Christina

ON ST. CHRISTINA, VIRGIN AND MARTYR,

AT TYRUS NEAR LAKE BOLSENA, AS THEY WILL HAVE IT, IN TUSCANY.

PRELIMINARY COMMENTARY.

Christina, virgin and martyr, at Tyrus near Bolsena, as they will have it, in Tuscany (St.)

BY THE AUTHOR J. P.

PART ONE.

§ I. The cult from the Greek and Latin Calendars; the eulogies; the time of the martyrdom.

This Commentary, contrary to custom, we divide into two parts: for, some of its paragraphs being already prepared for the press, a book brought to us — of which there will be mention in its place, most recently printed in Italy — supplied us with new material, The reason is given why this Commentary is divided in two. and that more copious than could conveniently be inserted into or woven onto those earlier paragraphs. It seemed good, therefore, not to disturb the order of those things which had already been composed from this Commentary; but to add over and above the notices which most lately reached us. These will complete the second part, but those the first; each about to illustrate the matters pertaining to the Saint, as it were by mutual and alternate labor; and the second part will be a continuation of the first. Of which we have thought it opportune to forewarn the reader here. But now let us proceed to the Commentary itself.

[2] That we do not begin it, as is wont to be done, with a topographical notice of the above-written place, The Greek Calendars, both those printed, the reason is that, since it cannot be dispatched in few words, a more opportune place for this seems likely to be below, when we shall have premised those things which pertain to the cult and eulogies of this Saint. Her most celebrated memory is kept on this day in the Greek Calendars, both manuscript and printed. Of the printed ones, she is recorded by the Typicon of St. Sabas, the great Menaea of the Greeks with Maximus of Cythera, the Syriac or Chaldaic Kalendar printed at Rome in the year 1624, the Greek Kalendar in Genebrard, the Horologium of the year 1601, the Basilian Synaxarion, the Menologium published by Canisius from Sirletus's translation, the Graeco-Muscovite Ephemerides before the first volume of May; the Horologium of the year 1607 with the title of great-martyr (megalomartyr), which the praised great Menaea also attribute to her; which Menaea attend her with a canon or sacred hymn, of which there will be mention below, and devote the whole Office of this day to her alone, subjoining to her second announcement three little verses, which in Latin sound thus: Τὴν Χριστίναν ἥνωσε Χριστῷ νυμφίῳ Νύμφην ἄμωμον αἷμα τοῦ μαρτυρίου. Πέλτοις Χριστίνα εἴκαδι ἠδὲ τεταρτῇ βλήθη. That is: "The blood of martyrdom united Christina to Christ the Bridegroom as a spotless Bride. On the twentieth and fourth day Christina was struck with shafts." In Latin: The blood which she shed for thee, O Christ, bound Christina to thee as a spotless Bride. The twice-tenth and fourth shaft strikes Christina.

[3] Of the manuscript Calendars, she is reported by the Sirmond-Chifflet supplement, which manuscripts mark this Saint; the Menaea or Synaxaria of the Mazarine library, the Milanese one of the Ambrosian library; likewise the Slavo-Russian Menologium, the Arabic-Egyptian Martyrology, rendered into Latin by Gratia Simonius the Maronite: whence it is clear that she was a Martyr of great and most widely-known name among the Greeks. Nor indeed was she of less name among the Latins, being inscribed in all the most ancient and classic Martyrologies; as will become plain from their announcements.

[4] as also the most ancient Latin Martyrologies The Hieronymian copies have this: In the city of Tyre, the birthday of St. Christina the virgin. The Little Roman: Near Lake Bolsena in Italy, of Christina the virgin. Bede enlarged from Florus: The birthday of Christina the virgin. Ado: In Italy at Tyre, which is near Lake Bolsena, the birthday of St. Christina the virgin; adding a eulogy abridged from the Acts, of which presently: whence Usuard culled this: In Italy, in the city of Tyre, of St. Christina the virgin, who, believing in Christ, first constantly enduring torments under two judges, at last, through their successor, by the cutting off of her tongue and the piercing of arrows, completed the course of her martyrdom. Rabanus, to the announcement of Bede, which he enlarged, prefixed from elsewhere "In the city of Tyre." Wandelbert, bringing forward only the name of our Martyr, joins her with two others: Soon Christina, Aquila, and Niceta hallowed the ninth day.

[5] with the modern Roman; where the Saint's eulogy is given. And these things concerning the Latin and Greek Calendars, to which I add over the Roman Martyrology, which runs thus: At Tyrus in Tuscany near Lake Bolsena, of St. Christina, virgin and martyr, who, believing in Christ, when she had broken to pieces her father's golden and silver idols and had distributed them to the poor, was by his command torn with scourges, and most cruelly tortured with other punishments, and cast into the lake with a great weight of stone, but freed by an angel: then under another judge, her father's successor, constantly enduring sharper torments, at last under Julian the governor, after a burning furnace, in which she remained unharmed for five days, after serpents overcome by the power of Christ, by the cutting off of her tongue and the infixing of arrows, completed the course of her martyrdom. Now let us proceed from this to the other eulogies.

[6] Other Greek eulogies of the Saint The Synaxarion under the name of the emperor Basil, wont to be cited by us, attends the Saint with the following eulogy, which I render thus from the Greek: Christina, martyr of Christ, was from the city of Tyre. Now while she had for her father (πατέρα, not παρόντα, which was faultily printed) a leader of the army, she was brought down by him into a high tower, that she might be seen by no one: who also, bringing his gods thither, gave her in charge that she should sacrifice to them, and bend her knees. But she, perceiving their weakness, could by no means be brought to it: nay rather, having beheld the beauty of the heaven through a window, and understanding the Creator from created things, she ground the idols to pieces and cast them to the ground. But after she had been detected and led out of the tower, she was afflicted with all manner of torments by her father. Shut up in prison, she was fed by an angel; and cast into the sea, she received the waters for baptism. And when she had come out of the sea, she is again shut in prison. After the death of her father, being offered for examination to the prefect Dion, and violently beaten, she performed miracles, and led many to the faith of Christ. And her breasts being cut off, pierced through to the heart with darts, she consummated her martyrdom.

[7] Although I would not dare to make myself surety that all and each of the things they are brought forward contained in the eulogy adduced are so true and genuine as to be wholly free of every dramatic embellishment, so familiar to the Greeks; yet they please me more than those which the great Menaea record in their eulogy, which breathes more of the stage; although in many respects, as to substance, it agrees with that same Basilian one. It differs in these points, that it calls the Saint's father Urban; that, cast into the sea, she receives divine baptism from the Lord; that she converted three thousand men to the faith; that three prefects or judges are there found, namely Urban, the Saint's father; after he was taken from life, Dion, and after Dion a certain Julian, under whom our Martyr suffered; and under this last one, indeed, the furnace of fire and the venomous serpents. It is added that from the cut-off breasts milk flowed instead of blood: which last thing, however, the very author or compiler of the eulogy seems to have held of suspect credit, by adding φασὶ, "they say"; as if tacitly signifying that it is reported by him on the faith of others.

[8] Far above those two eulogies the palm is borne by that which is found in Canisius, because it recedes further from ornament. and they are weighed. Take its text: Of the holy martyr Christina, who was from the city of Tyre, daughter of a certain Urban, leader of the army, who, for the confession of the Christian faith, when she had broken her father's idols and distributed to the poor the gold and silver of which the idols themselves had been made, is subjected by her father to various torments, and at last was delivered by a certain Julian the governor to venomous serpents, her breasts and tongue being cut off: all which things, having endured with a brave and constant mind, she commended her spirit to God. You see here greater simplicity. But the matters which concern the eulogies will receive light from our observations on the Acts of St. Christina, from which those eulogies were drawn. Which will also be able to be of use for the Latin eulogies; concerning which I subjoin the following.

[9] Ado also doubtless drew his own from the Acts, in which he determines, one by one but briefly, the torments inflicted on the Saint by her father; In his eulogy Ado adopted many things rather liberally; not Rabanus and Notker. which torments, the most cruel mangling of her body being endured, she cast pieces of her own flesh into her father's face. Add the wheel, the fires, and oil poured over from above; and, when she was being roasted, the flame bursting forth, which slew a thousand of the heathen; the visitation of the angel in the prison, and so forth. But the sea, into which he writes that the Saint was thrown with a great weight of stone, and freed by angelic protection, he interprets as Lake Bolsena. He relates besides that under Dion the image of Apollo, which she was ordered to adore, was suddenly reduced to ashes by her prayers, and by that miracle three thousand men were converted to the faith of Christ. Under Julian he has the glowing furnace, in which she remained unharmed for five days; who, after the serpents let loose by a sorcerer but overcome by the faith of Christ, after the cutting off of her tongue, ordered her to be pierced through with arrows; in which he partly agrees with, partly differs from, the foregoing eulogies, concluding his own with these words: And thus she consummated the course of her martyrdom in the eleventh year of her age. Where Ado adopted many things rather liberally; which Rabanus prudently passed over, using a small eulogy, though I no whit doubt that the Acts of the Saint lighted the way both for him and for Ado. Most cautiously here did Notker conduct himself, noting the Saint "In Italy, in the city of Tyre .. according to some," but abstaining from all eulogy. These things concerning the eulogies, more than enough.

[10] The time of the martyrdom; The time of the martyrdom is nowhere clearly determined in our Acts. In those which are read in Peter de Natalibus, book 6, chapter 130, the year 287 is set down; in Mombritius she is noted as having suffered under the emperor Hadrian. That, moreover, the Acts which lighted the way for the Greeks and Latins in composing their eulogies bore before them no marks of time, I hold as most certain from this, that they express none, no more than do the classic Latin Martyrologists and Baronius in his notes; who, if in the two Acts of which he there treats, or elsewhere, he had read any chronological indications of the martyrdom, would doubtless have indicated it with a word, as he was elsewhere often wont to do, either there or in the text of the Roman Martyrology. Meanwhile our Florarium, written by hand about the middle of the 15th century, I know not whence copied this: She completed the course of her martyrdom in the year of salvation 302, under the emperors Diocletian and Maximian, in the twelfth year of her age; but in the twenty-sixth year of the ninth persecution.

[11] uncertain; Here is designated the persecution of Aurelian (concerning which Pagi may be consulted at the year 275), which, since it lasted a very short time, understand here the 26th year after it was begun but not continued

the persecution of Aurelian; and thus, the year about 275 having 26 years added, you will arrive at about the year of Christ 301 or 302. From this year the Slavo-Russian Menologium greatly departs, which writes that St. Christina lived in the year 200, and suffered under Severus. Maurolyco, Felicius, and Ferrarius assign her to the times of Diocletian, of whom the second-to-last binds her death to the year 287. Galesinius says that some place the martyrdom under Diocletian, others under Hadrian. What is groping in the dark, if this is not? But let us grant them this pardon in so great an obscurity of antiquity. To us certainly, for the same cause, it is not permitted to be so fortunate as to determine anything certain about that time of the martyrdom; however much Pennatius below, §11, may endeavor to bind it to the year 290.

§ II. The arena of the martyrdom; this Saint confused with another; nor sufficiently distinguished by some.

Concerning Tyrus in Italy, which was the arena of the Saint's martyrdom, It is here asked, what is that Tyrus in Italy near Lake Bolsena, commonly called il lago di Bolsena; concerning which, among others, Philip Cluverius collected various things in volume 1, book 2, from page 559. Baronius, in his notes to the Roman Martyrology, discourses thus on this matter: She (Christina) is set down as having suffered at Tyrus near Lake Bolsena, which, taking its name from that same city, was called the Tyrensian lake. For it is so called in the edict of Desiderius, king of the Lombards (concerning which the praised author treats at the year 756, and in several other places:) for that St. Christina suffered at Tyrus, the ancient monuments of those places, and the firm and sure tradition received from our forefathers, and also the old manuscript codices, confirm. Furthermore, the city of Tyrus, once situated there, was swallowed up by the rising of the lake, as the townsmen of Bolsena, once neighbors to that city, attest.

[13] The same place Maurolyco adopts; where also Ferrarius, in his Catalogue of the Saints of Italy, places the Saint's birth. they are set forth The Office of St. Christina printed at Naples in the year 1591, in the fourth lesson, says: Christina, born of noble parents, from the city of Tyrus of the Roman province, situated near Viterbo. And in other lessons likewise printed, the place of printing not being added, she is said to be "of Thiro." Ortelius, relying on the same decree of Desiderius, says that it is called Tyrensian from the city Tyrena there. Ferrarius, in his geographical Lexicon, takes Tyrus for the island of Bisentina within Lake Bolsena, in which he reports the Saint to have suffered. But he brings forward no antiquity, citing only the Roman Martyrology. Cluverius, in the place cited, hands down this: Since the people of Bolsena today venerate the body of St. Christina among themselves (in which he is much mistaken), and the city of Tyrus can nowhere else be shown; I might easily suspect that Bolsena itself was at some time so called. Baudrand says of this Tyrus that it is not established where it was.

[14] Castellanus, in the topographical table to his universal Martyrology, page 1062, notes "Tur in Tuscany, destroyed." various matters But weak is the argument which is sought from more recent writers, when they bring forward no ancient monument; who, not rarely transcribing others' work, go not where one ought to go, but where one goes. But nothing more strongly presses the site of this city, either in Italy or at Lake Bolsena, than the words of the Little Roman and of Ado, related above; from which is formed the argument that this Tyrus, in the eighth and ninth centuries, was by writers, if not known, at least designated as true and real. And these things indeed make for the existence and site of Tyrus. But against it make these:

[15] The most ancient Hieronymian copies, the first author of which Martyrology looks at least to the sixth century, on both sides, write only "in the city of Tyre," as we saw above, abstracting from its site. But our Bede set down no place, whether he found none, or did not approve what he found. Furthermore, the Little Roman does not have the name of Tyrus, but "near Lake Bolsena in Italy": so that it is a wonder that Ado, who is wont constantly to follow the Little Roman, here departed from his guide, by adding "in Italy at Tyre, which is near," etc. But I plainly judge that he took Tyrus from the Acts of the Saint, and added it to what he had found in the praised Roman, and thus joined into one announcement those things which he had read in two. Nor does he seem to me to have culled his whole announcement from the Acts: for very many copies, of which we shall speak afterward, do indeed set down Tyrus, but without any mark that indicates the site of that place. The same is done in the great Menaea of the Greeks, in Maximus bishop of Cythera, in the Basilian Synaxarion, and in the Menologium in Canisius. And from these that Tyrus of Tuscany is not a little weakened. Usuard, Ado's follower, borrowing only in part his topographical announcement, has "in Italy, in the city of Tyre."

[16] and they are examined, But the edict of Desiderius cited above by Baronius, and which, in his notes to the 9th of this month, he affirms that Aldus Manutius transcribed from the Viterbo records; that edict, I say, Cluverius demonstrates to be false and fabricated, from page 563, whose beginning he recites; suspecting, from the ill-cohering site of the cities, that it is a fabrication of Giovanni Annio, most well known to the learned: concerning whom there is treatment in the Library of Writers of the Order of Preachers, published at Paris in the year 1721, volume 2, page 4 and following; where is produced a list of learned men, both of those who wrote against and of those who wrote for him; and the author of the Work endeavors to traduce as a mere fable the accusation which is imputed to Annio, concerning monuments of stone or bronze feigned and engraved by himself as he pleased, and secretly buried in the ground, and thence afterward dug up with great display and brought forth as most ancient. Certainly, after Cluverius had sharply combed down this Annio, he concludes thus to our purpose: Wherefore I would faithfully warn the most ample people of this renowned city (of Viterbo) not to give rash credence to inscriptions of that sort, in which hitherto they greatly rejoice.

[17] but all things being weighed, Florentinius, page 680, also rejects that edict, as a pure fabrication of Annio. What he adds from Usuard and Notker does not settle the disputed place here; and much less does he accomplish the matter when he brings forward Tyrus from the Greek Menologium: for from the fact that it hands down that the Saint was born from the city of Tyre, it does not follow that the Tyre here indicated is Italian or Tuscan. To the ancient monuments which Baronius above invoked, I reply that it cannot be known of what age, credit, and authority they are; since he does not produce them. But the firm and sure tradition from our forefathers, I fear, must be reckoned among the popular ones, so long as it is not proved by solid documents. To the old manuscript codices, I rejoin that the words, the age, and other circumstances ought to have been produced, so that something might solidly be established from them. The most illustrious Francesco Maria de Aste, archbishop of Otranto, in his Discussions on the Roman Martyrology, does not find this Tyrus; at length, to save the announcement of that Martyrology, he was compelled to take refuge in this, that he thinks it should be read "at Tyrus or near Lake Bolsena" disjunctively, sufficiently insinuating that the two places cannot be joined.

[18] we judge it far more probable that it never existed Meanwhile, so long as the existence of a Tyrus in Tuscany near Lake Bolsena is not proved by more solid arguments, we think it far more probable that it never existed there (Pennatius's arguments to the contrary will be weighed in §10), any more than a Tyrian Interamna in Italy, concerning which there was treatment in the preliminary Treatise to the first volume of July, page 7, number 31. Yet the body of St. Christina could have been carried thither from another Tyre in the East, perhaps in the fourth century or in those next following, and thus be announced in the Hieronymian copies as "in the city of Tyre," but in the Little Roman as "near Lake Bolsena in Italy," the two places being perhaps confused by Ado, as we have said, and blended into one. That several translations of this kind were made from the East into Italy is more well known than that it need be proved. In that hypothesis, therefore, Tyrus would have to be sought outside Italy in the East, if she truly underwent martyrdom at Tyre, as the Greek eulogies and the Latin Acts of the Saint, together with the Hieronymian copies, will have it; by which I do not so much affirm (since I cannot prove it solidly enough) as suppose that Tyre in Phoenicia can be understood.

[19] Eusebius indeed, in his book On the Martyrs of Palestine, chapter 7, in the nature of things, mentions Urban, governor of Palestine, under whom Theodosia, a virgin sprung from the city of Tyre, suffered at Caesarea; and under whom also Ulpian suffered in the city of Tyre. But that Urban differs from the Urban whom the Acts report to have been the Saint's father and judge, and to have held in the palace the office of Master of the Soldiers: the death of each differs; the successors of each differ; who, if we believe the Acts in this, were for this our Urban Dion and Julian; but concerning his own, Eusebius in chapter 8 affirms that Firmilian the governor succeeded Urban.

[20] What of this, that the name of the most illustrious martyr Christina I have nowhere been able to find in Eusebius; and that the Saint, having suffered in the East, was thence conveyed into Italy. whom I think he would not have omitted, had she undergone martyrdom under that Urban. And hence it can also be argued against the time of the martyrdom and the arena Tyre; chiefly because in the Ecclesiastical History, book 8, chapter 7, he treats of those who suffered in the city of Tyre in Phoenicia; and because in chapter 13 he has Tyrannio, bishop of the church of the Tyrians in Phoenicia. Yet that argument does not so conclude but that it may be objected that the Martyrs of more illustrious note were so enumerated by Eusebius that he easily omitted some. Meanwhile I confess that it seems to me far most probable that St. Christina suffered in the East: which I think is abundantly established both from the most solemn Office with which, as I said above, she is honored in the printed Menaea, and from the so manifold and constant consent of the Greek Calendars in announcing her, especially since the Greeks are wont rarely or never to insert purely Latin Saints in their tables: and so that they here did it contrary to custom, and especially in a manner so singular and solemn, ought by no means to be presumed.

[21] Molanus confused our Saint with another, when he noted [St. Christina confused with St. Crispina; nor anywhere sufficiently distinguished.] that St. Augustine made mention of her in the commentary on Psalm 120. Into the same error Galesinius fell. Baronius in his notes says: Some have thought that St. Augustine treats of her in the commentary on Psalm 120. Perhaps a faulty codex deceived them: for he treats not of Christina, but of Crispina, a most illustrious martyr in Africa: concerning whom the same Baronius cites several passages of him at December 5. In the "Passed Over" at May 10 we noted that St. Christina, virgin and martyr, is celebrated on that day, on account of her sacred relics translated to Palermo, by Bellinus, Molanus, and others; among whom Galesinius, who judges her to be the same as she whose noble martyrdom

was set forth on the 4th (he means the 6th) day before the Ides of May. Maurolyco seems to distinguish the two; not so Baronius, who followed the tradition about their identity. Octavius Caietanus, editor of that Palermitan translation, in volume 2 of the Lives of the Sicilian Saints, affirms the Saint to be the same. Ferrarius speaks less positively, noting thus on the Acts from Ado: The same things are related of Christina the Palermitan virgin: whence either this one is the same as that, or the Acts of the one have been attributed to the other. And these things will contribute to the further knowledge of the Saint, whether one or several, on which matter we treat in the next paragraph.

§ III. The various translations of our one St. Christina, as they will have it, to different places.

The Saint is said, Ferrarius indicates two different translations, page 455, in these words: The body of St. Christina, according to some, was carried to Venice; according to others, to Palermo: others seem to admit neither, while, as he adds, they assert that it remained in Tuscany. Our Octavius Caietanus, in the cited place, from page 145, has a translation from Bolsena to the town of Sepino — to be described topographically by us a little later — from the Acts of the church of Sepino, formerly digested into the lessons of the divine Offices. He sets forth the event thus: They relate that (St. Christina), once buried at Lake Bolsena, was there most celebratedly venerated, especially by this prodigy, that every year on the anniversary day of her death, the head of that same Virgin was seen to float three times — at the ninth hour, the third, and the evening — in that lake, into which while living she had once been plunged by the tyrants, for about half an hour, a multitude of people running thither and looking on. Now when two men from Gaul had resolved to make pilgrimage to the holy places of Jerusalem, they came into Italy: and there, in reverence, they went about the cities and churches more famous for the relics of the Saints.

[23] from Bolsena Wherefore, having come to the Tyrian city nearest to Lake Bolsena, and having observed that the body of St. Christina the virgin was there kept too little carefully, they thought about stealing it away, and secretly transferring it to another place, where it might be more honorably venerated. Nay, they believed that intention was divinely injected into them: for they did not undertake the matter except after prayers first offered to God and to the virgin Christina, whose honor they wished to enlarge and to serve their inward promptings. The deed proceeded, no one hindering. The relics, therefore, fitly placed in a sack hanging from the shoulder, they carry off, glad and silent, and depart from the city toward the Adriatic sea, to sail to Jerusalem. But when no opportunity of any ship offered itself, they wandered through Apulia: they went and returned to Sepino; often led back thither by divine counsel, whence they had departed.

[24] carried to the town of Sepino, Meanwhile, the Deity governing their tongues, the report of the sacred burden began to spread, and at once pervaded the people of Sepino. Wherefore, by the concourse of that people, it soon came to pass that amid pious vows the relics of St. Christina were recognized … Soon, for veneration, they are carried in procession to the church of St. Salvator by the clergy and the magistrate: but then they seemed to delay, and, immovable, could by no force be carried farther. Here the people began to weep, confessing themselves unworthy of so great a gift, and none the less to beseech the Virgin that she would not be willing to depart from Sepino. A vow of all being at length pronounced, concerning the celebration of feast-days of the finding, the translation, and the passion for the cult of St. Christina, her body was brought into the sacred building. Thus he.

[25] with marvelous, but not readily credible, circumstances; That prodigious floating of the head cannot be approved by us, until it is shown by suitable documents: "they relate this," says Caietanus: but whether they relate it truly and solidly enough, I would not dare to assert. It rests upon the people of Bolsena to establish this fact from ancient and trustworthy documents: for long and frequent experience has long since taught us not straightway to believe all the things that are reported in lessons of this kind. Concerning Tyrus, the city nearest to Lake Bolsena, we have already discoursed enough. There are also other things in this whole narrative which are to be feared to be not easily admitted by all without other more certain testimonies. I certainly desire only this, that the whole narrative of the aforesaid translation be so established by those whom it concerns, that it may be able to command full credit. Concerning the vow of the people of Sepino, the discourse will recur below on another occasion. And these things concerning the first translation of the body.

[26] The praised Caietanus, in the same place, page 145, relates a second, whence it migrated to Palermo. by which the same body was conveyed to Palermo in Sicily under William I, king of Sicily, and under Hugo, prelate of the church of Palermo, about the year 1160, recording the event thus from the lessons formerly chanted amid the divine Offices at the aforesaid church: When once at Palermo Hugo, count of Molise, son-in-law of Roger [*], king of Sicily, and lord of Sepino, was discoursing with other men of the first nobility about the relics of sacred bodies … the count exclaimed that he and his Sepino were deservedly most happy on account of the sacred remains held under the name of our Martyr. Seizing which occasion, Hugo the archbishop of Palermo entreats the man .. that he would be willing to enrich Palermo with so great a gift and treasure … saying that it would be enough for the safety, enough for the splendor of Sepino, if a small part of the remains should remain there.. When at length the count had assented to the prayers and persuasions of the archbishop and of the chief men who were present, the relics were taken away from Sepino: soon at Palermo they were received with the cult and veneration that was fitting, on the Nones of May… And so glorious did Hugo the prelate deem this translation of the virgin Christina to himself, that he wished it to be inscribed thus upon his tomb: Hugo the prelate first exalted St. Christina.

[27] Sepino (in Ptolemy, book 3, page 73, Saepinum) is a town of Samnium in the kingdom of Naples, Certain observations on the documents here cited concerning these translations. situated in the province or county of Molise, at the sources of the river Tamarus within the Apennines, and in the province of the Terra di Lavoro. Rocco Pirri, page 114, says that William I, king of Sicily, is believed to have been crowned in the year 1150 by the praised archbishop Hugo; concerning whom he treats page 110. Furthermore, the same Pirri, briefly touching upon the Palermitan translation, page 118, adds this: The relics were brought into a shrine, faced with marble and porphyry stone, skillfully adorned at royal expense.

[28] To these two translations we add a third, There are those who by which some will have it that the Saint's body was translated to Venice: among whom is Peter de Natalibus, book 6, chapter 130, writing thus: The body, carried to Venice, is said by the inhabitants of the place now to rest in the monastery of the nuns of St. Mark de Amianis in the bishopric of Torcello. That at Torcello, among the nuns of St. Anthony, who are of the Order of St. Benedict, the body of St. Christina, virgin and martyr, is preserved, Ferdinand Ughelli hands down in volume 5 of the Italia Sacra — that by her is understood today's holy martyr, is clear from the inscription in the same place — [and] that the Saint was translated thither from the praised monastery of St. Mark in the year 1431. Galesinius, at this day, July 24: The body, he says, is transferred to Venice, the celebrity of which translation is kept on this very day.

[29] Saussay, in the Gallican Martyrology, at this same day refers that Venetian translation, will have it translated to Venice. erring in several points, when he adds that the Saint's palm is honored by the Church on the fourth (nay the sixth) day before the Ides of May, on which day she gained her triumph: for that she gained her triumph on another day, against him — who, as far as we know, is here alone and singular — is everywhere noted by all, and she is honored by the Church on another day. Florentinius, speaking in his notes of that translation, judges either that it must be said to be a part of the body that was translated to Venice; or that the Saint whose whole body was translated thither is different from the Tyrensian one. Caietanus, in his Animadversions, will have it either that for "Venice" one should read "Bolsena," according to the older books, as he thinks; whence the error of others flowed; or that the matter is to be understood as we have reported it from Florentinius.

