

VII.

[9] For the pledges of the relics of the most blessed pontiff and martyr

of Christ, Apollinaris, anciently, as we premised,

are held hidden away in the aforesaid church; The Saint's relics most celebrated for prodigies. through which namely,

by signs of innumerable benefits, to any

of the faithful worthily asking out of faith, most frequently

the virtue of Almighty God is shown

manifest. For whoever, oppressed by the burden

of any misfortune, or wearied by the sickness of

any infirmities whatsoever, straightway, as he came to the relics of the holy martyr Apollinaris,

either coming by himself, or supported by the help of others,

wonderfully recognized that, by the divine virtue,

he had received a renovation of his own body. But if it happened

several times, for whatever cause of a matter, to carry

those relics somewhere, not without the work of the wondrous

virtue of God was it permitted at some time to bring them back

to their own seat. Very many sick persons, finally, beholding

the little casket from afar, whither it was being carried,

by the mere gaze of faith recovered lost

health. Very many also professed

that, while they were tortured with various pains,

at merely hearing the name of the Martyr, they

immediately felt themselves to be better. Meanwhile, by the pall with which

the same relics were covered, the feeble limbs of many

being touched, were most usefully restored

at the touch.

NOTES.

the sense can be that, by splinters, chips, segments of wood, or twigs,

fitted for kindling and nourishing the fire, the breezes were peevishly agitated.

CHAPTER II.

Other miracles wrought by the virtue of the relics of St. Apollinaris.

VIII.

The benefits are commemorated, The manifold assemblies of the Saints, therefore,

for the sake of restoring peace, throughout the places

of the region, both by bishops and abbots,

and also by the orders of the other grades or dignities

of the whole country, yearly

gathered into one, were celebrated; to which namely

those very relics, by the procuration of the monks of the holy martyr Benignus,

were wont to be carried. But who could suffice to relate what

miracles of benefits, what heraldings of the praises of Christ,

what actions of thanks to Almighty God,

both on the very journey of arrival,

and in the assembly of that same people, through the same

relics were wrought by the Lord? For every

kind of men, both the sound and the feeble,

and whatever of the common folk there was of either sex,

rejoiced to join themselves to their company.

And when they had come thither, whither

the pledges of the other Saints had been carried,

a huge clamor resounded from everywhere through

the mouths of all: there was a concourse, by its density

intolerable, and all together, asking, made resound

the name of Apollinaris the martyr. Very many

also of the possessed, placed at a distance, often cried out

that they were tortured by the virtue of the pledges about to come. Hence indeed

a very great multitude of the sick, leaving

the offerings ^a of the other Saints, to the relics of blessed

Apollinaris, as to a most special

patron, made their refuge; requiring

from him, as if by debt, the remedy of health.

[11] Then were to be heard voices, resounding with the

howlings of pious groanings in this manner: through these relics

Holy Apollinaris, watch; holy Apollinaris,

succor; holy Apollinaris, help.

Shouting together with this terror-crashing * sound, and with fists

striking their breasts, and with tearful

eyes looking to heaven: at the same time also with all

the ardor of mind, with the effort of which they were capable, desiring to reach

the relics of the Martyr. On the palls

hanging down from the relics they fixed biting kisses,

pressed their eyes, and applied their feeble

limbs: and stupendous joys, mingled with horror,

straightway came to pass. It was to be beheld (in God I pray, that

you may believe, whoever * reads or hears these things faithfully)

that, the contraction of the sinews bursting, the shape of the former

straightness of legs, and arms, and hands, with blood

bursting forth, came about. For the nails of the fingers, long

pressed into the palms *, had passed through the palms of some: the

skins of the calves also being torn asunder with the flesh,

very great wounds lay open. The eyes indeed of the blind,

the eyelids a little flickering,

resumed the long-desired light. Their mouths likewise,

long stupefied, by the office of lips and tongue,

restored to the mute their utterances. Nor less meanwhile

the possessed, or lunatics, the rage

of ferocity lost, wondered at what sort they had once been,

and gave heed that they, with the other men of sound

mind, ought to praise God in the virtues of his

Martyr.

[12] At the same time, indeed, those burning with the languors of fevers,

when they saw obtained; what things by the Lord through

the Martyr were being done, their hair straightway stood on end:

and, quaking, in a short time, forgetting themselves, were at once

both healed. For who, of the pains

of teeth and of sides, of the darkenings of eyes,

and of the bites of serpents, of the crookednesses

of feet and hands, and of the sufferings of the other

limbs, could unfold the medicaments everywhere bestowed?

But, as they are called, oscilla,

certain hanging insignia of some triumph;

of almost all the limbs restored,

God working, were carried, expressed in

wax, to the glory of the Martyr. Besides, in

all these things, what is fitting to esteem, or

venerate, except to praise, magnify, and

bless thee (O Jesus Christ, Son of the living almighty God)

who art king and crown of the Martyrs,

and the ornament of all thy Saints? For

such things befit chiefly those who, for

thy sake delivering their bodies unto death,

are to reign with thee in perpetuity. These things assuredly

are most laudable, to be beheld, to be loved, and

to be proclaimed, by men of the best mind,

and loving God alone purely. But for the rest,

the dementia of the envious, and the incredulity of the malicious,

while it cannot, by loving,

believe, disparages salutary things.

IX.

[13] Finally, in the district of Beaune ^b, in the village

of Marsolium, an assembly, as we said, of the

relics of the Saints, and at the same time of the bishops as also the serenity of the air amid the intemperance of the atmosphere;

and of the other chief men of the whole province, was made.

To which at any rate it happened that the relics of the holy

martyr Apollinaris were carried: to which

also, after the customary manner, whatever of the sick of the whole

assembly, of any infirmity, was present, was offered.

It happened then there, on one of the nights, that the crashing

of the clouds, and flashings more horrible than usual,

and most powerful thunders, so terrified

all mortals, that by the strokes of the lightnings they awaited

their own destruction. Straightway a very great

multitude of that same people, making refuge to the relics of holy

Apollinaris, urged that they

be drawn out from their dwelling: because their faith

was, that if they were opposed against so great commotions

of the air, immediately the serenity of the sky

would be restored. Which when it had been done,

so great a quiet of the breezes came about, that to no one was it doubtful

that the Lord had bestowed it by the merits of his

Martyr. Hence indeed there began,

in that same lodging, on each day, to arise

manifest health through the bodies of the feeble,

so wonderfully and most evidently, that the multitude

of the whole people, with the orders of the clerics,

making a concourse at each single miracle,

cried out the praise of Almighty God, and of his holy

Apollinaris, and gladly rendered

thanks humbly to them.

[14] [health restored to the feeble, to one the light of his eyes, to others their gait, to a woman her hearing.] But then, in three men and two

women, the divine virtue especially deigned

to restore the former health of their feeble

limbs. One received the light of his eyes, two

received their gait for going. Of the women also,

to one was restored hearing, with the health

of one hand; the other, whose fingers

were fixed in the palm, when she asked of the keeper

of the relics for a candle, and he had held it out to her;

her hand being extended, which she had carried hooked,

her right hand appeared whole and safe.

There were present then also some in the same assembly,

of the chief of the magnates, who, by the instinct of levity

and envy, disparaging the benefits of the holy Martyr,

nay of God himself, by a sinister

opinion mocking, were contriving to divulge

wickedness *. Yet it happened

to them (as a certain one says) that nothing is more unhappy

than the happiness of sinners. For while what

seemed to them useful they had begun to handle at their own

pleasure, suddenly turned to madness, and by words

and curses mutually provoked, even to the shedding

of blood almost raging, to their own

homes, without the effect of peace, they returned, kindled

with furies and anger.

[15] Miracles most frequently wrought again. Meanwhile it happened that the assembly of the whole people,

leaving the canine wranglings ^c of the princes,

magnified God, the bestower of all good things,

in the miracles of his own, wrought by the expenditure

of virtues through the merits of holy Apollinaris

the martyr. And thus, with the gifts ^d of very many

special gifts, and the exultation of

the whole people, the pledges of the relics of the holy Martyr

were restored to their own church.

And at the same time, day and night,

so many and so great virtues and miracles of healings

were wrought in it, that their number

exceeds the retentiveness of the memory of any man.

Those same chief men, who lately

had desired to disparage the marvels wrought through the Saint,

terrified by their assiduity, and

led by their fullness, afterward venerated the holy Martyr

with worthy honor.

[16] Meanwhile it is believed to have been divinely procured,

that in that same church of holy Apollinaris,

a well-spring anciently established in

the right part of the altar, A spring in the church of St. Apollinaris, salutary to men as well as to crops. which contains waters no less

salutary than clear: from

which, to the glory of God and the veneration of the Martyr,

both in men and in cattle,

and in the other necessary things of men,

manifold salubrities were seen to come about. For

if any limb of anyone's body, weighed down by whatever pain,

was suffused with them with the devotion of faith,

it was known by many to be restored for the better.

Taken also in drink,

they profited very much for the recoveries of various infirmities.

Nor less meanwhile to the fruits

of gardens, and the crops of fields, and

the fruits of trees, the waters of that same spring, for protection

against the impending calamities of the atmosphere, or

the pests of various worms, sprinkled at some time with faith,

were seen to have availed exceedingly.

XI.

[17] There was a certain Martin, from the estate of

Arnonis cohors ^e by surname, who had

all the limbs of his body so convulsed by a miserable

contraction, A certain Martin, spending the night in prayer, that he could help neither himself, nor

any other in any uses:

only by little handstools (as men of this kind

are wont, who, leaning on them, by casting themselves forward,

convey their bodies from place to place) he used

for steps. In such a manner also

to the church of holy Apollinaris, asking the Lord's

clemency, he had often been accustomed to come,

or even to be carried by the conveyance of others.

For on one of the days that same Martin,

approaching, keeps vigil all night, there about to pray

until the morning of the next day. Then indeed, about

the middle of the night, there seemed to stand by him a certain one

in a religious habit, saying: Arise, he said,

and follow me. He too, mindful of his own impossibility,

clung to the ground, stupefied.

But he who had appeared, again and again exhorted him:

Arise, he said, arise, and follow

me. But he strove to act; attempting what

he distrusted that he could do. Little by little, however, raising

himself up, he stretched into an upright posture. And,

desiring to follow him whom he had seen, but by no means

beholding him, he knew not what he was doing.

[18] Yet, setting himself to a cry, with the voice by which

he was able, [he is healed of the contraction of his sinews by the aid of the Saint appearing to him.] he said: Holy Apollinaris, I pray,

do not desert me; holy Apollinaris, I beseech,

do not forsake me. Then straightway those who were round about,

moved by his cry,

running together, found him whole,

and in his posture most upright, whom most recently

they had known to be constantly bent to the very ground.

And thus all in common, praising,

magnified God, and everywhere divulged the merit

of the Martyr. That same Martin also,

made whole in his whole body, after some

space of time, mindful of the author of his

deliverance and likewise of his health, seizing the road,

entered Ravenna. To which when he had come,

approaching the church of holy Apollinaris, in which

the sacred body is honorably kept hidden away,

he narrated to the brothers of that same

place what had happened to him; and relating the whole in order,

what and how the Lord

had wrought in him through the present visitation

of his Martyr. But they, hearing this,

rejoiced greatly, and, exceedingly gladly

exulting *, that in a far

region also the clemency of the Lord, through the merits of his

patron, deigned to work: and, receiving that same Martin

kindly, they enrolled him into their

fellowship, and made him a monk:

who, living a long while in that same monastery,

dwelt there, and was to many an example of humility

and grace.

XII.

[19] There was a certain man at the castle of Dijon,

Eurardus Euerardus by name, Another, by veneration of the relics a very great part of whose body

had so withered by the dissolution of paralysis, that

whatever of the limbs of that part was in him,

he could fit to no use. Who, while

a long while at the tomb of the holy martyr Benignus

he poured out most frequent prayers, that the kindly martyr

might obtain from the Almighty Lord for him the health of his own

body (as at that time there he had been accustomed

to do for many); on a certain night,

while he was performing the watches of the vigils there,

a little oppressed by sleep, saw a certain one

standing by him, from whom he merited to be thus admonished:

Go, he said, without delay to the church of holy

Apollinaris the martyr (which you know is established not far off):

there confidently know,

that in the near future you are about to receive the health of your whole

body. But he, doubting

nothing at all of these things of which he had been admonished, morning

being come, with nimble swiftness to the memorial of the Martyr

proceeded to go. Where, while coming, he awaited the Lord's

mercy, with a tearful voice,

and full of faith, he cried to holy

Apollinaris, and, as if by debt,

demanding from the holy Martyr the restoration of his body:

and approaching the shrine of the relics, sweetly

fixing kisses on the palls hanging here and there from them,

he more attentively asked for the benefit

of his health.

[20] [and by the waters of the well he is cured of the paralysis, and admitted into the monastery of Dijon.] Then, pouring over himself the water of that same well,

he called upon the name of the Martyr always with expenditure.

After this, beside the altar, prostrate on the ground,

he lay down. Then indeed, as though wearied,

he was loosed by sleep. And when after

a little, awakened, he sat up, glowing in his whole body

(like one who with a most salutary ointment

throughout his whole body had been anointed)

he seemed. Who forthwith rising, found himself

entirely whole throughout. And thus, returning

to the monastery of Dijon, asking

from the brothers of that same place, that he might merit to be received

into their fellowship. Who straightway,

charitably receiving him, and clothing him with the habit

of holy religion, established him in their

congregation. But he himself, as long as

he lived in the body, eagerly gave himself over to obedience,

and, devout, persevered unto the end.

XIII.

[21] The heavenly grace, therefore, day by day more manifoldly

illustrating the merits of the holy martyr Apollinaris,

there came to pass in him daily A certain soldier is sought for slaughter by assassins; and notable

miracles. It happened also at that time,

that a certain soldier, Adaldus by name,

in the atrium of that same church, had a dwelling

contiguous to his own habitation. Who

moreover (as the ferocious rapacity of men often

deserves) suffered the snares of his enemies:

whom, that they might seize or kill him, for a long while

craftily watching, they sought. But

in vain. On a certain night, therefore, a hand

being conspired *, gathered into one, rushing

they broke the doors of that house; an assault being made,

that they might seize him ensnared by unexpected sleep.

For that house clung (as we said) to the aforesaid

church. But when he perceived

the noise of his enemies rushing upon him,

knowing that he was less able to resist,

leaping naked and unarmed from his little bed, hastily

he sought the protection of the church of the holy Martyr:

and, resting beside the altar, considered the outcome

of the matter.

[22] But the enemies, running about everywhere, searching the house,

but in the church of St. Apollinaris by no means found the enemy whom they cruelly sought.

But he who was held their chief, Wizo Viuzo

by name, looking, saw a little door in the wall

of that same church: For I know, he says, that

he has made refuge in the church. In truth in it

he lies hidden. Assuredly he will be seized by us there.

But that saying, those who were present of both

households, hearing, all their hair stood on end,

and for an hour the voice clung to their throats. At length,

mindful of the past virtues, imprecating

terror upon him, contradicting, they forbade, lest

by any audacity he should presume to do this. Moreover

also adding, they asserted that that place, by rash

daring, had never by any of men been violated.

[23] Then he, instigated by a more bitter by a greater gall,

is reported, stomach-swelling, to have said: is preserved unharmed. If, he said,

that Apollinaris had inflicted upon me the evils

which this man has done,

I would not hold my hands, but I would drag him

from the church by the throat. Saying this, he leaped into

the church. Then turning himself this way and that, thrusting forth his hands, straightway about to seize

the enemy. Who forthwith, made mad,

what he was doing, he utterly knew not.

For there was there a huge chest, whose

lid seizing, opening it on high,

with arms extended, he thought to find in it

him whom he sought. Immediately then, his arms bent back,

the lid, which he had held out upward,

caught his own head within the chest, and

wrung out his soul straightway by a cruel death. His

satellites finally outside awaited his

return. And while he delayed, they began

to call him by name, that he should come out.

But in vain. After this, approaching to see

what he was doing, they found him lifeless

hanging in the chest. Who, terrified by excessive

fear, seizing flight, confounded, departed.

Which matter, when it had been discovered,

struck terror into all; so that no one thereafter

should presume to invade any thing

of that same Martyr: and that same place thenceforth,

as is fitting, was held in ampler veneration.

NOTES.

PART II.

HISTORY OF THE FINDING IN THE 12TH CENTURY.

From the Spicilegium of Ravennate history, appended to the second part of the first volume of the work On the Writers of Italian Affairs, edited at Milan in the year 1725, from

page 538, by an anonymous contemporary author: whence are proved and illustrated

the things said in our preliminary Commentary, §2, from number 20.

The reason is given whence and why the present instrument is here printed; Ludovico Antonio Muratori, most distinguished man, in

his preface to the Spicilegium just mentioned,

says that those things which he subjoins in type he drew out from

praised above by us, had the same before his eyes,

and used them for composing his own. And so, those things which concerning the possession of the body

of St. Apollinaris by the people of Classe, from this history of the finding, into his own

Ravennate history he himself transferred in few words, and which we, from him,

gave in our preliminary Commentary, at the place above

cited, will receive full light from this same history of the finding,

deduced by a long series of the matters which pertain here,

joined together. There are added several miracles

which the author inserted into his narration,

and which here can by no means be withdrawn from the readers.

[2] likewise on what occasion and when it was written. On what occasion the author wrote, you have from number

41; but although he speaks of himself, yet neither his name

nor his manner of life does he anywhere express. But that to the matters

which he sets forth he was contemporary, he declares sufficiently openly,

when at number 1 he speaks thus: *Those things which with our ears

we have heard, which with our eyes we

have seen, and our hands have handled, concerning

the body of the most blessed Apollinaris, which at

Ravenna in the monastery of Classe was LATELY found,

and his marvels which he did,

I have determined summarily to describe with whatever style.*

So this anonymous author lived at the end

of the 12th century, or at the beginning of the 13th;

since he affirms this finding to have happened lately;

and it happened in the year 1173, according to what is said in the same preliminary

Commentary, and to be said a little later, where

we shall treat of Rodulph. Our anonymous author also most clearly indicates his age

at number 11 in these words:

*But now at length we must hasten to those arguments of the proposition,

by which almighty God in our times, etc.* And at number 41 he subjoins

these things to the miracles narrated by him before: *Lastly,

he who wrote these things approved several

wonders in a business of this kind.*

[3] In the aforesaid Spicilegium, the finding written by the anonymous author

is immediately preceded by the Treatise of dom

Rodulph, Another written about the same times by Rodulph, venerable Prior of Camaldoli,

an eminent doctor, *On the finding of the body of the most blessed

Apollinaris*. In Mabillon in the Benedictine

Annals, at the year 1086, page 229,

is noted Rodulph, Prior of the hermitage of Camaldoli,

who instituted Beatrice as first Prioress of the monastery

of St. Peter in the municipality of Lucca, in the territory of Mugello,

of the diocese of Florence. But this one, so in appearance

similar in every way to ours, is nevertheless not ours: for the age

is repugnant; for if that finding he truly wrote,

as we saw noted in the title, Rodulph, and

the little verses there inserted at the end are of the same

author, as we think they are; it will follow that he wrote

after that finding had already been accomplished, and

thus lived about the end of the twelfth century,

or the beginning of the thirteenth, so far as, from other characters

which likewise shine there, it is permitted to gather.

