Martyrs

ON THE HOLY MARTYRS

MAURUS THE BISHOP, PANTALEEMON, AND SERGIUS.

AT VIGILIÆ IN APULIA.

Under Trajan.

PRELIMINARY COMMENTARY.

Maurus, bishop and Martyr, at Vigiliæ in Apulia (St.)

Pantaleemon, Martyr, at Vigiliæ in Apulia (St.)

Sergius, Martyr, at Vigiliæ in Apulia (St.)

BY P. B.

§ I. Their cult among the people of Vigiliæ, and its antiquity.

Vigiliæ, commonly Biseglia, is a coastal city of the Peucetii in the province of the Terra di Bari, situated between Molfetta and Trani, five miles from the metropolitan see of Trani, set upon high cliffs … inhabited by 1272 families. Its souls are reckoned at eleven thousand. The cult of these saints was first announced in the reformed Roman Martyrology. The city is of considerable size … The bishopric of Vigiliæ is very ancient, and is a suffragan of the archbishop of Trani. The cathedral basilica, dedicated to SS. Peter and Paul, stands within the city, of ancient and modest construction; it has, however, been restored and adorned, and is sufficiently furnished with sacred appointments. Here are preserved the sacred bones of SS. Maurus the bishop and his fellow Martyrs. These and further matters are related by Ughelli in his Italia Sacra, recently enlarged and reprinted, vol. 7, col. 935 and following. The most illustrious Sarnelli, however, asserts in his Arca Testamenti, book 1, chapter 5, and elsewhere, that the cathedral church was dedicated solely to St. Peter the apostle. As for the Martyrs here mentioned, the Roman Martyrology which the Church now uses announces them thus on this 27th day of July: "At Vigiliæ in Apulia, the holy martyrs Maurus the bishop, Pantaleemon, and Sergius, who suffered under Trajan." The more recent Ferrarius and Castellanus follow the Roman, likewise employing the name Pantaleemon; which we too have followed in our title, although we are not unaware that in all the authentic documents and the Offices of Vigiliæ the name is consistently rendered Pantaleon, not Pantaleemon (or rather Panteleemon) — a name which, as is related in his Acts, was properly bestowed upon St. Pantaleon of Nicomedia by a voice fallen from heaven a little before his death.

[2] We have sought in vain among the martyrologists for older traces of their cult: since among the older writers he appears to be unknown, for we have found no mention of them anywhere among these writers before the reformation of the Roman Martyrology; not even in the Usuardus of the Pulsanese monks — to whom, as we shall see, the Acts of our Martyrs were rather well known — which we possess in a sufficiently ancient parchment manuscript, augmented with native saints. Much less do we think they are treated in the manuscript Martyrology of Monte Cassino, whatever our Predecessors may have thought otherwise in the Prætermissi at the 2nd of May, where that manuscript reads thus: "The birthday of SS. the Martyrs Maurus and his Companions." For if this were to be understood of our saints, the title of bishop would be added to St. Maurus, as it is customarily added to other bishops there. Furthermore it is false that either the birthday, or the discovery, or any other festival of our Martyrs fell on the 2nd of May, as will appear below. Besides, this was either written after the first discovery of our Martyrs, or before it: if the former, how could the true birthday of them have been unknown to that martyrologist; how would he also have omitted their other feasts? If the latter, why should he have written "Maurus and his Companions" and not rather "Sergius and his Companions," just as their church is said to have been then named, according to Amandus below in chapter 1, no. 20? Either, therefore, some unknown Maurus is here announced, or perhaps the one of Reims, who is treated of with his Companions in the Roman Martyrology on the 22nd of August.

[3] Yet there can be no doubt at all that for many centuries their public veneration preceded the recension of the Roman Martyrology: it is nevertheless very ancient; for from the year of Christ 1167, in which they were discovered, in which they were translated a third time by the bishop of Vigiliæ, and were laid in the cathedral church itself, in an oratory then erected for them, each beneath his own altar with solemn pomp, the honors instituted for them have constantly increased, as will be clear from the history to be set forth below. And if that be true which the monks, sworn upon oath, affirmed to Amandus below in the Prologue, no. 5 — namely, that their Acts had been read long before their discovery; and likewise that which is affirmed by the same author in chapter 1, no. 20, concerning the sacred edifice of Blessed Sergius and his Companions, once demolished by the Saracens: these things, I say, if they are true, it will then be most difficult to find the beginning of their veneration, however interrupted it may have been, unless it be traced back from about the very time of their glorious martyrdom.

[4] It flourished anew and took on fresh splendor in the year 1475, when their disinterred bodies, by the prodigy of a perpetually flowing salutary liquor — and indeed a very solemn one — as the history of the second discovery will prove, drew to themselves the hearts and confidence of all. Leander Alberti also attests this in his Apulia Peucetia, where, treating of Vigiliæ (which he writes that he visited in the year 1525) and of the bones of our Saints, lately uncovered by the duke of Andria, he says: "How great was the concourse of the neighboring peoples when they were discovered, both to see and adore so precious a treasure of this kind, and to obtain grace from God through the merits of those Saints, can scarcely be told. And Christ Jesus gave the highest glory to the name of these Martyrs by His immense kindness toward those who came to visit them when found, and prayed for some matter."

[5] The most illustrious Pompeo Sarnelli, bishop of Vigiliæ, relates in his Monuments of the prelates of his church, published in Italian in the year 1693 — to which the proper Offices were afterward added — where he treats of Mercurius on page 29, that a certain document is in circulation, forged in the name of that same Mercurius, containing a grant of the Office to be recited concerning the holy Martyrs discovered by Amandus. He rightly argues its spuriousness from the fact that the sacred bodies were first discovered by Amandus in the year 1167, that is, more than a whole century after the episcopate of Mercurius, who flourished under Pope Nicholas II in the year 1059. Rightly, I say, he convicts of falsehood that document, by which is feigned the granting of the faculty of reciting an Office concerning a discovery which had not only not yet taken place, but had not even then been thought of. Later, then, and without doubt, did the Offices of these Martyrs begin to be recited at Vigiliæ: nor before the times of Amandus had anything proper concerning them been customarily read in the church of Vigiliæ, not even concerning their birthday or martyrdom, still less concerning the discoveries of their relics or their translation: for these had not yet occurred; but the former was so unknown to Amandus himself, when he composed the history of the first discovery, that below in the Prologue, no. 5, he plainly intimates that he had never found anything written concerning their martyrdom or their Acts. And what of the fact that there were no proper Offices concerning them before the year 1549?

[6] customarily sung on their various festivities; We ourselves certainly first saw the Deeds of the Saints of Vigiliæ rewritten, emended, and reduced to the order of an Office by Brother Marianus of Cava, an Eremite and professor of sacred Theology, on the 23rd of July 1549. These are the words expressed in the rubrics at the foot of the Office, folio 27 verso. This Office contains the history of the first discovery and of the translation composed by Amandus; in such a way that the Prologue is prefixed out of order, and then the Office itself follows from First Vespers. Everything in it is proper except the antiphons of Second Vespers, which are assigned from the Common of Martyrs. Nine proper Lessons are distributed through the three nocturns, and as many through the several days of the octave, by which the whole history of Amandus is run through in order from beginning to end. But on what festival of the Saints this Office was to be recited, the rubrics do not indicate. There is subjoined in the same little book presently another Office on the second discovery of SS. MM. Maurus the pontiff, Pantaleon, and Sergius, which is celebrated on the 20th of October. In this again, from First Vespers, nearly all is proper. The nine Lessons exhibit the history of the second discovery handed down by Daniele Francino. To this Office is subjoined a proper Mass to be celebrated on the same feast, indeed also on the feast of the first discovery; save that a different collect, secret, and postcommunion are added for the latter. There follows the address of Marianus of Cava, the Augustinian Eremite, most courteously offering this little book, composed by himself, to the college of Canons of Vigiliæ. Then once more the antiphons and other proper parts, different from the earlier ones, for First Vespers, together with the invitatory for Matins on the festivities of SS. MM. Maurus the pontiff, Pantaleon, and Sergius. And thus at last the little book is concluded, printed at Venice by Nicolaus de Bascharinis and Jacobus de Paganinis of Brescia, at the expense of the reverend chapter of Vigiliæ, 1550.

[7] And these Offices, at least the proper ones, we judge to be the first for which Gregory XIII substituted others that were recited concerning these Saints at Vigiliæ: until Pope Gregory XIII granted others, drawn up according to the norm of the Roman Breviary, and commended them, enriched with indulgences of a hundred days as often as they should be devoutly read, on the 3rd of November 1580. In these all the festivities of our Martyrs are distinctly noted: for the little book contains three Offices; of which the first pertains to their birthday, on the 27th of July; which is celebrated through the octave with nine Lessons, of which only two of the second nocturn are proper, to be repeated throughout the whole octave, except on the fourth day within it, which is the 30th of July and the feast of the translation of the same Saints, for which there is another Office from First Vespers, and three other Lessons proper for the second nocturn

are set forth. And this second Office is likewise assigned to be performed there also on the day of the first discovery, the 10th of May. The third is on the feast of the second discovery of SS. MM. Maurus the pontiff, Pantaleon, and Sergius, on the 20th of October; where, apart from the antiphons and the collect at Lauds and Vespers, and the three Lessons of the second nocturn, all is from the Common. A Mass is also added, which seems to suit all four festivities, and has nothing peculiar. Finally there is appended the attestation of Cardinal Sirleto concerning the license granted by Gregory XIII to the bishop and Clergy of Vigiliæ to say in choir and outside it the above-written Office of SS. MM. Sergius, Pantaleon, and Maurus, their patrons, drawn up according to the form of the Breviary and emended, both on their birthday throughout the whole diocese, and on the two translations of the same, where their bodies are kept, according to the ancient custom of the church of Vigiliæ.

[8] But these too were subsequently revised by the authority of the congregation of Sacred Rites, and reduced to the order which the congregation of Rites afterward revised and altered which they now hold, and subscribed by the most illustrious and most reverend lord, as is noted at the end, Cardinal Bellarmine … on the 21st of July 1618. Thus altered, they differ from the Gregorian ones: first, in that to the four already-mentioned feasts of the Saints correspond as many different Offices; next, in that in each all things are prescribed from the Common of many Martyrs, except only the collect and the three Lessons of the second nocturn: finally, in that within the octave of their birthday, on days not otherwise impeded, the Lessons from the proper feast are not repeated, but other common ones are substituted in their place. Moreover, concerning the proper Lessons of all these Offices, more will presently be said, when we discuss the Acts of the martyrdom and of the discoveries; where also some things will recur which will seem to bear upon the cult of our Saints and the piety of the people of Vigiliæ.

[9] Here, however, I would have it observed — what Sarnellus notes in the History of the three Martyrs, page 91 — that although four feasts of theirs are chiefly celebrated at Vigiliæ in the year, The weekly piety of the people of Vigiliæ toward the holy Martyrs. and among these their birthday alone, with an octave, on the 27th of July, yet the most solemn day of all observed there is the day of the translation, the 30th of the same month; and further, that so great is the zeal of their clients toward these Patrons, that four different feasts a year are by no means sufficient to satisfy it, but there had besides to be assigned, through each week of the year, one day (this is the fourth feria, Wednesday, as the most illustrious Sarnellus testifies in the same place, page 95) which should be perpetually set apart for their special veneration. And lest — as had happened before — any forgetfulness or negligence in so great a matter should creep in even upon later descendants, a new dignity was instituted in the college of canons, which he who administers it is called Prior: and it is his office to preserve and promote the oratory and cult of the holy Martyrs. See Sarnellus in the Bishops of Vigiliæ, page 105.

§ II. To what extent the Acts of the martyrdom survive; the Lessons proper to them, twice approved at Rome, and a discussion of these.

[10] That very many Acts of the Martyrs, condemned to the flames under the emperor Diocletian, perished, the most pious and equally most learned prelate Pompeo Sarnellus deservedly laments, together with all pious men, in his Arca Testamenti at Vigiliæ (so he entitles the history of SS. MM. The Acts of the martyrdom were lost in the 12th century, Maurus the bishop, Pantaleon, and Sergius), book 1, chapter 1: but as for what he adds — that the Acts of these same Martyrs, of whom he treats, then also burned — by what argument this can be affirmed, we do not sufficiently perceive; since below, in the Prologue of his history, written in the 12th century, Amandus attests these things, no. 5: "A certain Pulsanese monk, Johel by name, related to us under oath that he had read the history of the aforenamed Saints." Then, after the compendious narration of Johel which is subjoined, Amandus says: "The same thing other men of honorable life, and especially cenobites, to whom to live is Christ and to die is gain, have truthfully set forth." Amandus therefore believed, and it seems credible to a religious man swearing, that their Acts survived down to the 12th century; and that only then, before the Martyrs were discovered, they were lost: for it does not seem credible that a prelate, the most ardent worshiper and herald of those Saints, would have neglected them, if, when he was composing the history which we shall give, he could by any means have obtained them through those who had once seen them.

[11] And indeed they could then easily have been neglected and lost, both because the cult, relics, and almost the memory of the Saints whom they commended whence the knowledge of these Martyrs is now everywhere obscure were in obscurity; and also because there was perhaps only one copy, or at any rate always very few copies, of those Acts; which is clear from the fact that they escaped the notice of all the ancient martyrologists, and indeed of all the churches, even of the church of Vigiliæ itself (as may be gathered from Amandus), at least until the relics were discovered, in whose territory nevertheless the bodies were resting. So too afterward the history of Amandus had already nearly perished, when Marianus of Cava, by the benefit of print, rescued it from decay and obscurity. And yet not even in this way has the ignorance of these Saints been so dispelled but that by the Hagiographers even their memory is still either altogether omitted, or, by those who do not omit it, is noted very obscurely and not without error. Baronius, in his annotations on the Roman Martyrology, adds not a word about them; but in the Annals at the year 118 he reports only that which is asserted in the text of the Martyrology. Paulus Regius, in his Lives of the Italian Saints, part 1, page 670 and following, is censured by Ferrarius for having confused our Pantaleon with the other one of Nicomedia, whereas the latter, a bishop under Maximian, and the former, a physician under Trajan, suffered in different places and by different means; so that it is astonishing that Castellanus too should today have gone astray in this very point in his universal Martyrology. Finally, concerning St. Maurus, Ferrarius himself must also be censured; since on this day, in his Catalogue of the Saints of Italy, he makes him bishop of Vigiliæ, citing Amandus, who by no means taught this; who assuredly would not have omitted it, if in any way he could have claimed that predecessor of his: for nothing could be said either more glorious to his church or more welcome to the city.

[12] Amandus in some part supplied the loss of the Acts; Moreover Amandus in some measure restored the loss of the old Acts in the Prologue already mentioned; but very meagerly, and indeed in good faith, yet with another's — since he could not with his own. And would that they had had as great caution who, writing later of the same martyrdom, thrust into the Amandine narration many episodes, without citing witness or record! Sarnellus laments this too in the Arca Testamenti, page 98, and says that even of the Latin Legend of the Martyrs, at least insofar as it exhibits their passion, the same may be affirmed which Baronius noted concerning the history of St. Ursula on the 21st of October to the Roman Martyrology in these words: "It has happened in these cases indeed, that, the true and genuine history being lost, anyone, as it pleased him, has committed to written monuments either what he devised by his own invention, or what he received from others by some slight popular rumor, not without great detriment to the truth; since they have rendered the history well-nigh fictitious."

[13] But he who so judges concerning the Latin Legend, to whose compendium Sarnellus wishes the modern Legends to be reduced, what must he be said to determine concerning certain Italian ones, adorned far more freely? Such a one, indeed, drawn up by I know not whose hand or faith, our own Antonius Beatillus once sent us, a man most deserving by his writings on the Church, and by his devotion to our studies. In it, besides the times not very happily noted, and three different persecutions of Trajan, which we have hitherto been unaware of, you may see SS. Maurus and his companions sailing from the East — namely Sergius of the most noble family of the Sergii, and Pantaleemon of the family of the Scipios — tossed by storms, holding dialogues with the tyrant, and other such things, which it wearies the prudent to read; since they carry no authority at all, much less so great as the Latin Legend, which Sarnellus undertook chiefly to purge, according to the history sincerely written by Amandus: for this Latin Legend is that which is recited in the Office of the birthday of SS. the Martyrs in the second nocturn, approved first, as we noted before, by Gregory XIII; and again, after thirty-eight years, revised by the authority of the congregation of Sacred Rites, no change being made concerning the substance of the matter. Ughelli exhibits it, vol. 7, col. 940 in the latest edition, from the proper Office of the church of Vigiliæ, which we too possess reprinted at Venice in 1674, where it reads thus:

[14] Lesson IV. When the emperor Trajan was stirring up the third persecution against the Christians, this too, twice approved at Rome; the venerable Maurus, bishop of the same city, was seized at Bethlehem, who, when he publicly preached that Christ alone is the true God, was cast into chains: [thence led out, he is brought to Rome in bonds, and delivered into the custody of Pantaleon and Sergius, knights and members of the household of the same Trajan:] who indeed, led to the faith of Christ by the preaching of the blessed Prelate, did not blush to confess freely, before the judge together with the blessed Bishop, the same faith of Christ, boldly asserting that the images of the false gods are vain things. Lesson V. And although they were tried once and again in various ways, by blandishments and promises, and then by terrors, that, renouncing Christ, they might venerate the idols; yet to this they could in no way be brought. Wherefore, cruelly afflicted for a long time with various kinds of torments, since they nonetheless steadfastly persevered in the confession of the faith, Sergius, torn with iron hooks, and Pantaleon, fastened to a cross, were both at last * slaughtered with the sword. But the venerable Maurus, who above the rest was distinguished by the grace of miracles and by doctrine, is beheaded. Lesson VI. And so thus three victims most acceptable to God, triumphing in one day over the world, over the flesh, and over the enemy of the human race and the tyrant, were granted the crown of Martyrdom on the 6th of the Kalends of August: whose unburied bodies, cast to the beasts and by divine power preserved untouched, Thecla, a pious and religious widow, secretly gathered, and translated to her own estate, named Sagina, situated in the territory of Vigiliæ, in the parts of Apulia, and, out of fear of the gentiles, buried them honorably as best she could in a safe and hidden place, embalmed with unguents; where they remained unknown, until by divine power, a long time afterward, they were discovered.

[15] The most illustrious prelate is displeased, in the first and second Lessons, with whatever we have enclosed in brackets; in which the year of the martyrdom, 118, is not rightly supplied; which accordingly he entirely cuts out in his own expurgated Legend: but in the third, which is from the asterisk to the end, he thus supplies and corrects it: "In the one hundred and eighteenth year of restored salvation. Whose unburied bodies, cast to the beasts and by divine power preserved, were conveyed by a certain religious widow, Thecla by name, to her own estate, which is called Sagina, in the territory of Vigiliæ, and, out of fear of the gentiles, hidden in the bowels of the earth. Where an oratory to God, in honor of Saint Sergius and his Companions, long stood erected, until it was destroyed by the incursions of the Saracens." These last things we confess to have been accurately restored according to the history of Amandus, save the year of the martyrdom, which she nowhere reveals. The Annals

of Baronius indeed report it under the same year; but in such a way that they do not seem to determine a fixed year: for they read thus: "In Apulia, Maurus the bishop with his Companions ended his life in martyrdom under the same Trajan." Baronius therefore placed these events in that year, because he was ignorant of any other certain one, and judged that this fell in the last times of Trajan; in which, however, that greatest of men was deceived — who does not know it? For it is now confessed among chronologists that the Christian era is consistently anticipated in the Annals by a full two years, down to the year of Christ 249; and that even the death of Trajan, which they assign to the year 119, pertains to the year 117. As therefore it is certain that our Martyrs suffered under that tyrant, so it must be certain that they did not suffer in the year 118. Although, in what year of Trajan it happened, who, or from what source, could define?

[16] In the second Lesson, besides the things erased and added, so that they might agree with the rest of the narration of Amandus, and other things are corrected not sufficiently to the sense of Amandus, there might also have been introduced the blandishments and repeated promises, concerning which that author has nothing; although they ought by no means to be reckoned foreign to the probability and usage of those times. In the first Lesson, if it is to be reduced more strictly to the prototype of Amandus, both something seems to be retained which Sarnellus erased, and something to be erased which he retained: for he retained what was formerly read concerning Pantaleon and Sergius, "led to the faith of Christ by the preaching of the blessed Prelate (Maurus)": whereas not even the least mention of this matter is made by Amandus: on the contrary he erased the episcopal see of St. Maurus, namely Bethlehem, which nevertheless seems to be admitted by Amandus in chapter 3, no. 56, where he introduces a demon confessing that he cannot bear the burning from the blood of Maurus the pontiff of Bethlehem placed upon him: for that Amandus himself held these and other things, there said by the devil, for true, he sufficiently indicates when he adds: "Yet vessels of falsehood, though compelled, can belch forth the truth."

[17] [according to whom the Bethlehemite episcopate of St. Maurus seems to be retained,] But indeed, you say, it is ambiguous in the text cited to what the word "of Bethlehem" ought to be referred: for it may affect the antecedent name Maurus, so as to signify that Bethlehem was the Saint's fatherland, equally as the following name Pontiff, so as to designate his Bethlehemite episcopate. I confess indeed that that text is doubtful, as it is produced from the printed copy, everywhere badly punctuated: but that of old in the autograph it was by no means doubtful, is persuaded by the constant and ancient tradition of the church of Vigiliæ, which understood St. Maurus in this place to be of Bethlehem not by fatherland, but by episcopate; as is clear from all the Offices of these Saints. Marianus of Cava, who first took care to have it printed in the year 1550, had read the manuscript Amandus, and so interpreted it in the hymn at First Vespers of the second discovery: "Worshiper of the truth, ruler of the clergy, Pontiff of Bethlehem," etc. Daniele Francino, who cites him, had read Amandus in his writings, when writing to Pope Sixtus IV concerning the second discovery about the year 1480, and following him to the same effect, in no. 1, pronounces without hesitation, "Maurus, once the pontiff of Bethlehem." It is not likely, therefore, that in the original history of Amandus that text was amphibolous; however much it may now appear such because of neglected punctuation.

[18] But if anyone here should object to me arguments drawn from the ancient monuments of the universal Church, to overturn which the arguments do not suffice, by which the most illustrious Sarnellus, in his little work on the bishops of Vigiliæ, ^a strives to demolish the Bethlehemite episcopate of St. Maurus; I shall reply, in the first place, that it is one thing to examine the Latin Legend against the history of the Catholic Church, and another to restore it according to the history sincerely written by Amandus and Francino; the latter Sarnellus professes to do, not the former. I shall reply, next, that those arguments do not prove what the author attempted: for they are chiefly three: 1. The episcopate of Bethlehem did not subsist after the middle of the sixth century, when the patriarchate of Jerusalem was erected. 2. Bethlehem was raised to an episcopal see in the twelfth century; but St. Maurus suffered at the beginning of the second century. 3. If Bethlehem had once been an episcopate, some bishop of that city would be found subscribed at least to some council. But all these at once collapse, if you suppose, with Coleti in the new edition of the Italia Sacra, vol. 7, col. 938, that either under Trajan that episcopate perished in the same persecution in which St. Maurus fell, or a little later under Hadrian. Could this not have happened? Have not several other episcopates perished even in tranquil times? In Italy alone, how many that have fallen into disuse does Ughelli exhibit? And how customary it was, before the times of the synod of Laodicea, especially in the East, to erect episcopates even in small villages and country places, of which now not even the names survive, Thomassinus teaches in his Ancient and New Discipline of the Church, part 1, book 1, chapter 54. And who would deny that these existed, because their bishops are read as subscribed to no councils? Certainly the things which Sarnellus opposes to the Bethlehemite episcopate of St. Maurus could not have been unknown at Rome under Gregory XIII, under whom the greatest light of ecclesiastical history shone there, Cardinal Baronius; and yet it was neither then disapproved, nor afterward, when, again subjected to the examination of the congregation of Rites, it was subscribed by Bellarmine.

[19] which have been put forward hitherto. No more forcible is what is adduced in the same little work of Sarnellus, page 23, to place in the West the chair of St. Maurus, banished from the whole East; namely because, according to Amandus below in chapter 2, no. 40 and following, likewise chapter 3, no. 56, he wore an episcopal ring; which was so proper to the prelates of the Western Church, that the bishops of the East never used it. For he who asserts that from the first century the use of the episcopal ring flourished in the West, by what witness will he then deny that it was admitted anywhere in the East? Sarnellus cites for himself the epistle of Peter of Antioch to Michael Cerularius, from which it is manifest that, among other differences of the Eastern and Western church, one is that the bishops in the West wear a ring, in the East not so. But when was this epistle written? After the middle of the eleventh century, as we have shown in the Treatise on the Patriarchs of Antioch. But who would thence so conclude: In the eleventh century only the Western bishops used a ring: therefore only they also in the first century? Certainly if that usage in the first century was common in the West, it must be said to have flowed from the Apostles, and indeed from St. Peter. Why then should not the same have been instituted in the Eastern Church by the same Apostle, and afterward, like many other things, like the Catholic faith itself, have perished? These things, I confess, cannot be proved, because they are not written: but neither, I contend, can they be denied; unless writings for the same times to the contrary be produced; such as those are not which have been put forward hitherto.

[20] The place of the martyrdom and the condition of the Martyrs are weighed, Moreover the rest, which the same most illustrious author judged should be omitted in the first Lesson, are not expressed in Amandus; for instance, that St. Maurus was seized at Bethlehem, and thence delivered to the custody of Pantaleon and Sergius, Roman knights, and carried off to Rome, where he consummated his martyrdom. Whence therefore these and other things were taken, we do not know. Sarnellus in the praised little work, page 20, denies that others under Trajan were wont to be dragged from the provinces to the City for martyrdom, than Roman citizens, and endeavors to prove this from the very well-known epistle of Pliny to Trajan. Be it so, indeed. But by what reasoning could it be asserted that St. Maurus was not a Roman citizen; since very many cities in the provinces had been endowed by the Romans with the right of citizenship? Concerning the condition of SS. Pantaleon and Sergius, the same prelate easily concedes, in the same place, page 18, that they may be believed to have been Roman knights, because Vigiliæ in those times obeyed the Romans, and it is likely that Roman knights presided over them. He judges, forsooth, that the combat of these Martyrs took place either at Vigiliæ, or at least in Apulia; because the first seems to be affirmed in the Roman Martyrology, the latter by Baronius in the Annals. And so he also relates that St. Maurus was bishop of Vigiliæ. We, as we cannot confirm from elsewhere that Pantaleon and Sergius were Roman knights, so neither can we refute it. But that they were governors of Vigiliæ, or that St. Maurus was bishop of it, or that they suffered there, we altogether do not believe. Nor does Baronius persuade of this last, who in the margin adduces as sole witness the Roman Martyrology, in which we think Vigiliæ is assigned, not as the place of martyrdom (which could not be determined from the ancient Acts in Amandus), but only of the deposition and cult. All these things, I say, we do not believe; because they do not cohere with the history of Amandus.

[21] [and it is denied that St. Maurus was bishop of Vigiliæ, or suffered there with his Companions.] For he, in chapter 3, no. 56 and following, manifestly indicates that those things seemed true to him which he there relates a demon, often compelled and unwilling, to have revealed through energumens. He judged, then, that our Martyrs did not suffer at Vigiliæ; since it is there said that the body of St. Maurus (already, at any rate, slain elsewhere) was carried in a certain little ship, and conveyed as far as the gulf of Vigiliæ: for what is here narrated of St. Maurus must hold good also for his Companions. Nay rather, he judged that the city of Vigiliæ did not then yet exist: for it is added: "But since in the maritime region (namely at the gulf, of which we treat, of Vigiliæ) no city had yet been established, it was drawn as far as the estate of Sagina," etc. So, I say, Amandus judged: and why not rightly? For produce me even a single Geographer among the ancients who has made mention of Vigiliæ. What is more accurate than Strabo, who flourished in the first century, in noting cities? What in the second century is more distinguished in this kind than Ptolemy? Yet neither of them meets with Vigiliæ in Apulia. And why should I mention men so ancient: when not even in the Peutinger Tables, which Welser teaches were drawn up under Theodosius the elder, do Vigiliæ appear anywhere on the coasts of Apulia? Consult the most diligent scrutinizers of ancient Italy — Cluverius, Bertius, Brietius, Cellarius, and others; and I will give up beaten, if they produce anyone who in the second century knew the town of Vigiliæ. As long as this cannot be done, in vain will they chant to us from certain recent writers that that city was built 432 years before Rome was founded, or 1184 years before the Christian era; we shall cling to Amandus; we shall think that the city of Vigiliæ did not exist in the time of St. Maurus; and accordingly we shall deny that he suffered there with his Companions, or was bishop there. Nor will Ferrarius in the Catalogue of the Saints of Italy, who first called St. Maurus bishop of Vigiliæ, detain us; since we have everywhere noted his innumerable lapses in the Acts of the Saints; of which this is not the last, since he dared to adduce as witness of his assertion Amandus, in that very little book from which we shall give the history of the first discovery.

[22] For the rest, we cannot but refrain from… the most illustrious

commend the modest learning and prudence of Sarnellus; The moderation of the most illustrious Sarnellus in his expurgated Latin Legend. in that he judged nothing of those things should be inserted into the Latin Legend, which he undertook to purge, that he himself had privately felt and written in the praised Italian lucubrations concerning the Patrons of his church, out of his affection toward them and it: for besides those things which we have just noted, he also relates in the Arca Testamenti that St. Maurus was a disciple of St. Peter the apostle, book 1, chapter 3; and was created by him bishop of Vigiliæ; hence that Maurus governed his church under the tutelage of Peter, of which he was also afterward the sole tutelary and titular patron, ibid., chapters 4 and 5. Nay, that even this is probable, that the same St. Maurus was known to the Virgin Mother of God. And to have recited these things may suffice.

* Sarnellus adds, "after many signs of his virtues."

§ III. The histories of the first and second discovery, their authors, and a supplement.

So meager a narration for illustrating the merits of the life and death of the holy Martyrs of whom we treat, two histories have wonderfully compensated, The histories of the first and second discovery, sufficiently copious, and most authentic; of which the one describes the first discovery of the sacred bodies, and the various translations, and the many prodigies wrought in them; the other the second discovery of the same, and the marvels that occurred in it. Both proceed from authors contemporary with, and eyewitnesses of, the events which they relate; the former from Amandus, bishop of Vigiliæ; the latter from a certain illustrious man, Daniele Francino, as will be proved below. Both differ from those which Ughelli published, vol. 7 of the Italia Sacra, col. 939 and 945, from the Offices of the church of Vigiliæ, approved at Rome in the year 1618, and which are only compendia of the original narrations, which he does not seem to have had at hand.

[24] These, as we noted above, Marianus of Cava — known from Elssius in the Augustinian Encomium — freed from imminent destruction; they were once printed from ancient papers, when he committed them to the press, divided into various Lessons for the use of the church of Vigiliæ, together with the two Offices of which we spoke above, § I, no. 6; and this by order of the canons of Vigiliæ, as he testifies in the same place in his address to them, folio 37 verso, in these words: "The deeds of these Martyrs and their stupendous miracles, shown in the discovery of their bodies, while the peoples came running together from here and there, were brought to me, described somewhat obscurely on certain ancient little pages, to be not only rewritten by me, but also, by your command, corrected and chastened; that thus, purged of errors, they might be handed to the printers to be printed in bronze type." Yet they did not come forth so emended but that many faults remained to be chastened; as, at the margins of the text, which we faithfully exhibit, it will be permitted to observe.

[25] not without faults; Among these the palmary one is that which, in the history of the first discovery, near the end reads thus: "But the translation of the aforenamed holy Martyrs was celebrated honorably in the year of the Lord's Incarnation one thousand one hundred and seven." And truly it is astonishing that this could have been rashly seized upon by those who had the history of Amandus before their eyes; I mean the two Vigiliese authors, from whom we once received the Italian manuscript Legends, drawn from Amandus and Francino; nay, even Paulus Regius in the Saints of the Neapolitan kingdom, part 1, page 688, and Philippus Ferrarius in the Catalogue of the Saints of Italy: for if they had attended even a little to the date which is there subjoined, the error could not but strike the eyes: for it follows: "In the second year of the reign of the same lord, the most glorious king, William." Before the year of Christ 1154 there was no William king of Naples and Sicily: the year 1107, therefore, could not be retained.

[26] so that when they note the year of the first discovery as 1107, for 1167. Next, since only three Williams held the same kingdoms, it is manifest that here it treats of William the second, or the Good; inasmuch as he both came to the kingdom as a youth, as Amandus notes in the preceding number, namely in the fourteenth year of his age, as Rocchus Pirrus relates in the Chronology of the kings of Sicily, and whose second year agrees with the fifteenth Indiction, which is used by Amandus: for he entered the second year of his reign in the month of July, 1167, as you may gather from the anonymous Cassinese author in Pagi in the Critical notes on the Annals of Baronius at the year 1166, no. 9. Youth does not fit William the first in the second year of his reign, whether it be reckoned from his receiving, while his father lived, the kingdom of Apulia in the month of May of the year 1151 according to Pagi, or from the death of Roger and the succession of William, which according to the same Pagi happened in the year 1154; since that William, as Fazellus testifies in the Sicilian Affairs, decade 2, book 7, was already of such an age in the year of Christ 1130 that, an army being gathered and a most fierce battle joined, he freed his father, besieged by the Romans in the castle of Galluccio. To William the third nothing of what Amandus writes fits, except youth: not a fortunate reign; for immediately by the emperor Henry he began to be wretchedly harassed and destroyed: not the second year of his reign in the month of July: for it, according to Pirrus at least, did not attain the second year of his reign; but according to Giannettasio, History of Naples, vol. 1, decade 2, book 14, he had scarcely begun the second, when he perished at the end of January; and so did not reach the month of July: not, finally, the fifteenth Indiction; since he ceased to live in the year of Christ 1195, in the thirteenth Indiction.

[27] from which various errors have arisen concerning Amandus, who described it. It is clear, therefore, that no other year could here have been indicated by Amandus than 1167, and accordingly that the penultimate digit 6 was, not without a palpable error, changed into the figure 0. From this error, as happens, another flowed forth in Ughelli, this one, however, more worthy of pardon than those we mentioned above, because he does not seem to have been able to inspect the history of Amandus itself: for when, from Ferrarius perhaps, he had learned that the first discovery and translation of our Martyrs fell in the year 1107, and understood from the Legend which he recites that Amandus, bishop of Vigiliæ, was present at it, he split one Amandus into two; of whom he determined that the former sat at Vigiliæ in the year 1107, the latter in 1179, at which he had found him subscribed to the Lateran Council under Alexander III. Nay, out of one he made three Amanduses: for he thought that the one who composed the little book on the canonization and translation of St. Nicholas the Pilgrim, which we gave on the 2nd of June, was different from both Vigiliese ones; where our Predecessors also signified that all these pertain to one and the same Amandus of ours: which the most illustrious Sarnellus confirms in the Monuments of the bishops of Vigiliæ, acknowledging among them a single Amandus, who (having previously been a deacon of Trani) was raised to the see of Vigiliæ in the year of Christ 1153, and sat until about the year 1181. And so from this author Ughelli, now revised, has been emended at the margins, both in the bishops of Vigiliæ, and also, where he treats of the translation of St. Nicholas, in the archbishops of Trani. Moreover, with what fidelity, with what discernment Amandus wrote these things, we do not say; since he himself does so in the prologue.

[28] Concerning the author of the history of the second discovery, in the same little book of which we spoke above, The age of Francino, who narrated the second discovery; and his prologue; in the antiphons at First Vespers, folio 27 verso, these things are read: "A certain distinguished man, Daniele Francino by name, was summoned to Vigiliæ by the duke (Francesco del Balzo) when the Martyrs were being disinterred. He wrote to Pope Sixtus the fourth concerning the things that had happened there: 'I have held nothing more important than to commit to memory what God has shown in our time through the holy Martyrs: let these things be commended to be transmitted to posterity, the fidelity of the truth being preserved ; and because it concerns the Pontiff to know what is done everywhere by divine power, I have held it important to seal this little book to your Beatitude, who bearest the place of Christ on earth.'" Here, then, you have the age of the author, since he was present at the second discovery, made in the year 1475; you have likewise the time when he wrote, in some measure determined; for Sixtus the fourth died in the year 1484, and that these things could not have been written to him before the year 1478 you may gather from the annotations on the history of Francino, letter l: you have finally the little preface of the same history, torn by Marianus of Cava from the rest of the text, and expressed in antiphons. Would that even thus he had also exhibited the author's epilogue; if indeed Francino composed any at the end of his narration, which we do not know.

[29] For the rest, the reader will easily observe — what we noted in the annotations at the end of the history — and what things were omitted by him concerning the state of the relics, that something is lacking to his narration: for it stops at the disinterment, discovery, and exposition of the sacred bodies, and the prodigies then wrought there; whereas it is incredible that the piety of Del Balzo stopped there. Paulus Regius indeed, bishop of Vico Equense, cited before, adds that an elegant church was afterward built there for the Martyrs by the duke of Andria, in which he ordered their sacred relics to be placed in a most worthy spot; but the pious writer is mistaken: for that same cathedral church, in which these sacred deposits were then discovered and are still preserved, was, long before the times of Del Balzo, as Sarnellus testifies in the epistles of Vigiliæ, page 49, erected and consecrated under the title of St. Peter on the Kalends of May, in the year 1295. In the Office of the second discovery, approved at Rome in the year 1618, the third Lesson of the second nocturn reads thus: "But after the third day of the discovery the aforesaid sacred relics were laid up behind the middle altar (which had been St. Pantaleon's, as was said in the history of the first discovery) in one and the same place. But now they are kept laid up under the middle altar itself, more becomingly and with greater care, and with the greatest veneration and devotion."

[30] Here, then, a twofold reposition of the relics discovered the second time is signified; after the second discovery. of which the first was made three days after the discovery, when they were placed behind the middle altar; the second, when they were thence translated under the middle altar itself, when it happened, is not asserted; I do not think, however, that it happened before the beginning of the past century: for no more ancient appears the Italian manuscript, composed by I know not whom, but once sent hither from Apulia by our Beatillus, which does not mention that second reposition; but describes the first in this manner: "So great a concourse of men (which had been made during that three days of the discovered and exposed relics) and so great an abundance of offerings spurred the duke and the lord bishop to adorn, and, as sumptuously as they could, to fit out that cavity of the wall, which above corresponds to the altar, which stands at a just interval from the wall. There were laid up the chests of the sacred bodies; and, closed with iron doors, to be unlocked only with different keys, for greater security: then a little further outside were set other lattices of iron; so that they could neither be more honorably placed, nor more securely kept." So that manuscript, in which also there follows something else, which nowhere, save there, do I remember to have read

, and so I subjoin it here: "Never," he says, "have the glorious Saints ceased to show themselves beneficent to all, and most kindly protectors to the city (of Vigiliæ), since they have appeared there more than once, now in the air, now upon the walls of the city, armed, to defend it from the Turks and the enemies of the catholic religion." These things, as it were through a lattice. Now I return to my purpose.

[31] Where those relics were afterward laid up, That second reposition, of which I spoke, and the things which followed it down to his own age, Sarnellus sets forth in the Arca Testamenti, book 3, chapter 9, in Italian, to this effect: "The two lateral altars being destroyed, only the middle one was repaired, a space being left empty, as much as is beneath the table of the same altar: and there was placed a chest of cypress, five palms long, but one and a half high and wide; lined within with red silk, and gilded on the front part, and so furnished with three small crystals, that they corresponded severally to the relics of the several Martyrs. And the middle indeed hold the relics of St. Maurus, the right part those of St. Sergius, the left the bones of St. Pantaleon … The cypress chest, by the piety of the people of Vigiliæ, was afterward exchanged for another, and one indeed skillfully made of solid silver, in the year 1678, this see being then held by the most illustrious bishop D. Riccio, and this after a decree of the sacred congregation of Relics of this kind: 'The bishop of Vigiliæ urging that the faculty be granted him of enclosing the bodies of the holy martyrs Sergius, Maurus, and Pantaleon, laid up sufficiently honorably under the altar in the cathedral church, in a more precious coffer or casket; the sacred congregation, assenting to the petitioner's prayers, granted the requested faculty. At Rome, the 5th day of July 1678. A. Cardinal Homodeus. Michael Angelus Riccius, secretary.' The determined day of the changing of the chest was the 6th of December 1678, as is clear from the public instrument of the notary John Foglia, asked to draw it up."

[32] Moreover, that the chest which I mentioned, the former one of cypress, might be kept with veneration, and how honorably. "when I had erected a new chapel of the episcopal residence at the head of the atrium, I placed the same chest under its altar, a few relics of each of the three Martyrs being put in, in this year (in which Sarnellus was writing these things) 1693." Then, returning to the cathedral church and the public oratory of our Saints in it, "Besides the silver chest," he says, "placed under the altar, there are on the altar itself, in a larger case elegantly overlaid with gold, three statues of silver, with the relics of the three Saints; and three arms likewise of silver, with the sacred bones of the arms of the three holy Martyrs; and one monstrance besides (as he calls it) with the blood of St. Maurus." The same most illustrious author depicts the silver chest a little differently in the Monuments of the bishops of Vigiliæ, page 65: "The altar," he says, "is wholly empty, and lined within on every side with silken cloth; upon which is placed a silver chest wrought with art, and covered with silk and gold. The chest has the form of a tomb, likewise supporting a silver cross at its top, and is divided into three parts, each of which has its own crystal. In the middle are laid the head and bones of St. Maurus, bishop and martyr; on the right the bones of St. Sergius, on the left the skull and bones of St. Pantaleon. The casket is so locked that, unless it be broken, it cannot be unlocked; because the key is laid up within the chest, and then, the casket being closed of itself, inasmuch as it has an elastic bolt." So much concerning the state of the relics after the second discovery. Now a little about the miracles that followed it, and not mentioned by Francino.

[33] "There is in our archive," says Sarnellus in the same place, chapter 8, nor without frequent miracles, of which only these three "an authentic document of the year 1575, concerning a certain John Caputi, son of Dominic and Margaret Lanzalonga, of Corato, six years old; on whose eyes for a whole year so great a mass of flesh had grown, that he both lost the use of them, and felt such grave pains in parts so tender, that day and night he cried out, not without the torment of his parents; who, after much expended on physicians, understood at last from them that the disease was incurable. They had recourse, then, to the patronage of the holy Martyrs; and, cotton being applied to the boy's eyes, which had been touched with the manna oozing from the relics, the pain ceased, the disease began to diminish, and in a few days afterward wholly vanished; so that the free and clear use of his eyes then remained to the boy. Hence his mother, marvelously gladdened, ordered twelve modii of grain to be offered to the holy Martyrs, for the maintenance of the guardians of the holy place." The same author, chapter 10, reads thus: "Nor do the divine mercies cease even in our age, nor is the hand of the Lord shortened to honor His Saints: no year has passed in which, on the feast-day of the translation, which is the thirtieth of the month of July, and here most solemn, signal benefits have not been obtained; although there has been no one willing to take on the burden of writing them, deterred, namely, by their multitude." Then two miracles follow, which, because they are narrated at some length, I shall report in compendium.

[34] In the year 1693, on the vigil of the translation of SS. the Martyrs, a certain Martin di Aquaviva, of Vigiliæ, came and cast himself at the feet of bishop Sarnellus; we grieve who said that in the year 1685 he had been carried off by pirates from a coastal farm, which the common people call Salzello, together with two sons and as many daughters, and conveyed to Ulcinj (a town of Dalmatia infamous for robberies): that there he had at once been made a slave; but that his sons and daughters had been taken elsewhere, whither he himself did not know. Meanwhile, throughout the whole eight years, as he affirmed, he assiduously commended himself to the Mother of God and the holy Martyrs, and at the yearly recurring memory of their translation, he flowed with the most abundant tears, which partly the longing to see and venerate their chest in person, partly grief that he was compelled to profane so sacred a day by furrowing the earth, expressed. At last in the eighth year, when one of his sons, to whom a kindly servitude had fallen at Constantinople, had first learned something of his father's lot, he came to Ulcinj; recognized his parent, and redeemed him for twenty-two sequins (we call them gold ducats), and, one sequin besides being added for the journey, sent him free back to his fatherland; saying that he himself would follow, as soon as, both by the goodness of his master and by his own thrift and industry, he had earned his own ransom. So Martin came to Vigiliæ on that very day which we noted; but Sarnellus, publishing the whole matter the next day in a sermon, filled the whole city with joy and tender affection toward its Patrons.

