ON THE HOLY VIRGINS AND MARTYRS OF TUBURBO IN AFRICA,
MAXIMA, DONATILLA, AND SECUNDA.
Perhaps under Diocletian.
PRELIMINARY COMMENTARY.
Concerning the arena of the martyrdom and its time, the cult, and the Acts.
Maxima, Martyr at Tuburbo in Africa (St.)
Donatilla, Martyr at Tuburbo in Africa (St.)
Secunda, Martyr at Tuburbo in Africa (St.)
J. B. S.
I call these distinguished Christian heroines—and these same also virgins—Martyrs, although in the more ancient records, and by St. Augustine, they are not adorned with both laurels, which in all others is most constantly attributed to them. The martyrdom is certainly most celebrated, the Carthaginian Calendar edited by Mabillon leading the way, Concerning the number of the Saints in which Septimia is added, though passed over in our published Martyrologies, because they did not think she pertained to the same Tuburbitan class, although she most certainly belongs to it, as will be evident from the following class. Thus the praised Calendar reads: On the third day before the Kalends of August, of the holy women of Tuburbo and of Septimia; where the arena of our three Saints is so expressed that this alone is left doubtful, to which Tuburbo (since in Africa there is at least a twofold one) those holy Champions are to be referred. There is one Tuburbo the greater, says Mabillon in the notes to the cited text of the Calendar, and another the lesser. Of the greater city of Tuburbo Victor of Vita makes mention in book 3. Tuburbo the lesser [is] in Zeugitana … Tuburbo the greater was a city of proconsular Africa, whose bishop [was] Benenatus in the Notitia of Africa. That they suffered in one or the other city, this indeed does not seem doubtful; in which one determinately, is not yet established: to which they can more probably be ascribed, we shall presently consider.
[2] The matter is somewhat involved by the Lucca Hieronymian codex, when it wrote: "In Africa, in the city Tuburtulum of Cæsarea," and concerning the place of the martyrdom where others more plainly named Africa only. But the Little Roman Martyrology seems to have thrown all into confusion by its singular position, "At Tuburbo of Lucernaria, of the virgins Maxima, Donatilla, and Secunda," whence Ado, receiving it, transfused it into all his progeny: "On the same day in Africa, in the city Tuburbo of Lucernaria"; from which Notker did not deviate: but Usuard deserted his leader not very faithfully, when he wrote "In Africa, in the city Lucernaria," which Ortelius and other Geographers sought there in vain. Nor in the modern Roman Martyrology is the matter sufficiently settled, when, Tuburbo being restored, it there reads thus: "At Tuburbo of Lucernaria." I shall in vain here recount the other Martyrologists, whether they be of the same or of another class. Rabanus certainly makes no mention of them, still less Bede, Florus, or Wandelbert, so that some have in vain sought thence any light, nor more happily from elsewhere, as in our Observations on Usuard we long ago intimated, then referring the readers to the Acts of Sts. Perpetua and Felicitas on the seventh of March, where concerning Tuburbo, variously inflected, there is a more laborious inquiry; to Mabillon and Ruinart, from whom, for determining the place of the martyrdom, we have already sufficiently perceived that nothing certain can be drawn out.
[3] In the places already cited it is chiefly inquired whether those two illustrious martyrs Perpetua and Felicitas, with their companions, are also to be reckoned among the Tuburbitans; some discussion. concerning which matter we here need by no means labor. He would settle our matter who, even from a slight indication, should point out in Africa some Tuburbo Lucernarium, or a Tuburbo Lucernaria, or some city called Lucernaria, in which the Saints of whom we treat suffered, and others either companions or fellow-countrymen, whom in the next class below we shall recount. If concerning the time of the martyrdom it were sufficiently established, and this our class could thus be referred to that persecution in which holy Crispina suffered—whose twin Acts you have among Ruinart's select ones, page 494, where Anulinus the proconsul heaps up before that Virgin the punishments of our Saints for terror, addressing her thus: Do you desire to live long, or to die in torments, like your other companions Maxima, Donatilla, and Secunda?—this indeed would be gathered, that they suffered in that Tuburbitan city which was nearest to the place of the martyrdom of St. Crispina, to which those words would somewhat lead us, "your companions"; and it would thus be Tuburbo the greater in proconsular Africa, in which part of Africa it is quite probable that these our Saints completed their martyrdom, and were thence called Tuburbitans, whether they were born in that very place, or in its neighborhood.