But for the rest, the author writes a homily, not a history,

the argument being drawn, through the course of his writing,

from the fire of the sacrifice in the ancient law; then, the discourse

being turned to the people who took pains to seek the sacred body of blessed

Apollinaris, to find what they sought,

to venerate what they found; he compares it with

the sacred fire of the holocaust.

[4] He exhorts moreover to the cult of that same body

the people of Ravenna, is by us passed over, as also the brothers of Classe, and, the properties

of fire being accommodated to it, he runs the same

analogy always sufficiently aptly and ascetically to the very end

of his treatise. And so, since that

pertains wholly to ascetics, but not to historians,

and suggests nothing of new notice, by which the finding of the sacred body

can be historically illustrated, it would be superfluous

to reprint that treatise here; if you except a few

verses similarly falling, or Leonine,

as they call them, which savor of that century, and were, by that same,

as we think, anonymous author, composed; since

they are inserted into the context of the said treatise; to which is soon

subjoined this clause: *our Lord

Jesus Christ granting, who with the Father, etc.* But by those verses

both the time of the finding of the sacred body,

and the possession of the people of Classe, are exceedingly confirmed.

They sound thus:

[5] In the thousandth, one-hundredth, seventieth

third year after the pleasing Offspring born of the Virgin, except certain verses;

when the Shepherd Alexander, the third, shone in the world,

whom the dire Schisms, and whom true wisdom proved,

by clear tokens the body of Apollinaris lies open.

In an example of light, in the suppliant temple of Classe,

this revelation shines with many and worthy signs,

when the feast of Simon and of Jude shone honorable,

the feasts are celebrated for the sacred members on the fifth of November.

Thou, people of Ravenna, having now obtained a perennial gift,

preserve the gift, with the throng accompanying thee,

that by clear merits thou mayest guard the metropolis for thyself,

that thou mayest be happy in the heavens with thy own Prelate.

[6] which are explained. Under this Pontiff was celebrated in the year 1179

the third ecumenical Lateran Council, Frederick I ruling as emperor,

against the Albigenses, likewise against

the schismatics ordained by the antipope Victor IV.

By the fifth of November understand the fifth of the Kalends

of November, as both here, from the feast of Sts. Simon

and Jude, which is celebrated on the 28th of October;

and from the following instrument of the finding, becomes plain;

in which, at number 23, it is thus said: *They decreed

… that the day of this mention be celebrated each

year on the fifth of the Kalends of November.*

To that instrument is prefixed this title: *Here begins the prologue

on the finding of the body of blessed Apollinaris

the martyr.* Nor is a new title placed except

before those words: *Which being heard, the Lord Pope

Alexander, etc.*, at number 12, to which is prefixed

this: *On the authority of the Lord Pope Alexander

and of the Cardinals.* Behold for you now the instrument itself,

with a few notes, though several being passed over,

which from our preliminary Commentary can be

fetched.

PROLOGUE.

The writer, concerning his own slightness With the affection of exceeding piety, the diligence of the fathers

described for the future generation those things which God wrought in the ancient days,

to make them known

to their sons, that they might not forget the works

of God, and might seek out his commands. For by these,

as by certain stars illustrated, the Church shines,

lest, as in the deep night of this world

of darkness, by the density of gloom

she be harmed by those who shoot in the dark at the upright

of heart. By this example, though we be

small in knowledge and reason, from those things which with our ears

we have heard, which with our eyes we have seen,

and our hands have handled, concerning the body

of the most blessed Apollinaris, which at Ravenna

in the monastery of Classe was lately found,

and his marvels, which he did, summarily

certain things I have determined to describe with whatever style,

and to commit to the knowledge of those to come,

that these may be known in another

generation, and the people who shall be created may praise the Lord.

[2] having premised certain things We do not blush to offer in the house of the Lord

small things, because we cannot great.

For we know that in the construction of the tabernacle

Bezaleel ^a, that most skilled artificer,

among the precious offerings of the rich, and the little gifts

of the poor, did not despise them, and of the little flour of the poor

woman, the small ashen-baked bread

the prophet Elijah accepted. But our Bezaleel,

nay far more than Bezaleel,

who under the shadow of his hand protects us (since indeed

the shadow of God is what Bezaleel is interpreted)

who is also the true prophet Elijah, powerful in

work and word, weighs not the value of the oblation,

but the affection of the offerer for the libation.

In whose piety we trust, that of our jar's

little flour, and the little oil of the cruse,

so sufficiently it will be increased, that under the jaws

of those eating, no less than at the widow

of Sarepta ^b, the saving food may grow up, and

in so great a matter, opportune eloquence will not

fail us.

NOTES.

CHAPTER I.

The author vindicates the possession of the body of St. Apollinaris to the monastery of Classe.

In the city of Ravenna, which among the Italian

cities shines distinguished with a noble prerogative,

a certain monastery is situated, of a controversy having arisen between two monasteries which is reckoned by the appellation

of St. Apollinaris the New, in

distinction from a certain more ancient church,

which, next to that same city, is named by the name of St. Apollinaris

the Old. There a congregation of monks

abides, which, although it flourished with regular

profession, once nevertheless

presumed unlawful things: whence it ought also to lack

lawful things; according to the rule by which it is said:

*He deserves to lose the privilege, who abuses the power

granted.* For through the avidity of coveting more,

the whole sum of the debt is emptied.

For when it should have sufficed for it that,

by the merits and name of so great a Father, it was celebrated, it nevertheless began

to glory, and to spread rumors through the peoples,

that the presence of the sacred body of the same

adorned that place.

[4] It asserted, therefore, that it, by John

the archbishop of pious memory, from the monastery of Classe

had thither been translated; concerning the possession and indeed we do not deny

that that father translated certain bodies of the Saints

by a certain most cautious stratagem, and holy

craftiness. Of which translation such a cause

is proved to have existed. Istria is a certain

province in the Illyrian parts, whose inhabitants

blessed Apollinaris, when he was in exile there,

converted to the faith of Christ by evangelical preaching.

Whence in that same province he is most celebrated,

and, as the Apostle as it were of that region, venerable

with the highest devotion. For also the church of Classe

in those same parts once had

most ample possessions, and each

year received copious revenues thence.

Indeed there is a stone of great weight in that same monastery,

at whose weight the metals brought thence

were wont to be weighed. Wont

also were the offices of that same monastery to be administered by monks and

servants of that same province.

[5] But it happened that certain persons, having received

an affront, of the body of St. Apollinaris, departed from that same place. Returning

therefore to their own homes, a multitude of pirates being gathered,

to the abovewritten church as nocturnal

depopulators they came, and, all things

which they had found being seized, even the silver ciborium,

which was set upon the altar,

they carried off. They threatened also, by repeated infestation,

that they would translate the body of blessed Apollinaris.

The aforesaid John the archbishop, hearing

these things, by a prudent counsel, as we said,

translated certain bodies, so that, these being heard,

that people, on this occasion, might not further rage against the monastery of Classe;

thinking also

that the venerable body of blessed Apollinaris had been translated.

And thus it came to pass, that it remained

deluded, while it attempted to delude, and that within

the church of Classe so precious a treasure

was preserved unharmed.

[6] he sets forth the cause, and shows the opinion supported by no probable reason, By this occasion it came to pass, that concerning the body

of holy Apollinaris, among certain persons a

doubt arose, which we know, by manifest truth,

to have proceeded not from probable reason,

nor from a probable opinion, but from gross and

supine ignorance, or, what is worse, from

artful malice, and we prove it by manifold reason.

The aforesaid archbishop John,

even after that translation which they mention,

said and wrote such things, by which

his fabrications of falsity are easily convicted.

On the golden tablet which he conferred on the monastery of Classe,

and, in place of the silver ciborium which the perfidy

of the aforesaid people had thence snatched, he placed,

he left such things written:

*Of thy riches, venerable Prelate, these I offer

to the temple of Classe, where thy members lie.*

But at the last, there choosing the burial of his own body,

the archbishop by name and title Honestus ^a gave a strong

argument of the will of this certainty, who

is reported to have been of so great sanctity, that to him, coming

often with bare feet to that same church, the doors

of the monastery lay open by a divine nod. This very thing

by his sayings and writings, and by the final choice

of his burial there, he proved by an irrefragable

argument. That very many also of his successors

wrote and did the same, the monuments of today

declare.

[7] he shows it supported, But blessed Gregory, doctor of incomparable

eloquence, and supreme Pontiff of the Apostolic

See, who enlarged this church with possessions,

and honored it with his coming, gave a strong

token of this faith, as in his

and others' privileges succeeding him

it evidently appears. Besides, that solemn

procession, which the archbishop of the church of Ravenna,

with a venerable and glorious throng of bishops

and Cardinals, and a manifold

frequentation of clergy and people, each

year was accustomed to celebrate, corroborates this

argumentation. For not for any other reason

is so singular a solemnity venerated in that same church

by the adjacent province, except that

there the most sacred body of blessed Apollinaris

is established to rest.

[8] which should assert it to rest elsewhere, Lastly, the wondrous assertion of blessed Romuald, the excellent confessor,

affirms this very thing, who,

together with a certain lay-brother of venerable life,

saw blessed Apollinaris coming forth from under the altar which

is in the middle of that same church, next to the porphyry cross, thrice,

recognized him, and believed, and,

giving thanks to Almighty God, passed over to the fruit

of a better and the zeal of sanctity. And as often

as an inquiry of this kind was made, most constantly he asseverated,

as blessed Peter Damian

testifies concerning him, that not elsewhere than

in that same monastery of Classe the glorious body of the aforesaid Father

rests. And thus it comes to pass, that

not only by human testimonies, but by divine

oracles also, the certitude of this truth is proved,

so that the calumniators cannot object

that these things are established only by secular supports,

or by begged suffrages.

[9] In the wing of the church of Classe, the venerable body of blessed

Felicula ^b was placed, than among the people of Classe, by command of the holy Gregory

the Pope, in a certain basilica, namely,

built with a brief indeed, but seemly

compass. To which also possessions not small

were assigned. When a certain one of the

Cardinals of the church of Ravenna had received this from the monastery,

whence he ought to have been humbled, he began

to swell up. For on this occasion that same

monastery, with a tyrannical domination, he oppressed.

Whence it came to pass, that by the industry

of that same abbot, from this domination that Cardinal

with an innumerable … was driven out. Expelled

therefore, he vehemently boiled, how

he might extinguish his fury in the ruin of that same monastery.

He took pains, therefore, to spread a rumor through the peoples,

that the sacred body had been translated from the place of Classe.

[10] Which lie almighty God did not delay

to avenge, an example being set forth also in the person of the disparager. mercifully applying

temporal severity, lest justly he should inflict

even the eternal. For with the disease of elephantiasis ^c

that Cardinal was straightway struck by the just

judgment of God, so that he who, concerning the body of blessed Apollinaris,

had scattered a stain of falsity, might in his own

body also appear stained. But soon,

returned to himself, he corrected his error,

so that what by a simple word he had brought forth, by a sworn

protestation he denied, asserting that in

the council of many he had lied. He became

therefore a preacher of truth, who had been an assertor

of falsity. And when he had vowed himself to God, and to blessed

Apollinaris, and had promised the service of monastic conversation

in the monastery of Classe,

straightway he was freed, and in that same

church of Classe lived religiously, and migrated

to the Lord. O wondrous virtue of God,

wondrous wisdom! which made a cause of light out of

the matter of blindness; for whence the gloom of error had emerged,

thence the light of truth shone forth.

NOTES.

CHAPTER II.

This possession is proved from the finding of the body.

[The possession of the people of Classe against the monks of St. Apollinaris the New] But now at length we must hasten to those arguments of the proposition,

by which almighty

God in our times so evidently,

so gloriously approved this, and wiped away the cloud of doubt

so patently, that utterly

may be stopped the mouth of those speaking iniquitous things, and mute

be made the deceitful lips. For by the arguments of those

who strove against the truth, the tokens of the truth

lay open, and, from the effort of the calumniators,

the search of certitude was declared.

He therefore, as he is the true Lord, who, even

using well the evil, through them frequently

works useful things; he is the wise physician, who, from

the poison of depravity, fulfills the medicaments of health.

When therefore the monks of the aforesaid monastery

of St. Apollinaris the New wished to produce the fabrications of their machination

as an argument

of truth, they dared secretly and as if furtively

to break into a certain place within the said monastery,

and to uncover, with a certain temerity, the bodies which

lay hidden there. And that they might more easily

be able to fulfill the purpose of their cupidity,

approaching dom Gerard ^a, archbishop of the people of Ravenna,

they began to notify

what they had found, and, by importunate prayers, and

soft persuasions, to incline his ears.

[12] and that the archbishop of Ravenna is proved from the deed of Pope Alexander, But he, although he was endowed with wondrous wisdom

and honesty, more quickly perhaps

than was fitting, accommodated himself, and inclined

his hearing, and lent his assent also.

By what zeal he did this, we know not. One thing, however,

we know, that at that time the church

of Classe he was regarding with an oblique aspect, although not

on a manifest occasion. Approaching

therefore the monastery of St. Apollinaris the New,

what had been done, he publicly preached and

approved among the people, the monks of the abbey of Classe

most constantly forbidding, and solemnly appealing to the Apostolic

See, lest concerning the body of blessed Apollinaris so new, so

false a sentence should be held. Which being heard, the Lord

Pope Alexander, whose virtue and wisdom

in the furnace of schismatic persecution,

like gold in the furnace, was proved; whose

maturity and industry for this work, not without

heavenly providence, was preserved, grieved gravely,

both for the enervated appeal * of the Apostolic See,

and for the authority of the aforesaid Pontiff (the archbishop),

so quickly inclined to so great levity.

[13] And the senators of the Apostolic Curia being called together,

and deliberation being made, who through the cardinal Ildebrand restrained the gainsayers. the audacity of the

heard temerity he annulled, reproved the fabrications,

condemned the errors. He wrote therefore to the archbishop of

Ravenna, and, concerning the pontifical maturity

less preserved, rebuked him, as was fitting,

and commanded that, the aforesaid bodies

being hidden away in their own place, the rumors kindled

among the people he should extinguish, and, concerning the sacred body

of blessed Apollinaris, should not permit it otherwise to be

held, than through a thousand years it had been

approved. But lest perhaps it should happen

to be neglected, he wrote to dom Ildebrand

the Cardinal, discharging the office of legation in those * parts,

who is surnamed Crassus ^b,

not so much for the fatness of his body, as for

the abundance of his honesty and wisdom; that, a copious

multitude of bishops and abbots, and of other faithful,

being called together, he might restrain the unlawful

daring of the calumniators, and, concerning the body

of blessed Apollinaris, might forbid the ancient sentence to be changed, under Apostolic

excommunication.

But if it could not be done otherwise, he should take care to

find the sacred body in the sight of the people,

and, found, publicly to demonstrate it.

[14] But it happened at the same time, that dom

Theodinus, The body of the Saint being sought, a man of magnificent virtue and

industry, was returning from the Gallican regions, where

he had discharged the Apostolic office,

who was associated with the aforesaid father as a truly opportune

colleague. Which it is established was not done without divine

providence, so that, while the authority of so great

fathers was doubled, the more mature might become

the celebrity in that same deed. The legates of the holy Roman Church

coming together into one, with the venerable archbishop of Ravenna,

at the monastery of Classe,

with his suffragans and Cardinals, so great a multitude of clergy

and people suddenly flowed together, that it would have been thought

incredible to the hearing, had not the sight of the eyes proved it.

There was present also dom Ildebrand,

governor of praiseworthy life of the Camaldolese congregation;

to whose dispensation and providence that same monastery

also pertains, with a venerable throng of abbots

and monks, with whom also a certain

monk and hermit of singular constancy

was led, by name John; concerning whose

sincerity so much was presumed, that to him especially

it might be permitted to handle the sacred members.

[15] For he was venerable in gray hairs, abstemious in

sobriety, and to the place where it had been hidden away, mild in innocence, venerable in countenance,

so that at his sight all ran together in throngs.

The counsel of seeking being therefore established, it was inquired by the fathers whether

there was anyone who had any knowledge

of this secret. There were found two brothers of good

reputation, who said that this arcanum had been committed to them

under a sworn caution, that

without the command of Apostolic authority it should be revealed to none.

License being therefore given by the Cardinals,

which had been obtained also from the Apostolic one himself,

through John, a citizen of Ravenna,

a man of wondrous industry, the precious treasure,

under the greater altar of that same church,

the aforesaid brothers declared to be hidden away.

But the estimation of all the fathers who were present around

that same place was in suspense.

[16] But there were present among the ranks of the faithful

also very many of the adversaries, pointed out by two men, who, to examining

the truth, were preparing exceedingly to object.

For they sharpened their tongues like a sword,

bending their bow, a bitter thing, that they might shoot

in secret at the immaculate. To these therefore was given

license of scrutinizing, lest any occasion should remain to them

of suspecting anything sinister. Approaching

therefore the place, with so great scrutiny they began

to search, that not even any reptiles could there

lie hidden. And when they had found utterly nothing

of artful craftiness, the scrutinizers failed

in scrutiny: whence their mouths were compelled to be silent,

and their tongues were weakened against them.

It came to pass therefore, by the providence

of God, that no less by the envy of the persecutors,

than by the favor of the diligent, service was rendered to the declaring

of the truth. So indeed the Herodian

persecution profited the Innocent little ones more

by hatred, than it could have profited by service.

[17] the bodies of Sts. Abdon and Sennen, martyrs, are found. Diggers being therefore called in, the care of digging was enjoined,

under most cautious diligence, namely.

For there was no small dread lest

so venerable an altar, which by blessed Maximian,

and other holy fathers had been consecrated,

on whose anniversary of dedication a solemn

yearly indulgence is established, should happen

to be violated; but by a miracle of God it remained

unharmed. When therefore, up to two days,

it was dug, they came to the place where two

tombs were found. In one indeed, which

seemed lower, there was no doubt that the bodies of the holy martyrs

Abdon and Sennen ^c

rested. But in that which was raised up,

there was hope and confidence of finding the sought

treasure. That aforesaid John, the hermit of Camaldoli, therefore being summoned,

to whom this license had been granted, when he was present at the sight,

the tomb being opened, he began to look in, and

whether by divine virtue, or by his own trepidation,

was so terrified and stupefied, that as though

placed in ecstasy he seemed.

[18] and St. Apollinaris with the inscription. But admonished by the venerable Cardinals,

again looking in, he sees, believes,

recognizes the marvels of God, both by the excellent

whiteness of the consecrated body, and by the sweetness

of a wondrous odor, surpassing the fragrance of all aromatics,

which so suffused the nostrils of all,

that all appeared renewed, and all

gladdened. And when he had extended

his hand to its head, he found a plate, of silver

material indeed, but containing things more precious

than silver and gold. For it presented

a writing of this kind:

HERE RESTS THE BODY ^d

OF THE MOST BLESSED APOLLINARIS

PONTIFF AND MARTYR AND BISHOP.

