Secundus

ON ST. SECUNDUS.

ABOUT THE YEAR 303.

PRELIMINARY COMMENTARY. Three Cities claiming this Saint for themselves; and his cult also elsewhere, and various Acts.

BY THE AUTHOR G. H.

Several cities of Italy take St. Secundus the Martyr, of whom we treat, on these Kalends of June, among their Patrons and Protectors; and first Ameria, The cult at Ameria, an Episcopal city of Umbria, situated on a pleasant and fertile hill, to which St. Secundus was led away, and thence to the river Tiber, into which he was cast. This is thus set forth in the Roman Martyrology: At Ameria, of St. Secundus the Martyr, who under Diocletian, cast into the Tiber, completed his martyrdom. Antonio Maria Graziani, created Bishop of Ameria in the year 1592, died in the year 1611, wrote an excellent work, on the seven Sacraments of the Church, on the Sacrifice of the Mass, and other Ecclesiastical matters, printed at Venice in the year 1597. To this work at the end are added the Lives of the Saints Patrons of the Church of Ameria, among whom is St. Secundus the Martyr, in whose Life at the end these things are read: The body is believed to have been afterward translated to Ameria, where at the Roman gate, a little outside the walls, in an old building, where there is also a Church of St. Secundus: which is called by the name of St. Secundus, a marble stone was found, inscribed thus: Here lies the body of St. Secundus the Martyr. Yet of the body itself there are no relics, no other trace exists. And the people of Ameria religiously venerate the Martyr himself, adopted among the Saints of the city. So much there. Then Ferrari in the Catalogue of the Saints of Italy asserts that he was buried not far from the city of Ameria; where afterward, a temple having been raised by the people of Ameria, Secundus, the Protector of that city, is venerated by them with chief honor.

[2] The other city, which venerates St. Secundus also among its Protectors, is Gubbio, Episcopal in the Duchy of Urbino, at the roots of the Apennine, but destroyed by the Goths, which is believed once to have reached nearly to the place where now the parish of St. Secundus is seen: but this, the city being now led higher up the mountain, is now seen a little farther off: but mention of it is made in the Life of St. Ubaldus on May 16. There now dwell the Canons Regular of the Congregation of St. Salvator, Likewise at Gubbio who not only in the said Church venerate with solemn cult St. Secundus, but also in the whole Congregation, accustomed to celebrate the Patrons of their older Canonries, under a semidouble rite hold on May 10 the feast of Sts. Secundus, Secundinus, and Agabius the Martyrs; with a church and monastery. but in the Office they recite this Prayer: Be propitious, we beseech, Lord, to thy servants, through the glorious merits of thy holy Martyrs Secundus, Secundinus, and Agabius; that by their pious intercession they may always be protected from all adversities. Then at the second Nocturn are prescribed Lessons, to be recited from the Acts of the martyrdom of St. Secundus, and he is said to have suffered on the Kalends of June. Then there is added: The Festivity of Sts. Secundinus and Agabius and their companions, who at Cirta in Numidia, under the persecution of Valerian, suffered, on the third before the Kalends of June (rather of May), whose bodies lie buried in the same Church of St. Secundus. There suffered with them in Numidia St. James the Deacon and Marianus the Lector, whose bodies too are preserved at Gubbio in the Cathedral building dedicated to them.

[3] The third city, famous for the veneration of the holy Martyrs St. Secundus, Agapitus, and Justina the Virgin. then at Pergula, with Agapitus and Justina, Pergula, in the same Duchy of Urbino, on the river Cesano, distant from Gubbio toward the sea about 20 Roman miles. Concerning the finding of the Relics, indeed also the Translation, of these Martyrs, to the Church of St. Augustine among the people of Pergula, we give below the authentic Instrument, which Henricus Lindanus, a Belgian Priest of the Society of Jesus, formerly penitentiary at Loreto, submitted to us, and at the same time the proper Ecclesiastical Office, which is wholly taken, in the Hymns, Antiphons, and Responsories, from the Acts of the Martyrdom which we give from the Pergula Manuscript.