[4] It is also asked And this only is now to be inquired, whether it is more like the truth that Maxima, Donatilla, and Secunda completed their contest under Gallienus rather than under Diocletian. For Gallienus stand the Acts, such as they are, borrowed I know not whence, certainly of no great authority, although recited by Ado, where Anulinus is brought in as governor in Africa under Gallienus, whom it is established to have arrived there many years afterward. And indeed, if so many Anulini prefects once existed as are very often alleged in the various doubtful Acts of the Martyrs, it will now seem to be said not a proper name, but almost an appellative, inasmuch as someone of that name, under almost every emperor, and indeed in various places, raged against the Christians, even from the very time of Nero, as you have on the twenty-eighth of this month in the Acts of Sts. Nazarius and Celsus; likewise on the preceding day concerning Sts. Flora, Lucilla, and their companions, and elsewhere on various other days. Concerning Anulinus, therefore, the judge of St. Crispina, since it is plainly established from the most approved Acts, and since he quite openly pronounces that our three Virgins had not long before experienced his savagery, it does not seem that their martyrdom can be much removed from the contest of St. Crispina, nor from the place of the contest, and it is therefore to be judged to pertain to the same persecution to which St. Crispina herself belongs, and at the same time to the same province. Let us now hear the premonition of Ruinart on the Acts of St. Crispina herself, number 3.
[5] under which tyrant they suffered: St. Crispina suffered, he says, under the proconsul Anulinus at the Colony of Thebeste, and indeed in the year 304, as it seems, in which year the persecution against the Christians raged especially in Africa. … But is the Colony of Thebeste to be distinguished from Thebeste, a city of Numidia? Certainly Optatus, bishop of Milevis, in book 3, writes that Anulinus raged against the Christians at that time in the Proconsular province, and Horus in Numidia. Moreover Crispina is called of Thagara. But the city of Thagara is twofold, one in the Proconsular province, where Anulinus persecuted the faithful; whence again it seems to be gathered that in the same province both Crispina of Thagara and our Tuburbitans obtained the crown of martyrdom. But if nevertheless it is truly said, in the cited Commentary of the seventh of March and by the most recent editors of the works of St. Augustine, in Ruinart, page 82, that even in the Proconsular province itself there was a twofold Tuburbo, then the matter will be brought to this, that I candidly confess it is not ready for me to select the one or the other, by which I may more accurately define the fatherland or arena of our Saints: unless the epithet "of Lucernaria" seem to anyone to furnish something of light, which to me certainly is not yet evident; so that let these things concerning the place and time of the martyrdom, in that perplexity of matters, be enough said.
[6] Concerning the cult, which I began above to mention, it is certainly placed beyond all controversy; nay, in the whole Church it is most received and most celebrated, likewise whether St. Augustine treats of them. as is rendered most manifest from ancient records, only the commemoration in the Breviary and Missal being lacking for a more solemn festivity. It was once controverted whether in St. Augustine's sermon 32, edited by our Sirmond, which in the new edition is 345, it is rightly noted that the holy Doctor there speaks of the Tuburbitan Martyrs, or whether perhaps "Suburbitan" is to be read; but the praised Ruinart rightly observes, in the cited place, number 3, that, even the correction being admitted, in that cause which was disputed with Henry Valesius, nothing at all is decided: for although in Augustine "Tuburbitan women" is to be read, this is not referred to those two already praised Martyrs, but certainly to our Saints, Maxima, Donatilla, and Secunda, whom all antiquity proclaims to have been truly Tuburbitan, so that even thence you may understand the most illustrious fame and veneration of today's Saints in Africa itself; whom, namely, the most holy Doctor praised in his oration, in which would that he had even from afar touched upon those things which are most desired for the illustration of their deeds!
