ON SS. FLORENTIUS AND COMPANIONS.
UNDER DECIUS.
HISTORICAL COMMENTARY. The cult, relics, churches: foreign Acts transferred to them.
Florentius, Martyr of Perusia (St.) Julianus, Martyr of Perusia (St.) Cyriacus, Martyr of Perusia (St.) Marcellinus, Martyr of Perusia (St.) Faustinus, Martyr of Perusia (St.)
BY THE AUTHOR D. P.
[1] After these holy Martyrs were proposed to the universal Church from the Roman Martyrology, revised and augmented at the mandate of Gregory XIII, to be honored on June 5, as if they were venerated at Perusia on such a day, wrongly ascribed to the day June 5, beheaded in the persecution of Decius; the same who in that revision and amplification had the chief parts, Cesare Cardinal Baronius, then still a Presbyter of the Congregation of the Oratory, and soon illustrated it with Notes, in these says that the ancient Manuscripts of that Church treat of them. But this Church celebrates these same Saints on this day, by the testimony of Philippo Ferrari in both Catalogues, because from the Acts they met death for Christ on the Kalends of June. Whence, and from what has been said above, it appears that the Amplifiers of the Martyrology used little faithful information about the Perusian Martyrs: they are venerated on the 1st, as on their birthday. it appears also that Jacobilli erred from the truth, when, referring the Saints on the authority of the Roman Martyrology to the 5th day, he says that this was the day of their Passion, but the first that of the translation. But not even the 5th day itself was the day of the Translation, at least such of which any memory exists, which is found none before the year 1348, which also Jacobilli himself cites, as found in Pompeo Pellini, Author of the History of Perusia, published about the year 1622 in three volumes in the vernacular language.
[2] That memory we have from an old Manuscript, transcribed by the very hand of Pellini, the Bodies translated in the year 1348, on May 4, after the old Acts rendered into Italian from the Latin, before the longer paraphrase of them, which he had prepared to be inserted into his History, and before the printing offered to his Most Illustrious and Most Reverend Bishop, Napoleone Comitoli, an old man most zealous for promoting the honor of God and of his Saints. The original words of the aforesaid Memory, Latin from the Italian, are these: In the year 1358 (read 1348), on May 2, the body of St. Florentius was found, which was under the Major altar; and on May 4 (this was then a Sunday) all the Religious orders and Confraternities of the city processed to the church of St. Florentius; the Perusian city is purged of the bubonic plague: and his Body was carried in procession through almost the whole city, out of devotion, praying God that through his mercy he might deign to stay the very great pestilence which was raging (Pellini adds, not only here, but also in all other places, within and outside Italy; and Matteo Villani in book 1 chapter 1 calls it bubonic, and testifies that it was altogether universal). But it ceased in this city, through the intercession of the glorious Martyr St. Florentius: and afterward the aforesaid Body was replaced in the aforementioned church, under the major altar, and it was found that the Body itself was without a head.
[3] in this is the church of St. Florentius, That church, together with the adjoining monastery, was once of the Benedictine Monks; who to this day hold at Perusia the Abbey of St. Peter, introduced into that church (which formerly was the Cathedral) in the year 965 by Honestus then Bishop, as Ughelli writes; before perhaps dwelling at St. Florentius's; and so, the Abbot now translated, the very church of St. Florentius being converted into a Priory, must have lost much of its splendor, and, as was consequent, the fervor of popular devotion toward St. Florentius also must have withered. But I would believe his Body was brought there immediately from the first foundation of the monastery, perhaps in the 8th or 9th century, when the monasteries of this institute were especially multiplied throughout Italy, the discipline derived from Cassino, restored by Blessed Petronax. That Body had lain before, by the testimony of Jacobilli, in the suburban Parochial church, called St. Mary at Fenestrillae (whence perhaps in the aforesaid Passion of Sts. Gratinianus and Felinus the name Fanestri crept in), but now Montarone, that is Mons Tyrrhenus, says Jacobilli; adding, that this suburban church, renewed about the year 1525, and under it the place of the first burial of the Saints, was a member of the church of St. Florentius of Perusia; and that, as I indeed judge, from the beginning of the Benedictine foundation in that city. But since there the frequenting, and probably also the discipline, had utterly failed; the monastery was aggregated to the Abbey of Monte-acuto of the Cistercian Order; and then in the year 1394 granted to the likewise Cistercian Monks of Bosco-funesto, surnamed of the Body of Christ; and at last in the year 1445 the Fathers of the Order of the Servites of Blessed Mary were introduced there, and even now dwell there. So Jacobilli.