[30] likewise the people of Beuvry claim that same body A fourth translation is suggested to us by a double transcript, one of which was transcribed by Rosweyd's hand, from the manuscript Lectionary of the priory of Beuvry (Beuvry, Bevry, Bœurieres) near Béthune in Artois, which belongs to the monastery of St. Vedast of Arras, of the Order of St. Benedict. Concerning the cells or provostships of Hasprensis and Berclausensis, annexed to that monastery, Miræus treats in the Origins of the Benedictine monasteries in Belgium, chapters 6 and 7; concerning these two likewise, as also concerning Gorrensis and Beuvry, Hippolyte Helyot in his history of the monastic, religious, and military Orders, not long ago published in French, volume 6, chapter 33, page 262, to which in the same place he adds others of lesser note. Furthermore, of the said translation Saussay and Arthur du Monstier made mention. That the body of St. Christina, virgin and martyr, is preserved there, Bucelinus also hands down in the Benedictine Sacrarium. For the rest, which St. Christina the people of Beuvry understand, the title prefixed to the said transcript indicates: The translation of St. Christina, virgin and martyr, from Tyrus of Italy to Beuvry of Artois. The narrative of the matter, bearing no mark of its author, and therefore of slight credit, is divided into nine little chapters: in the first of which, a brief little preface being premised, the author speaks thus: Now we have set ourselves only to explain, by the attestations of our predecessors and also of writers, how the holy relics of her body entered into these foreign lands. Had he indicated of what sort, of what credit, of what time or age the predecessors he here means are; and likewise what the attestations of writers are, he would have given some light, so that both of them and of the whole narrative it might be decided according to their merit: but now, since he says nothing of the kind, I do not see what he had before his eyes, other than a copy of the common Life, which, contracted into a compendium, he reports in chapters 2 and 3. Nor is it any more established what he here calls the tradition of the elders, whether new or ancient? which believed that that body, which was translated thither, was of St. Christina, the most celebrated martyr of today.

[31] claim it for themselves; In chapter 4 the author hands down the conveyance of the body from Italy into Belgium, in nearly the very same manner in which Caietanus above exhibited the Saint's remains as translated from Sepino to Palermo. But if the translation of the Palermitans holds good, how will that of the people of Beuvry hold good? who will have it that not merely a part of the body, but the whole body of blessed Christina — and of the same one indeed — was carried off to them, as is had from that same transcript of theirs, cited in chapter 4: whence we also have that, on the day sacred to this Martyr, this history of the translation was either set forth to hearers in the manner of a homily, or was to be recited by those who were bound to the ecclesiastical Office: for the author says: For we have determined to write only those things which seem to pertain to this feast-day, and rather those which can be supported by clear testimony. In chapter 5 is narrated the conveyance of the sacred body to a parish of the Béthune district, by name Ekam. In chapter 6 another conveyance is set forth, to a monastery on Mount Ekensis; and finally in chapter 7 is subjoined the translation to Beuvry: but in the eighth chapter the relics are carried into a church built to the honor of the Saint; where she shone forth with miracles. Here you have the outline of the matter: but its full context will be given after the Acts. In one of the two transcripts

of that translation it is noted that another translation exists in the possession of D. Schenckinck; of what sort it is, I know not.

[32] But now the things which we have hitherto said, who could combine with Leander Alberti, Leander Alberti affirms that it is venerated at Bolsena; another elsewhere. who, in his description of Italy, treating of Tuscany and Bolsena, page 104 of the Latin edition, declares thus: The city venerates the body of St. Christina the virgin: whose very footprints, even to this present memory, the lake shows, into which, when she had been cast headlong for the cause of our faith, she nevertheless escaped safe. Concerning this miracle, which that author, unless I am mistaken, received from popular and over-credulous tradition, what is to be thought you will easily deduce from what has been said about the arena of the martyrdom. Our manuscript Florarium, on October 4, records another translation in these words: In Africa, at the colony of Theveste, the translation of St. Christina, virgin and martyr, who suffered in the city of Tyre: by whose merits the Lord deigned to show wondrous miracles. Here the reader has very many translations of one and, as they will have it, the same body; so that as many cities as are recorded to have contended among themselves about the birthplace of Homer, almost as many places could here contend among themselves about the translation and possession of the body of St. Christina. One single Virgin and martyr of that name, and that a most celebrated one, as I hinted above, I judge to have suffered in the East and to have been thence translated into Italy, for the reasons then alleged there. Whether and where her sacred remains rest today, as for lack of documents I cannot define, so I have nothing at hand firm and solid enough by which manifestly to overturn the true or believed possession of any of them. Let them, therefore, either settle their own dispute among themselves, or furnish better monuments, by which it may be proved with whom the stronger title of possession stands. But first of all it rests upon them to prove that the body which they contend they have is that of today's Virgin and martyr, and not of another of the same name, extracted from the catacombs with a borrowed name.

[33] In a little book on the tutelary saints of the diocese of Cracow, published at Cracow in the year 1617, Our opinion concerning those translations are set down SS. Sixtus and Christina Virgin, Roman martyrs, found under Paul V, Supreme Pontiff, at Rome in the cemetery of St. Callixtus, in the year 1606, in the month of September, and given to the fathers of the Society of Jesus in Poland on the 18th day of the same year and month by the most illustrious Peter Tylicki, bishop of Cracow, duke of Siewierz, [and] on the 2nd day of the month of December in the year 1612 solemnly translated to the church of St. Barbara at Cracow. What if afterward, by lapse of time, someone should contend that that body, which now indeed is certainly established not to be of today's Christina, is of today's Christina on account of the sameness of name, others following him; and so that opinion should gradually grow strong among the common people: now here would arise a new dispute: or, if you do not wish this; it could well have happened that, in the same manner in which that Roman Christina passed over to the Poles, so other bodies under the same name were translated elsewhere, whose possessors wished them to be of today's St. Christina. For it is nothing new to confound the remains of Saints, their possessors, from the sameness of name and a particular affection, claiming for themselves, by adventitious notions, those Saints who excel others more in the celebrity of their name, and are thought likely to bring more honor to the sacred buildings and cities in which they are believed to be preserved: whence there is no light matter of trifling entanglements, both here above and elsewhere in our Acts, and a cause of contention among the competitors for such remains.

[34] our opinion is set forth. For the rest, concerning the bodies of Saints assigned to different places, I will not here, in a matter most well known, weave a long catalogue; furnishing a few out of many. You have the body of St. Benedict at Monte Cassino and at Fleury, volume 3 of March, page 299; of St. Monica, at Rome and at Arrouaise, volume 1 of May, from page 481; of SS. Gervasius and Protasius, at Milan and at Breisach, volume 6 of June, from page 213; of SS. Artemius, his wife Candida, and his daughter Paulina, at Rome, at Piacenza, and elsewhere, volume 1 of June, from page 634; of SS. Nabor and Felix, at Milan and at Cologne, volume 3 of July, from page 283. But none is more like our Saint in the multiplicity of bodies than Marina; concerning whom [see] volume 4 of July, page 278. Meanwhile there may be consulted the Dissertation of the distinguished man Joseph Anton Sassi, On the Possession of the Bodies of the Holy Martyrs Gervasius and Protasius Vindicated for Milan, page 211, number 133; and page 237, number 147. But now, since of several whole bodies exposed to public veneration under the name of one and the same Saint, only one single one can be the true and legitimate body of such a Saint; unless we should say that the Saint was two-bodied or in two places at once; it follows that the whole body of today's Christina rests in only a single place; if indeed it can in any way be made persuasive that it rests somewhere as the body of today's Christina: which, although I distrust that it will be made persuasive from trustworthy monuments, yet nothing forbids that all those who in good faith think they possess her body should continue piously and religiously to venerate it under that name, and, with great confidence, expect, through the intercession of that or another holy woman, the benefits which they would expect if it were certainly established that that very Saint rested with them; who is now thought by them to rest there: for, as it is in St. Gregory, book 2 of the Dialogues, in the last chapter: The Saints work greater signs there, where they by no means lie in their own persons; concerning which passage see below, number 136. Determine the same, with proportion, concerning the relics of the Saint, of which there is to be treatment afterward.

* Rogerii

§ IV. The proper Offices of the Saint; the feast-days.

The Office Our Anthony Beatillo, in the year 1637, sent hither from Naples a little book, whose title is The Office of St. Christina, virgin and martyr, reduced to the form of the new Breviary, and printed at Naples in the year 1591, in which the following are prescribed to be read on the nativity of this Saint, and through the Octave which runs from it, save, as we shall see, on some days. At First Vespers, antiphon: O Christ, who shinest forth in the splendors of the Saints, by the prayers of Christina, we beseech thee, have mercy on us. Psalm: Dixit Dominus. Antiphon: Thou hast fulfilled all the faithful commandments of Christ: by thy contest grant us also to have life everlasting. Psalm: Confitebor. Antiphon: Glory and riches are thine, blessed Christina: and at last all the goods of the most high God. Psalm: Beatus vir. Antiphon: He whom children praise led thee, humble, to the stars: relieve us, poor in morals, by the virtue of the good. Psalm: Laudate pueri. Antiphon: O nations, together with the peoples, praise the Lord fittingly, if you desire to rejoice in the intercession of Christina the virgin. Psalm: Laudate Dominum omnes gentes.

[36] Little Chapter: I will confess to thee, O Lord the King, etc. Hymn: on the birthday of the Saint Now let our country sing psalms with supreme joy, let it take the joys of Christina, the rewards of the Thunderer of heaven. This Virgin, a heavenly bride, laid low many in the hazard of battle by an angelic hand, as the prophetic voice commanded. Whose body's coming let us honor with harmonious hymns, that, the tides of guilt being driven off, she may rid us of our plagues. Noble virgin Christina, in no way movable in faith, make us, the offspring born of our stock, to rejoice with thee in the heavens. Glory be to thee, O Lord, etc. ℣. Pray for us, blessed Christina. ℞. That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ. At the Magnificat, antiphon: Rejoicing, blessed Christina seeks the heights of heaven. The celestial court is gladdened over her: receiving the palm of martyrdom and the rewards of her virginity, she is joined to the blessed choirs. Prayer: O God, who didst bestow upon blessed Christina, thy virgin and martyr, faith and constancy in her passion: mercifully grant, that as she overcame dreadful torments, so we also, by her intercession, may be able to overcome the vices of the most savage enemy. Through, etc.

[37] At Matins, invitatory: Come, let us adore the Lord, the King of Virgins. and through the Octave, Hymn: Open to us, O Lord, the fountain of perennial grace, unto the praise of so great a Virgin, for thy little servants now ready. For she, whose solemnities we today celebrate, abiding in that prison, pleased thee as a bride, and, spurning the pomps of the world, amid the buds of roses bears a crown of light glittering with shining gems. Her fruits being truly accomplished, she brings forth seed a hundredfold; with her blood pleasingly shed, she shines in the kindly heaven. Glory to the Father on high, power be to thee, O Son, with the Spirit the Paraclete, through ages of ages. Amen. In the First Nocturn: The holy virgin Christina, the gem of Italy, the glory of the city of Tyre, the noble deposit of Sepino, was the daughter of the prefect Urban. Psalm: Beatus vir. Antiphon: She shone exceedingly in the beauty and comeliness of her body; but, fairer in faith, she pleased more the heavenly Bridegroom. Psalm: Quare fremuerunt. Antiphon: She, at her father's command, is afflicted with blows, and, torn with stripes, is cast into prison. Psalm: Domine quid multiplicati, etc. ℞. In thy comeliness and thy beauty. ℣. Give heed, go forth prosperously, and reign. Lessons from the book of Ecclesiasticus, "I will confess," as in the Common of Virgins and Martyrs, in the second place. In the first lesson, at the end, in place of what the Roman Breviary reads, "from an unjust tongue," there is here wrongly put "from an unjust man." ℞. Worthy of God, O virgin blessed in merits, Christina: entreat for us the divine goodness. ℣. That we may deserve to stand with thee before the throne of the divine majesty. Entreat for us.

[38] Lesson II. ℞. Before the face of God the death of Christina is precious: who, dying to the world, lives to Christ above the heavens. to be recited ℣. Today is the feast of a Martyr; rejoice, ye faithful: Who, dying, etc. Lesson III. ℞. O virgin dedicated to God, Christina, be favorable to us: may this day be health and rest to all. A people devoted to thee presses on in thy praises. ℣. It asks ever to abide in thy help. A people, etc. In the Second Nocturn, antiphon: Noble and prudent, the virgin Christina, a maiden, burning with the love of God, spurns the vain joys of the world. Psalm: Cum invocarem. Antiphon: Thirsting for martyrdom, she broke her father's idols, and, broken up, out of the pious love of Christ distributed them to the poor. Psalm: Verba mea. Antiphon: She fights with fragile sex, imbued from heaven, but becomes unconquerable by the virtue of faith. Psalm: Domine Dominus noster. ℣. God will help her with his countenance. ℞. God is in the midst of her, she shall not be moved. Lesson IV, and the rest, both of this second Nocturn and of the others of the same number occurring through the octave, consist of fragments taken from the Passion of the Saint: of which mention will be made when we treat of the Acts of the martyrdom. ℞. With mind steadfast enough she had borne the tyrant's torments, that she might joyfully come to the heavenly fatherland. ℣. Abounding exceedingly in goods, she left all things together with the world. That the heavenly, etc.

[39] and after the norm of the Breviary Lesson V. ℞. To the summit of gladness she came through the wave of her blood. For the Martyrs this reward was ever prepared. ℣. Rejoice, holy Virgin, heaped with so great a trophy. For the Martyrs, etc. Lesson VI. ℞. How pious, how holy, how happy dost thou appear, Christina. It is granted thee

to dissolve the bonds of sins. ℣. In all ways, therefore, we beseech thee, grant our prayers. It is granted thee, etc. In the Third Nocturn, antiphon: The confession of his Martyr endures before God: and the beauty of the flesh, which is marked by no stain. Psalm: Cantate 1. Antiphon: Today the light shines forth for the just and the upright in heart; in which Christina rejoices with the highest triumphs. Psalm: Dominus regnavit. Antiphon: Let us now sing wisely with voices and psalms, that our Savior may make us to be companions of Christina. Psalm: Cantate 2. ℣. God chose her and chose her out beforehand. ℞. He makes her to dwell in his tabernacle. Lesson of the holy Gospel according to Matthew: At that time Jesus spoke to his disciples this parable: The kingdom of heaven is like to ten Virgins. A Homily of St. Gregory the Pope, from the Common. ℞. With trembling heart we fear the true judgment: when God judges all the holy [*] and the just. ℣. We beseech thee to be mindful of us at the end of days. When God, etc. Lesson VIII. ℞. O virgin, by thy prayers dissolve our guilt: lest any law of the judge destroy us for our fault. ℣. If thou canst obtain pardon, thou canst also ask for [our] care. Lest us, etc. Lesson IX.

[40] composed At Lauds and through the Hours, antiphon: The King, girded with power, had clothed thee, comely one. Clothe us with the arms of justice, O greatest Martyr. Psalm: Dominus regnavit decorem. Antiphon: Duly does Christina now shout for joy to God with glad heart, in his sight, unto whom may we thus deserve to enter. Psalm: Jubilate. Antiphon: Happy Christina watches before God from the light: because for him her mind had ever exceedingly thirsted. Psalm: Domine, Dominus noster. Antiphon: As great punishments as the king purposed to inflict on the three children, so great torments did the wretched tyrants give to thee. Psalm: Benedicite. Antiphon: Glory, Life, God is among all his Saints, with whom she has ever obtained everlasting life. Psalm: Laudate Dominum de cælis, etc. Little Chapter: Confitebor. Hymn: Let the earth exult with praises, let hearts resound with joys, and let all sing the victory of the Virgin with encomia. Christina, a heavenly virgin, while she stands pure in body, fights bravely with the enemy, and ardently prays in spirit. She subdued the flesh and the world, and spat back the pomps of the world: for now she has well learned to spurn all torments. That she might become the bride of Christ, and hence lift herself upward, she is fully free for holy affections and joins herself to Christ. Let us all speak glory to the Spirit, to the Son, and to the Father, who gives to the fragile sex a manly victory. Amen.

[41] ℣. Pray for us, blessed Christina. ℞. That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ. At the Benedictus, antiphon: Behold, lilies added upon rosy garlands adorn thy illustrious head; here; no fear of the enemy is thine. With outstretched hand behold us ever, we pray, and make us to be safe from our enemies. At Terce, Little Chapter: Confitebor. At Sext, Little Chapter: Liberasti. ℣. He will help. At None, Little Chapter: Laudabit, etc. ℣. He chose. At Second Vespers, antiphon: Qui in splendoribus, etc., as at First Vespers. At the Magnificat, antiphon: The gracious spirit of Christina magnifies the Lord; she rejoices and exults, nor shall she be saddened any more. As Christ looked upon her, humble, outwardly, and inwardly increased and adorned her, and placed her above the stars of heaven. On the first day within the Octave, the Office is made of St. James the Apostle; on the second day of St. Anne; on the third, the lessons of the first nocturn are from the occurring Scripture; those of the second nocturn from the Passion; those of the third from the homily of St. Gregory the Pope; the same is done on the 4th day. On the 5th day, of SS. Nazarius, Celsus, and Victor, martyrs; on the sixth, of St. Martha; on the seventh, in the second nocturn from the Passion, in the third from the homily of St. Gregory the Pope. On the eighth day, in the second nocturn from the Passion; in the third, the homily of St. Jerome, which begins, "This parable," that is, the similitude of the ten foolish Virgins, etc.

[42] There follows in the same place the Office of the translation of St. Christina to Sepino. as also of the translation to Sepino, At Vespers, antiphon: In the splendors of the Saints, as on the feast. At the Magnificat, antiphon: O how this day shines with glorious light: for from heaven the highest gladness is brought forth from the Deity: Christ is adored by the Magi, a new star being the guide; our people rejoices, a new gift being received. Prayer as on the feast. At Matins, hymn: Fontem. In the First Nocturn, antiphon: We venerate the translation of Christina: with sweet strains, therefore, let us honor her finding. Psalm: Domine Dominus noster. Antiphon: Our people is today endowed with the tablets [] of the endowment, through whom [] in our shores the greatest wonders are ever wrought. Psalm: Cæli enarrant. Antiphon: When she would not give incense to the gods, the father, author of her death, commands his daughter to be given over to punishments. Psalm: Domini est terra. Lesson of the First Nocturn: Confitebor. ℞. 1. Let the finding of the Virgin be honored with worthy praises, through which both redemptions are given to our people. ℣. The translation of Christina is celebrated in many ways. Through which. ℞. 2. The devout people takes the gifts with a pure heart, a good mind, and runs, that what is given it from heaven may be laid up. ℣. The people, anxious for the gifts, all cares being cast aside. It runs. ℞. 3. The translation of the virgin Christina is at hand, which our people honors with boundless praises: that by her aids we may enjoy the joys of heaven. ℣. Run together hither speedily, and break off the delays of the night: lift up mind and hands, and clap in singing. That by her.

[43] In the Second Nocturn, antiphon: This Virgin of Christ is tormented at Tyre in a wondrous manner, it is brought forward but she protects also round about the people of Sepino. Psalm: Eructavit. Antiphon: We celebrate the coming of this Virgin unto increase: for she ever works for us a hundred marvels. Psalm: Deus noster refugium. Antiphon: This is a very joyful day, in which all fear of enemies, now far off, is [so] seen. Psalm: Magnus Dominus. The lessons of the second nocturn consist of the history which you have above in compendium from Caietanus: yet I read nothing here of the annual prodigious floating of the head, which above we reported from the same author. ℞. 1. Certain Gauls, vowing to see the holy sepulchre of Christ, desire to accomplish by deed what they promised. ℣. Whence, wallet and staff being taken up, and the sign of the cross being made. They desire. ℞. 2. While they were completing the journey begun, they entered the holy church of the virgin Christina: from which, carrying off the sacred relics, they took them with them. ℣. But they, trembling, hasten to depart thence quickly. From which the sacred relics. ℞. 3. Now the people of Sepino is made glad, possessing the sacred gifts. Let the old men sing psalms often, and the young men more often. ℣. Let it clap with organ and harp, adorned with boundless gifts. Often. Glory. Often. In the Third Nocturn, antiphon: Running to the parts of Campania with loosened reins, she came hither that she might relieve our necks from chains. Psalm: Cantate. Antiphon: The divine gift being conferred on the faithful people, let the whole world rejoice from the height of heaven. Psalm: Dominus regnavit. Antiphon: A certain Frank came from remote parts, carrying with him pledges to be honored with worthy vows. Psalm: Cantate. Lesson of the holy Gospel, of the ten Virgins. A Homily of St. Jerome.

[44] with the approbations. ℞. 1. Taking up the saving gift, they scorn to furrow the seas, but they cannot accomplish this, no ships being found. ℣. Thrice wandering about and traversing Apulia, they are forced to return hither, where the Virgin wills to rest. No ships being found. ℞. 2. On this day is celebrated the translation of Christina, on which Christ was born in the flesh, and adored by the Magi, a new gift being received. ℣. Rising from the east, a new star shone. And by the Magi. Glory. And by the Magi. At Lauds, the antiphons as on the feast. At the Benedictus: O good guardian, who never closest thine eyes, look upon thy servants singing songs of praise to thee, and join us, by the prayers of Christina, to the Saints. Through the Hours all things as on the feast. Second Vespers, as the first. Antiphon at the Magnificat: O flower of the field, and lily of the valleys, Jesus Christ, who art the bridegroom and lover of virgins, how pleasant it is ever to stand in thy sight: whom the virginal companies follow, praising: where sweet harmony resounds perennially, and the virgin Christina, with all these, frequently repeats: To thee, O Christ, be praise and glory now and forever. The faculty of printing this aforesaid little book was granted by him who is here appended, Brutus Farnetus, Vicar General of Naples, and a little below: Brother Peter Robert of St. Martin, of the Order of Friars Minor of the Observance, theologian of the archbishopric of Naples, examined it, and reduced the aforesaid Office to the form of the new Roman Breviary. On the 25th day of April, 1591.

[45] Three days once sacred to St. Christina. The finding and the translation are here above joined in one Office; that elsewhere they fell on different feasts, is plain from the words which are read in the same Office, in the sixth lesson: The whole people vows (on what occasion, see above at the end of number 24), and faithfully promises for itself and its posterity, to celebrate solemnly these days in the year: the first, of the finding; the second, of the translation; the third, of the sacred passion of the same glorious Virgin (Christina); and, the most sacred Gospels being touched, from the least to the greatest they swear to abstain on these three days from servile works. That diversity of feasts is also established from Caietanus's Animadversions, page 59, where, from the Breviary published at Venice in the year 1564, the following Prayer is brought forth for the finding: O God, who on this present day, by the finding of the body of thy martyr Christina, didst exalt the people of Sepino, etc. But for the translation, this: Almighty eternal God, ever wont to bestow health-bringing things, who, foreseeing that the town of Sepino was without a guardian, didst this day appoint for it from heaven the virgin Christina, etc. Then from the ninth lesson of the divine Office he cites this: Not without divine will is the virgin Christina celebrated with a threefold solemnity, who under three judges is afflicted with thrice six punishments. That these two feasts also recurred on the same day, the praised author proves from the antiphon at the first nocturn, where he asserts it is said: We venerating with vows the translation of Christina, let us therefore with sweet strains honor the finding. And from the 8th lesson he brings forth the following: But let this celebration of the finding and the translation be made at the time of the new star, when Christ, the first-fruits of the Gentiles, is revealed. Some things concerning the Office of the Saint you have below in part 2, §16.

* perhaps "sontes"

* perhaps "notis" or "novis"

* "quas"

§ V. Notice of another Office; the proper prayers; the name of the Saint in the Litanies; a hymn from the Mozarabic breviary; the sacred buildings; her posthumous glory.

We have besides another proper Office of St. Christina, printed indeed, but not noted Another Office of uncertain place and time is here described, but not given, where, by whom, for whom, and when it was published; and therefore we shall below call it anonymous. That it was prescribed perhaps for the church of Palermo, or certainly for some other in which the body of the Saint is believed to be deposited, is proved by the proper prayer at Sext, in which it is said: who (blessed Christina) rests in the present church. It has this singular feature among

among others that same Office, that besides that prayer, it brings forward another at None. But the lessons, which on the first day, on the Sunday within the Octave, and on the Octave itself number eight each time, but on the remaining days occurring through the Octave only three, contain the Passion of the Saint. The other singular things which occur in it I do not note, lest I be too long in a matter here by no means necessary.

[47] In the Missal according to the institution of St. Ambrose, printed at Milan in the year 1522, various prayers page 189, the following prayers are prescribed. Over the people: May the affection of holy gladness, O Lord, ever grow in us, and may the venerable festivity of blessed Christina, thy virgin and martyr, be increased. Through. Over the assembly: May the intercession of St. Christina, thy virgin and martyr, we beseech thee, O Lord, ever cherish us, that we may both temporally frequent her sacred birthday and behold the eternal ones. Through. Over the offerings: Recalling, O Lord, the feasts of St. Christina, thy virgin and martyr, we offer prayers and immolate victims; grant, we beseech, that with the protection of temporal life she may afford also the increases of eternal life. Through. After communion: May both these holy mysteries which we have received, and the venerable intercession of St. Christina, virgin and martyr, help us, we beseech thee, O Lord, that we may be guarded from all adversities, and be led to the ethereal mansions. Through. The Cologne Breviary, published by Venetian types in the year 1497, has also a proper collect of the Saint; as also the Roman Breviary, printed, as is ascribed to it, in the year 1522. In the English Litanies, which are found among the old Analecta of Mabillon, not long ago reprinted at Paris, page 168, and which their editor proves, page 169, to have been in use in the English church at the close of the 7th century, the name of the Saint is inserted; which is also noted in the Litanies of the Tongres Breviary, printed, folio 93 verso. A few things pertaining hither are given below in the second part, §16.

[48] as also a proper hymn, That St. Christina is venerable also to the Mozarabs in Spain by an annual rite, we said above: and although in their Breviary (printed at Toledo in the year 1502, concerning which, as also concerning other things pertaining to that liturgy, we have resolved to treat expressly in some special treatise, which we shall prefix to the next following volume) — although, I say, in the Breviary of the Mozarabs all things concerning our Saint are prescribed to be said with the rite of one virgin, they nevertheless compose a special hymn for her, which, purged of some errors, we here exhibit: Let us pursue with praises the triumph of the holy Virgin: who, contending manfully, overcame the wicked enemy: and by preserving her chastity earned renown. For this Virgin, while she was small in years, desired to adore Christ the King, the Lord, and, the images being neglected, to offer chaste incense. She, mocking her father's scourges or torments, gave no heed to wicked words: nor did she set her heart on these: but with serene countenance manfully bore the punishment; blessed in the name of Christ, in that the pious virgin is said to be called Christina: but it is plain that her name is thus derived from the name of Christ. Proved in faith, scorning and spurning her father's wrath, delighted divinely with lofty joy: by thy graces [*] she drove [it] off, and pressed on toward the heavenly rewards.

[49] from the Mozarabic Breviary. No torments broke her: no death terrified her: but, bearing all with eager heart, she laughed the contests to scorn: she is tortured with abandoned madness. For, hung up, she is beaten: and she is battered with rods: and a bronze vessel filled with resin and oil, and likewise with a torrent of pitch: thither the kindly one is put. Plunged into the waves of the sea, she is snatched away by Christ: she drove off the every-kind savagery of serpents, reckoning death and torments alike as nothing. And so, three profane judges being overcome, by confessing the Trinity she triumphs happily. Thus, called from the world, she passes to the heavenly things. For in thy honor, holy Virgin, we sing: help all who supplicate: protect thy servants: pour forth prayers for [our] sins to Christ the King, the Lord. And thou, O Christ, boundless King, hear the prayers of thy suppliants: accept their vows: blot out the faults of all sins, be a help to those praying here on these feasts. Glory and honor to God, the most high forever: alike to the Father, and to the Son, and to the glorious Paraclete: to whom is praise and power through eternal ages. Amen.