[35] to have been noted, In the same year, Sarnellus testifying in the same place, on the very feast of the translation, to whose solemnity more than two thousand pilgrims had flowed together, the customary procession through the town was held toward evening; which finished, festive fires were kindled on the plain lying below the city, the people surging around, but with certain persons (among whom was, with his family, Joseph Ronca, that year the royal judge of the city, and its governor Pedro Arias Maldonado) beholding them from the wall of the city. When seats were lacking for the judge and the prefect of the city, there are sent to fetch them the prefect's chamberlain Leonard di Augustino, of Alessano, and Lucretia Ronchi, a girl of thirteen years and a servant of the judge, whom Leonard leads by the hand through the darkness, and, not himself sufficiently knowing the place, incautiously drags with him from a projecting tower of the walls into a precipice thirty-three palms high, and strewn with rough stones. At the crash of the fall a cry arises that both had expired; hearing which, Belluccia Pandolfelli, the wife of the aforesaid judge, said: "Holy Martyrs, succor the wretched." Soon there is a running together from every side: the girl, bereft of sense, was breathing out her soul; Leonard, disturbed in mind by the fall, lamented that his loins were gravely affected. Thence both, carried to the nearest house, are examined by the physicians; who held Lucretia for as good as dead; as one who, pouring forth blood the whole night, seemed without doubt to have burst. Leonard indeed was less ill than she; yet no better than before. But, forsooth, both shortly experienced the implored aid of the Saints; and Lucretia first: yet both were restored to health before the eighth day from the fall, so that neither any pain nor the least injury remained. And so on the following Wednesday they came to the oratory of the heavenly Physicians to give them thanks, having first kissed its pavement, and then, purified by sacred confession, were refreshed at the altar of the Martyrs with the most holy sacrament of the Eucharist. So the most illustrious bishop of Vigiliæ. It now remains that we set forth the histories of Amandus and Francino with such fidelity that, apart from the titles of the chapters, and the notes placed both at the marginal numbers and at the foot of each chapter, nothing in them may be reckoned our own.

* perhaps "and those things" * "let them be commended" is redundant

THE HISTORY OF THE FIRST DISCOVERY. BY AMANDUS, BISHOP OF VIGILIÆ.

From the ancient printed Office of the church of Vigiliæ.

Maurus, bishop and Martyr, at Vigiliæ in Apulia (St.)

Pantaleemon, Martyr, at Vigiliæ in Apulia (St.)

Sergius, Martyr, at Vigiliæ in Apulia (St.)

BHL Number: 5792

By Amandus, bishop of Vigiliæ.

THE AUTHOR'S PROLOGUE.

Amandus, by the grace of God alone bishop of Vigiliæ and minister of the Saints, Amandus, bishop of Vigiliæ, wrote these things to the glory of God, to all the faithful of Christ, salvation in the same true and saving Jesus Christ. We perceive by true reason that the secrets of the eternal and of the temporal king are separated chiefly by this difference, that the former seek to be unsealed, the latter demand to be concealed; and that the asserters of the former obtain rewards, but of the latter punishments. To the glory, therefore, of the supreme and ineffable King, and to the salvation of believers, we have proposed to commit to writing and to memory both the revelation of the holy Martyrs Pantaleon, Sergius, and Maurus, and the stupendous miracles of their virtues, and the solemn reverence of the translation of their relics, hoping for eternal life through the efficacious intervention of the blessed Martyrs; despising the vain glory which very many strive in vain to acquire; which indeed, enticed in the lucubration of the liberal arts, we greatly sought, straying by the false image of the splendor of lying and transitory fame from the true light of unchangeable truth; although we have often read in the philosophers: "The wise man places the fruit of virtue in his conscience, the less perfect in glory"; and likewise: "The secret of an approving conscience diminishes itself, as often as anyone, by displaying his deed, receives the reward of fame."

[2] Wherefore, acknowledging both our error and our guilt, henceforth, therefore, just as we recall that already long ago at the most noble city of the people of Trani we wrote the translation of blessed Nicholas the Pilgrim, confessor ^b of Christ, in a middling but sincere style, so to the honor of the aforesaid Martyrs let us direct our tongue and hand, knowing that we offer to the bites of rivals a cause which with distorted mouth they will not cease to tear. But since impudent envy cannot change the merits of things by lying fictions, these being rightly despised, this little work rests upon the judgment of our own opinion, embracing the middle way, which is the royal one, skillfully indulging moderation, keeping itself here and there from the extremes: for the simple cannot aspire to the sublime; the skillful do not bend themselves to the lowly. But since there are three degrees of the mean, sometimes in the first the untaught are consulted, sometimes in the third the fashion of the prudent is observed;

but in the second, which is the middle, the process is chiefly made, so that there may be a common participation for the highest men, the middling, and the simple. With Moses, therefore, we do not dare to enter the cloud and the darkness, nor do we willingly enter labyrinthine wanderings, so as to guide blind steps by the thread of Christ; since in relating the marvelous works of the Saints not composed words, nor those adorned with oratorical flowers, but the learning and simplicity of truth is sought.

[3] And because prolixity is wont to be troublesome, we have given our effort to brevity. Hence it is that, proceeding point by point, in a brief and wholly faithful [manner.] we write by cola ^c; that is, with the points of continuation often supplying what is lacking. Nor let anyone be moved that in describing the virtues of the Saints the narration is both strict and extended; since those very things which are committed to letters, few in comparison with the copious multitude of deeds done, considered in themselves are many. So then rightly there is both brevity in the several parts, and in all together an immense profusion. But we have thought it fitting to intimate the truth of the deeds accordingly for credence, so far that no one may presume to oppose a cause of ambiguity: for the wonderful things with which we have completed this little book, either the faith of our own eyes has established, or we have received them from those whose faith is admitted. Yet not all, as we hinted above, have we inserted into this work; but out of all of this kind we have chosen the more notable.

[4] He notes why by the aid of these Martyrs many are healed, others not. But by an evident note we foretell that it should be impressed upon the mind, that neither all diseases nor all infirmities are there driven off by the prayers of the Saints; but only those which almighty wisdom judges, for a reasonable cause, ought to be committed to His glory by the prayers of His Martyrs: and therefore it is not to be passed over, that of the sick flowing together to the holy Martyrs some wholly return to the state of health, whom the power of God has cared to reserve only for the glory of His name, or whom He foresees amended and not prone to vices; others, to whom health is granted, bear the signs of their sicknesses; that they may fear to sin, lest they begin to be ill: but certain ones, whom it is not expedient to be healed, are, out of regard for piety, permitted to be afflicted with diseases; that, if any virtue be in them, it may be strengthened by infirmity, according to the Apostle: "When I am weak, then am I strong"; and likewise: "Virtue is perfected in infirmity": others are not healed, that they may be corrected, repenting of things committed: whence Augustine: "How many innocent men lie sick in bed; and, if they became well, would proceed to commit crimes? To how many does health do harm?" But others, whom He otherwise sees to be incorrigible, are punished by a just judgment, according to the Psalmist: "Let him be clothed, as with a double garment, with his own confusion." Wherefore let the murmur of the ignorant crowd now cease, from the fact that the grace of God separates the throng of the sick, distinguishing the worthy from the unworthy.

[5] [Before the history of the discovery he here premises a little about the martyrdom.] But before we begin the series of the revelation, let us bring into the midst, in a few words, those things which we have received concerning the aforesaid holy Martyrs from certain men of great religion. A certain Pulsanese ^d monk, Johel by name, related to us under oath that he had read the history of the aforenamed Saints: for he said that blessed Pantaleon and Sergius were crowned with martyrdom by the command of the emperor Trajan on the sixth of the Kalends of August: for he asserted that blessed Pantaleon was fastened to a cross; but blessed Sergius torn with iron hooks; at last, after many signs of virtues, both slaughtered with the impious sword: but blessed Maurus, martyr and pontiff of Christ, condemned to capital punishment for the name of Christ, because he publicly preached the name of Christ (which even the demons confess in possessed bodies by torments and burning:) whose bodies, by a certain religious widow ^e, Thecla by name, were conveyed to her own estate, which, from its abundance of things, the ancient name remaining, is called Sagina ^f, and, out of fear of the gentiles, hidden in the bowels of the earth. The same things other men of honorable life, and especially cenobites, to whom to live is Christ and to die is gain, truthfully set forth. Now, with God's help, let us approach our purpose.

ANNOTATIONS.

CHAPTER I.

The discovery of the sacred bodies, and their translation from the church of St. John the Evangelist to that of St. Fortunatus, not without many miracles.

On the feast itself. Lesson I. The immense piety, therefore, of the Creator, for the glory of His name and the honor of the Saints, Why God has now revealed the bodies of the Saints, long hidden; willed in our time to unseal the relics of His Martyrs, which had lain hidden; that in so great an exhibition of divine benefit the city of the people of Vigiliæ, of modest size, might take increase from the renown of the Saints, and, kindled by the preventing grace of God out of reverence for them, might apply itself to divine worship: so that through the administration of time it might ascend to the felicity of eternity; because everyone by growing is made greater, when by the advance of good works he is daily raised up.

[7] Lesson II. Rightly, therefore, does God appear wonderful in His Saints; because both He Himself is blessed in the efficacy of the intervention of His elect, [namely to His own glory and that of the Saints, and to the salvation of the people.] and to the Saints the due worship is given, and the devout people is called forth to the reward of justice. Thus, therefore, the mercy of God both prevents at the beginning of the action, and follows at the good of its perfection. So then, these three causes being premised, from the time of idolatry * down to our splendor of the Christian religion, the merciful Lord undoubtedly brought forth the hidden bodies of His Saints, by a revelation made to simple persons, into the light of manifestation.

[8] Lesson III. For when a certain simple and religious youth, Adeodatus, was wintering at the estate which is called Aquaviva ^a, Adeodatus, the Martyrs being shown him through a vision, he beheld through a vision joined to an oracle a person of a very reverend countenance, with eyes keen beyond the common power of men, shining in snowy raiment, exhorting and commanding that he should hasten to the discovery of the holy martyrs, blessed Pantaleon and Sergius: in which vision it seemed to him that he penetrated the darkness of a certain cave, in the furthest part of which a great light was shining forth.

[9] Lesson IV. And the same man of imperious authority showed one crucified, is bidden to bring [them into the light] whom he asserted to be blessed Pantaleon the martyr; whose appearance, on account of the length of time and the long space of lying hidden, a certain gloom of neglected antiquity had overspread, as it is wont to overspread smoky images, dull with grime, wasted in aspect, and, as it were, mournful in countenance: but the other, intent on arranging the lights, he showed to be blessed Sergius the martyr: whom that shining man, cheerful of voice, grave of gait, serene of brow, declared were to be brought forth into the light.

[10] Lesson V. In whose bringing forth many benefits were bestowed by the Lord upon the peoples. by St. Maurus himself, as is believed, Which grave and shining man, sublime in authority, we judge to have been blessed Maurus, whose relics were afterward found in a sepulcher composed nearby; as from the following it can undoubtedly be weighed.

[11] twice appearing to him, Lesson VI. But after a little time had elapsed, in the following spring; when at Bari, in the monastery of the nuns of the holy and undivided Trinity, the aforesaid youth was serving the Lord, the same person, with the brightness of inexhaustible vigor, in aspect, gait, and voice, now known to that same simple and honest youth, appeared through a vision, and terribly commanded that he should hasten into the territory of Vigiliæ, where the mound of Sagina rises up in that part of Apulia which lies adjacent to the maritime region, which, once being a rich estate, was utterly overthrown by the Saracens.

[12] and assigning the place of the sepulcher, Lesson VII. And he most evidently assigned the standard of the place, and showed the oratory of blessed John the Evangelist, which is there; he demonstrated how deep he should dig the place in the field: and that there, in one sarcophagus, he should bring into the light the relics found, so long untouched, namely of the blessed martyrs Pantaleon and Sergius: for whose honor, to the glory of God, infinite miracles should be spread abroad. But when it was asked by the voice of the just judge * who should lead him to Sagina; where he should behold, while waking, this form of the place, which he had vehemently noted as impressed upon his mind;

[13] and a companion in the work, Lesson VIII. It was answered by the same person of great authority: "Look: note diligently the person standing by (who had suddenly come) clothed on the flesh with wool." Soon the innocent and just youth, waking from sleep, turned over in his breast what he had seen, what he had heard; not deeming it fitting to go forth into the public ears, unless it should first rest upon the confirmation of divine counsel. At last, therefore, prudently deliberating that for the execution of so great a command there was need of divine aid, he hastens to the church of blessed Nicholas, confessor and pontiff of Christ ^b, whose feast of translation was there solemnly celebrated ^c, that, relying on his aid, he might carry out the commands and things seen.

[14] with whom, soon meeting him, he sets out to the indicated place: Lesson IX. Meanwhile he catches sight of a certain man in a religious habit, Dionysius by name, rector of the named church of blessed John the Evangelist, walking under a woolen covering, as he had beheld him through the vision: whom, recognizing from the image alone, though he had never before known him, he amicably greets; kindly addresses; narrates the things seen; takes him to himself as a companion; clings to him as to one known: they hasten, burning with love; neither heat nor the way wearies them.

[15] where he also takes to himself a certain Gualterius, Within the octave, the second day. Lesson I. He arrives; to whom the revelation had been made; he recognizes with his eyes all the things which he had noted in his mind; he has confidence of attaining what he had desired; and, that he may be made more certain and secure of the promise, he finds another helper: for there a certain man of Milan, simple and fearing God, Gualterius by name, had stationed himself for the ministry of the aforesaid church of blessed John; who, according to the evangelical precept, had been accustomed to bear the cross of the Lord in his own soul and body

to bear. To him too, both when asleep it had been intimated, and when waking it had many times been commanded by a certain shining and bright man of the heavenly Magnates, with two other shining men standing by him, that man exhorting him not to fear;

[16] Lesson II. First like one coaxing, second and third like one threatening and terrifying, because he was desisting from the commands and was slow to carry out the things bidden, and was neglecting to open the vessels of the holy relics; often, that he should do the same, warned from heaven by St. Maurus. because it was the will of God that the bodies of His Saints should be revealed, and, so many years having rolled by, should grow bright with signs of virtues, and by innumerable benefits should come to the aid of devout worship. And for an unambiguous note of the position of the Saints' place, he had often beheld splendid and burning torches there; that both slowness in the work might be absent from his body, and all hesitation might be driven from his mind; and he asserted that he was Maurus, bishop and martyr, slain for the name of Christ with the cruel sword, and there buried with two sepulchers composed nearby of those standing by.

[17] Lesson III. Nor is it wonderful that the persons of these simple men were chosen for a work so glorious; Doubtless to the simple God is wont since for the preaching of the Gospel and the illumination of the world and the conversion of the nations the Lord decreed the tongues of the simple and ignoble, that He might confound the strong and darken the wisdom of the world, according to the Apostle: "For the weak things of the world hath God chosen, that He may confound the strong; the ignoble things of the world and the contemptible hath God chosen, that He may confound the noble and powerful." Likewise to the aforenamed Dionysius, though not expressly revealed, yet this same thing was not concealed.

[18] Lesson IV. For in the time of the holy Quadragesima, which had preceded, to communicate and commit sublime things. it seemed to him that he saw a certain shining one, glided down from the heavenly hinge, one of the celestial choirs, bearing as it were three silver reeds, filled with fragrant manna, and placing them at Sagina in the aforesaid church of blessed John with worthy reverence: and soon that he was taught by the discourse of two persons of the Supernal citizens, that from the manna of vessels of this kind infinite remedies would come to pass for various infirmities; which is manifest both from the wonderful exhalation of the three Saints' bodies and from the copious bestowal of benefits.

[19] Lesson V. Then those three unanimously, on the tenth day of the month of May, [These, then, on the 10th of May dig up the fragrant bodies of the Saints, and hide them, the bishop not being consulted;] of the fifteenth Indiction ^d, digging, found an incomparable treasure, namely the three bodies of the aforesaid Saints. Whose discovery a most sweet, marvelous, and mighty odor preceded, like the odor of a full field which the Lord hath blessed: at which, stupefied, and fearing lest a crowd passing along the way, provoked by so great an odor, should carry off the sacred bodies by force, forgetting (alas for the grief!) to come to us with our clergy and people, and to approach to the honor of the Saints, so many things having been evidently shown by visions, they hid the bones of the Saints, having first, out of reverence, washed them, within the aforesaid church of St. John. But there those three discoverers often heard the proclamations and praises of the angels.

[20] Lesson VI. But in the place of the discovery of the holy bodies a trace of an oratory, [who, the matter being known, translated that treasure to the church of St. Fortunatus, not without a miracle.] once destroyed by the Saracens, appears; and by the report of the elders, as they received it from their predecessors, it was called the sacred edifice of blessed Sergius and his Companions, whom they then well knew. But on the ninth day of the month of June, through the midst of an inundation of rains, we, astonished, with certain of our priests, when we learned the matter, went, and with due veneration and fitting offices caused them to be borne on the shoulders of the priests as far as the church of blessed Fortunatus ^e, that there they might fittingly be venerated by the people. Then, wonderful to say, not a drop of rain fell upon the relics, upon us, or upon our priests.

[21] Lesson VII. But in the church of blessed Fortunatus one of the bones of blessed Sergius began to sweat oil: There the relics pour forth oil and odor, and there a smoke of aromatic scent and immense odor was seen to go forth from the chest of relics. Then, when the same bone was translated from the consecrated altar of blessed Leucius ^f, confessor of Christ, which is in the south, to the northern altar of the same oratory, not yet consecrated ^g, a mighty light came forth from the same chest, by which the whole church of blessed Fortunatus was illuminated. The aforesaid Dionysius had secretly hidden the teeth of the sacred heads, for the protection of the place, near the wall of the church of blessed John itself, which a most sweet odor had disclosed, lest they should be unfittingly separated from the sacred bodies.

[22] flocking together, as was revealed to a certain man, Lesson VIII. But in so great an exhalation of exquisite and ineffable odor, it is plainly hinted that the instance of holy prayers had preceded in them (according to the testimony of the Psalm: "Let my prayer be directed as incense in Thy sight"), and that the holy Men had stood indissolubly established by the connection of virtues, so that they might fittingly say with the Apostle: "We are the good odor of Christ unto God in every place." From which things also the bones of the Saints are perceived wonderfully to shine again. But on the night of Saturday, which followed the day of the second placing, it was revealed to a certain simple, just, and God-fearing man of Vigiliæ, Angelus by name, that the Nobles of heaven were approaching to the site of the Saints with a magnificent visitation.

[23] to visit them by the Heaven-dwellers themselves. Lesson IX. For it seemed to him that he saw four illustrious and shining men, crowned with mitres ^h, each on horses distinguished by whiteness, coming to the aforenamed church of St. John: whom that simple man, saluting with a bending of the head, addressed simply: "My lords, the most sacred relics of the Saints whom you seek, led with the highest devotion by our venerable bishop Amandus into the oratory of blessed Fortunatus, rest better and more honorably, both by the frequenting of the place, and by the fortification of the tower, and by the beauty of the sacred edifice." Then to this the Courtiers of the eternal King, as they were most kind, with glad mouth reply that they know it, and therefore are proceeding to visit the relics of the Saints with fitting obsequies.

ANNOTATIONS.

CHAPTER II.

The translation of the Saints from the church of St. John the Evangelist to that of St. Bartholomew: various miracles; several other particles of the relics found.

The third day. Lesson I. Then the people of Vigiliæ, fearing lest the citizens of the neighboring cities should undertake to go and carry off so great a treasure, [The translation of the Saints' bodies to St. Bartholomew's; their odor, and the influx of the people,] honorably carried the sacred relics, with praises and psalmody, the clergy going before, as far as the church of blessed Bartholomew the apostle ^a in the suburb; in which procession an innumerable crowd of both sexes had flowed together by divine inspiration, filled with the odor of the Saints' bodies and the greatest fragrance, and joyful. In which place the concourse of the peoples of diverse cities is both fed by the immense odor never before uncovered *, and by miracles, and heaped with benefits.

[25] Lesson II. But in so great a multitude of marvelous things we have rather written those and the miracles that followed, in no way doubtful. which are approved by the testimony of nearly all the citizens; that the ambiguity of things to be held may depart; that faith may be strengthened; that the languor of envy may fail, which presumes to rage even against the bones of the Saints, and, infected with malice, deprives of life those whom it seizes; consigns them to death; makes them as it were insensible. The names too of those to whom, by the clemency of God, benefits were bestowed upon the Saints' unmerited, we have for the most part set down; that by living voices and the testimony of surviving persons both God may be glorified and the relics of the Saints honored, and, faith growing, envy may depart, faith be strengthened, and charity be kindled.

[26] Lesson III. William the presbyter, having lost the function of his whole side and feet, A paralytic is healed, and a blind man, was for a long time reckoned, though living, among the dead: but on the night which Sunday follows, it seemed to him that he approached the relics of the Saints, and, the censer smoking, honored the relics of the Martyrs, and was stupefied by the refreshment of the immense odor: at once he is made whole: and waking, with bare feet he approaches the relics, and there discharges his vows, giving thanks and praises to God, applying himself to fasts and prayers. A certain priest, Leo by name, had been blind for nearly ten years, groping by day, as is wont to happen in darkness, perceiving nothing at all by sight: he approached praying, giving himself to fasting; and seeing both the forms of men, and discerning the colors of things, distinguishing actions and motions, exulting and praising the Lord, he departed.

[27] Lesson IV. A certain woman, Eva by name, French by race, and a woman contracted and ill-affected by a demon, who, the sinews of her whole body being contracted, her arms distorted, shuddering with a swollen belly, using only the sense of her head, as a suppliant seeks the bodies of the Saints, asking that by their prayers she may deserve to obtain the state of health; so that, the debility departing (which she had incurred bound by the arts and chains of Satan, whom, as she herself related to us, she was unwilling to serve), she may be able to render her vow of divine service. Yet she had first consumed her goods on the work of medicine; and yet by no remedies of physicians could she soothe her pains. Soon, with her hands, as they were, crooked, justly, as she could, she fell asleep on her weary head; and she saw St. Pantaleon exhorting her to rise: which when she, still distrusting, did not believe, warned again and again, she rose whole, gave praise to God, and gave an example of glorification to the rest.

[28] likewise those suffering in head and arms. Lesson V. A certain man, from a lesser hemitritean ^b fever, endured an immense pain of the head. The aid of the Saints being invoked, he was at once freed. A certain woman could not bring her arm to her mouth; by the odor alone of the Saints' bodies she was made whole. A certain man skilled in making casks ^c

as a craftsman, Leo by name, the function of his other arm failing, long deemed the knowledge of his art, which he was wont to exercise by the nimbleness of his arm, useless and vain: who with worthy devotion and sincere humility asked of the Lord, in veneration of the Saints, that by their prayers his arm might return strengthened for the use of his function; which he obtained; recognized; and gave thanks.

[29] A deaf woman is healed: the relics are tested by fire. Lesson VI. A certain woman, having wholly lost the sense * of hearing, was suffering from a languor of the head: she touched the bones of the Saints with her mouth; drew in the odor; was altogether freed from the peril of her infirmity. At the same time an innumerable multitude of the people of Vigiliæ and their neighbors, having gone to the places of the first placing and hiding of the ancient Saints ^d, seeks diligently whether anything there of the Saints' sacred bodies lies concealed: and there is found, as they sought, from the vapor of the unaccustomed odor, something of the bones, by a certain presbyter of Ruvo, a truthful and honest man, whose name is Abellus. Which bone, when in the presence of his fellow citizens it was subjected to the proof of fire, first on live coals, second in the material of purest flax (wonderful to see!), the fire did not dare to approach the sacred bone; for, though the flame was terrible, it was suddenly extinguished.

[30] The footprints of St. Maurus, impressed on the stone, are found. Lesson VII. Which miracle repelled perfidy; established faith. But what wonder is it, if bodily fire fled; when the flames of carnal concupiscence he, whose that bone had been, while placed in this life, had overcome? But in the place where the third Man, strengthened with virtues, whom even the demons confess to be Maurus the martyr, was laid with due obsequies, on a stone which they wiped, the whole footprint of that Saint appears impressed, like a seal in wax; so that it can be evidently noted even by anyone, where the head, where the loins, where the forearms, where the knees, where the legs with the feet are situated; from which lineaments and surface certain persons, trusting in the mercy of God, carrying away the scraped dust, laid it up with great reverence and honorably; hoping that the same aid would profit human infirmities, if perchance they should occur.

[31] Lesson VIII. But in the other coffer, which, extended toward the east in a deep length, Several particles of the relics found. The position of the bodies; enclosed the bodies of the two saints Pantaleon and Sergius, not long after the manifestation and translation of the Saints' bodies certain small portions of the sacred bones were found, which we carefully brought to their sacred relics. But the sarcophagus of Blessed Maurus, martyr and pontiff, toward the west, beside the heads of the aforesaid holy Martyrs, only a stone intervening, was somewhat raised: where, as was said, the form of the consecrated body was transferred to the flint.

[32] Lesson IX. A wonderful thing; but more wonderful is it that it was ascertained by efficacious experience: for when he was drawing the vital breezes, and the color of each is different, he steadfastly transferred, as we conjecture, to stony hearts the form of good living, and rendered idolaters, like the stones which they worshiped for God, conformed to Jesus Christ. Nor for their virtues alone and stupendous fragrance does that great admiration fill the mind, when the distinct color, shining in the relics of the several Saints, inflames the soul of the beholder to more attentively bestowing glory upon God: for in the bones of blessed Pantaleon there is a flaming redness, in the body * of blessed Sergius a saffron hue, in the remains of St. Maurus, martyr and pontiff, a snowy whiteness.

[33] The fourth day. Lesson I. Besides, the aforesaid difference of the relics is ^e reconciled by the weight and imputrescible solidity. and the incorrupt solidity of them all. Thus, therefore, brightness and color produce distinction, gravity and soundness knit together concord. Which things indeed we conjecture, not without reason, to have come about from the morals, life, constancy, and virtues of each: for the gravity of life, brightness, and incorrupt integrity is bestowed upon the bones. But the aforenoted difference in colors, which had been necessary by divine aid in distinguishing the pledges of the Saints, the ordination required: for after the placing of the Saints' bodies in their assigned seats there exists no distinction in colors; because the arrangement is not necessary.

[34] Lesson II. A certain man of Trani ^f, whose name is John, The vigor of the arms is restored to the weak. so lacked the function of his arm, that, just as it seemed to all to have it, so he himself reckoned it to himself, for the work of exercise, as if lacking to his body. He reverently approaches the relics; confidently asks that what was lacking be present to him; asks in hope that from one of the sacred bones the sign of the cross be impressed over the place of his suffering; obtains it; receives it; glad and whole, giving praises to God, he returned home. A certain man of Andria ^g, who is called Janquintus, had incurred so great a defect of natural vigor in his arm, that, though he had both arms, he used the work of only one alone: for the other, as it were dissolved by the bonds of the sinews, hung useless as a burden from his shoulder. He approached trusting; departed whole; discharged his vows; a herald of the Saints, he extols with praises the King of heaven.

[35] Lesson III. A certain boy, by an incautious fall, so — The contraction is taken away, the sinews of his whole body being contracted — was of a shapeless form, that both his hands amodum and their nature wasted away in him, and, living, he was reckoned lifeless. With him his mourning mother, standing before, pours forth tears; not daring to ask with her voice what she longed humbly to obtain, by affection alone she obtains what she long desired: those who will, see her son, whom God blesses, raised up, bringing each hand to his mouth; which those who knew him never hoped. A certain girl, a citizen of Giovinazzo ^h, had incurred so great a detriment of blindness, that she perceived nothing by sight, not distinguishing light from darkness because of a continual night, in no way perceiving the surfaces of bodies, their forms and colors, is led, is dragged to the sacred relics; she herself prays; the bystanders pray for her.

[36] Lesson IV. The Lord looks toward the effect; she is heard by the intervention of the Saints. A wonderful spectacle! She receives light; and the blindness; by herself, without stumbling of her feet, she returns, who had not been present by herself; while many behold, she beholds; under the testimony of many, light returns to the eyes, which they thought irrecoverably absent. Thus, thus is the Lord present to all who invoke Him in truth: thus in this life also He glorifies and honors His Saints. A certain man, Hugo by name, Norman by race, had been so contracted by the constriction of arthritic pain, that for a long time he could move neither his hands for the use of touching, nor his feet for the office of walking. Thus, therefore, he bore his palms as a burden, dragged his feet to his gain, neither to their exercise; both, his sins so exacting, he bore to punishment; and, like a useless trunk, was moved by others carrying him.

[37] likewise the contraction of feet and hands from arthritis, Lesson V. He, suppliant, devout, and humble, was brought before the sacred relics; he lay down; recognized the enormity of his crimes; his weeping dictated his words; by the intervention of the Saints he obtained health from the Lord. To the glory, therefore, of His name and the honor of the Saints, the divine clemency looked upon the wretched man; soon the contraction departs; salvation is present; vigor and function accrue to the instruments of his body: he marvels that he can rise; he marvels that he can turn his hands; he marvels that he can fix his steps; he tries whether he can walk. What more? He presents himself to us whole by himself; he exults and rejoices for so great a benefit, and renders immense praises to God.

[38] and deafness, Lesson VI. A certain youth of Terlizzi ⁱ, whose name is Angelus, having long lost the faculty of hearing, had fallen into the discomfort of deafness; in vain he poured out his goods on the remedies of physicians; at last, tears being shed, he fled to the sure suffrages of the Almighty; suppliantly implored the holy Martyrs; obtains help; obtains hearing; renders his vows; exulting, he returns home, made a truthful herald of the Martyrs. A little space of time having elapsed, a certain man of the French race, who rejoices in sharing a name with blessed Nicholas, having long stayed at Trani, an excellent city, was so oppressed by the trouble of infirmity, that, though he was whole in form, yet he was deprived of the function of one side and of the vigor of nature, bearing as a burden the whole instrument of his body from the groin, not for support.

[39] and paralysis. Lesson VII. He, forsaken by the physicians, deemed it useful to ask the aid of the supreme Maker. Hither and thither he is led by his wife, who, though her husband lived, was already as it were a widow, in the oratories which shine with the virtues of the Saints, he gives himself to prayers; he becomes a weariness to himself and to others. At last he is inspired to seek the newly found relics of the holy Martyrs, where the brightness of fame shone, where the voice of the Lord thundered upon many waters, where in the minds of the peoples the fire of divine regard glowed: the wretched man is borne with a votive gift upon a beast; suddenly he is prevented by the divine mercy; he feels an unknown force return to his half-dead limbs; by himself he dismounts, who had scarcely been placed as an inert weight upon the beast; he goes swiftly, marvels that he is strong, marvels that he is quick; he presents himself suppliant to the sacred relics; offers gifts; gives thanks; stands before us joyful and freed from all peril of disease.

[40] The ring of St. Maurus, bishop and Martyr, is found with the bone of a finger, Lesson VIII. About the same time our priest and sacristan Chrysolytus, inflamed with the fire of the Holy Spirit, having gone to the monuments of the Saints with several of our fellow citizens, gazes with weeping eyes upon the sacred dust; by that very fact he is made worthy to find what was granted to none of the others, though so many sought. He meets, therefore, with a pontifical ring, fashioned in pure gold, adorned with a sculptured stone, enclosing the bone of the fourth finger of the holy Martyr and prelate. Which he found, as faithful as devout, he spontaneously offered to us.

[41] Lesson IX. This ring, as soon as, at its near approach, it was perceived by the demon which had invaded a certain woman, which the demon, fleeing from the energumen, recognized. it burns, is afflicted, cries out mourning that it cannot bear so great a burning; it declares that this is the ring of blessed Maurus, prelate and martyr, by which he was wont to fortify the people serving Christ with a sign pestilent to itself. This ring, therefore, of the sacred hand, by common counsel we ordered to be kept among the sacred relics.

ANNOTATIONS.

CHAPTER III.

The continuation of the miracles; various apparitions; a chapel built for the Saints.

[42] The fifth day. Lesson I. After no long space of time a certain woman, whose name is Maria, A woman having lost the use of her limbs of the French race, by divine judgment fell into so great an infirmity of her limbs, that, save for her sight and the sense of her ears, she was reckoned by all who beheld her a useless mass: for the measure of her tongue was so constricted, that it could not be loosed even for the act of the least speech; the force of her languor forbade her to move her hands to touch, to raise her arms, to stretch her feet to a step: she was carried; she was turned over, others pitying her: yet the disease could not disturb the state of her sound and whole mind. With such affection as she could, with such spirit as she was able, she implored the holy Martyrs: she signified to her husband by a motion of her head, that she might be led to the oratory of blessed Bartholomew, where the relics of the Saints were.

[43] Lesson II. And because there, by innumerable signs of virtues, the benefits of the holy Martyrs are conferred; at once she recovers, it seemed good to her husband to set his half-dead wife before the sacred relics. What the one longs for, what the other deliberates, is committed to effect; the enormous ball, the shapeless mass, is placed before the sacred bodies; she prays suppliantly; weeps confidently; asks earnestly, that health may return, the bond of her tongue perish; that the silence be loosed, and unloose her mouth to proclamations; that to her hands and feet their functions be restored: the Lord hears the prayers of the suppliants; the woman rises whole by herself; now the disused vigor returns to her limbs; she speaks, she walks, she bends her arms; and with her palms she offers herself glad and strong to us; renders thanks to the Lord; honors the Saints with votive gifts; moves to praises the mouths of the onlookers; all marvel and praise the Lord together.

[44] Lesson III. But it is to be diligently noted, nor to be thought frivolous, a heavenly horseman appearing. what we have ascertained by the experience of truth. For when the aforenamed woman by vow sought health from the Lord by the suffrages of the Saints; a certain other woman, of great age, commendable in life and morals, of sound reason, a native of Corato ^a, who with her blind son was there asking a remedy from the Lord, saw with waking eyes, at the second hour of the day already, a shining youth enter through the northern door, covered with gleaming raiment, upon a flaming steed, to the aforesaid basilica of blessed Bartholomew, the whole people, who stood intent upon the solemnities of the Masses, yielding to him, and that he sought that woman alone among all; and at once that he departed, healthfully, invisibly: which was presented to the sight of no other of so great a multitude:

[45] Lesson IV. That she at once related to the bystanders the thing which she had seen: then that she who had suffered the failure of her whole body arose, Grave pains of the head taken away. and consecrated to the sacred relics her shorn tresses, which she had nurtured with vehement care; and thus, whole, retraced her steps to her home. But we judge that decorous youth, shining with brightness, to have been blessed Pantaleon or Sergius, who willed to exhibit both himself and his benefits bodily, that we may not doubt that he is present with us, invisibly present. A certain cleric, Gualterius by name, was so troubled by the affliction of a convulsed head, that, by continual pains, which he could soothe by no aid of physicians, he could give himself to the actions neither of seeing nor of hearing nor of resting: and he who had been wont to sustain his life by the craft of sewing, was compelled by want to beg. Having gone to the holy bodies, he humbly with tears seeks their suffrages; what he asked, he obtains; is made whole; from his zeal in accustomed labor, performs what he knew; renders innumerable thanks to the Savior.

[46] Lesson V. A certain boy of five years, at Giovinazzo, enticed by the delight of play, Concerning a son crushed and near to death, to his anxious mother void of discretion, destitute of prudence, dull with the ignorance of childhood, is suddenly cast down through the street by the onset of a running steed; is trodden on this side and that by its iron-shod feet; his tender bones cannot resist the fierceness of the raging trampling; his head yields to the blows; the orbs of his eyes are driven from their seats; his arms fail; no mercy is shown to his belly, none to his sides; no solidity remains to his hips and shins; he is utterly confounded; his nature fails together with his sense; the force of his hearing, sight, and the ministry of speech wholly dies; by a thin breath alone he is left half-alive: the wretched parents weep for their only son; they despair of the life of their child, to whom the physicians deny their labor; contritely they prepare at length for the funeral: the care of burying is at hand, where the care of healing had been lacking.

[47] Lesson VI. The mother at last, recounting the fame of the virtues of the holy Martyrs, is raised to unhoped-for hope; amid her funeral laments she interpellates the blessed Martyrs; a heavenly youth appears, and invites her to the relics of the Saints; confesses that she desires her nearly lifeless offspring to be carried to the memorial of those Saints: but the way, the heat, the thin breath of her son, and the throng of weepers dissuade her from so great a purpose. There is present a pestilent persuasion, the superstitious urging of women, that she seek help from sorcerers, that a safeguard be sought from a certain minister of the vilest spirits; so that the excellence of the divine image should subject itself to unclean filth: the honest mother refuses; stands in her purpose, persists in her vow. The mother, wearied with tears, sleep coming on, rests; as it seems to her, she is called, and touched, that she may wake and fulfill her vows; wearied again by slumber, she languishes: at once she beholds a shining youth, kindly coming to soothe her, gently addressing her, exhorting her to approach the sacred relics of the holy Martyrs at Vigiliæ, dissuading her from magic dirges, promising health to her son.

[48] Lesson VII. The pious woman, the pitiable mother, awakes; with whom the boy is suddenly healed; she longs in her soul to be truly animated by the sign of the revelation; at once she sees her son open his displaced eyes: the mother cries out for joy: "Behold, he lives, whom I thought to bury!" To this a certain doting old woman replies: "Let the sorceress be consulted." Soon the boy closes his displaced, not torn-out, eyes: forthwith the mother interpellates holy Pantaleon: at the mother's naming, again the boy uncovers his moved eyes. Then the mother, trusting in the oracle, kindled with hope of life and desire of the Martyrs, with affectionate gifts, her husband accompanying her, proceeds to the Martyrs. There, as much in mind as in voice, she humbly asks that her lifeless son be brought back to life, restored to his mother, and that she return glad from the sacred relics, who had departed her home in sorrow. Wonderful to admire! The senses which had departed return to their instruments; the orbs return to their seats, the boy sees, hears, and speaks; he bends the curves of his arms; he moves his feet to a step; all his limbs are restored to the form of nature, and serve the soul in their former operation.

[49] Lesson VIII. O inexplicable Power! O inestimable kindness! To the honor of His Saints the Lord looks upon the mindful and the devotion of the parents: as also a priest suffering in his eyes. the Lord raises the stricken, consolidates the crushed, makes whole the broken offspring; so that not even the signs of so great an injury remain. Their mouths are loosed in rivalry to the proclamations of so immense a mercy, and render immense thanks to the Author of all health. Lately in the church of blessed Bartholomew, already often named, a certain one of our brethren, of the sacerdotal order, an honest and modest man, long afflicted with great sufferings of the eyes, compunct in heart, stood before the sacred relics; took the holy Martyrs as intercessors, suppliantly asking that by the prayers of the Saints divine aid might succor him, whom all human care of the physicians had forsaken. He receives; what he seeks, he finds. For at once, one of the sacred bones being applied to his darkened orbs, he goes forth whole with clear eyes, who, sick, had entered with eyes dulled by rusty blood.

[50] Lesson IX. By so many proofs of virtues faith is built up and strengthened, the light of fidelity comes on, the night of perfidy departs. To a certain unbeliever the use of his languishing arm is restored. If to some, however, ambiguity still remains, it is driven off either mercifully or terribly. To which two proofs of the divine power, according to the merits of His Martyrs, are subjoined. A certain man of Monopoli, Maius by name, having suffered the enervation of one arm, while by chance he was passing before the church of blessed Bartholomew, of which we have often made mention, is warned by the companions of the merchandise he had undertaken, to approach the oratory to the honor of the Saints, to warn the holy Martyrs by prayers, that by their intervention he may obtain health from the Lord. The unbeliever resists; proud he passes by, the relics unsaluted; asserts that he will not give credence, unless first the remedy of health be received. The sun sets; night contracts the world; sleep is poured through the limbs of the unbeliever: it seemed to him to inspect the chest of the holy relics, and to be refreshed by the salutary odor: he awakes whole; glad he enters the sacred hall; now mild in faith, now humble he gives thanks to God. He honors the Saints with gifts.

[51] Thus too an unbelieving woman is punished; but, amended, she averts the penalty. The sixth day. Lesson I. A certain woman at Trani detracts from the benefits of the holy Martyrs; mocks those approaching to the cult of the Martyrs; denies that she can believe; thinks a man foolish if any admiration moves him; declares a man mad if he subjects himself to the lie of fame. When, therefore, she held her son in her lap, she sees the child cruelly snatched from her hands, cast down more violently, quiver half-alive, show the signs of death. The mother is stupefied; is made bereft of mind; is ignorant of the cause of so great a violence; mourns, laments, grieves, more sharply. At last her mind returns; she reconsiders the guilt of her perfidy; invokes the holy Martyrs; professes that she believes; implores pardon for her perfidy: at once the boy rises whole; the mother is joyful; rejoices in the Lord; runs glad, laden with worthy gifts, to the sacred relics; exhorts her acquaintances to approach, and there to hope for health; deters the unbelieving women, lest a like discomfort befall them as befell her. Thus, therefore, the Lord draws some by prosperity, others by adversity; for sometimes by benefits, sometimes by the scourges of correction, He works the salvation of men.

[52] Lesson II. At almost the same time the house of a certain man of Vigiliæ, through the harm of age, the beams failing with rot, A boy is brought safe out of a ruin and out of the waters. collapsed: while the rest foreseeing the ruin by its crash, a certain boy is cast down by the force of the ruin. By chance a cistern, in which was a great collection of rainwater, had lain open with a gaping mouth; into it, by the collision of the falling parts, that same boy is thrust: soon the parents invoke the Martyrs by their proper names; earnestly beg help for the boy: without delay; the father, trusting in the protection of the Saints, plunges after the boy; finds his son received whole in the soft channel of the water, as in a bed; comes forth exulting with his unharmed offspring; he himself, the mother, and all the neighbors who had run together praised the Lord. At once they proceed with the restored son to the holy relics; stand suppliant at the altar, and by the affection of their gifts acknowledge the holy Martyrs to have been efficacious intercessors for them.

[53] Another boy suddenly recovers, Lesson III. At Bitonto ^b there was a certain infirm woman, already exhausted by continual fevers, having at her now dry breasts an only son, and he too crushed either by the mother's contortion, or by some other apparent cause of languor. Who, delaying, at the fame and virtues of the Saints, her necessity increasing, vows her offspring to the sacred bodies. Forthwith, the disease yielding, he is restored to health. What then did the mother

do, she is wholly ignorant: for her weeping son she cannot suffice, through lack of milk: it is troublesome to commit her only offspring to another's care: she fears that her son may perish through hunger, having forgotten to ask for herself what she had obtained for her son from the holy Martyrs. It is not enough for her to seek the help of physicians in her homeland: anxious with diseases, desirous of health, she enters the glorious city of the people of Trani, where there is both an abundance of the wise, and an innumerable multitude of salutary species; she returns astonished, the violence of her languor pressing upon her, showing the manifest signs of an incurable consumption. At last, returned to herself, she prays by name to blessed Pantaleon, that by his intervention she may be made whole. Yet the noxious persuasion of the women compels her to hope nothing from the holy Martyrs; nay, again to attempt human cares.

[54] Lesson IV. When, therefore, at the dawn of the following day she was again about to go to Trani, to submit herself to the experience of the physicians, nay, the mother too, the Mother of God appearing with St. Pantaleon. she beholds, midnight now passed, neither truly sleeping, nor truly waking, with the office of her reason uncorrupted, a shining youth, adorned with gleaming raiment, gently coming to her, following the steps of a certain incomparable woman, who seemed like the image of the Virgin and Mother of God, Mary: by whose glorious address she is taught to despise the cares of worldly men; that this Youth standing by her suffices for her health, whose name she had so often invoked. The salutary vision slips away; the woman awakes now whole; rejoices at the oracle: yet she is doubtful of her health, until she tries to rise: now she moves herself more strongly; feels no suffering, no burning within; longs for the fomentations of foods, which, sick, she had long abhorred: she eats delightfully; sleeps sweetly; the leaden pallor departs; a lively color comes on; the woman recognizes the aid of God; feels the intervention of the Martyrs; exclaims that blessed Pantaleon had interceded for the health which she had received. Simply, therefore, she visits the sacred relics with offerings; renders thanks to God for so great benefits; graciously invites all the bystanders to the cult of the Saints.

[55] Lesson V. The priest of Ruvo ^c, whom we named above, [A languid hand and a fever are healed. And all these miracles are common to the three Saints.] who, the sacred bone of the Martyr being found by him, had first beheld the flame applied to the flax (wonderful to see!) turn back, and a little after be wholly extinguished in a circle, related to us as truthfully as faithfully, that from the same bone, the sign of the cross being impressed over the enervated and as it were dead palm of a certain woman of Ruvo, that palm was soon restored to health. To another woman also of Ruvo, panting with the ardor of fevers, he gave the dust of the sacred body in water as she thirsted: at once the force of the febrile burning was extinguished, he humbly intimated to us, gladly hearing him. He added also, that both women had recognized that they had received health by the merits of the Saints, and therefore had venerated the holy Martyrs with worthy veneration, and venerate them with faithful devotion, and by the proofs exhibited healthfully attest the efficacious power of the Martyrs. But it is to be known, that the holy Martyrs, to whose honor we form this little book, are not separated in their wonderful working, whom life, sepulchers, cult, and glorious translation do not divide: because although the name of any one alone be invoked for help, or any one of them seem to be present for aid, or it happen that the relics of one of them furnish the remedy according to opinion, yet we believe the operation to be not disjoined: for the three, in one and through one, accomplish the same benefit of salvation.