[4] These things it will help to have set out, that it may be known what was the fortune of the sacred Body, carried from the suburb into the city from that place, perhaps once common to them and to Sts. Gratinianus and Felinus. from which very place perhaps Amizo received the bodies of Sts. Gratinianus and Felinus, to be translated to Arona (as said above) in the year 879. But it is probable that there was no other ancient cause for venerating them on the 1st with St. Florentius, than that they were believed to have suffered together on such a day. This also the Arona Acts seem to indicate, although they made Florentius a Bishop of Perusia, whom Vincentius or Decentius succeeded, the keeper of the sacred Bodies. Nor would this be difficult to believe, if there were held some more certain foundation than the Arona Acts are. Now the Acts of St. Florentius himself oppose, copies of which existed in the monastic churches of Sts. Florentius and Peter, and in the Cathedral of St. Laurence, Who have with them both the day and the Acts in common, and were seen by them, Pellini and Ferrari write, and Jacobilli, who at least followed their eyes; although I understand they now appear nowhere, after a diligent inquiry made at my request by our Perusian Fathers. Perhaps they were ashamed to exhibit longer, as the Acts of Sts. Florentius and his Companions, what it was established were word for word (if you change the proper names) the same with the Acts of Sts. Secundianus and his Companions, occurring on August 9; which, as they alone were anciently known, so are also found in several older Legendaries of several nations under the names of these, not likewise under the names of those, inscribed in no old Martyrology.
[5] That this may be more clearly evident, and at the same time more certain about the second metamorphosis of the same Acts indicated above; it pleases to produce them from the Manuscript Codex of the Orvieto church, but borrowed from the Acts of St. Secundianus and his Companions, such as we would also find found by Surius in some German Library, had he not rendered the diction a little more Latin, with a labor perhaps fitting to those times, but now little welcome to the students of antiquity. Meanwhile I would prefer to believe that the first metamorphosis of the Acts was made at Perusia, after the discovery mentioned above of the year 1348; the cult of the Saints reflourishing, and the Monks thinking it unworthy if they could show no Acts of them. But hence it would follow as consequent, that the other metamorphosis was made on that example at Arona, after a similar discovery in the year 1489; unless perchance by ocular testimony, with arbiters practiced in such things, it can be demonstrated that the Arona Codex is much older.
[6] Yet on account of the uncertainty of the Acts, thus mutually borrowed, The Body of St. Florentius again stays a plague in the year 1400, let no one think that the Martyrdom and cult of St. Florentius, confirmed (as we have shown) by the usage of so long a time, can be made uncertain to us. For even in the year 1400, the Cistercians now possessing the church with the body; while again a very great pestilence raged at Perusia, and very many of the citizens died daily; with the utmost diligence of the Magistrates, and no less expense of the public money, it was provided (as Pellini teaches from the vernacular Manuscripts, professing to transcribe the very formal words) that processions should be instituted; for which the bodies of Sts. Florentius and Cyriacus were drawn out, and carried in procession through the whole city; on account of the singular confidence which the Perusian people had placed in their intercession on such an occasion. and in the year 1622, is examined by the Bishop. Hence it came about that, when, about the year 1622, before the same Most Illustrious and Most Reverend Napoleone, from the larger chest, which was under the chief altar in the church of St. Florentius, two smaller ones were drawn out; Pellini, present there, and (as most skilled in Perusian matters, of which he had then begun to weave a history) being asked what he thought was contained in them; confidently answered; whatever it was, whether of ashes or of bones, it seemed to be of St. Florentius; and that he was induced to that opinion by certain places of the Manuscript Codices left by some citizens, who were careful to consign daily to paper whatever happened in their times worthy of memory. Pellini, ordered to collect such places into one, drew up that Commentary, which, by the care of Father Silvestro Pietrasanta, our Bollandus received from Rome. Moreover the Italian Translation of the Acts inserted in this, the Latin original text being lacking, will be a guiding light to us for the promised comparison of them with the Acts of St. Secundianus and his Companions.
[7] The proper churches of the Companions outside the city are shown. That in the other of the aforesaid little chests were enclosed the bones of St. Cyriacus, although Pellini was unwilling to maintain it, can yet seem not unlike the truth; granted he still has a proper church outside the city, at the first milestone from there toward the south; to which a monastery was added, Jacobilli testifies, and whence, it being itself desolate by the injuries of the times, if the body was brought into the city, it could nowhere more aptly be placed, than with Florentius his companion of passion and cult. The common people call that place San Chierico, which was born to signify rather St. Clericus, than St. Cyriacus. But not far distant from this, says the now-often-cited Jacobilli, is another church of St. Faustinus, where his body perhaps still lies hidden. But from the other side toward the north, but at an interval of five miles, is Mons-Juliani, perhaps for a similar cause so called; so that there only remains to be sought a place, formerly or now proper to St. Marcellinus; to whom if Sts. Gratinianus and Felinus are to be joined, we already seem to have found their traces in Ponte-Felcino, and the place of St. Gricinianus, at the fifth mile from the city, or, if you prefer, Rocca-Gratiniani, at the third milestone toward the north.