[50] [Various relics under the name of St. Christina are recounted in the East and the West] That the sacred remains of St. Christina were once most celebrated in the East, we have from the Typicon of St. Sabas, which, rendered from the Greek, attests thus: Unto the height of heaven thou hast rested, illustrious Christina: whence we celebrate thy glorious feast, venerating with faith the case of thy relics, from which there truly gushes forth to all a divine remedy of soul and body. A great heap of relics is asserted to be honored at Rome, on the testimony of Carlo Bartolomeo Piazza in his sacred Hemerologium, part 2, page 75: namely the head at St. Mary Major in the Pauline chapel; a part of the head at St. Cecilia; the heart at St. Apollonia; translated thither from the monastery commonly called delle Murate, and suppressed by Pope Clement IX; likewise relics at St. Mary the Egyptian and St. Susanna; such as, at St. Francis and among the monks of Jesus and Mary, Masini hands down to be preserved in his "Bologna Surveyed," page 419. A bone of St. Christina, virgin and martyr, is noted in Caracciolo's "Naples Sacred," page 229. Various ones also the royal Escorial monastery of St. Lawrence in Spain recounts, which claims to have the following, as is noted in the Lipsanologium or Inventory of relics preserved there: from which these were translated from the Spanish: One rib of the right side, which has a length of eight fingers: besides, her whole head, pierced through in the left temple: one iron head of an arrow, by which she perished. Add six other lesser relics; among which are probably to be numbered three bones of St. Christina, virgin and martyr, sent, together with several other sacred remains, to Philip II, king of the Spains, from Cologne by the Augustinian Fathers: concerning which matter see the preliminary Commentary of St. Margaret at the 20th of this month, number 31, toward the end.

[51] The testimony which is had concerning that head in the said Inventory, among which the head is said to be with the Escorial [monks in Spain;] runs thus: In the name of the Lord. Amen. We, Anna Von Gudden, prioress; Joanna Von Erchren, subprioress; Catharina Von Breitbach, procuratrix; Maria Von Orkbeck, cellaress; and Elizabeth Huppe, keeper of the sacred things, of the convent of St. Gertrude, of the Order of St. Dominic in the city of Cologne, make known to all that we, with the highest consent of the rest of our sisters, have given as a gift to the very reverend lord father Baltasar Delgado, commissary of the most invincible and most powerful Catholic King (the indult of the ordinary bishop of the place going before, however), the following relics of the Saints, which we received from the tradition of our elders, the archbishops and founders, and hitherto have preserved and venerated with pious religion.

[52] Namely: the head of St. Christina, virgin and martyr; of which matter as her life and martyrdom are attested by the letters engraved in the silver with which the sacred head itself — to which is seen affixed the iron of the arrow by which she happily consummated her martyrdom — is found adorned. Likewise three other heads from the company of the eleven thousand Virgins: attending, namely, to the supreme and burning desire with which his Paternity was borne by an affection of piety, as toward God and his Saints, so also toward the venerable relics of the same, once the chosen instruments and dwellings of the Holy Spirit; no small account being also had of these disturbances of our country, on account of which this most precious treasure of the church is deservedly to be feared for from men of abandoned piety, and in very many places of our country we have beheld (alas, the grief!) those most excellent riches, torn away by a certain nefarious frenzy and by sacrilegious hands, and shamefully cast aside, by ill-disposed and more-than-diabolical men.

[53] We trust, therefore, that by this means these sacred relics of the Saints will not only be safer from the hands and wantonness of nefarious men, here the testimony is given: and in some measure even vindicated, but will also make no slight increase of piety to very many pious minds. In faith and testimony of all which we have subscribed the present letters with our own hands, and fortified them with our conventual seal. Given in the said convent in the year 1597, on the fourth day of the month of September. They are subscribed: Anna Von Gudden, Prioress. Joanna Von Erchren, subprioress. Catharina Von Breitbach, procuratrix. Maria Von Orkbeck, cellaress. Elizabeth Huppe, keeper of the sacred things. George Braun, dean at the steps of blessed Mary of Cologne, Apostolic commissary. By the mandate of the most reverend lord Braun, Apostolic commissary, Roland Weierstras, public notary. That testimony, insofar as it regards today's Saint, is of slight weight, as will be established from what is to be said.

[54] which head is also thought to be preserved elsewhere. Other relics. Likewise the head of St. Christina, virgin and martyr, is attributed to Ávila, in Gil González Dávila's Theater of the Churches of Castile, volume 2, published at Madrid in the year 1647, page 212. Concerning the head of the Saint — of our Saint, as they will have it — which is said to have been translated from Italy to Herzebrock, a village of the territory of Osnabrück, there will be mention after the Acts. Meanwhile, if the things hitherto alleged concerning the Saint's remains hold good, it follows either that she herself was many-headed, which cannot be admitted; or that the head which they claim to have, all cannot in truth by any means have, nay, that not even any one of them all can be said to have it, so long as it is not most solidly proved. This dispute I leave to be settled by all and each of those who from possession think they have a right to the true head of today's Saint. It was already long ago said, volume 2 of January, page 612, that sacred remains were brought to Lisbon; but in the "Passed Over" at May 10 we made mention of a part of her rib, and of another bone, among the people of Prague; and at the 21st of the same month, page 10, in the numerous Catalogue of relics granted to the discalced nuns of Vienna by the Empress Eleonora, St. Christina, virgin and martyr, is noted. Gelenius, in his "On the Greatness of Cologne of Agrippina," page 708, places an arm in the church of the Conventual Franciscans of Cologne (of which Erhard Winheim, a Carthusian of Würzburg, also makes mention in his little index to the sacrary of Agrippina, published in the year 1607), and, page 571, notes a herm with relics of St. Christina; but less distinctly, whether he thinks them to be of our Saint or of another.

[55] Sacred buildings under the name of this Saint at Constantinople, To the sacred remains which are honored under the name of our Saint, I subjoin the sacred buildings in which she had a special cult. Among which are first of all to be reckoned those which we gather to have existed at Constantinople from our manuscript Sirmond-Chifflet Supplement, very often cited elsewhere, in which this is read: Τελεῖται δὲ ἡ αὐτῆς σύναξις ἐν τῷ μαρτυρείῳ αὐτῆς, τῷ ὄντι ἐν τῷ νέῳ παλατίῳ, καὶ ἐν νύμφαις ταῖς μεγάλαις, καὶ ἐν τῷ μαρτυρείῳ τοῦ ἁγ. Τρύφωνος πλησίον τῆς ἁγίας Εἰρήνης ἀρχαίας καὶ νέας. That is: "Her synaxis is celebrated in her martyr-shrine, which is in the New Palace, and in the Great Nymphs, and in the martyr-shrine of St. Tryphon near St. Irene the old and the new." Which the source renders in Latin thus: The synaxis of her (St. Christina) is celebrated in the sacred building which is in the New Palace, and in the Great Nymphs, and in the sacred building of St. Tryphon near St. Irene the old and the new.

Du Cange treats of the New Palace in his Christian Constantinople, book 2, page 119; of the twofold building of St. Tryphon, book 4, page 140; and of that likewise twofold building which is of St. Irene, the old and the new, in the same book 4, page 147; in whom I do not find, as neither in Gyllius and Banduri, what precisely is the place here indicated "in the Great Nymphs." Among the Epigrams of the ancient poets in the same Banduri, volume 1 of the Constantinopolitan Antiquities, book 7, page 143, I find one with this title: On a statue of the Nymphs: whether of these or of others? Various places at Rome, too, in which the holy martyr is honored with public veneration, the above-named Piazza recounts, namely at St. Mary Major, at St. Apollonia, at St. Mary the Egyptian.

[56] Masini, in his "Bologna Surveyed," at May 10 marks St. Christina, virgin and martyr, with a feast in her parish church, and in Italy in the street commonly called della Fondazza; where there are plenary indulgences, granted by Gregory XIII on the 25th day of February 1582; he adds that already from the year 1225 it had been possessed by the Camaldolese monks; and from the year 1247 granted to the nuns of the same Order, who, translated hither from the territory of Bologna, rebuilt it in the year 1602, the vestiges of the ancient church yet surviving in their present monastery, on the testimony of the above-said author; and he calls them, pages 210 and 609, the nuns of St. Christina. But on the 24th of this month he again recounts the Saint, with a feast in another parish church of hers in Pietralata. Add the church of St. Christina at Bolsena; where is said to have occurred that miracle most celebrated throughout the whole world, of the consecrated host flowing with blood, in the year 1264; on account of which the feast of the venerable Sacrament was instituted by Pope Urban IV. See the Lives of the Popes in Ciaconius, volume 2, column 148, and Raynaldus in the Ecclesiastical Annals at the said year. St. Antoninus, in part 3 of the Histories, title 20, chapter 1, §1, does not express of what Saint the church, in which that miracle occurred, bore the name; but writes that it occurred in a certain church at Bolsena, in a place not far distant.

[57] The Capuan Sanctuary, printed at Naples in the year 1630, in various places; page 522, hands down this: There was once a church of St. Christina with its village on the road of St. Angelo ad Formam: at length, being demolished, the chapel was translated into the cathedral; and it is the chapel of the canons. In the Life of St. William, abbot of Dijon, volume 1 of January, page 61, mention is made of a monastery of St. Christina the virgin; and a monastery under the same name in the diocese of Milan at the river Olona is noted in Mabillon's Benedictine Annals, volume 4, pages 94 and 95; of which he had likewise treated in volume 2, page 478, where he treats of its antiquity and privileges, adding that it was united by Pope Gregory XIII to the Roman College of the city of Rome. A monastery of sacred virgins under the name of St. Christina, built at Treviso in the year 1190, and destroyed in the year 1357, you have in volume 2 of June, pages 484 and 485. An abbey or monastery outside the walls of the city of Sutri, united to the church of the same city under the title of St. Christina, is noted in the Notice of the abbeys of Italy in Augustine Lubin, page 379. Add that she is patroness in Udenbrinck; concerning which place there will be mention after the Acts; to say nothing of the sacred buildings in the said Herzebrock, and at Beuvry, as will be more amply set forth in the same place. The people of Palermo attend the Saint with a singular testification of veneration, even from the time at which her sacred body is thought to have been conveyed thither: on which matter it will be well to hear the above-praised Caietanus, page 145, who subjoins this to that translation:

[58] Even then the senate and people of Palermo chose the virgin Christina as patroness. At Palermo in Sicily she is venerated as patroness. The body it enclosed in a silver chest, which afterward, about the year of salvation 1557, was reduced to a more elegant form, the images of the tortures being carved on its sides, which she had once most constantly undergone at Tyre, her native city, for the defense of the faith of Christ. But in a little chapel once built by the kings, most elegantly adorned, it is kept for safekeeping within iron gratings. The same silver case, on the first Sunday of the month of May each year, solemn fairs also being instituted to summon the more easily a concourse of people from the neighboring towns, is carried about through the city with famous pomp, and with the piety of the thronging people: nor are the innumerable benefits of the most beneficent Patroness lacking, especially toward those who are grievously tormented by an evil spirit. The feast-day of St. Christina is also honored with more solemn cult on July 24, on which recurs the annual memory of her most happy death.

[59] The posthumous fame of the Saint, from Venantius Fortunatus; To the posthumous fame of the Saint pertain chiefly those things which the ancient writers have concerning her. Venantius Fortunatus, bishop of Poitiers, in the Library of the Fathers of the second edition, printed by Margarin de la Bigne at Paris in the year 1589, volume 8, column 923, among other illustrious virgins thus reports her name: Christina, Euphemia, etc. In the Brower edition, however, page 186, "Euphemia" is read; but the name of Christina, added there, I do not find. St. Aldhelm, from abbot of Malmesbury in England becoming bishop of Sherborne in the same land (who flourished toward the end of the seventh century; and whose Acts we illustrated at May 25, from page 77), in his prose book On the Praises of Virginity, which is had in the second volume of the Orthodoxographia from page 1677, thus runs out into the praises of St. Christina from page 1707;

[60] by St. Aldhelm But the second (Christina) is recorded to have been so kindled with the little torches of divine charity, even before she received the rudiments of baptism, that she is said to have been, straightway from the eleventh year of her age, a despiser of fanatic superstition and a cultivator of the heavenly decrees; whose father, discharging in the palace the office of Master of the Soldiers, when he was imbuing this his offspring with the liberal disciplines of sophisms, erected for her a tower stretched up on a height with menacing loftiness, and perhaps built with a structure of stucco. In which, when with twice six maidens, according to the rite of the natives, she was rashly compelled by her father, devoted to the worship of the shrines, to burn offerings and offer incense of whole burnt sacrifices to the mute gods, but when he had found himself deservedly scorned by his only daughter, and observed the gilded effigies of the images — namely of Jupiter and Apollo, and likewise of Venus, the lover of debaucheries — broken piecemeal into fragments, straightway, a bloody executioner and a savage parricide rather than a pious father, he cruelly contrives various kinds of torments to vex that same daughter.

[61] bishop of Sherborne in England, Nevertheless the mind given over to God neither shudders at the fetid squalors of the workhouses, nor dreads the rock bound to her neck and plunged into the sea's abysses; nor does she grow soft under the stakes cruelly beating her most tender limbs, nor does the disfigurement even of her burned head — though her golden hair was shaved, and, made bald, she was dragged through the public street — bend the state of her heart: nor was she stupefied at the scorching fires of the furnace, rivaling the engines of the Chaldean king, nor does the maiden, terrified, greatly fear the venomous jaws of the asps, which the Marsi provoked with the songs of their incantations; nay, all these things, Christ affording his patronage, she happily overcomes, the treasure of her modesty being safe. At last, wounded with the twin wounds of darts, and drenched with purple gore, she was martyred for Christ.

[62] and by St. Joseph among the Greeks St. Joseph, who flourished among the Greeks in the 9th century, and of whom we discoursed in volume 4 of July in the preliminary Commentary to the Life of St. Alexius, page 247, illustrated the Saint's posthumous fame with a canon or sacred hymn, composed in her honor and drawn out through nine odes; whose acrostic is noted as this: Χριστοῦ σε μέλπω τὴν ἐπώνυμον κόρην. ΙΩΣΗΦ. That is: "I sing thee, the maiden named after Christ. Joseph." Concerning the name of the author here appended, we noted certain things in the cited place. Furthermore, nothing persuades us to transcribe hither the whole canon from the Greek into Latin, which can be read in Greek by the curious in the printed great Menaea, and has now been translated into Latin, as will be said in part 2, §16; let it suffice to have indicated that its author, in a far more tolerable manner, and less embellished and theatrical, touches in passing on the martyrdom of the Saint, and the things which pertain to her deeds, tasting here and there some points; than he who transmitted the Acts, as they are today circulated, to posterity; as will be shown afterward in its place. One thing here I observe from the words of the exapostilarion (concerning which, what it is, is not sufficiently clear, as was said in the onomastic Dissertation on the Sequence of the Greek Office before the second volume of June, page 33, number 35), one thing, I say, I observe, that St. Christina is indicated as a patroness for infants, in these words: Ἰατὴρ δὲ δαψιλὴς ἀνεδείχθης πρὸς Θεοῦ τοῖς βρέφεσι τοῖς νηπίοις. That is: "A bountiful healer wast thou shown forth by God to the little infants."

[63] In the eleventh century Alphanus composed some verses in various meter about St. Christina, and also by Alphanus, archbishop of Salerno. from a monk of Monte Cassino and afterward abbot of St. Benedict at Salerno, becoming archbishop in the same place: concerning whom see Peter the Deacon, a monk of the praised monastery of Monte Cassino, in his little book On the Illustrious Men of Monte Cassino, published at Rome with the notes of John Baptist Mari in the year 1655, chapter 19. The aforesaid verses you have in Ferdinand Ughelli in the appendix to the second volume of the Italia Sacra, where the Passion of the Saint is produced, which, on the testimony of the same Peter, the same author composed in plain and most lucid speech; but whether and how far this is true, we shall examine in the following paragraph. Certainly what the authority of that Peter is, we noted at July 18, page 485. Meanwhile the posthumous glory of our Saint is illustrated with several notices in part 2, §13. Now let us inspect her Acts.

* perhaps "Armis suis" (with her own arms)

§ VI. Notice of the Acts, and observations.

Our predecessors Bolland and Henschen left us a noted notice of various copies of the Passion of St. Christina in a paper memorandum, Our predecessors noted a notice of several copies; appended to the Life of the same Saint, which we have from the Windberg manuscript in Germany, collated with the manuscript of St. Maximin at Trier and of St. Omer. In the same place it is said that the same Life exists in the Catalogue of Father Beatillo, from the Passionale, number 49, and, twin but somewhat differing in words, in two manuscripts of D. Schenckinck; and also in a manuscript at St. Hubert's; but it is prefixed, "In the times of the emperor Diocletian there was," and the ending differs; likewise in our Vaulx-Cernay manuscript, which had before belonged to Lord Moretus, and in manuscript number 13 of the Queen of Sweden, with words varying here and there, nearly agreeing with some of the corrections placed in the margin of the aforesaid Windberg manuscript.

[65] There exists besides a Life of the same Saint in the Anchin codex, folio 46. which are here enumerated, In the manuscript of Cardinal Mazarin it is noted with this beginning: At that time there was a certain maiden of Tyre, keeping her virginity in the hope of God, who was not yet eleven years old; at the end it agrees with our said Vaulx-Cernay manuscript. To this add besides the Heinsberg manuscript

of the count of Geleen, in quarto, in which the Life begins: There was a certain holy and sacred maiden, born of royal stock from Tyre, by name Christina. And these things from what they noted there; to which we add the following. Some manuscript specimen our John Gamans sent hither in the year 1641, from a notable parchment manuscript Passionale of the monastery of the Regulars of St. Augustine of Böddeken, in the diocese of Paderborn, [for] the month of July, folio 112, page A, of which this is the opening:

[66] others being added, both of the manuscripts, In the days of a most savage persecution, when that Gospel saying was fulfilled: Brother shall deliver up brother unto death, and the father his son or daughter, there was in Italy near Lake Bolsena a certain sacred virgin, by name Christina, who, having hope and confidence in the Lord Jesus Christ. The Passion of the Saint is also contained in our parchment codex of ancient stamp, but rather faulty here and there in it, which once belonged to the college of the Society of Jesus at Molsheim; likewise another of our parchment codices, very ancient, headless and anonymous, from folio 157 verso. That which we here give is taken from our manuscript Passionale, written on parchment in ancient characters, which once belonged to our college at Fulda: although I think it matters little from which of the said copies the Passion is chiefly given; since I hold it plainly persuaded, both from those things which I have already brought forward as noted by our predecessors, and from those which I myself observed in the reading of the manuscript copies, that all agree in substance, although in words, style, brevity or prolixity, and other adjuncts of this kind they may differ: and I believe the two Acts which Baronius cites in his notes at this day to be entirely of the same kind.

[67] and also by the examples of the printed ones. Alphanus, adduced above, wrote them, and they can be read in Ughelli in the place cited above, from column 1125: concerning which there will be mention below. Peter de Natalibus contracted the Acts, nearly the same in substance, to greater brevity. They are also read as edited in Mombritius, and in the anonymous Lessons, and others printed at Naples; concerning which above. Vincent of Beauvais, in the Mirror of Histories, book 12, drew out certain points through chapters 86, 87, 88, and 89. St. Antoninus, in part 1 of the histories, title 8, chapter 1, §17, has a compendium. Tillemont gives a historical collection in the Ecclesiastical Monuments, volume 5, from page 538. A recent French legend-writer collected this Life, and inserted it into his Work on this day, to pass over Silvanus Razzi, of the Camaldolese Order, who long ago published the deeds of the Saint from various sources in Italian, in the Lives of the Saints of Tuscany, part 1, from page 71, of the second edition. Henschen, in the memorandum which I have in hand, noted various readings differing from Mombritius from one codex of the monastery of St. Cecilia at Rome: but the Acts are not of such worth that we should greatly labor about minutiae of this kind.

[68] That the Acts are of slight credit, It is to be lamented that a Saint so illustrious does not have Acts of better stamp, which even against our will we are compelled to mark with a very bad reckoning, taught by the thing itself that most true are the things which Papebroch, in the Graeco-Muscovite Ephemerides before the first volume of May, page 34, had already long ago noted in these words: Her Acts are obscure .. nor do they need light examination and censure, like those of very many Saints of this kind. For wherever you cast your eyes, there occur again and again new and wondrous things, and a continual change of scene. And indeed neither the three judges, under whom she suffered (of whom the collect of the Saint in the printed Tongres Breviary also makes mention), nor the torments — so many, so various, singular, and horrible — seem to fall upon the so tiny age of a girl of eleven years. Add visions or apparitions, dialogues, prayers to God, and many other things, not to enumerate them one by one, which might deservedly displease men of sense. And indeed, if it be permitted to speak the matter openly without circumlocutions, these Acts for the most part seem to us to present a pure and mere fabrication, patched together from a hodgepodge of wondrous things, expressing such marks that here there seems, so to speak, heaped into one mass whatever is wont to be observed as wondrous, not to say incredible, in very many others by those skilled in matters of this kind.

[69] nor that they need a light censure Nor, moreover, do we know at what time, or by what author, those Acts were written; and although they nearly agree in substance, yet in the circumstances of things they little cohere with themselves, so that their various interpolation plainly betrays itself, nor are things sufficiently credible narrated in them, or bearing before them the least appearance of truth. Let the matter be proved by examples. Suspect is, at number 1, the tower in which her father Urban is said to have ordered the Saint to be shut up; the suspicion is increased by the first lesson of the Office on the birthday of the Saint, printed at Naples, when it gives this reason of the deed: For the insane father hoped that, if (Christina) should dedicate her virginity to the gods, and abide in their worship, they, mindful of gratitude, would have commanded the girl of admirable beauty to be venerated as a goddess; on that account he shut Christina in a certain tower .. with twelve girls.

[70] At number 11 in our Acts it is narrated that the Saint, cast into the sea, it is proved, but received by angels, both sought and obtained baptism there: of which baptism Ado has nothing, whether he found nothing about it, or suppressed it as unworthy of his pen. That which is in itself incredible, the anonymous Lessons mentioned above set forth in a far more incredible manner, in that lesson which is prescribed in the first place on the Sunday within the Octave of St. Christina, where this is had: And when blessed Christina had said these things, by night in the midst of the sea there came a voice from heaven, saying: Christina, the Lord God has heard thy prayer: and straightway there came from heaven a bright cloud over her head, and she was lifted up by the angels, and is baptized by Christ, thus saying there: I baptize thee in God my Father, and in me Jesus Christ, his Son, and the Holy Spirit; and he committed her to Michael the archangel, who led her back to the land.

[71] Peter de Natalibus, the same more briefly: But Christ descended to her, and it is shown and baptized her in the same place with his own hands; and the paradox grows, when he adds, and imposed his own name upon her. The Beuvry manuscript: In the waves he (Christ) baptized her, and thus she was named Christina from Christ. In the Fulda copy, at number 4 by her father Urban, at number 8 by her mother, she is called Christina, in which last place the Saint says that she has the name of the Savior: and afterward, at number 11, her baptism is narrated. But if she received this name only in baptism, how is she called by that name by her parents before baptism? I know indeed that in matters of this kind one may have recourse to ὕστερον πρότερον (that is, "the later before the earlier"), or to prolepsis: but these do not seem here fitly to be able to lend support: because very many other things cohere so ineptly and inelegantly in these Acts of which we are at present treating. In the proper Lessons printed at Naples, an angel, not Christ, baptizes her. Razzi says nothing of the baptism.

[72] That paradoxical baptism deservedly displeased St. Antoninus, as is gathered from his words, in the place indicated above, where he speaks thus: from various specimens. Concerning her baptism, it is to be wondered at, yet not incredible, nor impossible to God; because he can do all things, and justify men above the common law. But by the good leave of the most holy Prelate, it is not that which is here asked; but rather on what foundation a thing so unusual and wondrous may be established, that from wondrous it may become credible. For a sufficient foundation the Acts are not, being at any rate of slight authority. Whence, then, does the most wise Bishop judge that wondrous baptism not to be incredible? His reason, which he seeks from the omnipotence of God, proves only this, that that thing could have happened, but not that it did happen, or that, having happened, it can at least prudently be believed, since it is destitute of suitable motives of credibility. Add that the argument of St. Antoninus seems to prove too much: for if, from the fact that to God all things are possible, you should wish all things to be made credible which are not proved credible from elsewhere; it now follows that assent must be given to all Acts, even the most inept and most fabulous, and that no discernment must be used, to distinguish the true from the false, the genuine from the spurious — at which, nevertheless, our labor chiefly aims in prosecuting this Work. But see more on this matter in part 2, §9. Now let us return to our Acts of the Saint.

§ VII. Continuation of the same observations.

Other specimens At number 6 you have the wondrous ascent and descent by the help of a bandage; at number 7 twelve lictors come forth, to beat the tender little Virgin with rods. Who could believe it? At number 16 two asps, summoned in vain for the destruction of the Saint, running, hung themselves upon her breasts, like suckling infants: about which matter the anonymous Lessons, Mombritius, and Razzi are better silent. In our anonymous parchment codex cited above this is reported: The idol went out walking, and stood in the place where (the Saint) ordered it to stand. Which Mombritius narrates thus: To thee I say, idol without soul, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, go forth from that temple: and straightway the idol walked. The anonymous printed Office, in the eighth lesson of the eighth day, draws out the matter at greater length in these words: But St. Christina stood in the temple before Apollo and Damaus, and with a loud voice said: To thee I say, idol without soul, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, go forth from this temple, and walk for the space of forty feet: and stand there in the place where I command thee. The idol went out, walked, and stood in the place where the Saint commanded. Do you see how the discourse grows by degrees? What our Passion, at number 13, narrates about the gridiron, the Lessons printed at Naples, the anonymous ones agreeing in the matter, record thus:

[74] from various texts The judge ordered a bronze cradle to be made, and pitch, resin, and oil to be put into it, and a great fire to be kindled beneath: and the soldiers put the Virgin inside, and four of them agitated the cradle. Believe it, posterity. Alphanus here decks out a new scene, saying that the Saint cast herself into the boiling pot with a very swift course. But on whose testimony does he say it? Among the Latins it is written that she perished by arrows: but among the Greeks, in the printed great Menaea, she is noted as beheaded; as it is given to see in the same place on this day toward the end. In the Beuvry manuscript she is said, struck in the bowels with a sword, having survived a little while … to have passed to Christ. But who, unless senseless, would believe that which our Molsheim codex has, with which another anonymous one of ours nearly agrees, concerning the Saint's laying-to-rest or burial? Now there came a certain man of her kindred, who himself also had believed through blessed Christina: he made a record of her martyrdom (her martyrdom, as the cited anonymous copy adds, that

was a building sacred to the Martyr) in the temple of Apollo, and placed her there. The Lessons printed at Naples, at the end of the eighth day: He celebrated her martyrdom in the temple of Apollo. The Beuvry manuscript paints some appearance of verisimilitude upon the incredible matter in these words: Certain Christians .. buried her diligently in the temple of Apollo, which she herself, prayer being poured out to God, had thrown down, ground to pieces, and utterly destroyed. Combine these, if you can, with the place, the time, and the other circumstances; since these things must have been done in the midst of the heathen.