[56] Lesson VI. At almost the same time, a certain youth of Vigiliæ, Samaritius by name, reckoning himself guilty of a great crime; [By the blood of St. Maurus five demons are cast out, who narrate certain things about him,] because he had so long concealed with himself what he had perchance found in the tomb of blessed Maurus, prelate and martyr, in the multitude of so many seekers, added to his relics a red stone ^d, very transparent, penetrable to sight from every side; which, covered, we ordered to be secretly applied to a woman possessed by five unclean spirits: at once the demons are inflamed; they torment, vex, tear, and prostrate the wretched woman. At last, in the peril of their burning, they profess that they cannot bear the burning from the blood of Maurus, pontiff of Bethlehem, applied to them: which Maurus they say was slaughtered by the gentiles with the impious sword; a little after by a certain presbyter, Rodus by name, wrapped honorably with the very blood, the ring, and the pastoral staff (of which too the ornament of whatever kind, found among his relics, we ordered to be kept), was carried in a certain little ship, and conveyed as far as the gulf of Vigiliæ;

[57] which several others also professed. Lesson VII. But since in the maritime region no city had yet been established, it was drawn by a vehicle as far as the estate of Sagina ^e, and commended with due honor to the bowels of the earth beside the sepulcher of the holy Pantaleon and Sergius. This same thing other demons also affirm in many, of an unknown nation, whom they had invaded. Yet vessels of falsehood, though compelled, can belch forth the truth. A certain youth of Cornuetum ^f had from infancy been possessed by a demon, which was wont daily often to cast him to the ground, and to strike terror with amazement into all who beheld him: for it whirled, dashing down the robust young man, dulling his sense, taking away the force of his reason, sending in a bestial ferocity. But when it seemed good to the divine clemency, He granted him to the intercession of the Saints: for, freed from the pestilent spirit, like a lamb, mild and suppliant he walks. Wherefore each of the two ^g still serves in the sacred ministries of the Saints.

[58] Bishop Amandus builds an oratory for the holy Martyrs, Lesson VIII. Since these things which we have written, and many others far more, as is more fully proved by the testimony of the people, both in the nearest and in the very remote parts of the world, the Lord exhibited at the invocation of His Martyrs with propitious regard, and the renown of the Saints, dilating itself by wonderful works, shone forth here and there as upon a candlestick, the whole people of Vigiliæ from the least to the greatest, the devotion also of the women generally from the little girl to the old woman, obedient to our commands, out of reverence for the Saints undertakes bodily labor both by day and by night; all rejoice to prepare the place which we have devoted to the sacred cult; they subject themselves willingly to the burden; under the midday heat they dig; they cast out stones and earth; they clear away the high heap of old rubble down to the living stones; the huge labor penetrates into the depth, the untiring affection continues the work without rest.

[59] by the incredible zeal and labor of the assisting people. Lesson IX. Thirst, weariness, the ardor of the sun, the darkness of night, they kindly endure; a scanty food sustains their bodies; a moderate slumber refreshes their limbs: thus all in rivalry subject themselves to the sacred burden; thus the yoke of Christ is sweet and His burden light; thus the Holy Spirit incites within. Nor yet are the benefits of the Beholder from on high lacking without, which sharpen their strength, raise their hearts, strengthen their arms: for by so many prodigies seen, by so many signs, by so many marvels heard, they are unceasingly kindled to the consummation of their vow, to the end of their purpose. At last, by the aid of God's grace, not without great expense, we completed the hall of the Saints, in which we erected three altars, precious both in material and in form, shining with the splendor of gems; of which one might truly say: "Precious bodies receive precious vessels." Meanwhile the last of the planets twice subjected itself to Phoebus; Phoebe is now twice burned; the moon is now a second time joined to the sun at the same sign ^h; so great a swiftness of the work followed so great an affection of hearts.

ANNOTATIONS.

CHAPTER IV.

The translation of SS. the Martyrs to their own oratory, and frequent miracles; the author's pious apostrophe to them; the time of the discovery and translation.

The seventh day. Lesson I. On the thirtieth day, therefore, of the month of July (as we had appointed) there assembled with us, of nearly the whole province ^a, With a most solemn procession those who had not been absent from their sees, the reverend pontiffs: Milo of Polignano ^b, Urso of Ruvo ^c, John of Canne ^d, Smaragdus of Vieste ^e, Peter the venerable abbot of the monastery of Cologna ^f, a youth in age, but in life, morals, and wisdom an old man: Mando, archdeacon of Trani, with certain of his brethren supplied the absence of the lord Berterandus ^g, venerable archbishop of Trani, who, discharging the office of a royal legation, had, with God for his companion, undertaken a journey to the emperor of Constantinople ^h; but the venerable archbishop of Bari ⁱ, having set out for the royal city ^k, was absent; the cantor also of the church of St. Sabinus, confessor and pontiff of Christ ^l, with certain of the canons, the archdeacon and archpriest of Andria with other clerics, the prelates of the church of Barletta

^m, the archdeacon and primicerii of the church of Molfetta ⁿ with their clerics, the archdeacon of the church of Giovinazzo with many clerics of his church, the archpriest of Corato with his own, and very many other priests of our clergy, devout, increased the solemn assembly. But how great was the concourse of the whole province, how vast and copious the multitude, no one's tongue could unfold; so that you may as truly conceive it in your heart as utter it with your mouth:

[61] the bodies of SS. the Martyrs are carried, Lesson II. This calling of God, this innumerable gathering, was breathed upon by the divine Spirit; of this infinite multitude there was one heart and one soul; this is the city of God, of which glorious things have been spoken! Hence carnal concupiscence had fled, where so affectionate a reverence had filled the hearts of all. There was exultation with tears, cheerfulness in the ministry of the Martyrs, tearful compunction in the recollection of crimes. The faithful humility of the Christians rejoices, the obstinate and impudent iniquity of the demons is confounded; the demons chatter in the vessels which they had occupied, are tormented and burn; and yet confess the immense power of the holy Martyrs. O for shame! Who will now be perfidious, when perfidy itself confesses? Who will be worse than the demons? Who more perfidious than perfidy itself; when the demons believe and tremble? And if you will not believe the testimony of so great a multitude, at least believe the works.

[62] not without miracles, to the new church and its altars. Lesson III. For when the sacred bodies were solemnly led, so many clerics preceding and following, the peoples unceasingly loosing their mouths to the praises of God, all crying with tears "Kyrie eleison," the lights being kindled and flashing, a certain demoniac woman was freed: for the three wicked spirits which had long possessed her, going out through her ears, left sure signs of blood and phlegm flowing abundantly. Thenceforth, then, she felt no vexation, no infestation. Another woman of Andria, contracted for eight years, a burden of her pallet, a weariness of the house, a grief of her kindred, bound by the knots of diseases; yet aided by the intervention of the holy Martyrs, whom she had often called, rises whole, walks, and on her own feet, without the support of any prop, accompanies the sacred procession with thanksgiving. The peoples, therefore, singing together to God, and the spirits wailing, with aromatic odors and lights nearly equaling the stars, we, with our fellow bishops and an innumerable multitude of the singing clergy in concord, led the sacred relics of the Martyrs of Christ to the prepared places. Dedicating the middle altar to blessed Pantaleon, the northern to St. Maurus, the southern to blessed Sergius; so that you may rightly call the first that of blessed Maurus the prelate, if you begin to number from the arctic pole; but the last that of St. Sergius: but if you turn toward the torrid zone, that of blessed Sergius will be first; the highest that of St. Maurus. So then, the middle honor remaining, the dignity of the first, at the arbitration of the one numbering, suits the two remaining. Yet the position of most holy Maurus has a greater approach to the sublime summit of the pole adjacent.

[63] Lesson IV. On the same day a certain boy of another ^a, A boy struck by the kick of a horse is healed; likewise a deaf and dumb man, his face struck by the violent and thunderbolt-like blow of the hind feet of a certain most fierce horse, is cast far off: all who were present think him lifeless; the mother hears that her son is dead, whom she had just beheld playing; she cries out at once: "Holy Pantaleon, succor him." At the mother's voice, at the Martyr's name, the boy forthwith rises whole, bearing however on his face the mark of the whole iron of the horse. All magnify the Savior, who conferred so great a force even upon the invocation of His Martyr, and kindly exhibited so great a benefit. A certain youth of Vigiliæ had from birth contracted an affliction, by which he was deaf and dumb: for thus the bond of his tongue had wholly denied him speech; thus the passage of his ears, obstructed, forbade him to drink in sound: yet the defect of his senses could not extinguish the force of his reason: he saw the concourse of the peoples, perceived the devotion, understood the power of the Martyrs, and himself devout approaches, presses with prayers, aids the ministers with his strength and affection. O spectacle to be admired! O wonderful and stupendous operation! He who, while He dwelt among men, made the dumb speak and the deaf hear, Himself, to the honor of His Saints, opened the ears and loosed the bond of the aforesaid youth. He began, therefore, first to say: "Thanks be to God," before all the people, all who were present being stupefied, and magnifying God in the church of the Saints; afterward to answer the discourses of everyone, to utter the names of things which have not a difficult pronunciation. He vowed, therefore, to serve the oratory of the holy Martyrs, to minister to the ministers of the church; where, thanks be to God, as in hearing and speaking, so in ministering, he advanced and is advanced from day to day. In which it is the more wonderful, since he had never heard speech, that by the great power of God he uttered unknown names.

[64] Lesson V. A certain ship, laden with pilgrims who had visited the Lord's sepulcher, a blind man, a trembling man held incurable by the physicians, carried among the rest a certain Frenchman, who by innate gloom had long lost his sight. He, while he was in a certain port of Greece, beholds in a dream the blessed martyrs Pantaleon and Sergius exhorting him, that if he would receive the former clearness of his sight, he should approach their house at Vigiliæ. Which indeed he devoutly performed: for he came to us seeing, related the vision, testifies that he obeyed the warnings, offered votive gifts, and departed glad, his health received. On the same day of the sacred translation a certain man of Barletta, Petraccha by name, by the manifold suffering of an old and strong disease had contracted a tremor in all his limbs, so that a long-lasting sickness permitted him neither to fix his steps, nor to raise his palms, nor to long for fomentations: he scarcely moved his tongue to the sound of the least speech. He, after the vain cares of physicians, after innumerable expenses, after the consumption of his goods, trusting, approached the holy Martyrs humbly; prays that by their supplication he may deserve health: the propitious Lord looks upon the wretched man, hears the suppliant, grants him to the prayers of the Martyrs. He, of whom the physicians despaired; he, whom the common people said had been occupied by unclean spirits, rises and walks made firm; the tremor and pallor flee; with a lively color unhoped-for health comes on; he magnifies the Lord, gives thanks, saved.

[65] Lesson VI. There is a woman of Vigiliæ, who, having long suffered a flux of blood, could be helped by no fomentations of human art; and, the intercession of the holy Martyrs being invoked, was at once saved by their help. a hemorrhissa, a contracted man, one crushed by a horse. A certain priest of Trani approached suppliant to the relics of the Saints, applying himself to prayers; who, as he related to us, obtained that the contracted curves of his knees, through the intervention of the holy Martyrs, whose help he sought, were restored to their former health. And in the sacred translation of the Saints' bodies, on the fifth day, a certain man of Giovinazzo, whose name is Smaragdus, while he went to carry out his business, by chance or by the guile of Satan, fell gravely by the onset of the beast on which he was borne. Besides the crushing of his own body, the joint of his shoulder was disjoined, the sinews being dissolved; his arm, like a dead burden, hung down: groaning he returns home; a tearful compassion moves his household, kindred, and friends: a craftsman is summoned, that by surgical violence and skillful work in a bath which he had prepared he may draw back the bones; restore the joint to its seats; the man mourns in the bath; the washing neither delights nor soothes him: suppliant, with contrite heart and humbled spirit he utters the names of the holy Martyrs; asks them to be present to him afflicted; begs help; prays for their remedy: soon there is a consolidation of the bones to the place of nature; soon strength returns to the sinews; soon the former connection is fitted together; sense returns without pain; the injury departs without injury; wholeness is present without affliction; the man, whole, moves, turns, throws his arm: he recognizes the divine suffrage, marvels, rejoices at the benefit, weeps with tears that he is unworthy, criminal, unjust, impious: he moves his tongue to proclamations. The physician marvels; the kindred are stupefied; the craftsman beholds him whole without craft; all rejoice, and magnify the King of heaven, and venerate the holy Martyrs, by whose help the aforenamed man was saved: at once that man hastens, having attained the promised gift: he comes glad; presents himself to us in the church; relates before all the things which we have just noted.

[66] A storm arising, Lesson VII. At the city of Ruvo there survives a certain boy, who, by the continual flux of humors flowing down and impeding the passage of the breath, already for eight days worn out was being suffocated: for, the rheum being clotted in his throat by its violence, the vital air is intercepted: but when the water, in which the sacred bone of the Martyr had been washed, touched his gullet, all the clottedness vanishes; the way of the breath is opened; to his body now nearly dead vigor returns. What more? He is made whole; exults in the Lord: his tongue, answering to his mind, gives itself to divine praises. In the Adriatic sea, to which storms are wont to be familiar, a certain ship was tossed by the waves: the sailors, fearing the peril of shipwreck, apply themselves with a supreme effort to the oars; strive to approach the land: but the fury of the winds and waves opposes the vows of those in peril; retards the prow tending in whatever way to the shores. In so great a fear who, of an idle sea, who so sluggish does not strive with all his strength to escape? But often swiftness is wont to be impeded by misfortune.

[67] Lesson VIII. From one of the sailors the roughness of the sea snatches an oar; he, distraught, is stripped of it; improvidently he throws himself after the oar, not reckoning that it is of less harm to lose a cheap thing than to commit one's person to a perilous fall, and to try the perfidy of the fluctuating brine: he repents of his rashness; he would return to his companions; the tossing sea does not allow it; the sailors can give no help to their perishing companion; fearing they behold him perishing: now night, and the distance of the interval, snatch from them the sight of him: the companions, his safety despaired of, at last, their blood frozen from dread, put in with the poop to the shores. What should the wretched man do? The receding of the sea took away the sight of the land; his strength failing, from cold and toil he wastes away; his arms languish; he is made bloodless; yet hope did not desert him: in so great a crisis he recalls the renown of the blessed Martyrs; he prays with such voice as he could, yet more with his mind than with his mouth.

[68] Lesson IX. He is heard; since the Lord is near to those who are of a troubled heart: is set upon the shore by the Saints appearing. he sees forthwith two Youths, illustrious in aspect, aiding him on either side, the one to the right, the other to the left, holding the ends of the oar which he had seized. He is soon led whole, and they set him on the shore: thus, the sailor being saved, they depart. Who, giving thanks to God, and having narrated to very many the power of the holy Martyrs, revisits his companions, mourning for his death: now wholly secure he gladdens the sorrowful; opens with himself the mouths of his companions to the praises of the Savior; incites their minds to the veneration of the Saints by the proof of their power.

[69] The eighth day. Lesson I. In the aforenamed city of Ruvo there is a woman, An unbelieving woman is taught the truth by a heavenly vision. who lately importunely derogated from so many virtues of the Saints: she is strengthened by an oracle, so that she may bear in her mind no perfidy, no ambiguity. For thus the truth of faith, in the beginnings of its newness, breaking forth through rusty malice, through malignant detractions, through venomous blasphemies, through bloody slaughters, was wont to despise the fictions of unbelieving men; now too

from day to day more and more it is extended to immensity, is carried aloft, flashes and shines again, and by its splendor annihilates the smoke of fallacy and the empty images of false opinion. The woman of Ruvo, therefore, seems, by the command of the Almighty, to enter through a dream the holy church of blessed Nicholas: then she is admonished by a certain person of venerable white hair, that, having entered the inmost part of the sacred temple, she should note what she beheld there: then the woman, obeying the warnings, having gone in, gazes upon three transparent and illustrious persons, whom the same old man said were the blessed martyrs Pantaleon, Sergius, and Maurus the pontiff: and, that she might now bear no doubt in her breast concerning their virtues, she was bidden to observe what surrounded them. Soon the woman, diligently gazing, sees them everywhere fragrant with ringlets gathered of manna. Suddenly the woman awakes, holding no further hesitation in her mind; but with worthy veneration judges and professes that the holy Martyrs are to be venerated.

[70] Lesson II. But that reverend old man we agree to be blessed Peter, the prince of the Apostles; A man struck by a dart is healed; and the ringlets of manna we judge to be the remedies of the virtues, which profit the whole community. Nor do we think it should be passed over, that the aforesaid woman, illustrious by race, grave in life, advanced in age, shone with the authority of prudence, and was wont to declare that she proved from this that they are not Saints whom fame now glorifies, because from their bones manna does not flow down ^o. A certain Frenchman, after visiting the Lord's sepulcher, having set out with others against the perfidy and lost nation of the Saracens, that he might resist them as they strove to invade the faithful of Christ, was struck with a dart, where the leg is connected to the foot by the joint of the ankle-bones: he is soon received by his companions as he falls; is carried by others, that the violent separation may be cured. Thus it extinguished the function of walking, thus it overcame the remedies of human art. Weakened, therefore, by expenses, he profited in nothing. And so, his health despaired of, when he reached the port of Brindisi [p], he received with glad ear both the discovery of the holy Martyrs and their devout translation. Brought, therefore, into hope, he took the holy Martyrs by prayers as his intercessors; at once he recovered; upright he walked with both feet (which he had already become unaccustomed to).

[71] and a blind woman, a lame man, a deaf and paralytic woman, Lesson III. On the fourteenth day from the sacred translation, it was truly related to us that, while we, the relics of the holy Martyrs being laid up with due honor, were celebrating the solemnities of the Mass, a certain woman of the parish of Bari, blind for a long time, having suppliantly invoked the holy Martyrs, the gloom being driven off, drank in the day, perceived the sun to which she had grown unaccustomed, noted the forms of men and the colors of things: she was gifted also with so great a clearness, that she clearly beheld all the subtle things which the dulled sight of advanced age cannot perceive. On the same day too a certain German, the lameness of his infirmity being put to flight in the oratory of the Saints, received health by the intervention of the Saints. After the sacred translation of the holy Martyrs, a few days intervening, a certain woman, an inhabitant of Spinazzola [q], Æmiliana by name, had lost the sense of one ear, bearing the arm and side of the same part bloodless by a defect of nature, as a burden: she suppliantly seeks the intervention of the holy Martyrs. What she seeks, she receives; suddenly the passage of the deaf part is opened, nature by divine aid supplies unknown strength to her side and arm. She hears, therefore, more keenly; recovers more strongly, exercises the parts just now dead; robust, she more vigorously, gracious with the rest, extols the Lord with praises; venerates and honors the blessed Martyrs more devoutly.

[72] likewise a lame woman, and one dislocated. Lesson IV. On the same day a girl, a native of Canosa [r], who, one foot being turned outside the order of nature, the bones having gone out of their seats, limped deformedly, stood before the sacred altar of Blessed Pantaleon; a little after threw herself to the earth; prayed; rose at once whole. O unsearchable power! O ineffable might! The bones receive the places of nature without pain, without trouble, by the command of the Almighty; the foot returns to its form; the sole returns to its seat, and the step is directed, and the gait is strengthened. O powerful command of a stupendous operation! The sinews, bones, skin, flesh with the veins, just now twisted, without interval, without injury of sensation, in a moment obey their maker and repairer; the frame serves the craftsman; nature obeys the nod of the Creator. Soon the Almighty is praised by all; the holy Martyrs are honored, and, the people supplicating, are venerated. On the following day another woman, who dwells at Spinazzola, her arm withered and driven from its seat, hastens to the sacred altars of the Saints; prays that they may intercede for her health: forthwith an unaccustomed vigor comes to the sinews; heat with blood cherishes her arm, just now dead, just now torn from the shoulder, and dissolved; she raises her arms equally; the natural force equally dispenses its administration to each. Now she herself, concerning her health, glorifies the Lord with a clear voice; confesses that the holy Martyrs efficaciously interceded for her.

[73] The disastrous death of a blasphemer. Lesson V. We knew a certain man so given to insolence, so wholly subject to his dear desires, that natural reason could not pour out for him even a spark of light, he being wholly astray, utterly blinded; since he savored nothing but the flesh; believed that the present life alone existed; foolishly said, and more foolishly thought, that there was no God who ruled the world, who beheld the hearts of individuals: one supposing punishment or reward after this life he held for insane. He publicly pressed on with polluted mouth, presuming to touch the holy Martyrs with blasphemies, setting his foul mouth against heaven, and casting his contaminated tongue into the ether. As, therefore, he was impenitent, suddenly, when he was strong and untamed, he was prostrated by the calamity of divine vengeance, so that he lost both sight and hearing, and became tongueless, so that he could move his so often profaned tongue to no speech. And so he lay breathing, long half-alive, that by the rigor of the vengeance he might deter the perfidious. Thus, therefore, not after a few days, he who had lived bestially, died bestially. Wherefore you who do not believe our testimony and that of innumerable others, as constant as true; who deny the faith of so many who were saved; who resist so many and so great proofs of virtues, at least, you who are harder to faith, believe the confession of the demons; you especially, who, from the fact that you think you are called salt [s], incur the vice of pride, if not by love, at least by fear come to your senses, without shame of this word of the Lord: "But if the salt lose its savor, wherewith shall it be salted? Prepare ye the way of the Lord; make straight His paths." And if still with a livid or stony heart you deny faith, at least let the perfidious tongue refrain from detractions, from blasphemies: let punishment, therefore, deter him whom charity does not draw.

[74] Lesson VI. By another almost like vengeance of just correction exhibited, the Lord, after a fatherly manner, deterred a certain citizen of Giovinazzo, A reviler of the Saints is punished; but repenting he is healed. whom, because with that gaze by which He penetrates all things He saw to be corrigible, He struck and healed; touched with the rod, and freed his soul: for there is one whom neither fear nor shame forbade to curse the holy Martyrs. He suddenly, the gloom of night being brought on, lost his sight and hearing, and long could neither speak nor walk. At last, returned to himself, he detests the perfidy which he recognized; asks pardon for the guilt of his detraction; implores the patronage of the holy Martyrs. O immense clemency of the Maker! He remits the sin to the penitent. Nor is there delay, He restores to the confessor what was offered. For when he confessed that he had persistently transgressed, he is granted all the things which he greatly grieved, namely, to have deservedly lost. Thenceforth, therefore, he faithfully venerates the holy Martyrs, and strongly stops the malignant mouths: he venerates, therefore, the Martyrs, and steadfastly praises them; earnestly assails detractors and revilers.

[75] Lesson VII. If we should try to hand down to the memory of posterity in writing all the things which through the suffrages of His holy Martyrs Pantaleon, The spiritual benefits of the Martyrs are very many. Sergius, and Maurus the prelate the Lord has done and daily works, life would forsake us sooner than the abundance of matter: for neither the artifice of any skillful genius ever, nor the eloquence of the mouth, nor the swiftness of the hand, could suffice to express the power of these Martyrs' virtues: for, apart from the benefits which after their discovery have been shown in diverse parts of the world, as wonderfully as usefully daily and unceasingly, wherever they are sought for help, wherever their names are suppliantly invoked, at once they succor with remedies, profit with suffrages, gladden those who ask, to whom the Lord shall have seen it expedient. Nor only do they come easy to the infirmities of bodies, but also bring salutary medicine to the wounds of souls. For how many approach their oratory with obstinate heart, who depart with compunct soul? How many, oppressed by the mass of crimes, who, the weight of their wickedness removed, look up? How many afflicted with sorrow, who go away refreshed with cheerfulness?

[76] Lesson VIII. These, therefore, as kind as swift Helpers, let us suppliantly venerate, [The author's prayer to the Saints, that for the clergy, the king, and the people,] most devoutly entreat; that, the temperament of our bodies being preserved, diseases removed, they may obtain for us the tranquillity of peace and prosperity; ask for us purity and innocence; but after our passage from this world may obtain for us the felicity of eternal life in the kingdom of heaven. And so, O true Worshipers of Christ, illustrious Witnesses of the Lord's passion; protect us by your patronage from all adversities; drive off all enemies; intercede for the peace of the Church; remove barrenness; entreat that fertility and abundance be given; direct us, guarded from the whirlpool of vices, to the right way: advance our lord king William [t], everywhere foreseen and exalted by you, fortify him with power and the protection of life, prostrate his enemies beneath his feet, whose tranquil time of youth and happy reign was, by divine disposition, chosen for your discovery; make the prelates of his army and all the defenders of his kingdom more robust by your help: more familiarly care for the clergy and people of Vigiliæ: show yourselves propitious guardians to your house; drive off the languors of those coming there; look upon your worshipers with a kind gaze.

[77] and be propitious to himself. Lesson IX. Look round upon me, Amandus, bishop of Vigiliæ, though an unworthy servant of yours, and always with my life devoted to your ministry, and grant that, looked round upon, I be defended and strengthened from all trouble both of soul and of body; and after the departure from this fragile life provide me, by your prayers and merits interposed, some place among the elect: beg also of the Almighty, on whom you attend, that I be made a partaker of eternal life, no refusal following; who this little book of your virtues, God helping, formed in whatever way, have gladly and devoutly offered to you.

[78] The time of this discovery and translation. But the translation of the aforenamed holy Martyrs was celebrated honorably in the year of the Lord's Incarnation one thousand one hundred and seventh [u], in the fifteenth Indiction; in the second year of the reign of the same lord, the most glorious king William; but in the fourteenth of our episcopate, on the thirtieth day of the month of July, in the third month from the discovery, by the favor of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.

ANNOTATIONS.

THE HISTORY OF THE SECOND DISCOVERY.

BY DANIELE FRANCINO.

From the ancient proper Office of the same church.

Maurus, bishop and Martyr, at Vigiliæ in Apulia (St.)

Pantaleemon, Martyr, at Vigiliæ in Apulia (St.)

Sergius, Martyr, at Vigiliæ in Apulia (St.)

BHL Number: 5793

By Francino.

The duke of Andria, seeing St. Pantaleon almost alone venerated by the people, Lesson I. In perhaps the third year ^a when Francesco del Balzo ^b, duke of Andria and lord of the town of Vigiliæ, had frequently visited the shrine * of the holy Martyrs for the sake of fulfilling his piety, and had turned his mind to this, that the middle altar between the two outer ones, of somewhat larger work, as also below more often in which the body of Pantaleon was read to be laid up (while of the two remaining ones the one held Maurus, once pontiff of Bethlehem, the other Sergius), drew to itself all the veneration of those approaching, while the rest were held, somewhat obscurely, almost in neglect; the man was moved in his mind, of religion and piety, that so great a deformity in the cult of the separated relics ought by no means to be borne. Wherefore, having at some time taken aside a grave and religious man, Jacob, the most pious bishop of the church of Gravina ^c, he made him a partaker of his counsel: and what he had for some time devised, he related to him; and brought also the reasons and causes by which he might prove what he purposed in his mind, and add strength and weight to the matter to be carried out.

[2] Lesson II. As the year, therefore, was revolving, which we by pontifical institution call by a foreign word Jubilee ^d, God, who had appointed this to come to pass, began anew to titillate the heart of the duke, and to excite the man inwardly by an innate spirit, which without intermission provoked him, that he should hasten to manifest the glory of the divine clemency through the Martyrs, and himself (since God so commands) should at last seek the praise of so illustrious a deed. And so, among other things to be cared for, which he could not lack, and even amid supping and sleeping, the care refused to depart, nor was any leisure given from this thought and from grasping at counsel. At last frequent solicitude prevailed; and, admitted to making a journey, he made for Vigiliæ chiefly for this reason. Nor was delay interposed; at a fitting hour he met the bishop; opened the whole matter anew, and taught what counsel at last he had taken. This was, that he was moved by that same thought as before, of declaring the Martyrs of Christ.

[3] Lesson III. But before I describe the progress of the whole business, that it may be more easily understood it is that which was revealed through a vision to a certain Jacob that the whole matter was, as it were, seasonable and mature, wrought in its time by divine judgment; it comes into my mind in this place to insert the morning vision of Jacob Catalanus, at that very time the curate of the church of St. Mary, surnamed de Jano ^e, in the territory of Vigiliæ, that it may give credence concerning the instigating spirit of the duke, poured in not by human thought but by a divine mind. To this man indeed, of grave age, near his seventieth year, having besides a most upright life and the name of the highest innocence, when as yet he was seized by no disease, before the disinterment of the holy Martyrs, in the morning, at the dawning aurora, between sleeping and waking, through such a repose it seemed to him to behold a woman of august dignity, seated upon a magnificently spread throne, and herself distinguished with a golden robe, whom he heard from the bystanders to be Mary, the Queen of heaven, the Virgin mother of the Lord, near whom, in a surrounding assembly of the Saints, three excellent men stood, asking with these words: "Glorious Virgin Mother, must we remain longer, as in a prison, under the earth? When will it be granted that we be brought forth into the light?" To whom she, endowed with her majesty, replied; that they should now with even mind await the return of the duke of Andria, which would be very soon; and that then it would come to pass that, disinterred and brought forth, they would be seen in the light. Which being seen, they yielding their place, he himself, loosed from sleep, approached a certain Sergius, an honest man; and narrated the matter which he had seen through his repose. Nor was the matter deferred beyond the fifteenth day; at which time the duke, having set out for Vigiliæ, cared for the matter as diligently as possible.

[4] Lesson IV. Workmen being employed, first the middle altar was removed. to dig up again the bodies of SS. the Martyrs, There was first found a little stone chest, furnished with iron hooks, and covered with a marble tablet with a hole about in the middle, as it was anciently the custom to lay up the bodies of the Saints in subterranean places: which, being beheld empty, the hope, which had been amply conceived, grew cold: which being reported, the duke, somewhat rebuking the tepidity, said, "Proceed, having confidence." I think this was done on purpose by the ancients, that if any took care to dig them up, having found the emptiness, they might desist from their purpose and counsel: for they are wont, when these things are buried, by dissimulations and stratagems, or covered in somewhat more remote or blind corners, to have a deception doubtful by several ways, and a dread almost undetected through hidden and dissembled wanderings: press on more diligently, and search all around. Nay, he himself, following the same, urged the work: he ordered the empty little chest to be brought out: commanded that it be dug through toward the wall. Nor was another found far off, more studiously enclosed. That, at once taken, they religiously uncovered.

[5] Lesson V. Amid the first dread and the joy, Pantaleon being scarcely well venerated, all which, though cautiously hidden, were found the 19th of October 1475, and set in a religious place at the side of the shrine, they turn to that of Maurus the pontiff, with no suspicion of being deterred: and likewise they came to an empty little chest, then to another laid up with the bones of the Pontiff. They lingered a little while beholding; they venerated with insatiable piety the body of the holy Martyr and Prelate; as those who beheld their patrons; which their ancestors had attained. This too being set aside, they hasten to Sergius; there a like emptiness was found, but when no true little chest was found under the altar, the matter would have been plainly despaired of, had not the authority of the duke intervened; who ordered the wall behind the altar to be opened with iron, and the very joint of the stones, studiously and skillfully compacted, to be loosed: which, being begun to be opened, the Martyr showed himself, who had withdrawn not far off. It cannot be told, Sergius being found, how great and how solid a joy came to all. But when there was opportunity of beholding, they, entering in throngs and promiscuously, exhibited their piety; yet in such a way, that that excessive license was restrained: nor otherwise did the duke and the prelate thenceforth suffer anyone but with the highest veneration. But this business was accomplished somewhat before evening, on the fourteenth of the Kalends of November, in the year one thousand four hundred and seventy-five, when, the people beholding, they began to sweat manna, on the sixth feria, as the custom of the Church calls it.

[6] Lesson VI. But the counsel of the duke was

from the beginning to lay them up secretly; but the Martyrs of Christ themselves, who were unwilling to lie hidden any longer, being now wearied of their burial, had determined otherwise, namely the pledging of both the duke and of all mortals. And so that counsel, which he had first intended, as it were slipped from his hands. The people were at last admitted: a wonderful concourse was made to the spectacle of so great a thing; the pious desire of all could scarcely seem to be fulfilled, since they had thought they would never reach that day, when, with so great a joy having dared, they should behold the long-doubted Martyrs. This arrangement remained through the following day, the thirteenth of the Kalends of November; the same dread of those approaching, and the same reverence in all. The next day, Sunday, throughout the whole town most pious public supplications were decreed. There was a coming to the church: everywhere resounds the song of praise, they kiss those vessels which were worthy to contain relics so sacred. Straightway at last the bones, all admiring, began to sweat, and to emit from themselves manna of a most white appearance, in grains to the size of a grain of frankincense ^f.

[7] concerning which it had once been foretold to Dionysius. Lesson VII. But this, which pertains to the manna, had, even from the first discovery, been divinely foreshown to Dionysius himself, among many wonderful works, as about to be: for so it was committed to memory by Amandus, then the most pious bishop of Vigiliæ ^g: for that Dionysius, during the fasts of the holy Quadragesima which had preceded, saw in a dream one of the celestial choirs, with two others, glided down from heaven, and as it were bearing three silver reeds filled with fragrant manna, and having placed them where the bodies of the holy Martyrs then were, at Sagina, most religiously revered with his head and the gesture of his whole body; and soon the other two foretold, in these words, the things that were to be from the manna: "The manna of vessels of this kind," they say, "will come as a remedy for various sicknesses of bodies." Which even then both the admirable fragrance of the relics and the frequency of the miracles, which were seen almost incredible, persuaded would be; the canticles and praises of the angels singing together more than once, heard, also brought infallible hope, together with the shining torches, and the kindled tapers, which the three discoverers themselves, Deodatus, Dionysius, and Gualterius, had often beheld, and then indeed that in the church of St. Fortunatus, to which the Martyrs were first translated from their place on the shoulders of the priests, one bone of blessed Sergius both sweated oil, and an aromatic smoke, like no odor, went forth thence, and that straightway from the little chest of relics an immense light came forth; by which cause, to the amazement of all who were present, the whole church was illuminated.

[8] Supplications soon following from every side, Lesson VIII. Supplications being decreed on every side, from the neighboring and more remote cities every kind of multitude flowed together: infinite was the number of those who made the journey with bare feet, among whom were very many most worthy men. There came the men of Trani, of Andria, of Bitonto with their clergy drawn up beforehand, with solemn rite, each with their own crosses and relics of the Saints: the prelates and magistrates of those very cities likewise, and the peoples, without shoes, without the elegancies of their bodies, devout, abject, in soul and words laid open to God: nor was the piety lacking of the men of Ruvo, Molfetta, Giovinazzo, Corato, and of many others, hard to be recorded on account of their vast number. And each brought their vows, coins, tapers, cloths, and various gifts, as if there were rivalry among themselves concerning the magnificence of the offerings made. They besieged the vestibule of the church, and the shrine, and the lattices of the guard, the diseased, the invalids, those held by leprosy and the falling sickness, those seized in the eyes, the deaf, those affected in their limbs, the lame, the mutilated, the ulcerated, the maimed, the ruined, and wherever they stayed, they awaited the divine power and help, by which, useless in life, despaired of now by medicines and by every human office, they might be restored either wholly, or in some part.

[9] Lesson IX. Happy and fortunate town, and, by the glory of so great relics, to be compared with any famous cities! indulgences granted, miracles wrought. There soon flowed together from every side princes and the highest men: twice king Ferdinand ^h, led by the zeal of piety; his firstborn Alfonso, duke of Calabria, who would come into the succession of the kingdom otherwise; Gabriel, Cardinal of Eger ⁱ, Apostolic Legate a latere, an incredible multitude of prelates and bishops: and each of these, according to the power of his dignity, granted an expiation of sins, which the public writings and diplomas attest. The fame also of the wonderful and unusual work spread to the peoples beyond the Alps and the most distant; and drew excellent men too, though placed far off, by the zeal of visiting and venerating: in that very town of Vigiliæ thenceforth the Most Blessed shine with every kind of divine works. A young girl, Lella by name, blind in her eyes for two years, had endured blindness: led with the greatest hope by her parents to the sanctuary of the Martyrs of Christ, cotton being bound on her eyes, and taken from the contact of the relics, she recovered her sight. Augustina, wife of Peter Nicholas Piezuli, pregnant, after the seventh month fell from a certain high bridge, and by so grave a fall, that for above three days she did not, as before, feel the motion of the foetus. Soon what was in the womb descended to the lowest parts of the belly with so great pain and weight, that she was nearly extinguished; soon cotton from the relics being applied to the aching place; straightway the foetus moved itself, and returned into its place; and all the pain perished with it. A certain Nicholas Angelus had for now the fifth year endured a certain sharp pain in his hands and feet: a great hope being conceived, placed upon four men, he ordered himself to be carried to the cave of the Martyrs. Having entered the shrine, at once he felt the divine protection to be present to him. When he was set down in the place, straightway he recovered, who for so many years had lost the use of his body and of his feet and hands. There are thousands of this kind, and greater than these, which are either committed to memory, or, on account of their multitude, passed over ^k.

ANNOTATIONS.

ON THE SEVEN HOLY SLEEPERS,

MAXIMIANUS, MALCHUS, MARTINIANUS, DIONYSIUS, JOHN, SERAPION, AND CONSTANTINE.

AT EPHESUS IN ASIA MINOR.

IN THE YEAR 250.

PRELIMINARY COMMENTARY.

The Seven Sleepers, Martyrs, at Ephesus in Asia (SS.). Maximianus, commonly a holy Sleeper, Martyr, at Ephesus in Asia (St.)

Malchus, commonly a holy Sleeper, Martyr, at Ephesus in Asia (St.)

Martinianus, commonly a holy Sleeper, Martyr, at Ephesus in Asia (St.)

Dionysius, commonly a holy Sleeper, Martyr, at Ephesus in Asia (St.)

John, commonly a holy Sleeper, Martyr, at Ephesus in Asia (St.)

Serapion, commonly a holy Sleeper, Martyr, at Ephesus in Asia (St.)

Constantine, commonly a holy Sleeper, Martyr, at Ephesus in Asia (St.)

BY G. C.

§ I. The distinction of these Saints from others, their number, and their different names.

Paul Warnefrid, deacon of Friuli, in book 1 of the Deeds of the Lombards, chapter 4, thus makes mention of seven foreign men sleeping in the North: "I judge it not out of place to postpone for a little the order of my narration, Seven sleepers in Northern Germany, and, because my pen is still turned toward Germany, briefly to intimate a miracle, which there is held famous among all, and also certain other things. At the furthest bounds of Germany toward the northwest, on the very shore of the Ocean, a cave is seen under a projecting cliff, where seven men (uncertain from what time) rest lulled in a long slumber, with not only their bodies but even their garments so unharmed, that from this very thing, that they endure without any corruption through the courses of so many years, they are held in veneration among those same untaught and barbarous nations. These, moreover, as far as pertains to their dress, are seen to be Romans: of whom, when a certain man, stirred by cupidity, would strip one, his arms, as it is said, at once withered, and by his own punishment terrified the rest, that no one should dare to touch them further. [God] preserves them by divine providence through so many ages for a purpose to which He will bring them. Perhaps through these, at some time, because they are thought to be nothing other than Christians, those nations are to be saved by preaching." By "Germany" here understand Northern, or rather Norway, in whose bounds Cluverius, in book 3 of the Ancient Germany, chapter 41, places this location. Doubtless Warnefrid in Italy learned this miracle from his Lombards, the faith of which we leave with its first narrators.

[2] Olaus Magnus, archbishop of Uppsala, in the History of the Northern Peoples, book 1, chapter 3, reports the same prodigy from Paul the Deacon, which is now called Norway, and on this occasion makes mention, from Sigebert of Gembloux, of our seven Sleepers as distinct. But Antonius Possevinus the younger, a philosopher and physician of Mantua, seems to have confused these seven Northern Sleepers with the Ephesian ones: for in the work which he entitled Gonzaga, page 3 and following, he brings the origin of this most noble family from the far North into Italy, and, treating of Scandia, the first fatherland of the Gonzagas, inserts these things pertinent to our matter: "We take our reckoning from the times of Agimund, who was the son of Agio: for Agimund is said to have found the seven Sleepers, who, in the reign of Decius, had been shut up in a subterranean cave; but their discovery fell in the four hundred and fifty-third year of salvation, about the thirtieth of Theodosius: but from those with whom the Scandians sojourned down to Agimund were about fifty years." You see that here Possevinus mentions only the seven Ephesian Sleepers, whom he sets as shut up under Decius and found under Theodosius, while meanwhile Warnefrid asserts of his own that the time is uncertain from which they slept in the North.

[3] and Gaul Gregory of Tours, or whoever is the author of the epistle to Sulpicius of Bourges, presents us with another history of seven Sleepers, who rest in Gaul at Marmoutier. But these, in that history, are called Clement, Primus, Lætus, Theodore, Gaudens, Quiriacus, Innocentius, and are said to have been cousins of St. Martin of Tours, to whom they departed from their own fatherland, and, after a life piously spent in the monastery, all together at the same time wonderfully fell asleep in the Lord. From this placid kind of death and wonderful falling-asleep they were commonly called the seven Sleepers, as is sufficiently gathered from their Acts, which Ruinart published in the year 1699 among the works of Gregory of Tours, where these things are read: "But when they had received the Communion from the hand of abbot Aicardus, the Mass being finished, their knees bent, sound and whole, prostrate in prayer, they entered the way of all flesh, as blessed Martin had foretold, being as much strangers to the pain of death as they were alien to the corruption of the flesh. But that cell was straightway filled with so great an odor, as if a heap of many aromatics were thought to be scattered there. But abbot Aicardus, together with the brethren, receiving them not from death, but as it were from prayer, thought them not dead, but sleeping, since their faces were red as a rose, their flesh shone like snow. Wherefore he disposed them upon seats, as they had been wont to sit in their cell, and placed them so that they could be beheld by all, only the necessary things being interposed, by which they might be defended from the injury of those rushing in, between them and those entering, by the middle barriers of bars. The thresholds too lay open, that all who came might see the faces of the Saints, not as of the dead, but as of the sleeping; because, though to men they were dead, yet to God, to whom all things live, they were sleeping." Then the author describes the miracles, the sepulcher, and other things which may be examined on the 12th of November, on which they died, and are reported in the Brussels Usuardus. Whence I know not why Saussay, in his Gallican Martyrology, reported them on the 26th of September.

[4] they are to be distinguished from the Ephesian Sleepers, Cardinal Baronius thought that these seven Gallic or Turonian Sleepers were the same with the preceding seven Norwegian ones, when in his notes on the Roman Martyrology on the 27th of July he writes thus: "Something similar concerning other seven Sleepers in Germany, Paul the deacon writes in the Deeds of the Lombards, book 1, chapter 3, whom we think to be those concerning whom Gregory of Tours wrote an epistle to Sulpicius, bishop of Bourges, in which he recounts their origin; whom, however, he expressly testifies really to have died, and recites their names, which are these: Clement, Primus, Lætus, Theodore, Gaudens, Cyriacus, and Innocentius." But to me, on account of the immense distance of the lands, the names, deeds, and other circumstances of the Acts and of both narrations, these seven Turonians seem plainly different from the Northern ones, so that I cannot sufficiently marvel by what reasoning that most eminent man could confuse them. Add that John Maan, concerning the Gallic Sleepers (though he does not much defer to their Acts), in his Metropolitan Church of Tours, page 18, thus testifies: "For the rest, concerning the seven Sleepers, whose common sepulcher still today exists within the enclosure of Marmoutier in a crypt, to which a monastic chapel serves as a vestibule, fame reports that they came to Martin with the purpose of a higher and more excellent institution, and, staying with him, cultivated the monastic kind of life," etc. Whatever be the case with this history, which on the 12th of November can be examined more laboriously, certainly the seven Sleepers, both the Germanic and the Gallic, differ from the seven Ephesian Sleepers, of whom on this day we treat with Usuardus and the Roman Martyrology.

[5] According to the common opinion, in the title and elsewhere I have said that these Ephesian Martyrs were seven in number, whom some assert to have been eight, although in Assemani, vol. 1 of the Oriental Library, page 336, Dionysius, patriarch of the Jacobites, in the Syriac history of these Martyrs, expressly enumerates eight; namely Maximilianus, Jamlichus, Martelus, Dionysius, John, Serapion, Eustadianus, Antoninus. Nay, Jacob of Sarug, who flourished in the fifth century, seems also to indicate eight, when in the Syriac homily on these Saints, to be exhibited after this preliminary Commentary, no. 3, he thus speaks: "The son of the hyparch (the name of the hyparch is here not a proper one, unless I err, but an appellative, by which a prefect is signified) opened his mouth, and his seven companions." But for whatever cause that son of the prefect is perhaps not commonly numbered with the others, all writers, Greek, Latin, Arab, Ethiopian, with unanimous consent reckon only seven Ephesian Martyrs, and even the Syrians themselves in their ecclesiastical Office celebrate the same number.