[8] Pellini and Jacobilli, that they may persuade that the Acts soon to be given were translated from St. Florentius and his companions; Meanwhile the Acts remain proper to St. Secundianus and his Companions, take it to St. Secundianus and his Companions, rather than the contrary, that the true existence of their Martyrs is established from the churches named thence, and from their corporeal presence in these either formerly or even now; but those, they say, Sts. Secundianus, Marcellianus, or Verianus, in what place of Tuscania they suffered or were buried, is not established; and Perusia, says Jacobilli, now the capital of Umbria, is nevertheless a city of Tuscany. But I think they greatly err, while they take the name of Tuscania, as now, so also formerly, for all Etruria or Tuscia; the Acts say that those three Martyrs were judged at Centumcellae, and beheaded outside the city, and their bodies cast into the sea: and all these are more than 60 Roman miles distant from Perusia; but near, that is at an interval of only 16 miles, who suffered outside Centumcellae, toward the north, on the right bank of the river Marta, is the city, called Tuscania by the ancients, but in the later age in which the Acts were composed, Tuscana; and it was (as Ferrari in the Geographical Lexicon) a city otherwise Episcopal, ample and rich, whence the peoples were called Tuscanienses by Pliny; and many think that the region which was called Etruria, was called Tuscia from it: but sixteen times stormed and destroyed, it is now a small city, united to the Bishopric of Viterbo; whose Cathedral church too, otherwise most beautiful, now ruined, is called St. Peter in Tuscia; and in it there is still seen this inscription, and were buried now at Tuscanella. Richard, Prelate of Tuscania, of Centumcellae and Blera, in the year 1093. Hence therefore the Acts are understood, when they say that the Prayers of St. Secundianus and his Companions flourish in the church of Blessed Peter the Apostle, in the city of Tuscana: to which clause consonant is the metrical Epitome, concluded by this verse;
But the venerable flesh of the holy men lies here. The rest we shall say on August 9; but now have the old Acts, to be compared elsewhere with the edition of Surius, though less sincere; and of Bonino Mombrizio, though contracted.
THE ACTS OF SS. Secundianus and his Companions, August 9. Ineptly fitted to Sts. Florentius and his Companions.
FROM THE MANUSCRIPT.
[1] On the fifth day before the Ides of August, in Coloniacum, which is called Colonia, the persecution having arisen under Decius, in the times of Decius Caesar, under the Prefect Valerianus, a very great persecution arose against the Christians a. At the same time there was a certain Secundianus b a civilian (Togatus), who presided over the Palace, a man most eloquent in worldly art, that is in Rhetoric, or Music, or Philosophy, or Arithmetic, and also Astronomy. He was pleasing to all the Illustrious c without reproach. At the same time, while Secundianus was giving counsel to the Prefect Valerianus against the holy Martyrs, this thought came to him, saying in his heart: Why with so great ambition do the Christians desire to die for the name of Christ, Secundianus, discoursing with Marcellianus about the Christians, rather than to live? and he uses this counsel, to inquire more diligently and know truly. And Secundianus the Togatus, hearing the fame of a certain most wise man, named Marcellianus, who himself too was a persecutor of the Christians; asked him to come to his house. And when Marcellianus had come to him, both were filled with joy; and both together began to dispute about the maxims of philosophy; and they returned to grammatical learning, and both together began to discourse about this saying of Virgil, whence Virgil had known d
Now a new offspring is sent down from high heaven: Now comes also the Virgin, the reign of Saturn returns e … And they were as if seething over this saying, of what Virgil had spoken.
[2] and commemorating what they had read about Christ, At the same hour Secundianus said: Let us return to the counsel of the simplicity of doctrine. Marcellianus answered: What counsel of simplicity? Secundianus said, about the Christians, who with so great longing wish to die for the name of Christ, and to be slaughtered rather than to live. Marcellianus said: Are you instructed from their answers; or from what charity or hope do they desire to die for the name of Christ? Secundianus said: Because they say there is a judgment after death; and a resurrection; and because the idols and images which we adore, Christ himself is jealous of these. Marcellianus said: What is Christ? Secundianus answered: As to the allegorical sense of the proper meaning, the Anointed. Marcellianus said: If he is the Anointed of God, is he known to be God? Secundianus said: I wonder at your prudence, who have read his books: while we were both occupied in study, and desired to know and grasp some hidden or future things: you know well that we came to his books, and the things which his disciples related I retain well in my knowledge, and I say: That thus said his historiographers, Luke and Matthew, that he illumined a man born blind, cleansed lepers, raised the dead, and heard an answer from heaven, and the confession of demons saying, that he himself, Christ, is the Son of God, for whom with the utmost ambition these desire to die rather than to live. Whence therefore I say this; As far as is proved by their testimony, he is God, and, as these above designate and affirm, the Son of God, to whom God speaks. Whom indeed slain by Pontius Pilate, they preach crucified, pierced with a lance, buried; and after the third day alive, and eating, many saw him; and after some days that he ascended into the heavens, with eyes seeing, who testify that they crucified him. When we know this, and remember to have read many other things, how do we adore Gods, whom we have known always to have lived basely? Marcellianus said: Truly I retain that I have read all things thus. Secundianus said: Then now let us know, that just is the love of the Christians, who desire to die for the name of Christ.