[75] Alphanus stuffed the Acts with scenic ornaments, and interpolated them beyond measure and credence with dialogues, these are brought forward. more solicitous to trim them prettily than to tell them true and genuine; whereby it came to pass that, acting not so much the historian as the orator, he wretchedly corrupted the whole matter. Behold for you a specimen from the description of the tribunal: Now there was in the midst of the temple a tribunal, raised on high with silver walls, whose gables were covered with most shining ivory, on which a golden image of the sun glittered with rays flashing from its hair, which, as if repeating the zodiac of the stars, was borne along in a most swift course: for six signs on the right, and as many on the left, seemed alternately to set and to rise, each two standing opposite over against one another: there the hours, there the days, there the months, there the years went round in their spaces. The axle was golden, a silver order of rays shone forth, drawn in order over ridges of chrysolite. Behold us at length gradually, imperceptibly, carried off, if it please the gods, into the midst of Parnassus. Do you, reader, from this specimen pass judgment on the rest; however much Alphanus be defended below by Pennati in §10; where more will be said.

[76] Then it seems to hurt the common Acts of St. Christina not a little, The history of the Saint corrected in the Milanese Breviary; that the lesson about this Saint, containing a compendium of the common history, and inserted in the Ambrosian Breviary of the church of Milan, published in the year 1593, at Matins on the 25th of this month, afterward, in the new edition of that Breviary which came to light in the year 1625 by the care of Cardinal Federico Borromeo, archbishop of the same church, reports the Passion far otherwise; so that one may deservedly suspect that its credit concerning the things contained in that lesson of the former Breviary afterward wavered; since another was then substituted for it; which doubtless would not have happened, if the former had been held of approved credit, and not in need of correction. But since the discourse here falls upon correction, it will be well to observe the following concerning it.

[77] [but it can hardly be corrected; although it does not lack all authority, from St. Aldhelm,] For it is most difficult to recall those Acts to a sound and historically probable correction; because there is no rule at hand by which that could be done. And so how much of those deeds which are commonly circulated is to be retained; and which and how they are to be changed, I profess that I am ignorant. The compendium produced above from St. Aldhelm has some weight on account of the antiquity of the writer: whence you might argue that some things existed at that time, from which he tasted his own. The Greek Acts we have neither seen, nor known to have been seen by others: yet it may be supposed that they were once written, both from the eulogies given above, and from the singular veneration with which the Greeks attend our Martyr. Add that some Acts seem to have lighted the way for St. Joseph in his canon, from which he selected certain points; which indicate a mass of history much more tolerable than that which is here given to the press, and which, according to the tenor of that same canon, seems able in some way at least to be emended; as we advised should be done concerning the history of St. Alexius, in volume 4 of this month, from number 33 of the preliminary Commentary to the Life of that Saint. Joseph, therefore, sings this to St. Christina: Ode 1: Thou hast forsaken all thy father's error and impiety. Ode 3: Thou wast grievously bound to the wood and didst endure the scrapings. Ode 4: Thou heldest the scourges in mockery … thy most impious and savage father threatens thee with the injuries of torments.

[78] and St. Joseph Ode 5: As though thou hadst obtained an angelic nature in the body, the heavenly angels fed thee with the food of angels .. The enemies bound thee, and cast thee into the waters. Ode 6: When thy begetter saw the heavenly Father loved by thee, O Martyr, he showed a barbaric mind, and subjected thee to manifold punishments: for the impious one was ignorant of the limits of his own nature. Ode 7: While thou wast dwelling amid burning fire, thy burning limbs were no care to thee. By the shower of thy blood thou didst dry up the streams of the insane worship of the gods: but now thou rainest down seas of healings. Ode 8: The harmful sea of temptations and punishments thou didst sail through unharmed by divine steering. Thou didst plunge the serpent, O Martyr, into the deep of thy contests. By a living word thou didst recall to life one dead from the bites .. of venomous serpents. To the terrible serpent thou didst bring death by thy lively contests, and by the incantations, as it were, of thy prayers thou didst lull the fierce beasts to sleep, and from the harm which they inflict thou didst remain far off.

PART TWO, OR RATHER THE CONTINUATION OF THE FORMER PART.

§ VIII. Notice of a Work, published most recently in Italy, for the defense of the Saint's Acts.

Our preliminary Commentary having now been carried thus far in illustrating the deeds of St. Christina, new notices concerning the same subject were sent to us, An idea is given as we have already indicated: which, lest we withdraw them from our readers, we have thought fit to add the following to the earlier paragraphs. In the year 1725, at Montefiascone, the Life and Martyrdom of St. Christina was published in Italian, divided into six books, and dedicated to the most eminent Cardinal Pietro Ottoboni of the Holy Roman Church, Vice-Chancellor. To that Life, from page 249, there is subjoined a little work in the Latin tongue, inscribed with this title: The Sacred Engyotheca, distinguished into three parts, the didascalia, the bulwark, and the myrotheca. Now whether by the word Engyotheca (in Greek ἐγγυοθήκην) you understand a chest, in which, as if in surety, coins and precious furniture are deposited; or a coffer or vessel, in which instruments or arms are kept; it comes to nearly the same thing, since it is established that the author of that Engyotheca — the very reverend and most ample lord Splendiano Andrea Pennati of Soriano, Apostolic protonotary, and vicar general of the city of Orvieto — wished to store in it, as in an armory, the things which he judged most conducive to defending and illustrating the Acts of the Saint. And indeed, in his Introduction to the Sacred Engyotheca, page 251, he indicates it eloquently enough, when he writes this: As much honor and glory as St. Christina, enrolled in the Latin and Greek Calendars, has attained among all; so much brine and criticism have her Acts suffered, although worthy of the Argive shield; which, nevertheless, are defiled with no bran, from which we have woven our history.

[80] May it turn out well for the republic of letters! Wondrous certainly are the things which that writer proclaims, with so great a gape, about those Acts from which he wove his history. The notion of the three parts into which he distributes his Engyotheca, therefore, being set forth, and the matter of the things to be treated in them, as regards the manuscript Acts he says, page 252, we obtained four copies; namely, the Acts from the Orvieto codex, which we call OURS; from the archive of St. Mary Major, which we call Liberian; from the library of St. Mary in Vallicella, which we call Vallicellan; and from the archive of the cathedral of Città Castellana, which we call Fescennine. We have here indeed the Engyotheca furnished with codices of, in appearance, great name, as with so many arms — would that of great substance — and, to use his own phrase, having the force of the Argive shield, for the defense of the Saint's deeds. But as to the printed ones, as he presently continues; we distinguished the authors who published in a fuller style from those who published in a more compressed one; whence they may be called epitomizers. All these are given, the chronology of the authors being preserved, and treated one by one; in this order: of the Acts, Mombritius from page 377; Alphanus's from page 392; Vincent of Beauvais's from page 415; James of Voragine's from page 423; St. Antoninus's from page 427; Peter de Natalibus's from page 432; James Philip of Bergamo's from page 436.

[81] But in the first part of the aforesaid Engyotheca, which he calls the Didascalia; and a notice as containing various documents of the history, from page 253 he suggests several notices concerning his primeval Acts, as he will have it, the Orvieto ones. He relates, therefore, that he found in the city of Orvieto, on the 21st day of March in the year 1722, a sacred literary treasure, sought by him in vain elsewhere, divided into two great codices or volumes in the largest imperial parchment folio, and written in an ancient character with cubit-high letters about the year 1200… These codices were written by the care and at great expense of the priest Guido of Valloclum, of the parish church of St. Constantius, and chaplain of the cathedral church of the Holy Virgin Mary, who lived in the year 1200… In the first volume, therefore, of the aforesaid codices, at folio 154, from column 2 … are written the whole Acts of her (St. Christina)… Who wrote these Acts is hidden from us: but that it was a priest who conferred on St. Christina the laver of holy baptism, we can attain by conjecture, not by assertion. Whoever, however, the writer was, that he was imbued with heavenly wisdom and the phrasing of those times, the Acts themselves teach.

[82] of the Orvieto Acts; But that the writer was an eyewitness, and therefore that this history is to be placed in the first rank, seems able to be affirmed from the narrations themselves. The style is simple, and stuffed with devotion, if they are read in the same spirit in which they were written… We were flooded with great joy in the finding of these Acts, deservedly deeming them a great writing, and brighter than amber; since in these, though slight, we found, not what boys find in a bean, but a treasure of heavenly wisdom. Yet their finder and editor does not so praise these Acts but that he confesses, page 255, that they are in some parts most difficult of understanding: as is to be seen, he says, especially in the prayers and answers of St. Christina, and in some of the writer's narrations… And indeed, on the part of St. Christina, her prayers and answers involve many and grave difficulties; because, since she was a soul of lofty perfection, and irradiated with the splendors of heavenly wisdom, and was speaking in the very act of martyrdom, the Holy Spirit dictating .. very often many mysteries and hidden secrets are veiled with symbols and allegories: for the eloquence and tongue of Christina is the tongue of angels.

[83] which their editor But on the part of the writer, the Acts are rendered laborious, and frequent difficulties complicate them: for he, imbued alike with sanctity and with heavenly light, prudently concealed with various symbols many things from the deeds in the martyrdom, and in the most holy Martyr; lest the mysteries of the faith should become known to the heathen, in whose hands the Acts could be thumbed. But on page 256 he continues thus: Many apparitions of angels are also recounted in these Acts, the administration of the most holy synaxis, exceptional miracles also, the apparition of Christ himself, conversions of souls, and other marvels of this kind: from which certain hypercritics, little stable in faith, take away credit from the Acts, and tear them to pieces as fabulous, when the omnipotence, goodness, and providence of God ought rather to be extolled and praised by them. And page 257: Among

so many Acts, that these our Acts are primeval, more genuine, and more copious, the very reading persuades, nay proves: for in these ours there are many things which are wanting in the others, as among other things certain answers and apparitions; the day of the martyrdom and the burial. If you carefully compare these our Acts with the others, you will agree with us that they are primeval and more genuine, as we shall repeat in its place.

[84] he extols them with the highest praises; The nearness also, as he judges, of this city of Orvieto to the place of the martyrdom, and to the native place of St. Christina, namely Bolsena, is a great argument of truth and genuineness: since the deeds of the Saints always appear clearer in the nearest places. The same are the Acts which are found in the codex of Città Castellana, and we think them copied from ours… The Vallicellan Acts are also the same as ours, as he asserts, page 258, namely from the first number up to the seventh inclusive: for from the eighth to the end the Vallicellan agree with the Liberian… For the rest, in these our Acts the baptism conferred on St. Christina by a priest is wanting, which is reported only in the Liberian Acts; but in these ours it is supposed as conferred; as we prove in its place. There are wanting also the disputations, and the catechism of St. Christina, all which are had likewise only in the Acts of Alphanus: but omitted by our writer; because he assumed the single task of narrating the martyrdom, and all those things which regarded it. Thus Pennati.

[85] Further, among other things which the aforesaid Pennati prefixes to the Acts of St. Mary Major, or the Liberian Acts published by him, as more ancient he observes this, page 351: They seem later than our Acts (the Orvieto ones), because many things which, he says, are narrated with broad pen in ours, are compressed in these by an epitome; but an abridgment is later than its fuller source. But in the notes to the aforesaid Liberian Acts, page 361, he sets down that these Acts agree, from the fifth number up to the tenth and final number, with the Vallicellan ones from the eighth number up to the thirteenth. Finally, to use a compendium, he will have the Vallicellan Acts to be later than his own, page 363; the Mombritian likewise, page 378; those published by Vincent of Beauvais, page 416; where he confesses that these Acts in Vincent of Beauvais indeed have great affinity with his own Orvieto Acts .. and are a certain abridgment and epitome of them: yet that they sometimes differ from these .., and then deviate from his Acts, when the writer makes an epitome of those things which, he says, are narrated diffusely and with broad pen in our Acts.

[86] This is an evident sign that these Acts are later than ours; may they be above the others, which, on the same, nay a stronger, right, according to Pennati's principles, will have to be said of the other abbreviators of the Acts; James of Voragine, of whom, according to what has been said, he treats page 423; St. Antoninus, page 427; Peter de Natalibus, page 432; and James Philip of Bergamo, page 436. But that his own Orvieto Acts far excel all others, he wished to attest in express words, when in the second part of the Engyotheca, or in the Bulwark, page 484, he thus commended their authority and credit above all others: They, therefore, who have added wounds to the Acts of St. Christina against justice, are deceived on a twofold ground: either because they did not have our genuine Acts in hand; or because they used an irrational censure. That the Acts of St. Christina which need no censure and correction are rare, we openly confess .. but not therefore are all spurious.

[87] And on page 450 he extols the genuineness of his own Acts so far as to judge that no mark of censure falls upon them: and more genuine. for, the words of Papebroch from the collection of the Graeco-Muscovite Ephemerides being reported — which we brought forward above, and in which he rightly observes that the Acts of the Saint are obscure among the Greeks as much as the Latins, and need no light examination and censure, like those of very many Saints of this kind — Pennati rejoins this: Concerning the obscurity, he confesses it true, as is plain from the notes to our Acts, he says: and concerning the censure also, if the discourse is about corrupt Acts, but not about our genuine ones. The reader has here, therefore, the Acts of St. Christina written with the highest accuracy, on the testimony of their praiser and editor Pennati, and composed with no less symmetry of all and each of their parts, historically true, by no means suspect of weak credit, but everywhere pure, everywhere constant in a genuine series of narration; so that all other Acts are to be brought hither, as to a Lydian stone touchstone, and to be tested, Pennati has indicated in terms by no means doubtful or obscure. Whether, and how rightly, we shall examine in the following paragraph.

§ IX. Our judgment concerning that work.

The 12th century, in which the Orvieto copy was written, In examining the Work which the distinguished Pennati most recently brought to light, not a few things offer themselves to us, of diverse kinds indeed, although they regard the one and same subject of our holy Martyr: but let us begin with the Orvieto Acts, upon which, as upon a foundation chiefly, he built the whole bulwark for vindicating the history of that Saint. He proves indeed that his codex, in which those Acts are contained, was written in the 12th century; which we, not unwillingly, grant him; but let him declare to us, I pray, what protection or commendation can rightly be hoped for from so slight an antiquity, in respect of the Martyr whose deeds that codex describes — whom the praised author of the Italian Life, book 5, chapter 8, number 2, will have to have undergone martyrdom in the year 290? And so, between her, who then according to him died, and her Acts, written after an interval of about nine hundred years, what proportion — even in shadow — can be found, sufficiently fitted to command credit that that copy is primeval, genuine, and sincere?

[89] it avails nothing For after the chasm of so many centuries of nearly immense duration has been interposed, how monstrously much bran and filth is often wont to be sprinkled upon primeval Acts, no one can be ignorant who is a little more skilled in matters of this kind; we certainly know this well, taught by almost daily experience, how much, by the interposition of time, the Lives of the Saints have degenerated from their primeval purity; how much the hands of later transcribers, seen to itch to adorn things, have worn away their genuineness, not so solicitous to write truly as prettily and elegantly. And, I pray, whence is it established to Pennati that the source of his copy remained so long unhurt, untouched, and empty of filth, that nothing of dregs was ever sprinkled on it; when, even on his own testimony, the Acts of St. Christina which need no censure and correction are rare? It was raged, therefore, by interpolators and corruptors against nearly all the other copies; but the Orvieto one alone, if we believe him, was spared. But on this matter we shall presently meet the learned Man: now let us add a few things about the age of that copy, on which he places quite great force, that it was written in the 12th century.

[90] for proving the genuineness of this history; But that 12th century, in respect of a history which happened, as the editor judges, in the third century, is not antiquity, but youth; because it is nine centuries younger than the ancient matter which it describes; and therefore no argument can be drawn from its pretended antiquity for the genuine and primeval sincerity of the things it sets forth, if that be lacking from elsewhere, as in truth it is lacking. For that merely historical facts, so wondrous of their kind, may become credible precisely from their antiquity, it is necessary that some proportion come between the thing written and its writer; who, if he was contemporary, merits the greatest credit; if nearly equal or somewhat equal in time, less; if not even so much as neighboring, again less; and so on henceforth according to greater or lesser distance; which distance, because it is here so great between him who transcribed the Orvieto copy and the martyr; nor can we by any conjecture attain when and by whom that copy was written which lighted the way for that Orvieto transcriber, it follows that the argument is very weak which is sought from the antiquity of that codex to conciliate, let alone to assert, the primitive genuineness of the Acts of St. Christina.

[91] But now, since the defender of those Acts does not cease so often and in such magnificent words to trumpet his codex of the 12th century, no more so than our three codices, older than it; let him not be reluctant to hear that three codices are preserved with us, of the best stamp and written in an entirely ancient character on parchment — the Fulda, the Molsheim, and another headless and anonymous one, mentioned above — to be referred to about the tenth or eleventh century, certainly older than the 12th century; in which the Acts of St. Christina are read as written. We do not see, therefore, why, by reason of age, greater genuineness is owed to the Orvieto codex than to these three of ours, in which, equally as in all other copies on this subject of which we were able to gain knowledge, we have said that all primeval genuineness is wanting, since the Acts, as far as we know — all that are commonly circulated — are a mass of the same substance, compacted from corrupt and ill-cohering matter. Indeed, while we saw the Orvieto Acts extolled with so many eulogies above all other copies by their editor, a desire came upon us of comparing those incomparable Acts with the Fulda ones, which we had destined for the press: which also was done.

[92] But behold, if you know one copy, you know both in substance; so far do the Acts published by Pennati agree with ours in substance. for each agrees in substance; each consents in the facts, although both not rarely disagree about the things which are accidental to the facts. And this above all we wish to be observed, that the Orvieto Acts are here and there more diffuse than the Fulda ones, and more enlarged; and so, if on that head they are not worse than the Fulda ones, they are not therefore at least more approaching to primeval simplicity; however much, even for this cause, their editor prefers his Orvieto ones to the others, as we have seen; since to him as much as to us, on account of the corruption of the Acts and the uncertainty thence arisen, a rule is lacking; by the help of which we could safely and prudently measure the greater or lesser approach to or recession from historical truth concerning the sayings and deeds of the Saint, or at least conjecture about them by some probable indication. It follows, therefore, that the so remarkable endowments of primitive genuineness which Pennati attributes to his Acts plainly vanish from what has been said; since they by no means merit them, until it be proved that those Acts have marks of better stamp than so many others enumerated above have: in which matter Pennati will labor in vain.

[93] And so, to conclude what has been said hitherto concerning the far principal part of the aforesaid Work, Very many inconveniences concerning the endowments, brought to light by the most distinguished Pennati, which he designated by the title of the Bulwark, several points which he asserts in favor of his Acts rest upon him to be proved. 1. That those Acts from which he wove his history were defiled with no bran.

2. That it was a priest who conferred on St. Christina the laver of holy baptism, which he can attain by conjecture, not by assertion. 3. That the Orvieto Acts are of better stamp than the Liberian, Vallicellan, and Città Castellana Acts, or than several others, both those published by himself and those brought forward by us above. 4. That the writer of the Orvieto Acts was an eyewitness, and therefore that this history is to be placed in the first rank, can seem to be affirmed from the narrations themselves. 5. That the prayers and answers ascribed to the holy Martyr are not a pure and mere dramatic ornament. 6. That to the same category are not to be referred the apparitions of angels, the administration of the most holy synaxis, the exceptional miracles also, the apparition of Christ himself, the conversions of souls.

[94] by which Pennati extols his Acts, Seventh. That by recurring to the omnipotence, goodness, and providence of God, one does not prove too much; for thus almost any Acts, even openly the most fabulous, will become the best; nay indeed, hardly any at all will be reckoned bad. God indeed, both in this our Saint and in others, could have wrought those marvels, nay even more (for who would set limits to his infinite omnipotence?) But that God actually wrought these things here, that is what is asked, and is not proved. 8. It rests likewise upon Pennati to prove that, for the reason that in the Orvieto Acts there are many things wanting in the others — as among others certain answers and apparitions, the day of the martyrdom and the burial — these are rather an indication of primeval genuineness than of later interpolation. 9. That the nearness … of the city of Orvieto to the place of the martyrdom, and to the native place of St. Christina, namely Bolsena, is rather a great argument of truth and genuineness than a new occasion of a not-rash suspicion, that both these Acts and all the others enumerated above were forged from uncertain facts; since, according to what has been said, everything about the place of birth and of martyrdom is uncertain.

[95] things are proposed to be maintained; The defender of the Acts adds that the deeds of the Saints always appear clearer in the nearest places; but good words, I pray; he knows indeed that the Orvieto Acts were transcribed there in the 12th century; but whence does he know that the copy from which they were then transcribed was first written in that same place? We know indeed that the deeds of the Saints, other things being equal, appear clearer in the nearest places; but what light would you hope for in these, where both the places themselves and the other deeds are covered with Cimmerian darkness? and these indeed are the things which we thought fit to propose both to the most ample Pennati and to other learned men; lest, if perchance they fall upon the Pennatian work, they should deservedly charge us with a censure more severe than is fitting against today's Acts. Pennati indeed deserves great praise, that with the highest and unwearied labor, singular diligence, and laborious investigation he searched out, so to speak, every corner from which anything could be extracted that pertained to St. Christina; but without discernment and criterion he most avidly seized very many of the things he found, as true and certain, heaped them onto paper, and judged them worthy of the light; attributing more than is right to uncertain and merely popular traditions.

[96] who in several matters Behold for you a few specimens. In the Italian Life, book 1, chapter 4, page 17, he asserts that on the island of Martana there is seen — as I, he says, saw — the tower described in our Acts of St. Christina; and it has the same circumstances: namely, it is high, nay very high, in respect of the lake below. It has the form of a tower, etc. And after some things, in which he continues his parallel between this tower and that which is expressed in the Acts, he adds, among other things, that there remained in one chamber, adjoining the tower, a painting which cannot be distinguished, of what sort it is, and he says that he is led to believe that it is the chamber of St. Christina, in which she shut herself, when she clothed herself in the white garment sent to her by her father, and where the angel appeared to her, and imparted to her the communion: whence the faithful of those times painted it, and held it in veneration; and perhaps changed it into a chapel, for celebrating holy Mass there. Chapter 4, page 114, he will have it that outside the city of Tyre there was a famous temple of Apollo, and that it is still seen today; on whose frontispiece, round about the gate, various animals were carved in marble, which, today removed from it, are seen broken into fragments and cast aside, in the ancient church or oratory of St. Angelo, today abandoned; and it is recognized by the skilled to be a sculpture of those times.

[97] In the Engyotheca, part 1, chapter 1, page 277, in the notes to his Orvieto Acts, he judges that he was too credulous that this Virgin (Christina), before baptism, was called Tyria by her parents, from a universal and constant TRADITION which still flourishes at Bolsena; to which TRADITION, he says, credit is assuredly to be joined: for that Christina is derived from Christ is not hidden even from boys; that she was named with a name hateful to her heathen parents is credible to no one. These little traditions and little reasonings are so openly light that they need no refutation. And in the same place, page 296, in a note on these words of his Acts, "But holy Christina turned to the right, and found bread set there, white as milk, and sweet above honey and the honeycomb," he is little short of attributing to this passage the authority of the divine word; as one which, if we believe Pennati, exhales the hidden secrets and most profound mysteries of our faith; which, if some petty critic should wish to weigh in the balance of his own ignorance and blindness, he will not blush to tear the Acts to pieces… But let every blinking human intellect depart in divine matters, and let it bring itself INTO CAPTIVITY TO THE OBEDIENCE OF FAITH, as St. Paul instructs.

[98] Which, what is it other than to take away entirely all criticism in examining and distinguishing merely historical facts, it is shown. which is very often quite necessary; by the use of which, however — following the most eminent and most wise Cardinals, who deserved most abundantly of the republic of letters, Baronius and Bellarmine (to pass over many others, and ourselves who followed their examples) — by the use, I say, of which so much good was brought into the Catholic Church, that, the old-womanish and merely popular dirges being eliminated, and the true distinguished from the false, the due value of historical monuments — to the grief of the heretics — was strenuously vindicated, and its own place was even assigned by them to falsehood. We do not here delay over the petty critics, who, relying on rather slight suspicions, gnaw at, pluck, and call into doubt almost all facts, and thus do not blush to tear the Acts to pieces. But here, as elsewhere, of a thing even best in itself, and most conducive to the public good, there is both use and abuse: the abuse will be taken away, the use will remain, if, both extremes of no criterion and of excessive criterion being avoided, one halts in the middle space of sound and prudent judgment, and there be always a measure and fixed bounds, beyond and short of which fair criticism cannot stand. And from these things it is not obscurely clear what is to be thought of that recent Work, insofar as it strives to defend the Acts of St. Christina. Now let us proceed further to other things which regard it.

§ X. Other observations concerning some things contained in the said Work.

The notes which we have already cited several times, and with which Pennati judged that his Orvieto Acts should be explained and elucidated, are gathered from all sides with such great labor and effort, and so accommodated one by one to nearly every word of the text, and very often even affected, that he seems to have made not so much notes as a Commentary — of no very great worth of pains — extended from page 276 up to page 350, and stuffed with various readings, sentences of Holy Scripture and of the Fathers, and also with inductions of other Saints, etc. There will doubtless be someone who here too requires in Pennati greater brevity and discernment. Certainly what Melchior Cano, a censor of mature judgment, pronounced on another occasion, book 11 of the Theological Places, chapter 6, seems able to be not incongruously accommodated to the lucubrations of our author of whom we treat. Thus, then, speaks Cano:

[100] a passage taken from Melchior Cano seems to fit; Concerning Vincent of Beauvais and St. Antoninus [*] I judge more freely, he says; each of whom gave pains not so much to describe true and certain things, as to omit nothing at all that was found written in any papers whatever. Thus, for estimating each history and weighing it by its own moment, they used not the standard of craftsmen, nor even so much as the popular balance. Wherefore, although they are good and by no means deceitful men, who nevertheless neither diligently examined the authors from whom they copied their books, nor handed down to memory things weighed with just weights, they lack authority among grave and severe critics. But the historian who is to be approved by the standard of theology (why not also by the criterion of history?) will neither sift all papers, even unworthy of reading, nor devote pains to old-womanish fables; nor will he describe things read and heard before he weighs and selects them by a prudent and accurate judgment. Thus Cano, a critic of clean nostril, not a petty critic; which things seem to fall, with some proportion, upon Pennati; whom certainly we lament not to have joined a discernment fitting to the matter which he treated, and equal to the diligence which he applied.

[101] whose judgment is to be esteemed most highly. Nor indeed is it hidden from us that this writer, in the first part of his Engyotheca, chapter 6, among other things which he prefixes to the Acts written by Vincent of Beauvais, says that a modern writer, in his ecclesiastical history, volume 5, colloquy 5, page 399, excellently vindicates him from the censure [*] of Melchior Cano. But indeed the judgment of Cano alone, approved everywhere by the common suffrages of the learned, is here worth more than to be able to be struck down by the vindications of some more recent historical writer of no, or certainly of no great, note; who certainly neither can nor ought to be worth more than the reasons are worth, drawn from an authority accommodated to the argument which he intends to prove.