[6] The names of these Martyrs are expressed differently among diverse nations: and whose names by various writers for by the Muscovites in the Slavo-Russian Menologium, which we shall cite in the following paragraph, they are so called: Maximilianus, Dionysius, Amulichus, Martinus, Antoninus, John, Marcellus. In Eutychius, patriarch of Alexandria, in the Arabic Annals, rendered into Latin by Pococke, vol. 1, page 388, these are their names: Maximianus, Amlichus, Dianus, Martimus, Dionysius, Antonius, John. Whether this discrepancy arises from the carelessness of the copyists, or from the property of the various idioms, I shall not easily determine. Our Rader, in the Holy Court, chapter 13, thus discourses of this change of names: "The names are not given by the Greeks the same as in the birthdays of the Martyrs among the Romans: for the Latins name Maximianus, Malchus, Martinianus, Dionysius, John, Serapion, and Constantine. The Greeks in the Menaia praise Maximilianus, Exacustodianus, Jamblichus, Martinianus, Dionysius, John, and Constantine." But easily Maximilianus for Maximianus, or the contrary, could be written; in the place of Malchus, Jamblichus succeeds, in that of Serapion, Exacustodianus. Another transposition and change of the same names among the Greeks themselves I observe in the following paragraph. The remaining differences, of less moment, can easily be noted in the course of the work by the studious reader.

[7] are reported in various ways. From all the others the Ethiopian writer altogether differs, by whom, in Job Ludolf in the annotations on the Ethiopic Calendar, page 436, the same seven Martyrs are so named: Arshaledes, Diomedes, Eugenius, Dimatheus, Bronatheus, Stephanus, and Cyriacus. I suspect that by that Ethiopian are indicated the names which those Saints perhaps had before receiving baptism. This at least the anonymous Greek author indicates, in a manuscript of the Medicean library, of which we have a transcript, when, after the beginning of the Acts, concerning the changed names of six of the Martyrs he writes thus: Ἐν δὲ τῷ θείῳ λουτρῷ τοίασδε μετωνομίας ἐδέξαντο οἱ μακάριοι. Μαξιμιλιανὸς μὴν μετωνομάσθη Ἀχίλλιος· Δεμέτριος δὲ ὁ Ἰάμβλιχος, ὁ δὲ Ἐξακουστουδιανὸς Διομήδης, ὁ δὲ Ἀντωνῖνος Κυριακὸς, ὁ δὲ Μαρτῖνος Εὐγένιος, ὁ Διονύσιος δὲ τὴν τοῦ Στεφάνου κλῆσιν ἠνέγκατο. That is: The blessed received in the divine laver such a change of names: Maximilianus was named Achillius; Demetrius, Jamblichus; Exacustodianus, Diomedes; Antoninus, Cyriacus; Martinus, Eugenius; but Dionysius obtained the name of Stephen. The same I conjecture from Boninus Mombritius, who in vol. 2, in the Acts of those Martyrs, reports these things: "There were seven men in the palace of the king, chief and noble, whose names are: Achiledus, Diomedus, Eugenius, Stephanus, Probatius, Sambatus, and Cyriacus… Being divinely compunct, they flew to the grace of baptism, and, their names being changed, reborn at the sacred font, were called Maximus, Malchus, Martinianus, Constantius, Dionysius, John, Serapion." Who has here more disjointed the names, I know not. At least things somewhat similar to those of Mombritius are read in our manuscript of Saint-Omer, which is attributed to Gregory of Tours, as we shall afterward show at greater length.

* otherwise "Videris," "Videtis"

* otherwise "viaticum"

§ II. The cult from the ecclesiastical monuments of various peoples.

The Greeks celebrate these saints Famous is the memory of these Martyrs among the Greeks, who on the 4th of August and the 22nd of October solemnly keep their feast. The Typicon of St. Sabas on those two days thus briefly announces them: Τῶν ἁγίων ἑπτὰ παίδων τῶν ἐν Ἐφέσῳ. That is: Of the holy seven children at Ephesus. The Greek Menologium, which

was collected by the command of the emperor Basil in the tenth century, and whose first half-year exists in the latest edition of the Italia Sacra, vol. 10, among the Ughellian anecdota, there, col. 280, reads thus: "On the same day (I know not for what cause they are here reported on the 23rd of October) the commemoration of the manifestation made of the holy seven children at Ephesus." Then there is subjoined the following compendium of the Acts: "Maximilianus, Jamblichus, Martianus, Dionysius, John, Constantine, and Antoninus, at Ephesus, on account of Christian piety brought before the emperor Decius, when they had asked time for deliberation and had obtained it, fled to the cave of a certain mountain, and there gave themselves to sleep, the entrance of the cave being blocked up. In the three hundred and seventy-second year afterward (this gross anachronism, common to several, will be discussed below), in the reign of Theodosius the younger, when heretics had dared to contrive new things in the Church by a most pernicious dogma, denying the resurrection, and that matter greatly troubled the emperor, God, that He might confirm in the minds of all a sure faith in the resurrection, the cave being opened, awakened the sleepers: of whom Jamblichus, taking a coin of Decius, went down into the city to buy provisions, as one who had slept a long while; he was recognized, and, led to the bishop, set forth the whole matter as it had happened. Therefore, when they had left the faith of the resurrection attested among all, they were again dead and carried into the cave."

[9] Another Menologium, which Canisius, Cardinal Sirleto translating, published in Latin in vol. 2 of the Ancient Reading, from page 730, in the Menologies on the 4th of August thus records the same Saints: "The birthday of the holy seven Sleepers in the city of Ephesus, Maximilianus, Exacustodianus, Jamlicus, Martinianus, Dionysius, John, and Constantine." But the same Menologist, on the 22nd of October, the names being somewhat transposed, and Antoninus substituted for John, calls them not Sleepers, but brothers, in this manner: "On the same day the birthday of the holy brothers in the city of Ephesus, Maximilianus, Jamblichus, Martinianus, Dionysius, Antoninus, Exacustodianus, and Constantine." The printed Menaia on these two days have in their announcement the same transposition and change of names, which variations it is wonderful to find in the same ecclesiastical Fasti: but in both places they address those Saints by the name παίδων, that is, of children, not of brothers. A brief announcement of the same Martyrs, and nearly similar to the Typicon of St. Sabas, is contained in several Greek Synaxaria, Horologia, and other ecclesiastical monuments of that kind, which here to recount one by one I deem superfluous.

[10] The same printed Menaia, after the aforesaid transposition and change of names, and in the Menaia, expressed in red characters, on the 4th of August add these iambic verses: Τὸν ἑπτάριθμον τιμῶ χορὸν Μαρτύρων Δείξαντα ἀνάστασιν νεκρῶν τῷ κόσμῳ. That is: I honor the choir of Martyrs, seven in number, / Who showed to the world the resurrection of the dead. (Latin: "I honor the seven Martyrs, who once proved that there would be new life for the dead.") Then is added the following hexameter verse, which also is read thus in the metrical Greco-Muscovite Ephemerides prefixed to vol. 1 of our May: Τῇδε τετάρτῃ νεκροέγειρτοι ξύνθανον ἑπτά. That is: On this fourth [day] the seven, raised from the dead, die together. (Latin: "On the fourth the Seven awake, and together rest.") But on the 22nd of October, after the aforementioned announcement, these verses follow: Παῖδες λιπόντες πρὸς μικρὸν μακροὺς ὕπνους, Ὕπνωσαν αὖθις τὸν μετ᾽ εἰρήνης ὕπνον. That is: The Children, having left long sleeps for a little while, / Slept again the sleep that is in peace. (Latin: "A long sleep left these Children, but a better sleep in a short time takes them in peace.") On each day, after the verses, a long history is narrated, which is not much unlike the common Acts.

[11] Doubtless the ancient cult of these seven Sleepers passed from the Greeks to other nations: and, besides the Muscovites and Ethiopians, for the Muscovites in their Slavo-Russian Menologium, which the most noble baron Sparwenfeld rendered into Latin for us, on the 4th of August thus briefly commemorate them: "Of the holy seven Youths of Ephesus." Then on the 22nd of October they thus more fully make mention of the same Saints: "Likewise of the seven holy Youths, who slept at Ephesus 372 years; but they died in the year 378, whose names are: Maximilianus, Dionysius, Amulichus, Martinus, Antoninus, John, Marcellus." The Muscovite Martyrologist, in marking the too-long slumber of three hundred and seventy-two years, blindly followed the errors of others; but I know not what he means, when he asserts that those Youths died in the year three hundred and seventy-eight. Does he understand this of the first, or of the second death? But it can fit neither, as will afterward appear. The Ethiopians and Copts repeat a brief announcement of these Martyrs in their Calendar on different days, of which repetition they do not add the cause, as may be seen in the Commentary of Job Ludolf on the Ethiopic History, page 436. Moreover, what kind of history is handed down concerning these holy Sleepers among the Ethiopians, we shall indicate below on another occasion.

[12] The Maronite Syrians The Maronite Syrians on the 7th of March celebrate the same Saints with a solemn Office, as is clear from a Syriac codex, which is preserved in the Roman library of the Maronites. Our Petrus Benedetti, to be praised at greater length below, among other things most courteously transmitted to me from Rome a great part of this Office, rendered into Latin by himself, from which I shall excerpt one or two hymns. And so the hymn at Vespers is sung thus: "Hear, ye wise, with great charity the triumphs of the seven Martyrs. In the month of March, for the love of the Son of God, they were crowned. Ducus, the impious worshiper of idols, condemned them, because they did not sacrifice to the mute images, when he saw them trust in the Savior, who is in the heavens. These indeed were they who, having gone out from Ephesus, and forsaking the world and all things contained in it with one affection and one mind, ascended to the summit of the mountain and were raised up. The hidden armor of the Holy Spirit the seven illustrious Martyrs put on. They saw Ducus the idolater, that he had girded himself to their slaughter; like eagles they flew to the top of the mountain, and, having entered the cave, hid themselves. Today the Church and her children rejoice, and on their feast sing praise. They bent their heads upon the summit of the mountain, and adored their Lord with great joy. The hard judgment cannot be told which the elect seven Martyrs endured from the judge Ducus the accursed, the idolatrous emperor, the workman of error. From Ephesus the Blessed went out and left error then flourishing in wealth. The Blessed ascended, and, having entered the cave, hid themselves from their persecutors. The age of Ducus the idolater passed away, and all idolatry ceased. The churches lay open, and the sacred edifices resounded like thunders, and the idolaters ceased, and their rule. Our Lord willed to awaken the simple Lambs from sleep. Immediately the Blessed arose, and began to sing the praises of the voice. The Church rejoiced, in which their memories are perpetually handed down."

[13] in the ecclesiastical Office Another hymn at Prime sounds thus: "Brethren, let us sing a new song on the day of the commemoration of the Children of light. I admire the seven Martyrs, about to tell their triumphs. The King of kings chose them, that they might become Martyrs of the Only-begotten. Their thought descended into the love of the Son, and in their minds they were inflamed. Then Ducus, the accursed idolater, was inflamed with anger against the Saints, and made a feast to the mute images, as he had learned from Satan. He invited the seven Martyrs to sacrifice to the unclean demons; but they prepared their minds to become victims to the King of kings. It was fitting for the simple Lambs to suffer persecution from idolatry. The blessed choir of the seven Martyrs joined battle with Satan. They truly loved God, and for Him suffered persecution. The Blessed, having gone out from Ephesus, went up to the top of the mountain, raising themselves. The wicked one roared against the Saints, like a lion thirsting for slaughter. The blessed band of the seven Martyrs escaped from his hands: they entered into the cave, and in it hid themselves from the threats of the profane Ducus. Their souls flew swiftly on high above, to the company of the spiritual ones." I pass over other things pertaining to the history, which had been excerpted from the odes of that Office, because they will recur often enough below. Meanwhile, with Father Benedetti, I suspect that those Saints are venerated by the Melkite Syrians on the 1st of September: for in an Arabic codex, which exists in the Roman college of the Maronites, after their Acts Benedetti had read that the death of these Martyrs happened on the Kalends of Ailul, that is, of September.

[14] The knowledge of these seven Sleepers seems first to have come from the East to the West in the sixth century: and the Latins in their Martyrologies, for this Gregory of Tours, book 1 On the Glory of the Martyrs, chapter 95, sufficiently indicates, when at the end he says that he translated their fuller Acts into Latin, a certain Syrian interpreting. For the rest, among the Latin Martyrologists the first, so far as I know, Ado, on the 27th of June thus briefly announces the memory of our Saints: "On the same day, the deeds of the seven Sleepers." The genuine text of Usuardus, on the 27th of the following month, thus expresses three of their names and the place of their combat or veneration: "At Ephesus, the birthday of the holy Maximianus, Malchus, Martinianus, and four others, whose deeds are had." Rabanus and Notker, following Ado in assigning the day of the cult, expressed the names of all, and perhaps from Gregory of Tours reduced their Acts to a compendium. I do not deem it necessary here to accumulate other texts of the more recent Martyrologists, since from what has been said it is sufficiently established concerning the ancient cult of those Saints. But as for the yearly day of the festivity, it is diverse among various nations and even among the Latins themselves. Petrus de Natalibus in his Catalogue, book 7, chapter 51, after the history of the Acts, thus writes concerning the yearly day of the cult: "The holy Martyrs, therefore, slept with their first slumber on the 6th of the Kalends of August; but they rose on the 3rd of the Ides of the same month, on which day their feast is solemnly kept, in the year of the Lord 448." Whichever of these be the true day, we in assigning it follow the Roman Martyrology, which on the 27th of July reads thus: "At Ephesus, the birthday of the holy seven Sleepers, Maximianus, Malchus, Martinianus, Dionysius, John, Serapion, and Constantine."

[15] The aforesaid seven Martyrs are honored with an ecclesiastical Office in various dioceses of the West, as is clear from certain Missals and Breviaries, in Missals and Breviaries. of which here to have produced one or two will suffice. In the first place, the Missal of Rouen, published by the command of archbishop and Cardinal Bourbon in the year 1585, after the Office of three Lessons in the Mass prescribes the following Collect: "Grant, we beseech thee, almighty God, that thy people may be prepared for the affection of full devotion by the birthdays of thy blessed Martyrs Malchus, Maximianus, Martinianus, Dionysius, John, Serapion, and Constantine, and, their patronage deserving it, may fully receive an increase of security. Through our Lord," etc. In the ancient Breviary of Tournai was recited the collect from the Common of Martyrs, "God, who grantest us," etc. But the Breviary of Salisbury in England, which was printed at Louvain in the year 1499, prefixes to the three proper Lessons this Collect: "God, who didst magnificently crown the seven Sleepers, glorious heralds of the eternal resurrection, grant, we beseech thee, that by their prayers we may obtain the holy resurrection, which was wonderfully preshown in them. Through," etc. Whatever be the case with the truth of this resurrection, of which afterward at greater length; with Baronius in the notes on the Roman Martyrology I confidently say on this day, that both Latins and Greeks religiously and piously venerate and celebrate the anniversary solemnity of these Saints, since they suffered grievous things in the times of Decius, and truly fell asleep in the Lord. Even if what has been said hitherto suffices to establish their cult, yet the same from

their posthumous glory and other monuments I shall now confirm.

* read "obstructo" (blocked up)

§ III. The posthumous glory of these Martyrs, a wonderful vision concerning them, and a miracle wrought by their patronage.

Concerning those Saints, whose bodies long survived at Ephesus, I scarcely doubt that once in the East several churches were dedicated to our Saints, which now, by the injury of the times and the tyranny of the Turks, have perished. Franciscus Richardus, a missionary of our Society among the Greeks, testifies that in the island of Sant-Erini, which lies in the Aegean sea, he saw a chapel built to these Saints. "Along the shore of the sea toward Aponomeria," he says in the French History of that island, chapter 3, "is seen a chapel built to the honor of the seven Sleepers, which is commonly called ἐκκλησία τῶν ἑπτὰ παίδων. That is: the church of the seven children." Most of our Acts at the end make mention of the temple which Theodosius the younger ordered to be built near the city of Ephesus above the bodies of these Martyrs, and whose ruins are even now beheld, as Cornelius le Brun, Jacobus Spon, and other eyewitnesses affirm in their travel-narratives. Their sacred bodies must even now rest in that place, if Rabanus foretold true, who on the 27th of June in his Martyrology concludes the synopsis of the Acts with these words: "But the truth being recognized, Marinus, bishop of the Ephesians, coming, they were freed from the hands of the violent, and, presented to the emperor Theodosius for a testimony of the future resurrection, again returned to their former place, where they shall rest until the day of the universal judgment." If Rabanus means that their bodies are to be preserved in that very place until the last day of judgment, how much is to be deferred to his prophecy, I know not. Yet that their bodies still survived there beyond the middle of the sixth century is clear from Gregory of Tours, who in book 1 On the Glory of the Martyrs, chapter 95, thus writes of them: "But the men, covered even today with little cloaks of silk or of linen, rest in that very place." That in the eighth century their sacred relics were wont to be shown there to pilgrims I gather from the Acts of St. Willibald, written by a contemporary nun, which we gave on the 7th of July, where in vol. 2 of that month, page 504, these things are read: "Thence sailing into Asia to the city of Ephesus, one mile along the sea; and thence they walked to that place where the seven Sleepers rest." Nay, that the same bodies of the Saints rested near Ephesus even in the eleventh century is drawn from the Life of St. Edward, king and confessor, which was published among the ten writers of English history at London in the year 1652, and from which I shall here transcribe the wonderful vision of the holy king concerning these seven Sleepers.

[17] St. Edward, king of England, Blessed Ailred or Ealred, abbot of Rievaulx in England, who flourished about the middle of the twelfth century, and whose Acts were illustrated by Bolland on the 12th of January, wrote the Life and miracles of St. Edward, and in the already cited London edition, among his other deeds, col. 395 and 396, reports the following prodigy: "I cannot sufficiently marvel what may have been the cause, that at that time, when by his royal magnificence he seemed more illustrious, when, surrounded by the retinue of his nobles, he seemed more severe, when, by more sumptuous banquets, in the estimation of the beholders, he seemed more lavish, he merited a more abundant grace of spiritual revelations; but doubtless man looks on the face, but God on the heart. He bore, indeed, a sword, but for his office: he used royal things, but for a sacrament: he walked attended by many soldiers, but for necessity: he sat aloft in the banquet, but for custom. Happy he, who so used all these things that he did not abuse them, giving his body to earthly things, and mingling his spirit with heavenly ones. Hence it is that on the day of the Lord's Resurrection, girt with the imperial robe, when the scepter adorned his right hand, and the crown his head, now fed with the flesh of the heavenly Lamb, he came to the royal table, to be refreshed rather with spiritual than with carnal banquets. For fearing, as I think, lest perchance the more fertile table, the more festive attire, the more splendid pomp should bend his mind, intent on heaven, even a little to himself, he gathered himself to himself more closely than usual, and, setting God before his eyes, esteemed all these earthly things as dung, when suddenly his countenance was made more serene than usual, and an inner gladness loosed his lips into a smile, and again, his usual gravity being resumed, he presented a darker face. Those who stood by and who sat marveled, and although, from the things which had happened, they in no way doubted that some secret had been divinely revealed to the king, yet no one dared to ask him what had happened.

[18] The banquet at last finished and the tables removed, the most blessed king enters his chamber, had a wonderful revelation, to dispose of his royal ornaments. Earl Harold, following him, and one of the bishops and one of the abbots being called, together meet the king upon this subject. Then he: 'Blessed,' he says, 'is the man whose hope is the name of the Lord, and who hath not regarded vanities and false follies: for as much as anyone withdraws himself from vain things, so much the more closely will he cleave to the true. Behold, indeed, I, among the abundant cups and rich dishes and the splendor of the radiant metal, remembered the Lord my God, and poured out my soul within me, and, the bosom of my mind being dilated, the inner eye, suffused with a special light, stretched its rays even to the city of the Ephesians with wonderful speed, and, having advanced even to Mount Celion, it contemplated, with a most manifest expression, the property of the countenances, the size of the limbs, the quality of the garments of the holy seven Sleepers, resting in the cave. While with a luminous heart I beheld these things, my inner gladness being signified by a smile, suddenly, as I beheld, from the right side, upon which they had rested for many years, turning themselves to the left side by divine power, they signified by this change of their sides a dread omen to mortals. For from now, as is written in the Gospel, "Nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there shall be pestilences and famines, and great earthquakes in places." For during these seventy years (for so much time they will repose on the left side) the Lord will visit the iniquity of His people, delivering them into the hands of the nations, that those who hate them may rule over them. For the enemies of the name of Christ will rise up against the Christians, servants will rebel against their masters, kings will lie in wait for kings, and princes for princes, and in all lands the sword, avenger of the injury of Christ, will rage.'

[19] All who heard the word were astonished, and because, placed outside the world, they had heard nothing of the seven Sleepers, on their inquiring who they were and whence, from which he truly foretold future evils, the king set forth their life, and names, and passion, and manner of falling asleep. Which being heard, counsel being taken, that they might give credence to posterity, to explore the truth of the discourse they think that the duke should send a soldier, the bishop a cleric, the abbot a monk, with the king's epistle, to be directed to the emperor of Constantinople: who, when they came to the royal city, were honorably received by the emperor. But the letters being read, his spirit exulted in joy, and he greatly congratulated them on the treasures of Greece, divinely revealed to the English. They are sent to Ephesus, and by the emperor's command, the bishop with the clergy and people precede the legates, and, they being led with aromatics into the cave, he shows the bodies, faces, and garments of the Saints, and them reposing on the left side. And, behold, a great fear rushed upon them, seeing all the signs in the Martyrs in Greece which the holy king in England, the Spirit of God teaching, had learned. And so, prayer being made and gifts offered, they return home with the highest prosperity, the Greeks exulting in the things which they had heard and seen, as had been said to them, the messengers reporting the unheard-of miracle and a sure proof of faith both to the king of the English and to the people.

[20] as various writers testify. The oracle did not deceive the king, since, he being translated to the heavenly kingdom, all the kingdoms of the earth were shaken. Syria subjected to the pagans, the monasteries destroyed, the churches razed from their foundations, all things full of funerals, by the death of the princes of the Greeks, Romans, Franks, English, and the other kingdoms disturbed. It is clear, therefore, that to the most holy king, enriched with a more ample grace of the spirit of prophecy, to whom at one and the same time both past things lay open, and present things were not hidden, future things also were nonetheless revealed. William of Malmesbury, book 2 of the Deeds of the Kings of the English, chapter 13, also narrates this wonderful vision of St. Edward, and proves more distinctly that the aforementioned prophecy of the holy king was fulfilled, in these words: "Nor did the hastening of the evils make delay, but that the Agarenes and Arabs and Turks, nations alien from Christ, having wholly laid waste Syria and Lycia and Asia Minor, and many cities of Asia Major, among which also Ephesus, and even Jerusalem itself, invaded the Christians. Then also, Manichetes, the emperor of Constantinople, being dead, Diogenes and Michael and Bucinatius and Alexius in turn thrust themselves from the empire, of whom the last, enduring even to our times, left his son John as heir." Ranulph Higden, who among fifteen other writers of English history was published in print by Thomas Gale at Oxford in the year 1691, book 6 of his Polychronicon, in the cited edition, page 283, reduced the same history to a compendium, and, calling the emperor of Constantinople of that time Nicetas, thus briefly writes of the fulfilled prophecy of St. Edward: "And soon after the Saracens and Turks rose up, occupying Syria, Asia Minor, and Jerusalem, and soon after the emperor Henry the third died, and Henry, king of the Franks, died poisoned, and a comet star on the 8th of the Kalends of May appeared, as it were through the whole world, for seven continuous days." Whatever be the case with this prodigious history, which I wonder was passed over by our Alford in the Ecclesiastical Annals of Britain, we leave its credence with the already-praised authors.

[21] To these I subjoin a miracle, which Reinerus, a monk who in the twelfth century flourished in the monastery of St. Lawrence at Liège, Reinerus, a monk of Liège, writes to have befallen him by the patronage of the holy seven Sleepers, in Bernard Pez, in the latest Thesaurus of Anecdota, vol. 4, part 3, col. 38 and 39, thus: "Now, my flesh being consumed, my bone had cleaved to my skin; now, according to the Prophet, the Lord had made old my skin and my flesh, and had broken my bones. My appetite for food had wholly failed, and my veins, destitute of juice, denied me sleep to steal upon me. To God, therefore, dripped the eye of my soul, because His wraths passed over me, and His terrors troubled me: for the soul is both watered with its own tears, and, dissolved by breaking, and affected by a certain ineffable sense, by most tender weeping, by strongest groaning, moves the very bowels of the Paraclete Spirit, and merits consolation. There came one of the brethren to visit me, who advised that I should have the names of the holy seven Sleepers written on a little slip and bound about my head: for by this remedy of pious faith the faculty of sleeping was sometimes restored to the sick. I applied faith, did as he had enjoined, and now in some way I heard with my inner ear: 'Thy faith shall make thee whole.' For suddenly, through an ecstasy of mind, I saw myself to be in a certain royal hall, which an inestimable light, an incredible odor, suffused: for its lamp, its glory, its exultation was that true one, that uniquely desirable, blessed, and adorable

majesty of the Trinity. But indeed the intemperate and forward mouth must be bridled, lest, unhappy, I burden my miseries too heavily. Let it suffice to have said this only in thanksgiving, that among the choirs of the purple-robed and the white-robed who were present, I recognized those Saints, gloriously distinguished with golden crowns and reddening purple. There new, there most sweet canticles resounded, and the angelic organs modulated that responsory: 'These are the Saints who for the testament of God delivered their bodies, and washed their robes in the blood of the Lamb.'

[22] But, returned to myself, I turned my astonished eyes about, [by the intercession of the seven Sleepers he recovers his health in a wonderful manner.] almost ignorant where I was. Meanwhile a familiar brother sat by my little bed, who, when he earnestly asked why I so looked about, since confidence is owed to proven friendship, I related the vision, which I soon experienced was not frivolous. So my limbs were weakened by languor, so constricted by pain as if by chains, that for seven days I had been able neither to rise nor to stand except by another's support. But by the sight of that strong one, that merciful one, who in the blood of His testament sent forth His prisoners from the pit in which there is no water, I was so loosed, so strengthened, that then I rose without any prop, sought the oratory with the aforesaid brother, and poured out thanks with my whole affection. So I was afterward restored to health, and offered to the holy seven Sleepers a slight indeed and altogether unequal, but yet heartfelt, gift of praise and thanksgiving, namely a melody composed about them. But indeed if anyone shall be offended, if anyone shall attribute it to boasting, that I write such things, will he wish to forbid a wretched man to remember the mercies of the Lord? No well-disposed man accuses a simple and pious intention. It is good indeed to hide the secret of a king, but to reveal and confess the works of God is honorable. For the rest, it belongs to a fearful mind not to be high-minded, but to consent to lowly things, since to the pious supernal revelations are instruments not of vice, but of virtue. But what does it profit the impious, like Balaam, like Nebuchadnezzar, to have seen divine things? The sun confounds bleared eyes. Not holy vision, but holy action merits God."

§ IV. Various compendia of the Acts are exhibited.

Gregory of Tours The first among the Latins, unless I err, Gregory of Tours, book 1 On the Glory of the Martyrs, chapter 95, thus briefly narrates the history of these Saints: "But of the seven brothers who rest at Ephesus, this is the account. In the time of the emperor Decius, when persecution was being carried on against the Christians, seven Men were seized, and led before the prince. Their names are these: Maximianus, Malchus, Martinianus, Constantinus, Dionysius, John, Serapion; who, tried in various ways to make them yield, in no way consented. But the emperor, on account of their elegance, that they might not perish in a moment, grants a space of deliberation. But they shut themselves in one cave, and there dwelt for many days. Yet one of them went out, and bought provisions, and furnished what was necessary. But the emperor returning to the same city, they asked of the Lord that He would deign to rescue them from this peril, and, prayer being made, prostrate on the ground, they fell asleep. And when the emperor had learned that they were staying in this cavern, by the nod of God he ordered the mouth of the cave to be blocked with great stones, saying: 'Let them perish there, who would not sacrifice to our gods.' While this was being done, a certain Christian, writing their names and martyrdom on a leaden tablet, secretly enclosed it in the entrance of the cavern, before it was blocked up.

[24] a compendium of the Acts But after the courses of many years, when, peace being given to the churches, Theodosius the Christian had obtained the empire, there arose the unclean heresy of the Sadducees, who deny the future resurrection. Then a certain citizen of Ephesus, while he purposes to make folds for his sheep beside that very mountain, and rolls away stones to fit together their enclosures, ignorant of what was being done within, laid open its entrance; yet he did not know the secret which was held within. But the Lord sent into the seven Men the spirit of life, and they rose, and, thinking that they had slept only one night, sent one boy of them to buy food. And when, coming upon the gate of the city, he had seen the sign of the glorious cross, and had heard the people swear by the name of Christ, he was astonished, and, the coins being produced which he had from the time of Decius, he is seized by the merchant, who says to him: 'Because thou hast found treasures hidden of old.' But he denying, is led to the bishop and judge of the city. And when he was accused by these, necessity compelling him, he revealed the hidden mystery, and led them to the cave in which the Men were.

[25] And when the bishop entered, he found the leaden tablet, on which all things which they had endured he had written were held written: and, having spoken with them, they announced this by a rapid course to the emperor Theodosius. But he, coming, adored them prostrate on the earth, who used such a colloquy with the same prince: 'There has arisen, glorious Augustus, a heresy which endeavors to overthrow the Christian people from the promises of God, so that they say the resurrection of the dead does not take place. Therefore, that thou mayest know that, according to the apostle Paul, we shall all be presented before the tribunal of Christ, for this cause the Lord ordered us to be raised up, and to speak these things to thee. See, therefore, that thou be not seduced and shut out from the kingdom of God.' Theodosius the emperor, hearing these things, glorified the Lord, who did not permit His people to perish. But the Men, again prostrate on the earth, fell asleep: and when Theodosius the emperor would fashion sepulchers of gold for them, he was forbidden through a vision, that he should not do it. But the Men, covered even today with little cloaks of silk or of linen, rest in that very place; which their Passion, which, a certain Syrian interpreting, we translated into Latin, more fully unfolds." From these last words I gather that Gregory of Tours wrote longer Acts of these Saints, concerning which I shall afterward note some things. I here pass over Vincent of Beauvais, book 20 of the Historical Mirror, chapter 32, Petrus de Natalibus in the Catalogue of the Saints, book 7, chapter 51, and other more recent Latins, who made mention of the same holy Sleepers.

[26] Photius of Constantinople in the ninth century saw other Acts of the same Saints, which also Photius of Constantinople, which in his Library, codex 253, he thus abridged: "I read from the martyrdom of the seven Children, whence these things summarily described: The martyrdom of the seven children, Maximilianus, Jamblichus, Martimus, Dionysius, Exacustodianus, Antoninus, and John. That these seven, patricians and well known, because they embraced and enlarged Christian piety, were led before Decius the tyrant, the Roman empire being changed into a tyranny by contempt of God; and that, being led, they gave an excellent confession. That, business dragging the emperor elsewhere, security being found, they fled into a cave in the mountain near Ephesus, and were served in the things which bodily necessity required by one of them, who is said to have been Jamblichus. A little after the emperor, their flight and the place where they were, and their manner of living being explored, full of anger, ordered the mouth of the cave to be blocked, that the Martyrs might be killed by hunger.

[27] Then after three hundred and seventy-two years, a little differing from the others, Theodosius, from the third generation, taking up and administering the royal dignity, and Maro being bishop of Ephesus (O new spectacle, unusual to nature!), those excellent Victors of Christ, the Martyrs, appeared, their life recovered, to whom, approaching, the emperor and the bishop (for him, who was farther off, he also called to that wonderful spectacle), with whom also many others fell at their knees, and were held worthy of their prayers and blessing. The emperor and the archbishop sat with them, and, a mutual colloquy being held, the things which had happened to the Martyrs were confirmed, and rendered certain: for in the sight of Caesar and of those present, in that very cavern in which they had lain, they rested together, so that their death was clearly manifest to all, and their common migration from this life, before unknown. Theodosius had then reigned thirty-eight years, when God willed this greatest miracle to be shown to the world.

[28] That season then demanded such a prodigy. A certain Theodore (would that it had not been so) was bishop of the Aegeans. inserted it into his Library. He, by I know not what reasoning, swallowed up in the mire of infidelity, vomited forth foul-smelling words, denying the resurrection of the dead, and involving many with his followers in the same error. This miracle divulging into all the earth a clear testimony of the resurrection, he and whatever gentiles remained, partly, confounded with shame, fell silent, partly conceived a sure and firm hope of the resurrection. But the manner in which the cave was opened is this: Adolius, to whom then that mountain belonged, in which the cave was hewn, compelled his servants to build a stable for cattle, and the matter was accomplished within two days, and the house built, the stones being removed which had blocked and fortified the mouth of the cave, and thus the cave was opened. The Martyrs lay there, revived by the unheard-of judgment of God, and send Jamblichus, who had once been wont to minister to them, to buy and bring food: who, having entered the city of Ephesus, is seized on account of the coins which he produced, as if he had dug up an ancient treasure: and thence the miracle of the Martyrs penetrated to the ears of all, and was set forth as a thing to be wondered at." Afterward Simeon Metaphrastes, or whoever is the writer of the longer Acts, adorned the same history with several episodes, as after this preliminary Commentary it will be permitted to see.

[29] The same history was known to Mahomet, and other Arabic writers, Most truly here at the end Photius says that this miracle of the Martyrs came to the ears of all: for already from the seventh century it was so widely spread among the Arabs, that the impious Mahomet himself inserted it into his fabulous Koran, and its interpreters contaminated the same history with insipid fables. This Renaudot taught me, who in the history of the Alexandrian patriarchs, published at Paris in the year 1713, on the occasion of the patriarch Dionysius, page 38 and 39, thus writes: "The history of the seven Sleepers is also assigned to the time of Dionysius (he ascended the Alexandrian chair in the year 248), which not only the Christian Arabs, but the Muhammadans believe, and adorn with wonderful colors. It is reported without any notable difference of circumstances by Eutychius, Elmacin, Abulfaragius, Makrizi, the Chronicon. All at last, even the Muhammadans, assert that they suffered under Decius, and among them the author of the compendium of universal Persian history, whose title is Mogemal Toüarich, as many others, and, besides others, the most celebrated Emir-cond, and his epitomator Cond-Emir. Nor is it wonderful, since the impostor Muhammad himself inserted that history, such as it was circulated in the mouth of the common people, into the Koran: for in it the chapter which is called OF THE CAVE is about it; whence he calls them 'Ashab Elkehaf,' those who lay hidden in the cave. To one reading those absurdities it at once appears that they were described from various fables which were circulated in the seventh century, not from any suitable author. Nor content with these, the Muhammadans added others: for they add a dog as companion, which was changed into a man, of which many things are said by the poets: for these ἄπιστα — that is, incredible things — affect them in a wonderful manner. But since the impostor himself doubts both of the number of the Sleepers and of the time during which they slept in the cave, much more the commentators. Not the least of them, Hucein, who wrote a fairly accurate Persian paraphrase, relates the deed as done under Decius,

that is, in the reign of the emperor Decius, those Martyrs being natives of Ephesus, of the chief nobility: the mountain into which they withdrew he calls Betahalos, as others Chaos; each of which words is nothing.

[30] among whom Eutychius, Of these Arabs it will be worthwhile to hear Eutychius, patriarch of Alexandria, in the Arabic Annals, which Edward Pococke translated into Latin, and took care to have printed in Arabic-Latin at Oxford in the year 1658. He, therefore, before the middle of the tenth century, reports the same history, certain circumstances being added and changed, in the already cited edition, vol. 1, page 388, thus: "By that Decius the Christians suffered a grievous persecution and great evils, while he slew innumerable of them. … The emperor Decius also, taking seven boys of the sons of the magnates of Ephesus, set them over his wardrobe, whose names are: Maximianus, Amlichus, Dianus, Martimus, Dionysius, Antonius, John. These seven Youths, since they did not worship the idols, this was made known to the king by informers. Wherefore, enraged, he ordered them to be cast into prison: then, having set out for the army, he dismissed them until he should return. The emperor, therefore, having set out from the city, all things which they had being distributed in alms, having gone to a great mountain, called Chaos, on the eastern part of Ephesus, they hid themselves in a certain great cave which was in it: whence some one of them daily entered the city in disguise, that he might hear what men said of them, and, provisions being procured for them, returning, might report to them. When, therefore, to the emperor, returned and asking about them, it was announced that they had been in the mountain in a cave, he ordered the entrance of the cave to be blocked, that they might die there. But God sent upon those seven Youths a sleep, in which, like the dead, they slept. But a certain one of his officers, having taken a leaden sheet, inscribed their history, and what had happened to them with the emperor Decius, which he then enclosed in a brazen chest; and, that being left in the cave, he blocked its door.

[31] Then, in the same vol. 1, page 531, he thus sets forth their resuscitation: patriarch of Alexandria "Moreover, in the eighth year of the reign of Theodosius the great, appeared those Boys who, fleeing from king Dacius, had hidden in a cave in the city of Ephesus: and this because, after a long interval of time, when shepherds in passing were wont to move from their place the bricks by which the entrance of the cave had been blocked, it had been made open like a door. The Boys, therefore, awakened, thinking that they had slept only one night, said to their companion, who was wont to buy food for them: 'Go, procure food for us, and inquire what the emperor Dacius is doing.' He, having gone out to the gate of the cave, when he beheld the ruins of the building constructed there, was ignorant what this was. Rising, however, he set out, until he came to the gate of the city of Ephesus, above which, beholding a great cross placed, this also disapproving within himself, he said: 'I think I am sleeping.' He began, therefore, to wipe his eyes and to look about to the right and to the left, whether he could see anything known to him; and when he beheld nothing such, confused he stopped, considering these things within his mind: 'Perhaps I have strayed from the way, or perhaps this city is not Ephesus.' But having entered the city, he handed the coin which he had to a baker, that he might buy bread. The baker, beholding a man of foreign dress, frightened and consternated with fear, having coins on which the effigy of the emperor Dacius was engraved, ignorant what this was, suspecting that he had found a treasure, said: 'Whence is that coin of thine?' To which he answering nothing, he called out to men: of whom a great company being gathered about him, and addressing him, when he made them no reply, they led him away to the patrician prefect of the city, named Antipater, who also addressed him and threatened him. He, however, answered nothing.

[32] There came also to him Marcus, bishop of the city, who addressed him and got no reply. He, therefore, that he might terrify him, said: 'Unless thou speak to us, and declare whence that coin was thine, we will punish thee with death.' Yet he did not answer, namely refusing to speak from fear of the emperor Dacius, as if he still lived (for he still thought that he survived among the living). They afflicted him, therefore, with blows, whose pain when he felt, he said: 'Where is king Dacius?' They answering that the emperor Dacius was dead, and that many kings after him had held the empire, and had obtained the faith of Christ, and that he who now reigned was Theodosius the Great: then, fear being removed, he narrated all things which had befallen him. Accompanying him, therefore, to the cave, where they beheld his companions, and also found the brazen chest, and enclosed in it the leaden sheet, on which was described their history, and what had happened to them with the emperor Dacius, Tadusus, the patrician of the emperor Dacius, committing it to letters. Rapt by these things into the highest admiration, they wrote letters to king Theodosius, by which they made him certain of these things: who, therefore, having mounted a post-horse, seeking the city of Ephesus, both saw them there and conversed with them. But three days after, when he entered to them into the cave, he found them already dead. He ordered, therefore, that they should not be brought forth thence, but buried in the cave itself; and over them he built a church, which was distinguished by their name, and a feast instituted in their honor is celebrated on that day every year. Then king Theodosius returned to Constantinople. Now from the time when they fled from the emperor Dacius, to the time when they again appeared and died, according to that which we read in the history of their martyrdom, are three hundred and seventy-two years." Note here that no word is made by Eutychius of the heresy which denied the resurrection of bodies, of which, however, the anonymous Arab writer, who is preserved in the Roman library of the Maronite college, makes mention, and from whom I now subjoin another compendium of the Acts.

[33] as in the Roman codex of the Maronites The above-praised Father Petrus Benedetti, from an Arabic codex which for the use of the Melkite Syrians contains various Acts of the Saints, cutting off those things which contributed nothing to the knowledge of the matter, excerpted the following synopsis of the same history, which in Latin sounds thus: "Ducianus (so the author everywhere calls Decius), having entered Ephesus, published an edict against the Christians, and all the inhabitants were ordered to assemble to the solemn sacrifice of the gods; among whom also the seven Boys, who then held a most honorable place in the court of Ducianus, being accused by their comrades, are called by the emperor to examination. Refusing to worship the idols, they are stripped of their court attire. The emperor, wishing to pursue the journey begun through the provinces, deferred the cause of the Martyrs to his return. Meanwhile he exhorts them to come to their senses. The Martyrs, constant in their purpose, go up from the city to a neighboring mountain, distant two miles. Thence Meletius, sent to buy provisions, his garment changed with a beggar's, dissembling his person, enters the city: who, when he had learned that the emperor had returned thither, and was vexing their kinsmen, that they might produce as guilty those whom he had learned had fled; at that news, trembling, he returns to his companions, and from the things which he had bought sets out a supper. Afterward all give themselves to rest. This being learned, Ducianus orders the cavern to be blocked. Two Christians cast the history of the Martyrs, engraved on leaden tablets, within the raised enclosure.

[34] an anonymous Arab, After these things, when, Theodosius reigning, a controversy about the resurrection of the dead had emerged, and the emperor asked of God that the question be settled by some sign, it happened that a shepherd, thinking to make an enclosure for his flock, came to the cavern in which the blessed Martyrs had hidden themselves, and thence gathered stones for his use. On that occasion, the door of the cave being laid open, the Martyrs, who had slept for three hundred and nine years, being awakened, send Meletius back to Ephesus to procure supplies. He, accused of the crime of found treasure, is led to the praetor, and, brought back by him to the cavern, shows his companions. In this manner the matter at last being learned, both from the word of the Martyrs, and from the writing found in the entrance of the cave, and immediately reported to the emperor Theodosius, he comes to Ephesus, and addresses the Martyrs: who, he being present, pray to be snatched from the hardships of this life, and are heard. Theodosius orders a temple to be raised at the same cave, and, warned through a vision by the holy Martyrs, took care that their bodies be buried there." From the closing of the Acts, in which the author assigns the death of these Martyrs to the Kalends of September, Benedetti conjectures that those Acts were composed in Syria, by a certain Melkite, because the Greeks celebrate the yearly memory of the same Saints on the 4th of August, and the Maronite Syrians on the 7th of March, as I noted before.

[35] Finally, even the inhabitants of Ethiopia are not ignorant of the deeds of these seven Sleepers, and an Ethiopian writer in Job Ludolf, as Job Ludolf testifies in the annotations on the sacred Fasti of the Ethiopic church, page 436: for there he affirms that he possesses a relation about them, written in Ethiopic in manuscript, whose sum is, that in that great persecution of the emperor Decius those seven Boys of Ephesus hid themselves in a cave, and that their parents betrayed this, out of fear of the torments, to Decius threatening, unless they should indicate where they were. Therefore, it being learned that they lay hidden in a cave, the tyrant ordered it to be blocked with huge stones. When, therefore, they were held for dead by their friends, Theodore and Macedonius committed the deed to writing, as the Acts of the Martyrs. But they meanwhile, until the last times of Theodosius the younger, for about two hundred years placidly slept: which time being elapsed, God awakening them, being roused, when they believed that they had slept only one night, they sent Diomedes (the Greeks call him Jamblichus, the Arabic codex just cited Meletius, the Latins Malchus) secretly into the city to buy provisions, where, being recognized from the now antiquated money, the whole matter was thence detected. If Ludolf's interpretation be faithful, the Ethiopian writer prudently avoided the anachronism into which many Greeks, Syrians, and Arabs fell, when they extended the time of the slumber to three hundred and more years. But these and other circumstances of the various Acts must now be discussed.

§ V. The diverse circumstances of the Acts are reported.