[3] As they were saying these and similar things, there came to them a certain friend of theirs f Virianus, and when he had entered to their greeting; together with him and Virianus arriving he began to ask them some things about the doctrine of worldly art. Secundianus the Togatus said: I, unhappy, who always adored false and mute idols, what shall I do? who tortured all the Saints, for the glory of Valerianus, and to my confusion? Virianus answered and said: I have been made mad: here I know another doctrine. Masters and friends of the Princes, do not judge this: because you will be in the number of those accused, who preach this doctrine. Secundianus the Togatus answered and said: Hear me, and let us believe in the Lord God Christ; and let us believe by the examples of those who so desire to lose this life, that they may enjoy the eternal. Virianus answered: If there is anything eternal, he decides to profess the faith, it is right that it be sought. Secundianus said: I have come to know it by shedding much blood. At the same hour they sent to a certain Presbyter, named Timothy of the Title of Pastor: who when he had come and entered to them, Secundianus thus saluted him, saying to him: I ask you by Christ, whom you preach, do not delay to baptize me in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. So also Marcellianus asked. Then blessed Timothy the Presbyter catechized them, who thus said in the confession g: Do you believe in God the Father Almighty? and he said, I believe. and receives baptism. Likewise blessed Timothy the Presbyter said: And in Jesus Christ his Son, our only Lord? and he answered, I believe. Likewise, who was conceived of the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary? and he answered, I believe. And blessed Timothy the Presbyter said, And I baptize you, in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, that you may believe the remission of sins. He answered, I believe, with tears. Likewise Virianus and Marcellianus were similarly baptized. But Blessed h Sixtus the Bishop was summoned, and signed them with the sign of the Cross.
[4] But from that same day they began to dispense all their goods to the poor. After two months Secundianus the Togatus is required by the Prefect Valerianus; to whom it was announced that he had become a Christian; Afterward summoned to the Prefect Valerianus, for also other i Scholastics, Marcellianus and Virianus, had become Christians. The Prefect Valerianus answered: How can this happen: for he himself persecuted the Christians? & k as if on account of friendships he sent to him this Epistle: To his brother Secundianus the Togatus, Valerianus the Prefect, solicitous of our friendship. That you do not come to our counsel, I wonder: yet deign to come to us, for there are things for which we require you: wherefore do not delay to come in good time to learn the affair of the republic. And receiving this epistle, he goes to him with his companions, undaunted; St. Secundianus read it: and said to the holy Martyrs Marcellianus and Virianus: Brethren, know that our time has come: let us prepare ourselves for war: now we are clothed with the arms of faith, let us fear nothing. And he said to Marcellianus and Virianus: I alone will go to the Prefect Valerianus. They answered and said: We therefore will come with you. And at daybreak all three went to the palace l of Sallust, because he dwelt there with Decius. And it was announced to the Prefect Valerianus, that Secundianus the Togatus was present.
[5] Hearing this, Valerianus, going out, sat in the basilica which is surnamed m of Asclepius. And when he had entered before him, suddenly his countenance was changed: and having openly professed the faith of Christ, and Valerianus said to him: O man most eloquent in all prudence, what is it that I hear about you? To whom Secundianus said: I have said nothing, what have you heard? Valerianus answered: I have heard from others, that you have become mad. Secundianus the Togatus answered, and said to the Prefect Valerianus: I indeed have become more prudent. The Prefect Valerianus says to him, then for what have you obtained the name of Christianity? Secundianus answered, and said to the Prefect Valerianus: If you understood or knew; you would desire the same. Do you not remember, how many and what sort are the Martyrs of my Lord, who despised the world, scorned riches, that they might come to eternal life, whom I by your command tortured? Wretched and unhappy I, who have everlasting reproach! Yet I believe, that my Lord Jesus Christ, who reigns forever, relaxes it for me. The Prefect Valerianus said, Then have you become a Christian? Secundianus the Togatus said: And truly a Christian. Then, smiling, the Prefect Valerianus said: Do not, friend, lose the old friendship of me and Caesar. Secundianus said: Your friendship be with you, which is known to be hostile to our creator: and take counsel for yourself. For if you knew that for which you were born, abhorring idols, you would be clean. Therefore thus says Isaiah the Prophet, Let those who are clean become clean, and let those who are filthy be filthy still: but you have once been made filthy.