WHAT IS HERE LACKING,

IN THIS SAME CHURCH

WITH GREAT CARE OF WORKMEN ^e

HAS BEEN LAID AWAY.

These things being completed and known, the clamor of the people is raised,

the bells are rung, the joy of all is declared

by tears and voices.

[19] The found treasure is publicly announced, with a prohibition against gainsaying: Soon the excellently wise Cardinal Ildebrand,

to whom especially this legation was committed,

ascended the tribunal, and to the standing people preached

and taught the disclosed truth; and

under Apostolic anathema forbade

anything else henceforth to be believed or held, than what

at present had been wonderfully declared.

Again the archbishop celebrates the solemnities of the Masses,

and when he had come to the place

of preaching, that which had been found, with copious

affability he commends, and his own ignorance,

for the fact that he had preached otherwise, elegantly excuses.

For no one is of so profound wisdom,

of so circumspect caution, that by surreptitious

words he cannot be deceived or deceive.

To deceive or be deceived differ by a small distinction.

Which two the prudent avoid by a like effort.

Yet to have the memory of all things, and

to sin in nothing, will be proved to be not of humanity, but of divinity. Meanwhile the calumniators

began to hiss, saying: that one plate

does not suffice for a testimony,

since in his history his works are read

as written on three plates.

[20] Hence also the whole people was in tumult

saying: that they were still moved by a certain scruple,

other means being also employed for a greater confirmation of the truth. unless there be shown to the eyes what to the ears

had been intimated. For a more certain

knowledge is had in sight, a more express argument,

a truer experience. Which being heard, the Pontiffs

grievously boil. For they feared to touch so sacred

members, and, from the place where

so becomingly they had been placed, and through so many

spaces of years had rested, on an easy occasion

to raise them, especially since the people is to be taught,

not followed. What more? Nothing else was permitted,

except what the people, God inspiring, compelled.

That God inspired these things is not undeservedly

believed, so that by this occasion the disclosed

truth might be more strongly solidified. For a doubt

of this kind demonstrated a certain and

incredible argument for solidifying the faith. So all

the slowness of Thomas profited more to the faith

of Christ, than the readiness of the disciples; so the doubt

of the gainsayers, more than the favor of the compliant,

corroborates this knowledge.

NOTES.

CHAPTER III.

The plates found by the body; its fragrance and miracles.

Approaching therefore the place, the oft-mentioned hermit,

by the command of all the fathers, with

fear and trembling touched the sacred members *, The body of St. Apollinaris is most becomingly placed; and

in a certain little casket most becomingly prepared

he composes it. Over which soon a certain iron grating,

wrought with latticed rods, is set,

so that thence the sacred body can both be seen, and

cannot be touched. For in such a manner this diligence

had William, abbot of the monastery of Classe,

prepared, whose maturity and industry,

whose liberality and wisdom, though elsewhere it had evidently

appeared, in these works nevertheless more evidently

shone forth. When therefore these things were being done,

two silver plates were found in that same tomb,

which, held out to the pontiffs,

when they were read, represented the origin, passion, and passing

of the most blessed Apollinaris under a certain compendium.

[22] [and on this occasion

the plates are found,] For on the first were read these things: Sprung from Antioch, blessed Apollinaris,

by the Supreme Prince of the Apostles, was sent to Ravenna

to preach the baptism

of penance unto the remission of sins.

And there through him the Lord wrought many

virtues. For he enlightened the blind.

He cured the paralytic. The mute

he made to speak. He put demons to flight. The dead

he raised. Lepers he cleansed. Images

and temples of idols he dissolved ^a.

Here he was beaten with cudgels. A long while upon

coals he stood with bare feet. On the rack

hung, again scourged. Over

his wounds he received boiling water. With

a heavy weight of iron he was relegated into exile,

his mouth bruised with a stone. He died

under Vespasian Cæsar the augustus,

on the tenth of the Kalends of August. Our

Lord Jesus Christ reigning,

with the Father and the Holy Spirit, unto ages

of ages. Amen. Which being heard,

seen, and known, the faithful unanimously exult

in the living God, and there was great gladness

among the people, and so great jubilation followed,

that it could neither be expressed by mouth, nor

held in the heart.

[23] by which the truth of the body is proved Blessed is the people that knows jubilation.

For even those who were wont to calumniate concerning these things and

deride the faithful, then seem to applaud the congratulation

of the faithful, to favor the truth,

to consent to reason; and although iniquity never knows how

to be silent, even when truth compels it to be silent,

yet against so great evidence

it did not dare to open its mouth, and …

the glory of blessed Apollinaris, and the praises of the church of Classe,

the emulation of the calumniators could not

bear, could not take away, but by calumniating

made more glorious. To which, while it prepared

an obstacle, it rendered service. These things being thus accomplished,

the gathered fathers decreed that the day of this mention

be celebrated each year on the fifth

of the Kalends of November, granting a yearly

indulgence to all, around this term,

up to the fortieth day, visiting the monastery of Classe with the fruit

of devotion.

[24] and is propagated; By whose counsel an epistle was sent through

the churches of the adjacent provinces, and under

Apostolic authority it was commanded to the faithful,

that around the church of Classe they take pains to preserve

and render devotion, and, concerning the body of blessed

Apollinaris, believe nothing else, than through

so many spaces of centuries had been believed, and

at present is established most evidently to have been declared.

And whoever shall presume to hold another sentence,

let him know himself bound with the knots of the Apostolic

anathema, so that he may be prostrated by the grief of his own

ruin, whoever shall have despised to obey the Apostolic

decrees. Through all things blessed be

God! who exalted the sons of the poor, and humbled

the calumniator; who scattered the proud,

and raised up the humble; filled the hungry

with good things, and sent away the illustrious empty.

[25] Around the finding of the sacred body of blessed

Apollinaris in the church of Classe, by the mercy

of God and of that same excellent Father, the place itself

began to be visited, to sparkle with miracles, to be illustrated

by prodigies, miracles being also wrought in the odor of the body, and its fragrance, and to grow famous with so great signs,

that if the other tokens of proof were lacking, the testimonies

of the signs would suffice ^b. But of these

the sum and greatest are proved to be those which above

were foretasted, namely the fragrance of a wondrous

odor, and the wonderful appearance of whiteness,

which was recognized in his body. For what

is more wonderful, what in this life more glorious,

than that thence a fragrance should flow forth, whence usually

a stench exhales; and there a white appearance should appear,

where miserable deformity is wont to be horrid?

For human nature, after the corruption of the body,

filled with many miseries,

what else than rottenness and worms is it wont

to show? To rottenness I said: thou art my father,

and my mother, and my sister, to the worms.

[26] Since indeed of that we are conceived, of that

we are born, and its incorruption. with these we converse, and in these

we are dissolved. What is man, but rottenness,

and the son of man but a worm?

To the worms we are food, wretched smoke after the body.

But almighty God, who makes clean

those conceived of unclean seed, in the body

of the glorious Martyr changed the use of nature, repaired

its origin, altered its property, so that

for stench there fragranced an odor, which surpassed all

aromatics; for deformity there appeared

a whiteness, which surpassed the appearance of gold and silver.

How great glory do we think there is to him in

the heavens, who so gloriously shines on earth?

Let us meanwhile be silent concerning secrets of this kind,

which exceed not only the use of speaking, but even

the faculties of thinking, and to those things

which are to be subjoined let us hasten.

[27] When, for finding the sacred body,

the care of digging was being spent, An unbeliever is punished, there was a certain one of

the faction of the plotters, hard in envy, keen

in obstinacy, forward in contumacy, who most grievously

derided those seeking, and while by the faithful

he was rebuked, he thus imprecated upon himself:

If this, he said, which you seek, you happen

to find, may I fall in this place, so that I be

not able to go out. Which saying soon the divine

vengeance follows. For straightway to the earth he fell

so grievously, that he seemed almost lifeless.

And thus it came to pass, that by others' hands he was led out,

who by his own temerity had entered,

and by divine judgment he was struck, who

had presumed to deride the faithful, so that the ruin of one

might be a caution to many.

[28] Which being premised, straightway a certain heavenly

sign appeared, a heavenly sign appears; a sick man, a vow being made, so that, malice going out,

innocence might enter in. For a certain dove,

whiter than snow, appeared, and up to

the place of the Saint's tomb proceeded with a threefold flight,

as though it might show the body of the blessed Man by a patent

token. Deservedly is he shown by the search of a dove,

who had lived with dove-like simplicity,

because he lacked gall-like bitterness; who with the sevenfold

charism of the Holy Spirit shone, according to

the sevenfold properties of the dove's nature.

When these things were being done, the abbot of St. John

the Evangelist ^c, venerable in merits and office,

was weighed down by so great a languor, that he could

find no remedies, rest in no

tranquility.

[29] When he had heard what was being done at Classe,

he made a vow to God and blessed Apollinaris,

that if from this trouble, by his mercy,

he should recover, is healed he would visit his church,

and the holy body. Which being proposed,

immediately sleep, which he had long lacked, follows,

and full health forthwith accompanies the sleep.

Rising therefore whole and safe,

to the church of Classe he hastens, honors the body of his consecrated liberator,

paying to God

the vows which his lips had uttered. Which miracle

was so evident, that it could not lie hidden.

Indeed the amplitude of the city, the celebrity

of the persons, the evident signs, do not permit *

what was done to be concealed.

[30] Another likewise sick unto desperation There was in that same city a certain priest,

by name Peter, who governed the church of the holy

Simon and Jude ^d strenuously.

This man was wont to have in the monastery of Classe the greatest

faith and full devotion. But

when he had heard those things which in the monastery of St.

Apollinaris the New had been done, from the former place

he began to turn away his faith, and, by a stolid penance,

to grow lukewarm from his former fervor. Who straightway,

corrected by divine rebuke, lay down in bed,

and was afflicted with so grave a languor,

that he despaired of life. But hearing of the multitude

gathered at Classe, to seek the presence of the sacred

body, he began a little

to grow warm again toward his former faith,

and little by little to recall his mind to his former devotion.

Soon, exceedingly, along with the increases

of pious faith and devotion, there followed also

increases of health.

[31] is restored to his former health. When therefore he had heard that the sacred body

had been found, straightway made safe, his faith

being fully repaired, he rose, and approaching

the medicines, an iron candelabrum with

ten little branches he bought, and, as many

wax candles being set upon it, most devoutly hastening

to the church of Classe, so solemn, so public

an oblation he offered, no less by affection

than by cost, acceptable to God and blessed Apollinaris.

And thus it happened, that not reason alone,

but even vexation, gave understanding to the hearing.

NOTES.

CHAPTER IV.

Other miracles wrought by the aid of the Saint.

A certain woman, the widow of a certain citizen, by name

Sinicolus, of infamous life,

who through very many years had stood without the remedy of penance,

[A certain impenitent woman, by a hidden force, is prevented from entering the basilica, but, penitent, enters it:] when she wished to touch the sacred body,

by divine judgment, once and again to enter

the basilica was hindered. For as often

as she tried to enter, by a hidden virtue she was afflicted with a hard

torment. What more? Admonished by

the bystanders, that she should reveal to the Lord her way,

when, a confession being premised, by penance she had corrected herself, the third time she approached, and to

the sacred body with the faithful, without difficulty,

came. O wondrous and swift fruit of penance,

which appeases the heavenly wrath without slowness,

without delay obtains pardon,

merits virtue and rewards!

[33] Certain citizens at Ravenna concerning the presence

of the sacred body grievously contended. a controversy concerning the truth of the sacred body being removed:

One asserted that it rested at Classe,

the other denied it; Go, said he who

faithfully there contended, to the monastery of Classe,

and when thou hast returned, unless the faith which I hold,

thou too willingly holdest, I will follow thy faith.

He went, returned, and so constantly the faith which

he had impugned began to hold, that his adversary

in the fervor of this faith he surpassed.

He became therefore an assertor of the truth, who

had been its impugner. O truly the change of the right hand

of the Most High, which by the merits of blessed Apollinaris

made of an unbeliever a believer, of a persecutor a defender!

[34] In the territory of Populonia ^a there was a certain man

by name Prudentius, most grievously sick, who, most grievously sick,

when he seemed to labor in his last extremity, called the venerable

bishop of that place ^b, and

from him received penance with the most sacred Eucharist.

Him therefore, on the following day,

the aforesaid bishop, when to the monastery of Classe

on urgent business he had come, at

that same place found safe, and vehemently

was astounded: for what he did not hope

could be done, wondering, he feared the deed.

[35] At the town of Cesena ^c there was a certain illustrious man,

a man blind from birth, who was called Ugo de Manfredo.

This man had a certain son from birth

blind, over whose calamity he was grievously embittered.

Who, led to the church of Classe,

when to the tomb of blessed Apollinaris,

and to his body he approached (a wondrous thing, and

unheard-of for an age since Christ!) straightway the light,

which nature had denied, by grace he recovered.

For who had heard, who had seen,

that anyone should open the eyes of one born blind, except

him, whom by spittle and clay to have done this Jewish

envy also testifies and wonders at ^d?

For it is written:

What nature denies, no one can restore.

But no one restores it, because he is not so much a man,

who restores, nay the creator, and Lord

of man, the founder of nature, that by this one should be repaired

what by that is taken away. For he who made nature

is not bound by the laws of nature.

For even the founders of temporal laws indeed observe

the laws by authority of enacting, not

by necessity of observing. Whence certain of them

say: For by the laws we are absolved, but

by the laws we live.

[36] likewise a bedridden woman, In those same parts there was a certain woman,

who had long lain bedridden. She, when

with full faith to the said and holy Apollinaris

she had poured out prayers and vows, straightway her loosened

hands and feeble knees she raised, and in the whole

frame of her body recovered her former health.

Besides, another certain woman in a village likewise contracted and mute, which

is called Taybana, the daughter of a certain man by name Barotis,

for more than three years had lain contracted and mute.

And when her father, with that same

girl, to God and holy Apollinaris both prayers

and vows had offered, and had promised the fruit of devotion to the church of Classe,

soon she recovered the office of speaking and

walking, and of all her members, by the merits of the most holy Father,

that one namely being the author, who raises up the fallen, enlightens

the blind, through whom the mouths of the mute are unloosed *.

[37] a withered hand, A certain one too, having a withered hand,

from the part of Ficolentia ^e, coming to the presence of the sacred body,

when he had offered a waxen

image, forthwith, health being recovered, he paid due

thanks.

From Galiata ^f too a certain one to the sacred

body approached, paid his vows; a blind man are made whole. prayers and offerings

he offered, for the fact that from the blindness

of his body, which he testified to have suffered a long

time, by the mercy of God,

and the merits of holy Apollinaris, he was freed.

[38] St. Apollinaris appears to a certain man. Finally, this must not be passed over,

that a certain artificer of the city of Ravenna,

an old man in age, but older in maturity, frequently

was wont to relate. For he reported that blessed

Apollinaris had at some time appeared to him,

narrating to him what he had suffered, when by blessed

Peter he was sent to Ravenna. He showed

also to him one of his shins wounded and split,

which had happened to him on that very journey,

when by those meeting him he was beaten a very long while. Whence

it came to pass, that when the sacred body had been

found, in his leg that same fissure was found,

so that, as a proof of that assertion, it might be an experiment of the vision,

which seemed incredible *, that that man was reported

to have been simple and mild.

For we know that with the simple

is the discoursing of God and the conversing

of the Saints.

[39] A dysentery cured; A certain cleric of the church of Ravenna,

by name Cornubius, a count by birth, and a Cardinal

by office, suffered a grave and most hard

trouble of the intestines. This man therefore, the sacred

body being now found, amid the solemnities of the Masses,

assisting his archprelate by the necessity of his office,

by the mercy of God, and the merit of blessed Apollinaris,

the illustrious father, felt himself absolved

from all trouble, giving thanks

to the Father of mercies and the God of all consolation.

Which, although it cannot by the attestation of others

be proved, yet the authority of the person,

the celebrity of the office, the reverence of the place, affords a great

argument of the assurance.

[40] another, almost crushed by a horse, is preserved. That same William, venerable abbot of that same place,

of whose industry and maturity, of whose

wisdom and liberality more could be said, unless

his humility refused, experienced many and great efficacies in

this business. For, that of many

we may choose one, when to the parts of Lombardy,

namely to the presence of the Cardinals,

by that same road he hastened, it happened that on that very

journey he fell so grievously, the horse from above

falling, that his whole body, especially his arm,

he felt bruised, and when no virtue

of rising was available to him, to the mercy

of God, and the merit of holy Apollinaris, with all confidence

he raised his mind. Wonderful to say and to do!

wonderful, straightway with such health he rose,

that, more robust and more alert than usual, his way

he accomplished. How great crises of

affairs, what asperities of times, what

difficulties often on journeys, or how great

snares of calumniators, by the virtue of God and the aid of the illustrious

Martyr he wonderfully escaped,

who could relate?

NOTES.

CHAPTER V.

The author relates on what occasion he wrote these things, concluding them with praises of the city of Ravenna and of St. Apollinaris.

The author of this history, having set out to visit the Cardinal, Lastly, he who wrote these things approved several

wonders in a business of this kind.

For when to the parts of Balneum ^a he had hastened,

namely to visit the

Cardinal Roland ^b of blessed memory, then laboring

in his last extremity, hoping to return on the morrow,

by the excessive asperity of the weather a longer while

in those parts he was compelled to tarry. Meanwhile

there was kindled in his mind a desire of visiting the monastery of Classe,

that if the things which

were said were true, he might there more evidently recognize them.

For up to that time concerning these things

he was touched by a certain cloud of doubt, so that

in this part he was neither hot, nor cold.

When therefore he had related these things to his fellow-traveler,

he found him to burn with the same affection

which he had thought him unwilling of. Let us rest, he said,

until the following day, awaiting the good pleasure

of God: and this shall be for us a sign;

that, if tomorrow's serenity should follow today's

inclemency of weather, there will be firm hope

that God makes for us a prosperous journey, God of our

salvation.

[42] Rising therefore at the very break of dawn, when

he had seen the desired serenity, he proceeds to the monastery of Classe made more confident,

he seized the road. And when several obstacles

on the journey were dreaded, namely the inundation of rivers,

the asperity of roads, the encounter of enemies:

he passed through all unharmed. And when he had come

to the place; more things than he had heard, he saw,

believed, and recognized: as of the queen of Sheba

concerning the wisdom of Solomon it is read to have happened.

Him therefore the abbot and brothers, receiving more affectionately than usual,

say that he had come to their wish;

for they desired to enroll his presence.

Celebrating therefore the chapter, they began, namely the abbot

and brothers, instantly to demand of him,

that what had been done, he should narrate with the pen of composition.