From the compendia of the Acts already given it is clear that there is a twofold opinion of the authors concerning the manner of the slumber, Besides the two opinions concerning the manner of the resuscitation, from which these Martyrs are commonly called Sleepers: for some indicate that those seven Saints from the time of the emperor Decius until the times of Theodosius the younger really died, and, revived, appeared to confirm the faith of the resurrection; but others hint that during so great a space of time they only slept. Besides the writers already exhibited, Constantine Manasses in the Chronic Breviary, which was published among the Byzantine historians at Paris in Greek-Latin in the year 1655, page 56, delivers the latter opinion in these words: "For the rest, when the emperor Theodosius held power, those seven Youths, most enduring martyrs, awoke from a very long sleep and were beheld by the people. For, to avoid the fury of Decius, they had betaken themselves into a native cave, situated not far from the city of Ephesus, and there, lulled in a heavy and long sleep, had rested. But awakened at this time and recognized by the faithful, together both by them and by the emperor,

held in great honor, they were again seized by an inextinguishable and final slumber." Theophanes in the Chronography, also printed in Greek-Latin at Paris in the year 1655, thus more briefly and obscurely mentions this wonderful sleep, page 76: "In this same year a prodigy worthy of admiration was heard of at Ephesus; namely, of the holy seven Boys, who were raised from the sleep in which they had remained buried together for a hundred and eighty-four years." Nearly the same has George Cedrenus in his Compendium of histories, vol. 1 of the Paris edition, page 338, except that he says they slept only a hundred and seventy years. Metaphrastes and certain others, reported in the preceding paragraph, interpret the sleep of true death.

[37] which Baronius reports, The most eminent Baronius in the notes on the Roman Martyrology on this day thus reports each opinion: "But why these were called Sleepers, a twofold reason is brought. The one, that these Martyrs consummated their martyrdom in the times of Decius, shut within a cave, and at last, the mouth of the cave being unbarred, their bodies being found, they had appeared again, as if revived; and were called Sleepers according to the customary usage of speaking of divine scripture, by which it was wont to call those who piously and religiously ended their life sleepers. The other, that the same, from the times of Decius until the last times of Theodosius the younger, shut within the cave, seized by sleep, really slept for about two hundred years." But the most eminent man seems more inclined to the former opinion, as at the end of the notes, after certain difficulties proposed against this prodigious history, he sufficiently indicates. If either opinion were to be chosen by me, I should prefer with Baronius to understand this slumber of death, according to the phrase of holy Scripture, which sometimes addresses the dead by the name of sleepers. At least that explanation is more apt for those who will have it that these Saints appeared alive, to prove the resurrection of the flesh. But I define nothing, as neither afterward shall I pass judgment on the truth of this history, concerning which it will suffice me to have set forth the arguments on both sides in another's words.

[38] and a gross anachronism More freely and easily can judgment be passed on the chronological error which, concerning the length of the slumber, crept into very many copies of the Acts, as especially in the preceding paragraph could be observed. Besides Photius, Eutychius, and the anonymous Arab, who there wrongly assign to the sleep or death of those Saints more than three hundred years, the same manifest anachronism Mahomet delivers in his fabulous Koran, where, in Sura 28, treating of these Sleepers, he thus writes: "But the space of the slumber of the aforesaid in the cavern was 360 years, known indeed to God, whose are the secrets of heaven and earth." Nay, I conjecture that this chronological error is more ancient than that impostor, from the Syriac sermon of Jacob of Sarug, who, according to Assemani, vol. 1 of the Oriental Library, page 289, flourished about the end of the fifth century and the beginning of the sixth, where, after this Commentary, no. 10, he introduces a certain citizen of Ephesus thus answering one of these seven Sleepers concerning Decius: "He of whom thou hast spoken died a very long time ago; and according to the number and reckoning of the Greeks three hundred and seventy-two years are computed to have flowed from that emperor." Hence probably the same error passed to the Office and Synaxarium of the Syrians, and to other writers. But who could easily say whether that error is to be ascribed to the first author, or to an ancient copyist, whom others blindly followed? However it be, the most learned Assemani, in the volume just cited, page 338, after several examples of this anachronism, thus concludes: "Yet these errors of chronology in no way harm the truth of the history. But in the Syriac Acts, which exist in Dionysius, and are described by Metaphrastes almost word for word, no note of time is read except the reign of Theodosius the younger and the episcopate of Maris or Memnon."

[39] But, you will say, how many years, then, elapsed between the persecution of Decius and the resuscitation of these Martyrs? a fixed year This is the work, this the labor. There is, indeed, sufficient agreement among the authors concerning the year of the Decian persecution, which Pagi and other more exact chronologists commonly set at the two hundred and fiftieth of Christ. But they most differ among themselves in assigning the year in which this marvelous resuscitation happened: for Theophanes, reported above, says that they slept for a hundred and eighty-four years, and so judged that it was done about the year of Christ 434, as will be manifest to one calculating. But Cedrenus thinks that it happened fourteen years earlier, since he assigns only a hundred and seventy years to their sleep. Dionysius, patriarch of the Jacobites, refers their wonderful apparition to the year of the Greeks 736, that is, of Christ 425. The Vatican Syriac codex, Assemani testifying, places the same in the year of the Greeks 748, or of Christ 437. But Sigebert defers that history even to the year of Christ 447. Others indeterminately set that these Martyrs, revived, appeared in the last times of the Theodosian empire. Others, finally, choose others, so that here it may truly be said: As many heads, so many opinions.

[40] Let us hear the most learned Assemani, who in vol. 1 of the Oriental Library, page 338, thus discourses of this diverse chronology: of that prodigious history, "Twelve years after (namely after the year of the Greeks 736 or of Christ 425, which Dionysius had assigned above) it is narrated to have been done in the Vatican Syriac codex XXXIX, page 44, whose words we shall describe below; namely in the year of the Greeks 748, of Christ 437, in which, however, the same Memnon still ruled the church of Ephesus. The Greeks in the Menologium refer it to the thirty-eighth year of Theodosius: Cedrenus to the twenty-third year of the same. But since there is a twofold epoch of the Theodosian reign, one from the year 402, in which he was created Augustus by his father Arcadius, a year after his birth; the other from the year 408, in which, his father being dead, he took up the empire of the East at eight years old; we prefer to follow Dionysius and the praised Vatican codex, in which the certain year of that apparition is set down: and accordingly Sigebert is not to be heard, who protracts the history of these Martyrs to the year 447, since in that year neither Memnon, nor Stephen, but Bassian was bishop of Ephesus. Hence it is clear that they remained in the cave a hundred and seventy-five, or eighty-seven years, since the persecution of Decius, according to Pagi, began in the year of Christ 250, or 252 according to Baronius." This year of Baronius is now everywhere rejected, as is known to the learned. For the rest, what is here said of the bishops of Ephesus will receive greater light from the things which we shall afterward report.

[41] and other circumstances of the same differ. Eutychius of Alexandria differs from the others in narrating the occasion on which the entrance of the cave was opened, when above, no. 31, he thus reports it: "After a long interval of time, when shepherds in passing were wont to move from their place the bricks by which the entrance of the cave had been blocked, it was made open like a door." Most others say that it was done on the occasion of a citizen of Ephesus, who was preparing folds for his sheep beside the mountain. Photius of Constantinople calls the bishop of Ephesus, under whom this prodigy was done, Marus; but Eutychius names him Marcus; Metaphrastes calls him Stephen; and others, finally, do not express the name. Gregory of Tours delivers that the deeds of these Martyrs were made known to posterity in this manner: "A certain Christian, writing their names and martyrdom on a leaden tablet, secretly enclosed it in the entrance of the cavern, before it was blocked up." But Eutychius thus sets it forth: "But a certain one of his (namely Decius') officers, having taken a leaden sheet, inscribed their history, and what had happened to them with the emperor Decius, which he then enclosed in a brazen chest, and, that being left in the cave, blocked its door." The Arabic codex indicates that two did this: "Two Christians," says the anonymous Arab, "cast the history of the Martyrs, engraved on leaden tablets, within the raised enclosure." Nay, the Ethiopian writer reveals the names of those two, when he affirms that Theodore and Macedonius committed the deed, as the Acts of the Martyrs, to writing. Concerning the diverse names of these Martyrs we have said enough above. The remaining discrepancies of less moment, which occur in these Acts, the learned reader will easily observe.

§ VI. The manuscript and printed copies of the longer Acts are reviewed.

Among the writers of the Acts will be published first Jacob of Sarug Besides the writers who made mention of the deeds of the seven Sleepers, and whose compendia we exhibited in § IV, various authors composed longer Acts of the same Martyrs, an enumeration of whom must now be made. But that some order may be kept in reviewing them, we shall begin from the more ancient and by name known. It is not to be doubted that the Greeks committed that history to writing, as domestic to them, before other peoples. Yet among all whom we have hitherto known, the most ancient is Jacob of Sarug, bishop in Mesopotamia, to whom Assemani, vol. 1 of the Oriental Library, chapter 27, page 283, vindicates the title of saint, and of whose age he thus concludes there, page 289, from his Syriac Life: "St. Jacob, therefore, was born, according to this author, in the year of the Greeks 763, of Christ 452. Examined by the bishops in the year of the Greeks 783, of Christ 472. In the following years he began to publish his writings. In the year of the Greeks 814, of Christ 503, now made a presbyter, he sent exhortatory letters to the people of the Euphrates, mentioned in the Chronicle of Joshua. Besides, he lamented the destruction of Amida in a mournful poem, and a few years before had published poems on the locusts, of which treat Joshua in the place cited and Gregory Abulpharagius in the History of the Dynasties at the eleventh year of the emperor Anastasius. In the year of the Greeks 830, of Christ 519, he obtained the episcopate of Batnae of Sarug. At last, in the year of the Greeks 833, of Christ 521, on the 29th day of November, he departed from this light." Assemani proves this chronology there at length, and refutes the contrary opinions of certain persons. From these things, therefore, it is clear that Jacob of Sarug lived very nearly to the time of the prodigious revelation of these Saints.

[43] When afterward in the praised Assemani, in the volume just cited, page 335, no. 221, among the works of Jacob of Sarug I read the title "Of the Children of Ephesus," from a Syriac codex; and understood that a Syriac homily concerning them exists in the Nitrian codex XIII, which Assemani had brought with other precious codices from Syria to the City, a desire came upon me of obtaining so ancient a writer of the Acts, by whom I hoped this prodigious history would be not a little illustrated. Wherefore I at once wrote to Rome to the above-praised Petrus Benedetti, a most obliging priest of our Society, by nation a Maronite Syrian, whose ready service my associates had at other times experienced, that he would deign to render this little work of Jacob of Sarug into Latin. The obsequious man most courteously transmitted to me the Latin interpretation of the Syriac homily, written in his own hand; nay, he added besides a part of the Syriac Office, and a synopsis of the Acts, abridged from an Arabic codex, which I have exhibited above. Now this new monument of venerable antiquity (its title, according to Benedetti, is this: "The sermon of Jacob the doctor concerning the Children of Ephesus") will be published in print in the first place after this Commentary. But although this homily in Syriac is metrical, yet I did not judge that in our edition line should be scrupulously rendered for line, both because this contributes nothing to the substance of the matter, and because of the meter

the elegance of the meter is not perceived in the prose discourse of another idiom.

[44] Next to Jacob of Sarug in age (at least among the writers of the Acts whose knowledge has come to us) is Gregory of Tours, then Gregory of Tours from the manuscript of Saint-Omer, who confesses that he received the wonderful history of these seven Sleepers from the Syrians, when he thus concludes the compendium of the Acts, reported above from no. 23: "Which their Passion, which, a certain Syrian interpreting, we translated into Latin, more fully unfolds." In the first place, from this closing it is clear that Gregory drew his narration from a Syriac source. Besides, from the same closing it appears that a fuller history of these Martyrs was written by Gregory. This last Ruinart also notes, when in his Paris edition of Gregory of Tours, col. 828, he thus notes on his mentioned closing: "It is had from Simeon Metaphrastes in Surius on the 27th of July; but that it is different from that which Gregory translated into Latin, is manifest even from this alone, that the names there are reckoned otherwise than in Gregory. We found another in manuscripts, in which the names, as here Gregory reckons them, are had; but since it is uncertain whether it be the very one which Gregory translated, and it has nothing new, to publish it would have been superfluous." If this manuscript was found among the works of Gregory of Tours, or bore his name, it was not superfluous to publish it. Nay, even if both these conditions were lacking, I should have wished to see it published, that I might compare it with our transcript of Saint-Omer, which at the end attributes the Acts of these Martyrs to Gregory thus: "Here ends the Passion of the holy Martyrs, the seven Sleepers, at Ephesus; translated into Latin by Gregory the bishop, John the Syrian interpreting, which is observed on the sixth of the Kalends of August." Similar to this our manuscript is the edition of Mombritius, if you except the just-mentioned indication of the writer and certain variations of small moment. However it be, we on the faith of our transcript ascribe this little work to Gregory of Tours, and shall subject it to the press after the Syriac Acts of Jacob of Sarug.

[45] and finally Simeon Metaphrastes from Surius In the third place will be reprinted the longer Acts of the same Saints, which Surius and others everywhere ascribe to Metaphrastes. These, from the edition of Surius on the 27th of July, will again be printed here, that the curious reader may more easily see, from a collation with the other Acts, how Metaphrastes (if you should contend that some other Greek is the author of this fuller history, I shall not resist) or certain Greek writers like him are wont to enlarge and adorn the deeds of the Saints. Nor should another anonymous Greek yield to Metaphrastes, whose manuscript Acts our Predecessors excerpted from the Medicean library of the king of France: for that writer, whose age we are ignorant of, besides other things common with Metaphrastes, at the end of the Acts asserts that St. Cyril of Alexandria, by the command of the emperor Theodosius, came from Alexandria to Ephesus, that he might see this prodigy, and converse with these holy Martyrs. Certainly it is wonderful that all the other biographers were silent about it, and that Cyril himself, if he was an eyewitness of this miracle, nowhere in his writings made mention of it. We do not judge that this inventor of new episodes should, by useless labor, be published in Greek-Latin, since he narrates most things similar to the others, and certain variations of some moment can easily be observed in the Annotations to the Acts of Metaphrastes.

[46] the Dionysius, patriarch of the Jacobites, being omitted, Before the middle of the ninth century Dionysius, the Antiochene patriarch of the Jacobites, wrote Syriac Acts of the same Martyrs, of whose deeds, writings, and death Assemani, vol. 2 of the Oriental Library, pages 98, 344, 348, and elsewhere often, makes mention. When from this work of Assemani I had first drawn that knowledge, I desired to see the lucubration of Dionysius itself, to render which into Latin our praised Benedetti offered his most ready service. But afterward I changed my counsel, when in the same Library, vol. 1, page 338, I had read that these Syriac Acts of Dionysius were described by Metaphrastes almost word for word. But when in the same place, on the preceding page, I had read that by Dionysius, for that history, a Syrian author contemporary with the Martyrs was cited, I began to doubt whether Dionysius perhaps did not mean to designate Jacob of Sarug, who in some way can be called contemporary with the resurrection of the Martyrs, in that he flourished in the same century. But if a Syrian, different from Jacob of Sarug, and strictly contemporary with the Martyrs, left this history to posterity, doubtless Assemani in his Library would have suggested to us further knowledge of that writer, if, however, Dionysius had determinately indicated his name and age. However it be, we did not judge it worthwhile that these Acts of Dionysius should be converted from the Syriac idiom into Latin, because they are similar to those of Metaphrastes, as the just-cited Assemani testifies.

[47] and other anonymous ones, which we found in manuscripts. Besides these Syriac, Latin, and Greek Acts, we have various manuscript copies of the same Acts, of which one, in the library of St. Maximin of Trier, thus begins: "In that time, the impious emperor Decius reigning, a great persecution of the Christians was made. But Decius, assailing the Christians, went down into the city of Constantinople and up into Carthage and Ephesus." But the beginning of another manuscript, which our Predecessors copied from the codex of St. Salvator of Utrecht, sounds thus: "At the same time the most cruel emperor Decius, reigning, went down into the city of Constantine, and again came into Carthage and Ephesus." I do not enumerate the four or five manuscript codices of our Museum, which nearly agree with these copies. For the rest, we deem all these by no means worthy of the press, both because their age and writers are unknown, and because they are similar to the narration of Metaphrastes and seem taken from it. If, however, any difference worthy of note occurs, we shall observe it in the Annotations.

§ VII. The controversy concerning the truth of the Acts is set forth.

Cardinal Baronius in the notes on the Roman Martyrology on the 27th of July proposes against this history several difficulties, [Baronius, who in the notes on the Roman Martyrology had wished to define nothing about this history,] after which he thus concludes: "These are the things which seem to stand against these. But what is to be thought in this matter, I by no means decide, nor do I take so much upon myself as to dare to define these things." Since, therefore, he wrote this, he was unwilling to pass judgment on the truth of this history. But the most eminent man seems to have changed his mind, or to have forgotten his purpose, when in the ecclesiastical Annals at the year of Christ 853, no. 61, otherwise 84, on the occasion of the fable of Pope Joan, he enumerates various fictions to which credence was commonly given, and among which he thus places this very history of the seven Sleepers: "Happy," he says, "the course of history, if it could be borne along only with sincere truth, without the obstacle of fables, which, once sown, like tares among the wheat, with fixed roots, having feigned the appearance of wheat, rise up with a taller stalk, and, like wheat, are reaped with the reaper's equal sickle, and stored with the grain in the barns, and, mixed with the wheat, now adorned with the name of wheat, and at an equal price and by the same measure with the wheat, are sold: so, the name of fables being abolished, once received, they pass into history, so that there is need of a great sifter, who with great labor may separate the false from the true, and the fables from the histories.

[49] Nor are examples of these lacking: for the fable of the temple of peace at Rome having collapsed at the time of Christ's birth, in his Annals he places it among the fables. which had not yet been built, once asserted, was confirmed by the authority of manifold and not vulgar writers. Of the soul of Trajan called back from the lower regions by the prayers of St. Gregory, the invention, once believed, had even the most eloquent asserters, nay even defenders. Has not that fable, hitherto read as history, of Pope Cyriacus accompanying St. Ursula from Rome to Cologne with eleven thousand virgins, when yet not even in a dream did a Pontiff of that name sit in the see of Peter? Of the seven Sleepers, held by sleep for nearly two hundred years, what shall I say, a history read and received both by the Greeks in the East and by the Latins in the West? Of Pope Sylvester the second, that he obtained the pontificate by magic, and was torn to pieces at his death by the devil? Of the death of Hadrian brought on by a fly, what shall I add?" You see that here the prodigious history of the seven Sleepers is numbered among the fables. Whether new reasons impelled the most eminent writer to change his judgment, we know not. At least he indicates none there. Wherefore it will suffice us to exhibit here those difficulties which Baronius opposed to this history in the notes on the Roman Martyrology, together with the responses of the most illustrious Assemani, who lately in the Oriental Library, vol. 1, from page 336, endeavored to solve the several objections of Baronius. But all these we shall report in the very words of both writers, lest perhaps we seem, on either side, to have lessened or increased the force of the arguments.

[50] The difficulties are set forth, The most eminent Baronius in the notes on the Roman Martyrology on the already-mentioned day thus proposes his first argument: "The opinion of those who think that these were called sleepers not on account of death, but because they were truly oppressed by sleep during that space of time, is greatly opposed by this, that they themselves say that miracle was done by divine power for this cause, that at that time a heresy concerning the resurrection of the flesh had arisen, when in reality nothing such is found to have happened in the times of Theodosius the younger: for neither in the most sacred council of Ephesus, which was celebrated under the same Theodosius, nor in the most sacred synod of Chalcedon, held next after it, is any mention ever found made of such a heresy, which ought to have been condemned by the first opinion of all the fathers." To these the most learned Assemani in the just-cited place thus replies: "But Sarugensis reports nothing of that heresy in the praised sermon; but only at the end of it writes that Theodosius, that miracle being seen, was confirmed in the faith of the resurrection of the dead. But the Syrian author of the Acts, and from him Metaphrastes, deliver that that heresy indeed then arose, and was defended by Theodore, bishop of the Aegeans, and by others: yet not therefore ought that heresy to have been condemned by a new council, or a new canon, since it had once been expressly condemned by Christ the Lord in the Gospel, and by the Fathers of Constantinople, a few years before, in the creed."

[51] which the most eminent writer Baronius thus proceeds to his second argument: "Besides, if the Lord willed to raise these Martyrs to establish the faith of the resurrection, it is manifest that they were really dead: for otherwise there would have been testimonies of sleepers indeed awakened from sleep, but not of the dead rising, which would establish the faith of the resurrection." Assemani meets this difficulty thus: "That they were really dead, and afterward, in the times of Theodosius, rose again, Sarugensis asserts, and from him the Syrians in the office of these Martyrs: 'He took their spirits, and bore them up on high into heaven: and bade a watcher guard their limbs.' But those who write that they were awakened from sleep, answer that by that miracle it was shown that God can restore limbs reduced to ashes to their former integrity, who had made the same not succumb to corruption through so many years:

for this was new among men; but that the dead were recalled to life was sufficiently proved by several examples from the Gospel and from the Acts of the Apostles and of the martyrs."

[52] raises against this history, Then the most eminent illustrator of the Martyrology thus argues, in the same place, from the silence of the contemporary authors: "To these is added, that none of those writers who lived in those times committed a thing so signal, a miracle so great, to the monuments of writings: all which it is not probable were unknown to them; for instance to St. Prosper, who set forth the deeds of those times year by year, or to Marcellinus, or some other of the writers of those times." The most learned Maronite endeavors to enervate this negative argument by this response: "Our Jacob committed it, who was born a few years after that miracle, as we demonstrated above. The same history was written by a Syrian author contemporary with the Martyrs, whom Dionysius the patriarch cites, three centuries later than the Martyrs. Gregory of Tours wrote it about the end of the sixth century. Finally Mahomet himself, the pseudo-prophet, wrote it in the Koran, in the Sura, that is, OF THE CAVE, where he makes express mention of this miracle, which had spread not only through Asia and the East, but even through the barbarous regions of the Hagarenes. But if the argument of Baronius were valid, it would prove that neither were the bodies of the Martyrs found under Theodosius, because the Greek or Latin historians of those times made no mention of their discovery."

[53] The Cardinal, finally, thus brings forth his last argument: "We add also, that Stephen, bishop of Ephesus, together with the responses of the most learned Assemani, in the time of whose see this is reported to have happened in the Acts which Metaphrastes writes, was thrust into that see by force of arms, and polluted by communion with Eutyches and Dioscorus in the robber-council of Ephesus, as the Acts themselves have, which are recited in the most sacred council of Chalcedon, in the first and eleventh action; whose communion indeed the aforesaid Sleepers ought rightly to have abhorred and shunned." This ratiocination Assemani thus refutes: "The same reasoning militates against the opinion of Baronius, namely that by a heretical bishop so great a treasure was found. As for Stephen, I think that Metaphrastes, using a faulty copy, put Stephen for Memnon, the orthodox bishop: for in the Syriac Acts Mares is named bishop of Ephesus, who without doubt crept in from the corrupted name of Memnon. That the text of Metaphrastes must now be restored is persuaded by the things which are read in Dionysius concerning the year of the apparition of the Martyrs; namely that they were awakened in the year of the Greeks 736, of Christ 425, in which year not Stephen, but Memnon ruled the see of Ephesus: for he was present at the ecumenical synod of Ephesus together with St. Cyril in the year 431, and died about the year 440, whom Basil succeeded until the year 444. Bassian succeeded Basil in the same year, and, he being ejected after four years, Stephen invaded the see in the year 448. Both at last, namely Bassian and Stephen, were deposed in the year 451 in the synod of Chalcedon, as Pagi at length at this year from no. 56." One may also see the things which our Matthew Rader a hundred years ago published in the Holy Court, chapter 13, to vindicate that history from the objections of Baronius.

[54] Let no one meanwhile expect from us a decision of this controversy, agitated among men so illustrious and learned, and the question is left undecided. since such weights of reasons are brought on both sides, that we dare not attribute the victory to either party, until from somewhere clear testimonies shall have come, which may settle the doubtful suit. Yet the opinion of Tillemont does not please us, who in vol. 3 of the Ecclesiastical Monuments, page 349, thinks that the bodies of these Saints, found under the empire of Theodosius, afforded a sufficient foundation to certain Greek writers, to feign the rest of the circumstances of the history. But who would believe that the mere discovery of sacred bodies at that time was so rare, that the fame of it spread through the East and the West, as we said above? It seems, therefore, that here something more happened. If Tillemont had added that those seven Martyrs, with whole body and living face, as if sleeping, were found after the space of so many years, and hence the Greeks adorned their Acts, then at least he would have rendered his conjecture in some way probable. Whatever be the case with the truth of the whole history, concerning which we leave free judgment to the studious reader after the arguments brought on both sides, with our Rader we conclude that a tradition so commonly received, committed to the writings of so many authors, celebrated in the tongues of so many diverse nations, is not rashly to be denied without evident testimonies or most certain proofs of reasons. Now it only remains that we publish in print, in the first place, as more ancient, the Syriac Acts of the seven Sleepers, which Baronius, Rader, and Tillemont were not permitted to see, then to subjoin the others in the order and manner which we promised above.

THE MORE ANCIENT ACTS, BY JACOB OF SARUG.

From the Syriac codex XIII of the Nitrian monastery, folio 79, Petrus Benedetti of the Society of Jesus interpreting.

Malchus, commonly a holy Sleeper, Martyr, at Ephesus in Asia (St.)

Martinianus, commonly a holy Sleeper, Martyr, at Ephesus in Asia (St.)

Dionysius, commonly a holy Sleeper, Martyr, at Ephesus in Asia (St.)

John, commonly a holy Sleeper, Martyr, at Ephesus in Asia (St.)

Serapion, commonly a holy Sleeper, Martyr, at Ephesus in Asia (St.)

Constantine, commonly a holy Sleeper, Martyr, at Ephesus in Asia (St.)

FROM THE MANUSCRIPT Syriac CODEX.

Son of God, whose door lies open to him who invokes it, open thy door to me: In the Decian persecution I will compose a hymn of the children of light. He is the good Shepherd, who from the midst of His flock set apart Lambs for Himself, and gathered them in the heavenly mansions to live with Him. Blessed be the Husbandman, who from the tares chose for Himself grains of wheat, and sowed them in the field of life, which is in the kingdom. Of the Children ^a of Ephesus, sons of the nobles, a discourse must be spoken by me to the hearers. Hearken to me, laborers, and sing the praise of the Son of the bridal chamber. The emperor Decius went forth from his place to another place, to see the towns and cities of his empire. He entered Ephesus, and struck it with great fear, and kept a feast to Jupiter and Apollo and Artemis ^b, and wrote a letter to the lords of his empire, that all should come, and burn incense to the gods. The princes assembled, the old, the young, and the boys, and offered incense to the mute images made by hands.

[2] certain young men of Ephesus, brought before the emperor, But there were present there lovely Boys, sons of the nobles, who despised the command, nor, like their comrades, subjected themselves; and, having entered the house of Jesus, hid themselves from that wrath, lest the stench of the unclean incense should ascend to them. Their companions saw, and accused them before the emperor; that "behold, here are Boys who have resisted thy command." The emperor heard, and grew hot against the meek, and ordered the Boys to be brought, that he might see them. The wolves ran forth, and from the midst of the flock snatched the Lambs, and with haste brought them before the sight of the emperor. The emperor saw their admirable persons, and spoke gently with them, saying: "Tell me, Boys, why have you transgressed my command? Come and sacrifice, and I will make you nobles."

[3] refused to sacrifice to the idols, and, a space being granted for deliberation, The son of the hyparch ^c and his seven Companions ^d opened his mouth: "Mute images made by hands we do not adore," he said; "there is present to us that Lord of heaven, and He will help us, and Him we adore, and to Him we offer purity of heart: and thou indeed hast for king Jupiter and Apollo and Artemis; but we have for king the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit." The emperor commanded, and they beat them with rods; and again he commanded, saying: "Dismiss them, until I come." For he was hastening to visit the towns and cities, and thence he thought to return, and to enter Ephesus with that mind. The emperor departed from Ephesus to his business; but the lovely Boys consulted among themselves: "Let us go out and flee from this city of the Ephesians, before the accursed emperor come, and torment us."

[4] There was in that place a cave hollowed out in the rock on the summit of the mountain, they fled to a nearby cave, and the lovely Boys thought to hide themselves in it. Of the money of their fathers they took with them: for it was to be that by it they should be detected and praised. They did not take with them choice or first garments: for there was no need of good garments, that they might be detected. Of the coinage ^e of the pagan emperor they took silver with them: for he who has money of the coinage has a token whence he may be detected and convicted. They went up into the mountain, and, having entered the cave, passed the night there, and invoked the Lord with a groaning voice, and thus said: "We beseech thee, good Shepherd, who chose His sheep, guard thy flock from that wolf thirsting for our blood."

[5] God saw the faith of the lovely Lambs, and came to give the good reward of their retributions. in which they fell asleep. He took up their spirits, and bore them up into the heavens, and left a watcher, who should guard their limbs. The emperor returned, and, having entered Ephesus, asked: "Where are the Boys who were rebels to the command?" They answered him, saying: "Behold, on the top of the mountain, within a cave, they lie hidden." And the cruel emperor thought to slay them in the cave. He commanded also, and there came craftsmen with their machines, and rolled stones with their engines, and placed them at the mouth. There were present there two sophists ^f, sons of the nobles; and it came into their mind that it would be that the Lord would raise them: and they made leaden tablets, and placed them by them, and wrote on them the names of the Children of light, and for what cause the Boys, having entered the cave, had hidden themselves there, and at what time they had fled from the face of Decius.

[6] The age of the pagan emperors passed away, and their empires together departed; and God willed to raise the Children of light. After very many years, awakened, they send one of their number to Ephesus, There was in the same place a wealthy man in Ephesus, and he wished to build a roof for his cattle on the summit of the mountain, and gathered stones, and built an enclosure for his cattle in that place: and he saw the hewn stones, and disposed them. The light entered and raised the Children of light, and they shook themselves from their sleep, and sat upon the earth (wonderful to say!) and the lovely Boys began to deliberate among themselves: "Who now will go down and see whether the emperor has come; will learn and inspect what he has commanded concerning us? whether, that is, he has sought us, or not sought us, and will report to us?" One who was present of their number, and was called Jamlicus ^g, he said: "I will go down and understand, and under the guise of a beggar will penetrate into the palace, and will learn and inspect what he has ordained concerning us." They answered him, saying: "Take money and bring bread; for behold, from evening the bread has failed and we have not supped."

[7] The Boy hastened from the top of the mountain, and came into the city, who, thinking he had slept only a single night, and invoked the Lord with a groan

saying: "We beseech thee, good Shepherd, who chose His sheep, guard thy flock from that wolf thirsting for our blood"; and, his eyes raised, he saw a cross above the gate, and bowed his head, and with a groan adored it: and he began to look about, whether perchance any of the pagans beheld him; and he began to say in his thought: "What is this? For behold, from evening the cross was hidden from the pagans, and behold, today it is openly fixed above the gate?" The Boy went on, and came to another gate, and, raising his eyes, saw likewise a cross set above the gate, and began to say: "Raving, I have raved ^h and am mad. Is this, thinkest thou, the city of Ephesus, in which I was reared?" And, beholding a man sitting in the marketplace, he approached him and asked: "Tell me, good man; what city is this?" "This city," he answered, "is called Ephesus." But he was astonished, considering in his mind what had befallen him.

[8] he marvels at all things new, He went on to run about through the crossways, nor did he turn from the way, until he came to the palace, and saw the doors shut to him. He turned aside to the marketplace, to buy bread and carry it with him. He gave the money drawn from his purse. He who sold the bread took it, and considered, and nodded to his comrade, that he too should approach and inspect it. Through the hands of five men that money was passed, and, contemplating it, they began to mutter among themselves about it. And the Boy saw them muttering among themselves, and answering said: "Give me the bread, if you give it, or I will depart." The man who sold the bread approached, and seized the Boy, saying: "Tell me, Boy; whence art thou, and what is thy land? And deliver the treasure which thou hast found, that we may all share in it. But if thou refuse to reveal it to me, I will deliver thee to prison." The Boy answered: "A treasure I have never seen, nor do I in any way know of it."

[9] and, on account of the ancient money, accused of a found treasure, A cry fell ⁱ within the marketplace of the Ephesians, that "behold, a Boy has found a treasure": and straightway they seized him. The word entered the holy church, to the bishop: and he sent men to snatch him from their hands; and he questions him: "Tell me, Boy; whence art thou, and what is thy land, and what is thy place, and where is the treasure which they say thou hast found?" The Boy said: "From Ephesus itself I am, and I am the son of Rufus the elect, who is of the nobles." And Jamlicus himself began to look about the crowd, whether perchance he might see anyone of his race and kindred, or of his brethren, or kinsmen, or acquaintances, who might call his father's name, and come to snatch him from their hands. And when he had seen no one of his race and kindred, tears burst from his eyes, and he began to weep.

[10] he discloses the prodigious history of his Companions, There was present there a certain sophist in the holy church, who seized the Boy, and questioned him with discretion: "Speak, son, the truth to me: why dost thou delay? Reveal and set forth whence thou art, and do not hide thyself from me." The Boy said: "I will show thee the truth; but do thou reveal to me and show what I sincerely ask of thee. Answer me and say: Where is the emperor Decius? Then in turn I will open my affairs to thee." Hearing these things, the sophist marveled greatly, and grew hot against that Boy, who was showing him deep things. "Vile and mad," he said, "and guilty of death, dost thou mock me? Do I seem to thee a boy of twelve? He of whom thou hast spoken died a very long time ago, and according to the number and reckoning of the Greeks three hundred and seventy-two years ^k are computed to have flowed from that emperor." The Boy said: "From him indeed I and my Companions fled, and behold, on the top of the mountain I slept, and my seven Companions."

[11] The nobles and elders and the noble and the boys assembled, to see whom many citizens of Ephesus, with their bishop, to go up and see the treasure of life which had been revealed to them. The cry fell into the whole region of the Ephesians, saying: "Come and see this treasure manifested to us." The Boys who were in the cave heard, and were moved and afraid, thinking that the emperor had sent satellites to seize them; and the son of the hyparch strengthened them, saying: "Rise and be strengthened, and put on the armor of faith, and let us trust in God, since He helps us, and strengthens us, and governs us according to His will." And while he exhorted them, the Boy entered, and stood with them, and the bishop and the nobles together with him entered: they saw the Boys sitting upon the earth, greeted them, saying: "Peace be with you"; and straightway they wrote a letter to the emperor Theodosius, saying: "Come, lord, and see the treasure of life, which has been revealed to us."

[12] The emperor hastened, and came down, and saw them: he greeted them, saying: "Peace be with you." He took that leaden tablet, and the emperor Theodosius came. and began to read for what cause the Boys had entered the cave, and there hidden themselves. Then the emperor invited them to come down with him to Ephesus, thinking to build a temple over their bones ^l. They answered, saying: "In this place we shall be, because we have loved this place. The Shepherd of His flock Himself commanded us to be in this place. For thy sake, behold, Christ our Lord has raised us, that thou mayest see and be confirmed that there is truly a resurrection ^m." … And He left them, and they rested in that eternal sleep. Blessed be the Shepherd, who chose the Lambs from His flock, and made them heirs of the bridal chamber and of paradise and of the heavenly kingdom.

ANNOTATIONS.

THE OTHER ACTS, BY GREGORY OF TOURS.

From the manuscript of the church of St. Omer, which we collated with the edition of Mombritius, to which it very nearly approaches.

Malchus, commonly a holy Sleeper, Martyr, at Ephesus in Asia (St.)

Martinianus, commonly a holy Sleeper, Martyr, at Ephesus in Asia (St.)

Dionysius, commonly a holy Sleeper, Martyr, at Ephesus in Asia (St.)

John, commonly a holy Sleeper, Martyr, at Ephesus in Asia (St.)

Serapion, commonly a holy Sleeper, Martyr, at Ephesus in Asia (St.)

Constantine, commonly a holy Sleeper, Martyr, at Ephesus in Asia (St.)

BHL Number: 2313

FROM THE Saint-Omer MANUSCRIPT.

When throughout the whole world ^a the persecution of the Christians was being stirred up, Seven men of Ephesus in the persecution of Decius and deadly sacrifices were being offered to the vain idols, there were seven Men ^b in the palace of the chief king, and sprung from a noble family; that is, Achillides, Diomedes, Diogenes, Probatus, Stephen, Sambatius, and Quiriacus ^c. These, when they often beheld the cruel crimes of the emperor, that he ordered deaf and mute idols to be worshiped instead of the eternal God, being divinely compunct, flew to the grace of baptism; and were called at the font of regeneration Maximianus ^d, Malchus, Martinianus, Constantinus ^e, Dionysius, John, Serapion. Therefore, Decius coming to the city of Ephesus, ordered the Christian race to be sought out with all diligence, so that he might, if it were lawful, extinguish the very name of the religion. At length the sacrifices are prepared, he himself sacrifices, and by blandishments and terrors instigates his own to sacrifice. All poured out victims; and the whole city smoked with the stench of the horrid ceremonies. Which these seven Athletes of Christ seeing, they were prostrate in prayer with tears: and, dust being sprinkled upon their heads, they begged the mercy of the Lord; that, looking down from His holy heaven, He would not suffer the people of the Lord to be subverted in this perversity.

[2] This being learned, the persecutors of the Christian name came to the prince, saying: unwilling to sacrifice to the gods, "The command of thy empire, O king, has run through the bounds of the whole earth, and no one presumes to contravene thy order. And all pour out daily sacrifices to the immortal gods, except seven Men, whom thou uniquely cherishest with affection, and lovest." To whom the emperor said: "And who are they?" They answered: "Maximianus, son of the prefect, with his satellites." And straightway, the emperor raging, laden with iron they were brought into his sight, having their faces suffused with tears, and dust upon their heads, as they had been supplicating in the sight of the Lord. Whom the emperor, beholding, said: "Has so great a perfidy of a depraved mind held you, that you dare to contravene our names, and not render due holocausts to the immortal gods? For I say to you by my glory: that you shall experience diverse kinds of torments, for the contempt of our gods."

The men answered, saying: "He is the God, creator of heaven and earth and sea ^f, to whom we daily sacrifice the due sacrifice of praise, for whose name we are ready even to die. But the names which thou reprovest us for not adoring as with the name of gods, we know to be nothing at all. For since they are members distinguished by the art of craftsmen, they cannot take the use of animating life, and therefore both those who adore them are condemned by the prophetic sanction, that both the makers and the adorers of them may become like them."

[3] Then the emperor, raging, all being removed, said: a space being granted for deliberation, they fled into a cave, "Depart, O gallows-birds, from our presence: until, doing penance for the crime of this insult, you be received into our palace, and, reconciled to the mercy of the gods, may fully enjoy the flower of your youth ^g. For it is not fitting that so great comeliness and beauty of body should be subjected to torments." And, the iron being struck off from their necks, he ordered them to go free, until he himself should return to Ephesus. And so, the seven Men having received leave to depart, the emperor departing to another city, they went to their homes, and, having inspected the protection of the house ^h, took away gold and silver, and garments, and all their furniture. Which being distributed to the poor, they went into the cave of Mount Celion, carrying with them a little money to buy the necessity of food: and they chose Malchus to go secretly into the city and buy provisions, and hear what the emperor decreed daily concerning the Christians.

[4] The Saints, therefore, being shut up under the private custody of the prison, and giving themselves to assiduous prayer, the wicked emperor returned to Ephesus, in which they fell asleep and, the Christians being sought out as usual, he asks about Maximianus and his companions: but their parents said that they were shut up in a certain cave of Mount Celion, whence they could easily be brought out, if the royal command of the emperor should be issued. Which when the Men had learned, Malchus announcing it, greatly terrified, they prostrated themselves upon the earth, and with tears prayed that the Lord, keeping them in the faith, would keep them from the sight of the most wicked emperor. And, as they prayed, God, foreseeing that they would be needed hereafter, heard their prayer; and took up their souls: and they were lying upon the ground, as if sleeping in a sweet sleep.

[5] Then the emperor, moved, said to his men: "Go therefore and block up the mouth of the cavern, that those rebels against the gods may have no entrance for going out." after it had been closed by the command of Decius. But as those went who were to block up the mouth of the cave, there preceded them two men, Theodore and Ruben, Christians, who, on account of the threats of the emperor, secretly worshiped Christ. These, writing on leaden tablets the whole history of the Saints, placed them at the entrance of the cavern within, no one knowing, saying: "Whenever God shall will to reveal to the peoples the blessed limbs of His Athletes, let these teach the things which they endured for His name." But those who had been sent, coming, and rolling up great stones, closed the entrance of the cave, and departed, saying: "Here let them fail by hunger, and devour themselves with their own bites, who despised to offer to our gods the due libations."

[6] Then in the time of Theodosius After these things, Decius being dead, through the succeeding times the sum of the empire was conferred upon Theodosius, son of Arcadius. In whose time that unclean sect of the Sadducees ^k arose, wishing to overthrow the hope of the resurrection, saying: "That the dead do not rise." But the head of this heresy were Theodore and Gaius ^l, bishops, who also wished to join the mind of the emperor himself to this unbelief. Whence it came to pass that the emperor, greatly afflicted by this cause and prostrate on the ground, besought the Lord that He would deign to intimate to him what he ought to follow. But there was then at Ephesus a certain Dalius, very rich in cattle, who, going about Mount Celion, ordered his boys, saying: "Prepare here folds for our sheep, because this place is opportune for pasturing the flock." For he was ignorant of what was being done in the cave. But as the boys worked, and rolled away huge stones, they came to the mouth of the cave, and found great stones; which, rolling them away, and making a wall, yet they did not enter into the cavern.

[7] rising, they send one of their companions to Ephesus, But the Lord ordered the spirits to return into the bodies of the Saints, and they rose and, greeting one another as usual, and thinking they had slept only one night, sat cheerful and robust. For not only were their bodies comely and most beautiful; but even their garments were whole and unharmed, as they had been put on by them many years before. And, turning to Malchus, they said: "Relate to us, we beseech thee, brother, what the emperor said this night, or whether we have been sought out, that we may know." To whom he said: "You have been sought out to sacrifice to the gods." To whom Maximianus said: "We are all ready to die for Christ. But do thou now take the silver coins, and go to procure food, and hearken diligently, and what thou hearest report to us." And so, the money being taken, he went. For the silver coins were superscribed with the name of Decius. But approaching the gate of the city, he saw the sign of the cross above the gate, and, stupefied, marveled, saying within himself: "Since yesterday, after the setting of the sun, when I was going out of the city, has the heart of Decius been changed, that he should fortify the gate of the city with the sign of the cross?" And, having entered the city, he heard men swear by the name of Christ, and look toward the church, and the clerics running about the city, and renewing the walls, and, more astonished, he said to himself: "Thinkest thou that thou hast entered another city?" And, approaching the market, he brought forth the silver coins, begging that food be given him.

[8] who, on account of the ancient money, being seized, But they, beholding the silver coinage, said: "This man has found ancient treasures, for behold, he brings forth silver coins from the times of Decius." But Malchus, hearing these things, turned over thoughts in his heart, saying: "What do these things mean? Do I see a dream?" But the men, having seized him, lead him to the bishop Marinus, and to the prefect of the city. To whom the prefect said: "Whence art thou; or from what region hast thou come?" "From Ephesus," he said; "if indeed this is the city of the Ephesians, which yesterday I remember to have seen." "Whence," said the prefect, "hast thou these silver coins?" He answered: "From the house of my father I took them." The prefect said: "And where is thy father?" And he named his parents, but no one knew them. The prefect said: "Relate to us, whence hast thou these silver coins? For they are from the time of Decius, who died so many years ago. Whence it is manifest that thou hast come to mock the wise men of the Ephesians, and therefore thou shalt be subjected to torments, until thou disclose the truth." And Malchus, moved with amazement and tears, said: "One sign I would ask of you, if you deem it worthy. The emperor Decius, who persecuted the Christians in this city, where is he?" The bishop Marinus answered: "There is not in this city, most beloved son, a man who recalls the times of Decius: for many years ago he died."

[9] Malchus, hearing these things, turned to himself and said to the bishop: who manifests the prodigy of the resurrection, "I thought that I had slept with my brethren only one night; but, as I learn, the courses of many years have passed over our sleep. And now the Lord has sought me out with my brethren, that all the world may know that the resurrection of the dead shall take place. Follow me, therefore, and I will show you my brethren, who rose with me." Then the astonished bishop with the prefect, and all the people, following Malchus, came to the cave. But while Malchus was relating to the brethren what had befallen him in the city, the bishop, entering, found a coffer, sealed beforehand with two silver seals; and, going out, calling together the multitude of the city with the prefect, he opened the seals, and found two leaden tablets, on which was written the whole passion of them, as we related above, and they recognized that the things said by Malchus were true.

[10] Then, entering, they found the blessed Martyrs sitting in a corner of the cave, to see which, besides the bishop and the citizens of Ephesus and their faces were like flowering roses and shining like the sun in its strength: for nothing was diminished, neither of their garments nor of their bodies. But the bishop Marinus with the prefect fell down before their feet, and adored them, and all the people glorified God, who deigned to show such a miracle to His servants. But the Saints related to the bishop and all the people what had befallen them in the time of Decius. And the bishop with the prefect sent messengers to the emperor Theodosius, saying: "Hasten as quickly as thou canst, if thou wilt see a great miracle, which is made manifest, God granting it, in thy times. For if thou come, thou shalt know that the hope of the resurrection is very useful, according to the pledge of the Evangelical promise."