[6] He is led to prison, Valerianus said; Friend, have I done you any injury? I do not despise the old friendship, but I hasten to care for it: and he ordered him to be thrust back into custody. And while he was being led by the soldiers, Virianus and Marcellianus began to cry out: Why do you thrust back the innocent? But if for the name of Christ, we too are Christians. Then it was announced to the Prefect Valerianus about the other two. Then the Prefect Valerianus commanded them to be thrust back together into custody, saying: as also his companions: Until they are referred to Caesar, let them be held. And the Prefect Valerianus, entering to Decius Caesar, found him most joyful: to whom he thus said: By your eminence and my subjection, I suggest to your piety this present most joyful hour, if your piety has learned, Secundianus the Togatus, a most prudent man, has become a Christian. To whom Decius Caesar answered: It cannot happen: he himself tortured all who dared to confess this name: how can it happen that he too obtains this name? The Prefect Valerianus said: I have already examined him, and committed him as guilty to custody. the matter is laid before the Emperor Decius. Decius said to the Prefect Valerianus: Let him be brought to me more speedily. The Prefect Valerianus said: Let your gentleness command. On another day he is presented to the sight of Decius Caesar: and Decius Caesar said to him; Secundianus, why is your countenance changed? Secundianus said, is it better or brighter? Then Decius Caesar saw his countenance like an Angel's; and smiling said to him: Let your old prudence be your patron. Secundianus answered, that is foolishness and hostile to everyone. Then Decius Caesar said to him, What do you answer? Secundianus answered, saying, I am a Christian. Decius Caesar said to him, withdraw from madness, and live β. Secundianus answered; You withdraw and live: because alive you are dead.
[7] who banishes him with his Companions to Centumcellae: At the same hour it was announced to Decius Caesar, that two other Scholastics like him were in custody. And Decius Caesar said with fury, Let them be deported into exile. The Prefect Valerianus said to Decius Caesar: Where does your piety command? Decius Caesar said, Let them be led to Centumcellae o, and handed over to Promotus the Consular, and constrained to offer sacrifices to the gods. But on the same day they were led by fifty p soldiers, and handed over to Quartus Promotus the Consular. At the same hour, having received them, he put them in custody with thirty soldiers, bound with chains, because this was commanded: They do not deserve to live, where, interrogated by Promotus the Consular, if they have not sacrificed to the gods according to the ancient custom. And when Promotus the Consular of Tuscia had said this, on another day he ordered a tribunal to be prepared for him in the city of Centumcellae, in the forum: and sitting in the tribunal, he ordered to be brought before him, in the sight of all and of the magistrates, the image of Saturn and a tripod: and he commanded Secundianus and Marcellianus and Virianus to be brought. They were brought as victors of Christ. He answered to them with a herald's voice: Let the contumacious of the Caesars and rebels of the gods be brought in. When they had been brought in, Promotus the Consular of Tuscia said to them: Why do you not obey the precepts of the Princes, and humble yourselves to the gods? Secundianus answered: Let us deserve to hear the precepts of God omnipotent, not of the devil. Promotus the Consular of Tuscia says to them: Hear me, most prudent men and friends of wisdom, and sacrifice. They all answered: We ourselves, if we deserve it, offer ourselves a sacrifice to God, not to the devil; with whom you and your Princes, now condemned forever, will die, doing the will of man for a time.
[8] At the same hour he ordered them to be stripped, and beaten with cudgels, with a herald's voice, saying: beaten with cudgels, Obey the precepts of the Princes. And while they were long beaten, they cried out γ saying, Glory to thee, Lord, because we have deserved to enter into thy rest. And Promotus the Consular of Tuscia ordered them to be raised from the ground: to whom he said: Behold the Sacred thing: sacrifice. But they spitting on the image, δ it fell and was broken. Hearing this ε Promotus the Consular of Tuscia turned pale, and torn with claws on the rack, and angry ordered them all one by one to be hung on the rack, and their sides scraped with the claws q of goats, saying to them with a herald's voice, Sacrifice to the gods. But they, raising their eyes to ς heaven, said; We give thanks to thee, Lord Jesus Christ. And Promotus the Consular of Tuscia, angry, ordered that lamps be placed at their sides. And while they were being roasted, and burned with lamps, suddenly one of the executioners' ministers died: and another, seized by a demon, began to cry out and say; O Secundianus, Virianus, Marcellianus, Saints of the omnipotent God, why do you torment us? Then Promotus the Consular of Tuscia, seeing this, full of wrath, gave sentence upon them, that they be beheaded, and their bodies cast into the sea. ζ
[9] They were led to the place which is called Coloniacum, which is called Colonia, at the sixty-second r milestone from the City of Rome; they are beheaded. and there they were beheaded, and their bodies they had cast into the sea. η On that very night there came a certain servant of God named s Deodatus, and gathered the bodies, which he found at the shore of the sea, and two heads: but on another day, he found the other head t, and joined it to the bodies of the holy Secundianus, Marcellianus, and Virianus, illustrious men; whom he also buried near the place where they were beheaded, on the fifth day before the Ides of August. Whose prayers flourish in the church of Blessed Peter the Apostle in the city of Tuscana, θ while our Lord Jesus Christ reigns, to whom is honor and glory through the infinite ages of ages. Amen.