[7] Long ago we vehemently wished that the original Acts of these Saints might be dug out from somewhere, The true Acts have perished. just as the passions of those of whom we have already spoken have been dug up again, namely of Sts. Perpetua and Felicitas, and also of St. Crispina, from which those things might be resolved which have hitherto vexed the minds of the learned. For the Legend which is circulated concerning them, whether in manuscript or printed, presents no great indications of sincerity; nay, it appears infected with so many blemishes, that by those even slightly skilled in matters of this kind it is not easily admitted. That which we have, taken from the manuscript of St. Salvator at Utrecht and collated with others, stumbles even at the very beginning, when it substitutes Maximilla for Maxima, and for the Tuburbitan city, Tyburcian, and reports other things equally ignorantly dislocated and corrupted, certainly of a far worse stamp than are those Acts which are read in the Martyrology of Ado, and these themselves, as I have already said, not sufficiently accurate or approved—nay, most probably taken in some part from others (as we have shown elsewhere to have frequently happened in similar cases) and adapted to our Saints. Behold these very Acts, copied word for word from Ado, and, where there was need, explained by one or another little note.
THE MARTYRDOM
From the Martyrology of St. Ado
Maxima, Martyr at Tuburbo in Africa (St.)
Donatilla, Martyr at Tuburbo in Africa (St.)
Secunda, Martyr at Tuburbo in Africa (St.)
When Maxima and Donatilla were being led to punishment, On the same day in Africa, in the city Tuburbo of Lucernaria, the birthday of the holy virgins Maxima, Donatilla, and Secunda: who suffered in the persecution of Gallienus under the judge Anolinus. Who, an interrogation having been made, deferred the hearing, and ordered the blessed virgins and sisters Maxima and Donatilla to be led to the Tuburbitan city, to whom he commanded that neither bread nor water be furnished, but that they be given vinegar and gall to drink. But seeing the confidence of the most blessed women, he burned with wrath, and ordered that they be forced to walk. There was a certain girl placed in the upper part of her house, twelve years old, by the name of Secunda: to whom, when many conditions of marriage were offered, she despised them all, and loved the one God. She, kindled by the Spirit of God, when she saw her fellow-martyrs Maxima and Donatilla passing by (for there was in the upper part of her house a balcony,* where she stood), and considered with the eyes of faith the beauty of the holy Virgins, thought and resolved to attain to a like grace.
[2] Secunda of her own accord joined herself to them And lest anyone should prevent her honorable descent, that she might avoid impediments, she considered neither wealth nor her lineage, nor cared for her carnal father: but, all things left, she sought the one Author of chastity, God, whom she possessed and held for eternity. When therefore the blessed Martyrs went out and proceeded, Secunda, hastening, cried out after them: Do not leave me, I will come with you. And together with them she entered the Tuburbitan city. On another day, at the third hour, Anolinus the proconsul sat on the tribunal, and commanded Maxima and Donatilla to be presented to him, and to be dashed to torments. And when they were being beaten, he ordered lime to be scattered over their wounds and rubbed in: then that they be stretched on the rack and tortured, and still* water be offered them to drink: then that they be laid on a gridiron and upon fiery coals, and burning coals be cast upon their heads: afterward that they be laid down in the theater at the shrine, and be trampled by all. Then it was said by the officers that there was with them another girl, by the name of Secunda: whom Anolinus the proconsul, by his own judgment, ordered to be joined to them.