[11] The emperor Theodosius, hearing these things, rose with joy, and stretching out his hand to God, said: the emperor Theodosius himself came, "I give thanks to thee, Lord Jesus Christ, sun of justice, who hast deigned to besprinkle the darkness of mortals with the light of thy truth; I give thee thanks, who hast not permitted the lamp of my confession to be veiled by the foul mists of assertions." And saying these things, having mounted horses, with the greatest haste he came to Ephesus. But the bishop with the prefect, and all the multitude of the city, went out to meet the emperor. But as they all ascended, the holy martyrs went forth to meet Augustus, and their faces were made shining like the sun in its strength; and Augustus fell to the earth: and adored them, glorifying God. And rising, he kissed them, and wept upon the neck of each of them, saying: "So I see your faces, as if I saw my Lord Jesus Christ, when He called Lazarus from the tomb; to whom I render immense thanks, that He has not defrauded me of the hope of the resurrection."

[12] But Maximianus answered: "Know, emperor, that to confirm thy faith the Lord ordered us to rise. with whom the seven Martyrs, having conversed, again fell asleep in the Lord. Therefore constantly and trusting in Him know that the resurrection of the dead shall take place, since thou seest us today, after the resurrection, speaking with thee, and relating the great works of God." And, speaking many other things with him, again prostrate on the earth they fell asleep, delivering their souls to the immortal King and almighty God. The emperor, seeing these things, rushed upon their bodies, and weeping kissed them, and, taking off his garments, placed them upon them, ordering golden coffins to be made, in which they should be laid up. But on that night the Saints appeared to him, saying: "Do not do it; but leave us upon the earth: from it the Lord will again raise us on the great day of the resurrection of all flesh." Then the emperor built over them a great basilica, and made there a receptacle for the poor, ordering them to be fed from the public treasury. And, the bishops being called together, he celebrated the festivity of the Saints, and all glorified God, to whom in the perfect Trinity be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen ⁿ.

ANNOTATIONS.

THE LONGER ACTS, BY PERHAPS SIMEON METAPHRASTES.

From the edition of Surius, which has been collated with a Greek manuscript and various Latin copies.

Malchus, commonly a holy Sleeper, Martyr, at Ephesus in Asia (St.)

Martinianus, commonly a holy Sleeper, Martyr, at Ephesus in Asia (St.)

Dionysius, commonly a holy Sleeper, Martyr, at Ephesus in Asia (St.)

John, commonly a holy Sleeper, Martyr, at Ephesus in Asia (St.)

Serapion, commonly a holy Sleeper, Martyr, at Ephesus in Asia (St.)

Constantine, commonly a holy Sleeper, Martyr, at Ephesus in Asia (St.)

From Surius.

CHAPTER I.

The persecution of Decius, the constancy of the seven Martyrs in the faith, their flight to the cave, and their long slumber.

[1] While Decius held the principate of the Roman empire, it happened that he himself came down from the city of Carthage ^a to Ephesus, When Decius stirred with much fury. Then all the neighboring region assembled in that city, to sacrifice to the vain and false gods. But the churches of those who followed the faith of Christ were dispersed. For the Christians, both priests and laity, feared the sight of the tyrant. Who, when he had entered Ephesus, with elated mind began to erect idols in the midst of the city: and when he was wholly addicted to them, he ordered the nobles of the city to offer victims with him to those vain gods. And so those places were filled with the blood of the victims, and all the crowds from every side flowed together to the celebration of the idols which were at Ephesus. For fame was spread through the bounds of that region, namely that the stench of the victims leaped up from the midst of the city on high.

[2] When, therefore, Decius kept the feast of his gods, and by his command the whole multitude, on account of that celebration, flowed briskly together from all places to the temples of the idols which were at Ephesus, against the Christians and poured out libations to the gods, and when that whole city was fragrant with sacrifices, the faithful men were sorrowful, and were also oppressed by the worshipers of the idols. And so they partly fled the faces of the persecutors, that they might not be seized; partly hid themselves. But three days after, the emperor set forth an edict, that all the Christians should be seized: at which time the gentiles and Jews urged the soldiers. Everywhere, therefore, the Christian men were dragged to the crowds which had assembled in one place, to sacrifice to the idols together with the emperor. Then some, dreading the torments, fell away from the faith, and before that crowd, wretched, fell down to the sacrifices of the idols. But those who from the heart followed the faith of Christ, when they heard that some had lapsed, greatly grieving at their fall, mourned the souls of the wretched men, who through fear had fallen down to the sacrifices of the idols. But whoever of their number were found more stable in the faith of Christ, keeping their mind and thought firm, and not dreading the threats of the tyrant, but gladly receiving the darts of the most wicked devil in their bodies, endured all torments with strong mind.

[3] And so the flesh of the holy martyrs was torn with many and various torments, was stirring up a horrible persecution, so that from their wounds much blood flowed down. Whose bodies were hung upon the walls and towers of the city: but their heads, fixed on stakes, were raised before the gates. And so ravens, vultures, and birds of this kind, surrounding those walls, tore the flesh of the holy martyrs. Which thing brought grief to the Christian men. Such and so great a combat was set before those who confessed the faith of Christ. Such were the threats full of terror, plainly formidable to all: such the hardships, moving almost the very stones. The streets of the city were crowded with the corpses of the holy martyrs. But the faithful wept, because they saw those holy bodies, cast down on the earth, torn by the birds. I ask, what deed is so greatly to be grieved? What slaughter so monstrous and bitter? Then the Christian men, their hands raised to heaven, prayed God that they might be snatched from the hands of the tyrant: fathers denied their sons, sons their fathers. The calamities themselves disjoined the most friendly men from one another. But Maximilianus, Jamblicus, Martinus, John, Dionysius, Exacustadius, and Antoninus, dwelling together, and all alike stable in the faith of Christ, and bearing the sufferings of Christ in their bodies, when they saw what was daily done against the Christians, assiduously fortified themselves with weeping, groaning, fasting, and prayers. But they were the sons of illustrious men and nobles of the city.

[4] seven Youths being seized on account of their faith But when the emperor had gathered the crowds of the gentiles to the sacrifices of the empty idols, then the holy Men, whom we named a little before, assembled in one place, and, together entering the church of the Christians, prostrated themselves on the earth, and, sprinkling their heads with dust, poured out groans and tears before God. Which when they did, they were observed by certain spies, namely that at that time, when the sacrifices were offered to the gods, they withdrew to the church of the Christians. And when each was diligently sought out, to sacrifice to the gods, those who had observed those men came, and said to the emperor: "Mayest thou live, emperor, for eternal time. Thou compellest those who are far off to be present at the sacrifices, and those who are near despise thy empire, and count thy commands as nothing, observing the religion of the Christians." But Maximilianus himself was the son of the governor ^b, likewise others especially illustrious in the army ^c. Then Decius the emperor, stirred with anger, ordered them to be led bound to him. When they were led: "Why," he said, "did you not remain with us, to sacrifice to the gods, who have called the whole world to obey them? Approach, therefore, and offer the due sacrifice to the gods, as all are wont to do." Then Maximilianus answered: "We have, Emperor, a God dwelling in the heavens, of whose glory heaven and earth are full, to whom we are wont to offer the sacrifice of our confession, and by the libation of our prayers we exult before God at all times. For we do not offer to those idols the stenches and smoke of your sacrifices, since we are unwilling to corrupt our souls."

[5] he grants a space of deliberating, These things heard, Decius would speak no more, but ordered the military belts to be taken from them. He said the cause of this thing to be that he had caught them as adversaries of the power of the gods. Besides, he decreed that they should be repelled from the munificence of the gods, and kept far from the military of the empire, until he could conveniently inquire concerning their religion. For it did not seem just to him, he said, that their youth should be consumed by torments: and so, moved by mercy, he granted them a space of time, that in the meanwhile they might come to their senses, return to the gods, and live. These things the emperor said, and ordered the iron chains to be taken from their necks, and them to be removed from his sight. Then Decius set out for other cities ^d, to do what he had in mind, yet with this counsel, that he should return to Ephesus. And so to the holy Men, whom we spoke of, it had been granted by the emperor that for some days they might freely go about.

[6] When, therefore, they had found an opportune time, and had determined to persevere in the faith of Christ, who, fleeing into a cave, they applied themselves to works of justice: and when they had gathered gold and silver from their paternal fortunes, they distributed much money to the poor, and, taking counsel among themselves, they exhorted one another in turn with these words: "Let us withdraw for a little while from this city, and go up into that great cave which faces the East. There, living quietly, let us pray to our God with attentive and assiduous prayers, that we may be made such as to be able to stand constantly before the sight of the tyrant: nor let us cease to praise the glory of God, that God Himself may help us with His aid, that we may keep His right confession, and may be able to receive that incorrupt crown prepared for those who guard His faith, and have acknowledged Christ." And so, when they had taken as much silver as could suffice them for expense, they ascended into a cave situated in the mountain (the mountain is called Ochlon ^e), in which place they passed many days, praying to God Himself, and always asking of Him the salvation of their souls. But to Jamblicus, who was younger than all the others, and fitter and more expeditious for undertaking the ministries, the business was imposed, that he should go down into the city, and, if anything needed to be done, do it himself. But that youth was very prudent. And so when he went down to the city, that he might not be recognized, he changed his garment, and seemed some one of the number of beggars: and, since he had money with him, he distributed some part to the poor: he took care also to overhear what was said about the emperor.

[7] After some days the emperor Decius returned to the city of Ephesus: and giving themselves to prayer, and at once ordered the nobles

with those who followed Achillides ^f, and others who were there, to offer sacrifices to the vain idols: for he was very solicitous about his false gods, since he did not recognize their vanity. Wherefore the followers of the Christian faith were affected with great fear. When Jamblicus had heard these things, he went out from the city, carrying a few loaves with him, and returned to the cave of the mountain, where his companions were. Jamblicus related what he had heard in the palace of the tyrant at his entry, and how they too had been sought out, that together with the other citizens, the emperor being present, they should sacrifice. These things heard, they feared, and with much groaning and tears prayed to God. A table, therefore, was set before them, and the loaves which Jamblicus had bought, that they might take food, and become readier to sustain the combat of the tyrant. They sat, therefore, in the midst of the cave, and, the sun setting, took food. But when they sat sorrowful, and conversed among themselves, they began to sleep: for their eyes were heavy on account of grief.

[8] But the clement and kind God, who always provides for His servants, made them undergo a certain kind of death, they fell asleep in the same cave. that through them certain opportune miracles might be done. And so, when all had been seized by slumber, lying on the earth they died, rendering their souls to God, and celebrating the divine glory. But the silver which they had in their purses remained with them in that place in which they lay. The next day in the morning the emperor among the nobles ordered those seven Youths to be sought again. Who, when they were not found, turning to the nobles, said: "I greatly grieve on account of the calamities of those Youths, because they are sprung from illustrious and famous parents. For I think that they, judging the majesty of our empire to be very angry with them, on account of the religion of our piety violated by them, have fled. But the kindness of our empire is not angry with those who come to their senses, and bring back their minds to the clemency of our gods." These things the emperor said. To whom the nobles answered: "As for those Youths, the deserters of religion, let the majesty of thy empire by no means grieve, nor think that they have come to their senses: for they still persevere in their former ignorance, and, as we have heard, at that very time which was prescribed them to change their counsel, made more obstinate, they retain an obstinate will. And so they distributed the silver and gold to the poor disposed through the streets of the city, and no one saw them any more. If, therefore, it please thy majesty, let their parents be seized, and by torments compelled to say where their Sons lie hidden."

[9] which Decius, the place of their hiding being learned from their parents, The emperor, hearing these things, stirred with anger, ordered the parents of the Youths to be summoned. Whom when he saw present: "And where," he said, "are your Sons, the contemners of our empire and commands? For this reason I order you also to be slain on account of their insolence." Then they said: "We beseech thee, most kind emperor, that thou hear our cause. We have not violated the commands of thy empire and majesty, nor deserted the propitious divinities of the gods. Why then should we die for the sake of those who are deserters? But as for the silver and gold, they stole the money from us, which, when they had distributed it to the poor, they fled into the mountain, and there lie hidden in a cave. Whether, therefore, they live, or are dead, we know not." The emperor, hearing these things, dismissed those men, and thought much within himself what he should do to the Youths. But the kind God cast into his mind that he should block the entrance of that cave with stones, so that the bodies of the holy Martyrs might lie buried there, and the holy relics might not be removed, but might be preserved until the resurrection itself.

[10] ordered to be closed with great stones. Decius the emperor, therefore, pronounced against those Youths such a sentence: "Since the deserter Youths were unwilling to obey our edicts, and despised the divinity of our gods, therefore let them too be deprived of the kindness of our empire, nor let them any more appear in the sight of men. Wherefore let the entrance of the cave be blocked with great stones, and impressed with the fortification of seals, that they may be buried alive, and die in such a prison." For both the emperor and the whole city thought that those Youths still lived. But Theodore and Barbus ^g, who had been of the emperor's bedchamber, and very faithful ministers, since they too were Christians, on account of the persecution had hidden themselves. Then they said among themselves: "Let us write the martyrdom of the seven Youths on leaden tablets, since for the faith of Christ they died, and were made martyrs. And what we write, let us lay up in brazen coffers, and place the coffers themselves, fortified with a seal, among the stones which are in that place: (for perhaps the Lord will visit the Martyrs before the day of the last coming) that if at some time this cave be laid open and the bodies of the holy Martyrs brought into the open, from the monuments of the letters their deeds may be learned." Theodore and Barbus, therefore, did what they had communicated among themselves.

ANNOTATIONS.

CHAPTER II.

The prodigious resurrection, recognition, and veneration of the seven Sleepers.

After an interval of time the emperor Decius died, and all that age perished. But emperors succeeded, each in his own time, A heresy arising against the resurrection of bodies, until the emperor Theodosius began to hold the scepter. Who, when he reigned religiously and in a Christian manner, there arose certain heretics, who denied the resurrection of the dead, which Christ Himself willed to be firmly believed in His holy Church. For certain soldiers, worshipers of idols, while they dwelt in the palace of the emperor, stirred up an open persecution against some before the emperor. Nay, even certain bishops, wishing to pervert the right paths of God, were in the churches the authors of many prevarications. Of whom the chief and the head of all evils was held Theodore ^a, bishop of the Aegeans, together with those whom he had with him: who ought not even to be named, since they persecuted the Church of God. But the emperor Theodosius was daily more disturbed and grieved, when he saw the faith of the holy churches wavering. And so from God Himself he asked the cure of that evil. For there were those who said that to dead men there would be no consolation. Others affirmed that the body, consumed by age, would have no consolation, but that the soul alone would be a partaker of immortal life. Such men, deceived by vain opinions, thus erred, nor did they consider that an infant boy was never in the womb of his mother without flesh, nor did flesh come out of the womb without a vital soul. Likewise, closing the eyes of their mind, they did not consider the sacred Scriptures, in which it is written: "They who are in the tombs shall hear the voice of the Son of man, and shall live," and in another place: "And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake: some to eternal life, and others to reproach": while that too is found written in them: "Behold, I will open your sepulchers, and lead you out of your sepulchers, my people." These are the testimonies of the divine Scriptures. But the heretical men, deviating from the right path of life, went astray, and perverted the sincerity of the faith by the crooked thoughts of their souls.

[12] in the time of the Theodosian empire they rise, The emperor Theodosius, therefore, took that matter ill, and on account of it was affected with grief. But since the most clement God wills no one straying from the way of faith to perish, He caused the mystery of the resurrection to be laid open to all. For He cast into the mind of a certain man, who was called Adolius ^b, the lord of that mountain and cave where the holy Martyrs had slept, to build a certain sheepfold for his cattle. His servants, therefore, together with those who were engaged in doing the work, rolled away the stones for the building from the mouth of that cave. Then, by the command of our Lord Jesus Christ, to those holy Men who had slept in the cave life was restored, and that voice which raised Lazarus from the tomb, the same restored also to the holy Martyrs the spirit of life. They rose, therefore, and, praising God, sat down, and, as they had been daily wont, greeted one another in turn, since no sign existed in them by which they could judge that they had been dead: for their garments too were such as before they died: their bodies also flourished, showing cheerfulness: in short, they were such as if they had taken sleep the evening before, and had awakened the next morning. Still solicitous also about the superstition of the idols, they thought that they were being sought by the emperor Decius: and on account of this, affected with much care, they turned their eyes to Jamblicus the steward, and asked of him anew what he had heard the evening before about them in the city. To whom Jamblicus answered: "As I told you yesterday evening, we too, together with the other citizens, were sought out to sacrifice to the gods before the emperor: who, unless we obey his command, has determined to bring torments upon us. But what he will do, I know not."

[13] and thinking they had slept only one night Then Maximilianus answered: "Come, brethren, let us be ready to go forth into the sight of that terrible emperor and true God, Jesus Christ, and let us not fear that mortal emperor. But do thou, Jamblicus, take care that food be prepared for us at the appointed hour. Take the silver, enter the city, buy many loaves: for few were those which thou broughtest yesterday evening, and on account of this we are hungry. In the same task learn what the emperor Decius decrees about us." For they thought that they had lain down the night before, and had awakened the next morning. Then, therefore, well in the morning, Jamblicus rose, and took silver from

the coffers, as he had been wont. But that money was stamped with an old mark, which was reckoned partly at forty, partly at sixty nummi in value in the times of the old emperors, when the holy Men of whom we speak first lived. But three hundred and seventy-two years had passed from the time when they slept until that day on which they rose ^c.

[14] When, therefore, it had grown light, Jamblicus went out from the cave, they send their companion to the city of Ephesus, and saw the stones placed before the cave, and was astonished: for he knew nothing of those stones. But coming down from the mountain, he feared to walk. And so on the way he wholly trembled, fearing to enter the city, lest in some way he should be recognized, and led bound to the emperor Decius: since he was ignorant that the bones of that tyrant had rotted in the sepulcher ^d. But when he entered the city, and had seen the sign of the venerable Cross erected before the gates of the city, he was so astonished as almost to lose his mind: and to whatever part he turned his eyes, struck by the novelty of things, he was more astonished. He approached another gate of the city, and there too saw the Cross itself erected above the walls. And when he had gone about all the gates, beholding the figure of the venerable Cross placed there, he was made mute with amazement. And so, when he had betaken himself to that first gate, he thus spoke within himself: "What is this? Yesterday evening the sign of this Cross was kept in hiding, and now we see it openly erected on the very doors of the city. Do I see this truly, or am I deceived by the illusion of some specter?"

[15] While he said these things, and saw the figure of the Cross everywhere fixed, his mind more confirmed, he entered the city with bared ^e head. And when he advanced further, he heard many swearing by the name of Jesus Christ. who, marveling at the sign of the cross and other things there Wherefore, more struck: "What these things are," he said, "I know not. Yesterday evening no one freely named Christ, and now by so many tongues the name of Christ is celebrated." Again doubting with himself, he said: "Perhaps I do not see the city of Ephesus, since its buildings are wholly changed, and its language: some other has been taught Christ; which in no other city have I seen done, except in this alone." Having advanced, therefore, he asked of a certain citizen by what name that city was called. "Ephesus," said he, "this is called." Jamblicus did not believe, but thinking within himself: "Deceived," he said, "certainly I am, forgetful of places, and straying with my whole mind. I must go out, therefore, from this city, lest I stray the more."

[16] When, therefore, he was held with great solicitude, and would depart thence from the matter, and, from the ancient money, giving suspicion of a found treasure, he first wished to buy loaves, and took silver, to give the price. But those who sold the bread, when they had seen that great and different coin, marveled, and in turn showed it to one another. Passed, therefore, from hand to hand, that coin went through all who sold bread. Who, in turn whispering in the ear, and beholding Jamblicus, said: "Truly this man has found a treasure, an old one indeed, and hidden many years ago." Jamblicus, when he saw them whispering, began to fear: for he thought that he was recognized by them, and would be delivered to the empire of Decius. But when many had approached, and could by no means recognize his appearance, they detained him in the midst of the marketplace. And so many crowds flowed together, and this report was spread through the whole city, that a certain youth had been seized, who had found a treasure. But the crowds gathered to him said: "This man is a stranger, nor do we ever see him." These things they said, and with intent eyes beheld him more and more. Jamblicus wished to plead his cause, that what they said about the found treasure was false: but, held by amazement, he could not do it. And when he looked round upon all the crowds, he recognized no one, and was known to no one, although he had been born of a famous and illustrious race at the city of Ephesus. Wherefore he was held with the greatest wonder, that the day before he had been known to all, and the next morning he recognized no one, and himself too was wholly unknown. He took care to find, among that crowd, his father or some one of his brethren, and saw no one.

[17] he is led to the bishop and proconsul of the city, Then that matter, spread through the whole city, came even to the ears of the bishop. By divine providence also it came to pass that the proconsul of that city came at that very hour to the bishop. Who, while he spoke of the treasure which he thought had been found by that youth, that matter caused the resurrection of the dead to be laid open to all. For both the proconsul and the bishop ordered that youth to be kept, kindly treated, and led to them with the silver which he had with him. When, therefore, Jamblicus was dragged to the church, he thought he was being dragged to Decius the emperor. And so he looked about hither and thither, to see some of his own, or of his kinsmen, or of those to whom he had been known. The crowd, as it would some madman, mocked the youth so looking about: and so he was impelled more violently to the church. But now the proconsul and Stephen ^f the bishop, taking that coin in their hands and inspecting it, marveled. Then the proconsul, questioning Jamblicus, said: "Where is the treasure which thou hast found? For this coin was stolen from a treasure." "By no means," said Jamblicus, "have I found a treasure, as you accuse me. This one thing I know for certain, that from my paternal money this silver is, stamped with the mark of that coin which was usual to this city. But truly I marvel, nor can I think whence this temptation has befallen me." To this the president: "Whence," he said, "art thou?" But Jamblicus answered him: "From this city, as I think, I am." "Born of what father?" said the president. "Is there anyone who recognizes thee? Let him come, and bear testimony for thee, and we will believe thee."

[18] Jamblicus brought forth the names of his father and brethren: nor did anyone know those and, examined by them whom he named. Then the president: "The things which thou sayest," he said, "are not true." Jamblicus, hearing these things, was perplexed in mind, and, having nothing to answer, was silent. Whom when he had seen so perplexed and sorrowful: "Perhaps," he said, "he is mad." Others said: "By no means is he mad, but feigns madness, that he may escape dangers." The president, chiding him with sharper words: "By what reason," he said, "can we bear with thee, or believe thee, that this silver came to thee from paternal money, when this coin by its inscription and mark signifies that it was three hundred and eighty years before us, and before Decius reigned, nor is in any part like that which is now current in the city? Canst thou, who art a youth, have parents so old and begotten three hundred years ago? Or dost thou think that thou art so cunning as to deceive the elders and wise men of the city of Ephesus? For these causes I order thee to be cast into chains, and beaten with scourges, until thou confess where that treasure is."

[19] Jamblicus, hearing these things and fearing, prostrated his face on the earth, he discloses the miracle of the resurrection, and addressed them with these words: "I beseech you that you be not burdened to tell me what I shall ask: for I will confess all things freely to you. The emperor Decius, who was in this city, does he live, or not?" To this the bishop Stephen: "There is not," he said, "son, one who today in this region is named the emperor Decius." Then Jamblicus: "Come, I beseech you, with me, and I will show you in the cave of Mount Ochlon my companions, that from them you may learn that what I say is true. Certainly I know that we fled thither from the emperor Decius: which Decius I too yesterday evening saw entering the city of Ephesus. But whether this city is Ephesus or not, I know not." Then the bishop Stephen, coming into this thought, that God through that youth wished to reveal something to them: "Let us go," he said, "and see." And straightway the bishop and the proconsul with the nobles and many crowds went up into the mountain to the cave, which Jamblicus, going before, showed. But while the bishop, and those who were with him, entered the cave, at its mouth the bishop found a certain brazen little chest, placed between two stones, and impressed with two silver seals; which, opening it before the president and the nobles, he found in it two leaden tablets, on which was written that Maximilianus, son of the Eparch ^g, Jamblicus, and the rest of the youths, had fled from the tyrant Decius, and that by the command of the tyrant Decius himself the entrance of that cave had been blocked. And their martyrdom too was written on the breadth of the same tablets ^h. Which being read, they were affected with wonder, and praised with the loudest voices God Himself, who had followed those youths with so great a miracle.

[20] But entering into the cave, they found those Saints sitting: whose faces shone like light. to see which Theodosius is invited, Casting themselves, therefore, at their feet, they venerated them, and gave thanks to God, who had granted them the spectacle of so great a miracle. Moreover the holy Martyrs taught them of all things which had been done under Decius. But at once the bishop and the proconsul sent letters to the emperor to this effect: "Let thy majesty order some to come here most quickly, and see the miracles which God has shown in the time of thy empire: since the sign of the resurrection to come in the last times has in our age been foreshown to the world itself, in the bodies of the holy Men, which have now risen." At which matter the emperor rejoiced, and praised the glory of God. Nay, he even set out to that place from the city of Constantinople with many men: and the whole city of Ephesus went forth to meet him. But at once, led by the bishop, the proconsul, and the nobles, he entered the cave: and when he had greeted and embraced the Youths, he began to weep, and, celebrating the glory of God, exulted with his whole soul. To whom Maximilianus, a most holy man: "From this time," he said, "thy empire, on account of the stability of thy faith, will be firm, and Jesus Christ, the Son of the living God, will guard it in His name from all temptation. Believe me, that for thy sake we have been raised by God Himself."

[21] who, coming, honored greatly the Martyrs, again falling asleep in the Lord. The emperor, and the bishop, and all the crowd, hearing this discourse, rejoiced in a wonderful manner. But the holy Martyrs, when they had bowed their heads to the earth, and prayed to God, slept, and thus by the divine nod delivered their spirits to the Lord. The emperor, therefore, ordered seven golden chests to be made, in which the bodies of those seven Youths might be laid. But on that night the Youths appeared to the emperor in sleep, and said to him that he should let them rest in the cave in which they had been, above the earth. Wherefore the emperor willed them to be there until the present day. Then a great assembly of bishops came together there, and celebrated a feast-day, and the most blessed Men, as their dignity demanded, with due

honors they all followed. Besides these, the emperor gave much to the poor of that region, and ordered those who were in prison to be dismissed. This being done, Theodosius returned glad to the city of Constantinople with a great retinue. But all, exulting, praised Christ our God, who makes His Saints wonderfully glorious: to whom belongs glory, honor, and adoration now and always, and forever and ever. Amen.

ANNOTATIONS.

ON THE HOLY MARTYRS

FELIX OF NOLA, JULIA, JUCUNDA AND JANUARIA OF NICOMEDIA.

From the Hieronymian sources collated with the Roman.

Felix of Nola, Martyr (St.) Julia, Martyr of Nicomedia (St.) Jucunda, Martyr of Nicomedia (St.) Januaria, Martyr of Nicomedia (St.)

BY THE AUTHOR J. B. S.

The three first Martyrs, related here in the title, the Roman Martyrology marks on this day under the same location of Nola: but the first to join them thus and to attribute them to Nola was he who, from a dislocated Ado, devised for us Bede so often going astray, The announcement taken from the supposititious Bede namely the one which Plantin published in the year 1564, whence also he was long ago deservedly called the Plantinian, or supposititious Bede. Behold his words: In the city of Nola, of Felix, Julia and Jucunda: and from that Bede Baronius transferred the same into the Roman, citing that one and only Martyrology, to which nevertheless he says the old manuscripts agree, but which have not hitherto been found by us, nor by Ferrarius, however much he testifies that he most diligently searched them out; writing thus of the three Martyrs on this day in the Catalogue of the Saints of Italy: Felix with Julia and Jocunda are reported to have suffered martyrdom for Christ at Nola by Bede, from whom the Roman Martyrology took them. But the time and the Acts of their passion are wanting: nor could any knowledge of them be had, beyond the bare name, at Nola, Rome, or elsewhere. In the annotation he repeats again: That no other memory of them exists beyond that which is read in Bede and the Roman Martyrology.

[2] I do not wonder at the useless labor of Ferrarius: for if the whole matter is well weighed, it is better established as also the archbishop of Otranto, illustrator of the Roman Martyrology, observed, that sentence of that Bede is badly put together, also in Greven and Molanus in the Usuardine supplements, where the first did not express Nola, but was content to call it Campania: but in whatever way you write it, that announcement is supported by no ancient authority at all, taken, I suppose, from Rabanus, but wrongly combined with some words cut out. Thus he had marked: In Campania, in the city of Nola, the birthday of St. Felix: and in another place of Julia and Jocunda; but why he neglected the location or place of martyrdom of these latter, which in the Hieronymian sources, whence the rest were transcribed, is so clearly expressed, I do not at all understand. It is most certain that only St. Felix is ascribed to Nola; whether he is another than the most holy priest, of whom there was laborious treatment on the 14th of January, or likewise than the bishop who is reported on the 15th of November, our Hieronymian codices do not sufficiently declare, at least not sufficiently uniformly. Nor indeed is this the place to resume the dispute concerning the synonymous Felixes of Nola, which has already more than once been ventilated in the Acts and in the Usuardine observations, to be retreated afresh on the said 15th of November.

[3] from the Hieronymian codices. The question here chiefly turns on what is the genuine announcement of this day, to be settled not from the confusion of the supposititious Bede, but from the far older and more approved Hieronymian codices, concerning which Florentini disputes at length on this day, rightly inclining to this, that the festivity of St. Felix is to be understood not of his birthday itself, but of his ordination, just as is expressly read in both Corbie codices: In the city of Nola, the birthday of St. Felix, of his ordination to the episcopate: Notker added, from some codex, such as the Blumian, "where many marvels are done." But Holstein testifies in his Animadversions that in the manuscript of the Queen of Sweden is read, "on the day of the ordination to the episcopate many marvels are done," which I did not find in our codex. For the rest, all the codices, even the Epternach, the Lucca, and nearly all the abbreviated ones, thus distinguish St. Felix from the two women, so as constantly to attribute him to Nola, but to ascribe those women, whether joined or separated, to Nicomedia, or at least elsewhere, and indeed in the larger ones to connect them with Januaria. The text of Florentini is: In the city of Nola, the birthday of St. Felix. In Nicomedia, the birthday of the holy men—he meant to say holy women—Julia, Jocunda, Januaria. More briefly the Epternach: At Nola, the birthday of Felix. Elsewhere of Justa, Jocunda; where Januaria is omitted, but by others so expressly placed that I at least would by no means have doubted that she was the companion of the others. Concerning St. Felix of Nola I shall not here discourse further, whether he be the same as the bishop who is venerated, as has been said, on the 15th of November, etc., which is to be examined on that day, I long ago referred in the observations to Usuard, and here too above I indicated in a word.

ON THE HOLY MARTYRS

GEORGE THE DEACON, AURELIUS, FELIX, NATALIA, OTHERWISE SABIGOTHO, AND LILIOSA,

AT CORDOVA IN SPAIN.

In the year 752.

PRELIMINARY COMMENTARY.

The order of the Saints, the day of their death, the cult, the Acts, and the translation of SS. George and Aurelius.

George, deacon, Martyr at Cordova in Spain (St.) Aurelius, Martyr at Cordova in Spain (St.) Felix, Martyr at Cordova in Spain (St.) Natalia, otherwise Sabigotho, Martyr at Cordova in Spain (St.) Liliosa, Martyr at Cordova in Spain (St.)

BY THE AUTHOR J. B. S.

This glorious band of Martyrs, together with so many other Cordovans, we owe to their incomparable vindicator and encomiast St. Eulogius, The order of the Martyrs transposed by Usuard, who pursued their contests in book 2, chapter 10, of that excellent Memorial, from which alone so many most valiant champions of Christ became known. There he himself had arranged them in this order, forming the title of the said chapter thus: On the holy martyrs Aurelius, Felix, George, Sabigotho, and Liliosa; namely according to the series of his history, where certainly Aurelius holds the first place by his deeds and virtues plainly heroic, with his wife Sabigotho, herself a most choice and most holy woman; then Felix, having come back to himself from some lapse, with Liliosa likewise his wife: finally George, a monk, a stranger from Palestine, whom without doubt, because he was a deacon, Usuard thought must be preferred to the rest, setting men also before women, being surely the first and only, among the classic Martyrologists, to praise these Saints, to whom the things which we noted cursorily in an observation elsewhere, we shall here a little more fully deduce below from the narration of the translation of SS. George and Aurelius, in Mabillon in the Benedictine Acts, after the Acts of the Saints themselves.

[2] as also the birthday wrongly marked; Some things must here be explained, and first of all the day on which the most holy Champions completed their contest, marked by the praised Usuard on the 6th of the Kalends of September, contrary to what Eulogius most expressly wrote, the 6th of the Kalends of August, as Surius too read in his edition. That the Martyrologist likewise transposed the order is plain, when he announces thus: On the same day, the birthday of SS. George the deacon, Aurelius, Felix, Nathalia, and Liliosa, of whom the first, a monk of wondrous abstinence, coming from Jerusalem to Cordova, with the rest sprung of a noble stock from the same city, deserved to attain the long-desired martyrdom, foreshown to him by the Lord. Taking these things over, the bishop of Equilio in his Catalogue of the Saints not only noted the same day of the passion, but far worse ascribed everything to the Viennese Martyrologist, who neither knew these Martyrs nor anywhere reported them. These things, says he, Ado has in his Martyrology, whence also to our Andreas Schott, scholiast of St. Eulogius, occasion for erring was given, when he thought that the holy Archbishop had read these books of the divine Eulogius; where everything must altogether be referred to Usuard alone, who journeyed even to Cordova to collect the bodies of the Saints.

[3] Of these Martyrs Galesinius deserved not ill, as Galesinius rightly observed, placing them both on this day and on the 27th of August, and adorning them in each place with different eulogies, of which that one pleases which he has on the 6th of the Kalends of September, the order and propriety of St. Eulogius being kept in the names, in these very words: At Cordova in Spain, of the holy martyrs Aurelius, Felix, George, Sabigotho, and Liliosa. These, in the Arabic persecution, contending most fiercely for the testimony and faith of Jesus Christ, preferred nothing to His love, not parents, not kindred, not relations, not friends, not villages, not goods, not estates; but, all these being cast away, through martyrdom they attain to eternal glory. To these he also rightly observes on this day: Concerning them St. Eulogius writes very copiously and piously … Their birthday … Equilinus and Usuard ascribe to the 6th of the Kalends of September, and we likewise, following them, wrote of them more copiously on that day than on this. But if we hear Eulogius, whom, as a spectator of their martyrdom, we ought to follow, neither they nor we rightly assign the day and month to their martyrdom. And as for the fact that Surius and Usuard name Natalia, not Sabigotho, as the wife of St. Aurelius, this, like many other things, is far different from the narration of St. Eulogius, as Ambrosius Monalius rightly notes—he meant to say Morales, whom, if you please, you may see in the Chronicle, tome 3, book 14, chapter 13: for us it is enough to exhibit the fountain.

[4] Neither the order of St. Eulogius nor the names did Baronius keep, whom, however, Baronius did not here follow. when he wrote thus: At Cordova in Spain, of the holy martyrs George the deacon, Felix, Aurelius, Natalia, and Liliosa, in the Arabic persecution. Rightly indeed, in setting St. George the monk before the rest, inasmuch as he was a deacon, he followed Usuard; but why he preferred St. Felix to St. Aurelius, the standard-bearer of the whole cohort, I do not at all understand. The name Natalia pleased him too more than that of Sabigotho, which nevertheless Galesinius had judged must be more scrupulously kept according to the mind of St. Eulogius. Baronius does not greatly differ from Galesinius himself in his annotations, observing, besides the things already said, that the holy Martyrs suffered in the era 890, but in the year from the birth of Christ 852, where you see that the rule so often handed down must be kept, of subtracting thirty-eight years. There the same Eulogius, he says, recites the epistle of George to all the Christians dwelling in Spain, by which he strengthened them to undergo martyrdom. Its beginning is: Know, O most dear brothers, my entrance into Spain, etc. This namely is inserted into the Eulogian history of the holy Martyrs, which you will find in this our edition, number 31.

[5] Further, no doubt can arise concerning the complete sincerity of the Acts, The Acts are most excellent, the whole history breathes truth, inflaming even torpid minds to Christian virtues, nay to perfection, with examples surely worthy of the primitive Church, so that narrations of this kind by their simplicity more convince the understanding and nourish the mind than so many other Acts polished and adorned in the metaphrastic manner, from which for the most part, by I know not what means, those are compelled to shrink who are accustomed to unfolding and meditating the genuine and original deeds of the holy Martyrs. These surely, and those which Theodoric Ruinart published, and which he had found approved in our work, some recent Odoacer Ilbachius ought to have proposed to himself as just examples, who, with precipitate judgment and disturbed mind, defines many things wrongly, and wretchedly criticizes Acts, whose worth he most manifestly shows himself scarcely to have tasted with his first lips. Nor can the style of the holy Hagiographer displease, although sometimes rough, or too free in coining words: his oration, elegant for that age, certainly penetrates to the inmost parts, so kindled with zeal and a fervid apostolic spirit, rather than with rhetorical allurements, that it knows how to draw tears even from the unwilling. But of the excellent merits of St. Eulogius enough has been said by us elsewhere.

[6] to which is added the history of the translation of the two first. To the Acts themselves there had altogether to be subjoined the history of the translation of the two chief champions in this band, namely the holy George and Aurelius, and of the head of the holy Sabigotho or Natalia; which most precious relics the often-praised-by-us Usuard, monk of Saint-Germain, brought from Cordova into France, having set out into Spain with his companion Odilard to obtain the body of St. Vincent the martyr, as the monk Aimoin, writer of the whole history, narrates at length, inserted by Mabillon into part 2 of the fourth century of the Acts of the Order of St. Benedict from page 45, where he asserts that the festivity of the same translation is recalled on the 20th day of October. But for the rest, since in his preliminary observations he abundantly explains everything pertaining to it, and gives the whole text of Aimoin, which we have indeed in manuscript, but plainly mutilated, we have not thought it necessary to set forth more here. Have here, then, now the whole narration of St. Eulogius itself, from the well-known edition of our Andreas Schott, but in our manner dissected and divided into its chapters, all those things being passed over which, transcribed among us from various codices, were found to differ very much from the genuine text, so that accordingly we would scarcely have dared to cite them.

HISTORY

of the Life of each, and of their Passion. From the Memorial of the Saints of St. Eulogius, book 2, chapter 10.

BHL Number: 3407

From St. Eulogius

CHAPTER I.

St. Aurelius, excelling in virtues from boyhood, joined in matrimony to St. Sabigotho, is wondrously kindled by the examples of the Martyrs; and, she of her own accord consenting, is separated from her bed.

St. Aurelius secretly instructed in the Christian faith There was, besides, a certain young man, by name Aurelius, excelling in birth and in very many possessions. This one, in infancy deprived of a Christian mother and a gentile father, was most faithfully cherished under the guardianship of his aunt down to the years of adolescence, and was taught to believe truly that Christ is God: and he is imbued with the belief that outside the Church the way of salvation and the road of the heavenly kingdom cannot be found elsewhere. Which teaching the venerable boy thoroughly drank in, so that although he was handed over to be educated in Arabic literature, his kinsmen compelling it: yet no fictions of vanity could alter in his innocent mind the knowledge of the holy faith fixed from heaven: but ever retaining his Christianity in his heart, when he applied himself to the meditation of the perishing letters only for derision, he burned the more into love of the Christian faith, the more clearly he, proving the ravings of the perverse dogma, perceived the subtle deceit of that demoniac ^a man. And since he could not publicly practice the worship of the faith, yet everywhere commending himself to the priests of God, he asked that prayer be made more efficaciously for him.

[2] Meanwhile the vigorous youth advances in his youthful years, and, his cheeks blooming, his face is adorned with manly comeliness. he makes wondrous progress, and is destined for a worthy bride: Hence, at the exhortation of his kinsmen, he is compelled to seek a marriage worthy of his nobility. Hence each of his people, as best he knew, asserted that the offspring of this or that one was excellent: but he, inwardly ruminating otherwise, committed the affair of his marriage to Christ, entreating the heavenly Deity by frequent interposition of prayers, that a wife might be given him excelling in such vows, one who would strive to advance his secret for the better, and would favor with mind and body the hidden worshiper ^b. Aided at last by whose favor, he found a virgin surrounded with honorable stock, renowned in possessions, adorned in morals, and most beautiful in appearance. Who, although she was adorned outwardly with a special habit of loveliness, yet shone forth more excellently within with spiritual beauty. Because all the glory of the king's daughter is from within; that is, in the inner chambers of the mind. For there, in holiness, in golden fringes, clothed namely with the variety of virtues, she rendered service pleasing to Christ the King.

[3] For this girl, born of pagan parents, while still lying in the cradle, was deprived of her father. who also had been religiously brought up. Whose mother, marrying another man, who secretly retained the faith of Christ, rooting out her husband's error of impiety ^c, strove to assign her stepdaughter to Christ, and calling her from the Sacrament of baptism Sabigotho ^d; although publicly they mingled with the pagans, yet both bore in a firmer mind the religion of piety. This girl the venerable youth taking to himself by the right of conjugality, the ceremonies of espousal completed, and the pledge of earnest given, and the lawful mutual exhibition to each other delivered, at last they are consecrated by the ministry of priests according to custom, and thus, bearing the faith of Christ secretly for some time in equal partnership, they did not reveal the secret of their faith to all, being weighed down by the infirmity of the flesh, not indeed by any diminution of their vow.

[4] Now there was a certain man, near in kindred to blessed Aurelius, Thus also Felix was joined to Liliosa. by name Felix, moreover bound to him by holy affection, who, by the occasion of the devil wavering in the faith, when afterward he more deeply sighed over the lapse of his prevarication, could no longer practice the religion of Christ in open intercourse. He too, marrying the daughter of secret Christians, by name Liliosa, worshiped Christ more secretly in hidden places. Wherefore, adhering to each other inseparably, they always had one familiarity, bore the same sweetness, and, separating themselves neither in prosperous nor in adverse chances, the same affection remained in them: and so great a necessity of piety conferred on both brothers the perfection of charity, that they were divided neither in life nor in death, whom a like occasion of religion had gathered together, of whom it may deservedly be told: The holy, the lovely, and the comely, as in their life they loved one another, so in death they were not divided.

[5] By the passions of John and other Martyrs After not many years, then, had passed, it happened that on that day the venerable Aurelius went out to the market-place, on which that John ^e (whom we mentioned in the former book), for hatred of the name of Christ bloodied with blows even to death, carried backward on an ass, and constrained by the immense weight of chains, so that the straw ^f of the beast reclined on the side on which his legs hung; with their heralds going before, was dragged through the whole city, circling it about, by the service of officers, for the spectacle of the crowd. And when on this side and that the voices of those reproaching resounded, saying that he had by no means yet paid the penalty worthy of his crime, inasmuch as it was rather fitting that he, not fearing to attack with derision a prophet of such reverence, should be punished with the most shameful death: forthwith the future warrior, pricked with love of martyrdom, is in a certain manner breathed upon by a heavenly breath, so that he believed that spectacle to be made for himself, and that it was shown to him for the sake of admonition, namely that he ought not to fear those who slaughter bodies, since they can bring no anxiety to souls, but should rather greatly fear Him who can destroy body and soul, and send into hell.

[6] Aurelius, wondrously animated, Admiring the stability of his faith, he said: Truly, upon an angelic rock is the tabernacle of this man's belief founded, which so great a force of torments has not overthrown, nor the breeze of transient punishments shaken. But if he who bears the standard of Christ with open aspect endured so many grievous torments in zeal for the Redeemer, when surely he could have escaped the disaster of that punishment by prevaricating: and, judging the loss of his flesh better than the destruction of his soul, did not suffer himself to be drawn away from the religion of Christ under the space of a single word: with what reproaches shall I believe myself worthy to be instructed, or to what punishment ought I to deliver myself to be tried, that I may receive the vigor of that condemned man whom today I have beheld, and enjoy his constancy?

[7] he spurs himself on to perfection, When, the sighs of his heavenly vocation now increasing, he had begun to ruminate these things in his mind, returning home he reported to his pious partner all that he had seen, and with joyful spirit adds: You, sweetest wife, always, when I was living to myself and was dead to God, sedulously exhorting me, drew me to confession: you urged me daily, striving to tear me away from the pleasures of the world: you preferred the felicity of the eternal kingdom to the dark affections of the world, you persuaded me to leave all things transient, and all that is limited by an end: you preached the monks, you praised those renouncing the world; and, delighting in the conduct of religious women, you often sighed after the life of the Saints. But I, not yet purified by the compunction of heavenly grace, could not at all acquiesce in the salutary exhortations, or, perhaps not yet pressing on to the admonition of my correction predetermined by God the Father, deferred to carry out in works what, though feebly, I meditated in mind.