[43] [not without singular providence of God; and on that occasion he wrote these things;] Which being heard, he wondered greatly that they

with such instance demanded this, which he himself had determined,

by spontaneous devotion, out of reverence

for blessed Apollinaris, to offer. Who therefore would think,

without the providence of God, and the merit of holy Apollinaris,

that so sudden

and so unforeseen a concord of so diverse wills should be made,

and so a harmony of such dissimilar strings

in one concert? Who,

I say, would think, that without a divine disposition

so great prosperity of the journey should be made, serenity of the air,

unanimity of wills? For in returning,

more than in going, the desired convenience followed.

Confidently therefore to writing, trusting in the mercy of God, he approached,

not however alone, because by the merits of the venerable brothers,

namely of the abbots and others, who in this

business had been present with the rest, he was aided,

strengthened by testimonies, instructed by teaching.

Three days being appointed for this work, he wrote these things.

[44] These things being thus premised, it pleases, toward thee, O

illustrious city, concluding all a little to play the rhetorician, not

as though persuading of doubtful things, but as though of certain

things persuasively insinuating. Come therefore, act,

O Ravenna, metropolitan city, mother of cities,

mistress of peoples, seat of a kingdom, glorious in nobles,

renowned in walls, illustrious in citizens,

distinguished in riches, impregnable in situation,

fruitful by land and sea. Say, I pray, whence

dost thou recognize all these things to thee? These indeed,

and other glorious things, are said of thee, which

temporally are proclaimed of thee. But if thou attend

to those things which are spiritual, more glorious,

and, as by a certain singular preeminence,

they are found in thee. For in the preceding

very many cities either equal thee *; but in

the following, few, or none, are proved to equal or

surpass thee, namely in the merits of the Saints,

in the buildings of temples, in the virtues of signs,

in the elections of fathers.

What city indeed, what city besides thee

from farthest Thule up to the newest, without

a shadow about to flow, is thus [?] found?

[45] With whom twelve fathers, by continuous

successions, by the dove's search, by apostrophe not by

man, nor through man, but by the revelation of the Holy

Spirit, were chosen ^c? Not

Rome, head of the world, not Byzantium, seat

of empire, not Antioch, the primitive church;

to thee, O Ravenna, this privilege has been dedicated:

to thee this prerogative of dignity has been preserved.

O if thou hadst preserved it, O if, thy merits not resisting, from so most happy

an honor thou hadst not degenerated! Yet still, of the gems of so great dignities

thou art not wholly deprived. Certain

relics of so great felicity have at any rate

remained to thee, which make thee at present

celebrated, and, if thou recognize them, in the future

perennial by blessed society. But whence dost thou

esteem these glorious things, I beseech thee *, to have emanated to thee? From what

fount dost thou know the streams of so great smallness to have flowed forth?

Or from the quality of thy merits?

This no one, even a fool, thinks. Wilt thou hear,

from what fount it flowed forth? This saving finding,

like the ointment on the head, which descended

on the beard, the beard of Aaron; which descended

on the hem of his garment, like the dew of Hermon,

which descended on Mount Zion.

[46] From Christ therefore into Peter, as into the first

beard; to the city of Ravenna, of the same and from Peter into blessed Apollinaris,

as into the second beard; from

Apollinaris into the aforesaid fathers, as to Mount

Zion, and so at last into the hem of the garment,

that is, up to the newest members of the Church,

the irrigation of the heavenly benediction was infused.

For there the Lord commanded the benediction,

and life unto the age. Nowhere,

however, after the primitive Church, is so great an effusion of the heavenly

unction read to have emanated, as

is known to have flowed forth in the aforesaid fathers. O

swift teaching of the Holy Spirit! O sudden

change of the right hand of the Most High, who in a moment,

in the twinkling of the eyes, furnished the skilled, strengthens

the weak, ennobles the ignoble, honors the contemptible,

exalts wool-workers, that he may place

them with princes, and that they may hold the throne of glory,

and that what is written may be fulfilled: The foolish things

of the world God chose, that he might destroy the strong.

[47] as also St. Apollinaris Thou seest therefore, that these benefits not

so much by merit, but of the grace of the Savior, thou receivedst

from blessed Apollinaris, the disciple of Christ,

follower of Peter, founder of thy faith, teacher of diverse

provinces, contemporary of the Apostles,

fellow-initiate of the disciples. This is

the preacher of truth, the saving doctor, thy pastor

and governor, O Ravenna, through whom

a much greater portion [?] of thy gifts thou receivedst, than through

the princes of the age; who by towers and walls, and by opulence

of things, are read to have illustrated thee? It is reported

by the ancient fathers, who knew neither to deceive nor

to be deceived ^d, that that Pastor was of the number

of the Seventy Disciples ^e: and that concerning him

in the Gospel it was said, they testify: There is one

boy here, who has five loaves and two

fishes ^f. Who therefore then, of few loaves

and a little fish, satisfied many thousands of men,

an innumerable multitude of peoples with the fatness

of grain and the marrow of wheat, with the fishes

of that river, whose stream gladdens

the city of God, afterward, by pious administration,

refreshed.

[48] filled with praises. By his ministry thou too, church of Ravenna,

not failing, dost not fail:

The food grows in the mouth, as the virtue of the eater grows.

So is the food of God: so are the pious doctrines of the mind.

Why then dost thou suffer so great a Father to be mangled? Why

dost thou receive the fabrications of falsity concerning the presence

of his body? Why dost thou endure the most sacred

place of his passion, and the place of the habitation of his glory,

to be despised by some? Or dost thou not know that the house

of Classe was built by divine revelation,

consecrated by holy fathers, adorned with the bodily presence

of blessed Apollinaris, as much

as with his spiritual custody? Concerning whose

foundation, made by divine disposition, I know

that thou hast frequently heard. For thy fathers announced

to thee, thy elders told thee,

which if thou dost not recollect, we render to thee what we received

from thee.

NOTES.

PART III.

The church of Classe, and the body of the Saint resting there, from the same Spicilegium, from page 545, by an anonymous author: to §2 and 5 of our preliminary Commentary.

The author begins his narration fabulously, Concerning the church built by Julian Argentarius, Justinian I

consenting, in honor of St.

Apollinaris, we had discourse above in the preliminary Commentary,

§5. Furthermore, in the Spicilegium a little

before praised, from page 545, occurs the narration of an anonymous

author, bearing this title: The building

of the church of Classe; to which, because there are intermixed

fables and side-matters, we shall transcribe hence hither only

some things, for that cause. But it seems to have been written

for this sole end, that the possession of the body of the Saint among the people of Classe

might be trumpeted forth; and indeed after the settling of the

famous controversy which between two religious

families boiled, that is, at the end of about the

12th century, and after the solemn finding of that same sacred

deposit, concerning which above. The author therefore thus

begins his narration: When Justinian,

the most glorious emperor, was suffering grave

snares at Constantinople, fleeing the danger, to Ravenna

he turned aside, and by Julian the prefect

benignly received, and long sustained.

He began therefore to visit the places of the Saints with a religious

affection, especially where he had heard that blessed Apollinaris, by

the palm of martyrdom, had migrated to heaven:

for the presence of his body he had not yet

recognized.

[2] thrusting forward an apparition of the Saint supported by no foundation: Here therefore, when he frequently prayed, there stood by

him blessed Apollinaris in angelic countenance,

in venerable garb; who, the place of his consecrated

body being shown, is reported to have thus admonished him:

Be comforted, he said, and be faithful:

in the near future the desired felicity will be restored to thee.

Which being fulfilled, let it be thy care to build for me

such a basilica, in which the divine majesty may be worthily venerated,

and the members of my body becomingly

fitted. After a few days therefore, in

his throne most gloriously restored, of his Monitor

and Helper he began to appear not unmindful.

He commanded therefore the aforesaid Julian the prefect,

that from the revenues of the empire and with lavish expenses

a temple most becoming to God and blessed Apollinaris

he should build, etc.; whose adornment he there

subjoins. This fabulous exordium much detracts

from the authority of the whole rest of the context, as Muratori

here rightly notes: under Justinian I indeed

was built the temple of Classe of St. Apollinaris

by Julian Argentarius, about the year

545, that same Augustus approving. But Justinian

never turned aside to Ravenna. Nor

can these things be fitted to Justinian Rhinotmetus.

And so fables are here intermixed with truth.

[3] of which sort of flour seems to be the forming of the icon by an angelic hand. Of not the best stamp also seem to be those things

which, as our anonymous author subjoins, concerning the glorious

face of a certain icon, appearing in the middle of the gilded apse

of that same church, most frequently

are reported. For this, he says, was painted by an angelic

hand, both the profession of the ancients

testifies, and the efficacy of signs, and its own

incomparable form. If you do not

believe me, believe the works and the eyes, and the

attestations of those, who, concerning many perils of land

and sea, at his memorial to have been

freed, by words and documents have professed.

For they report, that when the goldsmith

that same apse with gilded mosaic ornaments,

in the middlemost place of that apse, the rest

being now painted, the face of the Savior more gracefully

had determined to form. (The sense here is imperfect.)

But when, at the hour of refreshment, he had gone down,

having in his purpose soon after his return

to paint it, this icon far

more wonderful than his own or others' talents

could have painted, formed, he found.

These things, I say, seem to be of not the best stamp;

until they be supported by a testimony more suitable for making faith;

and not of one, and of this kind, a writer,

who, adopting fables, in other things

too, even if he were speaking the truth, by his relation alone

would not merit to make faith. The truth of the matter not lightly

also weakens the they report, and *most frequently

are reported*; which smack of popular tradition.

Nor do the benefits or miracles done at this

icon accomplish the matter. For that image could

be miraculous: but yet not on that account

from those is its miraculous forming proved.

Recall to memory what we said above on the history

of the finding in the notes on chapter 3, letter ^b, and with

some proportion apply it here.

[4] Our anonymous author, then inveighing against the detractors of the temple

of St. Apollinaris, [A certain one obstinately affirming the body of St. Apollinaris to be in the New monastery, is punished;] namely of Classe, whose

patron he acts against the rivals, thus goes on:

For there was, he says, in that same monastery

of St. Apollinaris the New a certain one in the office

of the priorate, who keenly contended that the body

of Blessed Apollinaris was hidden away there: which

contention he closed with an end of this kind: Would that,

he said, it be permitted me to die

or be buried nowhere else, than where that body rests!

What more? Having gone out of the city on the necessity

of his monastery, so great, when he returned, an inclemency

of weather seized him, that to the church of Classe

he was compelled to turn aside. There therefore,

prevented by a grave sickness, on that same night

he ended his life, and there received burial.

These things, though they be of a better stamp than those

above, are reported very confusedly. But let us follow

our anonymous author, going on thus:

[5] At Ferrara there was a certain one, having

a fine cloth so precious, that it is kept among the people of Classe, is proved from the deed of Walter, that he was unwilling that it be applied to human

uses. When therefore concerning what should thence

be done, he hesitated in mind, there appeared

to him a certain one in venerable habit, saying: On the altar

of blessed Apollinaris place it. Soon coming to Ravenna,

to the clerics of the metropolitan see

he related these things. But they, as is the custom of very many,

to seek what is their own; admonished him

that in that same altar he should set it,

which they said pertained to St. Apollinaris.

Hearing these things, Walter of blessed memory,

the archbishop, who reformed the monastery of Classe

through the Camaldolese congregation, said: Go

to the church of Classe, and there thou wilt find the true altar of blessed Apollinaris,

where the sacred body rests; and in

it, according to the command of the Lord, pay the vows of thy devotion.

[6] This archbishop of Ravenna, whose deeds

Rubeus begins to narrate from the year 1118, bishop of Ravenna, is set down as having died

in him on the Ides of February 1144. Besides those things

which in the preliminary Commentary, from number 51, concerning the Camaldolese introduced by him

into the monastery of Classe, were said, there can be seen in Rubeus

at the year 1138, the rights annexed to that same monastery

concerning this matter which are recounted; and so to that same

year 1138 this transferring of the monks

pertains, is gathered also from the Camaldolese history

there in the preliminary Commentary cited by us;

although Muratori here, at the text of our anonymous author,

notes the year 1137; concerning which let him himself see;

since Rubeus notes even that very day of that year, namely

the 12th of the Kalends of November; who nevertheless,

from the author of the Camaldolese history in Fabri,

soon cited from our preliminary Commentary, is written

as the 20th of October, the unit being perhaps rubbed out in the copy which

he used, or omitted through the drowsiness of the copyists;

unless perhaps in Rubeus it should be written

the 13th of the Kalends of November; however it be, so small a discrepancy

of time, as liable to error, ought not to delay

us.

[7] From the author's epilogue his age is drawn out, Finally, this our anonymous author is wholly occupied in vindicating the possession

of the body of St. Apollinaris to the church

of Classe, keenly assailing the calumniators opposed to it,

and thus concluding: More things concerning these

were to be said against the calumniators, nay

for the calumniators; for we are not persecutors,

but zealots for their good.

But therefore we tempered our pen, because we are not

so much executors of invectives, as of the truth now

found. And from these especially we gather

that these were written at that time in which the controversy

between the people of Classe and the Ravennate cenobites of St. Apollinaris

the New had already been settled, and thus

after the year 1175, in which the body of the Saint among the people of Classe

is established to have been found, from what has been said; for when

the author says, we are executors of the truth now

found, he wished to indicate nothing else, than that, the truth of the sacred

remains among the people of Classe being now detected by the finding,

for it he stands, and by his writings defends it.

PART IV.

The authentic instrument of the translation of St. Apollinaris under Pope Julius II, by which are confirmed and illustrated those things which were said in the preliminary Commentary, §2.

Of this instrument The instrument which we here produce is prefaced with this title:

The translation of the body of St. Apollinaris,

archbishop and martyr, made under

Julius, of happy recollection, the best and greatest Pontiff,

by the most illustrious and most reverend

Cardinal Sotherinus, of the title of the holy

Twelve Apostles, protector of the Camaldolese congregation. This title is followed by

a little preface, or proemial epistle, concerning

the said translation; in which brother Paul Orlandini,

abbot of St. Michael of Murano,

to the reverend lord Paul of Lodi, abbot

of Classe, well-deserving, sends greeting; who, as you have

at number 24, I was present, he says, bearer of all

and minister .. calling God himself to witness, etc.

[2] A copy of the aforesaid instrument was transcribed,

some little notices as our Papebroch noted at the upper margin of it,

from the Vatican codex, number 5835, that is, part 1 of the writings of John

Peter Ferretti of Ravenna, bishop of the people of Lavello;

concerning whom Ughelli treats in the Italia Sacra,

volume 7, where it is noted that Hieronymus Rubeus used his labors

in composing the history of the people of Ravenna;

and he is praised as a diligent investigator of venerable

antiquity; as one who left

after him several monuments of his talent, which the same Ughelli testifies to have seen

as manuscripts in the Vatican library,

where he asserts they are religiously kept.

[3] His epitaph is read in the same author, volume 9,

in the appendix, are prefixed. in these words: To God, Best and Greatest.

To John Peter Ferretti of Ravenna, Doctor of Both Laws,

bishop of the people of Lavello, poet laureate, most celebrated

historian, most learned in every respect,

and a great writer. Exuperantius Ferretti,

grandson by his brother Julius, an eminent doctor,

most distinguished knight, at his own expense placed this in the year 1589.

He lived 75 years. He died on the day before the Nones of May 1557.

A brief panegyric certainly, and exceedingly magnificent!

It is not ours to detract anything from it.

Furthermore, the argument of the matter which we here have

in hand, we have divided into chapters and numbers after our manner.

And concerning these things indeed we thought the reader should be forewarned;

the rest, which remain, will be given

in the notes. There is prefixed therefore, concerning which we just now

treated, of the aforesaid Paul Orlandini the

PRELIMINARY EPISTLE.

Although hindered in domestic affairs,

concerning others' matters, which are not of our

office, The author, a few things concerning the translation of the Saint I can think but a little; concerning thy

abbey, however, I sometimes recall,

lest perhaps by some oblivion be blotted out that which both thy

paternity and I likewise saw, and our hands

handled, of that word. And that

is the translation of Apollinaris most holy, and thrice and

four times blessed; where the hymns of that Martyr

thou thyself, together with the rest, solemnly sangest.

But I, his bones from the slime of the earth,

bending down, fished out; at that time indeed,

in which over the abbey of Classe presided the venerable

father lord Andrew Sechinus, a man

certainly upright of life, and pure of crime: whose

most pious mind indeed had grieved

exceedingly, that so uncultivated and so unhonored

that most blessed Martyr remained:

for whom also he built a new mausoleum; in which

now his most sacred body rests.

[5] Nor should I judge that to be worthy of silence,

which, as a reward for the honor of this kind conferred on him,

aforesaid, that same dom * Andrew, for the

custody of that abbey of Classe, to himself, by

the palm of martyrdom, associated ^a the most holy martyr of Christ

Apollinaris; at that time indeed,

in which the ferocious Gauls themselves, a little after

that translation ^b aforesaid, cruelly

depopulated Ravenna ^c. Why should not I too, a little

less, have been stoned, when thereafter a great

sedition ^d arose among the people of Ravenna;

when there raged in mind the ignoble crowd, having a cauterized

conscience, and saying,

that I had despoiled and carried elsewhere the bones of their holy patron

Apollinaris. But thou too didst utterly hinder

my crown, dissuading them from

madness of this kind. But my hour had not yet come;

nor as yet was I deemed worthy of such

honor: wherefore I escaped their hands in the name of the Lord.

[6] [which he testifies to have been done by himself, he commits to writing, lest the memory fall away.] Yet this in that throng, by expenditure

more, would have pleased me, that the natives all there

might venerate their Patron at least in this

manner, and at the same time also might likewise attest to this very one,

whom I, from the mire to the urn,

from the slime into a marble casket, had translated.

But now, lest a translation of this kind be obliterated,

but also that it may avail to come to the knowledge of posterity too;

that same I have set my mind to writing, which

same I transmit to thy Reverence, both

to be read over, and to be perfected; if anything less thou report *,

which in it should seem to be written; thou canst

indeed thyself remember, what had perhaps fallen

from my memory, worthy assuredly to be

noted; that same thou wilt observe by reading it over.

Read therefore patiently, and see the translation of the divine

Apollinaris to be laid up for others by thy charity;

for the sons who shall be born and arise, will relate these things to posterity,

and the sons of sons, and those who shall be born of

them: which at any rate becomes the greatest advantage

from the very reading.

NOTES.

CHAPTER I.

St. Apollinaris, honored by God beyond other Saints, is translated by the effort of the Camaldolese.

Among the Saints The just man shall be in eternal memory, of an evil report

he shall not fear. Of the holy man

the faithful Singer asserts it; and of some hero,

such indeed as was the most blessed servant of Christ

and martyr Apollinaris; whom God

chose before the constitution of the world in fixed foreknowledge,

and in eternal memory. And he,

so much in the Church of Christ firm and fenced with royal

fortification, kept justice in all

time; worshiping God indeed with the highest

piety, and embracing every neighbor in perpetual

charity; for he sowed

good seed in the field of the Lord; his feet shod

in the preparation of the Gospel of peace;

and upon his thigh girded with the spiritual sword,

which is the word of God, in all patience

and doctrine. But our author Jesus had once promised

to his followers a gift in return

and a hundredfold retribution for those perils which for

his name his disciples had endured:

and this not among the Dwellers in Heaven only,

but also everywhere, where the earth-born live, and the sons

of men into one, rich and poor.