[3] And when she was present, he says: Are you a Christian, or a pagan? Secunda said: I am a Christian. and together attained the crown. Straightway Anolinus condemned her, with Maxima and Donatilla, to the beasts, and commanded them to be led, bound with iron, to the spectacle of the people. Who, when they were being brought in, in the middle of the arena kissed one another, that they might complete their martyrdom in peace. But a most ferocious and most savage bear, let loose upon them on the spot, turned to gentleness, licked rather than bit their footsteps. Anolinus, angered, because, while he raged, he saw the beasts mild, having spoken with the council, recited the sentence from the tablet: Maxima, Donatilla, and Secunda, persevering in their superstition, who have endured various punishments, and have been cast to the beasts, and have refused to sacrifice to our gods, it pleases [us] that they be put to death by the sword. Maxima, Donatilla, and Secunda said: Thanks be to God. And they were consummated on the third day before the Kalends of August.
NOTES.
* read "Menianum" (a balcony).
* still (non-flowing) water.
ON THE OTHER MARTYRS, LIKEWISE PROBABLY OF TUBURBO,
RUFUS, PRISCUS, PATERNICA, SEPTIMIA, OPTIO, AMMONIUS, JUSTUS, JULIA, POTAMIA, ABDUS, ACENEUS; LIKEWISE MAXIMA, HOSPIS, DONATULA; AND PERHAPS SILVANUS AND MAGNILUS.
From the Hieronymian Martyrologies.
CommentaryRufus, Martyr, likewise probably at Tuburbo in Africa (St.)
Priscus, Martyr, likewise probably at Tuburbo in Africa (St.)
Paternica, Martyr, likewise probably at Tuburbo in Africa (St.)
Septimia, Martyr, likewise probably at Tuburbo in Africa (St.)
Optio, Martyr, likewise probably at Tuburbo in Africa (St.)
Ammonius, Martyr, likewise probably at Tuburbo in Africa (St.)
Justus, Martyr, likewise probably at Tuburbo in Africa (St.)
Julia, Martyr, likewise probably at Tuburbo in Africa (St.)
Potamia, Martyr, likewise probably at Tuburbo in Africa (St.)
Abdus, Martyr, likewise probably at Tuburbo in Africa (St.)
Aceneus, Martyr, likewise probably at Tuburbo in Africa (St.)
Maxima, Martyr, likewise probably at Tuburbo in Africa (St.)
Hospis, Martyr, likewise probably at Tuburbo in Africa (St.)
Donatula, Martyr, likewise probably at Tuburbo in Africa (St.)
Silvanus, Martyr, likewise probably at Tuburbo in Africa (St.)
Magnilus, Martyr, likewise probably at Tuburbo in Africa (St.)
J. B. S.
These codices alone I here adduce, because in the other ancient Martyrologies too they are not reported, except in Notker alone, who followed some mutilated codex, in which he found only ten of the said class; in which manner also the Epternach codex reads almost the same, which recounts only nine. The number fourteen both the Lucca and the Corbie exemplar uniformly mark, in which latter there are added also two others, Silvanus and Magnilus, to whom, for distinction, I have prefixed the particle "perhaps": for whether they are to be reckoned with the rest, or further to be struck out, I have not the means certainly to ascertain. But for the number fourteen there rightly also alleges Florentinius a certain codex of the Queen of Sweden, which in his Animadversions Holstenius names as the second, asserting that the same champions are there reported who are recounted in the Lucca codex, so that concerning the said number of that class there does not seem to be room for doubt. But whether all also who are announced after the particle "likewise" are Tuburbitans, Florentinius does not dare to deny, nor should I deny it, since no certain mark of distinction appears. Concerning the former, certainly, the matter is in the open, since they are immediately subjoined to the three Virgins reported above. But whether they suffered together with them on the same day at another time, this indeed I should not dare to affirm: nor does anything else occur which can be predicated of the aforesaid Martyrs; nor did I think one need labor much over the names, since a very slight discrepancy occurs in them; for Paternice and Paternica, Ammonicus or Ammonius, Potamiena or Potamia differ so little among themselves, that to observe them more scrupulously
would seem not worth the effort.