[8] exhorting his wife to the same; Behold now, most dear one, the acceptable time has come: the days of salvation are at hand, in which, springing back from things past and outward, let us extend ourselves to that which is before. And first of all, more perfectly zealous for purity and continence, let us give ourselves to prayer, that we may the more easily hasten to the rest by the industry of holiness. Let her now become a sister who was a wife: in the affection of a sisterly bond let the bed of our union pass away: let the offspring of souls increase: let the generation of spiritual things grow up, and, the muddy gluing of the members being spurned, let the mind know how more excellently (the delight of the flesh being removed) to bring forth the shoots of perpetual soundness. That in whatever way we may be held worthy of the reward of a fitting martyrdom by the meditation of such labors.

[9] The venerable woman receives with joyful mind the pious counsel of her husband, and rejoicing manifoldly at the suddenness of the unhoped-for salvation; but she, moved by the same spirit This (she said) is the change of the right hand of the Most High, these are now the auspices of our vocation: these are the dealings of the eternal King which I always desired: that, dying to the flesh, we may live in the spirit, that we may the more easily be united to Him of whom it is written: God is a Spirit, and those who adore Him must adore Him in Spirit and in truth. Wherefore, my lord, since this has been revealed to you not by man, but the heavenly Father, having long ago inscribed you for the eternal warfare, now wishes you to hasten with quickened steps, let us be loosed from all chains, let us be shaken from the dust, let us rise in desire of the everlasting life.

[10] There is made, therefore, a common assent of both in the service of God, she consents to the separation of the bed and all pious things. they are divided into separate beds, they are reconciled in their vows. The supports of their little beds gleam with the variety of garments and colors, by which they might hide their manner of life from the crowd. But they, in the inner corners of the tabernacle, lay apart on a bed built up over rough brick, furnished only with rough hair-cloths. They fasted often: without intermission they prayed, and whatever psalms they knew, they meditated by night. They conquered the chaos of darkness by the labor of vigils interposed, and by such pursuits they overcame every deceit of the demons. They ministered to the needy: they wholly bore the care of the poor. And since the aforesaid John was still detained in prison, we too, brought out from our cave, were detained in these chains: both virgins also, namely Maria and Flora ^g, then dwelt for the sake of the faith in the hiding-places ^h of the women: there was frequent running of theirs toward the fettered, from that time namely in which blessed Isaac ⁱ the monk, or the other Saints, who, about to confess the things which are true to princes and judges, had stood forth with a tongue endowed with the proclamation of truth, and had died for the same truth. By whose enduring constancy, and manifold strength of virtues, the powers of these were increased. For he, going about among the men, ^k she sought out the women kept in their cloisters.

ANNOTATIONS.

CHAPTER II.

Both, well taught by St. Eulogius, strive toward all-round perfection; and, the holy wife being refreshed by a vision, all things being renounced, they breathe nothing but martyrdom, the care of their two daughters being left to others.

Brought to the knowledge of St. Eulogius the captive There I recognized him: there I obtained his friendship, and there he entreats to be instructed by us what ought to be done both concerning his affairs and concerning the twin pledge which, by God's gift, he had received. Whether it were lawful to abandon such little ones, whom surely, after his death, he deeply grieved would have to be handed over to a profane rite: or whether it were fitting to leave that abundance of riches, to be at once heaped up for the treasury, in disorder. To whom, when I judged that all things, with a view to the heavenly kingdom and for the sake of eternal recompense, must not only be left but even fled from, and that provision must especially be made for the advantages of their own souls rather than of their children, to whom surely Christ is vindicator, father, and guardian, and that absolutely nothing of temporal things ought to be preferred to the desire of the Redeemer, or to the enjoyment of the fellowship of the Saints

I should teach, I immediately subjoined: If provident facility is at hand, by which all these things may be ordered, discretion being the guiding mistress; we judge it useful, first, that the offspring be transferred to a safer place, where they may be more freely assigned to Christ: and also that your goods, sold according to the Lord's command, be given to the poor, that thereafter a more unencumbered entrance may lie open to you after Christ. So finally the holy Truth to the young man inquiring how he might possess eternal life: If you will (He said) be perfect, go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and come follow me, and you shall have treasure in heaven.

[12] in the principles of Christian perfection But even if some part be left for the maintenance of the infants, it cannot be culpable, which many teachings of the fathers intimate. And therefore if you can attain to this arrangement, it is a most excellent thing and a more perfect work: which will compel you, all business being dispatched, to go more securely to the warfare of heaven. But if, through the barking bars of certain difficulties, this arrangement is torn away, and there is no liberty by which these things may be most indulgently supplied (especially since you rather fear that from some quarter disturbances may emerge which would resist your intention), one must not delay to spurn the patrimony, which is found much better and more amply in heaven, whither you strive to go. The affection of daughters is not to be preferred to the fellowship of the Saints, since God can nourish them too in the world, who compacted them in the womb, since He has provident care of all things. Not all little ones are cherished by the industry of parents, nor are all offspring brought up by nursing labor. A man is born, is deprived in the cradle of the solace of a father, yet is not left destitute of the governance of the Creator, who is the father of orphans, and the judge of widows.

[13] O how many little ones, more daintily brought up by the care of nurses, thus both are instructed, come to worse things! How many more wards grow up from horrible poverty into the affluence of great riches, and become the masters of many things, who were scarcely reared on the poorest bread? Many born of Christians, a lapse hindering, are deprived of membership in the Church. And some sons of pagans, the grace of the Lord going before, run back to the redemption of the saving faith. Neither does the sacrilege of parents harm these, nor does the religiousness of the begetters profit those. Since both these, departing from the faith, are estranged from God; and those, believing in Christ (through whom they are bidden to live), are snatched from the devil, cleaving perpetually to God. Of which thing the Lord is witness, who in the Gospel, rebuking the insolent vanity of the Jews, says: Broods of vipers, who has shown you to flee from the wrath to come? Do therefore fruits worthy of penitence, and do not wish to say within yourselves, We have Abraham for our father: for I say to you, that God is able of these stones to raise up sons to Abraham. And again: Many shall come from the East and the West, and shall recline with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven: but the sons of the kingdom shall be cast into the outer darkness: there shall be weeping, and gnashing of teeth.

[14] The venerable youth, therefore, instructed how he might meditate the process of the martyrial battle, so that they long to be joined to the fettered. imploring that he be comforted by the prayers of the fettered, departed in peace with a more joyful mind. And though we often did not cease to visit the same, as long as those horrible enclosures of the prisons held them: yet frequently the most prudent Sabigotho by night dwelt in that hiding-place of the women, in which the most sacred virgins Flora and Maria were detained, as though one of the fettered, that she might either console the contenders, or commend herself to the affection of the contenders. Nay rather that she might be imbued with the practices ^a of fighting for Christ the King, and might have the custom of doing battle. She pressed with prayers, she labored with entreaties, that they would be mindful of her, when after the triumph they had attained the fellowship of the Bridegroom, that at least by shed blood she might deserve to enter heaven. The holy virgins immediately give assurance of granting this benefit, who knew that their own prayers were in no way resisted ^b after victory, nor could they deny anything to their fellow-soldiers, who did not doubt that they were heard.

[15] While therefore the handmaid of the Lord Sabigotho, next after the martyrdom of the virgins, At this Sabigotho within her domestic walls, less suspected, paid her service to Christ, and, consulting her body wearied by the exercise of vigils, had rested a little, they relate that both virgins, namely Maria and Flora, clothed in snowy robes, bearing in their hands handfuls of various privet-flowers, with a choir of Saints carrying vials in their palms (in which, as I think, they bore into the sight of the Lord the prayers of those who had come to be instructed for the battle), all shining with the brightness of heavenly luminaries, stood by her in a dream.

[16] When she, as she thought, desired with most humble supplication to be reclined by them on seats ^c, refreshed by a vision of SS. Maria and Flora terrified by the majesty of the heaven-dwellers, she scarcely approaches with a slight address, saying: What confidence do you bid me to have, O most sacred virgins, in the entreaty formerly sent forth to you in prison? And if I am to obtain the advantages of my vows, unfold them with most welcome responses; lest, running in vain, we fall into emptiness, lest the powers of our effort be consumed with vain labor, while our intention seeks one thing, and our merits demand another. Because although God favors merits more than prayers, yet the same knows how to reject the doubling of entreaties which the dignity of merits does not aid. Therefore, my ladies, brides of Christ, if hitherto a faithful hope of enduring the reward of your promise remains to us, bid it be told: that we may more promptly tend to things above, that we may be more strongly strengthened for the contests. Then the holy virgins, soothing her with addresses endowed with a diffusion of heavenly graces: The advantages of your labor, they say, laid up in the ethereal places, to be measured out to you at the necessary time, are preserved. Nor shall the reward of the things prescribed slip away for the battle, which compels the most invincible athletes to go to the kingdom.

[17] she learns that martyrdom is destined for her, Martyrdom finally is divinely fixed for you from the constitution of the world, and predestined: which, since you are to fulfill it after a little while, it is fitting to press on with holier-than-usual pursuits of holiness. Wherefore add to your labors the libations of priests: implore the suffrages of the Saints: everywhere commend yourselves to the prayers of those serving Christ: with votive coursing dwell in the venerable sanctuaries of God, and seek the entreaties of all the religious. Because although the prescribed rewards are at some time to be yours, yet through this industry, leaning as it were on certain steps, it is true that you can attain the citadel of so great goodness, and that our discourse of this kind is certain, testifying by a token: when the contest presses upon you, we shall send our fellow-monk ^d, to cleave to your company, who has been ordained from heaven to obtain with you the palm of martyrdom.

[18] to which she disposes herself: After this vision was withdrawn from the eyes of the beholder, blessed Sabigotho is more vehemently stirred by the miracle of so great a thing to accomplish the wars of the Lord. Who presently, rising more cheerful from sleep, increases the works of holiness, raises her fragile sex to the battle, and by a heavenly gift strengthens her powers for contending. Hence now, made confident, forming her husband with firmer hope, she teaches that they must altogether be stripped of earthly things, since, dedicated from the beginning of the world to the heavenly warfare, they would immediately after victory be mingled with the heaven-dwellers.

[19] and she and her husband, stripping themselves of all things Hence, more and more burning with fiery desire of enjoying the Redeemer and their holy colleagues, setting aside the affection of their children, they spurn whatever the perishing appearance of the world contains. They sell everything, they put up all for sale, that they might be freer in attaining Christ. From which price leaving something to the little infants, they apply all the rest to the maintenance of the needy. They visit the monasteries of men and women, but especially the Tabanos ^e monastery, of which we have often made mention, because with the highest rules of monastic discipline it illumined the whole West with the reports of honest fame. Thence the strongest athletes draw teaching: thence they receive institutes: there they gorge themselves with the cup of everlasting life. There most holy Sabigotho frequently stays with the handmaids of God: there she learns the industry of all holy fear. There they place their twin pledge under the guardianship of the blessed women.

[20] to it alone they aspire, O astonishing renunciation of the world, and admirable divine ardor! by which the affection of children is rejected, by which the affluence of riches is resisted: by which the sweetness of kindred is refuted, by which death is chosen for life: by which all transient things are despised: by which, with a view to eternal felicity, chains, slaughters, crosses, prisons, blows, and torments are held for the highest delights. For one of the daughters was in her eighth year, the other was in her fifth. Of whom I, after the death of the parents, finding the younger, scarcely expressing eloquence with her most tender mouth, most instantly exhorts me to write the deeds of her parents, to publish their acts, to elaborate their trophies. And when I inquired what benefit I might expect from her for this (I am about to say a wonderful thing, that so tiny an age could readily perceive such things, unless perhaps it is to be believed that she was inwardly imbued by Him who out of the mouth of infants and sucklings perfects His praise), I will obtain, she says, father, paradise for you from the Lord.

[21] But since, on a fitting occasion, for the sake of discoursing on the littleness of the infant girls, the care of the daughters too being left. we departed from the direct order, in which we were to subjoin the matter accomplished after the ninth month of their martyrdom: now we have inserted it into the sorrowful history still laboring under worldly troubles. A brotherly reprehension ought not therefore to defame us, wherein we do not fear to be argued culpable by the Lord. Nor does it matter whether the truth be discoursed in the last, first, or middle place, since the asserter of truth is by no means deprived of blessing. Therefore, retracing our steps, let us run to report more diligently the remaining deeds of the blessed ones.

ANNOTATIONS.

CHAPTER III.

To those animated and prepared for the contest for the faith there comes as companion and leader St. George, a Sabaite monk, himself too endowed with excellent virtues.

Since therefore, intent on heavenly things, they applied themselves at all times to vigils, prayers, alms, and fasts (yet frequently they were sprinkled with a heavenly star in their bedchamber, Aurelius, stirred by new goads in which they meditated these things, so far that the ethereal radiance gliding in, interpolating all the appearance of the present luminary, compelled it to be reckoned a horrid chaos in comparison with itself), they are often raised by divine revelations: they enjoy the colloquies of angels, united in joy to the heaven-dwellers in mind and spirit, and not without grievous trouble they bore the corporeal burden. For on a certain day, when I had sought the hall of our most serene teacher Alvarus of Tovar ^a, praised throughout the whole West in the knowledge of the Scriptures; for the sake of mutual conference and, by our alternating proposition, of instructing the mind in the problems of the Scriptures: I found before him the soldier of Christ Aurelius, seeking counsel about contending, and imploring how he might seize the auspice of martyrdom. Whom that same excellent teacher, and flowing fountain of the wisdom of our time, instructing him by the examples of the fathers, bids first to weigh the powers of his constancy, to perceive his secret, to consider his inner mind, and whether he knew better how to bear the impending punishments than to shun them, being at last about to receive the sword on his delicate neck. And whether he strove rather to attain the merits of the Martyrs than to be called a martyr. And whether, more unknown to the earth, with merits blooming in heaven, he desired to be inscribed in the catalogue of the elect, than among things above

, with diminished reward, he panted to have the famous name of a temporal martyrdom.

[23] he exults in the hope of torments: Then he, promising that he would fight even to death, professes that his intention was to be overcome by absolutely no force of torments. To me, to me, he says, Christ is the greatest solace of life, and to die is gain. To whom earthly conduct is the gloom of a most hideous night, and the memory of the worldly passing breathes the fragrance of perpetual light. Thenceforth there is common joy on account of our coming: we rejoice greatly in our mutual gaze. We believe that the Word of the most high Father is present at our council, who has testified that He glides into every company dedicated to His name, saying: Wherever two or three shall be gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them. And when we reported many things suited to his contest, and he received our teaching with most grateful mind: sufficiently, as I think, aided by our conference ^b, about immediately to enter upon the wars of the Lord, he returns to his own home.

[24] But blessed Sabigotho, strengthened by a new vision But blessed Sabigotho, some days before the passion, while she sat alone at home, and was entreating Christ, with what complaints she could, for the perfection of her martyrdom: suddenly she perceives a virgin of wondrous beauty standing by her, invigorated with angelic grace, bearing, as it seemed, the first flower of adolescence. To whom, when she said: Who are you, daughter? And if you come from the neighborhood, tell the causes of your coming. Straightway the notable virgin: I am, she says, the offspring of your friend Montesius, whom you know to have been long ago taken away from worldly hardships, and whom, at that same hour in which she was vexed by the final straits, before you visited more closely, you found lifeless. And though I, being almost banished from the world, did not know you, yet at the very moment of my death, the Lord revealing, I recognized who you were, and now, He sending me, I have come as the foreteller of your palm.

[25] she follows in the footsteps of her husband. For the time now presses upon you of accomplishing the victory: the days are at hand of publicly professing the Catholic faith, and of repelling the most hideous enemy. Which strifes being appeased, the inner chambers of heaven will take you up to be crowned, founded thenceforth in perpetual peace. Therefore the venerable woman, searching her heart, and meditating with herself the speech of the one standing by, immediately, her memory turned back, recognizes the deed, and before she could render thanks to the girl announcing good tidings to her, that virginal appearance, herald of heaven and forerunner of her martyrdom, slips from her sight. She is made glad by such a proclamation: she is animated by the heavenly oracle, and is stirred to the battle with a hope the firmer, the more she perceives herself informed by the truth of an accomplished action.

[26] Meanwhile the promised leader is present But that they might tend more and more toward the goal of their predestination, and be not doubtful of the reward laid up, or that the edict of the holy virgins might be fulfilled, eight days before their capture, that long-promised confessor is joined to their company, and, bound to them in a certain manner inseparably, all are crowned together in one moment by a happy martyrdom. Therefore we have judged it fitting to set forth the account of that same monk, since a choice intervened, and that which by vehement admiration shook our age on his account, we should commit to be reperused by succeeding generations as a work worthy: that in him the religiousness of Catholics may be increased with growth of faith, in whom it perceives the oracle of its Redeemer to have been fulfilled in a certain special truth. For our Master and Lord had foretold that many coming from the East and the West would recline with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. Which testimony we behold, with the effects revealed, altogether fulfilled in that same monk and levite George.

[27] To this man the Bethlehemite country gave birth and habitation, foreign shores an ethereal one: a Sabaite monk sent into Africa. this man, I say, born beyond the seas, from adolescence delighted in the service of God. Twenty-seven years at the monastery of St. Sabas ^c, which is distant from Jerusalem on the southern side by eight miles, united with five hundred brothers (as he himself professed to us with his own mouth) who dwelt in the same monastery, he lived under a regular mastery. Whom the venerable abbot David, then the procurator of his monastery ^d, sending into Africa for the maintenance ^e of the monks, he in no way deferred to undergo so many intervening dangers of lands and seas, by which surely he knew that without hesitation he would earn the advantage of the highest virtue of obedience. But when he found there the Church of God more harshly beaten by the incursion of the tyrants, he approaches Spain also, by the counsel of those to whom he had been sent. For he was, as we ourselves most certainly proved concerning him, a man of the highest humility and of great abstinence. In all his speech, word, and answer the fear of the Lord resounded: ever more swiftly drawing charity from the pure fountain of his heart, he brought forth the honeycomb of love. He preached that the compunction of heavenly desire must be sought: he bade to mortify the members with the vices and concupiscences, that at the coming of the Lord, animated with the reviving vigor of the virtues, they might appear more glorious with Him.

[28] Thus endowed with sober holiness, he too much refused to seem or be called just, Concerning his country, his excellent virtues, very pleasant, cheerful, modest, and abstinent, thus he used the world as though he used it not. And when perchance, at the entreaty of brotherly charity, he was compelled to take food, he ate more sparingly, drank soberly, so that you would judge him rather abstaining than eating. He tempered wine with water so long, until the color was tinged, the taste was gone. For that insipid taste (thus he related) allows a guest neither to drink too much, nor to become drunk: more frequently he ran to pray, kept vigil more attentively, more often meditated the divine song in his heart, and said: I will bless the Lord at all times, always His praise in my mouth. And though he was skilled in various tongues, namely Greek, Latin, and Arabic: he did not affect even any glory whatsoever on account of these. From the day on which he entered the monastery, and was received into the cohorts of the monks, down to the crown of his martyrdom (as he himself related more secretly to some), he neither washed with water, nor used baths. As long as he lived with us, he revealed his rank to no one at all, until he was now detained in prison.

[29] He composed for the brothers, and his kinsmen, and all the citizens of his country, a summary ^f of his martyrdom: concerning his coming into Spain, which he transmitted to me for the sake of polishing it: lest the ruder speech should take away the credit of the deed from those to whom it was sent. There in the beginning of his discourse he testified that he was a monk and a levite. But what need is there to protract the discourse at length? As if the martyrial blood did not confer the highest reverence on the life of the man of God, especially since how great and of what sort he was, poured out for the justice of God, his martyrial blood itself intimates, and that, a stranger to the world, not refusing a strange burial, he wholly repelled all affection of his native soil and of his kindred. Or what praise will rather extol the soldier of Christ than to have given death for the Lord, his soul for life, his blood for the Crucified? that the same might be the servant's repayment which was the victory of the Crucified.

[30] and his approach to the Martyrs is treated. But how the blessed minister was gathered to the company of the Saints, we believe can better become known by the mouth of the holy George himself, that either the series of our discourse, the Martyr's own speech being interposed, may as it were be seasoned from above with the salt of blessing, or that the more excellent intercourse of his connection with the other Saints may be learned, himself narrating it. For in those very days in which he had converse together with the Saints; setting forth his own deeds and those of the aforesaid Martyrs in a rather brief style, he at last directed them to us to be approved. From whose words we have taken care to insert into this work those things which we sufficiently foresaw for intimating their union. But the rest, which follow after the failing of the discourses of the Servant of God, we have investigated with the purpose with which we began. And he speaks in this manner.

ANNOTATIONS.

CHAPTER IV.

The summary of the martyrdom described by St. George himself: to which the holy narrator of the whole history adds the palm obtained and the burial.

George invited by Sabigotho In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. To the whole catholic Church, from me, the unworthy and sinful George, monk, and also deacon, brother and colleague of the servants of God, the five hundred sons of St. Sabas, perfect salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ. Know, O most dear brothers, that my entrance into Spain was nothing else but for the sake of seeking your maintenance, you who live under the most strict rule and governance of the holy father David at Jerusalem. By whom, sent into Africa, I thereafter migrated into the Spains. But finding this same island afflicted by threats, I began to be tossed with various thoughts, whether to revisit my own soil, or to seek the kingdoms of the Christians, that is, France. And when I consulted my nearest and dearest on this matter, some bade me travel on, most compelled me to return to my monastery. Here, as it were doubtful, endowed with divergent counsel, I knew not to which thought I should first submit myself. But going from Cordova to the Tabanos monastery, that the blessing of the brothers and sisters might accompany my journey, that abbot Martin said to me, and his sister the lady Elizabeth: Come, brother, and receive the blessing of the handmaid of God Sabigotho. Who, as soon as she beheld me, said: This monk will be the promised companion and colleague of our contest.

[32] But I, her cause being known, and her reason ascertained, he joins himself to the Martyrs, immediately falling at her feet, asked her to entreat the Lord for me, that perhaps, illumined by the regard of the Holy Spirit, I might deserve to attain to those things which she awaited. And she: Whence is this to us, she says, father, that you should go with sinners? And when I had stayed there that same night, that venerable woman Sabigotho appeared to me in a vision of the night, and, applying I know not what kind of fragrance of most precious wood, related: A richer treasure is mine from this. But when morning had come, we both went down into the city to her husband Aurelius, and I prostrated myself at his feet, asking of him that he would pray for me, that I might be a companion to them in martyrdom. Who, at once giving assent, the heavenly fire blazed up in me through their prayers, and I became one of them, and from then I was not separated from them, but all gathered together alike in the house of holy Aurelius, we render ^b

to the Lord with gladness the vows of praise. There among them I found blessed Felix with his most holy wife Liliosa, who too had already sold all their goods, and had bestowed them on holy places or on the poor, ready to undergo every kind of torment for the Son of God and His love. That same hour I went out from them, and with all haste I settled the affairs by which I was hindered. And so at last, now greatly strengthened, I returned to them. Who, glad and exulting at our return, render thanks to God, saying: We know, most dear brother, that the Lord has sent you to us.

[33] After these things we all in common began to consider how we might attain to the desired crown, who, recognized as Christians and thus, the Lord disposing, it seemed good to us that our sisters should go with unveiled faces ^c to the church, if perchance an occasion of binding us should be given, and so it was done. For as the women were returning from the church, a certain provost standing in their way, when he recognized the cause of religion in the women, immediately asks the men what that recourse of the women to the sanctuaries of the Christians should mean. Who answered: It is the custom of the faithful to visit the churches, and to seek the halls of the venerable Martyrs out of devout affection. Wherefore, since we are Christians, we therefore profess to bear the standard of that faith. And immediately an informer, approaching the judge, sets forth our whole account before him with deceitful tongues. After these things lord Aurelius goes to visit his daughters, and bidding them farewell with the kiss of peace, armed with heavenly virtue, he hastened to the battle. But here now the holy George, checking his pen, let us pursue what remains, as we began.

[34] Strengthened by Aurelius Afterward, on the very day on which blessed Aurelius knew that he was to be seized, before the twilight of dawn breathed, revisiting us at home for the sake of bidding farewell, he entreats us to pray the Lord for him; and demands that brotherly charity be made through us the favorer of his contest. There we commended ourselves to him. There we obtained, his hands being kissed ^d, that his patronage be made for us and for the whole Church. After these things, kisses being given to each other, we are separated in peace.

[35] they are ordered to be seized, Therefore, when the judge pressed the inquisition brought against the Saints of God, and knew that Aurelius was the author of this thing: grievously wounded within on this account, he commanded that they be presented to his sight as speedily as possible. Then the soldiers, occupying with rapid course the house of blessed Aurelius, in which all the Saints remained gathered, began to shout before the doors: Come out, wretches: come out to die at close quarters, to whom the present life is a weariness, and death is reckoned for glory. Behold, the judge calls, the decree presses to pour out vengeance: he wishes to crush those who withdraw from the worship, ready to cut off the rebellious necks: go now to pay the already owed debt of death, and the pending sentence of your committed prevarication.

[36] George too, provoking the soldiers Thereupon the men with their women go forth as if invited to a banquet: they go exulting: they leap forth glad; you would think they were now going to find their gifts at the judge's, who could have nothing else but torments. And when the holy George perceived that he was not held by the soldiers, immediately, relying on holy boldness, turning to reproach the lictors, said: Why do you inflict this privilege on the faithful, and violently compel to worship a vain deity, those whom the holy faith has hitherto claimed as its own? Why do you, aliens from the true God, strive to gather to your perdition those predestined to life? Can you not go to the infernal enclosures unless you have us as companions? Will the eternal torments not burn you without us? Go you, go you thither to perish, where together with your leader you may enjoy the delights of the lower regions. For what have we to do with Tartarus, which Christ our God has penetrated, absorbed, despoiled, and conquered: so that it dares no longer to condemn the faithful, which formerly was wont by its privilege to snatch away the Saints?

[37] by whom he is harshly received. Scarcely had he completed his speech; and now the raging right hand of the officers labored to injure the monk: whom, lacerated with various goads, dashing him to the ground, they beat most fiercely also with heels and fists. To whom, when holy Sabigotho (now thinking him dead) cried out: Rise, brother, let us go: he, as if he had suffered no evil, answered: All these things, sister, profit the advantages of merits, and increase the crown. And thus, raising him half-dead from the ground, they made him stand before the judge with the same escort as the Saints. When they were presented, when he first asked of them with a bland address, for what cause they withdrew from their worship; refused to live; and strove to lose the advantage of temporal things, blooming with the manifold flower of delights; whom surely afterward in the future not only admirable womanly delight, but also an abundance of dignities and dishes awaited to soothe? Straightway, as if with one mouth:

[38] No affluence of time, they say, judge, is to be compared with eternal gains, Laughing at the blandishments they are consigned to prison; for whose sake, despising this life through the faith of Jesus Christ, by which every worker of holiness is justified, we finally trust that we shall obtain the rest of His blessing in the future, which is promised to the Saints. But every worship which dissents from the divinity of Christ, and does not profess the essence of the holy Trinity, refutes baptism, defames the worshipers of Christ, disparages the priesthood, we judge altogether reprobate; reckoning as nothing the transient things, which do not long subsist. But the things which Christ has promised to those who love Him, since they are ineffable, yet always endure with unwearied perpetuity, and are neither beheld by the eyes, nor caught by the ear, nor weighed by the heart. But, as I believe, while the Saints asserted also something else more religious with copious mouth before the judge, and strongly overcame the sect of the impious, the judge is stirred to the greatest fury, intimating that they were to be consigned to prison with rapid dragging, and decreed that they be burdened with the weight of intolerable chains.

[39] Immediately the blessed Martyrs, with exulting minds, going to the prison, where they cease not to praise Christ. rejoice at the auspice of their passion, make light of the punishment, resound hymns, sound forth praises; they discharge psalms; they insist on prayer, by which, the Lord favoring, they might prevail to attain victory: and they are visited by angels; they are illustrated by miracles; the chains leap apart, and dare not bind those whom Christ had loosed. There too, God revealing, they recognize what lot they had in heaven. Hence, remaining secure of the palm, and more hastily panting to behold Christ, whom they faithfully served, they defer their death even to the fifth day, and think it too late that they are longer removed from that sweetness of the kingdom of heaven, which by frequent bodily experiences they now almost beheld.

[40] But when they were now led out to be prostrated in the market-place, the venerable Sabigotho began to arm her husband with holy addresses, George refuses to be separated from those about to be slain, she comforts, instructs, and confirms him. They are brought into the palace, they stand before the consuls, wealth is offered, the fasces are exhibited, which, if they believed, they would enjoy. But when these greatly persisted in their profession, the consuls appoint them to be slain by the lictors: decreeing that holy George should go away safe, because those same nobles and chiefs of the palace had heard him utter no reproaches against their prophet.

[41] But that excellent master, as soon as he learned that he was being left behind, and was not appointed to be slain with his companions under one stroke of the sword: Why, he says, O princes, do you doubt of my profession, which I did not utter before you; or think that I meditate anything favorable concerning the disciple of Satan? For I, that you may more truly recognize it, believe that angel who appeared to that same teacher of yours, transfiguring himself into a spirit of light, to have been a demon, and I adjudge this man baser than all men, inasmuch as one credulous of the devil, a minister of antichrist, and a labyrinth of all vices, who not only immersed himself in the whirlpool of the pit, but also dedicated us, his followers, to the eternal fires through his vain institutes. Then the nobles, stirred to mighty madness, order him to be slain by one and the same sentence together with the rest. And thus, slaughtering first blessed Felix, then holy George; after them the venerable Liliosa, last they kill the excellent contenders Aurelius and Sabigotho, on the 6th of the Kalends of August, in the era 890.

[42] The various burial of the Saints. Whose bodies our Christians, stealing them, hide in various places. For George with holy Aurelius are kept at the monastery of Peñamelaria ^e. Blessed Felix guards the hall of St. Christopher ^f, which is beyond the river. Holy Sabigotho was united with the ashes of the three Saints ^g. The venerable Liliosa rests with the martyr Genesius ^h. But the heads of George and Sabigotho dwell in * ⁱ. These are they who, for the testimony of God and the faith of Jesus Christ, contending even to death, preferred nothing to His love, not sons, not parents, not relations, not neighbors, not friends, not goods, not villages, not possessions, not estates. But casting all things behind their backs, their bodies being mortified with the vices and concupiscences, they were brought forth to eternal immortality: our Lord Jesus Christ reigning unto the ages of ages. Amen.

ANNOTATIONS.

ON THE TRANSLATION OF THE HOLY MARTYRS GEORGE THE MONK, AURELIUS, AND NATHALIA, FROM THE CITY OF CORDOVA TO PARIS,

By the author Aimoin, monk of Saint-Germain-des-Prés, From a very ancient manuscript codex of Saint-Germain at Paris, number 653.

BHL Number: 3409

By Aimoin, from Mabillon.

PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS OF MABILLON.

Aimoin, monk of the monastery of Saint-Germain at Paris, whose books on the miracles of St. Germanus, bishop of Paris, we have reported elsewhere, Aimoin the author of this narration. committed to writing the history of the translation of the holy martyrs George, deacon and monk of Bethlehem, Aurelius, and Nathalia his wife, in one book, to which he added two on the miracles of the same done during the translation. These books, mutilated in many places, Jacques Breul, a monk of the same monastery, published, which we here give in full from an old codex, which

was written in the age of the Author, it has seemed good to represent.

[2] The Acts of these Martyrs St. Eulogius, priest of Cordova, described in book 2 of the Memorial, chapter 10, Eulogius the Writer of the Passion; where he calls Nathalia Sabigotho. She, with her husband Aurelius, distributed her means among the poor, and both were wont to visit the monasteries of men and of women, but especially Tabanos, which was held most famous in those parts, suited to both sexes. Thither Nathalia frequently withdrew, who there handed over to God her two daughters, Felicitas and Maria. Afterward, at the request of Maria, Eulogius reported the Passion of Aurelius and Nathalia her parents, which Aimoin, as I think, reduced to a compendium under the name of Eulogius, such as it is had in our manuscript codex. To these two, that is, Aurelius and Nathalia, was joined as a companion George, a monk of Bethlehem, who, from his adolescence embracing the service of God, lived twenty-seven years at the monastery of St. Sabas, which is separated from Jerusalem toward the south by eight miles, under a regular mastery with five hundred brothers. He, directed into Africa by the venerable abbot David of the same monastery, for the maintenance of the monks, when he had found there the Church of God beaten by the incursion of the tyrants, set out into Spain with the counsel of the bishop of Carthage. Then, coming to Cordova, he afterward went to the Tabanos monastery, that he might be fortified in his return (for he was preparing his return to his country) with the blessing of the brothers and holy sisters dwelling there; where the abbot of that place, by name Martin, and his sister Elizabeth, consecrated to God, presented him to Nathalia, with whom on the following day he returned to Cordova.

[3] At last, seized with them and with Felix, and also with Liliosa, here a brief compendium of it. he was slain with the sword together with the same in the year 852: whose bodies were buried in various places, and indeed those of George and Aurelius in the monastery of Peñamelaria, from which place this translation was made. The series of the translation Aimoin learned from Usuard and Odilard, monks of Saint-Germain, its authors: of whom Usuard himself is the writer of the Martyrology. The miracles done at Esmans (which is a village of the diocese of Sens subject to the monastery of St. Germanus, whither at that time the monks of Saint-Germain, for fear of the Normans, had fled with the body of St. Germanus), Aimoin himself beheld with his own eyes, according to book 3, chapters 16 and 29. Mention of this translation is made by the Annals of Saint-Bertin at the year 858 with these words: A certain monk from the monastery of St. Vincent the martyr or of St. Germanus the confessor, returning from Cordova, a city of Spain, brought with him the bodies of the blessed martyrs George the deacon and Aurelius, and the head of Nathalia, and placed them in caskets at the village of Esmans to be kept. These relics are hitherto preserved among us in the monastery of St. Germanus.

PREFACE.

If it is impossible to explain in words all the miracles which God and Lord of all has granted to His faithful to do; it is many times believed to be even beyond laborious to wish that all these be comprehended in writing, the Apostle and Evangelist John testifying, who asserts that Jesus did many other signs also in the sight of His disciples, which are not written in the book of the Gospel. But since those things which pertain to belief and to eternal life are declared to be inserted there, it is thought a fault if all the works of the Saints, flowery with miracles, be covered with silence, and as if the mirrors of divine instruction be obscured by the cloud of greedy taciturnity. Therefore, to explain the acts of the translation of the holy martyrs George and Aurelius, although unworthy, as one laboring in the house; yet deservedly I approached, being asked, that I might be able, for the domestic animals bearing Christ by faith, at least to strew branches in the way. Nor provoked by presumption or sophistic rashness, but rather by the imitable example of the canonical Writers, and led by the reverend admonitions of the Fathers with their most sweet commands, which it appeared to me by manifold inquiry a crime to resist in any way whatsoever. And the divine cooperating majesty is exalted, the divine flock resounding, and with the Psalmist saying: Wonderful is God in His Saints, and holy in all His works; if those acts are recounted by which the holy friends of God, even after the triumphal exit of the flesh, are proved to have shone with laudable virtue, who also, after the momentary wars of their passions, as those who toiled in the camps of the heavenly warfare, rewarding them with the prizes of perpetual consolation, grants that, crowned with the victorious prize, they may rejoice, glad with everlasting pleasantness, to be there where the Same is.

FIRST BOOK OF THE HISTORY OF THE TRANSLATION

CHAPTER I.

Frustrated of the hope of obtaining the body of St. Vincent, Usuard and Odilard find a means by which they may be safely conducted to Cordova.

IN THE YEAR 858.

In the course of the years of the Incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ the eight hundred and fifty-eighth, and the eighteenth of the reign of Charles, son of the glorious emperor Louis, the bodies of the holy martyrs George and Aurelius, brought out of Cordova, Hilduin with the King procuring it, were carried into Gaul in a memorable manner. For at the monastery of the Holy Cross and of the blessed martyr Vincent, where the precious confessor of God, St. Germanus, Pontiff of Paris, shines with the honor of his virtues, it was noised abroad that the body of the same holy martyr and levite could easily be had from Valentia, the city in which he suffered, namely on account of the wretched desolation of that city made by the Saracens or Moors: whereupon the brothers of our aforesaid monastery, with the favor and consent of lord abbot Hilduin the second, ordain, royal authority also being obtained, those whom they should send thither, panting to transfer to themselves, Christ granting, the so long and so greatly desired pledge.

[3] And having undertaken the journey, the brothers ^a came to Humfrid, marquis of Gothia , then ruling in those parts, [they are sent to seek from Spain the body of St. Vincent; which they learn has been carried off.] by whose help, when aided, they were to set out on this pious business. When he had nobly received them, presented to him in the district of Beaune , after the manner of nobles, not unmindful of his promise; presently, calling his men, he began diligently to treat concerning the cause of their coming, how and in what manner it ought to be done. Among whom some confessed that the places of that road were everywhere hindered by such difficulties, that no one, though guarded by a great retinue, could safely undertake that journey. But our men, striving against this, and setting forth that saying of the Apostle: If God be for us, who is against us? and also that: For by faith we walk, and not by sight; going on thence together with him, at length enter the district of Uzès , where from the bishop, a religious man named Walefrid, they learn (which they had already heard also in the city of Viviers ) that the body of the aforesaid gracious martyr Vincent had been transferred from the above-said city of Valentia to Benevento, which indeed was otherwise. For it had been taken by force from a certain monk in the territory of Aquitaine (who, warned by a divine revelation, as he himself narrated to us, hastening to Valentia, had brought it thence with him), by the elder ^b, bishop of the city of Saragossa *, and at the same Saragossa, under the reverence of a certain martyr Marinus, it was held, shining forth with miracles of no small veneration. This name the monk had professed: nor was the bishop able, even by afflicting him with torments, to extort the proper name of Vincent from him. But he knew that he had been archdeacon of that same city: therefore he feared him the dearer to the bishop, but to himself irrecoverable. Wherefore it was hidden in every way from our men, as also from the bishop, that his holy body was present there. For Marinus was esteemed among them a martyr of illustrious merit. Yet this they knew for certain, that it was now in no way held at Valentia. But how this came to pass, and how, after years, it was received back by the monks of the monastery of blessed Benedict of Albi, and translated to the same place; may be seen set forth with sufficient narration by us ^c also in the translation of the same holy Levite and Martyr.

[4] Concerning another Saint's body they treat at Barcelona. Our men indeed grieved, weeping anxiously together; that, so great a space of the journey having been labored, they would return empty, by which disease of sadness, while staying at the castle of Barcelona * (to speak thus in their words), they were being wasted as by a lasting languor, and could not deliberate with themselves how it were fitting to judge more prudently on this matter; at last they approach a certain man familiar to them, by name Sunifred, then first after the count of that same city ^d, suppliantly consulting him on this matter, as he had thought necessary for himself. And since they could in no way obtain the body of blessed Vincent, for which they had come; they confess that they had resolved to seek the limbs of some of the Saints, whom both his deed and his passion should commend, and to endeavor to carry it with them to the place, that they might not return empty.

[5] they give attention to obtaining the relics of St. George and St. Aurelius, Meanwhile it happened that the same Sunifred took up a discourse concerning the enormous slaughter of the faithful, made lately in the persecution of Abd al-Rahman, king of Cordova, setting forth that some of them, and especially those whom we hold, George and Aurelius, having nobly suffered in that very tempest, and, their blood gleaming in the triumphal battle-line of the passion, magnificently laureated, had victoriously entered the palace of the eternal King. To which, he said, if they could in any way (which was not believed) get through, let them trust that they had undertaken a prosperous journey, with a happy outcome. This account being received by our men, they are so gladdened with immense joys, as if they now possessed the desired advantages; and they believed that this had been reported to them from no other source than heaven. Their mind burns, and, with quick haste, the course of going thither is arranged. Plainly the fervor of this love, the bitterness of the former sadness set aside (so great had it grown to their desires), was such that they could in no way (as they said, testifying) either hear or name the name of Cordova, without at times an accompanying effusion of tears. For, out of regard for the Divinity, they rejoiced that they had been made more even-minded.

[6] their friends dissuading in vain, from whom they receive letters. Accordingly father Usuard (for the other of them was called Odilard) approaches Athaulf, bishop of the same Barcelona, and the aforesaid Sunifred, opening to them the secret conceived in their mind, that they would in no wise rest until they broke through even to Cordova, if the Lord should deign to stretch out to them at any time the hand of His bounty. They, hearing it, were altogether terrified, wondering: and asserted that this could by no means be done, both by adducing the causes of the impossibility, and even by protesting. And Sunifred said that he was their destroyer, by whose words, kindled to this, they ran on. But when they could not call them away from this determination of mind; We fear, they say, for you. Yet they suggest to them a freer entrance to Cordova, and to whom especially there they should turn, or with whom they should more safely stay, if perchance they reached there, one Leovigild, a friend of theirs, not that parricide Arian king of the Visigoths, but a man learned in Christian laws and holy morals. And when this thing, thus fixed, had been intimated in order to the aforesaid Count Humfrid, a letter is composed, at his bidding, to a magnate of Saragossa, by name Abd al-Wahar, that, mindful of the treaty made between them, he should keep the brothers of whom we speak, dwelling with him, and thence afford them, as much as he could, comfort for going to Cordova. Thus, after they had traversed, the heavenly clemency helping, the track of the long and exceedingly laborious journey, they are presented together with the directed letter to the above-written prince Abd al-Wahar, who, an interpreter being called as reader, while he learns the friendly matter, prepares, although a barbarian,

religiously to obey the commands of his friends; and he bids them stay in the city until the time for counsel about it. For his ability did not permit him to accomplish it at once, it being denied him for the present by many and various impossibilities.

[7] After these things it happened (which had by no means occurred in the revolution of a circle of eight years and more) that some men of Saragossa, they go to Cordova. an occasion of setting out being seen, arranged to go thence to Cordova. Which the aforesaid prince Abd al-Wahar knowing, immediately asked them to come to his presence, and commands, asking, that they keep with civil affection the men entrusted to his good faith, going with them to Cordova: hoping thereupon for favor from him and the due recompense of a reward. As they went out together from the city, certain of the Christians, weeping, follow our men as though condemned to exile, exhorting them that it was good that they should dedicate their hope to Him who does not give wavering to the just, and who is ever at hand to all who invoke Him in truth, and knows, most kindly, how to give better things than are asked or hoped for. And so, reading along the journey begun together, by what and how great perils they were straitened on the way, and by what necessities accompanied, since it is very long to tell, likewise weighing the course undertaken, we have determined to pass over more quickly: lest it happen that these things, though astonishing, as full of wonder, cause us to deviate from the proposed compendium of the narration.

ANNOTATIONS.

CHAPTER II.

Kindly received at Cordova by the bishop Saul, they obtain the bodies of SS. George and Aurelius, and happily carry them off into Gaul.

[There they go to the church of St. Cyprian, then disclose their secret to Leovigild.] After many days, then, had passed, they come, Jesus going before them, snatched from countless storms of worldly billows, to Cordova, the city to which they tended. Those two go to the church of the blessed and great witness Cyprian, in which the bodies of the holy martyrs Adulf and John lie entombed. And this by a careful consideration, according to that saying of the Lord: First seek the kingdom of God and His justice, and all other things shall be added to you. For the servants and that baggage they had left, partly at Barcelona, partly at Saragossa, going alone. There, received with pious devotion by a certain principal deacon of that place, by name Jerome, they remained there: and fame flew, running about, spreading abroad that certain men had come thither from France. There is made an eager gathering of the faithful, venerating them with wonderful and incredible affection, who, astonished at their great constancy, likewise admired the ineffable clemency of the Almighty toward them. There was present also the aforesaid Leovigild, surnamed Abadsolomes, of whom from the above-said men familiar to them, namely bishop Athaulf and Sunifred, they had received only the knowledge of his name and religion. He took care to search out the cause of their coming, and, according to the manifest etymology of his name, to inquire more vigilantly. And when they had more secretly unfolded to him the words of the well-being and acquaintance of their friends, and by the manifest disposition of God had shortly perceived that he was the one to whom they ought in every way to trust themselves; they open themselves and their mind to him, giving manifold thanks to Christ. The secret is received, and remains buried within the man's breast, but thence a fitting outcome of the sought thing is awaited: and they meanwhile, under his protection, are nourished with convenient supports.