[8] honored by God For hence those mortals perceive,

in whatever way, the invisible glory of the Blessed,

through those things which are done by them in the world; as if

from the fruit they might apprehend the tree, and the cause

from the act. For as long as in this life we are,

by faith we walk, and not by sight,

having a shadow of the future goods in a mirror

and enigma, until to that fatherland of the heavenly

citizens we may merit to come;

whence hither we have been brought. But all creatures

are, as it were, an exemplar of the divine goodness:

whence there may shine to us the Sun of justice, who

everywhere diffuses the rays of his virtue to illustrate

the world before his majesty. And this

exceedingly excels in his elect; for

God is wonderful in his Saints, magnificent in

sanctity: and therefore praiseworthy and glorious

unto the ages.

[9] But among those Saints and elect of God,

like the morning star among the stars, St. Apollinaris shines forth chiefly: and like

the moon among the lesser fires, shines forth this our aforesaid

and most blessed martyr of God,

Apollinaris: one indeed, and that not a slight one,

as some conjecture ^a, of the Seventy-

two disciples of Christ: whom he himself

sent two by two before his face into every city

and place whither he himself was to come.

But this Man, distinguished in piety, so many labors

to undergo urged, unto God, that love which is strong

as death: so that through many and various

tribulations, and after very many crises of affairs,

he might enter into the kingdom of the heavens: for

he too, after the ascension of Christ to the Father,

was illustrated by the divine breath, together

with the rest, when there was made from heaven suddenly

a sound as of an approaching mighty Spirit,

and it filled the whole house where

they were sitting ^b. Thereafter, moreover, he clung

to the supreme head of the Apostles, Peter, and this so much

that from his side he never

departed; and following him at any rate through darts and through

enemies, and through inhospitable rocks, to Rome

itself, where those colleagues Peter and Paul,

two thunderbolts of spiritual war at any rate, and

the most illustrious lights of the world, Nero dictating,

on one day together at Rome were slain.

[10] But formerly by that same Apostle of Christ,

Peter, [who, sent to Ravenna by St. Peter, and having suffered martyrdom, and there buried near, honorably, but afterward lay uncultivated:] dismissed, this our most blessed Apollinaris

approached Ravenna, a city of Flaminia

both most ancient and most illustrious: where,

after very many virtues produced, after miracles

almost infinite, for the faith of Christ with martyrdom

he was crowned, under Vespasian the augustus; but buried

outside the walls of the city of Classe in

a marble chest by his disciples. But that same

was placed under the earth on account of the pagans persecuting

him, thus desiring to extinguish his glory.

Thereafter, moreover, he was conveyed up into that

place where now stands the most ample temple

of the abbey of Classe, at the third milestone from the city

of Ravenna. And there he rested for many

years, uncultivated so much and unhonored;

by the judgment indeed of God, which is said to be hidden,

but is never unjust: For the judgments

of God are like a great abyss: true

nevertheless and justified in themselves.

[11] But when at length it pleased the Most High,

who is the lot and crown, until at length, by the effort of the Camaldolese, the reward of his soldiers;

that what was hidden should be brought into

the light, he from above assenting, there was a counsel

of certain prelates or of very many monks

of the venerable congregation of St.

Michael of Murano ^c, of our Camaldolese

Order: whose the aforesaid abbey is,

no ignoble member, that there be cultivated somewhat

that very body, which was covered in

a certain underground cave, filled with water and slime,

and under the greater altar of the abbey of Classe,

and be placed in a more becoming place, drawn out

from the aforenoted mire. Wherefore there had built

the abbot of Classe, who then was, dom

Andrew Sechinus of Bergamo, the venerable

father, a certain new sarcophagus,

or marble chest, in which that very body might be enclosed,

there somewhat then higher beneath

the greater altar of the temple of Classe. These things therefore thus

weighed and concluded, that they should be done, by chance

indeed at that time there was at Ravenna the Roman

Curia, together with the most holy and most blessed

Pontiff Julius, by divine providence Pope the second.

[12] And by the indult of the Apostolic See So therefore also there was present, very opportunely,

the most reverend lord priest Cardinal of the basilica

of the Twelve Apostles,

by another name called lord Francesco Soderini

who, since he was in the Roman Curia protector

of our Camaldolese Order, and of the congregation

of the same; and to him humbly

supplicated the aforesaid reverend fathers, that

his most reverend lordship might entreat from the supreme

Pontiff, that the translation of the venerable body be made,

which same the most reverend one himself

might perform with his own hands, to the honor

of God and of the most blessed Martyr.

[13] he was translated into a more becoming place. The most blessed Pontiff assented to a request of this kind,

and that with great cheerfulness;

both because his Beatitude always sought

that the affairs of the Catholic Church be cultivated, among

which these can most worthily be reckoned; and

because that same shepherd, a few days before, together

with the most reverend twelve Cardinals of the Roman Church,

had betaken himself to that same

abbey, where also, having very much and very long

contemplated that most famous temple of Classe,

ancient indeed and worthy of all veneration,

he applied his mind to the monastery of Classe. Wherefore most willingly

he granted to the most reverend Cardinal already

mentioned, that he might perform the translation of this kind of most blessed

body.

NOTES.

CHAPTER II.

The history of this translation is set forth.

[14] On the first day of the month of April, therefore, the aforenamed

most reverend lord Francesco,

Cardinal of Volterra, The circumstances of time are described, license being obtained

as above, of performing the translation, signified

to the reverend lord Andrew Sechinus,

abbot of Classe, that he wished to execute an indult of this kind,

Apostolic, on the following day, which was the second

day of the same month in the aforesaid year

one thousand five hundred and eleven, and this

so hastily: because he himself had determined to depart

toward Bologna on the third day; and therefore

as if secretly was that translation made, and

suddenly, and therefore the abbot himself could not

report this to the citizens of Ravenna, or at least to the chief men;

as is the custom in deeds of this kind.

[15] On the second day, therefore, of the aforesaid month,

of our most holy lord, and of the persons, lord Julius, by divine

providence Pope the second, in the eighth year of his pontificate

^a, the aforenamed most reverend

Cardinal of Volterra from the illustrious city

of Ravenna betook himself to the aforesaid most famous

temple of Classe, together with all

who were with him of his household in the city.

There, moreover, that same Most Reverend one assisting,

of St. Apollinaris the martyr

Mass was solemnly sung by the vicar ^b

of the congregation, who was there present, minister in

all things. Thereafter, moreover, the Most Reverend one himself,

clad in a silken cope; and also the vicar

himself, the priestly chasuble being laid aside, put on

the cope; and thus all in procession

went forth, namely the prelates and the monks,

and the household of that same Most Reverend one, and certain

people of Ravenna with lights and incense

(as is the custom), all together singing

the hymn which begins, Come, Creator Spirit;

until to the place where the most holy

body lay, they came.

[16] But in the place where the sacred relics lay hidden,

underground indeed and very damp, and also the manner,

with great reverence sat down that most venerable one

himself, who also to the aforesaid vicar most benignly

said, that the bones of the most blessed Martyr

which were in the water, he should gather, and to himself

exhibit them, to be laid up in a casket there

set. For this cause therefore, seizing the commands,

the vicar himself, the cope laid aside, and girded

with the white podere ^c only and a red stole,

approached the watery and miry pit;

and devoutly inclining himself, those bones

he drew out one by one from that slime which was in

the pit, and set them in the hand of the Cardinal;

and thus both together laid them in the larch casket

moreover, at the sides of the vicar a deacon and subdeacon

solemnly vested with lights

and incense; and these helped the vicar himself,

as they could.

[17] with which these sacred remains, For the vicar himself, upon a wooden board,

resting on one foot, in the waters almost

hanging, on the other sustained himself on a rock. But

when he inclined himself to take the bones, lest he should slip

into the mire, with his head indeed and shoulders

and left hand he leaned upon the upper wall,

which he himself went under, when, to draw out the bones,

thither he had let himself down. But the water there continually

welled up. Wherefore there stood two ministers,

who with pots ^e and flagons carried it off,

that there all the bones scattered through the water might be able

to be drawn, which same, as they were taken by the vicar,

so were likewise exhibited to the Most Reverend one;

and thereafter were put into the casket.

[18] from a most neglected place; But those bones were held very disordered

and uncomposed, in mud and mire

scattered, and overwhelmed with waters, and submerged:

so that the vicar seemed almost to fish

those bones in a fish-pond ^f. But those bones

were found placed upon a stone of alabaster,

and covered with such slime that it was almost damp

ash: which that water neither stained,

nor made stink like mire, but rather washed,

just as if it were lye: but the alabaster

itself was like a tablet, in length of four feet,

in breadth of a foot, in height of

two fingers; which same, when from that

cloaca we drew out, and washed with that same water

continually rising, most beautiful appeared

and transparent, so that there shone through from either side

the opposed light, as if it were of glass. There was found

moreover there also a certain little part of alabaster,

as it were a certain appendix to the aforesaid, of one foot

and a half. For that aforesaid part, the larger,

had not perhaps been long enough to hold the bones.

[19] from which But over the bones themselves and the slime and flowing water

was a certain little chain wrought in the likeness

of almonds; of bronze indeed

and gilded, for the ornament equally and

protection of the sacred body. But this was broken into

very many parts, and almost wholly scattered through the water:

which at length the vicar himself, fishing out,

drew forth, and put into the aforesaid casket together with

that alabaster and the bones, to be preserved. But also

over this same was an iron grating, wrought with

broader plates, which, because it seemed recent,

was neglected, and by no means put into the casket with the other

most sacred relics, but hung

on the wall of the greater chapel after some days,

where also it exists to the present day. But

as we mentioned a little before, that water and mire

of the cloaca, which there were mixed with the bones,

by no means stained and defiled

or made stink (as * slime does, which elsewhere is

seen), nay rather they seemed to purge them

after the manner of lye: for the water itself was whitish,

but the earth as it were damp ash.

[20] were drawn out, There was therefore no stench there, such as at any rate

in miry places is wont to be underground: but all things

there so stood, that the Most Reverend one himself,

together with the rest assisting him,

and some singing hymns and

psalms, were broken by no labor, weariness, or disgust,

for almost three hours and a half;

nay, they seemed there to be affected with pleasantness,

gladness, and great joy. But the Most Reverend one

himself was ashamed and grieved, that

so long had remained uncultivated the body of the most blessed

Martyr. And he commanded again and

again, that the vicar himself diligently and studiously

should search, lest any of the little bones should remain

in the mire: and he indeed with what diligence he could

searched, and with his own hand very often

turned over the slime under the water and above; and as many

fragments of bones as he found, so many to that same

most venerable one he presented, and, at his command, placed them in

the casket.

[21] But when he had investigated a long while, and

thrice and four times that mire, for this cause,

with busy hand had turned over, and, with the utmost diligence gathered, and elevated, and no

bone more found, at the command of that same Most Reverend one,

the vicar himself, and together the aforesaid deacon and

subdeacon, took up that casket of the relics,

and coming forth into the light from the cave,

carried out the most blessed body, all in procession

returning, and at the same time

singing We praise Thee, O God. And thus

all together came to the greater altar,

upon which they honorably placed that casket.

After these things, moreover, the casket being incensed, and

the Lord's prayer being meanwhile said, the Most Reverend one

himself, as above, clad in the cope,

approached the body of the divine Apollinaris, and there

sang the oration of that Saint, changing

nonetheless the name of the festivity into that of the translation.

[22] But a benediction being given to all (as

is the custom) by the pontiff, [indulgences being granted, and the matter which had been done being commanded to be written down.] the Cardinal himself commanded the vicar,

that in his name to all and singular

he should indicate and proclaim, that yearly

the memory of a translation of this kind be celebrated

on this same second day of the month of April

with this spiritual stipend, that an indulgence

of a hundred days be had by all

and singular, who that most famous temple of Classe,

on this very day, the memory of this translation

might visit. So therefore also the vicar

himself set forth with a loud voice publicly before

all, by mandate, this very will of the most reverend

Cardinal. But afterward that same

most venerable one commanded the aforesaid vicar,

that all these acts he should write down one by one and distinctly,

and reduce them into a public

and authentic form, for the perpetual memory of the matter,

and for instructing posterity: which

very thing the aforesaid vicar received, about to do it out of

obedience.

[23] But because in certain most ancient plates

some things were contained concerning that

Saint, [The ancient plates are restored, to which a new one concerning this translation is added.] as appears in them, which among the relics

are held in the abbey of Classe, therefore

the Most Reverend one himself commanded that of those three

plates the words should again be engraved, a fourth

plate being also added, in which concerning this very present

translation it is treated: and thus together be enclosed

all in the marble coffer, where the most holy body

in the larch casket is enclosed.

Which indeed all the vicar himself promised

that he would do.

[24] And therefore the aforesaid vicar, who

am I, brother Paul Orlandini of Florence, The faith of this instrument confirmed by oath.

in the acts above often cited,

since I was present, bearer of all and

minister, as we prescribed; these open letters

I caused to be made; swearing at any rate upon my soul,

and calling God himself to witness,

that all the abovewritten things are true,

and, as they are written, were done, in the word of truth.

In faith of all which and singular

these open letters we caused to be made; and

with the seal of the divine Michael we have strengthened them. And these

we gave on the tenth day of the month of September

in the year of the Lord one thousand five hundred and sixteen

in the monastery of St. Michael of

Murano; where now I act as abbot, though unworthy,

out of obedience however to the general chapter

of ours, as it pleased the fathers definitors

of the present year.

NOTES.

CHAPTER III.

To the three plates long since buried together with the Saint's body a fourth is added concerning the present translation. Peroration for making faith.

[25] The plates formerly buried together with the Saint's body: of which the first, Note. The words of the three silver plates

subscribed, which were buried together by the Christians

in testimony of the most blessed Martyr,

are these ^a: The first plate. "Sprung

from Antioch, blessed Apollinaris, by

the supreme Prince of the Apostles was sent to Ravenna

to preach the baptism of penance

unto the remission of sins; and there through

him the Lord wrought many virtues:

for he enlightened the blind, cured the paralytic,

made the mute to speak, put demons to flight,

raised the dead, cleansed lepers; images

and temples of idols he dissolved."

[26] The second plate. "Here he was beaten

with cudgels a long while; the second upon coals he stood with bare feet;

on the rack hung, again scourged;

over his wounds he received boiling water: with

a heavy weight of iron relegated into exile,

his mouth bruised with a stone. He died under Vespasian

the augustus, on the tenth of the Kalends of August,

our Lord Jesus Christ reigning with

the Father and the Holy Spirit unto ages of ages.

Amen."

[27] The third plate. "Here rests the most holy

body of the most blessed Apollinaris, and the words of the third are produced; priest

and martyr of Christ: but what here

is lacking, in this same church, on account of the greatest

care, has been hidden away." But these

plates, as we said, buried with the most sacred body,

found once, at the bones of the most blessed

Apollinaris, Ildebrand, most reverend

priest Cardinal of the holy Roman Church

and legate of the Apostolic See; who approached

once the aforesaid most famous temple of Classe,

to inquire whether there was held there the body

of this most holy Martyr: which indeed being

there found together with those plates, in the aforesaid

church, by Apostolic authority he declared

and published that in this same temple

that most holy body was; and imposed silence

upon all who thought otherwise.

[28] But for this translation now most recently,

as is written above, [as also of the fourth, which on occasion of this translation was added to the former three.] celebrated,

there is added a fourth plate, whose words

indeed are these: "The most reverend lord

Francesco Sotherinus of Florence, priest Cardinal

of the basilica of the Twelve Apostles,

authority being received from the Apostolic

See, approached this monastery of Classe;

and very many bones of the most holy Apollinaris hence

from the underground cave and out of water and slime

drew forth on high into a wooden casket, which

same he commanded to be laid up in this marble chest:

commanding that this translation

be celebrated yearly by posterity; under a stipend

of a hundred days of indulgence."

Done in the year of the Lord one thousand five hundred

and eleven, on the second day of April.

[29] Peroration. But all these things I completed

and by the hand of our undersigned chancellor caused to be

transcribed in the word of truth, I the same brother

Paul Orlandini of Florence: The conclusion, from the faith of the instrument. who at that

time acted as vicar of the congregation;

but now abbot of St. Michael of Murano

of Venice, of the Camaldolese Order,

of the diocese of Torcello, of the year of the Lord one thousand

five hundred and sixteen, on the tenth day

of the month of September… And I, dom

John Francis of Balneo, chamberlain of the most reverend

lord Peter Delphinus, general of the Camaldolese,

and of the reverend lord

Paul Orlandini the abbot, for this chancellor

by mandate, etc.

NOTES.

PART V.

Were the sacred remains of the present St. Apollinaris translated to certain places of Germany and Belgium?

PRELIMINARY DISSERTATION.

§ I. Notice of those translations, and our judgment concerning them.

Several translations ascribed to the present St. Apollinaris, The people of Remagen, inhabitants of the territory of Cologne, will have it that

the body of St. Apollinaris, bishop of Ravenna,

was brought to them from Ravenna in the manner

which is set forth in the documents to be given a little later. But

from those things which we said in the preliminary Commentary,

§2, 3, and 4, that the possession of this sacred deposit stands

with the people of Classe, by testimonies so solid is proved,

that I do not see what even in appearance can

be brought against it, which might weaken it, still less

overthrow it. Let the reader consult those things, and, party

zeal being set aside, maturely weigh them; I am deceived, if anything

more he can desire, so that prudently and securely,

and with historical faith most probable, for the people of Classe he may pronounce.

Meanwhile, lest anything in the present argument

seem passed over or dissembled, it helps

to propose on what foundation the people of Remagen rely.

[2] but supported by weak authority Their patron acts our Hermann

Crombach, in the history of the Three Kings, the Magi, volume

3, Book 2, chapter 40, relying especially on the testimonies alone

which, from the narration of Theodoric Paulus, to be

subjoined below, he transcribes. Whatever therefore

pertains to the Remagen translation, is uniquely founded

on the authority of the aforesaid Theodoric. Judge the same of

the Düsseldorf, Siegburg, and Gorinchem ones: of all

of which he himself weaves the narration. We have it

transcribed by hand from the Cologne edition of Peter

Quentell, printed in the year 1526: from which copy

will be given those things which, through the course, from that

author we shall produce. In his prologue therefore thus he

speaks: Which things indeed I, Theodoric Paulus,

a least priest, and though unworthy, yet subdean

of the church of Sts. Martin and Vincent

in.. the town of Gorinchem (of Gorinchem),

of the diocese of Utrecht, in certain books,

strengthened by the fortification of the seal of the venerable father and

lord, lord John of Arkel, bishop

of the churches of Utrecht, afterward of Liège,

by reading found.

