ON ST. FABIUS, MARTYR,
AT CAESAREA IN MAURITANIA.
A posthumous commentary of Bolland.
Fabius, Martyr, at Caesarea in Mauritania (St.)
BY THE AUTHOR J. B. S.
There was once sought among our holy Martyrs some Fabius by name, with which name since Alexander VII had been marked—Fabio Chigi, when apostolic legate to the Peace of Münster—Bolland labored the more diligently to assign a synonymous patron to that most illustrious man, Why the composition was anticipated. well-deserving of himself, as you will find set forth at length at the 17th of May, volume IV, page 132. But that Fabius, placed there out of order, since he was plainly doubtful, could well be replaced by the other Fabius numbered among the companions of St. Anthimus at the 11th of May; or rather by him who is venerated on this day, St. Fabius of Caesarea: for he who was reported on the 21st of May with others, translated from Rome to Vienne only in the past century, doubtless received from the cemeteries, seems to be reckoned among the unknown Saints. This better-known Fabius can safely be decreed a patron for those who perhaps even today are called by that name; so that I may with good right suspect that the commentary of Bolland here given by us, adorned prematurely beyond the received custom, was directed to this sole end, that he might gratify the already-praised supreme Pontiff Alexander. It, as it was found among our papers, we subjoin entire, word for word:
[2] At Caesarea, on the day before the Kalends of August, is celebrated the Passion of blessed Fabius the Martyr, The birthday of St. Fabius, who, when he refused to carry the præsidial standards, was first for several days thrust into prison, then interrogated once and again, endures in the confession of Christ, and is soon condemned by the Judge with a capital sentence. Thus Usuard, Bellinus, and others. But in certain ones, as also in the Roman Martyrology, the last words are rendered thus: when he persevered in the confession of Christ, he is soon condemned by the Judge with a capital sentence. More briefly the ancient Martyrologies treat of him, the old Roman edited by Rosweyd: At Caesarea, of Fabius the Martyr. The manuscripts of St. Richarius and St. Maximinus: At Caesarea, of St. Fabius the Martyr. The manuscript of St. Lambert of Liège: On the same day, the passion of St. Fabian the Martyr. Others also call him Fabian, as Ferrarius, who cites Petrus de Natalibus, though the latter expressly calls him Fabius. The manuscript of St. Martin of Trier: At Caesarea, of Fabian the Martyr, who was beheaded for the Catholic faith. His birthday Wandelbert the monk inscribed thus in his Martyrology: On the day before, pious glory covered Fabius with martyrdom. July, departing from the world, leaves these solemnities behind.
[3] We have not yet been able to find the Acts of St. Fabius. Ado had them, His Acts from Ado, who wove this epitome of them into his Martyrology, and from him Notker, Petrus de Natalibus, book 6, chapter 162 (not 165 as Baronius cites), Surius, the manuscript Florarium, Canisius: At Caesarea, the passion of St. Fabius the Martyr, who, when he refused to carry the præsidial standards, was first for several days thrust into prison: then, brought forth, he is set before the tribunal. Interrogated once and again, he endures in the confession of Christ: and is soon condemned by the raging Judge with a capital sentence. After this his unburied body is ordered to be guarded: which, after three days, sewn into a small net, is immersed in the depths of the sea, the head apart, the corpse apart. But by the power of the Lord, the net being torn open, the limbs are recalled to the head, and the neck is joined to the shoulders with the marks of the passion. And so the body, restored to its integrity, carried by a gentler wave to the Cartennitan shore, was entombed with fitting honor by the faithful in a basilica. Rosweyd in his edition omitted those two words, in a basilica; which are found in the manuscripts of Lobbes, Thérouanne, and St. Laurence of Liège; likewise in Notker, the manuscript Florarium, and the common Martyrology of Bede, which agrees entirely with Ado, so that even from this it is clear it is not Bede's, who is known to have been much more succinct. Petrus writes that he was buried in a basilica set close by in that same place: Canisius, that a basilica was afterward built in that place.
[4] the place of the martyrdom and of the burial; But since several cities were called by the name of Caesarea, it can be doubted in which of them the soldier of Christ contended. If in Caesarea, once the metropolis of Palestine, how could Eusebius, bishop of that city, have been ignorant of his Acts, or not inserted them into his history? The things which are added about the Cartennitan shore, to which the body of the Martyr was driven, manifestly indicate that the discourse is about Caesarea of Mauritania. For Cartenna, or, as Ptolemy writes book 4, chapter 3, Cartennæ, was a notable city of Mauritania Caesariensis, not far from Caesarea, around Καρτένου ποταμοῦ ἐκβολὰς (That is: the outlets of the Cartenus river), the mouths of the Cartenus river. And from Cartenus, Rosweyd seems to have derived the Cartenian shore, who nevertheless confesses in the margin that it is called by others Cartemianum, commonly Caternitanum. Nay, more rightly Cartennitanum, or certainly Cartenitanum, as the manuscripts of Lobbes and of St. Laurence have, and Notker; the Florarium, Carcenitanum; the common Bede, Carenitanum; Petrus de Natalibus, Caternianum; Canisius, Catervianum. In the Notice of the provinces of Africa which our Sirmond edited, there is mentioned among the bishops of Mauritania Caesariensis Lucidus Cartennitanus, that is, the prelate of the city of Cartenna.