[102] Pennati wrongly will have the Acts written by Alphanus to be genuine; Pennati tries to vindicate the Acts interpolated by Alphanus, in the first part of the Engyotheca, chapter 5, page 393, as if, in his judgment, it were a crime of great rashness and impudence to mark this excellent writer for fabulosity, as one who invented certain things by his own initiative — who .. excelled all in sanctity and wisdom. And thus he concludes: To so great and such a prelate, therefore, credit is entirely to be joined in all things, and that all things written and narrated by him were drawn and tasted, not from his own ideal invention (for this is a wickedness to think of so celebrated a man in the deeds of the Saints), but with vigilant care and skill from the most ancient and authentic manuscripts, must be confessed by everyone endowed with sound judgment. But Pennati makes so much of those Acts in composing his Italian Life, that he cites them again and again, as if whatever that author narrates were straightway true and genuine; which, on the contrary, to us

seemed otherwise above at number 75; to which we refer the reader. And, not to pursue more; that Alphanus composed an oration, bedizened with rhetorical ornaments — to omit other indications — good Pennati could most clearly have perceived, if only he had cast his eyes upon his Acts, which he publishes from page 393, with attention, and with party zeal laid aside.

[103] For thus begins the prologue or opening of the oration: In the bright and adorned triumph of Christina the virgin we have thought fit to say something, which we show to be rather an oration, and to hand down to the memory of posterity from her admirable deeds, and chiefly to pursue this, etc. The peroration runs thus: Why dost thou rage senselessly, Urban? Why dost thou boil, most abandoned Idion? To what dost thou strive, most savage Julian? To devise new torments, and heavier than the former, to multiply stripes, to heap up punishments… Behold now the most beautiful Virgin, after cudgels and chains: after fire and the wheel: after tortures and stripes: after the cradle and the shearings: after mutilations, darts, etc. Which certainly most brilliantly demonstrate the rhetorical art elegantly figured. Hear now the apostrophe, patched together to the Saint with most frequent repetitions: But thou, O most devoted bride of the Son of God, friend of the omnipotent Father, etc.

[104] Now through the pleasant valleys of the purple turf thou pluckest the flowering violets: bedizened with rhetorical ornaments. thou gatherest the unfading roses: thou reapest the spikes of spikenard. Now thou sittest beside the runnings of the waters, and the margin of the glassy fountain .. Thou art among the virginal choirs… Thou sittest by the throne of Christ… Hail perpetually, maidenly grace, virginal modesty, example of virtue. Hail perpetually, thou who gavest thy beautiful limbs, etc. Hail perpetually, thou who, ignorant of all lust, etc. Hail perpetually, thou who didst spurn the ample porticoes, etc. Hail perpetually, thou who, heaped with such torments, etc. Hail perpetually, thou who, despising the commands of princes, etc. Hail perpetually, thou who, now exalted to the height of heaven, etc. How great here is the oratorical luxuriance of words and sentences! What is it for Cicero to declaim on the Rostra, if this is not? But even Alphanus himself indicates clearly enough at the end that he composed not so much a history as a sermon, a homily, or an oration, when he thus addresses his hearers on the very festal day of the Saint: Therefore, most blessed brethren, since we celebrate the triumphal day of blessed Christina with a famous solemnity, let us claim for ourselves, what we can, of her virtues. That this oration, therefore, is to be placed among the genuine Acts of the Saint, as Pennati will have it, we do not conceive.

[105] Tyrus in Italy at Lake Bolsena, sought by us in vain above in §2, that Tyrus once existed in Italy, Pennati tries to find, in his Engyotheca, book 6, chapter 8, in the notes to the Orvieto Acts, page 280, speaking thus: That Tyrus was at Lake Bolsena, and a city indeed … from all the Martyrologies, and ancient ones at that, as also from all the Acts of St. Christina, is most certain, and confessed among all. Of the Martyrologies we have spoken above. All the Acts of the Saint, at least those we know, deservedly suspect to us on so many counts from elsewhere, can by no means persuade us of that. Let us therefore examine whether, concerning the existence of the place here disputed, the praised author suggests anything better. But someone will ask, he says, when and on what occasion Bolsena was called Tyrus? The answer is to be referred from two traditions. The first tradition .. is .. Tyria, the name of our St. Christina before baptism, and therefore from the time of that Martyr the ancient Bolsena is called Tyrus, in honor of so great a Martyr. Other authors, and chiefly Octavius Caietanus, asserting that she was called Tyria from Tyrus, he says go into this opinion because the constant and general tradition preserved at Bolsena was hidden from them; but we have already shown the weakness of that tradition, such as it is and certainly merely popular. To the well-established monuments of antiquity, as we ought, we defer very much; but not to the judgment of popular opinion.

[106] he busies himself to persuade with such weak arguments, Let us proceed therefore with Pennati to the second tradition: The second tradition, he says, is that Tyrus was a certain part or region of Bolsena, a most ancient city, as a certain most ancient manuscript codex, dug out of the hiding-places of a subterranean tunnel, attested and narrated; but at present lost in the hands of a certain little old woman: which, however, a man of great age, and indeed worthy of credit, while yet among the living, saw and read, as he himself reported to me. From a codex lost in the hands of a little old woman, what would you expect other than old-wives' dirges? That aged and trustworthy man proves just as much, so long as the codex itself is not produced: and indeed who can be produced so ancient that he could command sufficient credit concerning the tradition which is alleged? Besides, how easily do those believe codices to be ancient who wish codices to be ancient! Alexander Donzellino, of whom he treats at length page 465, whom he alleges for that tradition page 281, and after him Coronelli, prove nothing at all. Finally Pennati, having so nothing more to add, and seeming in a way to distrust his own cause, says: If these things please anyone not; let him bring forth better, and we agree: for to trifles and quibbles of this critical kind .. we gladly bid farewell.

[107] so that he can by no means persuade of it. We certainly profess our name among those whom these things do not please; and because we distrust that better things can be produced, therefore we judge it far more probable that Tyrus in Tuscany near Lake Bolsena never existed. For the rest, what Pennati brings forward from the same page 281 concerning the site of ancient Bolsena — whether it be the same as the modern; and whether the ancient was wholly, or only in part, swallowed up — concern us so little that we should dwell at length on these. Meanwhile he affirms that he saw with his own eyes the traces of roads … and marked them in his topography, together with the marks of chariots ..; that there still exists, though among brambles and woody shrubs, an amphitheater up to the second tier; aqueducts, very many ruined walls, etc.; also lower and subterranean vaulted dwellings; tunnels, the flint-paved streets of the city worn away by the turning of chariots, porphyry columns, coins of the Romans, etc., which he himself has seen: and after a few things he concludes that the smallest part, and, as it seems to him, a certain suburb of ancient Bolsena, was absorbed by the lake, but the whole city cut off; adding that many of the geographers and writers have run into various errors concerning Bolsena, or, as he judges, Tyrus, and the islands of the lake, because they dared to assert things which they did not behold with their own eyes. But when he says that the modern or recent Bolsena, as the fellow-countrymen of Bolsena themselves affirm, was a certain suburb of ancient Bolsena, chiefly inhabited by fishermen, he again inquires by merely popular traditions or the uncertain opinion of the crowd, which do not make a whit to the purpose, until they be sufficiently proved.

[108] But, that we be not longer than is fitting in examining Pennati's Work, The baptism of the Saint, narrated by Alphanus, let it have sufficed to have summarily tasted some other things from it. Concerning the baptism, conferred on the Saint by Christ, as they will have it, several things were premised above from number 70. From the words of St. Antoninus, cited in the same place at number 72 on that occasion, "concerning her baptism it is to be wondered at," etc., Pennati gathers, page 428, that St. Antoninus did not read the Liberian Acts, in which .. is narrated the baptism conferred on St. Christina by the hand of a priest. But why should more credit be given to those Acts than to the others; and therefore what does it matter whether that holy Prelate read them or did not read them? Since all of them, whether you regard the matter or the form, are of the same value. The examples which he brings forward of other Saints baptized by Christ, from Metaphrastes, Peter de Natalibus, and Gobat, ought to move us little, even if they were established from suitable documents; for grant that they are so established; they make nothing to the present matter: for on page 313 Pennati denies this baptism: because, namely, according to the Orvieto copy, the Saint asks for the seal, the laver, and illumination, which three sometimes indicate baptism; hence some, he says, took occasion of asserting — I think — that St. Christina demanded the sacrament of baptism, and received it from the hands of Christ.

[109] But they would never have dared to assert this, and on the same occasion this author's credit is examined if they had weighed these our Acts and other primeval genuine Acts, in which St. Christina is narrated to have received the sacrament of baptism before her martyrdom: and indeed explicitly, as by the Liberian Acts; or implicitly, as by our Orvieto ones; in which there is no mention at all of the later fabricated baptism: which he rejects as an addition, or rather a little fable, intruded into the primeval Acts by the unskilled or the heterodox, with the devil striving, so that the enemy man might defile them. Whence it follows: 1. That hence are confirmed the things which we said above about that baptism. 2. That it is plain that the Acts which he so often trumpets as genuine were here corrupted and defiled: but if here, why not also elsewhere, and indeed several times? Or rather, if here Pennati cannot trust them, why does he dare to trust them so often elsewhere; nay, why does he so often bid [us] trust them, as often as he cites them (and he cites them very often), weaving very many facts on their credit into his Italian Life? Yet he saw from the prayer or petition of the Saint above, drawn from the Orvieto Acts, that some baptism is clearly indicated, and that, their text being kept intact, this could not be denied: he had therefore this remaining, that, the baptism of the river being blown away, he took refuge in the baptism of fire, or of the Spirit. Therefore he presently sets down that conclusion: St. Christina in the lake did not receive from Christ the Lord a watery baptism, but a fiery one, drawing out the matter through fully ten pages and more. But we hold it fixed not to follow him, and [not] to waste time, so long as it is not more certainly established to us that any Acts are of such genuineness or authority that from their words the truth of such a baptism could in any way be persuaded; which seems a mere evasion, for defending the Acts here as genuine: which are by no means proved to us to be such.

* Antoninus

* criterion

§ XI. The chronological reckoning, the canonization, the epitaph, the sepulchral stone, etc., and likewise Pennati's answers to the objections against the Acts, are weighed.

By no means by suitable documents … to the chronological reckoning of the Saint The things which regard the chronological reckoning of the Saint are all utterly obscure and uncertain, according to what we said above in §1, number 11. But Pennati, on the credit of his Orvieto Acts, in which it is noted that she completed … her martyrdom … on the fifth weekday Thursday, tries, in his notes on them, page 350, from the assignation of this weekday, to hammer out the precise year of the martyrdom; concerning which, as also concerning the chronology of the history, he had treated at length in the Italian Life, book 5, chapter 8, binding the martyrdom to the year 290 under the emperors Diocletian and Maximian. But Pennati proves this reckoning of time chiefly from the words of St. Antoninus.

But what aid would you expect from St. Antoninus (and from others, as he will have it, but he does not name them there) for ordering even merely a conjectural chronology of the history, such as Pennati wishes; since that Saint wrote only twelve full centuries and more after the martyrdom of St. Christina?

[111] Pennati uses, He assumes another mark of time for weaving that chronology from the festal day which Urban, her father, kept as solemn; and upon these two epochs he builds his chronological system from page 184; and in such a way indeed, that from the 22nd day of June of the year 290 up to the 24th of July of the same year, the last of her life, he exhibits the individual deeds of the Saint fitted successively to individual days. But those have no appearance at all, not even of a conjectural, chronology; for they lack every foundation, even a conjectural one, because the Acts, from which that chronological series of the things done by the Saint is drawn, and deduced in the order of year, months, and days, cannot found even a probable conjecture about them, since they are so obscure, doubtful, uncertain, and corrupt; from whose number we do not except the Orvieto Acts and the others which Pennati uses; but we say that they are held by us to be of the same kind, until by suitable documents they be proved to be of a better one.

[112] and her canonization, as he will have it, her epitaph, Nor of better bran, to us, is the canonization of St. Christina, page 202, made, as he judges, by Pope St. Caius in the year 290; concerning which he had likewise treated, page 155, against those who attributed it to Pope St. Gregory VII; whose follies are worthy rather of commiseration than of refutation, and are most solidly overturned from the Martyrologies adduced concerning the ancient cult of our holy Martyr. The epitaph which he brings forward and explains in the Italian Life, book 5, chapter 10, from page 191, and whose outline he represents in book 4, chapter 5, can be admitted as a pious symbol; and indeed Pennati indicates that it is exhibited as such, when, addressing the Saint, he says: Permit that, for the glory of God and for thy honor, we inscribe on the mausoleum of thy glorious sepulchre these affections of our heart, etc. But the true, as he will have it, copy of the sepulchral inscription he represents on page 152, and presently on the next page says that it is found today, by the special providence of God, among the Conventual Fathers of St. Francis, in the convent of Toscanella. This stone, he says, is of red marble, and has these letters engraved; and without doubt they are the characters of that century.

[113] A copy of that stone, impressed in chalk or clay from its original, a copy of the sepulchral stone, was supplied by Father Master Andrea Adami, then provincial and Commissary general of the Conventual Minorites.. It is commonly said by the aforesaid Conventual fathers, that those two pilgrims, who by theft carried off the body of St. Christina, passing through Toscanella, left there the above-said stone with some bones of St. Christina, that they might have free passage. But because both the theft of those two pilgrims, as they will have it, of whom above; and "the daughter of Urban from the city of Tyre," as that inscription expresses, are plainly suspect to us; and finally the antiquity of the time which is invoked for that inscription is plainly not proved to us; let it be permitted to us not to approve that stone, strengthened by so weak and plainly popular a testimony of the Conventual fathers, and to say that Pennati would have consulted much better for the Acts of the Saint, if he had not inserted these and other things of the kind into his Work with more avidity than discernment. Now Tuscania (commonly Toscanella) is a town of Italy on the river Marta, nearly midway between Lake Bolsena and the Tyrrhenian Sea.

[114] The stone, which is said to have been bound to the Saint's neck, that she might more easily be submerged; [and likewise the stone hung on the Saint's neck, that she might more easily be submerged.] and which floated on the surface of the sea, sustained above the sea the Virgin, placed upon it by the ministry of angels, and prodigiously, its natural hardness being laid aside, made soft, received her impressed footprints; (concerning which matter Pennati treats from page 85; and which stone, marked with the footprints of the Saint, he asserts is still seen today, page 88, and exhibits engraved in copper in plate 4 before page 141) — that stone, I say, destitute of suitable testimonies of antiquity, deserves no more credit than that of a pious and popular tradition; by which prodigy, so sublime, as you have on page 89 (which we do not deny can be piously believed), Christ Jesus wished to render this his most beloved bride Christina like unto himself, and at the same time to proclaim her glorious and admirable to the whole world. For the rest, concerning the footprints of the Lord Jesus left on the Mount of Olives, Baronius treats from St. Jerome, at the year 34. But of these things enough. But now, lest we give Pennati a handle for complaining, as though those things were not seen by us, or at least neglected, by which in the second part of his Engyotheca he busies himself to dissolve the objections there proposed by himself; it seemed good to subjoin the following.

[115] Further, he distributes those objections into various classes. According to the answers, Chapter 3 answers the objections from the sayings and deeds of St. Christina. Chapters 4 and 5 vindicate the Acts from fabulosity. Chapter 6 gives solutions to objections from discrepancies and contradictions. Chapter 7 treats of certain other various objections; all which, since they can be seen in himself, and need the sponge no less than the Acts themselves which the author defends, we judge it superfluous to transcribe them hither one by one. Let Pennati not be reluctant, however, to observe: 1. That no Acts are so fabulous, corrupt, and absurd but that their fabricators or corruptors, however most impudent — nay, let us rather say of no shame — always took care not to stuff their trifles with chimeras or dreams involving a physical contradiction; and unless they had taken this care, what buyers, I pray, would they have had for their trifles? 2. This being laid down, there will now be no Acts, even the most fabulous and most inept, in the nature of things, but that you could expound them in some sense at least, and excuse and beat off all the objections which can be made against the Acts — to use the words of Pennati, page 487 — whether literal or intellectual, theological, chronological, and historical, even of lesser note.

[116] by which the Acts For grant that they conflict with places, times, and persons; I shall say either that the author used anticipation, or that these things were faultily transcribed, or added by an unskilled hand, the rest being safe and genuine; or, as Pennati says, page 524, answer, as to the year, that it was not precisely assigned by the writers.. As to the tyrant and the day, the Acts of Mombritius are to be corrected (and why not likewise the other Acts of the other suspect authors?) from all the other Acts and writers (although all of the same stamp). But it is an error and slip of the copyist (as at least to me, he says, it seems), who instead of Diocletian or Maximian (in the Acts of our Saint — and why should not the same be applied to others?) wrote Aurelian; and instead of IX wrote VIII, as Pennati asserts to have very often happened in other Acts by the fault of the scribe: who likewise, for solving certain particular objections which he recounts concerning the Acts of the Saint, page 506, answer, he says, with St. Thomas, that this was done by a special instinct of God; page 508, that all these objections and gibes of the critics draw their origin from a defect of faith … and therefore that to these is deservedly fitted that saying of Christ the Lord: "O foolish and slow of heart to believe"! But if anything occurs which savors of a certain impossibility, according to what Pennati has on page 509, answer with the Italian Life of the Saint, book 1, chapter 2, number 4, page 8:

[117] St. Christina That we ought vehemently to grieve, that among the faithful such unfaithful and incredulous are found, puffed up with their insipid wisdom, so that of them, as of the incredulous Hebrews, it must be said that they understood not the wondrous works of God, etc. And from the said page 509 add besides, that the impossibility dreamed by the adversaries holds on the part of nature, but not on the part of divine grace, to which those hypercritics ought first to turn the eyes of their mind, if they retain faith. We forbear to report more, content to have tasted these; which are of such force that now (if it please the gods) there are no Acts so wicked and insipid but that, one or more of those principles being taken along, (although on many counts suspect from elsewhere, they cannot be defended as sound and genuine) they can nevertheless and ought to be defended thus. Which, what, I pray, is it other than to take away entirely all sound balance of history, and to throw open a most wide gate for introducing fables into the Catholic Church, one that will be passable for full wagons of lies, not without loss of truth, and the guffaws of the heretics. What good, then, did the two most lucid lights of the Catholic Church, Baronius and Bellarmine, do; whither did the pains of very many other learned men aim, if they did not attain this, that they established that very many merely historical facts, tested by the rules of sound criterion, were either to be approved or to be rejected?

[118] Pennati tries to vindicate [them from the objections; now you will excuse any Acts whatever, even the worst.] The whole medley, therefore, to return to our purpose, of the objections which Pennati forms against the Acts of St. Christina, and tries to solve, tends to this, that he may show that any apparent difficulties, according to him, can be expounded in some sound sense, and that, expounded in this way or that, they deserve to be marked with no note of censure, since the things could so have happened. But it is asked here, not what could have happened; but what actually happened; and that it happened thus must be drawn from authority; and this from the marks, circumstances, and characteristics of the writer or of the thing written, which are of such a kind that, with greater or lesser proportion according to the greater or lesser demand of the things they set forth, they bear before them a fitting persuasiveness; which may move a prudent man to assent. This Pennati has not hitherto attained, nor will he ever afterward attain concerning his Acts of St. Christina; which he wishes to be genuine, authentic, and worthy of all credit; yet he could not prove it, as we have shown above. Let the most distinguished man abound in his own opinion, for all we care; but it is fixed with us, sounder principles (as we think) shining before us, not to think so magnificently of the Acts, until he shall have shown that either his Orvieto ones, rejected above, or any others, are of a more genuine stamp.

§ XII. Certain other arguments scraped together by him for the Acts are dissolved.

A weapon, in Pennati's opinion, as it seems, fatal — because he reserved it to himself for the last place, and with which he concludes the second part of his Engyotheca, or Bulwark, He draws also a feeble argument for his Acts — he hurls against the impugners of the Acts, when on page 226 he warns that the Acts of the holy martyrs are to be weighed with singular attention

of Acisclus and Victoria the virgin, related by Tamayo in his Spanish Martyrology on November 17, page 204, which not only in the torments, but also in the very interrogations of the tyrant, and the answers of the holy Virgin, the prayers, the conversions of souls, the apparitions of Christ and of the angels, are so like the Acts of St. Christina, that they seem to be copied from these, as being later… Other Acts of the same holy Martyrs, especially related by Lippeloo, page 204, from John Maldonatus, do not, he says, bear before them so great an appearance of likeness.

[120] But that this weapon is not so fatal, but rather feeble and without a blow, from Tamayo more than one reason proves. Those Acts will have to be weighed and examined in their own time. Now, in the meantime, we leave these few things to be weighed by Pennati with singular attention. 1. He cites indeed what is related by Tamayo, in his Spanish Martyrology; but let him know that it is a workshop of fictions, compacted of follies and fables; as has been proved elsewhere in six hundred places in our Acts. 2. In those Acts in Tamayo the year of martyrdom is marked as 303; whereby it may be judged that they are not very ancient, according to what Tillemont observes in the Ecclesiastical Monuments, volume 5, page 59. There may also be consulted the Observations on Usuard, illustrated by us some years ago, page 680.

[121] 3. Tamayo indeed gives them from three manuscript legendaries, very suspect, and often refuted. the Astorga, the Segovia, and the Toledo of Mount Sion, and also from a printed Sevillan one. But of what time, stamp, and worth were those three manuscript legendaries, that we could safely believe him — suspect to us on so many counts from elsewhere — that these are the true and genuine Acts of these holy Martyrs, as he affirms, page 207? 4. Those things which Pennati says are in many respects like the Acts of St. Christina, he does not prove to be more genuine and authentic than the other Acts of the same holy Martyrs which he cites, and which do not bear before them so great an appearance of likeness. Whence, then, do these last not rather harm his cause than those others help it? 5. Why should the likeness, on the one hand, of the Acts in Tamayo, and, on the other, the unlikeness of the others, to the Acts of St. Christina, not move a well-founded suspicion, that those two Acts are not both genuine and sincere, since they are unlike each other, and so seem, either by adding or by taking away, not to have remained primitive, genuine, and intact? These, therefore, we propose to Pennati to be weighed with singular attention. But, lest we here determine anything too hastily concerning those Acts of the Saints; these and other things will have to be examined on November 18, on which they are inscribed in the Roman Martyrology.

[122] In vain also The praised author, in his appendix, page 557, in defense of the Acts of St. Christina, here disputed, transcribes a part of the preface with which begins the martyrdom of St. Margaret, published by Surius under the name of Metaphrastes on the 20th of this month; and he advises that it should be added to the second line of page 484 of his Engyotheca. In that part of the said preface there is indeed treatment of not a few Acts of the Saints adulterated, corrupted, soiled, defiled, and profaned; and in the other part of the same preface, in this very volume with us at July 20, the author of it promises that the martyrdom of St. Margaret is to be emended by himself; but although, according to his promise, he purged it in several respects from filth, yet that he left not a few filths in it to be purged, we then said in the same place, page 31. The Acts of St. Margaret, likewise, are far more corrupt one than another, as we showed in the same place; some also, though not good in every respect, are yet less bad, as you have page 33; which cannot be said in exactly the same way of the Acts of St. Christina; since they are nearly of one kind in substance (unless perhaps you bring forward compendia extracted from the Acts), and agree in the facts, however much they differ in those things which are accidental to the facts, according to what was said in §6 of this our Commentary.

[123] Pennati seeks aid What aid, then, Pennati could have from the words of the aforesaid preface for defending the Acts of St. Christina, we by no means conceive. But he will at any rate go so far as to rejoin that thence it is had that the Acts of the martyrdom of St. Margaret were corrupt; and he will also willingly, from what has been said above, concede that certain Acts of this our Saint were corrupt; but that his own are not to be reckoned in their number. But to this evasion of his we have replied more than sufficiently above, so that it is not necessary to add more now; for this is nothing else than merely to assert, and to wish gratuitously, beyond what can even in appearance be proved. As regards the passages of the sacred Engyotheca, part 2, chapter 3, number 1; and chapter 5, numbers 5 and 7, in which there is treatment of the answers of St. Christina, of the miracles, and of the many apparitions of Christ and of the angels, we can add various things, says Pennati in the same appendix, page 558, excellent examples from the Acts of the eminent holy virgin and martyr Margaret; whose sacred body is preserved at Montefiascone with great veneration, etc.

[124] from the Acts of St. Margaret. But let Pennati add these things, and add over, as much as he will, for all we care; what will he have advanced by this way? Concerning examples there is here no question: nor will those examples of St. Margaret, as they are commonly narrated, even though they be supposed genuine (which nevertheless are suspect), ever bring it about that the deeds of St. Christina, like to them, are true or false, which stand or fall only by suitable documents. And so what Pennati adds in the same place, that St. Christina saw in prison a great light, and a resplendent cross, above which was a dove, prefiguring the Holy Spirit, which both said "Hail," and addressed the blessed Virgin, and healed her from her wounds, and, appearing a second time, baptized her. But on her precious birthday death-day, Christ himself appeared with a host of angels; these things, I say, by no means pertain hither; and it can be gathered more than sufficiently from the preliminary Commentary to those Acts, §4 and 5, what is to be determined concerning these and similar things. Meanwhile, to conclude the matter with our Saint; the recent French legend-writer, who asserts that the Roman Church .. seems to have rejected the common history of the martyrdom, since it does not allow that even the last lesson of the Office of that day be made from it, is refuted at length by Pennati in the sacred Engyotheca, part 2, chapter 2, page 490; because it was decreed by St. Pius V that on vigils three lessons be read from the homily on the Gospel of the vigil; but of a feast occurring on vigils under a simple rite, only a Commemoration be made. See the general rubrics of the Roman Breviary, title VI, number 4; title IX, number 2; and title XI, number 10. How could the said legend-writer be ignorant of these things?

[125] And these things thus far drawn out may seem more diffuse The reason is given why these things have been treated more diffusely. than the matter itself demanded, insofar as they regard the Pennatian work; yet because it so defends the Acts of today's Saint, far above their merit as much as possible, that any reader, especially one not sufficiently skilled in matters of this kind, who happens upon that Work, could easily condemn us for a censure of those Acts more rigid than is right and little founded; it seemed to us that it would not be beside the purpose, if we set forth a little more at length the state of the present controversy, the arguments, the objections; so that it might come about that any reader for himself could pass, not a perfunctory but an entire and mature judgment concerning this controversy, who shall have weighed our reasons about it with due attention.

§ XIII. Her posthumous fame, illustrated with new notices from the same Work, concerning the sacred buildings, the divine office, the images, the collegiate church, the hospital, the confraternity, and the miracles.

The posthumous fame of the Saint is illustrated chiefly by the sacred buildings erected in her honor; which we enumerated above, [The posthumous fame of the Saint grew illustrious from the sacred buildings; and the images,] in such a way that others became known to us afterward from the Italian Life of the most ample Pennati, book 6, chapters 1 and 2; concerning which the praised author can there be consulted. Singular concerning the cult is what he relates, in the same chapter 2, page 209, to be done in the church of St. Christina, which is at Montanso, today still called Montarso, which is a village distant half a mile from the town commonly called Ficulle, in the diocese of Orvieto; for on the second weekday Monday of the Rogations, the clergy of Ficulle go to the said church of St. Christina with the accustomed procession; and before they enter the church, the common Gospel of one Virgin and Martyr is sung, with its prayer. Then they enter the church, and sing the Mass of the Rogations; which finished, the versicle is sung three times by the parish priest: St. Christina, pray for us. Concerning other supplications, below in §16. The Mass and Office are done with a double rite of the first class at Bolsena, Palermo, and Sepino, as of the principal patroness; but at Orvieto and in its diocese, with a rite of a lesser double, as Pennati hands down, book 6, chapter 3. To the posthumous fame of the Saint likewise contribute the effigies, statues, and paintings; of which Pennati treats in chapter 3. He judges the first and more ancient to be that which he had engraved in copper, a glory being added to it, expressed by the mystery of the most holy Trinity, which St. Christina invoked and proclaimed; and with several angels, who often appeared to her.