[3] are rejected; And these things pertain to the translation of the arm

of St. Apollinaris to the people of Gorinchem. But writing of the others,

which by bodily visiting his relics

in Remagen and in Siegburg, at Cologne,

and in Düsseldorf, I read, he says, and from venerable

persons worthy of faith heard, and in truth

ascertained. But by what author, at what time,

with what faith were those things written which he read? Whether new,

or ancient, genuine or spurious? Did they treat of

miracles alone, wrought through these relics, or of

the manner also and the series in which they, as they will have it, were

translated? A little more of authority certainly was needed,

that to a reader not too credulous this deed might become

credible, by which not some small part of the body, but

either the whole body, or a very great part of it at least,

is asserted to have been carried off from Ravenna to Milan, and thence to the people of Remagen

and Siegburg, against so

ancient and, in various successive centuries, well-established

possession of the people of Classe.

[4] But if those things which he affirms to have read, and from venerable

persons, [The miracles nevertheless can subsist, even if they were wrought through the relics of another Saint.] worthy of faith, to have heard, and in

truth to have ascertained, Theodoric affirms, are to be understood

of miracles; by no means shall we contradict him in that:

for we should easily admit that those sacred

pledges are truly either of some synonymous Saint; or

of an anonymous one drawn from the sacred crypts; on whom that name

afterward was imposed: in which matter often play their parts

the affectation for a Saint more celebrated and more ancient than the rest.

Meanwhile there can be seen those things which long since

were said concerning the body of St. Bobo on the

22nd of May, page 189; where the present

controversy also is treated. And, not to go farther, see

the preliminary Commentary of St. Margaret, Virgin

and Martyr, on the 20th of this month, §3, and the appendix

after the Acts: likewise the preliminary Commentary on

the Acts of St. Christina, Virgin and Martyr, on the 24th of this month,

§3, as also the translations which are given after them.

[5] Then let them set forth to us, who wish this narration of the translation

to be believed as true and genuine,

[The foundation of those translations is convicted of falsity both from the silence of others,] what suitable author hands down that St.

Eustorgius, archbishop of Milan,

.. translated .. from Ravenna the greatest part

of the body of St. Apollinaris, the first archbishop of that place

and martyr, and in the Ambrosian church

.. placed it, as Theodoric narrates.

I certainly, in matters pertaining to the translations of our Saint

not idly occupied, have hitherto found none

to whose mind that affirmation has come. But if that place, to which it is reported this body was first conveyed,

and whence to the people of Remagen carried off,

can in no way be persuaded of; it follows that the whole

foundation of that translation wavers,

nor can it conveniently be said, whence and by whom

it was accomplished. Add that this whole history

labors under other inconveniences, as will become plain

from the notes. Nor indeed does the slight authority of Theodoric,

who committed the deed to letters, much commend its faith.

[6] Most briefly of him Valerius Andreas made mention

in his Bibliotheca Belgica, and from the character of the author who hands them down. and Vossius in the Latin historians.

But he flourished about the middle of the 15th century. On the Life

of St. Barbara, Virgin and Martyr, in Surius on the

4th of December, is set a miracle, written by that author,

who was present at it; which

miracle is there written to have happened in the year of Christ

1448. We keep two of his manuscript volumes of a universal

Chronicle, in which, of vast bulk and, in

variety of matters, most rich, he heaped up a hodgepodge:

whence it is gathered that he was a man of great labor,

of much reading, and of knowledge, diffused and extended

to various deeds of men, places,

and arguments: but whether he was too simple and credulous, or

too greedy, than a cautiously circumspect

heaper-up of the matters which he collected; certainly, without sufficient

investigation and selection, he adopted not a few things, about to merit

a greater praise, if not so much on the vast

bulk of very many matters, as on the concentrated

accuracy of fewer, he had labored. This by examples to confirm

we forbear. The history of the present translation certainly

needs no small criticism, where the author recounts deeds

so many centuries distant from his own age. Judge otherwise

of matters to which he was either nearer in time,

or which he asserts to have seen, or testifies himself to have been present

at them, (of which kind below not a few

occur) meriting there full faith.

[7] There are, however, in the translation of the arm of St. Apollinaris

to the people of Gorinchem, though distant only one century

from our author's age, some things The Gorinchem translation is more verisimilar, yet not lacking its difficulties. which,

if by no other witness, can scarcely be persuaded to us; as, for instance, those things which

he reports concerning the apparition of the Saint, which to John of Arkel,

bishop of Utrecht, dwelling in Italy, happened,

as may be seen below, number 28. Add that

he does not express whether an arm entire, or a great

part, or a fragment only, came to the people of Gorinchem.

If he means an arm entire; or the greatest

part of it: it is not immediately persuaded to us

that it is of the present St. Apollinaris, but either of another

synonymous one, or drawn from elsewhere, and under that

name assumed, on account of those things which at the place above designated

concerning the body of the Saint, and its integrant parts,

and the arms especially, were disputed; and further will be said

a little later concerning the Milanese translation;

which is a mere fabrication. Whatever below, number

21, Fortanerius, the giver of that arm, under the character

of his seal, may be said to have strengthened and affirmed to all

that they were true relics of such a kind.

§ II. Other things concerning these translations are dispatched.

[Difficulties

Crombach objects to himself, he does not solve.] And these things indeed concerning the venerable remains of the present, as they will have it,

Prelate of Ravenna, we propose to be considered,

led by zeal for the truth alone, not for party. The reply to the difficulties which

from Rubeus Crombach objects to himself at the cited place, page

665, can be sought from §2 and 3 of our preliminary

Commentary. He objects to himself moreover the people of Milan, who

would deny that the ancient annals mention a translation of St. Apollinaris

from Ravenna to Milan. But not

sufficiently aptly does he thus reply: Because it is established that

nothing of those relics survives there, later writers

seem to have neglected it. The few things which he superadds

are so weak, that to report them is not worth the

while. But after he had subjoined the most frequent concourse of people

to St. Apollinaris from Theodoric;

But in our, he says, time, eight,

twelve, and sometimes sixteen thousand men

flow together: nor, for the multitude, can the

prodigies be noted.

[9] What should be said concerning the shin of the Saint, But in that there is no difficulty. Concerning the great

part of the body from the mount of St. Martin, now of St. Apollinaris,

among the people of Remagen, in the time of William

duke of Jülich, translated to the collegiate church of Düsseldorf,

as is thought, in the year 1383,

there can be seen the same Crombach, page 665. Concerning one shin

sent to Rome, to the German College, by the people of Düsseldorf,

he writes, from the Ms. book of the said collegiate church,

in these words: In the casket, which is above

red, is reserved the body of St. Apollinaris,

bishop and martyr, without the head: but in the year

of the Lord 1589, on the 6th of March,

at the many prayers of the most distinguished man Theodore Horst,

satrap of this place, and of our college a singular

patron, the casket of St. Apollinaris, in the presence of

the dean and chapter members, we opened,

and in it, wrapped in silks,

described in this catalogue, the relics we found;

but the principal part of the bones of St. Apollinaris, not

however all, we saw to be contained in it. Besides,

that at Rome the memory of this most holy Martyr

in the German College, consecrated to St. Apollinaris,

with greater veneration may be venerated;

one of the shins, with the consent of the supreme

Pontiff, and of the most illustrious prince, a just

document being given to this end, through the son of the aforesaid

Horst, a canon of Trier, to Rome

we sent. But it appears sufficiently in what position the people of Classe,

instructed with such solid and ancient documents concerning the possession of the sacred

remains of the present St. Apollinaris,

that so huge a mass of relics

are to have.

[10] That afterward two documents were sent up to him from Rome, from that

same college, and other relics of the same, as they will have it, sent to Rome. the same Crombach testifies,

page 666, of which the one was of the following

tenor: There are besides five bones of St. Apollinaris

transmitted from Germany to the college

with public faith, partly by the archbishop

and elector of Cologne, partly by the chapter

and dean of the church of Blessed Mary the Virgin of Aachen;

partly by the abbess of the monastery

of St. John the Baptist of Burtscheid, of the diocese of Cologne:

partly finally by the monastery of the virgins

of Clarenberg in the county of Mark.

But they are kept in little caskets partly

of silver and gilded; partly in wooden ones indeed,

but most elegantly wrought with gold and silver,

and in a silver arm. The other document

contained these things: In the year of the Lord 1586,

on the 3rd of June, the most noble and most distinguished

lord Jacobus Curtius, of his sacred imperial Majesty

intimate chamberlain, from the emperor Rudolph

to Sixtus V sent as legate, consigned to the reverend

Father Michael Lauretanus, rector of the venerable college

German and Hungarian, the sacred relics of the arm

of St. Apollinaris. But to the legate the aforesaid

relics were delivered by Father John Vivarius of Aachen,

regent of the college of the Society of Jesus of the boarders

of Prague. To the aforesaid father they had been delivered

by the noble and reverend lord Francis Joss, legate

sent to the emperor Rudolph at Prague on account of religion

by the most illustrious duke of Cleves.

But what should be thought of so great a heaping-up of relics of our, as they will have it,

holy Apollinaris, abundantly is clear from what has been said.

[11] To the notices concerning the remains of the Saint, sent up by the most eminent

lord Thomas Wendelen, The solemn veneration of the Saint dean of the chapter

of Düsseldorf, in the year 1667, pertain the following,

furnished, unless I am deceived, at the same time and by the same

dean: In the year 1392, when the aforetasted church of Düsseldorf from a parochial

at once into a collegiate one, by Apostolic authority, was being erected,

and by the duke of Mark, William, and

Anna of Bavaria, spouses, with a provostship, a deanery,

a scholastery, a treasurership, and a cantorship,

besides six other ten canonries, etc., it was being augmented

and founded; in the very letters, and instrument

of our foundation, by the aforesaid duke

erected, by Apostolic authority, and by Frederick

archbishop of Cologne, in the year 1392 confirmed,

it was sanctioned and ordained, that on the very

feast day of St. Apollinaris the tomb, to be exposed

to public veneration, should solemnly in procession

be carried through the whole city.

[10] Which, from that time to the present

day, with great devotion of the people, among the people of Düsseldorf. with a concourse

from the neighboring cities, all the clergy

and religious accompanying, is yearly observed.

But the coffer and sarcophagus of the said Saint,

in the choir of the canons, over the greater altar,

to be seen and venerated in the eyes of all always

lies open. But the glorious martyr and bishop

Apollinaris is an asylum, to which the inhabitants of this place

in all public and private necessities

and perils most securely take refuge, as

in the past year 1666, and in the year 1635,

pestilence raging on every side, was found, with the preservation of our

city. But to the things said a little before let us again return.

[13] The aforesaid shin of the Saint is honorably kept at Rome: That other shin sent by the people of Düsseldorf to Rome,

to the German College (concerning which number 9),

there is noted to be that one, which afterward the most eminent

and most serene prince and lord Francis,

Cardinal of the Holy Roman Church, bishop of Regensburg

and Osnabrück, etc., in a silver statue;

which, above the rest of the other churches in my time

(says the same, unless I am deceived, dean cited above),

in the year 1647 at Rome in magnitude

stood eminent, caused to be enclosed, and dedicated it

in honor of his Patron: of whom once in that same

college he was an alumnus, etc. And these

few things from the abovesaid notices it pleased to cull:

for what in the same is said, the persecution of the Christians

being pacified, especially in the time of Constantine

the Great, and his successors, that the fame of the miracles

of St. Apollinaris being far and wide divulged,

and the most instant petition of the bishop

of Ravenna moved Pope Damasus (after the middle

of the 4th century), to send Salustianus

the archbishop and N. from Rome to Ravenna:

[14] in whose document certain apocryphal things are inserted. Who together with the bishop of that same city

and clergy, near Clusa, opened the wooden coffer of blessed

Apollinaris, and the holy relics enclosed in an ivory

sarcophagus, into the cathedral church

of the city of Ravenna, with the greatest applause of the devout

people, translated. The miracles which

in the translation of the holy Prelate happened, Pope Damasus enumerates

in Book 10 at the end. Which,

I say, is here reported, supported by the authority of none,

we dare not so much approve, as

the writings which under the name of Damasus are circulated

(concerning which the bibliographers). Which, if perhaps a few

verses you except, are held as apocryphal

by the learned.

§

III. The translation from Ravenna, as they will have it, to Milan, which of the others here is the foundation; the hallucinations of the author; from whose narration certain fragments are given.

[15] Some things omitted here in the text, which have elsewhere been demolished, The title *On the translations of the relics

of the body of St. Apollinaris from Ravenna to

Gorinchem, and to other diverse places, towns,

and monasteries*, noted in our Ms., is followed by

with the narration subjoined to it, in which Theodoric

Paulus will have it that the bodies of the holy Three Kings, the Magi,

from Constantinople, by St. Eustorgius, bishop

of Milan, were carried off to Milan: which matter,

besides that it by no means pertains here, has already

long since as fabulous been rejected by us in the

Exegesis on the bishops of Milan before volume

7 of May, page 60. That fabrication is again

reprobated on the 6th of June, page 644. Which it is enough

at present even in passing to have indicated: for this whole

controversy can perhaps elsewhere again be weighed;

see what has been said, on this 23rd day of July in

the Praetermitted. Certain points meanwhile from the said author

let us cull, not sufficiently rightly cohering; from

which it may become plain on how weak a foundation rely

all the translations of which we here treat;

when they are understood to lean on this one Milanese.

[16] Most badly, first of all, Theodoric Paulus affirms

that St. Eustorgius The hallucinations of the author, was a legate of Manuel,

emperor of the Romans and Constantinopolitans, or

Greeks. For Manuel I, not emperor of the Romans

but of the Constantinopolitans, pertains to the 12th century;

but the second to the 14th century. Does then

either of them fitly cohere with St. Eustorgius, either the first or the second;

of whom the former flourished in the 4th century, but the latter in the 6th, as may be seen

at the places a little before assigned? What faith, therefore,

does an author of this kind merit? when soon,

digressing to St. Apollinaris, he asserts that that same

St. Eustorgius, archbishop of Milan,

… many relics of Saints being collected

… translated .. from Ravenna the greatest

part of the body of St. Apollinaris, the first archbishop of that place

and martyr, and in the Ambrosian church,

with jubilation and ineffable joy of the whole people of both sexes,

becomingly placed it.

[17] But then he sets forth the manner in which, the city of Milan being intercepted by the emperor Frederick I, inventing very many things,

Reinold, archbishop of Cologne, translated

thence to Cologne of Agrippina, in the year 1164, the bodies

of the Holy Three Kings with the body of our St. Apollinaris,

and the bodies of Sts. Felix and Nabor, martyrs.

Concerning the Three Kings, this is sufficiently today

confessed. But our Saint was wrongly added to these.

Concerning Sts. Nabor and Felix there is a thorny controversy between the people of Cologne

and of Milan: whose arguments on both sides are brought forth on the

12th of July, from page 285. But if it should please anyone, to whom the cited Quentell

edition is not at hand, to read the text of Theodoric,

whose synopsis we here gave, let him go to Crombach at the cited place, page 664.

We add a few things from the same Theodoric, contracted into a compendium,

which entire the same Crombach exhibits: And when that same .. archbishop

those same glorious bodies .. through

the Rhine to Cologne had determined to translate, and the ship, on the eve

of St. Apollinaris, .. in the diocese of Cologne,

near Remagen, in the middle of the Rhine, was floating..

behold, the ship in the middle of the Rhine, immovable, as

on dry ground, stood fixed … When that same archbishop

had vowed to God, that if in that ship

there were any relics which Christ had destined to that

place, most willingly there them

he would leave: forthwith the ship .. put in,

remaining fixed in that same place.

[18] The bodies therefore being carried out of the ship

.. the ship remained ever immovable. which merit no faith. At length

they expose the body of St. Apollinaris to the shore,

the others .. being carried back into the ship, and straightway the ship

by itself moved. And so, understanding the apostolic

Martyr to wish to be honored there,

applying their hand, that him into that same chapel

they might wish to carry, straightway a bell, by angelic

ministry, by itself sounded so long, until

the most sacred body into that same little church

was devoutly carried. Which when with humble

devotion, over the high altar, becomingly

and reverently with the little casket they had placed *,

two honest priests being left there

to guard the holy body, and to divulge,

and to certify that they were true

relics. All of which ought to lean on a more solid foundation

than the sole authority of good Theodoric Paulus;

then also that which he adds, that the same archbishop had decreed .. that the feast of St. Apollinaris,

both on account of the miracle done at Remagen,

and on account of the translation of the bodies

of the Three Kings, as the highest feast, by all

the faithful of Christ in that same diocese

should be continually celebrated.

[19] Certain other things from the same concerning the concourse and the Saint While therefore, the same author goes on, it was known

everywhere that St. Apollinaris there, on the mount of St. Martin, wished to rest or

repose, and to be frequented by the faithful of Christ,

there came from day to day so great a concourse

of the faithful, that the chapel could not hold

them. It grew famous at length, and grows famous daily, on

that mount, by infinite miracles. For the epileptic,

vowing themselves there about to visit the relics

of the holy Martyr, are straightway healed. Moreover, matrons

pregnant or near to childbirth, vowing

themselves with offerings to God and St. Apollinaris

to wish to offer the offspring to be born, straightway

safe give birth. And therefore every year,

on the feast of St. Apollinaris, besides men and women,

there come as pilgrims more than five thousand

children to the church of St. Apollinaris with offerings.

[20] and by miracles These things at length being everywhere divulged, namely

that so many there obtained entire health,

forthwith by the aid of the pilgrims and

especially of the lord of Lanscroen, there on that same

mount, but in another place, contiguous to the former,

around the public highway or royal road,

and a wide one, they built a church in honor

of St. Apollinaris: and from then and thenceforth

that mount with the church was called and named

throughout that whole region the mount or

church of St. Apollinaris. Moreover, before the high

altar they drew out a beautiful stone tomb

or chest; into which with great solemnity

the venerable Bruno III, of Dassale

born, fortieth bishop of Cologne,

in the time of Henry V, emperor of the Romans;

and the abbot of Siegburg becomingly and honorably

and with great devotion the relics of St. Apollinaris

placed.

[21] where again he wrongly combines several things. Cratepolius, in the catalogue of the ecclesiastical Electors,

page 65, sets Bruno III as having begun to sit

in the year of the Lord 1104, which is there, as also in

Bucelinus in the Germania Sacra, part 1, page 26,

in number the forty-sixth. The emperor Henry

V is noted in Labbe as crowned in the said year

1104, dead in 1125. Theodoric therefore dreams here,

when he brings onto the scene persons who

the year 1164, to which he attaches the aforementioned translation of the body,

by living never reached; a bad combiner

of things, times, and persons.

[22] Our conclusion. And this is the cause, why no faith

can make for itself a history sprinkled with so many errors, and this

leaves it as remaining to us, that from its whole ill-sewn

heap only these few facts be admitted. 1. That some

holy body in the territory of Cologne was honored

long since under the name of our St. Apollinaris.

2. That it is not of our, but of another Saint.

3. That whence, when, or by what means it came thither,

is not established. 4. That certain parts of it were translated elsewhere.