[4] The fourth city is Tuscanella, in Etruria, whence there was sent to us long ago, with public credence, a Manuscript Commentary about the 25 Saints resting in the Cathedral there, to be of use on August 9, when three chief Patrons are venerated there, namely Sts. Secundianus, Marcellianus, and Verianus, whose Acts we have given today, on the occasion of Sts. Florentius and his Companions, to whom they were fitted. Among those also there is named St. Secundus, whose Office therefore is held there today under a double rite, and finally at Tuscanella. of the common of one Martyr; but the feast of the Translation, celebrated by Pope Lucius III, from the then Suburban church of St. Peter to the Urban one of St. Mary Major in the year 1183, is honored on May 4. But it can be believed that this Secundus, different from the one of whom we treat, was brought to Tuscanella from Rome from some of the cemeteries, when there were brought thither from the same place the Relics of Sts. Cornelius and Pontianus the Pontiffs.

[5] The fifth city is Spoleto, in which the Saint, subjected to questioning, and tortured with various torments, received the sentence of drowning. To these Lodovico Jacobilli, in the first volume on the Saints of Umbria published in Italian, The same is said to have been tortured at Spoleto, adds the city of Rome, because St. Secundus is said to have been born there of the lineage of the Emperor Aurelian, and, having embraced the Christian religion, at the time of the persecution to have hidden with other Christians in the cemeteries and catacombs, and thence to have fled into Umbria. born at Rome, For which matter are cited Manuscript Lessons preserved in the Church of St. Francis of Gualdo, which we have not seen. At Pulvesa too, an island of Lake Trasimene, there is a church with a monastery of the Olivetans, dedicated to St. Secundus, where also a great bone of the arm is preserved.

[6] the church of Pulvesa. There are given by us in the first place the Acts of the martyrdom, not such as we would wish from Proconsular writings, or at least venerable for distinguished antiquity; but such as could have been composed in the 10th century, from the tradition of the elders; from which we believe the name of the judge, and the place and manner of the martyrdom, could have been had; the rest, namely the conversations held between the Saint and the Proconsul, we receive as composed by the Author from probability. Those Acts were sent to us from the Pergula Manuscript by the above-praised Lindanus; and we collated them with the Manuscript Codex unearthed from the monastery of Böddeken in the diocese of Paderborn by Johannes Gamans, likewise one of ours: for from these seem composed the Lessons The Acts of the Martyrdom, which are recited by the Canons Regular of the Congregation of St. Salvator. The people of Ameria, not content with these, because the style seemed too simple, composed others drawn out with more words: of which a copy, written in the year 1568 by Tullio Geraldini, we found at Rome with Giovanni Battista Maro, the others omitted, Canon of the Collegiate Church of St. Angelo in the fish market; and we collated it with another Manuscript which, found in the Vallicellan Library of the Fathers of the Congregation of the Oratory, we took care to have written out, although some verses and certain other things were interposed, which pleased less: yet neither do we now think should be produced; because neither, besides the style, brings anything new, by which it may deserve to be inserted into this work. The third Acts we received from Fabio Chigi, from the Pergula Manuscript. Apostolic Nuncio, submitted to us from a monastery of Westphalia in the year 1646. He was afterward Supreme Pontiff, and called Alexander VII. These are published by Antonio Maria Graziani Bishop of Ameria, as said above, and reprinted in the third Surian edition; and therefore we thought they should rather be omitted, because they can be read there: and it will be enough to place in the Notes certain things to be observed from all.

THE ACTS From the Gubbio and Böddeken Manuscripts.

Secundus, Martyr, at Ameria in Umbria (St.) Agapitus, Martyr, at Pergula in Italy (St.) Justina, Virgin, Martyr, at Pergula in Italy (St.)

BHL Number: 7558

Prologue. All things which have been done or are being done by the Saints, a if anyone should studiously wish to investigate, present a fruit of edification both to himself and to many; so that, like a fruitful tree, it may not without cause be proved to occupy the ground; which, while it lives, then is itself adorned with its own fruits, and all who wish to receive fruit from it are fattened. We write, as we have heard from the deeds, what the Saints did, what they spoke, what they suffered. Therefore you who hear, show yourselves to be Catholics, who always read and gladly hear the victories of Christ.