[127] of which here is one There is added a view of the lake, the tower, and the little furnace; by which allusion is made to her history. This figure, on his own testimony, is seen painted on a most ancient panel of the best and most excellent art of that time; and by Pietro Castellucci, a painter of Orvieto, it is judged to be a painting of Pietro Cavallini, a Roman painter, who flourished in the year 1344, as George Vasari writes, whom he cites. That image, therefore, is placed in the chapel of the most holy Rosary on the Epistle side … and the Saint is clothed in a white garment, which represents exactly that which she put on while she was in the tower; according to the aforesaid history. Above this is another garment with a red ground, in sign of her martyrdom; variegated with white flowers, in sign of her virginity, and interspersed with eagles, in sign — as he judges may be conjectured — that she was born of Roman and royal blood. Those two garments are conspicuous at the pulse of the artery near the hands; over which she wears a cloak of, as it were, green color, in sign of virtue. Above her breast her right hand holds a single arrow, with the feather or wing raised upward, and the point downward; in sign that she is a victim of love; but her left hand grasps a closed book; the symbol of her doctrine and of the divine wisdom of the Scriptures. Behold for you now the outline of the image, ordered by us to be engraved in copper from the Pennatian copy; contracted, however, to a smaller form than it is in the said copy.

Effigy of St. CHRISTINA, Virgin and Martyr, from a most ancient Panel.

[128] it is exhibited engraved in copper: Pennati continues the description of the image exhibited in these words: From her head hang two twisted locks of hair, the rest being enclosed and wrapped in a netted cap, which is adorned on the front with a thread of pearls, in sign that she is a chosen Virgin; as the pearl is the "union" of paradise, which divine grace has fished up in the sea of this world. She has a most beautiful and most gracious countenance; just as in the Acts she is exactly described to have been endowed with a most singular loveliness. The reader has here the mystical explanation of the said painting according to the common history of the Saint, from a most ancient panel, as the inscription of the Pennatian copy indicates; although the prototype is not older than about the middle of the fourteenth century; so that it is a wonder to us that no earlier and more ancient one came to his knowledge. Concerning other paintings and statues of the Saint there is treatment in the same place, page 214 and following. Hither pertain the collegiate church, the hospital, and the confraternity, erected at Bolsena in honor of St. Christina; concerning which Pennati, from page 218, hands down this; which, rendered into Latin, sound thus.

[129] When the erection of the collegiate church with its chapter occurred, Likewise from the collegiate church of Bolsena, is not established; we can only assert, from the documents of this episcopal chancery, that the most ancient memory is in the year 1149, on the Ides of April; from the codex marked with the letter B, folio 89, column 1, number 2. And it is read in one donation: The prior of St. Christina with his brethren. In the year 1211, and in later years, there is always read: The provost of the church of St. Christina, from the same codex, folio 113, column 1; as also are read the collations of canonries of the church of St. Christina. Besides the canons there are also read chaplains of the church of St. Christina, as in the year 1330, on the 29th day of May, from the codex marked with the letter A, folio 146b; and in the visitation of the year 1357, on the 20th day of November, from the codex marked with the letter B, folio 25a. There is also read a chaplain of the chapel of the image of St. Christina, as was said elsewhere. From the Brief of Innocent III, issued at Viterbo on the 15th day before the Kalends of October, in the 12th year of our pontificate, which was the year 1209 (for he was created pope in the year 1198, on the 8th of January), it is established that the canons lived together according to the most holy ancient rite in the canonical house, which stood on the right side of the ancient church of St. Christina: where at present is the chapel of the Most Holy Trinity, belonging to Lord Vincent Brenciaglia the provost; and in this house they slept and ate together, etc.

[130] Behold for you the very Brief of Pope Innocent III, which the praised Pennati has in the sacred Engyotheca, part 1, concerning whose canons is here brought forward this brief of Pope Innocent III. chapter 15, from page 481, and which he says was extracted by himself from the parchment codex marked with the letter B, existing in the episcopal chancery of Orvieto, folio 91, column 4. It runs thus: Innocent, Bishop, servant of the servants of God: To his beloved sons, the provost and chapter of St. Christina, greeting and Apostolic benediction. Whereas among you there was a question about leading the common life, and about reducing to community all the revenues of your church; We have thought it should be so provided, that just as you sleep in common under the same roof, and eat in the same refectory, and have wine in common; so you should have bread and other foods in common. Wherefore we command your whole body by Apostolic writings that, causing all the revenues of your church to be reduced to community, you reserve from them only so much as ought to suffice for the common sustenance according to the means of that church; the remainder to be divided among you for clothing and other necessaries. Given at Viterbo on the 15th day before the Kalends of October, in the 12th year of our pontificate; of Christ, 1210.

[131] A hospital under the title of St. Christina; Of the foundation of the hospital of Bolsena under the title of St. Mary and St. Christina, which was made in the year 1284, on the 20th day of November, the same Pennati makes mention, from the codex marked with the letter A, folio 220b; where a certain Benincasa appears as rector of the confraternity of St. Mary and St. Christina, and it is narrated that a certain Audigerius Rossi of Bolsena left his house to the aforesaid confraternity, that in honor of the Holy Virgin Mary a hospital might be made for the use of the poor and the sick. From this notice Pennati affirms it is known that, for the greater veneration of St. Christina, they erected her confraternity, with the title of St. Mary and St. Christina; of which confraternity, and of the aforesaid Benincasa, he adds that mention is also made in an instrument which is reported in a codex of black lining within (of a cover, as he calls it in Italian, "nere"), where at folio 147 he says is read: The discreet man Benencasa, rector of the fraternity of St. Mary and St. Christina of Bolsena, of the diocese of Orvieto, on the 24th of November 1284.

[132] which shone with miracles, The greatest splendor accrues to the posthumous fame of the Saints from the miracles wrought by their aid. We shall recount in this place those which are related in Pennati's Italian Life, book 5, chapter 7, and are ascribed to today's St. Christina. From a prayer, printed in a Breviary, as he will have it, ancient, which exists at Rome in the Alexandrine library, he excerpts this: Almighty everlasting God, who didst adorn blessed Christina, virgin and martyr, with the merit of constancy and the flower of miracles, etc. Presently he commemorates the wonderful apparition, on the festal day of the same Saint, over the waters of Lake Bolsena; likewise, when her relics were transported to Sepino by two pilgrims, he signifies that a great miracle occurred, in that they could not depart thence; and on the same occasion he adds to this a second miracle, that that sacred treasure could not be moved, except after a vow was uttered. See what we said above from Caietanus. Let us follow Pennati further as he leads the way. From the history of the most holy Body of Christ by Alexander Donzellino (of whom he treats at length in the Engyotheca, part 1, chapter 14), page 61, according to a report received from Sepino, he indicates that there she shines forth with very numerous miracles.

[133] she drove the plague from Palermo: the dearth of grain But the Saint's remains being translated from Sepino to Palermo, as Pennati continues, she drove the plague from that .. city; and on the first Sunday of May, on which the festal day of the translation is celebrated, she works innumerable miracles every year, especially by freeing those possessed by demons; (consult the cited book 5, chapter 4) Likewise the praised author affirms that at Rome continual miracles are done through the sacred heart of the Saint, carried to pregnant women; who presently subjoins the notice of a plainly singular benefit granted to the people of Palermo, from Rocco Pirri; but we think it should be transcribed hither in Pirri's own words, volume 1 of the Notices of the Sicilian churches, at the year 1591. So then it runs: Palermo labored in that year under a dearth of grain; and public prayers were resorted to, lest the citizens should perish, killed by famine. By the prelate, the sacred relics of St. Christina the virgin of Tyre, enclosed in a silver chest, were carried about through the city in a solemn procession; and, as it were divinely, a ship which had aimed its course elsewhere put in at Palermo opportunely: when scarcely for another day would the grain that remained in the city have been enough to feed the citizens.

[134] This inscription in the church of St. Mary of the Chain, which I subjoin, discloses the event; she mitigated it there; of which matter a public inscription is witness. expressed in these words: Because, while the people of Palermo were in distress, a supplication was decreed by the senate, the chest of St. Christina the holy patroness was carried, by the prelate and the rest of the priesthood, from the great cathedral to the church of Mary of the Chain, on the day before the Ides of January, with religious ministry; [and] as it were from heaven, on the 18th day before the Kalends of February, a cargo ship, which had sailed from Livorno to Messina, its course being changed, came to our port with a supply of grain to our aid, which grain scarcely sufficed for another day: and about that time Lord Henry Guzman, count of Olivares, appointed viceroy over Sicily while at Naples, by the prompting of the Deity abundantly provided for the grain-supply. The City and People, mindful of the benefit received, and in token of a grateful mind, set this up.

[135] For the greater splendor and confirmation of the miracles wrought by the aid of St. Christina, To the ancient miracles at least insofar as they are attributed to today's Saint of ours, let it be permitted to intermingle a few things here. From the Office of the Sepino translation, of which above, we have that through her, he says, in our shores the greatest wonders are ever wrought; that is, things above the common course of nature, or miracles. And in the same place a little after is had: For she ever works for us a hundred marvels. But now certain most recent miracles call us, which we translate from Pennati's Italian into Latin; and we give them on his credit, to have as much weight as the testimonies which he brings forward for their truth persuade should be given to them; and we wish them to be received in the same way in which we said the several miracles ascribed to today's Saint of ours are to be received, again warning that the Saints work greater signs there, where they by no means lie in their own persons, in St. Gregory the Great in the cited place; to which the same most holy Pontiff presently subjoins this:

[136] Where the holy Martyrs lie in their own bodies, by which reasoning here there is no doubt that they can show forth many signs, as indeed they do, and show innumerable miracles to those who seek with a pure mind. But because it can be doubted by weak minds whether they are present to hear there, where it is established that they are not in their own bodies; there it is necessary that they show greater signs, where a weak mind can doubt about their presence. But those whose mind is fixed in God have so much greater merit of faith, the more they know that there the Saints both do not lie in the body, and yet are not lacking from hearing.

[137] Which things we wish to be applied, with proportion, to our matter, let new ones be subjoined. and they are of such force that we understand that God, through his Saints — who are invoked with great confidence and living faith, or whose relics are so honored by men with a singular sense of piety, as though these relics or those Saints were there, when nevertheless they are not there; or are not there in such a way as, in the best faith, they are thought by pious clients to be there; or when other Saints of the same name are only there — God, I say, not rarely so crowns the great faith of those pious men, that he does not even deny miracles, as though those whom those clients firmly persuade themselves to be there were truly physically there: so that miracles in such a case are not done in confirmation of the popular history of the Acts of the Saint, or of the relics, but on account of the singular faith of those who implore the patronage of the Saints. And in this sense, not in that, most true is the exclamation which Pennati uses a little below: So much avails good and true devotion, unto the confusion of the incredulous!

§ XIV. The most recent miracles taken from the same source; another matter there related is here examined.

A woman freed from a demon Pennati, in the Italian Life, book 5, chapter 7, from page 177: We shall subjoin, he says, some of the miracles wrought at Bolsena by St. Christina, of which we were able to have knowledge; all the others being neglected to be noted, which occurred in great number in past times. Those which we have received were related by one who saw them; or narrated by those very persons who received the graces; and all are persons worthy of credit, and attest by their oath. Lady Dionysia, wife of Lord Francis Piccioni, long possessed by demons, never freed in the visitation of many other sanctuaries; at length, after she had come to Bolsena on the feast-day of St. Christina, July 24, she was led by force to the Saint's church, the infernal spirits crying out at the entrance of the gate: Christina, Christina (in the Italian it is Cristinaccia, Cristinaccia, in contempt.)

[139] at the altar of St. Christina. After she had come to the ancient altar of St. Christina, in the presence of the late provost Joachim Valeri, and of the lord canon Adam Mariottini, who narrates all this, and while the people who had run together supplicated for her liberation, as the above-said provost had enjoined, she was freed, these malignant spirits leaving her, extinguishing the lamp and crying out: Another than thou could expel us, Cristinaccia.

[140] Several other benefits Many years ago there lived at Bolsena a certain woman, called Lucretia Persiani, very devoted toward the little furnace of St. Christina, which was very often visited by her. When she had reached the age of 75 years, deprived of bodily sight, and unwilling to leave her devotion of visiting the aforesaid little furnace; she took care to be led thither by the escort of a certain granddaughter of hers, named Flaminia; and when she had arrived there, she made a prayer; and afterward, on departing, she took some little stone from that sanctuary for her devotion: which, carried home, she put away in a chest: and when she was ill, invoking St. Christina with living faith, the little stone served her for a present medicine. So much avails good faith and true devotion, unto the confusion of the incredulous!

[141] they are said to have happened at the Saint's little furnace, When Paul Brocchi was laboring under a grave illness, his wife Flaminia, above named, seeing him in danger of his life, took his shirt, and went to visit the little furnace of St. Christina, touching its walls with the aforesaid shirt; and, returning home, applied it to Paul her husband; who a few days after remained free of all the gravity of the illness. The cleric John Angelo Piccioni, sacristan of the church of St. Christina, testifies on oath that, returning from begging wheat, he went to visit the little furnace of the holy little Virgin; and when he was near it, he felt himself seized by a certain fear and horror: whence he hesitated in suspense whether he ought to approach. But taking courage, he recited the hymn "Jesu, crown of Virgins," with the prayer of the Saint, [and] entered the little furnace, the fear which had been so great before being changed into so great a devotion, affection, and love toward the holy little Virgin.

[142] Eight good souls, among whom is a priest most worthy of credit, sweet odors and many good virgins who are not named, because they are living; when the above-said little furnace was being cleaned, testify with their oath that, on the 19th, 20th, and 23rd days of July of the current year 1724, visiting the aforesaid little furnace with devotion, they perceived there various most sweet odors (which the author briefly enumerates), and knew very well that that mixed odor was exhaled from the above-said little furnace. The priest, who smelled the odor of most sweet spikenard, doubtful whether he was not deceived and mistaken, asked of the bystanders whether they were carrying perfumes: and when it was answered him by all that no one had perfumes, he became more certain that that odor was exhaled from the little furnace.

[143] One of the above-said virgins or maidens, greatly fearing God, exhaling: took one stone from those which were tinged with smoke in the fire, and put it in her bosom, and continually perceived the most sweet odor of incense, from the morning time until evening, both within and outside the house; and, warned by a companion, she noticed that that odor was exhaled from the aforesaid stone, as, when she had brought it to her nostrils, she well recognized. It is no wonder that in a sanctuary of this kind, in which St. Christina was with choirs of angels praising God amid the flames with so many manifest miracles, angelic and paradisiacal odors are perceived. But it is very much a wonder that some incredulous men, having as it were lost faith, although they exist among the faithful, refuse to give credit to such narrations. God is wonderful in his Saints; and this alone ought to suffice.

[144] In the bottom of the above-said little furnace water gushes forth; whose water also which, received with devotion and faith, has wrought miracles. Angela Filandri, sixty years old, feeling her head oppressed with a most grave rheum, went to visit with devotion the little furnace of St. Christina, and, a flask of the water which rises there being taken, returning home, washing her head with the said water, and commending herself to the holy little Virgin, was suddenly healed and cleansed in her head. And when the same woman had also washed with the said water a certain little granddaughter of hers, named Jerónima, seventeen months old, who could neither stand on her feet nor stand supported on seats, the child suddenly received the grace to be made firm in her limbs. Maria, daughter of the late Angelo, seized by a most bitter toothache, and finding no remedy after the space of one month passed in continual torment, betook herself to the little furnace of St. Christina, and, her knees being placed on the ground there, commended herself to the Saint; she drank of the above-said water, and washed the afflicted part with it: and at the same time recovered health, feeling no more any pain.

[145] Mattia, daughter of the late Carlo, afflicted with great pain above the left knee for two continuous months, it is health-bringing. where a swelling also had appeared, since she could not walk without grave inconvenience, ordered that there be given to her by Rosa, her granddaughter, some of the water of the little furnace of St. Christina, and, washing the afflicted part with it in the evening, found herself sound and free the following morning. Lord Orazio Pillei, a citizen of Bolsena, laboring under a fever, was seized by an ailment of his left side; and was deprived of motion, sense, and speech: whence the ailment was judged incurable. Camilla his daughter, hearing that of her father's bodily welfare all hope was given up, went to visit the stone of the footprints of St. Christina; to whom commending herself from her heart, she saw that the above-said stone dripped with sweat in great abundance: whence she wiped it off with a cloth; and, returning home with it, she touched the afflicted part of her father toward evening; and the next day in the morning found him perfectly healed, motion, sense, and speech being recovered.

[146] Other miracles are said to be collected. And these are the miracles which, noted by Pennati from book 5, chapter 7 of the Italian Life, could be transcribed hither; who, in the appendix subjoined to his Engyotheca, page 557, notes that, besides the miracles there related, there are also many others, to be added after number 13, page 180 (that is, after the miracle produced just now by us in the last place), which, as he adds, while the printing was going on, or thereafter, were wrought by God through the intercession of the holy virgin Christina; and are at present being collected by the vigilant care of the lord provost Vincent Brenciaglia. How far that collection has progressed; whether it be finished and published in print, or not yet, is hidden from us: nor does this our Commentary, to be subjected to the press in the next weeks, suffer that delay of time, when we write these things, that, if that collection of miracles has now come to light, we should procure it for ourselves conveniently and seasonably enough from Italy. Wherefore let it now suffice to have exhibited to the reader at least a confused notice of that Work, planned, and perhaps now finished.

[147] The miracle of the head of St. Christina appearing every year, Now we must meet Pennati concerning a very remarkable, most evident, and first-rate miracle — provided it could be proved by suitable documents of antiquity; concerning which the praised author treats in his Italian Life, book 2, chapter 10; the annual apparition, I say, of the Saint's head, related in him in wondrous ways from Caietanus in the same place, as also with us above in §3 from the same Caietanus. We say, provided it could be proved by suitable documents of antiquity, according to what was said by us in the same place, to which we refer the reader. There must, says Pennati in the same place, here be refuted those earthly critics, to whom, sharp-sighted as they seem to themselves, such narrations create nausea; who are condemned as unbelievers by a similar example, which is read in the genuine Acts of St. Febronia, nun, virgin, and martyr; who every year on the day of her festivity, the divine Office being begun by the nuns, appeared in the air as though living, visible to all; and (if we believe the Menaea) sang psalms with them. But that refutation proves nothing, but gives only words, nothing of substance, and therefore makes nothing to the purpose.

[148] by Pennati For one must distinguish between the outlandishly critical and the outlandishly simple and credulous; for the latter believe everything without any discernment; the former deny or gnaw at everything without just distinction: on both sides there is abuse; on this side indeed by excess, on that by defect. The middle way must be held; there must be applied, I say, in merely historical points, a judgment balanced with fair weights of things. If Pennati had used this, he would not have wished to establish his case by the example of St. Febronia, of whom there is treatment in our Acts, volume 5 of June, on the 25th day: for since the Life and martyrdom of that Saint were written by Thomais, the Saint's mistress and an eyewitness, he would be outlandishly critical, and incredulous beyond measure, who, relying on no or on rather slight little reasons, should deny historical credit to those Acts, and so to the apparition narrated in them — both because the thing is wondrous, and because it is reported by a woman: to those Acts, I say, which are most solidly established in the preliminary Commentary to them, §1, in these words:

[149] The glorious contests of St. Febronia for Christ were everywhere throughout the Eastern churches the more celebrated, that it is not sufficiently established, the more they were held to be written with a clearer testimony, namely the eyewitness credit of Thomais the nun, holding the second place in that monastery where Febronia had been educated from infancy, under the discipline of her aunt Bryene. For she, both when the Virgin was tortured, was present in secular dress … and, surviving the Martyr by ten or more years, could and ought most certainly to have known the things which happened concerning the cult instituted for her and her relics (add also concerning the said apparition). We have nothing similar in the Acts of the church of Sepino, formerly digested into the lessons of the divine Offices, which are brought forward for the apparition of St. Christina: since they are of uncertain time, antiquity, stamp, authority, and therefore of uncertain credit also.

[150] Pennati, therefore, from the genuine Acts of St. Febronia, wrongly here argues against others, it is here shown. as if they were condemned as unbelievers by a similar example; when rather he himself is to be blamed: for although the apparition of each is indeed similar

example; yet because the authority of the one example or apparition is, in comparison with the other, most unlike and utterly different by the whole heaven (by which authority, however, when other things are lacking, the truth of apparitions of this kind both stands and falls), Pennati himself, I say, is rather to be blamed, in that he contends that both those apparitions — of a similar example, but of a most dissimilar authority — are to be admitted with a similar or the same credit; so that consequently, to learned and fair arbiters of things, such narrations, if they do not deservedly create nausea, at least seem suspect, until they be sufficiently proved. The other examples which he brings forward in the same place we do not delay over: for a suitable proof of his own fact ought to have been given by him, which is not done through the examples of others.

§ XV. A supplement concerning the Saint's relics, and the finding of her body, as some will have it, from the praised Pennati; the present state of the body among the people of Torcello, from the same source.

Concerning the various relics preserved under the name of our Saint among several nations throughout Europe, we had a discourse long enough in the first part of this Commentary; Various things are brought forward there now remain some to be added to those earlier ones from the often-praised Pennati, lest we be blamed for having neglected them, which that diligent collector noted concerning the present subject in the Italian Life, book 5, chapter 5; where first of all he affirms that at Bolsena .. in the church of the Conventual Fathers of St. Francis is found a part of the jaw of St. Christina, which is not seen, being wrapped, namely, in taffeta, as he calls it, or a very thin cloth of red silk. He adds that these sacred remains were given by Father Master Pietro Guicciardi, minister and associate of the Order of Conventual Minorites in all the Ultramontane provinces, and minister of the province of St. Louis, to Father Master Francesco de Monte Varchi, minister of Tuscany, with the pact and condition that he should consign them to the convent of St. Francis of the Conventual Fathers of Bolsena, according to a writing on the .. day of July 1509.

[152] concerning the relics of St. Christina, But in the following year 1510, on the 16th day of June, the same Father Master Pietro Guicciardi was present at Bolsena in the aforesaid convent of St. Francis, and recognized that the above-said sacred relics of St. Christina were the same, and those very ones which had been given by him; and anew ratified the donation made to the convent of St. Francis of Bolsena of the Conventual Fathers, on this pact and condition, that the above-said sacred relics be perpetually retained and venerated in the above-said convent; and, in the case that the convent should wish to alienate and transfer them from the said convent, he wills and determines that the guardian of Montpellier .. or the syndic of the same convent may and ought to reclaim and recover the above-said sacred relics. On the same day and year there was made, as he calls it, a contradictory appearance against the relics, but not holding good, on the part of the rural vicar of Bolsena, at that time Constantine Puri, and of the provost Louis Laurenti.

[153] which are recorded to be at Bolsena: On the 17th day of June 1510 there appears an attestation and testimony, made by Father Master Francesco de Monte Varchi, minister of Tuscany, that the above-said sacred relics were carried off by him from Montpellier, given to him by the aforesaid Father Master Pietro Guicciardi, to this end, that he might place them in the convent of the Conventual Fathers of Bolsena. This whole narrative appears from an authentic writing, transmitted to us, says Pennati, by Father Master Carlo Andrea Adami, provincial of the Conventual Minorites (the series of whose documents the praised author produces in his Engyotheca, expressed in the Latin tongue, part 1, chapter 15, from page 476), whence it may become known that the above-said sacred relics, the jaw of St. Christina, are true, and authentically recognized. That these relics are true, their possession persuades; that they are authentically recognized, the documents persuade; but that they are the relics of today's St. Christina — this is the task, here is the labor: to prove that by some at least sufficiently suitable and ancient testimony or reason; and that chiefly on account of those causes, alleged by us above in part 1 on the occasion of other remains attributed to this our Saint. Which, why they should not hold here too, we do not so far see.

[154] and it is examined, We suspect that a difficulty here arose for Pennati (and indeed it could and ought deservedly to arise) as to in what manner, by whom, at what time, and on what occasion those relics reached Montpellier; as we gather not obscurely from his words: We must now investigate, he says, how those sacred relics of St. Christina reached Montpellier, the chief city of Lower Occitania in France. When the two devout French pilgrims carried out at Bolsena the sacred theft of the relics of St. Christina, which they were compelled to leave at Sepino, as we narrated, he says, in chapter 3 (and we above from Caietanus), it must not be doubted that those pilgrims took some portion of the same, which afterward, returning to their country, they left there. Whence we can reasonably persuade ourselves that in this way they remained at Montpellier, which perhaps also was the native place of the devout pilgrims. All the reasoning, therefore, that the jaw, preserved among the Conventual Fathers of St. Francis of Bolsena, reached Montpellier, and thence Bolsena; and consequently, that that jaw is truly the jaw of today's St. Christina, and is not the jaw of some other Saint of the same name or anonymous, is by Pennati referred back to the history of those two pilgrims.

[155] But against this there recur here both the same difficulties whether and how which we touched on in part 1 of this Commentary, and those which were adduced just now against the annual apparition of the Saint over the waters; since each is drawn from the same source, not sufficiently approved by us. Pennati doubtless saw all those difficulties, or at least some of them; for in book 5, chapter 3 of the often-mentioned Life, from page 160, he objects the following to himself, and tries thus to solve them: How ever, he says, could two pilgrims have had in another's house so easy an opening, of completing secretly a theft so notorious of so great a treasure, which we ought reasonably to suppose was kept with some zealous guard? But those critical objections vanish, if we seriously consider that in the first centuries the bodies of the Saints were hidden for fear of persecutions, and fortified with walls: but as in later centuries those persecutions ceased, so great a precaution also ceased; and we know (but what he says he knows makes little to the purpose here) that our ancients did not even seal the relics, proceeding with holy simplicity.

[156] And today there is seen the place in which, by ancient tradition, the body of St. Christina was preserved; thither from Montpellier and although there is there some iron grating, yet it is recognized to be not very secure; and, a little door being opened, one enters into an empty place or small chamber behind the altar. The rest I forbear; both because, besides a good, pious, simple, and popular discourse, they contain nothing of great weight; and because from the less cautious guard, and the manner of the theft, and the hidden judgments of God, this alone can be persuaded, that nothing hinders but that that theft could have taken place, and that it, the nature of the things and circumstances that surround it being regarded, was morally possible: that at last is the one thing which the whole discourse of Pennati proves; which no one whatever would ever have denied. In vain, therefore, he adds that the case here disputed is beyond all question, since it consists in a fact manifest at Sepino, Palermo, and elsewhere: he appeals likewise to ancient manuscripts, against which negative arguments, with contempt of venerable antiquity, avail nothing.

[157] But how too liberally he calls them ancient manuscripts and venerable antiquity, they were brought. and yet not even once does he prove that antiquity by any appearance of antiquity, in which proof, nevertheless, the whole hinge of the entire matter turns. But the many authors who relate that theft, such as the cited Caietanus, Carrera, and others; because they are recent, cannot add even the least crumb of credibility; being worth just so much and no more than the testimonies which they bring forward are worth. But that Pennati may procure a greater persuasiveness for the things narrated by him, he again uses examples, by which he may show that similar thefts occurred elsewhere; but the examples make nothing to the purpose here, where it is not asked what happened at other times or elsewhere, and so could have happened here; but authority alone, by which it may be proved to have been done, which is asserted to have been done. For examples pertain chiefly to preachers in forming the morals of their hearers, not likewise to historians, insofar as they weigh facts. But now let us proceed with Pennati to the other relics of the Saint.