5. That, finally, frequent miracles were wrought

by its virtue. Besides these, what concerning

those relics can be affirmed sufficiently safely and truly,

hitherto we do not see. If more their patrons

should wish (and they will certainly wish); it lies upon them their,

as they will have it, possession by better documents to prove,

which are of such strength, that that which

the people of Classe ascribe to themselves, they may avail to overthrow. But although

those things which Theodoric here sets forth to us

concerning those translations, insofar as he narrates them to have been

translations of the relics of St. Apollinaris, who today

is venerated, ought not to be transcribed hither; nevertheless,

since they are translations of the remains of some Saint at least,

honored even with miracles, and frequented by a most religious

and likewise most numerous concourse of people;

nor does it seem that anywhere else more aptly among us

can these be treated of, than on today's

day; we here produce his text, about to divide the matter into chapters,

and to be explained also by notes; and the following

text will be a continuation of the preceding fragment,

which you have above and it ends at number 20.

* they placed,

CHAPTER I.

The translation and relation which they will have to have happened in the territory of Cologne.

Meanwhile, while the most holy head of St. Apollinaris

in the castle of Lanscroen ^a had been hidden,

The head of the Saint hidden in Lanscroen, honorably placed in the chapel of that same

castle, all things prosperously and to his liking

succeeded to the noble Gerard, Lord of Einberg (of one mount)

and of Lanscroen. And because the mitre

thinness of substance: for as was affirmed

there, that same mitre was, with a superhumeral

^c, and a nactum ^d, which the holy Apostle

Peter, in directing him to Ravenna,

had conferred on him. And therefore the aforesaid Gerard, lord

of Lanscroen, with his noble spouse

offered a mass of gold with pearls ^e and some

gems and silk, and the rest requisite for a mitre:

from which, at his own expense,

he caused a new good mitre to be made over

the old mitre, as is still clear to one beholding.

[2] And it was carried back honorably and reverently

to its own church upon the mount

with his other relics carried off by the monks,

as has been said. and afterward brought back to the people of Remagen: And so when the fame had grown widespread

everywhere, that Blessed Apollinaris, by the aforesaid

duke, was translated from the mount and church of St.

Apollinaris near Remagen ^f to Düsseldorf

^g, the same abbot, on the contrary, obtained through the whole

city of Cologne, at Neuss ^h, at

Bonn ⁱ, and at Remagen, that the contrary be preached

namely that there survives to each one the venerable

head of him, and the remaining relics of St. Apollinaris,

but this only on his mount

with great custody on account of fear of the aforesaid

prince.

[3] For while the contention and war ^k of the aforesaid

lords for some time had been continued, likewise the relics conveyed to the monastery of Siegburg:

and that same duke ^l, because, without the authority

of the Church, in a rash and sacrilegious manner,

he translated the relics of St. Apollinaris in part,

and was still busy to translate the remaining ones; behold,

the illustrious lord Adolph, his firstborn,

seized him, and he began to live under custody

against the law of nature. Wherefore William the duke,

compelled by necessity, deferring to translate the relics,

made peace with the aforesaid abbot. These things

being pacified, when still the same abbot the remaining

relics of St. Apollinaris dared on the oft-mentioned

mount to leave, with the consent of the venerable

lord Frederick of Saarwerden ^m,

sixtieth ⁿ archbishop of Cologne, he translated

from the cell of Remagen or mount of St. Apollinaris

to the monastery of Siegburg ^o with

great solemnity, in the presence of Godfrey

Winter, prior of the monastery of Siegburg, John

of Mesdorp subprior, and Rutger

treasurer of the aforesaid monastery and town

of Siegburg, in the year of the Lord namely 1394,

in the third Indiction [p], on Thursday, the third of the month of December,

at the hour of noon or thereabouts.

[4] where together with the remains of other Saints they were becomingly enclosed. Then in the year of the Lord 1460 lord

William, abbot of Siegburg, led by a pious intention,

at his own expense caused a new and

precious casket, worth more than three thousand

Rhenish florins [q], to be built of silver

and gold: which also, between the casket of St.

Anno, thirty-second archbishop of Cologne

[r], and of the holy Benignus [s], and of St. Winbold

[t] the confessor, he took care to be placed over the high altar.

And that more amply and more becomingly

might be venerated the relics of St. Apollinaris, he placed

in that same casket the bone of the arm of St. Alexius [u]

the confessor, with certain several bones

of the same, marked with their proper titles and notices,

and also of very many other Saints,

without titles, into the aforesaid casket he placed and becomingly

enclosed: our Lord

Jesus Christ granting, to whom be both honor and glory unto ages

of ages. Amen.

[5] Miracles among the people of Remagen, ascertained by the writer. Certainly and truly it is very glorious to relate the marvels

of our Lord Jesus Christ,

which through his elect he mercifully works;

which also attest that their souls, after the death of the flesh,

live with him, and reign eternally in heaven.

And therefore a few of the infinite things

which almighty God, through his most holy

martyr Apollinaris, on the mount

near Remagen, deigned to work, to

the memory of posterity I have determined to describe. Which

things indeed I, the aforesaid Theodoric Paulus, priest,

in the year of the Lord 1463, on the eleventh

day of the month of March, on that same mount of St. Apollinaris

read, heard, and in truth ascertained.

[6] A certain woman feeding on the vineyard There was a certain woman in the town of Remagen,

Gertrude by name, impudent to reviling

and to hurting many, who very often,

entering the vineyards of the provostship near the mount

of St. Apollinaris, inflicted many damages by cutting the grapes

and carrying off the wood on it, nor

could by the keepers of the vineyard be restrained in any way from

the vineyard. At length in the year of the Lord 1459,

on the feast of St. Ruffus the martyr, formerly a disciple of St.

Apollinaris, returning, as before, she took grapes even

with the keepers of the vineyard unwilling. Which when it had been notified

to the imperial provost of the mount of St. Apollinaris;

meeting her, first benignly

he admonished her, that she should desist from such purloining, and

inflicting damages on the vineyard of the Saint, lest she provoke the vengeance

of God and St. Apollinaris upon herself.

Who, holding of small account the words of the provost, cared nothing,

but always the more, in the presence of the provost,

by cutting the grapes, held him in derision.

[7] she is punished: But when the provost, harshly rebuking her,

that she should desist, had reproved her, and she would not,

but with scurrilous words cursed the provost,

and blasphemed, the provost therefore, wishing

to expel her violently from the vineyard, took a stone,

wishing on the contrary to throw and strike

the provost: soon the divine vengeance followed.

For when she leaned down to take up the stone,

straightway she fell to the earth, and, seized by the epileptic

disease, was direly tortured. Returned therefore to herself,

compunct, she implored in every way most devoutly

the divine aid, vowing to God and

St. Apollinaris, that henceforth she would never, to

do harm, enter the property and possession;

and so, led by her people as a pilgrim, in the church

of St. Apollinaris they thought to offer her

with offerings to God and his holy Martyr.

But while she approached the tomb of St. Apollinaris,

straightway again, seized by the epileptic disease,

she fell. And thenceforth all the time, the more

she was tortured. Which hearing, many

greatly feared St. Apollinaris, not daring

to inflict any damages on his property.

[8] In the year of the Lord 1461, on the feast of St. Peter

in Chains, a drowned boy is raised: there was in the town of Sions [x] of the diocese of Cologne,

a woman very devoted to St. Apollinaris:

who, while in childbirth she had vowed to offer the offspring to be born,

to God and St. Apollinaris, as a pilgrim

with offerings, as is the custom

of honest matrons of that region, it happened,

that, while the boy was six years old, he went

to play at the shore of the water at Sions; and falling

into the water, his mother being absent, was drowned.

Which when to the mother, after two hours, had been dolefully

certified, moved by feminine grief

she greatly groaned, but by a divine nod returned to herself,

having great hope and confidence in

St. Apollinaris, many hearing and groaning,

hastening to the shore she vowed, every

year to offer him to St. Apollinaris, as long as

she herself lived safe, if by his merits and intercessions

she should receive him alive. Which being fulfilled,

straightway the youth began to float up, wholly

wet, and to put in to the shore. Whom the neighbors

standing by, with groaning and joy drawing out,

raised, assigning him alive to his mother,

and paying to God and St. Apollinaris great actions of thanks.

[9] In the same year there was a certain woman of

the village of Unckel [y], a paralytic, for a year and more paralytic;

who, while she saw that human hope profited

her not, and was direly tortured, asked

of her people that she be conveyed to St. Apollinaris.

Who, while she went around the tomb of that same Saint,

many seeing and wondering, straightway healed

returned, rejoicing and cheerful, to her home,

giving to God and St. Apollinaris unwearied thanks.

[10] In the same year there was a certain woman of

Lonsdorp [z], likewise another suffering fever, for a year and a half suffering fever:

who, while she lacked human aid,

approached the divine; and vowed as a pilgrim the tomb

of St. Apollinaris to visit. Who, while she went around

the tomb of the Saint, the pilgrimage with

an offering being made, it seemed to her that with a washing

of cold water she was suffused and cleansed: and straightway

healed she returned to her home [aa], and thenceforth

the fever left her. And all the days

of her life she greatly honored St. Apollinaris.

[11] In the year of the Lord 1412 a certain leper

of Ryndorp [bb], a leprous man, John by name, while

as a pilgrim he visited on the mount the tomb of St. Apollinaris,

and kissed the most holy head of St.

Apollinaris, straightway cleansed and healed returned

joyfully to his people, giving to God and his holy beloved

Martyr thanks.

[12] A certain rich man dwelling in Verona

[cc], and another laboring under the same disease are healed. which now is called Bonn, of the diocese of Cologne,

Henry Gratel, who, struck by the elephantine

disease, at length, sequestered from the common

habitation of men, dwelt: who

hearing of the miracles of St. Apollinaris, as a pilgrim

thither devoutly migrated, and there, while with devout mind

he had sought the aid of St. Apollinaris, an entire

remedy of his leprosy he merited to obtain.

For kissing humbly and devoutly the head of St.

Apollinaris, straightway from all contagion of leprosy

he was cleansed. And an offering being made after actions of thanks,

cheerful and rejoicing, to his own

home he returned. This happened in the year of the Lord

1462, on the sixth day of April.

[13] A certain man There was in the town of Lyns [dd] a certain man rich

and good, consul and alderman of that same town.

Who, when on a certain day with his fellow-aldermen

in the town-hall of that same town he sat

to hold counsel together for the commonwealth,

by divine permission, falling, began horribly

to labor with the epileptic disease; but the other

aldermen, condoling with him, handled and guarded

him honestly and piously. The infirmity ceasing,

he was led modestly and dolefully to the house

of his habitation. But because very often he was sick

with the same trouble, the other aldermen,

fearing, were unwilling to associate with him,

although they loved him. He remained therefore

at home solitary with his household. At length, by the counsel

of his friends, he approached the tomb

of St. Apollinaris upon the mount, making secretly

his pilgrimage, hoping to be freed from

the aforesaid plague. But returning home, again and

again very often he labored with the aforesaid trouble.

[14] vexed by the epileptic disease, But his friends, seeing these things, proceeded

to the imperial provost of the mount of St. Apollinaris

near Remagen, inquiring of him,

since many epileptics visiting as pilgrims the church

and the relics of St. Apollinaris were freed

from that trouble, and were healed, and their friend

John Guntel had fulfilled his pilgrimage

with offerings: yet

by no means was he freed from his infirmity.

To whom the provost: Did he complete his pilgrimage

duly and humbly, as other

pilgrims do; who after the pilgrimage

cause themselves to be weighed on a balance [ee]? They answered:

We know not. Returning therefore, when they learned

that he had not been weighed on a balance, and had omitted

this for shame; soon on another day

certain of the canons led him again

to the church of St. Apollinaris. And his pilgrimage

being completed with offering and weighing,

when the third time he went around the tomb of St.

Apollinaris, in which once the relics of the most sacred

body of him were; but now his head

with some of the ribs of the holy body,

forthwith falling to the earth, blind he was made.

[15] by the Saint, who appeared to him, Which his people beholding, condoling with him,

groaned. And although all with humble prayers

God and St. Apollinaris for his health

invoked, it profited him nothing. Around

twilight, dolefully, they led him back to the town of Lyns.

But he remained thus infirm and blind

for two days and nights without sleep,

using very few words. But on the third day, around

dawn, pressed by sleep, he greatly sweated, yet he invoked

always St. Apollinaris for

the grace of health to be obtained from God; to whom the holy

Apollinaris, clad in pontificals, in the presence

of many of his friends, awaiting the outcome mournfully,

appeared. Who, St. Apollinaris, blessing

his eyes, and touching his other

members, as if he anointed them; which done,

he took him with his right hand, as if

he wished to commend him to God, departing.

Straightway, all in the chamber seeing, the sick man,

sleeping, extended his bare arm with

his hand, that again he might hold out his hand to him:

and straightway, St. Apollinaris disappearing, the sick man,

by the heavenly physician healed, as if from sleep

awaking, glad, cried out: Thanks be to God, thanks

be to God, and to his beloved holy martyr Apollinaris.

His friends inquiring the cause of so great

unforeseen gladness. He answered: St. Apollinaris

visited me and healed me totally, adding

how he blessed him, touching him with his hand.

[16] While he was still speaking, there had fallen from his

eyes as it were scales of little fishes, he is made whole.

and straightway he saw clearly, and remained healed.

In sign and testimony of the truth of that miracle,

he gathered in the presence of the bystanders

all those little scales, laying them up in a small

casket, with which, and his household, and

many of his friends, glad and devout,

as a pilgrim he proceeded to St. Apollinaris upon the mount

near Remagen, fulfilling with solemn

offerings his pilgrimage in

actions of thanks. And the little scales with the casket

he offered upon the high altar of St. Apollinaris,

where in great reverence they are kept.

And thenceforth he never suffered that infirmity.

And he served all the days of his

life God and St. Apollinaris, going as a pilgrim

every year once to holy Apollinaris,

praising God and returning thanks to St. Apollinaris for

the former health obtained by his merits and prayers.

Many indeed and other, as it were innumerable,

miracles daily happen there, which, lest

they beget weariness to the readers, I omit.

NOTES.

CHAPTER II.

The arm of the Saint, as is thought, brought to the people of Gorinchem.

[17] In the year of the Lord's incarnation 1355,

Clement the sixth presiding in the Apostolic See ^a,

Nicholas Poker, pastor of Gorinchem, and the Church of orthodox faith

happily governing, the most illustrious Charles ^b

reigning as emperor, in the lordship of Arkel ruling

as prince the illustrious Otto, lord of Arkel ^c

etc., of the diocese of Utrecht ^d, there was a certain priest

devoted to God, pastor of the church of Gorinchem

of Arkel, by name Nicholas Poker, who, that

into the heavenly Jerusalem he might joyfully come,

where the happy citizens of that city are partakers

in the selfsame, the thresholds of the holy Apostles

Peter and Paul for the sake of devotion, unto the remission

of his sins, as a pilgrim about to visit,

went to Rome, hoping supremely in the Lord,

by the prayers or services of certain Saints

to obtain relics, with which the church

of Gorinchem he might specially adorn,

that the inhabitants of that town, aided by their patronages,

might be freed from their sins.

[18] There were therefore at that time in the city

of Ravenna laid up relics of the greatest dignity, by the archbishop of Ravenna

reverence, and preciousness, namely

of the wood of the holy Cross of our Lord Jesus

Christ, the arm of St. Apollinaris, disciple

of Christ, and first archbishop and martyr

of that same city; a particle of the head of St. John

the Baptist, of the skull of St. Andrew the Apostle, and

of the garments of holy Cecilia, virgin and

martyr, and of other Saints: which the most reverend father and

lord, lord Fortinerius

^f, by divine providence patriarch

of Grado, and administrator and archbishop of the church of Ravenna,

priest Cardinal,

in his custody honorably preserved,

various miracles there sparkling.

To whom the aforesaid priest, the supernal grace thus disposing,

by the support of a happy servitude,

humbly serving, joined himself, conferring

many times in his heart solicitously with himself,

whether and how he might obtain

those same relics: and through seven years thus

serving him, he becomes very familiar to him.

[19] These things being elapsed, it happened that the venerable

father lord Fortinerius the Cardinal

aforesaid entered the way of all flesh. he asks for the arm of St. Apollinaris, In

whose sickness the aforesaid priest, from him,

those same relics, in the secret of his heart often desired,

as a reward, to be given to himself, with devout

instance humbly requested, promising

to place them solemnly and honorably in his parish

church of Gorinchem, that becomingly

by the clergy and by all the people with the more excellent

praises and honors they might be venerated. The Cardinal,

indeed, hearing the request of the pious priest,

seeking rather heavenly than earthly things,

astonished, rejoicing, wondered, since all

seek the things which are their own, and rarely the things which are

Jesus Christ's: and, deliberation being had within himself,

to him, as a simple priest, so precious

relics to commit he dared not.

[20] and does not obtain them: Note: at the same time the venerable father

and lord, lord John of Arkel, bishop

of Utrecht abovesaid, while in

Italy at that time he had been, and proposed to return to his country,

behold, there appeared to him in pontificals

St. Apollinaris with immense light, commanding,

that as quickly as possible he should go to Fortinerius the Cardinal,

and intimate to him on the part of almighty

God and of himself, that to his chaplain his relics,

asking for them, he should not deny, adding to him

a certain sign. Meanwhile the priest, not desisting

from his begun purpose, much more earnestly

and humbly prayed, vowing under sentence of excommunication,

the penalty of anathema,

not to reserve them for himself, but honorably

to place them in the aforesaid church of Gorinchem,

that the glorious passion of so magnificent a Martyr and

Prelate, there wholly unknown, and the presence

of the relics to be preached, might be made manifest to all.

[21] at length he becomes possessor of his vow. While therefore he had many times requested these things,

and had by no means obtained them: behold, there came upon them

the aforesaid bishop of Utrecht, intimating to him

the mandate of St. Apollinaris. Which hearing, the aforesaid

Cardinal, with all the devotion of solemnity,

granted the petition to the petitioner, and under the character

of his seal that they were such true relics, to all

he strengthened and affirmed. Hence, after the celebrated

exequies of the divine ^g Cardinal being completed, the priest,

possessor of his vow, feeling himself endowed with the gift

of so great and such treasures, with spiritual

joy no small suffused, the necessaries

being prepared for himself, exulted as a giant to run

his way, that the sooner, as

he had promised, he might lay them up in the aforesaid

church: which also he did.

[22] Concerning those relics a certain Nicholas having spoken evil, In the year of the Lord 1362, therefore, coming

with those same relics, the aforetasted priest,

to Gorinchem, where formerly he had discharged the office

of the priesthood, is received benignly and joyfully by

the lord of Arkel, and by all, especially

by his kinsmen, saluted. Who,

setting forth to them the text of his pilgrimage,

set forth also before them, that so great precious

relics of St. Apollinaris, and of other

Saints, obtained from the oft-named Cardinal,

he had brought with him, setting forth the palm

of the martyrdom of the most glorious Apollinaris, martyr and

pontiff. The report of him indeed on every side

through the town being diffused, in the veridical odor

of spiritual ointments the devout and good ran,

giving thanks to God. But others,

inebriated with the cup of Babylon, holding the priest in derision,

said that those were not relics of Saints,

but bones of brute animals.