[2] In the time of the reign of Maximian Caesar there went forth an edict b from the city of Rome, through the provinces and cities and through the castles, that, St. Secundus, hiding under Maximian at Gubbio, wherever Christians were found, they should be punished without a hearing. But in those times, throughout the neighboring cities, many Christians were hidden; among whom the most blessed Secundus, sprung from the lineage of the Emperor Aurelian c, was hidden in the house of a certain religious and most Christian woman, named Eudoxia, in the city of Julia, which d is called Gubbio, who on continual days administered nourishment to him: and Blessed Secundus was, wholly excellent in the faith of the Apostles, and a prudent minister of Christ, and a receiver of the Saints, serving God with vigils and prayers day and night. And because a lamp cannot be hidden under a measure, nor a city set upon a mountain; it happened, under Dionysius the Proconsul established in the city of Spoleto, when the command of Maximian Augustus had been enjoined upon him, that he began studiously to seek Christians through diverse places: whence it happened that neighbors betrayed neighbors, kinsmen kinsmen, friends friends.

[3] Of which the fame of Blessed Secundus came to the ears of the Proconsul. But this Proconsul Dionysius, hearing of Blessed Secundus, that he was a Christian; kindled into excessive fury, having sent officers to constrain him, ordered him as quickly as possible to be presented to his sight. They, coming with great clamor, found him at the third hour in the bedchamber of the matron Eudoxia: he is seized; and led to Spoleto, and at once without mercy seizing him they bound him with ropes, and led him to Spoleto. But the Proconsul, hearing of his arrival, rejoiced with great joy: who at once ordered him to be presented to him, to whom he also said: From what province are you, young man? Blessed Secundus with a glad voice answered: I am a Christian, and a disciple of Christ. The Proconsul said to him: Of what lineage are you? Blessed Secundus said: As for nobility, I am of the lineage of the Emperor Aurelian, reborn in the faith of the holy Trinity. The Proconsul said to him: Sacrifice to the omnipotent gods, and be a friend of Caesar, as befits a man of such ancestry. Blessed Secundus answered: I offer myself a sacrifice to God for an odor of sweetness: he professes the faith: for the gods of the nations are demons, but the Lord made the heavens; but your gods, with names imposed by dead men, are proved to be wood and stones e. The Proconsul said: Then are they not gods, whom the Roman Religion has chosen? Blessed Secundus answered: They are not gods: [for] as is read in your books, how ill they were born! what wicked, cruel, and criminal parents they had! and because they always lived deceitfully, they ended their life by a most evil death, to go to perpetual death, whence you can still recall yourself.

[4] cruelly beaten, he is divinely comforted: The Proconsul, hearing these things, full of wrath, ordered him to be stripped, and naked to be beaten with a herald's voice, saying: Do not blaspheme those whom Caesar and the Roman religion worship. And Blessed Secundus suffered so long, until the torturers failed: and thereupon the Proconsul ordered him to be thrust into the depths of a most dark place. When he was shut in, immediately a light from heaven shone round about him, and a voice came to him, those who stood around the prison hearing: Secundus, do what you have begun to do, because, crowned with the laurel of martyrdom, you will possess the joys of heaven. But on another day, brought out of the prison, he stood before the President, who said to him: Secundus, do not act insolently, take counsel for your most noble youth, and sacrifice to the God Hercules, and be a friend of Caesar. Blessed Secundus answered: From the time that the invisible and true God began to be worshiped by believers, there was peace and exaltation of the Christian religion, which promises to those hoping in it that retribution which God is to give to those who love him: but to you blind ones, who all the good things, which are granted by the creator of all ages and of all creatures, the Lord Jesus Christ, ascribe not to the creator, but to creatures and idols made by hand, deaf and mute, unless you are converted from your vanities and most evil superstitions, eternal destruction will be repaid:

[5] refusing to sacrifice to Hercules But the Proconsul, with a grim countenance, full of fury, answered: Why do you waver through many things? vain loquacity profits you nothing: sacrifice to the God Hercules: but if not, by the health of the Emperor Maximian, I will kill you with the greatest punishments, and you, proud, will proudly end by a cruel death. Blessed Secundus said to him: You err, Dionysius, persuading that I should forsake the God of heaven and earth, who founded and created the human race, he is tortured on the rack, and adore wooden and stone idols made by hand. The Proconsul answered him: Choose one of two: either sacrifice to the omnipotent gods, or I will kill you with various punishments. Blessed Secundus said to him: May it never be well with you, lost dog, son of iniquity and perdition. And the Proconsul, angered, ordered him to be raised on the rack, and long tortured. And when Blessed Secundus had been raised on the rack, he was sharply tortured. Then he looked with tears to heaven, and said: Lord Jesus Christ, who didst found heaven and earth and all their adornment, and didst make man to thy image, and didst say; I am God, and there is no other besides me; hear thy unworthy servant in this hour, and send thy holy Angel, who may overthrow the temples of the idols, by his prayers he overthrows the idol-temple, because thou art blessed unto the ages of ages. Amen. And suddenly there was an earthquake, and the temple f of Hercules was overthrown, in which the Emperor sacrificed once a year g, and it was a temple of great beauty and amplitude.

[6] And when it was announced to Dionysius the Proconsul, he tore his garments, saying: O how quickly your magic arts have prevailed, and he is tortured again, that you have turned our Lord Hercules into dust! And he ordered him to be taken down from the rack, and again thrust into prison, without food and drink. But Blessed Secundus went exulting, and fortifying himself with the sign of the holy Cross, declining vain ravings and reckoning the momentary torments as nothing, like one invited to a banquet, he was delighted: and again he was consoled with Angelic visitations. But on the fifteenth day the impious Proconsul caused Blessed Secundus to be presented, and to be scourged with thistles, and boiling lead to be poured into his mouth: but he, giving thanks, said; Strengthen me thy servant, my God, and destroy the threats of my adversaries. Convert them, Lord, that they may know thee, and come to their senses from the worship of idols, because thou art blessed unto the ages of ages. And when Blessed Secundus had made his prayer, immediately a great earthquake occurred, so that the Proconsul fled.

[7] And on the next day he ordered sentence to be given, that Blessed Secundus be led to the city of Ameria h, commanding the questioners, at Ameria he is drowned with a stone, that, a great rock being tied to his neck, he be plunged into the Tiber. And when Blessed Secundus had come to the bank of the river, the soldiers tied a millstone to his neck. But he, with bent knees, prayed saying: Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the living God, who by the command of the Father didst save the world, have mercy on thy servant, and send thy Angel, who may receive thy servant, who art blessed unto the ages of ages. Amen. And the prayer completed, they cast him into the Tiber; and returned. Whom immediately, by the nod of God, a most ferocious bear attacked, and killed of them eight men; but the rest, mangled, fled. But confessing Christ, in whom Blessed Secundus believed, they came to Blessed i Eutychius the Presbyter, and cast themselves at his feet, the lictors are punished, saying: Have mercy on us, Lord, and teach us the faith of Blessed Secundus, whom we unjustly by the order of Dionysius killed in the river, and make us partners of Christ. Blessed Eutychius said to them: If with your whole heart you believe in Christ, all things are forgiven you. But they with one voice said: We believe in Christ, in whom Blessed Secundus believed. And water having been received, he baptized them, and confirmed in the faith of the holy Trinity dismissed them in peace: now they were twelve men.

[8] he himself is buried. A certain fisherman named Maurus, while on a certain day he was fishing, found the body of St. Secundus near the bank of the river without the millstone k; and at once seizing it he hid it under a tree. When these things had been spread abroad, the aforesaid Eudoxia went, and took the body of Blessed Secundus, and translated it to the city of Julia, which is called Gubbio, whence the said Saint had been led: and buried him near l the already-mentioned city of Gubbio, at the 16th mile, in peace m. Where his prayers flourish in the power of many miracles, even to the present day: to the honor of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom with the Father and the Holy Spirit is honor and glory, unto the ages of ages. Amen.

ANNOTATIONS BY D. P.

APPENDIX. On the bodies of Sts. Secundus, Agapitus, and Justina, Martyrs and Protectors of the people of Pergula.

BHL Number: 7561

BY THE AUTHOR D. P.