[158] Notices of other relics, That some particle of the bones of St. Christina, virgin and martyr, is preserved in his city of Orvieto, and among other relics is shown to the people on the solemnity of Easter after Vespers, he reports, page 168. But at what time and in what manner this sacred pledge reached Orvieto, he confesses that he does not know, giving conjectures. That some fragments of bones are honored at Toscanella among the Conventual Fathers, and kept in a gilded reliquary of pyramidal form, he asserts in the same place, which by those two famous pilgrims, by tradition, as is said, were left there. But see what we said above about the stone, as the report is, of the Saint's sepulchre. But to those things which we reported above about the head in the Pauline chapel of the basilica of St. Mary Major at Rome, it can be added that that sacred head was sent, together with many other sacred relics, to Paul V by Antonio Albergati, bishop of Bisiglia (concerning whom Ughelli in the Italia Sacra, volume 7), and received from Aachen; at least according to the proof which Pennati brings forward: for he asserts that it is so read in the letters of the same bishop to the above-said Paul V, related by the abbot de Angelis, whom he cites in the description of the above-said basilica, book 11, chapter 15, page 231.

[159] which in various places of Italy But how that sacred head was translated to Aachen, and by whom thence to Bisiglia, he holds unascertained, and suggests his conjecture. What we recorded about the heart can be further illustrated from Pennati, page 169, where he describes both this sacred relic and its case, which contains also a part of the bone, with this inscription: Of the heart and arm of St. Christina, virgin and martyr. That at Sepino a whole bone of the arm was left, there where the body is said to have been translated, and thence transported to Palermo, and is preserved in the statue of the Saint, Pennati hands down, page 170, from the report of Lord Domenico Bini, archpriest of the cathedral of Sepino. Concerning the supposed body and relics of today's St. Christina, Pennati treats in the whole chapter 6, from page 171; on which subject enough was said by us above, and will further be said below after the Acts.

[160] are ascribed. Cipriano Manente and Monaldo Monaldeschi, cited in Pennati, page 154, who in their Orvieto histories narrate that in the year 1084 the body of St. Christina was found by the Countess Matilda in the islands of Bolsena; those authors, I say, refer the reader

ought not to detain the reader even for the least while: for they are, on that point, various, even in Pennati's own judgment, and discordant, and therefore suspect. Furthermore, concerning that incomparable heroine Matilda, see the Acts of Pope St. Gregory VII with us on May 25, page 125; and the Verdun Chronicle of Hugo, abbot of Flavigny, her contemporary, published by Labbe in volume 1 of the New Library of Manuscript books, page 228; where you will find a most honorable eulogy of her, together with the letter of the praised St. Gregory, addressed to her. See also what is said about her on this day among the "Passed Over," page 490.

[161] Concerning the body preserved at Torcello there was treatment above in part 1, The present state of the body among the people of Torcello. §3, number 28; to which can be added the modern state of the same body from Pennati, Italian Life, book 5, chapter 6, page 171, according to a notice received from the most illustrious lord Giustiniani, bishop of Torcello, the most eminent lord Cardinal Ottoboni interposing his authority with this prelate; as is clear from the most courteous letters given by the same bishop to the praised Cardinal, in Pennati at the cited place, page 172; a fragment of which I render thus from the Italian: Most eminent and most reverend Lord, my most venerable patron. Having discharged a certain mission, which ended on Sunday toward evening, I applied all the diligence I could, to comply with the venerable commands of your Eminence. To this, therefore, I add a few notices which survive concerning the body of St. Christina, virgin and martyr; which, whole and incorrupt hitherto, together with the hair, is held in veneration today in the church of the Benedictine nuns of St. Anthony at Torcello; translated thither from the island of St. Mark de Anianis, etc. I also transmit the series of the deeds, painted by the celebrated Paolo Veronese, and partly by another author of no small esteem.. If the kindness of your Eminence should recognize in me the ability to serve you in greater matters … with a kiss of the sacred purple, I shall be ever your Eminence's most humble, most devoted, most obliged servant, Marcus, bishop of Torcello. And this letter is noted as given at Murano on September 11, 1723.

§ XVI. Additions concerning the Saint's acoluthia sacred sequence among the Greeks; concerning the prayers, hymns, Office, and Mass among the Latins; and the feast-days with a twofold supplication among the people of Bolsena.

Of the acrostic composed in honor of our Saint by St. Joseph in Greek measures or odes, and inserted into the Greek Menaea, [It is set forth what Pennati accomplished concerning the Office of the Saint among the Greeks;] we made mention in part 1 of this Commentary. But because that acrostic constitutes a great part of the sequence prescribed in the said Menaea, and sequences or sacred Offices of this kind are not wont to be transcribed everywhere and indiscriminately into our Work, unless some reason or new notice persuades otherwise; therefore neither was that sequence given there, nor will it further be given here, translated from the Greek: add that we have tasted from it the points which could make to our purpose at the end of the first part of this Commentary. Let it suffice, therefore, to indicate what, for the sake of the aforesaid sequence, the diligent and laborious collector of the things pertaining to the Saint, Pennati, accomplished. In the sacred Engyotheca, therefore, chapter 13, page 451: From the Menaea of the Greeks, he says, we have translated the whole sequence or Office into Latin, taken from the third volume under the day of July 24, page 116; and again page 118, of the Venetian edition at Nicholas Dolce de Giannini in the year 1671. The translation, so far as could be done, is rendered into Latin word for word, not, however, without loss of Latin elegance; but this was done for the sake of preserving fidelity, etc.

[163] The same author, in his Myrotheca, chapter 1, from page 528, exhibits a collection of prayers concerning St. Christina. prayers, etc., among the Latins. In the same place, page 530, you will find that in a certain book, whose title is: Litanies of All the Saints, with some select hymns and prayers, printed at Antwerp by the command of the most serene Princes of Belgium from the Plantin press, 1621; that, I say, both in that book, on May 10 and July 24, St. Christina is invoked among other Saints, male and female; and under July 24 in a little book published at Rome in the year 1590 at Jacob Torner, with this title: The names of all the Saints who are contained in the Roman Martyrology, reduced into the form of Litanies. To these he adds an ancient little work, as he calls it; which is entitled The Antidotary of the Soul; where at folio 115, column 2, in the Litanies for the dead, the Saint is invoked, that she may intercede for the souls of all the faithful departed. We confess that these are rather minute things, and of such a kind that they do not so much greatly illustrate the glory of the Saint as commend the plainly singular diligence of the collector: in whom, in chapter 3, hymns; in chapter 4, epigrams and a Sapphic ode are produced; which merely to have indicated may be enough.

[164] Unknown There follows chapter 5, concerning the Office and Mass of St. Christina; where Pennati notes that among the people of Sepino there was a proper Office of the birthday, and a Mass, as also of the translation of St. Christina: and he adds that the people of Bolsena attested to him that they had been written in Gothic character: yet all, though diligently sought, were lost by the accustomed carelessness of men; and, as indeed, he says, we think, on the occasion of the reform of the Breviary and Roman Missal, from which time their recitation was omitted in the clergy. Although, therefore, with unequal strength, we judged that this loss should be compensated by a new structure of the Office and Mass. The arrangement of which Office and Mass, preserved by himself, he brings forward; which it is of no importance to transcribe hither at length. But presently he rightly, as he ought, notes that they cannot be recited without the vote of the Congregation of Sacred Rites being added; to whose censure he subjects all things. Whatever be the case about the Gothic character, in which the people of Bolsena will have it that that proper Office and Mass of the birthday and translation were written; we wish it to be observed that nothing is found by us in that new structure of the Office and Mass which regards the Sepino translation: the Office of which we brought forward from the printed books.

[165] the Office of the Sepino translation existed for him; not another, Certainly it is a wonder that that was so unknown to Pennati, so earnestly intent on all notices of the Saint, even the slightest; especially since it had been printed in Italy in public types. He confesses indeed in the Appendix, page 556, that he is carried away with ardor and zeal for the Office of the Sepino translation; but that, despite his previous diligences, it had not yet been found. In the same appendix the reader will find the Office of St. Christina, the same as that which we gave above from the little book published in print at Naples in the year 1591, and afterward sent hither to us by our Anthony Beatillo. Pennati's notes on that Office you have from page 577. But on what occasion that reached Pennati, though later than was fitting, he sets forth in these words, with which he begins his appendix.

[166] which he at last received, In these last days, in which this work was completing its colophon and final touch under the printing press, there was transmitted to my hands, he says, the long-desired ancient Office of St. Christina, in manuscript, from Lord Francesco Orazio Valeri, found by him among the writings of his uncle Joachim Valeri — distinguished in the past century with the provostship of St. Christina, a skillful man, and well-deserving of his native place Bolsena. The aforesaid lord Canon attests by letter that he had very often sought out this Office in vain; but on the Octave day of St. Christina, by a miracle, as he himself says, with exultant mind, he found it.

[167] How much, therefore, both the finder and the editor made of that Office, it came to him. they declare pathetically enough; but far above its merit: for its editor Pennati first indeed calls it absolutely ancient; but presently in the same appendix, greatly restricting that antiquity, he sets it forth as something savoring of some antiquity; whether at first glance it appeared to him of the best stamp; or that former estimation afterward decreased, the text being more closely inspected and examined. However it be; certainly Pennati was not sufficiently consistent with himself. Add that in the notes cited on it he indicates clearly enough what he thinks of it, when he says that its lessons are interpolated, and do not savor much of antiquity; and that this is plain from many things, and especially from the fourth lesson of the feast, when it affirms "Tyrus of the Roman province near Viterbo." Certainly, if the compiler of the Office had at least read the ancient Martyrologists, he would rather have said either "Tyrus near Lake Bolsena," or "Tyrus in Italy."

[168] Concerning the two feast-days among the people of Bolsena — both that one, A feast with supplications among the people of Bolsena, which is chiefly celebrated on the 24th of this month on account of the Saint's martyrdom, and on which her statue is carried about in supplication; and the other, which falls on May 10, sacred to the dedication of her church, and is also honored with a solemn supplication (in which, by ancient usage, two great machines, composed skillfully of flowers, etc., are carried about) — Pennati treats in the Italian Life, book 6, chapter 3, page 212. It is singular that the territory of Marta also willed to conspire to promote that feast, as he reports in the same place, by a decree passed, by which certain dues are imposed on those selling fish and on fishermen, and also a monetary penalty on those hindering the fishing, etc., to be applied to the things suitable for celebrating the same feast. Take these circumstances from the sacred Engyotheca, page 480, where it is thus read:

[169] A public transcript of the chapter agreement of Lake Bolsena, promoted by a public statute. a statute made by the communities and places lying around the aforesaid lake, that is, of Montefiascone, Bolsena, Marta, Gradoli, Grotte, San Lorenzo, Bisenzio, and Capodimonte, with the assistance of the most serene Farnese, celebrated on the island of Bisentina on the 3rd day of November 1463, extracted from the book of chapters, existing in the priorial chancery of Marta. There follows in the same place, page 481, the statute itself written in the Italian tongue, with a Latin testimony of the public notary concerning its faithful extraction and transcription; and it is dated, given at Marta on November 1, 1700.

[170] And these indeed are the things from which we thought chiefly to compose both parts of this preliminary Commentary. The conclusion of this Commentary. Nor will we detain the reader with a longer medley of annotations on the Acts themselves; both because those Acts are of so little merit that they cannot be made of greater worth by a long heaping-up of many observations; and because above enough and abundantly many things have been previously noted by us; and finally because, if anyone desires more in this kind, he will find in the Acts, published in so great a number by Pennati, and in his notes on them, wherewith he may occupy himself, if not always learnedly for the present subject, yet piously. And with these we now put an end, having and rendering the most abundant thanks to the most distinguished Pennati, as we ought, because a great accession was here made to us from not a few documents, which we report as received by the zeal of that most diligent unearther alone. As for the points controverted between him and us, that we fully, plainly, and freely

have set forth our thoughts, he will grant us this pardon; being about to receive all, as we hope, in the same spirit in which they were written, namely in charity for the truth, which here, as far as we persuade ourselves, stands with us against him: all which let be said with a better judgment always reserved in all things. It would meanwhile be a wonder if Pennati had not read the Acts of the holy Martyrs, vindicated in a new and wonderful manner, and published by Odoacer Ilbachius at Rome in the year 1723; whom we meet briefly in the "Passed Over" on this day, page 489. It remains, therefore, that we subjoin our Acts.

THE PASSION

From our ancient parchment Fulda manuscript, collated with several other copies,

WRITTEN BY AN ANONYMOUS AUTHOR.

Christina, virgin and martyr, at Tyrus near Bolsena, as they will have it, in Tuscany (St.)

BHL Number: 1751

FROM THE MANUSCRIPT.

CHAPTER I.

St. Christina is in vain called away from the worship of God by blandishments, threats, and torments; she breaks the idols; she is fed by an angel.

St. Christina carefully guarded by her parents, There was a certain virgin sacred to God, by name Christina, having hope in the Lord, keeping kindness, about eleven years old, having a father in the palace ^a discharging the office of Master of the Soldiers; and her mother descended from the family of the Anicii ^b. Her, the only pledge of their bowels, her parents had received as a sweet offspring, whom they imbued with all the doctrine of wisdom. And after these things her father Urban made for her a high tower ^c, and led her thither, and made for himself gods of gold and silver, and placed her within the tower with twelve maidservants: and commanded that they should adore them, and should not cease from their sacrifices day and night, and that her face should not be seen by anyone in public: for she was exceedingly beautiful, and many nobles sought her for themselves, and wished to take her in marriage. But her mother said: I will give my daughter to no one; for our gods are very merciful. But holy Christina was established in the love of God; and taking the incense, that she might burn incense to the idols, she placed it in the window which looked toward the East, and standing there, she looked into heaven, and gazing wept, and offered no incense to the idols for seven days.

[2] she is tempted to sacrifice to the gods by her maidservants, Her maidservants say to her: Thou art our mistress; it is now seven days since the gods received neither sacrifice nor incense: lest perchance they be angered, and we perish. Christina said: Why do you speak these things, O polluted souls? For I offer no light to the blind, nor do I seek hearing from the deaf; but I offer the sacrifice of truth to God, who is the lover of chastity, who made heaven and earth, the sea, and all things that are in them. And the maidservants, falling down at her feet, said: Our mistress, thou hast royal power: why dost thou err, so as to worship a strange God, whom we do not see? And if our lord, thy father, should hear these things, he will destroy us and our kindred, saying: You taught her to worship the God who suffered scourges from Pilate; and whither shall we flee from his face? Christina said to her maidservants: Why are you seduced by the devil and his angels? Draw near to the heavenly Lord, and to Jesus Christ his Son, and he will free you from the devil. And while she was speaking these things, Urban her father came in to her, to adore his gods and to offer them sacrifice; and he awaited his daughter, that according to her custom she might burn incense to the idols. And holy Christina, despising him, would not come, but looked into heaven, and gazed upon the power of God.

[3] But the maidservants said to her father: We beseech thee, and by her father; lord, thou hast power over all of us; for our mistress, thy daughter, behold it is nine days ^d since she sacrificed to the almighty gods. But her father said to her: My lady daughter Christina, what is this that has pleased thee, or what error has invaded thy mind, that thou shouldst worship a God who was crucified by the Jews, and who could not help himself? My only daughter, since I labor for thee, and adore the merciful gods for thy welfare, behold, draw near, adore the gods who have made thee come to this age, lest perchance, being angered, they destroy thee. Christina said to her father: Do not call me thy daughter, but call me the daughter of him to whom thou didst tell me to offer sacrifice, that is to the heavenly God; since it befits him to have glory, and honor, and magnificence.

[4] Hearing these things, her father rejoiced, because he thought she was speaking of his gods: but in vain. and running he went to kiss her, and she said to her father: Do not pollute my mouth: I wish to offer a pure sacrifice to the heavenly God. Her father says to her: My lady Christina, do not offer sacrifice to one God, lest the others be angered with thee. Holy Christina said to him: Unwillingly hast thou spoken the truth: for I offer to the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, that the Trinity may be glorified over all the earth; him, the lord of heaven and earth, I bless, him I adore, him I glorify, to him I offer sacrifice and blood with the voice of praise. Urban says: Christina my daughter, behold, thou adorest three. Christina said: I desire to adore the heavenly God, who is one divinity; why then dost thou do violence to me, that I should adore strange gods? But offer [*] me spotless gifts, that I may offer a sacrifice without blood to the heavenly God. But her father thought she was speaking of the idols: and he sent her all things whatever she had commanded. And Christina said to the servants: Go, and say to your lord: Send me an uncontaminated tunic, that I may strip myself of the pollution of defilement, and clothe myself in a tunic without guile, and offer incense, and a pure heart to the heavenly God, and to the creator of all, the king of ages, who calls us into the sacrifice of truth, that he may deign to pardon my sins, because I was seduced by impious men into the abomination of idols ^e. And clothing herself in the tunic, she washed her hands and face, and began to pray with tears and to say:

[5] she invokes God; she is visited by an angel, Lord Jesus Christ, son of the Most High, God, who camest into the world from the immortal Father; who thyself madest all things and didst clothe man in flesh, whom thou didst free from sin and perpetual death; I pray and beseech thy deity, that thou pardon my sins, [for] I have greatly erred through the madness of the vanity of my conscience; be present in the punishments which are prepared for me, that all may fear thy name through thy only-begotten Son. And when she had prayed, an angel of God stood before her face, and said: The Lord has heard thy prayer; act manfully, and let thy heart be strengthened: thou fightest against three judges; [if] thou shalt conquer them, thou shalt be crowned. Christina said to the angel: My lord, give me the eternal seal of the savior Lord Jesus Christ, that I may fear no one. And when she had prayed, the angel gave upon her head the seal of the cross. Holy Christina, turning to the right, found bread set there of exceeding whiteness and immense sweetness: and taking it, she gave it to the angel, and said: Bless it, lord, and give me eternal life; behold, it is twelve days in which I have not tasted bread.

[6] and she is fed, and breaks the idols. But the angel, taking and blessing the bread, broke it, and gave her the food of immortality to eat; and holy Christina, receiving it, prayed, and invoked the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, and said: Lord Jesus Christ, I give thee thanks, because thou hast deigned that I should receive the bread of incorruption. And receiving it, she tasted it. And when evening had come, she took the idols of her father, of Jupiter and Apollo and Venus, broke them to pieces, and lowered them down by three ladders, and bound her band to the window, and descended by it. And breaking the idols, she gave them to the poor; and returning, she again ascended by the band. And when day had come, her father Urban came to adore his idols, and not finding them, called the maidservants and said: What has become of the gods? But they, falling down at his feet, said: Thy daughter, lord, has broken them to pieces, and cast them into the street.

[7] Cruelly beaten, she wearies the lictors, When he had heard these things, armed with diabolical fury, seizing her, he ordered her to be beaten with blows; and he said to her: Tell me, Christina, where hast thou hidden the gods? But if thou wilt not tell, by the merciful gods: I will give thy limbs to the most ferocious beasts. Draw near therefore and adore the celestial gods, lest they be angered with thee and thou perish miserably. Christina said: Thou hast spoken justly, that I should adore the heavenly God, and his Son Jesus Christ. Then, angered, he ordered her to be bound and beaten with leaded whips; and after this, stripped, he ordered her to be beaten with rods, and, twelve ^f soldiers being changed, nothing prevailed against her. But Urban did these things without his wife's knowledge. But those who were beating her, growing faint, fell down before her feet. Holy Christina said to her father: Urban, behold, those who beat me grow faint, and thy idols cannot give them strength. Hearing these things, Urban was in great anguish, because he heard such things from his daughter, and he ordered her, bound with iron, to be dragged to prison. Urban, coming sad to his house, would neither eat nor drink. And he prostrated himself on his face on account of his daughter.

[8] But her mother, hearing these things concerning her daughter, that she had suffered such things from her father, rent her garments, nor is she moved by her mother's address, and scattered ashes upon her head, and went to the prison to her daughter, and fell at her feet with tears, and said: My daughter Christina, have mercy on me thy mother, because for thy sake I am dying; for I have thee as my only one, and all that is mine is thine; thou art the light of my eyes. Thou knowest that I bore thee, and that thou didst suck my breasts. What has happened to thee, that thou shouldst worship a strange God? Opening her mouth, holy Christina said: How dost thou call me thy daughter? Or who of your family was called Christina ^g? But her mother said: No one. Christina said: What thou callest me, then, thou knowest not; for I have the name of the Savior; he it is who loved me, and gave me victory to conquer those who do not acknowledge God. Hearing these things, her mother returned to her house, and reported all to her husband. Urban, moved with anger, said to the soldiers: Go, bring Christina. And the servants dragged her to the praetorium: and the women, seeing her dragged by the soldiers, said with a loud voice: God, help Christina thy handmaid.

[9] And when she had come, he ordered her before his

tribunal to stand. or with new torments. To whom he said: Have mercy on thyself, Christina, because thou art my daughter; draw near and adore the gods, that they may be propitiated toward thee, and free thee from the error which thou sufferest; but if thou wilt not, I will make thee perish by various punishments, and thou shalt not be called my daughter. Christina said: Thou hast granted me a great favor, in that thou hast refused to call me thy daughter: that which is born of thee is flesh; for thou art not my spiritual father. Urban, hearing this, filled with fury, ordered her tender limbs to be shattered with cudgels. When she was beaten by twelve men, and her flesh was loosed from the bones, taking some of that flesh, she threw it in her father's face, and said: Thou didst desire to eat the flesh of thy daughter, to the confusion of thy countenance. Urban said: Either adore the gods, or I will make thee perish by various torments, and he will not snatch thee from my hands, he whom the Jews killed. Christina said: O impious one and without God, dost thou not know that the Son of the living God descended from heaven for our sake, to free us from death? For his sake I endure these punishments, who shall lay low thy tyranny under my feet.

ANNOTATIONS.

* elsewhere "affer" bring.

CHAPTER II.

She is tortured with new torments; she grinds an idol to pieces; she converts many heathen; she walks in the fire; she overcomes asps; she raises a dead man; she pours out milk instead of blood; she is slain with arrows.

In prayer and patience she suffers all the torments. But her father, not bearing the insult, ordered her to be stretched on the wheel, and commanded her to be burned with fire. But she worshipped from the midst of the fire, and said: Do not forsake me in this contest, O Father of the Lord Jesus Christ, but stretch forth thy hand, and let the angels extinguish this fire, and let it not prevail against me. And when she had prayed, the fire which had surrounded her consumed round about the worshippers of the idols, about five hundred souls ^a; but the fire touched her in nothing. And Urban, calling her, said: Whence didst thou learn so great an art of sorceries? Christina said: Christ taught this patience, who is the light of the blind, the life of the dead, the joy of the afflicted. In his name I conquer the power of thy father the devil. Urban, hearing this, ordered her to be received again into prison; and while she was there, three angels appeared to her: and coming, they refreshed her, and restored her body with spiritual food. Holy Christina prayed to the Lord, saying: Lord my God, heavenly author, healer of secret wounds, I know and acknowledge that thou art mindful of me, and hast sent the meal of salvation through thy holy angels, who have comforted me and restored my bowels.

[11] Cast into the sea, she is received by angels, is baptized, [her father dies.] But during the night her father Urban sent five servants, and ordered her to be bound to a stone, and commanded her to be cast into the middle of the sea: and when this was done, the stone was burst apart, and she was received by angels, and so was borne on her feet upon the waters of the sea, and prayed, saying: Lord Jesus Christ, show thy marvels, and bid me receive the seal of baptism ^b in this hour, that, reborn through the laver of sanctification, and cleansed from original filth, I may receive the spirit of redemption. And a voice came to her, saying: Christina, the Lord has heard thy prayer: and there was sent to her a crown from heaven, and a purple robe, and she clothed herself, and the angels went before her, giving forth an odor of sweetness: and again she prayed, saying: Lord Jesus Christ, who art without stain, who for the sake of thy handmaid hast today deigned to show thy majesty upon these waters, that through the laver of sanctification I might receive the remission of sins, hear me, and repay Urban this night according to what he has done to me, for tomorrow he wishes me to perish ^c. And saying these things, she came to the shore of the sea, and the servants found her, and led her back again into prison. But her father, in that night, tormented and wounded, gave up the ghost.

[12] But holy Christina, when she had heard that he was dead, she is afflicted with new torments under Dion, said: I give thee thanks, Lord Jesus Christ, because thou hast heard thy handmaid, and hast sent Urban to the Tartarus of hell, where is the gnashing of teeth and the weeping of eyes: and he has been made far from the reward of the Saints. But after some time there came another judge in the place of Urban, by name Dion, a worshipper of idols and a persecutor of Christians: and when the deeds of holy Christina were read to him by [his] office, he began to consider and to say: Behold, how great and unconquered torments she has endured, and has despised the commands of the emperors. What then shall I do to her, to convert her to the gods? And calling her to himself, he said with soft speech: Child Christina, thou art well born, and descending from royal stock; what error has invaded thee, that thou shouldst forsake the merciful gods, and, on account of the worship of one man, who, having endured persecution from city to city, was also stoned [*], shouldst be willing to endure many perils? Who will not even be able to help thee. Hear me, and adore the gods; and let them be propitiated toward thy sins: but if thou wilt not, I will make thee perish by various punishments, and thy God will not snatch thee from my hands. Holy Christina said: O unclean one and without God, Christ, whom thou hast not before thy eyes, will free me from thy hands.

[13] Then the judge, moved with anger, ordered her to be beaten with cudgels. she is beaten with cudgels, roasted on a fiery gridiron, but is not harmed. Christina said: O horrible countenance and wicked aspect, thou dost not blush to inflict such torments of punishments on me, that through my Lord Jesus Christ I may conquer thee, as I did thy brother Urban. The judge said: I still endure thy insult, in case thou shouldst perchance be converted to the gods, and obtain mercy. Christina said: What is thy name? The judge said: Dion. Christina said: For thou hast the name of the idols and of the blind ^d. Then the angered judge ordered a fiery iron gridiron to be brought, and commanded her to sit upon it, that her tender limbs might be consumed by the fire; but the fire did not touch her. The judge said: Thou seest, Christina, all these things; how the gods bear with thee, so that the fire does not touch thee? Christina said: My Lord Jesus Christ works these things, who shall send thee into the darkness, where thy brother Urban is tormented. Then the judge ordered her, her hair being removed, to be made bald ^e, and dragged naked through the public places. The women, seeing these things, cried out, saying: Thou judgest unjustly and confoundest the race of women. Holy Christina, looking into heaven, said: I give thee thanks, Lord Jesus Christ, who hast made me worthy on this day to become a spectacle to all, that all may know that I am thy handmaid.

[14] [By her prayers she grinds the idol of Apollo to pieces, a great multitude is converted, and the judge is punished,] Again the judge said: Come with me, Christina, and adore the great god Apollo: and coming into the temple, Christina, raising her hands to heaven, prayed, saying: Heavenly God, father of my Lord Jesus Christ, who by a word madest all things, who didst descend upon the waters of the sea, and didst illuminate me through the laver of sanctification; grind this idol to pieces. And while she was saying these things, the idol fell before her feet, and became dust; and many of the heathen, seeing it, believed in God, and said with a loud voice: God of heaven, and his Son, Lord Jesus Christ, bid us be converted to thee, that we may be able to come to thee, and may believe in thee, for we have greatly erred from thee. And there believed on that day seven thousand men ^f. But the judge, terrified at the fact that Apollo had perished, being brought into a derangement of mind, gave up the ghost. Then his assessor ordered holy Christina to be shut up in prison.