[23] and holding them in mockery Among whom was one, called Nicholas of

Ema, husband of the sister of that same venerable

father. Who likewise, blaspheming in the presence

of the relics and in the sight of the priest,

said that he had gathered these bones from maritime

and other woodland places, and had imposed on it

the name of Apollinaris. Whom the most excellent priest

forthwith, upon this, harshly

reproving, that they were truly relics of Saints,

and the arm of St. Apollinaris, disciple

of St. Peter the Apostle, by many reasons and the fortification

of the seal of the aforetouched Cardinal, affirmed. But

(alas!) Nicholas, not consenting to the words of the honorable

priest, always the more amply

by deriding blasphemed, holding of small account

that God, who is the wonderful splendor of all

the Saints, is everywhere present to the good by grace,

but to the evil by vengeance. Hence therefore

his vengeance, who wills not in his Saints

to be blasphemed but praised, him horribly

in the place, his spouse being present, prostrated

and struck: for, the nerves and veins of his head being withdrawn,

his mouth, with which so many profane

and execrable things he had brought forth in reproach of God

and St. Apollinaris, was drawn in a wondrous manner under

his right ear, so that neither sound nor speech

could he.

[24] His spouse therefore being roused by his grief and

torment, he is punished by God; a light being kindled and the household

of the house being called together, all, wondering, dreaded

to look upon his face, saying to one another,

rebuking him piously, that from the vengeance and

plague of God and St. Apollinaris this had happened to him.

But he remained through that night in great

torment, grieving. But on the next day, on the feast

of St. Apollinaris, the neighbors and acquaintances, hearing this,

and beholding the wonderful spectacle,

stupefied, magnified the name of God and

of St. Apollinaris, devoutly imploring, that the same

might be restored to his former health, seeing him

surrounded with various torments. But also Nicholas,

feeling in himself the vengeance of God for the blasphemy,

against his beloved holy martyr Apollinaris

inflicted, confused, publicly confessed by signs

and nods before all that he had sinned, and that from

the vengeance of St. Apollinaris it had happened to him. Yet,

trusting in the mercy of God, and with his whole heart

turned to Christ, weeping copiously,

by various signs and prayers he invoked the merits

of his Saints, and especially of St. Apollinaris,

that he might be able to obtain his former health.

[25] When therefore on that same day the relics were solemnly

with banners and praises and canticles being carried

to the church, and at first at the relics he is not healed; he asked by his writing of

the pastor, his father-in-law ^h, that first they be carried

to his bed, that them to kiss and

honor he might, devoutly. Which also was done.

And although, groaning, he devoutly kissed

the relics, yet no benefit of health did he obtain.

Wherefore the honorable priests, praising

the relics, decreed to carry them to the church

reverently. Nicholas therefore, by the nod

of God perceiving that, because he had publicly blasphemed,

in secret he ought not to be healed, arose,

and naked in linen followed the procession

in the spirit of humility, and with contrite mind,

bearing in his hands a burning candle.

And although upon him all rather gazed,

than upon the relics, on account of the monstrous

deformity of his face, yet he, humbled

by God, most devoutly in prayers followed

the procession.

[26] A benediction therefore with the relics of St.

Apollinaris being given to the people; but again religiously venerating the same behold, he asked again

to rekiss the relics of St. Apollinaris, and behold,

while before all publicly and on bent knees,

with tears, the bare bone of the arm of St. Apollinaris

with his mouth he kissed and touched,

straightway his mouth, dislocated and withdrawn, the nerves

and veins being extended, by the merits and patronages

of St. Apollinaris, to its former and natural

place, all beholding, was directed, and

the restraints of the members were loosed, and to the office

of them wholly were roused. For the members

of his mouth were strengthened for the use of moving,

and his tongue for the office of speaking was made distinct.

Yet in testimony of so great a celebrated

miracle, as long as he lived, when he spoke

or laughed, his mouth always turned itself a little

toward the former retraction.

[27] he is restored to his former health. Truly greatly was magnified on that day

the name of the Lord and of his most sacred martyr Apollinaris

by all who heard and

saw the aforesaid. Nicholas therefore, oft named,

health being obtained according to his vow, for joy crept over with so great

gladness, that almost all his joints or

internal members were shaken. Nor unmindful

of the benefits which toward him the clemency of God

through the merits of his glorious Martyr wrought,

raising his eyes to heaven, God,

who in his Saints is always wonderful, he praised,

and great gifts being offered, with which

those same relics might be supported, most devout

at all times, as long as he lived, to God and

St. Apollinaris he was and remained. Moreover, various offerings being given by

all, in silver

gilded caskets they reverently placed them,

where forthwith, with various miracles, God being propitious,

they grew famous.

NOTES.

CHAPTER III.

The feast instituted at Gorinchem with indulgences; a miracle.

[28] All these things being duly accomplished, the aforesaid priest

withdrew to the aforementioned father and

lord, lord John of Arkel ^a, The feast instituted at Gorinchem; bishop

of Utrecht. To whom St. Apollinaris in Italy

appeared, as above has been said. To whom all things

done in Gorinchem through St. Apollinaris faithfully

he intimated. The bishop therefore, greatly rejoicing,

receiving him with honor, after some

days sent him back to his sheep with such

letters: "John, by the grace of God, bishop

of Utrecht, to all the faithful of Christ

about to inspect the present letters, greeting and

sincere charity in the Lord. We believe to have God

propitious, if his Saints,

who dwell in the heavens, devoutly to honor

we take care on earth, and we invite the faithful

to the supports of piety.

[29] Since therefore, as from a veridical relation

we have received, whose diploma the relics of the Saints, namely

the arm of St. Apollinaris, martyr and

pontiff, a particle of the head of St. John the Baptist;

of the skull of St. Andrew the Apostle, of the wood

of the Cross of the Lord, and of the garments of St. Cecilia

the virgin, and of other Saints, which formerly

the most reverend father, our lord

Fortinerius, patriarch of Grado, and administrator or archbishop of the church

of Ravenna, formerly priest Cardinal,

of good memory, in the city of Ravenna in

his custody honorably reserved, there,

with various miracles frequently sparkling,

after that same Cardinal's decease,

by a certain servant of his, the divine grace

favoring, into the fortification of Gorinchem

were brought, and in the parish church of

Gorinchem are honorably preserved;

[30] We therefore, desiring that the aforementioned

relics by the faithful of Christ be continually venerated, is given,

and with fitting honors more devoutly frequented,

to all the faithful of Christ truly

penitent, contrite, and confessed, who,

out of reverence for the said Saints and relics

of the same, to the church of Gorinchem

on any day, for the sake of devotion,

prayer, or pilgrimage, shall have come,

and there, in honor of the aforesaid

Saints, before the relics of the same, their prayers

devoutly shall have read, or other charitable

works shall have done, or to the biers, in

which the aforesaid relics are placed, ornaments,

or any other things necessary for this kind, in their testaments or outside, shall have given,

bequeathed, caused to be given or bequeathed,

and shall have stretched forth helping hands:

wherever the aforesaid, or any of the aforesaid,

piously and devoutly they shall have done, of the almighty

God's mercy, and of blessed Mary

ever glorious Virgin, and of the blessed Apostles

Peter and Paul, and of the most blessed

Martin, our glorious patron, trusting in the suffrages,

forty days of indulgences

from the penances enjoined on them, once only

in the day, by these presents mercifully we grant.

[31] We ordain also, out of reverence for St.

Apollinaris aforementioned, and we will, to which the indulgences are annexed. that on each

year the day of that same holy Apollinaris,

within the parish of Gorinchem only,

as the Lord's day, in perpetuity solemnly

be celebrated. In testimony of which the seal

of ours, for the perpetual memory of the matter, we have deemed

to be appended to the present. Given before

the castle of Voerst in the year of the Lord 1362,

on the second day of the eleven thousand

virgins."

[32] A certain dyer at Gorinchem profaning it, When therefore in the following year the aforesaid

priest proclaimed to his subjects the feast of St. Apollinaris

to be celebrated according to the tenor of the mandate

of the aforementioned letter, there was a certain dyer

in that same town, who by no means deigned to venerate the feast of St.

Apollinaris. At length on the feast

of the same, all according to the mandate of the kindly-flowing

aforesaid prelate celebrating, he himself,

refusing to celebrate, all things being prepared for him

necessary for dyeing, after his customary manner wished to dye.

After the solemnities of the Masses, therefore, on the feast

day of St. Apollinaris, while the sacrament of the Lord's

body with the relics of St. Apollinaris and of other

Saints was devoutly and solemnly through the streets

carried in procession with canticles of praise and

gladness, spiritually, and to before his house

came, he went out a little

before the door of his house, out of reverence for

Christ, holding in contempt and derision the feast

of St. Apollinaris newly divulged.

[33] he is miraculously punished, And his prayer being finished, while he re-entered his house,

all the dye of various colors,

his household beholding, into most limpid water was changed.

Hence the dyer, returning to himself, beholding the great deeds

of God, and the virtue of his precious Martyr

through the present miracle, confused

and astonished, bitterly groaned, both on account of

the vengeance of God and St. Apollinaris, and

on account of the great loss of his own, and

on account of the scandal and confusion of his

fellow-townsmen. But the miracle being heard, how

Nicholas of Ema had been struck and healed,

he himself, after a little time, devout prayers being premised,

when before many openly he had vowed to God and Blessed Apollinaris always,

as long as he lived, to keep the passion and feast, of him,

celebratedly to keep as a sabbath ^b, that same water, many

to whom the present miracle lay open, beholding,

returned, and was rechanged into its former colors,

so that no loss to him thence

came.

[34] but afterward is rendered unharmed, best affected toward the Saint. Wherefore stupefied, weighing these things,

that same dyer, rejoiced with great joy, to God and

St. Apollinaris unwearied thanks giving, according to his vow

paying, thereafter, as long as he survived,

with all his household always solemnly

kept the solemnity, disclosing with devotion to many

of his friends the aforesaid miracle, exhorting

happily them, that likewise they too

should celebrate the passion of St. Apollinaris as a feast.

But thereafter he grew famous with very many miracles

through him who is to come to judge the world

by fire. Amen.

NOTES.

CHAPTER IV.

The feast commanded to be celebrated anew; a transgression punished; pusillanimity roused to confidence.

At length in the year of the Lord 1445 there was in

Gorinchem a certain master of the fabric of the church

of Gorinchem, A diploma concerning the institution of the feast being found, called John Bonaert,

a probus man and very solicitous for the exaltation

of the church of Gorinchem, who hearing

from veteran men how the feast of St. Apollinaris

in former years was celebrated as a feast

through the whole day, and that it grew famous with many miracles,

greatly labored for the exaltation of the holy

relics. And not finding by what

authority his feast had been instituted, he grieved.

But there was at the same time in the sanctuary

of the aforesaid church one long chest, which

in many years had been opened by no one. Which

when the aforesaid master of the fabric, by a certain smith,

in the presence of the notable man, and lord

master Henry of Eethen, dean, and of many

canons and other masters

of the fabric, and I, Theodoric Paulus, canon

of that same church, being present, caused to be opened.

[36] Which being opened, there lay in it two Apostolic

bulls with leaden seals, it is prescribed to be celebrated again. and other

diverse letters of many Cardinals and

bishops. And especially the letter of the venerable

father Fortinerius, patriarch aforesaid, concerning

the certification of the relics: which when he thought

to raise to read through, straightway the letters were reduced

to ashes; because the place was very rheumatic

^a, in which upon the ground the chest

stood, at which all grieved. But the aforesaid

chest had above a repository or

hiding-place, in which was laid up, in a small

closed casket, the letter of the reverend father, lord

John of Arkel, bishop of Utrecht, in

which he had commanded the feast of St. Apollinaris through the whole

parish and through the whole day to be celebrated.

Which being read through, the aforesaid dean commanded

from the ambo ^b, according to his mandate,

through the whole day to be celebrated as a feast. And thus thenceforth

they devoutly celebrated his feast through

the whole day.

[37] In the same aforesaid year there was a certain townsman

of Gorinchem, A transgressor of the same called John Haver,

son of Henry Haver, of forty years

and more, a probus man, but of moderate means,

living by the labors of his hands.

Who when he had heard the feast of St. Apollinaris through

the whole day proclaimed as a solemnity by the dean of the chapter,

detracted from the priests and St. Apollinaris,

being unwilling to celebrate; moreover his associate and

fellow-laborer, Peter Wilhelmi by name,

to this he informed, that together on that day they should go

to reap. When therefore they reaped, soon John

Haver struck the sickle or scythe into his foot

strongly, and thus, compelled by necessity, he celebrated.

But he himself, healed, ascribing it to misfortune,

and not to God nor his Saint. Therefore

when in the following year again with the aforesaid associate

of his he disdained to celebrate, but wished to reap,

when he was in the field, and directed the scythe to

reaping (behold, the scythe curving itself in a backward manner),

wishing to reap, struck himself through the hand,

wounding himself greatly.

[38] he is punished in a wondrous manner, And when he with his associate, condoling with him,

dolefully went to Gorinchem; and again

compelled by necessity, it behooved him to celebrate;

and when by his associate on the way he was piously chidden,

admonishing *, that thenceforth he should desist from laboring,

but should celebrate on that day the feast of St. Apollinaris,

lest the vengeance of God and St. Apollinaris should rage

against him, because already on the same feast

twice he had been struck; hearing this, that same John,

moved by impatience, again detracted from St.

Apollinaris, saying: that it had happened to him by his own carelessness,

and unforeseen, by chance. And when thus on

the way to one another they were talking, they were both compelled

to leap over one small, nearly dry ditch;

but John, when he leaped, his dagger [c]

or his great knife, which he could scarcely by force

with his hand before draw out, by leaping,

out of its sheath wounded him in the thigh very

deeply. Straightway groaning and returning to his heart,

compunct for the things committed against the Saint

of God, he vowed, weeping copiously, to God and St. Apollinaris

always solemnly to celebrate his feast.

[39] and is healed; Led therefore into Gorinchem, when

by a surgeon his wounds had been bound around,

he came with his aforesaid associate to

the church, showing the wounds of his hand and thigh

to the dean publicly and to certain of the canons

existing in the church, and to the aforesaid John

Bonaert the master, Gerard van den Oever,

Yewan Muyl, son of Godfrey, masters

of the fabric of the church, affirming under his faith,

that in the past year on the same feast himself

he had wounded in his foot, showing the scar

of his foot. This same by a certain oath

confirmed the aforesaid associate of his, Peter

Wilhelmi, probus and honest, and making

an offering with the rest, he vowed openly always

to celebrate the feast of St. Apollinaris. Returning therefore

after a long prayer, sad, to his home,

in a few days by the merits of St. Apollinaris he was healed.

[40] he prosecuted the feast day of the Saint with solemn honor. He celebrated therefore the feast of St. Apollinaris

solemnly as long as he lived, rebuking benignly

all who spurned to celebrate the feast of St. Apollinaris,

showing them the scars of his wounds,

which had happened to him from God, who the feast

of him disdained to celebrate. But afterward

there came very many, of whom

some were tortured by pain of teeth; others

by the fervor of fevers; some by shipwreck; some

paralytics; who, after they had vowed as pilgrims

to visit his relics with offerings,

straightway from all trouble were freed,

by the merits and intercessions of St. Apollinaris:

who bodily these things in the church of Gorinchem

before many affirmed.

[41] [A woman irreverent of the feast pays the penalty; but again is restored to her former state.] In the year of the Lord 1478 a certain woman

dwelling in the town of Gorinchem in

a street called die gastestraet, called Elisabeth de Canden,

a midwife by office, wife of the honest

man Jacob Arnoldi; who, the solemnities of the Masses being completed

on the feast of St. Apollinaris, commanded his maidservant

straightway after dinner to wash and cleanse

the linen garments of the house. And because the maidservant,

on account of the mandate and precept, dared not

do it, she herself, taking the garments, began

to dip and cleanse them. Soon the divine avenging virtue

was present: for her right hand with the arm

was so withered and made dead,

that in no way could she move her hand upward

or elsewhere; except by the support of the other hand.

Besides, a great torment in her whole

arm she suffered. At length, returned to herself,

she vowed as a pilgrim in the church to visit him, and

always solemnly to celebrate his feast. Which

vow being uttered, some neighbors standing by and

seeing, her hand with the arm straightway to its former

health was restored. And she, glad, rising,

as a pilgrim with offerings and lights,

devoutly visited his relics: which

miracle everywhere through the town of Gorinchem

she made known to many.

[42] There was a certain noble, rich, and powerful

lady, A certain scrupulous nun widow ^d of a certain soldier of the city

of Strasbourg ^e, who was called Catharine

of Westhusen. She, while she remained in

the world, and in the aforesaid city, where many widows

devoutly serve God as soldiers, of all these same

specially was the mother and matron, but

in mind she was very scrupulous. But when

at Colmar ^f, the monastery of the sisters of Subtilia,

of the Order of St. Dominic or of the Preachers,

was being reformed; the world being left, there she was clothed with the habit of holy

conversation and professed. And

because she was one, as it were, of the strong women,

concerning whom in the last Proverb Solomon writes,

therefore, certain years being interposed, the office of prioress and

subprioress she bore successively in all charity

and love: nor did anything of perfection seem

to the woman to be lacking, except

that she was full of scruples, so much that when thither,

on the affairs of the Order, came the venerable father

master John Nider ^g, eminent professor of sacred Theology,

of the Order of the Friars

Preachers, with this sister alone to occupy himself very much

was need, that her pusillanimity

he might restrain. For this good, besides

others, she had in herself, that, having heard the judgment of her superior,

or of another good and wise man of good fame, in any matter doubtful to her, straightway

to the same she acquiesced.

[43] raised to a pious hope. She herself feared, and those confessors also feared who

knew her, that if, being sick, she should draw near

to death, at some time in these scruples,

especially concerning the repetition of things well confessed by her,

into the danger of pusillanimity she might be put more

than before. But by the divine

mercy, which regarded the works of the woman,

it was done in all things to the contrary. For on one

day, sufficiently unexpectedly, though scarcely beyond fifty years

she was not to reach, she was sick,

and daily began to fail: and for then every

scruple and inordinate fear from her utterly

departed; and she said to John Wolffardi,

whom, as a devout man, in confession she had chosen as her

special one: Behold, father, you know how

erroneous I was and too timid in conscience;

but by God's grace, fear not, all has departed

concerning the sins confessed and committed by me: the grace of remission

piously and confidently I hope and believe.

And thus invoking blessed Peter the Apostle,

and his disciple St. Apollinaris, whom

most especially in life, heart, mouth, and work she loved,

at length by that same sickness, fortified

with the Sacraments of the Church, she devoutly departed this

life.

NOTES.