The Acts of St. Agapitus desired on May 10, The same one who transcribed for us the Passion of St. Secundus, consequently on the same sheet of paper (for he had used a most minute character) wrote down also the Legends of two other Saints, such as they were found at Pergula; and this was the reason why in this place I sought in vain the deposited sheet for May 10 and its Appendix, on account of St. Agapitus, whose passion I believed assigned to that day. Him therefore being related among the Passed Over, for defect of sufficient knowledge about the cult, I wrote once and again to various ones, whom I believed could do something at Pergula, for recovering the Acts of St. Agapitus. Then indeed I received them twice: first indeed, by the care of our Father Frederico Burlamacchi; and again, by the intervention of the Most Reverend Father Domenico Frederici of the Congregation of the Oratory of St. Philip Neri, dwelling in the city of Fano near Pergula; a man a lover of letters if any other, and an esteemer of the learned; which both his past life and his present library make manifest, which he procured for himself most well-furnished and arranged most elegantly. But the printing was now held finished, and afterward received in a triple copy, not only of the second Volume, to which that Saint would have pertained; but also of the seventh, to which are appended the Appendices to the earlier volumes, and where again I had indicated a desire to recover the lost Acts. In the penultimate page of the book nevertheless, suggesting again some things to be corrected or added in the very Appendices, I also made mention of those Acts; and since I judged them by no means to be inserted into our work, I wished to give some knowledge of them; promising a fuller discussion to be given in the Supplement of May, when I had received the solution of the doubt, arisen concerning the day, whether the Tenth or the Eleventh of May was held the feast day for the Saint.

[2] they are shown to be wholly apocryphal; Meanwhile I understand that, whatever may be the day of the Martyrdom, the common feast of the three aforesaid is held at Pergula on the first Sunday of June, and the two following days, with famous fairs, so that they are altogether fittingly placed here together. As for the Acts of St. Agapitus, I see the Author followed the Acts of St. Secundus premised, from which he took the persecution of Maximian, and the Prelate Dionysius; and also Eudoxia the Matron, of Gubbio, who brought the body to Gubbio; but from his own he adds the rest, on account of which I formerly thought they should be suppressed, and now too I think so. For (to repeat in a word the things said there) those Acts, besides that they were composed very late, when the appellation of the Crucifers was already famous (for a copious multitude of Crucifers is said to have landed at Gubbio from Spain, and by the order of Dionysius the President, with their hands bound behind their backs, to have been dragged to the Curia, to whom Agapitus, already before having gone ahead to the same place, joined himself) all things are so insipidly patched together, that Henschenius seems to have set them aside not by chance, but on purpose. For he feigns both that the region which is now called the Province of the Duchy (namely of Spoleto) was then called Numidia; and that the city which is now called Gubbio was then called Cirtensian Colonia (names badly transferred from Africa into Italy), but before Julia, either from Julius Caesar, or from Julia the wife of Octavian Augustus (he ought to have said daughter), or finally from Julius King of Alba the son of Ascanius; and he joins the Decian persecution, which Agapitus there conquered, with the time of the Emperor Maximian, in which he at last completed his martyrdom in the year of the Lord 300, an interval of half a century being embraced. But this last was perhaps the fault of some smatterer of a copyist, who believed it fitting to write the Decian persecution, for the Tenth, such as Eusebius in the Chronicle and other Ecclesiastical writers call that one, which, stirred up under Diocletian and Maximian, was the cruelest of all.