ANNOTATIONS BY D. P.
p The same Manuscripts, thirty.
q The claws of goats, among the torments of the Martyrs, I have not yet read elsewhere: meanwhile the opinion of our Seneschal pleases, who thinks that here are signified iron instruments, with their forked extremity referring to a goat's hoof and the like; certainly more apt for scraping and furrowing the sides, as Tertullian, Jerome, Augustine speak; than those whose figure Gallonio exhibits, in the book on the tortures of the Martyrs, Table 13 letter A.
r By such reckoning would be understood some place in the borders of the County of Castro, where meanwhile there is no trace of such a name. The Perusian one, far from the city, at one mile on the near side of the Tiber, in a wooded place called Funesto: and consequently they say the bodies were cast into the Tiber.
s The same Manuscripts name Superantius, sent by Bishop Decentius, Rector (note the novelty of the title from almost present-day usage) of the church of St. Mary.
t The same change nothing concerning the number of heads found; which yet the reasoning of consequence seemed to require.
Moreover the Hexameters taken out from the text are these, of which perhaps several are lacking at the beginning.
α The birth then of Christ is praised in these verses.
β But Decius strives by words to turn the Saints.
γ With hard beatings he condemns and burns the Saints.
δ To make these bear the Sacred thing to the gods, you are foolish, Promotus.
ε But by the spittle of the Saints the image is soon broken.
ς But the executioners mangle them for the name of Christ.
ζ He commands, and by the bitter sword the Saints are beheaded.
η Into the sea the limbs of the holy and pious are cast.
θ But the venerable flesh of the holy men lies here.
APPENDIX ON THE RELICS OF ST. FLORENTIUS, translated from Perusia to Douai, to the church of the Society of Jesus.
BHL Number: 7550
BY THE AUTHOR D. P.
[1] The Relics of St. Florentius having been brought to Douai in the year 1651, Rev. Father Florent de Montmorency was most celebrated among us, not only for the illustrious nobility of his lineage, but also for having held all the chief offices in governing the Society, both the universal one and both Belgian ones, almost up to the supreme Generalate. Him, when, Father Francesco Piccolomini being dead, Goswin Nickel, elected by the 10th Congregation as successor, after Alessandro Gottifredi, destined as Visitor for both Belgian Provinces, once happily governed by him, in the year 1650; he came with such a treasure of sacred Relics, copiously collected in Italy, that there is almost no church or oratory of either Province, to which he did not impart a notable portion of some Saint's body. But what, out of his singular reverence toward the Patrons of his name, he held most dear, namely the leg-bone of St. Florentius the Martyr of Perusia, he gave to the College of Douai, The Acts are illustrated by Michel Seneschal over which he had thrice been Rector: and he had the exaltation solemnly celebrated the year soon following. To make that action more illustrious, Michel Seneschal, an altogether learned man, published a little book under this title, The Noble Contest of St. Florentius, the Roman Togatus, the unconquered Martyr of Perusia, the dispeller of pestilence, and Protector against it: where the Acts produced above are given with an elegant paraphrase; with Notes also added, whence I profess to have borrowed somewhat above.
[2] He also added a Preface, with similar notes; in which he did not omit to indicate the agreement of these Acts with the Acts of Sts. Secundianus and his Companions: and first he tries to find some difference between the two; but not much trusting this difference, he inclines to this, that those Acts were not translated from St. Secundianus to St. Florentius; but the contrary. For it at once appears to him more probable, and to a certain extent they are defended as genuine: that at Centumcellae, a city formerly not so noble and long since utterly destroyed, the monuments of St. Secundianus perished, which afterward were supplied from elsewhere; than that at Perusia the Acts of St. Florentius perished; which city from the very times of Caesar Augustus, not only stood, but even flourished, to this day. Then, since Decius, in the year in which he killed these holy Martyrs, and not at all at its very end, is to be said to have perished; with great difficulty will the last departure of Decius from the city and his setting out for Moesia, where he often clashed with the enemy, whom he even at one time as it were besieged, be deferred to the end of the month of July, in which (if we believe the Acts) he ordered Secundianus to be led to Promotus. But if at the beginning of June, after Florentius was condemned, Decius is said to have undertaken the expedition, all the things which are narrated by the historians could have been accomplished conveniently enough. But these are not such as can confer great weight toward attributing the Acts first to this one or that, written several centuries after the passion of each; and the Acts which are found under the name of St. Secundianus are much more ancient than those under the name of St. Florentius.