[15] She walks in a kindled furnace, At another time there came another judge, himself also an impious defender of the idols and adversary of the Christians, by name Julian: and when he had read the deeds of holy Christina, he ordered her to stand before his tribunal; and he said to her: I have heard that thou hast done many things by magic art: now therefore draw near, and adore the eternal gods: but if thou wilt not, I will make thee perish, and he who was born of Joseph will not help thee. Holy Christina said: Thou shalt not tempt me with thy words. Then Julian, armed with the counsel of the devil, ordered a furnace to be kindled for three days, and ordered her to be cast thither; and holy Christina was walking in the furnace with an angel, and glorified the Lord: and a loud voice resounded from the furnace; and when the soldiers heard it, terrified, they announced to Julian, saying: Great terrors and cries come forth from the furnace. But when he had heard these things, he ordered the furnace to be opened, and they found her as one coming forth from the baths; and they led her before the tribunal: to whom Julian said: Tell me, Christina, how didst thou overcome the nature of the fires amid the punishments by sorceries? Christina said: I have the Lord as my helper; therefore I do not fear thy terrors.

[16] she overcomes asps, which fawn upon the Saint, but slay the sorcerer, Julian ordered two Marsi ^g to be brought, and let loose upon her two asps ^h, and said to her: Wilt thou be able to overcome these beasts also? Christina said: O incredulous and senseless one, why dost thou not acknowledge the power of God? And I believe in my God, that even now he will deign to be present; and he will conquer thy tyranny. And

two serpents, running, bound together her feet, and licked her footprints: and two asps, running, hung themselves upon her breasts, like suckling infants ⁱ: and they did not harm her. Holy Christina, looking into heaven, said: I give thee thanks, Lord Jesus Christ, my light, who hast deigned to overcome the devil through me. Julian said to the Marsian: Art not thou also a magician? Provoke the beasts strongly, that they may devour her. The Marsian provoked them with his incantations; but those beasts, making an assault upon him, killed him, and no one dared to drive away the serpents. Christina, prayer being made, said to the serpents: In the name of my Lord Jesus Christ, go each of you to your places, and harm and touch no one.

[17] [whom she herself recalls to life; from her cut-off breasts she pours out milk instead of blood] And after this she prayed: Lord Jesus Christ, who didst raise Lazarus dead four days, hear me thy handmaid, and raise this dead man; and she grasped his hands, and said: Raise him now, O Christ, that all who see may glorify thy name; and a voice came from heaven, saying: Trust, Christina, and act manfully; whatever thou shalt ask of me shall be given thee. And suddenly the earth gave a rumbling. Then blessed Christina, touching the dead man, cried out, saying: To thee I say, arise, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. And straightway he arose, and, prostrate at her feet, said: I give thanks to thy God ^k. Then Julian said to Christina: Show [] me thy sorceries; and [] be converted to the gods. Christina said: O senseless one, and estranged from the fear of God; why do thy blind eyes not see the power of God? Julian, moved with anger, ordered her breasts to be cut off. Christina said: O stony and abominable heart, thou hast ordered my breasts to be cut off; look and see, for instead of blood milk has flowed down to the ground. And after this he ordered her to be received into prison; and the women came, and found her sitting, meditating on the words of the Lord: and they fell down at her feet, of whom seven matrons believed ^l.

[18] And when morning had come, Julian ordered her to be presented to his sight, at last, struck with arrows, she consummates her martyrdom. and said: Christina, thy time is fulfilled: be converted to the gods. Christina said: Henceforth there is no rest for thee, neither in this world nor in the world to come. Then Julian ordered her tongue to be cut off. Holy Christina, looking into heaven, said: My Lord, look upon thy handmaid, and bid me consummate my course in this contest. And a voice came from heaven, saying: Come, receive eternal rest, and the reward, and the crown of thy confession. Hearing this voice, Julian, moved with anger, ordered her tongue to be cut off; and holy Christina, receiving her tongue from the executioners, threw it in Julian's face, and struck his eyes, and he was made blind ^m. And holy Christina said to him: Julian, thou didst desire to eat the organ of my body, whence praises were sung to my Lord: therefore, coming into thy face, it has blinded thy eyes and thy conscience. Then the angered Julian shot two arrows into her, one at her heart, and another against her side, and when she was struck, with joy she gave up the ghost. But there came a certain man of her kindred, who himself also had believed in the Lord through blessed Christina, and embalmed the body with spices; and placed her in an excellent place, on the 14th [*] day before the Kalends of August ⁿ.

ANNOTATIONS.

* perhaps "colaphizatus" buffeted.

* elsewhere "ostendisti" thou hast shown.

* elsewhere "veni &" come and.

* read IX.

THE TRANSLATION OF THE BODY

From Tyrus in Italy, as they will have it, to Beuvry in Artois, taken from the manuscript Lectionary of the priory of Beuvry near Béthune, which belongs to the Vedastines, written by an anonymous author.

Christina, virgin and martyr, at Tyrus near Bolsena, as they will have it, in Tuscany (St.)

BHL Number: 1761

FROM THE MANUSCRIPT.

This translation we touched on not cursorily in the preliminary Commentary from number 30; concerning which, since certain points offered themselves to me needing elucidation, Various notices pertaining to the matter, sent from elsewhere, it seemed good to have recourse by letters to the Reverend Father Rector of our college at Béthune, J. B. du Cambge, given on March 12, in the year 1725, to which he replied most promptly and most kindly, although at that time he was wholly engaged in apostolic labors, on the 30th day of the same month, spending the first day free from works of charity in visiting the place, and in inquiring into the rest, about which I had asked to be informed. I had asked, 1, whether and what cult St. Christina had there? He replied that she is venerated there, and with a great concourse flowing in from all sides. To the 2nd, whether that body is still there, or at least is thought to be? He replies, nearly the whole is said to be there, except certain bones, which the abbot of St. Vedast at Arras wished to be kept in the abbey. I myself, he says, saw two silver reliquaries inserted in the high altar of the said priory, in which the Prior himself asserted that that body was contained, and a silver arm placed in the middle of the altar between those reliquaries, in which the bones of the arm of St. Christina are contained, and are kissed through the glass.

[2] To the 3rd, concerning the village Eka, which is named below at number 8, and which I had sought in vain, he replies: the village Eka itself (they write Echa), situated on a mountain, these things are premised here. lies adjacent to the priory of Beuvry, and from the priory itself, which is also situated on a mountain, I saw the church of that village Echa: only a valley lies between, in which are still had the walls of the parish of St. Peter. This church belongs to the village of Beuvry, and in it the parishioners were buried… It is to be noted that Eka and Echa are pronounced the same way. To the 4th, on the occasion of what is said at number 9 about blessed Amatus; to the question whether Eka has St. Amatus as patron? He replies that it had [him], when the parish priest of that village received these relics. To the 5th, concerning the monastery in Eka or on Mount Ekensis, of which there is treatment at number 11, he replies: I have not heard that there was any other monastery than the one in the valley itself near the church of St. Peter, in which the monks of Charroux dwelt. But in Echa the altar formerly of St. Amatus (of whom there is mention next in the same place) has now been changed into an altar of St. Vedast. From other things written to me by the praised Rector of the college, some will be thrown into the annotations under the name of the Béthune notices. It remains that we subjoin the history of the translation, such as it is, which Rayssius contracted into a compendium in his Supplement to the Natal Days of the Saints of Belgium of John Molanus, folio 143. The ancient

chapters are here noted in the margin.

Chapter I

[3] Since, most beloved, it is most worthy always and everywhere to magnify the glory of the Lord, to the praise of his name; The author's prologue. we have taken care to make known to the whole church, with an affection of pious devotion, the deeds of the glorious virgin and martyr Christina, that, as the King of kings and Lord of lords, our God — when for us the virgin Christina, afflicted with many torments, notably triumphed over the satellites of the devil, over the glory of the world, over the unrest of the flesh — he himself also may be glorified always and everywhere through the victory of that Virgin. And because an illustrious description of the most sacred passion of that Virgin survives, we have set ourselves to explain not only this, by the attestations of our predecessors and also of writers, how the holy relics of her body entered into these foreign parts. Here there followed a compendium of the Passion, drawn out through two chapters, which we mentioned in the preliminary Commentary; but, that being cut away, let us proceed to the translation, and to chapter 4.

IV.

[4] Now it happened that two foreign ^a men, Two foreigners as the truth of the matter is attested by the mouth of many, were passing through the parts of the Tyrian ^b city; and, learning from the mouth of the few who survived after the Vandal ^c persecution the great deeds of the excellent Virgin, they resolved to go to her sepulchre and to adore there. Coming, therefore, to the sepulchre, they prayed for a while; and seeing that scarcely anyone survived ^d whom they might fear, they considered among themselves that they might carry off thence with them the treasure hidden there.

[5] emptying the tomb of St. Christina Made bolder, they empty the tomb, and found a little casket of exceeding lightness, sealed with a golden seal, and golden letters attesting that in that little vessel the head with the limbs, that is, the whole body of the blessed martyr Christina, was hidden. Made gladder, therefore, they take the bier, and as quickly as they can, slip away from the place, hastily withdraw with the treasure, very fearful of delay lest they be endangered. Glad indeed, but not slow in departing, nay wholly safe, was their advance, because the illustrious virgin and martyr Christina, in her own body, led them along. As to weight, they did not feel the burden prejudicial, on account of its exceeding lightness, because it seemed to them that the sacred Virgin, who was being carried, herself entirely helped them to carry her.

[6] they transfer her body The two foreign men, therefore, withdraw with the body of the holy martyr of Christ, Christina, which they had taken from the Virgin's own monument, and hasten to return to their own country: for they had resolved to enrich their native land ^e with so great a treasure. What encounters they had in the first stage of their flight, or how they escaped the Italian region, we pass over in silence ^f, because we hasten to those things which happened in modern times: for we have determined to write only those things which seem to pertain to this feast-day, and rather those which can be supported by clear testimony ^g.

[7] into the parts of Flanders, by the Virgin's prompting, as is believed. This, however, we know for certain, that with that treasure they could by no means prosper otherwise than as God, or that same Virgin, had arranged. For if they had had a journey agreeable to their own will, they would already, with that treasure, by a prosperous course, have entered their native land ^h, as they had resolved. But the pious Virgin, who permitted herself to be taken by them from her own place, had from then determined with herself where she wished to be relocated. And therefore, as she willed, she furnished them with aids for the journey, and, whither it pleased [her], made them turn aside. Thence, as we believe, by the prompting of the blessed Virgin, her holy relics were carried to the parts of Flanders, and, by the pious will of our Lord Jesus Christ, remained; how which happened, the following discourse will declare.

[8] There were, therefore, two men who took away the blessed relics of the illustrious Virgin from her own little place; but one of them being hindered by sickness, but one of the two remaining behind on the journey, on account, as they say, of a great sickness, the other alone entered the borders of Flanders with his treasure, and in the village of Béthune ⁱ, with a certain priest, evening compelling, was lodged. That man, therefore, who had brought with him from Italy the body of the blessed virgin and martyr Christina, turned aside, lodging, with a certain priest in the parish which by the surrounding inhabitants is called Eka ^k.

[9] But while he was resting there with his treasure, he was oppressed by a slight infirmity. [the other, having set out into Flanders, and fallen into sickness, secretly buries the Saint's body;] Thence greatly disturbed, he did not know what he could do with his treasure, and, awaiting some relief of his infirmity, he disclosed his secret to no one. But hoping that after a long time he would recover, having entered the oratory which the priest served, behind the altar of blessed Amatus ^l, in whose honor the place was frequented, he alone diligently buried his treasure, the casket still sealed with the golden seal, and not even then would he reveal it to anyone.

[10] But after a long time of his languor, when he saw himself drawing near to his departure, and he being snatched from life, some priest finds it, he called the priest, his host, and revealed to him all, as they had happened, with a great groan. And, confession being made, as befitted a Christian, and supported by the saving sacraments, he departed from this life, and was buried there with reverence by the priest and the inhabitants. The priest, therefore, very solicitous about the secret committed to him, would not so quickly indicate to anyone what he had heard, but at length, acting more maturely, taking with him certain faithful men of good testimony, came to the place designated to him, and, digging, found the casket well secured with the golden seal, and all things as his aforesaid host, now deceased, had foretold to him in a true confession. But the priest kept the casket with him, by the counsel of the good, whole, as he had found it, for some days, nor did he presume to break it open, until the dignity of the relics should be more evidently shown by some sign.

VI.

[11] Since, therefore, the priest, to whom the body of the glorious virgin and martyr Christina had been committed by such a chance, [and he transfers it to the monastery on Mount Ekensis, where she shines with miracles.] dwelt at a crossroads upon a public path, and since his church or dwelling was of no strength, lest in any way he should be defrauded of so great a treasure, he transferred the casket itself, whole and sealed as he had found it, to another ^m monastery of the same parish, which on Mount Ekensis was at that time fortified with stone walls and a great fortification, by the counsel of the good, and there, behind the altar of St. Vedast ⁿ, whose prayers flourished there, he diligently buried it under the ground, in the testimony of many ^o. From then, and thenceforth, a most sweet odor very often sprinkled that place, and many times heavenly songs were heard there, and by night sometimes the tomb itself shone with an unexpected brightness: thus it is recognized to have lain there for several years; until God, the God of all gods, the most high King, glorified her by a more evident miracle.

[12] A blind woman recovers her sight: There was in inner Flanders a certain woman of good repute, who had lost the light of her eyes, and in blindness had almost grown old for several years. When she, one day, sitting in a chamber, was lamenting over her blindness in anxiety of heart, being as it were brought into an ecstasy of mind, she heard a voice saying to her: Woman, why weepest thou? And the woman answered: How should I not weep, how should I not grieve, who sit in darkness, and see not the light of heaven? And the voice to the woman: If thou wilt, it says, be freed from thy blindness as soon as possible, hasten thy journey, and go to the village which is commonly called Eka; and there at the tomb of the glorious virgin and martyr Christina, with pious prayers, offer devout supplications: and straightway, by the Virgin's intervention, thou shalt be freed from thy blindness. Hearing which, the woman, made joyful, straightway took the prescribed journey. When, therefore, the blind woman had taken her journey, she came to the village promised to her, by name Eka, entered the oratory, and, humbly keeping watch at the tomb of the virgin Christina, did not cease to offer prayers and supplications unceasingly, with groans and tears.

[13] the report of this miracle, spread abroad, is propagated in every direction. Soon the divine power was present to her, and by the intervention of the most pious virgin and martyr of Christ, Christina, all blindness being entirely driven off, she received the whole light of her eyes. What joy, what gladness then happened there, who can explain in words? All exulted in the Lord; all gave thanks, and especially that woman, who, in proof of the miracle, showed herself enlightened to all. For some while the woman kept watch there in testimony of the miracle. But at length, rendering immense thanks, as much as she could, to God and to the blessed Virgin — she who had come blind by another's guidance — rejoicing and exulting, the light of her eyes being more fully received, she returned to her own home. The report of this miracle, therefore, struck the whole region, and especially the noble men who were nearer, of Beuvry, who at that time shone forth all around in opulence of goods and in the pursuit of military discipline.

VII.

[14] But these, imbued with a good emulation, transferred the body of the glorious virgin Christina from Eka to Beuvry by a manly effort, [the body, translated to Beuvry, is guarded by monks summoned thither from elsewhere:] and relocated it more honorably in the oratory of blessed Peter. But afterward the noble men of the same village conferred, by their own free grant, so much of their possessions to the Blessed Virgin in alms, whereby three monks could live, and there serve God and the blessed Virgin throughout the ages. And because at that time the church of Charroux [p] had acquired for itself a name of good repute and of great religion, they led away three monks from there, and entrusted to them the body of the sacred virgin Christina, with all the benefices which they had conferred on God and the Virgin [q]. After, therefore, the monks of Charroux came to Beuvry, they built for themselves a cloister and the other buildings suitable for the monastic life next to the monastery of blessed Peter [r], and most fittingly prepared the place for serving God and the holy virgin Christina, whose relics rested there, as the monastic custom required.

[15] And when now for several years they had greatly advanced in the exaltation of their church, by whose power a fire is extinguished. the devil, envious of all good things, stirred up on all sides a great fire; which, with a great impulse of the winds, like a violent storm, tried to consume the workshops [s] of the monks, and all the surrounding buildings. And when the fire could not be extinguished even with waters, the more faithful Christians held forth the relics of the most blessed Martyr of Christ before the flames raging beyond measure, and while the rest invoked St. Christina with tears, soon in a wonderful manner the power of the relics prevailed over the fire, and after the great danger there was, at the sudden deliverance, a huge exultation. By these evident signs of this kind, therefore, the grace of Christ going before, the cult and reverence of the glorious Virgin increased everywhere.

VIII.

[16] Thereupon the noble men of Beuvry, because in the cemetery of blessed Peter their dead could be buried only in the waters, the people of Beuvry build a church in her honor: a crippled woman is healed. by the counsel and will of the monks, built on the height near the village a church of the holy martyr Christina, and a cemetery for the use of the dead,

and reverently placed the relics of the blessed Virgin in that church; but also the dwellings of the monks were restored there: nor did the blessed Virgin remain there without a miracle. For there was in the same village a woman miserably crippled, whom the whole acquaintance of the village had never seen walk without little stools [t]. She frequently lay down, for the sake of recovering her health, before the relics of the martyr St. Christina, seeking with deep groans that through her she might be restored to the long-desired soundness. What more? The day of relief came; and when all rose and went out, she too, by the aid of the illustrious Virgin and Martyr, sprang up onto her feet, and, wonderfully raised, incited all to the praise and glory of God and of the blessed Virgin [u]. These and such marvels Jesus Christ works through blessed Christina, when he wills. Now may she herself deign to obtain for us, that here without stain, and forever with glory, we may live and rejoice, both now, and always, and through all ages of ages. Amen.

ANNOTATIONS.

p. Of the monastery of St. Salvator of Charroux among the Pictones Poitou, commonly Charroux, Mabillon often makes mention in the Annals of the Order of St. Benedict. Of those monks summoned to the Morini the same author treats in volume 5 of the Annals, at the year 1084; where the theft of another sacred relic, nearly similar to some extent to that of which we spoke a little before here, is recounted. As regards the time at which the praised monks came to that priory, the Rector of our college at Béthune affirms in the notices sent to us from there: As far as I could conjecture, the Benedictines of Charroux were in that priory in the year 1100; but nothing is known for certain about their coming: and he adds that for a hundred and fifty years the Vedastine monks have been in this priory.

q. That is, they gave, or furnished: it is a Gallicism from "livrer," or rather "délivrer."

r. The author again spreads darkness, in that he does not further determine that monastery.

s. Hence gather that this monastery was of some note; concerning which, however, I could find nothing in the Benedictine Annals in Mabillon.

t. That word means a footstool: but properly, both here and elsewhere, it is used for those little stools on which those who crawl lean with their hands. Du Cange gives examples in the Glossary.

u. Concerning the statue of the Saint, erected by the people of Beuvry — which is an indication of a most pious and no recent affection toward her — the praised Rector thus records in his Béthune notices: I myself went to the place in which is situated .. the little shrine, which is like a square column of a height of seven or eight feet, made of bricks. It contains three bricks in width: there is a niche in the topmost part of the column, in which is placed the statue of St. Christina: this little shrine is distant about two hundred paces from the priory: it is in the middle of the road: a most pleasant fountain washes the foot of that column: for many years it has so threatened ruin that it can scarcely be conceived how the water, which has corroded nearly all the stones of the foundation, and the huge storms which they have experienced there, have not yet thrown it down. Only with a stake, for many years, have the inhabitants propped up this falling column: the stake, though rotten and far too weak to sustain so great a weight, resists all injuries.

* Charroux?

THE TRANSLATION

Of the Head of St. Christina, virgin and martyr, from Tyrus in Italy, as is thought, to the convent of Herzebrock of the diocese of Osnabrück in Westphalia.

Christina, virgin and martyr, at Tyrus near Bolsena, as they will have it, in Tuscany (St.)

BHL Number: 1762

FROM THE MANUSCRIPT.

In the preliminary Commentary there was abundant treatment of the various translations of the Saint: whence what pertains hither is to be drawn. Notice of the instrument here given. Our John Gamans sent us the instrument, writing in these words from Paderborn on April 19; the year is not added: Absent for eight days, I returned yesterday, and not without holy fruit: for at Herzebrock, in the monastery of virgins, I found the wholly miraculous translation of the Head of St. Christina, martyr of Tyre, from Italy to Osnabrück, and thence made to this monastery in the year of Christ 900 by Egilmar the fifth (nay, the sixth, at least according to the annotations to be given below, letter a) bishop of Osnabrück, who was miraculously freed from blindness in the same monastery. Joined to the instrument of translation I find certain annotations about the foundation of that monastery, with a catalogue of the abbesses, written in German; to which is appended this: These things were copied from a certain copy extracted from the letters of foundation, and formerly transmitted to the bishop of Osnabrück. There follow annotations expressed in Latin. Those which will be to our purpose we shall throw into the annotations. Behold for you now the instrument, collated with another copy of the same subject:

[2] Egilmar [*] ^a, bishop of Osnabrück, once about to set out into Italy, by the disposing of divine providence, this Head carried to Osnabrück, came to Tyrus ^b, and there was given to him, with very many other relics, the Head of the holy virgin and martyr Christina: which he received with immense joy and thanksgiving. When, therefore, he returned to Osnabrück ^c, he caused an altar to be built to the honor of God and of the most blessed virgin Christina, placing the most holy Head upon it. And when, the night being passed (the glowing radiance of the sun being spread abroad over the lands), he had returned to the church, and had found the most holy Head before the altar, he wondered, and, raising it with great reverence, placed it again upon the altar. But on the second day, entering the church, he again found the most holy Head before the altar. And when, on the third [day], the sun being restored to the lands, he had found it thus, he was greatly terrified.

[3] Considering, therefore, so great a miracle, admonished by divine inspiration, by a miracle it is transferred he raised the casket in which the venerable Head was kept, and placing it on the back of an untamed horse, he bound it with the firmest ropes he could, and so let the brute animal go without any driver; but the bishop himself with his servants followed from afar, to explore whither at last the Head would arrive. For by most manifest signs he had learned that the venerable Head had chosen another place for its rest. But the irrational animal, by divine impulse and disposition, was driven toward Herzebrock ^d, and came at last to the place where now the high altar is; in which at that time was a thorn-bush, producing wild roses, which was afterward surrounded by the wall of that altar. At that thorn-bush the horse halted, and approaching nearer, by moving its back, tried to lay down the burden, as if it said: This is the place which God foresaw, and which the holy virgin Christina chose.

[4] at Herzebrock; Then the bishop, with a troop of servants accompanying, drew near, took down from the back of the untamed horse the little casket in which the venerable relics were kept, and placed it in that same rose-bearing thorn-bush. Then in the same place a little shrine was built in honor of the holy virgin Christina, in which the coffer, full of the holy Head, was placed most firmly locked with great reverence, and lights were always kindled there. And this same monastery was burned down twice, before it was built in this place.

[5] where Egilmar, bishop of Osnabrück, Afterward, when the bishop Egilmar saw that the holy relics had chosen that place, and heard the wonderful signs and miracles which God was working through the holy virgin and martyr Christina; he came at a certain time to Herzebrock, desiring to see the holy Head. To whom the virgins answered, saying that they did not willingly display the Head, except on the day which is sacred to St. Christina. Which the bishop, taking ill, said: Although this virgin Christina is holy, and great and powerful with God, yet she is not so holy and good as the venerable Sacrament of our Lord Jesus Christ, of which the opportunity of seeing is given us daily. When he persisted in such things to the aforesaid virgins, and remained fixed, most insistently persevering in his petition, and the virgins did not dare to resist him, they handed over to him the chest, and the key with which it was locked.

[6] uncovering it at an unseasonable time, he is made blind. He, therefore, taking it, the virgins not giving their consent, opened it: and, behold, as soon as, the casket being opened, he had gazed upon the holy Head, he was deprived of both eyes: for his eyes, stripped from their sockets, still small, fixed by little veins like purple threads, hung down as far as his cheeks. Terrified and astonished at seeing this miracle, he fell down on bent knees, imploring the holy virgin Christina that she would intercede for him with our Lord Jesus Christ, that he might recover his sight; promising that he would hold her in veneration all the days of his life, and that, for love and veneration of her, he would give to the monastery some estate, which we at present have in possession ^e. He asked also for the prayers of the abbess and of all the virgins on his behalf to Christina, which he both obtained, and a vow,

which he had vowed to blessed Christina, he paid with immense joy.

[7] In preference to a more adorned coffer A certain abbess of this monastery afterward, by name Siburga ^f, in honor of the blessed virgin Christina, had a coffer made, gilded and shining on all sides with beautiful images by the sculptor's art. When, therefore, the sacred feast-day of the same Virgin was celebrated, the abbess, with all reverence and devotion, displayed the venerable relics after the accustomed manner; afterward she shut the holy Head in the gilded little casket, keeping nevertheless that little blackish casket in which the holy Head had been carried from Italy and Tyre, and upon the back of the untamed horse, to Herzebrock. But the venerable abbess firmly locked the gilded chest: and, behold, the year having revolved, when the most celebrated day of blessed Christina returned in its recurring course, [and] knocked at the doors, the abbess approached the gilded coffer, about to display the holy relics. But when she had unlocked it, and had not found the sacred relics, she was astounded, and her voice stuck in her throat, and she was terrified beyond measure, and, not containing herself for astonishment at so great a miracle, could not sufficiently wonder.

[8] At length, opening the blackish coffer, she found in it that immense treasure of the holy relics. that the less adorned [coffer pleased the Saint is declared by a miracle:] From which thing the abbess understood the exceptional humility of St. Christina, and considered that she wished to rest in the black coffer, in which she had been brought to us, and to have no other place of rest, and in the same she rests at present: and, wonderful to say, that although so great spaces of times have rolled by since it came to us ^g, it endures whole and free from all stain of corruption. Another coffer, however, full of relics and bones, was translated to us at the same time with the Head of blessed Christina, which very many years ago was broken and shattered. When this monastery was still situated in another place, the abbess carried the Head of the holy virgin Christina from the little shrine into the church, which in the morning she found again in the little shrine. This happened to her also a third time.

[9] Afterward a certain abbess held the primacy here, she is chosen patroness of the monastery and village of Herzebrock. by name Odradis ^h, in whose times this monastery, which was then situated in a place called Udenbrinck, was consumed by fire. She, taking counsel with all the virgins, resolved to follow the holy relics: for she had foreseen by open signs that the holy Virgin had chosen this place, and did not wish to be in any other place. That monastery had been so utterly burned that they were compelled to rebuild it entirely anew. The aforesaid abbess, therefore, relying on the counsel of her friends, and of Albert her parish priest, who also conferred many resources to this end, and on the aid of the other provosts of the monastery, began to build a monastery in honor of God, and of his blessed Mother Mary, and also of the holy virgin Christina, in the place in which the little shrine had been before. Finally the high altar was built in the place of the rose-bearing thorn-bush, in which the steed had deposited the holy Head. Through these things it came to pass that the sacred Virgin became the supreme patroness of this monastery, and of the whole parish. We are unable, therefore, to render due thanks to God, who has enriched us with so great a jewel ⁱ. Therefore let us beseech the holy and venerable Virgin that she may deign to obtain for us from God so to live here, that we may deserve to come to the joys of eternal felicity. Amen.

Hail, resplendent among the virginal companies, Christina, holy by thy exceptional merits.

ANNOTATIONS.

* elsewhere "Egilmarus."

* elsewhere "ostendere" to show.

* elsewhere "præstaret."

* elsewhere "ostentura" about to display.

* elsewhere "the holy Head was brought."