[5] the time, At what time Fabius underwent martyrdom, none of those who have been cited has related. Galesinius, although he cites no one besides them, nevertheless hands down that it happened under Diocletian; At Caesarea, he says, of St. Fabius the Martyr, who in the persecution of Diocletian and Maximian, first shut up for several days in prison, then led to judgment, interrogations about the faith being instituted, since he was exceedingly constant in its confession, at last, after many torments had been drained to the dregs, was struck with the axe.
[6] the cause. But why did he refuse to carry the præsidial standards (which Petrus calls præsidaria, Maurolycus præsidiaria, others præsidialia, Canisius only military)—why, I say, did he refuse to carry them? Was he bearing some sacred office in the Church? Felicius calls him a soldier, nor is it improbable. For rather often at other times those who had been consecrated to the divine ministries were compelled to serve as soldiers, to the reproach of the sacrosanct state in which they stood; but that he should carry the standards, or administer other military honors, I know not whether it be credible that this was here laid upon a soldier. Nor indeed, if by a vain persuasion, thinking it wicked for a Christian to lead ranks, or to administer other duties of war, he had therefore rashly exposed himself to death, would he be placed in the number of Martyrs by the Church: just as neither do I think that soldier was placed there, if he was afterward killed, who, being about to receive a largesse under the Emperor Severus, carried in his hand the crown with which he ought to have wreathed his head, and, being asked the cause, answered, I am a Christian; by which deed the peace of the Church was imperiled, nay even disturbed. Which deed nevertheless Tertullian, already caught in the ravings of Montanus, defended laboriously, but not solidly enough, in his book On the Soldier's Crown. The standards therefore which our Fabius refused to carry, it is probable were images of the gods, or had to be taken up with some idolatrous action, or with a profane formula of oath, that he should swear by the gods or the genius of Caesar, which the Christian soldiers always deservedly refused.
[7] Thus far Bolland, accurately collecting all the things which could be dug out concerning St. Fabius from the Martyrologies, The more verbose Acts are passed over. as was said in my observation on Usuard on this day, to which I refer the readers, here only about to add that it can seem wonderful that Bolland at no. 2 so expressly asserts that he had not yet been able to find the Acts of that Saint, since it is most probable that those which I cited from the Mossiac or Moissac codex were transcribed by Papebroch, and brought to Antwerp from Paris in the year 1662; unless perhaps, as was said at the beginning, he composed that commentary of his long before, for the sake of Fabio Chigi, or more truly judged that that whole youthful and luxuriant oration, of which we made mention in the cited observation, is altogether unworthy to be numbered among the Acts, or to come under such a name, being mere diction, which suits a verbose panegyrist or preacher rather than a serious historian, straying here and there also from the sense of Ado, so that we accordingly judged it should be altogether suppressed, since arguments of this kind are by no means lacking in our Acts, in which it is most manifestly clear that idle men have exercised their style.
ON THE HOLY TWELVE ROMAN MARTYRS.
A notice from the Greek Calendars.
The Twelve Roman Martyrs (Sts.)
J. P.
Of these holy Martyrs our Supplement makes mention on this day, from the Sirmond-Chifflet transcripts, when it records thus: Οἱ ἅγιοι δώδεκα Μάρτυρες Ῥωμαῖοι ξιφει τελ. That is: The holy twelve Roman Martyrs are perfected by the sword. In exactly the same manner they are marked in the Mazarin Menæon; except that there, with the article prefixed, it says οἱ Ῥωμαῖοι, That is: the Romans. In both places this distich is fitted to them: Ῥώμης παλαιᾶς δώδεκα βλαστοὺς, Λόγε, That is: Twelve shoots of ancient Rome, O Word,
Τραχηλοτμήτους Μάρτυρας δέξαι νέους. That is: receive as new Martyrs these whose necks were cut off. In Latin: The twice-six shoots which ancient Rome gives, mown down, O Christ, receive as new Martyrs. Nor do we have anything more that we might bring forward concerning the age, arena, and so forth of those Martyrs; for all things are hidden from us.