[9] The matter is committed to the priest Samson, At length, after some days' space, the aforesaid Abadsolomes, having taken as an aide a certain priest of the same city, of good character, by name Samson, began carefully to investigate with him how he might accomplish the work delegated as it were to his providence by God (as certainly it was thought). He was procuring, therefore, that to them, according to their vow, the bodies of the Saints, distinguished by the palm of noble triumph, should be given; who, having crossed so many bounds of lands by the ardor of faith, had come forth to lay hold of this: he indeed had compassion both on their minds and on their long enough journey; nor was he forgetful of his friends bishop Athaulf and the honorable man Sunifred, who had sent him many prayers on this matter. Whence, the enclosures of the secret being disclosed to the priest, it pleases both to take, if however it should prove possible, the relics of the blessed George, monk of Bethlehem, and Aurelius, a citizen of Cordova, whose souls, adorned by a happy war, they had learned had passed to be joined to the company of the Martyrs in the heavens, the most beautiful text of their passion confirming it: which the memorable and God-worthy priest Eulogius, who himself too was afterward endowed with a glorious martyrdom, the consummated soldier, exulting, sought Christ the King, informed by a truthful account in writing, very many things (as he himself related to our men) being passed over.

[10] While these things are revolved, it happened, divinely, which without doubt must be confessed, who, as abbot of Peñamelaria, has the monks resisting. that the aforesaid priest Samson was set as abbot over that same place, by name Peñamelaria, in which the bodies of those holy Martyrs lay entombed, and which was separated from the city by about five miles. And behold, as if facility were obtained, being summoned by Leovigild, they unanimously deliberate, because the time was at hand and the place open, to bring the desired matter, Christ favoring, to the height of accomplishment. And when for a very long time, some brothers there in certain places being associated, they insisted by counsel that it be done; they find the rest so adverse to their attempts that they sadly thought this could by no means be granted. Yet acting importunately, and inculcating with many arguments that this was sought in order that the bodies of the blessed Martyrs might be held with more celebrated cult, at last, by common deliberation, it pleased all that it be done, provided only that the assent (as was fitting, and was done) of their own bishop be given. But the bodies of the Saints, until the time of returning should come, lay buried in the same place, as they were, under this concession. Accordingly, what difficulty befell them at the time of departure from the city, from which they dared not go out except relying on much comfort, I think must be told.

[11] For the king of that same Cordova, first and excellent city of the Saracens, Muhammad, hastening in hostile manner against the tyrant of the city of Toledo, rebellious to his decrees, Saul, bishop of Cordova, favors them. ordered all to be present. And by public edicts he commands that neither citizen nor stranger, except the guard, who would not go with him, should remain in the city. Meanwhile our aforesaid brothers, when they had begun to speak to the monks of the above-named place Peñamelaria about the granted bodies of the Martyrs (since a place of going out from the city lay open), they again utterly refuse that they would do anything of this, especially in the absence of the presence of their venerable abbot Samson. For it had happened that he was absent: wherefore, made exceedingly sad, they direct certain of the faithful to the bishop of that same city, a modest man, by name Saul, asking that he would deign by his own coming to obtain the bodies of the Saints, which had been granted to them by the kindness of abbot Samson and his own, from the inhabitants of that place to whom they should there be given: who, receiving a request of this kind, at once hasten, and carry the entreated command to the pastor, and demand that the pilgrims be succored, and at the same time that the desolate be helped. They say therefore to the bishop: Father, we beseech your piety with a suppliant vow, that the bodies of the blessed Martyrs George and Aurelius, as you once sanctioned with abbot Samson, be given to the Gallic monks. Why, then, wearied by the vexation of the journey, they are vexed by the unjust delay of the granted pledge, is not fitting for the knowledge of your religion, which can be defamed by such a calumny. And without delay, they hasten to the place. And when there had been a lengthy contention, and much struggling by prayers with the bishop, there is granted indeed hardly, as from the unwilling, a consent scarcely to be gained.

[12] For then our own petitioners, summoned, approach with brisk step, The sacred remains are raised thence, and together with the rest, yet no more slowly, hasten to dig up the bodies of the Saints, the altar above being torn away. But when it came to the opening of the sepulcher, the others being removed, only the priests designated by the bishop are present, by whom, he himself indeed receiving them, the sacred limbs are raised from those tombs with hymns and litanies. Who, wrapping them always in clean linens, placed them also in fitting satchels for carrying. Thus, the divine aid favoring, the secret work is honorably accomplished: and, lest their integrity be violated by any petitioner, on whatever occasion, until the destined place, they ask the bishop to close them under the assignment of King Charles with his own seal. Which when he had done, they are given to be carried and to be venerated with manifold testification, yet secretly on account of the pagans. For the Saracens do not permit those whom they make Martyrs to be venerated. Who, joyfully taking up the prize of so great a gift, some brothers accompanying them thence, hasten back to the city, desirous to return there together with certain going to Toledo.

[13] yet not the head of St. Aurelius but of St. Nathalia. Besides, what was, in a memorable manner, provided for this deed also, if it be kept silent, I doubt not it is a crime. For when the ministers of the devil had laid low with the sword those bodies of the Saints, strong in the contest of the heavenly battle, punished with death; the Christians, while they could, stirred by the wonted office of love, came by night; and, snatching them for themselves by stealth, divided them. And indeed, taking up the body of blessed George entire, but Aurelius' without the head, they buried them in the place of the church under the altar, as we have signified. But the body of holy Nathalia, since her trunk had been taken up elsewhere by others, her head was brought together into the same church where the man's body was. Whence it happened that, at the time of digging them up, the head of the blessed athlete Aurelius was by no means found with his body, and it was not known where the body of holy Nathalia had been buried. But that it might be fulfilled in them even after death, because they shall be two in one flesh, to the body of blessed Aurelius the head of Nathalia his wife was substituted, and given with exceeding wonder to those seeking, which, done in a divine manner, we think is hidden from no one who hears; so that, since living they had been of one conjugality, and also companions of an equal martyrdom, dying they might be of the same merit of veneration on earth, just as they are also partakers of a single felicity in heaven. And since we have digressed a little from the beginning, as it were, by the mystery of the sacrament, said indeed συνεκδοχικῶς (that is, by synecdoche), it pleases to bring the hand back to the very point.

[14] From Cordova they go to Toledo. But when, on the vigil of the Ascension of Christ, the day, its chariot washed, now flowed into the lands with rosy radiance, they think to go out from the city of the above-mentioned king Muhammad, the army proceeding, no small company of catholic brothers, desiring to bid them farewell, being gathered to them, who, with how great charity they treated them through the fifty-six days in which they stayed with them, no one could tell. Yet their present devotion, or their tearful sending-off, showed what anyone might perceive, that they never wished to be parted from them by any agreement whatever. For thus, having gone out from Cordova, the most renowned of the cities of the Spaniards, and fruitful both in citizens and in wealth of possessions, under the protection for a while of certain of the faithful going with the king to battle,

being entrusted, they briskly resume their journey. Thence, after some days, Leovigild found them amid the array of the army, a man worthy of frequent memory, who at the time of their departure from the city, occupied with royal affairs, had not been present; and he, embracing them with the most sweet bond of his heart, did not thenceforth suffer them to be without his company as far as Toledo (which is held illustrious from the confession of the blessed virgin Leocadia). For Babila his sister, a virgin consecrated to God, had abundantly prepared for them whatever seemed necessary on the journey, as far as her means availed; also two cloths, with which the bodies of the Saints might in turn be covered.

[15] At length, the king of Cordova hastening the forces of war against the tyrant of Toledo, adverse to him, on account of which he had set out, Then to Alcalá, and Saragossa, many way-liers-in-wait of that same city return to the same city, taking care to be fortified as quickly as possible by the protection of the castle: the roads are rendered peaceful, and the progress of travelers becomes secure everywhere. Then our men, with great affection of kindness, the campaign being ended, parted from the oft-said Leovigild, approached the town of Alcalá *, distinguished by the trophies of the glorious martyr brothers Justus and Pastor. Thence they reach the citadel of Saragossa, most noble and laureated with the triumph of the Saints, and especially of the eighteen Martyrs, where, received humanely again, as when going, by the above-named elder bishop, they were granted excellent rest with him, as long as it pleased. Nor even then could they either ascertain anything more certainly, or hear, concerning blessed Vincent, whom the same bishop (as we reported above) kept under the name of the martyr Marinus. For there was no one, Audald the translating monk having fled, who would disclose the knowledge of this deed. They are presented also to Abd al-Wahar, the aforementioned prince of that same city, giving thanks that they had been aided by his help in going and returning. From whom, on departing, they received salutations to Humfrid, and letters to the guards of the castles: that without impediment or any discussion they might pass through the fortified places of his power. For, lest perchance for them unforeseen either a deceitful embassy be made, or certainly rather a hostile onset come upon them, they take pains to secure the approaches of all the roads to themselves with continual guards, and especially those places which, from the narrow track of the path, they call defiles.

[16] And so, setting out to the walls of Barcelona, though manifoldly wearied, soon to Barcelona, Gerona, Narbonne, Béziers. they arrive in the city smeared about with the moisture of the blood of the holy martyrs Cucuphas and the virgin Eulalia. But what joy there was over the rewards obtained, and what admiration over their sudden and, so to speak, unexpected return, on the part of bishop Athaulf and Sunifred, the aforementioned venerable men, it is wonderful to tell, very many also glorifying God and blessing Him, who thus wonderfully, to the praise and glory of His name, protects those who hope in Him. And the prosperities of their friend Leovigild being heard, and his ready benefits to them, they rejoiced in all things, from whom, twelve suns having elapsed, dismissed glad, they come with hastened course to Gerona, wet with the blood of the holy martyr Felix: leaving whose confines, they approach the metropolitan city of Narbonne. Where, turning aside on this side of its walls to the sepulcher of St. Paul the confessor, they afterward enter the city of Béziers, illustrious from the limbs of the blessed prelate Aphrodisius, in which, gladly received, as by a known and kindred man, and the chief of that same city, by name Gerin, they lay the bodies of the holy Martyrs to be kept in the oratory of the blessed Mother of God Mary.

* Alcalá de Henares

BOOK II,

which is the first on the miracles of the holy Martyrs, which happened from Béziers as far as the district of Auxerre.

Chapter I.

Hence, then, we are compelled, with a worthy account of the deeds, to note in writing, to be remembered by the following generation, the things which in that same city of Béziers, At Béziers the cupbearer of their host Gerin is healed, and those which through them on the subsequent journey, the heavenly clemency working, we have learned were accomplished. Now while, that aforesaid Gerin detaining them, they stayed there for a while for the sake of rest, a certain man, by name Brictius, for nearly half a year lay wholly ulcerous with the incurable elephantine disease in his shins or upper genital members: who not only, by that debility, seemed useless as to the body, but also destitute of the solace of life, such an affliction raging in him. He, being permitted to lie for the space of one night in the church in which were the bodies of the holy Martyrs, is by their intervention so cured by divine compassion that at once on the morrow, restored to health, he stood to his own office, all being astonished. For he was the dear cupbearer of his lord, the same Gerin.

II.

[18] The things which are said, or are to be said, we have learned by the account of those same men who, as present during the doing, beheld them with their own eyes. Moreover, by these sacred miracles there seemed already to be foretasted what marvels the Lord was to confer on the peoples through them. another laboring with fevers, For on that same night, by a doubled proclamation of the holy Martyrs, this virtue too is known to have shone forth. A certain youth, by name Gisandus, grievously laboring for three months with the type of fevers, could truly suspect nothing else concerning himself than the event of death. For he was urged by the sharpest goads of cold and heat by turns, now by these, now by those. He, permitted to keep watch by the aforesaid bodies of the Saints in the space of the night with a like faith of healing, was cured by no dissimilar virtue, the fever being driven away. For, giving thanks, he too, made not moderately whole, returns.

III.

[19] Although we know that others there too were cured of various languors of infirmities by their holy merits, we have thought it right, hastening not to leave out things worthy of narration, to relate one more miracle, which there shone forth more laudably. The aforesaid Gerin, then, the viscount of that same city, when suddenly he was tortured throughout his whole body with the most grievous punishment of pains, and Gerin himself most grievously sick. having taken two candles of his own stature, and one cloak (which is still in testimony) of no mean value, orders himself, distrusting greatly that he would live, to be carried to their presence: and thus lying, and rolling himself on the ground, and publicly confessing with humbled spirit what he had committed against them, whence his trouble, in the first sleep of the night, by the health-bringing visitation of the gracious George, he obtained a sudden remedy from heaven in that same church. For he said that the same holy Martyr, in a monastic habit, as he once had been, bearing a golden pyxis in his hand, stood before his sight, and, from it pouring out ointment of snowy color, gently poured it over his head, eyes, and hands, as it was perceived. So entirely, in such a way that he afterward asserted himself ignorant whether he was still gathering placid sleep to his eyes: for health is diffused through his limbs, and Gerin, refreshed in his whole body, returns home rejoicing, no longer doubting them to be Martyrs, nay proclaiming them most powerful of the Martyrs.

IV.

[20] They go to the district of Viviers, then of Beaune, At length, after a time of about two months, their strength being recovered, and the things which were necessary on the journey being prepared, our aforesaid brothers, departing thence from the city, come, not indeed without miracles, into the district of Viviers *, the same Gerin himself accompanying them; where, the revelation being heard of the body of the holy martyr Andeolus, disciple of the great Polycarp, who is known to have been a hearer of the blessed John the Apostle and Evangelist, since the approach to this was not longer, they betook themselves thither with the zeal of praying: from which also, relics of his proper body being received, they return to complete the journey which remained, and, days having passed thence, the district of Beaune received them safe, where in the village which is called Arcelia, gladly received by Humfrid, they set forth this, to him surely thirsting much to hear, what had happened on the way, or what had been obtained by the gift of divine bounty: which things being known, the count himself too, giving thanks with admiration, having bidden necessaries be given, dismissed them rewarded.

[21] But since the Lord had decreed to magnify with virtues His servants proved by faith and confession, where a thief is compelled to restitution. and to show by the tokens of signs of what merit each was with Him; that miracle which occurred in that same district of Viviers and in the very village Arcelia, it was worthy to relate. A certain widow, then, by name Theothildis, losing her horse by the wicked violence of a certain robber swollen with the spirit of pride, mournful, wringing herself with weeping, languished with despairing contrition. And when she thought that by no device, and by no one's solace, it could be restored to her lamentation, she betook herself to look for the suffrages of those same holy Martyrs, with all confidence of the hope of recovery: and there she remained, weeping and persevering in asking God, who does judgment for the one suffering wrong, so long, until on the third day the robber, struck by the terror of a heavenly inspiration, making satisfaction, was compelled willingly to restore to the widow what he had been seen wickedly to take away. Thus faith merits, and thus divine fear works.

VI.

[22] Hastening therefore, and wishing to reach the end of this little book, [In the district of Auxerre a robber of the cloak of the holy Martyrs is punished.] let us narrate, in commemoration, what happened in a certain village which is called Cora *, in the district now of Auxerre. Now when they had been brought into the church of that same place, and moreover reverently displayed on the altar, a certain youth, the keeper being absent for a little, secretly entering, suddenly stole by stealth the cloak with which their sacred relics were covered. But the most just working of supreme rectitude suffered neither this man to go unpunished any longer, nor the holy Martyrs to endure injustice. For, struck with the disease of pustules on the shoulder under which he had hidden it, presently returning, he secretly threw the cloak down at the door of the church: and thus, seeking the impunity which he did not deserve, he lay hid by fleeing. Yet, the trouble of the arisen ulcer growing worse, being compelled by the swelling, admonished by despair of life and by the pain of the torment, he confesses his fault: which being disclosed and laid bare to all who heard, he obtains the help of full health, though long vexed, by their holy benefits, God and our Lord Jesus Christ granting it, who lives and reigns almighty through the infinite ages of ages, Amen.

* Le Vivarais

* Core

BOOK III OF THE HISTORY OF THE TRANSLATION,

which is the second of the miracles.

PROLOGUE

to the following book.

Since hitherto we have run through in part the order of the translation of the holy martyrs George and Aurelius, and the miracles which, divine grace bestowing, they did on the way, their merits interceding; now let the pen, though unskilled, yet faithful, be turned to that which remains: which it pleased on this account to be divided into two little books, that neither to eager readers might they be superfluous, nor to pious hearers might the things which were said be burdensome. For also in prolix narrations, a certain relief is as it were afforded, when one volume is finished and another begun; and that the preceding little book is illumined not by human, but I confess by a predetermined arrangement, with only twice-three titles of miracles, how much it may intimate the perfect consummation of those same holy Martyrs, the very reckoning of the number six, known to arithmeticians, declares.

PART I.

Continued miracles at Auxerre and elsewhere, until the sacred remains were brought to Esmans, whither the monks of Saint-Germain-des-Prés had fled on account of the harassments of the Normans.

Chapter I.

In the aforesaid district of Auxerre, then, when they had begun to approach the village of Bazarnes, At Auxerre the crowds pressing together on this side and that, certain of our men came out to meet them, receiving them there most attentively, as was fitting: whose exultation of soul, or tears of gladness, divine thanksgivings being hymned, answered to their desire. Whence, on the following day, setting out together, the Saints being raised in that same place

on the biers of the Saints' bodies, they come to the city of Auxerre, distinguished by the trophies of very many Saints. Which being learned, the monks of the gracious Confessor of Christ Germanus, once prelate of that same city, received them most honorably with the memorials of the Lord's passion and every worthy apparatus, placing the same bodies of the Martyrs upon the altar of the blessed Maurice, martyr, chief of the Theban legion, to be kept that night: at whose entrance we have learned that one man was cured of lameness, but at their departure another man of a continual headache in the same place. But on the morrow (for the time did not permit them to stay there longer) not otherwise than they were received by the aforesaid holy brothers, or honorably escorted by the citizens of that place, they enter the district of Sens, with what and how manifest miracles they adorned which too, I think it wholly laborious, but pleasing if in part it be narrated.

II.

[25] For while, for the sake of performing the solemnities of the Masses, he had turned aside into the village which in that same district is called Puteoli *, and in the district of Sens a certain little infant, among the rest seeking benefits, came sick. Then some, exhorting the boy, admonished him that, for obtaining the remedy of health, he should approach the patronage of the Martyrs, as best he could. Which when he had done, and, creeping rather than walking, had cast himself prostrate before their relics, forthwith, all who were present seeing it, he obtained the medicine of fullest soundness. Nor otherwise, I say, than that he, who had come lame with the weakness of both feet, followed them thence upright.

III.

[26] Nor let it be irksome to hear the things which it pleased Christ, the cooperator of goodness, to work for the merits of His soldiers. various miracles For we make another's good our own, if it pleases us. A certain old woman, then, by name Tedelgrimnis, from childhood (which many of her neighbors knew) lay both deaf and mute. For she was sustained out of the mercy of a certain religious man by name Bovo (into whose house also the same bodies of the Saints had by chance turned aside to remain). She attended to the fact that the alms which is given on earth to the poor is received in heaven by Christ, as the half-cloak of Martin testifies. She, carefully meditating with herself concerning the remedy of the health to be desired, went up to the place where the bodies of the blessed Martyrs were venerated. But immediately, as she poured forth prayer, she is endowed with the grace of health: so that, the Gospel miracle being renewed in one and the same hour, she deserved both to speak and at the same time to hear; and she went out rejoicing, bringing joy to the whole house.

IV.

[27] But what the same Bovo said had happened to him at the coming of those Martyrs, with the faith of an oath, a thing worthy of a miracle does not suffer to be passed over. When, therefore, the monks who bore these Saints had been received that night together with their nearly thirty companions from the same lodging; the not-deaf apostolic hearer, distributing with cheerful mind, furnished them with necessaries. But that the superabundant work of so great and so copious a charity might be rewarded; the little casks of his wine-store were in the morning found as though nothing had been drunk from them in the evening. For to all, and to the whole household of his house and to the comers, on account of the holy Martyrs, so plentifully had drink been served, that all, according to the measure of sobriety, satiated to the full with wine, rejoiced. For the cellar was under that same upper room (drinking blessing from above) in which the bodies of the blessed Martyrs had that night been admitted to rest.

[28] This Bovo too often, admiring, related a deed not unlike this. which here From whose house, finally, the bodies of the Saints being brought out, it happened on the fourth day after, that men from the army of Louis, king of the Bavarians, entered into it, and, staying there for some days, inhumanly laid it waste. Therefore, though deservedly frustrated of this hope, Louis had come out for this same purpose, invited by certain nobles, that, usurping the kingdom, he might invade the realm of his brother lord Charles, then contending against the Danes with a naval fleet in the Seine; but also the victory, alas! as if now suspected to be at hand, he seemed to have put off by this most unhappy tyranny. For, the king being left unsaluted with a few men in a ship, all treacherously adhering to him depart, and, the ropes of that same ship being cut, lest the king should be helped by any protection, they go to the same Louis, making him their king; which fell to them for a worthy disgrace. Therefore the king, divinely freed, at once, a small army being gathered which fidelity had retained for him, nobly expelled his brother from the kingdom; and, though he could take him alive, tenderly granted him a place to depart, and his fugitives (when he could have avenged himself on them by royal censure) returning to him in a lofty gathering, he received with his wonted piety, possessing the scepter and kingdom. And so the above-said enemies, exterminating beyond measure the substance of the house which they had entered, took away of the wine of the above-mentioned man Bovo no less (as was reckoned) than sixty measures. But when they had withdrawn, again by the merits of the Saints, Bovo being witness, the whole quantity of the wine is found entire. Nor is it to be doubted that it thus grew, charity increasing it, which, diffused in the man's heart, was strong with a twofold good.

VI.

[29] in order There was in Villeneuve * of that same district of Sens a certain girl, by name Arohildis, condemned for eight years by the loss of blindness, who, being led to the Blessed ones conspicuous with the light of virtues (of whose benefits is our discourse), thus consecrating herself to them by a vow of perpetual service, was suddenly cured, so that all who were present marveled, astonished at this deed. And when she thereafter wished to carry out the service of her profession, being sharply upbraided by her father as for the presumption of rashness, she was compelled to change the resolution of the promise which she had vowed for her health. And so, when she begins, favoring rather the words of her father, to return home; she incurs both the disaster of her former blindness, and moreover much force of fevers. Her father and the other kinsmen become tearful, and she herself lying exceedingly pitiable, and they return swiftly to seek again the pious suffrages of the Martyrs. But when, her father himself now in every way compelling, she vowed that she would never again fail in what she had promised; the fullness of health which she had before deserved being received, she is likewise made whole, and remained there, and afterward gladly discharged the task of her service at the appointed times in the worship of the church.

VII.

[30] they are enumerated. For, going to Esmans *, a village of our possession (in which then the greater part of the brothers dwelt on account of the hostile persecution of the pagans), they are received by them with great thanksgiving and rich praises, worthily enough: which reception the Lord willed to be adorned with the flowers of virtues, so that to no one was there doubt that not just any or uncertain, but precious patronages of the witnesses were brought to them. Now a certain nun, by name Leutgardis, while, mingled with the assembly of the peoples going to meet them, she too raised a candle kindled in honor of the Saints, suddenly laments it deprived of the honor of its light; who, touched by shame at the neglect, put it away meanwhile in the secret of her cloak, snuffed out. But what Christ thereupon worked for the manifestation of His Martyrs, ought in no way to be left out. For while she thus walks, the time awaiting to re-illumine it, presently in that very place in which it was hidden it is kindled, and seized the part of the garment with which it was covered. Which being seen, the woman was terrified, raising the praises of so great a virtue with what voice she could: and thus it came to pass that, even the woman being silent, the burned part of the garment, astonishing, plainly declared to the beholders what had been done.

VIII.

[31] A paralysis is healed, Then Boso from the village of Alseium lay so dissolved by the disease of paralysis from the kidneys downward, that to him was denied the faculty not only of walking, but even of sitting. And it was possible to see the toil in him. He, having heard of the gifts of such notable ones, carried among many in the hands of his kinsmen, came as a suppliant, and, approaching the relics of the holy Martyrs so near to infirmities, is at once so poured over with the remedies of the health he asked, that, walking by his own effort, he did not leave them until the church into which they were to be brought. And thence, more fully made whole after some days, he returned to his own home with rejoicing mind: at whom his neighbors, congratulating, marveled that health had so quickly befallen him.

IX.

[32] On that same day, nonetheless, a certain woman is brought from the village of Rethica, a flux of blood. called from the appellation of her name Ragina. She, for twelve years, not, like that Syrophoenician woman, flowing with blood, but lying contracted in the kidneys, seemed as if now destitute of vital solaces, was oppressed, and by the too great want of poverty, being, as it were, idle in the work of her hands. But when, among the rest of the crowd's assembly, she is offered to the patronages of the blessed Martyrs to be healed, she received before them, in the presence of the crowds that were there, the use of her former felicity. Therefore, walking and joyfully rendering thanks to her healers, she restores herself, with the step of soundness as companion, to the point to which she had come, aided by the hands of others.

[33] Adalbert of the village of Talsiniacum, greatly fearing a hostile encounter, A peasant's beehive is preserved. vowed with full faith one vessel of bees to the lights of the holy Martyrs, for the protection of the rest: when suddenly certain men from the army of the aforesaid Louis, king of the Bavarians, bursting into his house, greedy by the nature of honey, tried first to carry off that very beehive, because it was greater and better than the rest, which, wonderful to say, remained immovable while they labored in vain, as if it were fixed to the very bottom of the place in which it was; which done, the enemies, troubled and greatly astonished, learned at last that it was dedicated to the holy Martyrs for the preservation of the rest. Whence not only this, but nothing further in the same house did they presume to take, reverencing the Saints, having perceived that divine protection was in it by their merits.

* Puteaux

* Villeneuve-l'Archevêque

* Esmant

PART II.

Aimoin proceeds to set forth the praises of the miracles one by one.

XI.

[34] Because the venerable praises of the miracles increase, let the number of the little pages be increased with glory. To three blind men For many years Ingalbert of the village of Vimpopulus, being deprived of the gift of light of both eyes, having learned of so many and so wondrous virtues of the Saints, ordered himself to be led thither as quickly as possible. And so, walking with the help of his wife and moreover with much confidence of his company, he came even to the place. And while, entering the church for a long time, prostrate on the ground he insisted in prayers, groaning, he prayed, demanding with mournful voices that the holy Martyrs might have mercy on him, though unworthy. Then, the fountain of heavenly piety flowing into him by their intercession, he deserved at once to be so healed that, magnifying God and the Saints, he returned thence strong and seeing, having forgotten his wife's hand.

XII.

[35] Two blind men also are brought, inhabitants of the village which is called Sinportus, sight, to ask the excellent clemency of the blessed Martyrs. Their entire devotion the goodness that gives light to the blind, no small one, of divine compassion followed. But when, entering the house in which the sacred relics of the Martyrs were worthily venerated, they gave themselves to prayer; the darkness drawn over them being driven away after a little, they deserved to be able to receive sight: and rising from the pavement, the guide being removed, they run about here and there of themselves, seeing clearly. And so, praising together the provident kindness of God and the holy Martyrs toward them, they depart glad, as those once in the Gospel who were enlightened by the Savior and Son of David.

XIII.

[36] to a fool a sound mind is restored. This fame of the miracles, then, being widely spread through the districts, hastening to precede one another, very many flow together. Whence a certain youth, Acleulf, from the village by name Laudradus, out of his mind,

when it now happened for a year and moreover that he was atrociously insane, which is commonly called lunatic, is led to the oft-mentioned bodies of the holy Martyrs, though bound with chains, by the faith of his parents, who, though they had not that voice, "Lord, if you can do anything, help us, taking pity on us"; yet asked that their sick one be healed. There, being detained a little while for the remedy of health, he deserved to obtain fully, by their pious merits, what was sought by the devotion of another's faith. And so, the vigor of his former senses being recovered, he departed brisk, and for the rest, as he had been before, remained in possession of a sound mind.

XIV.

[37] The punishment of an insolent girl. From the same village a certain insolent girl, by name Teutberga, quarreling by chance as she was wont with her mother, did not fear to attest her impudence by the pledges of the holy Martyrs, namely George and Aurelius. And when, being rebuked by some for why she acted thus against her parent, and why she thus rashly swore by the names of the Saints, she by no means rested; by a present vengeance the very hand which she had raised to swear is drawn together. Thereupon indeed, she is compelled to seek by earnest asking the Saints, by whom, swearing through the untamedness of her tongue, she had wickedly presumed, and to demand of them without hesitation the cause of her remedy, as a debt owed. And when, repentant of the deed, she betook herself most devoutly to their threshold, her disabled palm, quicker than can be told, healed, is extended, and the woman, made whole, returns to her mother, about to serve her for the rest of her life.

XV.

[38] A blind woman healed There was also a certain woman from the village by name Casellas, by name Amaluvara, remaining in the mists of blindness for a hundred * and forty-four months: nor did any medicinal hand profit her, whom the divine power reserved to be healed by these Saints. She was admonished by a certain most beautiful woman in the dead of night (as it seemed to her), that for obtaining the use of light she should diligently take pains to cleanse with brooms the pavement of the church, where the bodies of those same holy Martyrs rested, until the Saints should look upon her with pity. Which when, being brought once, she had accomplished, she received so much sharpness of eyes as suffices for her to this day, nor, though made a nun, does she need, as before, the help of a guide.

XVI.

[39] she is refreshed by a vision. But what was revealed to the same woman, keeping watch one night in that same church with the rest, we think it a neglect to keep silent. Where, while, others sleeping, she alone (as she was certain, and related to us) sat as if awake, she looks toward the window behind the altar of that same church, considering through it as it were a very great ray of the sun shining, and through the ray a boy, covered with the light of an inestimable appearance, descending to the very bottom of the altar, who, stretching out his hand where the bodies of the Saints rested, the cloak with which they were covered being lifted a little, began diligently to look within: when behold a dove, whose brightness was wonderful, appearing on the right horn of the altar, stood flitting above them, gazing intently at that youth, and as if contemplating something of divinity in him, watching what he wished to do: by which vision terrified, as if wearied by anxieties, she more fully fell asleep: and she sees, through an ecstasy of mind, two venerable men adorning that same church with certain and very precious ornaments, who also say to her: Go hastily to the keepers of this holy house, and tell them to adorn it more diligently, since the Saints who are round about will now come hither for the grace of these Martyrs. For we too have come forth from the parts of the Spains, whence they were lately brought, to visit them, how they might be here. Which being thus spoken, the vision being taken away, the woman wakes, and, revolving these things with herself, hesitates greatly, being ignorant what the boy, or what the dove signified. Yet the prudent reader or sagacious hearer (we believe) will understand the boy to be Christ, but the dove the Holy Spirit, sharer of the Father and the Son, breathing about the relics of the holy Martyrs.

XVII.

[40] Teutlindis from the girls' monastery of Dedentium, because it was the Lord's Day, Curiosity punished, and she was at leisure from work, as if out of idleness gave herself girlishly to the threshold of those same holy Martyrs out of curiosity to see. Others too went, devoutly moved: and although unlike in mind, yet with companionable step they arrive at the church, and gave themselves together to prayer before the altar: and, raising themselves, and hastening to go to the station of the rest who had gone before, in the place where she had stood, the others departing, the aforesaid Teutlindis so stuck fast, that, remaining immovable on the pavement, she raised all to no small admiration by this new miracle. Where, all beholding, she remained made immovable in both feet so long, until she confessed the guilt of her depravity; namely, that she had come less religiously, rejoicing in enticements, and that she had entreated less than she ought for those very faults. And so, the brothers who were present praying for her, and performing litanies, she deserved to be absolved by the ineffable suffrages of the holy Martyrs.

XVIII.

[41] Likewise a certain man, Altcarius by name, from the village of Scau, a contracted man restored. contracted in the kidneys, lay grieving for a long time. But hearing that many of the sick were cured by the merits of the Saints, taking (as he afterward related to the same) a certain hope of obtaining health, he destined himself to their compassion under the leading of his kinsmen or friends. And when, rising, he had tried somehow to sit, in order to shape with his own hands the wax candle which he should carry with him to the lights of the Saints, in his own house he suddenly received the desired strength of his lost health. For, raising himself, and finding himself whole, the work which before he tried as a weakling, now, God having mercy, made sound, he accomplished. He therefore met the holy Martyrs with the offering of light, rejoicing, and setting forth to all with joyful mouth what had happened to him.

XIX.

[42] This too is worthy to be set down, which brings at once both admiration and terror. Another punishment; For some are corrected by the fall of others, David the prophet being witness, saying: The just shall rejoice; when he shall see the vengeance, he shall wash his hands in the blood of the sinner. Therefore a certain servant from the same village of Esmans, by name Ingalsard, was himself indeed the gardener of the Brothers. He, having received the corn of his prebend, went to the mill of that same village for the sake of grinding, and thus there, proud in mind, eager to snatch away the place of some poor woman, obstinately threatened to throw his own corn upon hers, which was already being ground; which she, resisting with what strength she could, when, the weaker, she could not overcome the stronger, with hands raised to the church said, weeping: I adjure you by these holy Martyrs of God, George and Aurelius, that you do me no violence. Which wretched adjuration being spurned, when he had begun to go out of the place, immediately, struck, he understood that, on account of so great contempt, a near danger threatened him: and scarcely entreating, as one dying, with the faint voice he could, he begged the overseer of that same mill to throw off in haste the corn cast over hers; who, after this voice (which is a matter of admiration and fear), falling, became mute, and, evidently given over to present death, expired. Very many run together (for it was the Lord's Day), and, moved by such a spectacle, are astonished: which nevertheless we exhort must be believed to have befallen him by the just and hidden judgment of God, not to the event of future damnation, but rather (as we have foretasted) to correct the rashness of such men. For the death of the impious, to speak in the words of blessed Gregory, is to the good for a help, but to the evil, that they may beware, for a testimony.

XX.

[43] an inflation is healed, Afterward, finally, a certain woman from the village which is called Civiacus, by name Godohis, was held by so great and so terrible a disease of pellucid inflation, that, destitute of the fitting office of all her members, she seemed pitiable. She suffered also another evil within, namely of a cardiac infirmity, which, assiduously choking her, exceedingly gasped her breath away. And while, moment by moment, she was being led to death as by a disaster bordering upon her, she is at last placed in a carriage by the hands of her kinsmen, and thus is brought to the merciful help of the Saints. For she kept watch, oppressed by such bitterness of pains, before the doors of the church, so that scarcely could even breath be perceived in her. Yet after three days, her stomach being calmed, she is (which is wonderful and true) so healed, that she deserved thence to return glad on her own feet, the vehicle of the carriage being removed.

XXI.

[44] an unknown disease, We know also a certain man by name Jerome from the neighboring district of Gâtinais cured by a like virtue of the Saints. He, for nearly half a year overwhelmed by the anguish of debility of his whole body, is by the piety of his kinsmen brought to the solace of the blessed Martyrs, whose infirmity was more unknown than cured by the physicians. Who, counsel being scarcely found how, for the health of all his members, they might place him on a wagon in a certain wine-cask, which is called a "tonna," doing this, came to their sacred presence: and there, many who still survive beholding, he is so strengthened with the soundness of his former vigor, that, made whole for himself, he rose, and, the mercy of God being wrought upon him (as he had hoped), ran back home rejoicing.

XXII.

[45] likewise a deaf and mute man. Likewise a certain woman, grieving that she was deprived of no small solace in her offspring, taking with her a son mute and deaf alike, led him to the relics of the Saints shining with miracles. And when, prayer being made, she herself had stood far from the altar, she nodded to her son, as to a deaf one, to approach nearer, and to offer to the Saints at the altar the votive candle which she bore in her hand. Then suddenly the mouth of the infant, which had been closed from birth, is opened, and, uttering that first voice, he asks his mother to whom he should hand the lamp. And, the mother's answer being received, that he should bring it to the altar, by the execution of the work he shows that he also hears clearly. Which being known, those who had known him the day before yesterday mute and deaf alike, proclaim with admiration that the Gospel miracles have revived through the merits of the Saints. Nor is it a wonder, since the Savior not only did such great things, but moreover promised to His disciples that they would do greater.

* Here there seems to be an error.

PART III.

Hence the relics rendered celebrated, of whose truth Charles the Bald is made more certain, and some portion is granted to the count Eddo.

XXIII.

We do not therefore believe it displeases, if what is useful and honorable be narrated. For faith is nourished, growing by the works of faith. Heavenly music is heard. Now when on a certain day of the Lord's resurrection certain women kept vigil at the door of that same church, some out of desire of health, others of the holy Martyrs, a wonderful and astonishing vision is shown to them: not, as once to the shepherds to be taught of the nativity of Christ, but to women devoted with praiseworthy virtue. And so, in the first watch of the night, they look through the little chinks of the door of that same church, and see a very great splendor of light proceeding from within even to them. Then one of them, approaching nearer, and striving to inspect more diligently what it was, perceives the whole church radiant with the gleam of incredible brightness, so that by that very light the outer porch, in which they sat, partly shone. And behold, they hear within various voices and a song of wonderful sweetness, as of a multitude congratulating and melodiously jubilating hymnic praises to God, which they confessed they had heard in a low voice by turns so far, until, the signal being struck for the due of the nocturnal Office, the brothers awoke. Whence, if we consider the causes of the miracles disposed by an orderly providence, that former vision is judged fulfilled, in which we have shown it was manifested, that for the grace of these Martyrs the Saints who were round about would come thither, joyful with an angelic escort at least.

XXIV.

[47] From the district of Paris and the village named Teodasius

* a certain youth bearing (as was said) five years in blindness, Another blind man is cured, lamented that he would be in cloud for all time. He therefore supplicates, so many and so great virtues of the holy Martyrs being learned, that he might be led to their pious help. For already, as if catechized by the light of faith, he had begun to see, which when it had been done, quickly, by their kind intervention, he deserved to obtain what, trusting, he had sought. For not long after, tearful vigils being completed there at the health-bringing threshold of those same holy Martyrs, by their excellent merits (which must be confessed), the unseen darkness being driven away, the heavenly virtue straightway made the light of day too shine again for him. He returned therefore seeing, magnifying God and giving thanks, a man renewed, reporting a new miracle to his neighbors.

XXV.

[48] likewise a distorted man, There was, then, from the district of Angers a certain man, by name Adalsad, for nearly five years so infirm with a vitiated frame of members, that his very heels were most tenaciously held bound to his hinder parts, who, the virtue of such miracles being known (for they were spread abroad by very many), transferred himself to the grace of those Martyrs on a certain night of the Lord's Day, as best he could: where, the nocturnal time coming, and the brothers now celebrating the same office with angelic reverence, he began, the bonds of his members loosening (as is wont to happen in such cases), to emit such cries that, wailing, he wholly broke through the voices of those chanting. Meanwhile, the remedy of health being presently in part recovered, after a few days thence restored to his former soundness, he is so raised by their prayers and set upright, that, walking erect of himself, he returned to his own home with sound step.

XXVI.

[49] and likewise a lame man. Ramnold, finally, from the village which by common appellation is called Fontenay, lame from the year's circle from the kidneys to the foot, came pitiable to the flourishing clemency of those same Martyrs. He came, I say, not by his own step, but carried by another's device, so plainly pitiable, and so thin with the wondrous debility of his whole body, that, infirmities being multiplied upon him, he was thought rather to be dying than able to be healed. Yet approaching with faith, and set before the ashes of the holy Martyrs, by whom he was carried, at once, looked upon with the gift of health by a heavenly regard, made whole by their pious suffrages, he is healed, the contagion namely of the kidneys and shins, and also of the feet and of all his weakness, being driven away, as his present alacrity still testifies. Thus he is rendered strong, so that, suffering nothing thereafter from that same infirmity, he serves God continually in that same place.

[50] Therefore, because it is wont to be possible, as blessed Gregory writes in his sacred Dialogue, that greater miracles are sometimes done where a smaller portion of the relics of the Saints is had; we think it will be pleasing if this too, which was done concerning their relics, be inserted.

XXVII.

[51] Charles the Bald examines the holy relics. The glorious king Charles, then, how greatly he rejoiced at the coming of these Martyrs, the titles of their Passion having been reread to him, it is not ours to set forth. He rejoiced that in the time of his reign Gaul had deserved such flowers: of whom, that he might possess the whole from a part, relics being taken, he showed that this too must be done by the faithful under the example of religion. Nor did he forget, sending Mancio to Cordova, to inquire the truth of this deed from the place: from whom, on his return, he learned that too, mutilated from their deeds, which is held worthy of memory and inscription. For, the bodies of the holy Martyrs having been slain and scattered in the street, the tyrant Abd al-Rahman had ordered them to be kept there, burial being denied, that the dogs and the birds of heaven might devour them: which we certainly see was done, so that in them too the psalmody of David might be fulfilled singing: They have set the dead bodies of Your servants as food for the birds of heaven, the flesh of Your Saints for the beasts of the earth. But that their dignity and the loftiness of their merit might be declared, they were so divinely guarded from all rapacious animals, as once Daniel from the lions, that they were defiled by not even the appetite of a fly through the three days in which they thus lay. For this the same Mancio said was true, and testified that he had most truly heard it from the faithful citizens of the same Cordova. Likewise that he had seen two noble girls, sisters in the flesh, in his presence, contending, complete their martyrdom for Christ. And when the elder wished to drink the cup of passion before the younger, No, said she, sister, thus it is not fitting, I will follow you, my mistress, to the prize whom I have followed to the spectacle: fear not, I will not forsake you. For dying I will show faith and love, as living I was wont. Thus, the heads of both being cut off, their souls, borne up by the solace of the angels, passed to God, to live perpetually.

XXVIII.

[52] For the rest, when to the count Eddo (that we may return, for it is time, to us) the requested part of the relics of the holy Martyrs was being carried, A portion of the relics granted to Eddo. it happened on the way that a certain priest, asking that it be granted him to pray longer, entered the bedchamber of the house in which they were kept, and presumed to steal those relics, no one meditating this: and taking what first met his hand, namely whatever there was of the hair of the blessed Nathalia, hastens in that very darkness of the night to return, joyful with his theft, to his lodging. But before it was granted him to go far, in the middle of the streets he presently fell down out of his mind, horribly, deprived of sense and all vigor. Then, as if after an hour, recalled to himself and repenting of his fault, he rises, and, returning as one who had gone out for some necessity, replaced the relics of the holy Martyr in their place, again feigning prayer out of desire: who, if by loving he offered well, yet because, by committing the fraud to those to whom they were owed, he did not divide well, likewise, before all who were present, suddenly falling, is again tortured, rolling on the ground. All rise, struck with horrible fear, and lay hands on him by which he might be held. They saw him out of his mind, and thought him at once dying: and, lest a matter of so great a miracle be concealed, he is afterward, his mind recovered, compelled to confess what he had committed. Thus, the compassion of the Saints being first invoked by father Usuard the bearer, the fault forgiven, the priest, reanimated, returns more cheerful.

XXIX.

[53] Therefore, very many things being passed over, let an end of writing be set, A man contracted in his members is set upright. that one being admitted by which it may shine forth that the blessed prelate Germanus rejoices not only over the eternal, but also over the present fellowship. A certain Teutgaud in Neuvy, which is situated upon the river Loire, when he had lain infirm with adverse health, this calamity moreover befell him, that from the thighs downward he was contracted: in which bond of contraction, for nearly two years, the office of walking being utterly denied him, he remained. Then, fame teaching, when he learned that he could be succored by the merits of these venerable Martyrs, he entreats, supplicating, to be carried thither by the hands of his friends or kinsmen; which was so done, and in haste. And when he had come, and remained there for a while, living in prayers, he awaited the predetermined day of his health. The sacred festivity of the translation of our most blessed patron the lord Germanus now pressing, he came more early, about to find more quickly what he had sought by devotion. And, placed before the altar of that same great Prelate, on which the bodies of those same holy Martyrs were kept placed above, he stood, so that by their intervention together (as we believe) the sick man might obtain a speedy health. Made whole therefore, as we saw, he went resounding with great thanksgiving: and, all acclaiming to the omnipotent God and holy Germanus and the Martyrs the greatness of the virtues, he remained there serving even to death, his country and his kinsmen and the friends who had brought him being forgotten. Nor undeservedly did blessed Germanus wish to be on earth the partaker of the miracle wrought by those in whose fellowship, exulting, he rejoices in heaven; in that desirable fatherland, in that splendid joyfulness, in that wholly honey-flowing region, in that land of the human portion of the living, in that our heavenly mother Jerusalem, in those most pleasant pastures of eternity. For there the spirits who, ever living and desiring to look upon Him, stand before God, applaud, in one and the same glory, to the Saints now associated to them from this mortality, and rejoicing together they also congratulate those, though still pilgrims on earth, whom they know and understand, through Him who knows and understands all things, to become after a little while their fellow-citizens in the common company, whose refreshment will be one and highest, the contemplation of the one and full inaccessible God, contemplation because a vision, inaccessible because impenetrable. For, says the Psalmist: Man shall come to a deep heart, and God shall be exalted; because the more they search out the secrets of the divinity, the more the depths are beheld.

* Thiais