[3] The 12th Chapter of the little book itself, having related the translation of the body to Perusia, Seneschal thus concludes. That temple (which, named from St. Florentius, we mentioned in the preliminary Commentary) is among the most ancient that are seen at Perusia; his church at Perusia is described, so much so that they deny that any memory of its beginnings exists in the old monuments of the city. This one thing is acknowledged, that from the very beginning it had the right of a parish; and, after various vicissitudes of affairs, by the authority of Eugenius IV the Supreme Pontiff it passed to the Reverend Fathers Servites of Blessed Mary. In it stands the effigy of St. Florentius, of youthful appearance, in the posture of one praying, with one knee bent, hands joined, eyes lifted to heaven; with a sword to his side, not so much hung, the effigy, as lying beside it: which last (as I hear) some at Perusia thus interpret, as if the sword were a sign of an office, held in the court of Caesar, of whom they wish Florentius to have been a councilor. But besides that this is far from the truth (granted that by our customs the administrators of Princes, even the Togati, distinguish themselves from others by that bearing) yet whether it was used in the flourishing Empire, and namely in the age of Decius, I scarcely know if it can easily be proved. I would rather believe that by it was signified that the head of the most valiant soldier of Christ was cut off by the sword. The youthful countenance can be referred to the custom of those times of shaving the beard to the skin; whereby it happens that in ancient statues and coins, even manly age breathes a certain pleasing vigor of youth.
[4] and protection against pestilence. Seneschal then proceeds to demonstrate in chapter 13, that St. Florentius is held the dispeller of pestilence, and Protector against it, by the same arguments which we used in the preliminary Commentary, of the years 1348 and 1400; and he adds an elegant banner hung at the altar of St. Florentius in the year 1476, to be carried about in supplications against raging pestilence to be instituted in future time. And most recently, says he, in the year 1629, when all Tuscia was devastated by the contagion of a most savage plague, the Perusians, a public Council of the city having been held, again chose St. Florentius among their singular Presidents and Patrons on the 29th day of January. But the Martyr so protected his clients, that they were not breathed upon by even the slightest breeze of pestilence, among so many funerals of the neighboring cities. The little book is finally closed by the public instruments, giving credence to the Translation made from Perusia to Douai, taking their beginning from that which the Reverend Fathers Servites of the Blessed Virgin Mary, of the Province of Mantua, signed in their Convent of St. Florentius.
[5] We the undersigned give credence, and attest with the word of truth, The acts are published that a particle of the bones and relics of St. Florentius, placed in a wooden chest, colored with a red color and other colors … sealed with the parochial seal of the church of St. Florentius by me, F. Giovanni Battista Petrocchi of Perusia, of the Order of the Servites, Parish priest of the said church, by the mandate of the Reverend Father Master Ippolito Bezani of Ferrara, Prior General of the whole Religion of the Servites, under the date, at Bologna, on the 18th and 22nd day of the month of December 1649, consigned in the said little chest to the Illustrious and Reverend Lord Giuseppe Maria San-Felice, Governor General of Perusia and Umbria; was, truly, really, and with effect, and is, drawn out, taken, and extracted (from that same little chest, in which the Relics of the said St. Florentius are preserved, of the extraction from the chest, by the Servite Fathers; existing upon the altar of Relics of the said church of St. Florentius, of the city of Perusia, and of the same Order of the Servites. And this we say and attest, because we saw, examined, and were present. In faith of which, I the same Fr. Giovanni Battista as above, wrote, subscribed, and fortified with the usual seal of the said Parish, and confirmed by oath, on this fifth day of February 1650. I, Fr. Carlo Bonacquisti of Perusia, of the Order of the Servites, because I saw, examined, and was present, therefore subscribed with my own hand in faith.
[6] of the donation made to Father Gian Paolo Oliva, These things received, the same San-Felice, now designated Archbishop of Cosenza, gave, to the Reverend Father Gian Paolo Oliva, then Rector of the German College and Pontifical Preacher, afterward Superior General of the whole Society, after Father Goswin Nickel died, a letter of this kind. Most Reverend Father and much to be respected. Behold the sacred Relics of St. Florentius, together with their authentic Documents, to which I myself would have added my own Testimony, had not these, set forth by the Reverend Fathers Servites, abundantly sufficed. Your Paternity knows from what cause I have hitherto delayed to send them, and how I desire from my heart to obey him at his first nod. On Monday last that one of the Fathers first returned here from Rome, who kept with himself the key of the sacred reliquary; and soon he found me here a rigid exactor of the promise. The holy gift I do not send adorned with that elegance which is due to divine things; because, since the Servite Fathers enclosed it in this manner in their own box, I was unwilling to transfer it into another, lest it be a fraud to their authentic Instrument. But neither was it permitted me, through the straits of time, to add a new ornament to it, as I would have wished. Let your Paternity hold welcome the precious gift contained in this case, and at the same time the sincere affection of him who follows it with singular veneration. At Perusia, on the 6th day of February 1650.
[7] The following year, coming (as I said) into Belgium, the Reverend Father Florent de Montmorency, at Lille on July 1 testified and of the approbation by the Vicars of Arras. that he had received at Rome, from the hand of the Reverend Father Gian Paolo Oliva, the notable bone of St. Florentius, Martyr of Perusia, enclosed in the said Chest, with the adjoined authentic testimony, and had given it to the College of the Society of Jesus at Douai. These things seen; We the Vicars General of the vacant Episcopal See of Arras, give credence, say they, and attest, on behalf of the Reverend Father Hubert Wiltheim, Vice-Provincial of the Gallo-Belgic Society of Jesus, and Rector of the College of Douai, of the Diocese of Arras, that there was exhibited to us a wooden Chest, signed with five seals, of the same form in which the seal at the side of the above-written instrument is expressed; which chest, in the presence of the Reverend Father Antoine le Febure, Presbyter of the same Society, we unsealed; and in it we first found the above-written Instrument, together with the Epistle of the Illustrious and Reverend Lord Giuseppe Maria San-Felice, Governor General of Perusia and Umbria, written to the Reverend Father Gian Paolo Oliva on February 6, 1650; by which he declared that he was transmitting to him the sacred Relics of St. Florentius the Martyr, extracted and consigned to him, as in the same instrument. Then we found the aforesaid Bone of the same St. Florentius, decently covered with white cotton, enclosed in the aforesaid chest by the Reverend Fathers Fr. Giovanni Battista Petrocchi and Fr. Carlo Bonacquisti, Presbyters, Religious of the Order of the Servites of the Blessed Virgin Mary. All which things seen, and diligently considered, we have permitted and permit the aforesaid Bone, as a true particle of the Relics of St. Florentius the Martyr, to be exposed publicly to the veneration of the faithful of Christ in the Church of the Society of Jesus at Douai (to which the Reverend Father Florent de Montmorency, Visitor of the same Society in Belgium for the time, gave it by pious largess). Given at Douai in the year one thousand six hundred fifty-one, on the thirteenth day of the Month of October.
CARDINAL FR. DE LAURETEN. Archdeacon of Arras, Vicar.
[8] These laid up in a precious Reliquary in the year 1652: What further was done at Douai, learn from the History of that College, accustomed to be continued annually after the custom of our Society; where, after the enumeration of various ornaments brought into the treasury of the church in the year 1652, it is thus read. There was added then a reliquary representing the head and breast of St. Florentius the Martyr of Perusia, into which is inserted the leg-bone of the same saint, the gift of the Reverend Father Florent de Montmorency: who, when he was living at Rome as Assistant of our Society, obtained those Relics, by the help of the Italian Magnates, from the Servite Fathers of Perusia: then, money having been collected from the liberality of friends, he had a reliquary made, easily valued at four hundred gold pieces, they are carried into the church with solemn pomp, On the eve of the feast, which falls on the fifth of June, those sacred relics from the Theological School of the College of Anchin, a long order of torches shining before, which were carried partly by selected youths in great number, partly by our Priests vested in linen with the stole, were brought into our church through the neighboring streets, by the chief Fathers, and placed on an altar prepared for this. Here on that day vespers were chanted. The next day the Mass was celebrated with great preparation by the same Reverend Father Florent de Montmorency; a sermon was given to the people on the praises of the unconquered Martyr; to whose cult minds everywhere blazed up, and that especially, because against the pestilent plague there was present a new Protector, by whose help it was established that the Perusian city had more than once been freed from it. Therefore the solemnity was prolonged for a whole octave, now the Magistracy, now the University itself, now other Orders taking care of the solemn Mass, and bearing their vows.
[9] But it availed very much for spreading his cult, the life of the same Martyr, and then instituted in a supplication against the plague, and the noble contest published in print in elegant Latin style, and also in the vernacular: and the Saint began to be venerated there the more earnestly, because toward summer a pestilent disease gradually spreading seized rather many in the city. But when, after the custom, a public supplication was instituted by the Clergy and Religious Orders through the city and walls; and to it, at the request of the Magistrate, the relics of St. Florentius also were carried by the external Priests, so that they had a place among the Clergy: that honor shown to the new guest offended a very few, and namely the Dominican Fathers; who, when it had come to the temple of the Blessed Virgin, in which they were to rest, denied that they would proceed further, unless the order were changed. And indeed the relics of St. Florentius remained there that day, as if God were reserving for them a greater cult. For some citizens, already then devoted to him, conspired that a new Supplication should be instituted, which should be properly of St. Florentius; first with others, of which they also voluntarily undertook the care and expense: and with the Magistrate consenting and accompanying, not many days intervening, they went through the chief streets to the temple of the Blessed Virgin mentioned above: and a Sacrifice having been first made there, they proceeded with solemn pomp around the circuit of the whole city through the walls. It can scarcely be believed how great was then the concourse of the people, how great the piety: and the honor as it were taken from St. Florentius, afterward separately, with the best success. to be restored in this manner, invited very many, with heaven itself congratulating by its serenity. This those of more advanced age assert, that never was a more pious, nor a more frequented supplication seen at Douai. Nor indeed were there lacking very many, who afterward, whether immune amid the dangers of the plague, or even seized by it and thereupon freed, confessed that they owed this to the merits of St. Florentius. For the health restored to a certain pious person there hangs at his image a votive offering, a silver crown; and many candles besides, lit by various persons, burned almost daily the whole summer.