[3] and their synopsis, The rest, which the Author further feigned, are: that this Agapitus, born of Spain and of noble parentage, and drawing his origin from Royal stock, came with a very great and copious multitude of men and women; that the keeper of the prison, named Dapelius, seeing the constancy of the Martyr amid torments, and the miracles wrought for his sake to the terror of the Gentiles (for among other things blood too is then said to have come down from heaven instead of rain); that, I say, this Dapelius (hitherto unknown to the calendars of the Saints) was likewise with him ordered to be beheaded, and several others bore the same sentence. Finally the so apocryphal Legend is thus concluded. But on the same day a certain most noble matron, a citizen of the Cirtensian Colonia, returned to her own city, carrying the body of Blessed Secundus from the city of Amelia: and the end is exhibited. and running to the place which was called the Marble Bridge, where the bodies of the Saints were left to be devoured by dogs and beasts, she found many Christians weeping, themselves too awaiting the capital sentence, and bewailing the death of the most holy Agapitus. Eudoxia, asking of what condition he had been, they related all things, done by him and against him. But she, struck with great grief, though undaunted, lifted up the body of Blessed Agapitus from there, no one contradicting. Then to a certain man, named Pharulus, she promised much money, if he would extract the head of Blessed Agapitus from the sea of blood, and present it to her. For there were crags of rocks around the river, where the blood of the Saints and the heads were plunged; and so it seemed to be as it were a lake of fish, from the multitude of blood. But Pharulus going down into the river, to search for the holy Head, by the nod of God it happened that it was brought up by three fish; and Pharulus stretched out his hands, and grasping the hair, brought it even to Eudoxia. But there was the greatest joy among the Christians at such a finding and showing of miracles: for a certain blind man there is illumined, named Tarsus; and one possessed by a demon, named Phandalus, is freed. But Blessed Agapitus suffered in the year of the Lord from the Incarnation 300, in the month of May on the 11th day.

[4] To these things, so insipidly composed, the populace of Pergula can seem to have acquiesced, as to most certain Acts, glad to have at last the Legend of their Protector Agapitus; as already long they had held the aforesaid Legend of St. Secundus, Nor of better faith are the Acts of St. Justina received from Gubbio; requiring besides a similar history of St. Justina, which someone too, furnished with greater elegance of style than zeal for truth, presumed to write to be recited for her, adhering to the traces of the former two; and ended, that in the times of the Emperor Maximian, a certain King in the parts of Spain, Agobardus, possessed a copious kingdom; who had a most beautiful son, named Agapitus: who received holy baptism from Blessed Agapius the Bishop, together with his Sister Justina, a most beautiful virgin. She then, taught through a dream about her brother's future martyrdom abroad, and kindled with desire of a like felicity, Agabius having been consulted, with him and six hundred others, signed with the sign of the Cross on the right shoulder, among whom were five hundred Virgins, secretly withdrew to seek her brother; and came into Numidia, into a certain villa of that province, which was called Mugis: concerning which, namely, in the Legend of St. Agapitus I read, that it is commonly called Mugilio, built over for her. and that it was near the city which was called the Cirtensian Colonia, but is now called Gubbio. There Justina, learning by inquiry that in that same place on the previous day there had been beheaded with others a most noble youth of twenty years, Agapitus by name; blessed God, and animated her companions to martyrdom. And without delay, satellites coming upon them at their prayers, led all to the Cirtensian Colonia, and presented them to Dionysius the President: who soon, captivated by the beauty of Justina, vainly desired to have her as wife; but, constant in the confession of Christ, caused her to be exposed to public lust. But the earth, gaping, swallowed two lascivious youths, preparing violence; wherefore a capital sentence was passed upon her and her companions: but when not even at the third blow could the executioner fix the iron in her neck, and Dionysius was anxious because of the conversion of the executioner himself; Dandalus his son, seizing the sword, deprived both of their heads: and immediately Dionysius together with his son was choked, and their bodies were devoured by most rapacious dogs coming upon them. But Eudoxia, receiving her body, together with the Blessed Agapitus and Secundus, Martyrs of Christ, buried it in her oratory, in the year as above.

[5] Whence to both the name of Numidia and of the Cirtensian Colonia? Thus is ended also this narration, a lid (as is said) worthy of the pot. The former took some occasion from the everywhere most common Martyrology of Usuard, where on April 29 it is referred, In Numidia at the Cirtensian Colonia, the Birthday of the holy Martyrs Agapius and Secundinus, Bishops, in the persecution of Valerian. This being dissimulated, it pleased, on account of the nearness of the names to Sts. Secundus and Agapitus, venerated in the Gubbio diocese, to assign the same place of Martyrdom, with the names of the places drawn from Africa into Italy; with a similar audacity, namely, with which afterward the Patchers of the Adversaria falsely attributed to Julian Peter drew the same Saints into Spain, assigning them a See among themselves, as we said on April 30, on account of others consequently related by the Martyrology. It was well done, that those knew nothing of the Pergula fictions; otherwise they would have furnished very ample material to Tamayo Salazar, accustomed not unwillingly to stuff his Spanish Martyrology from such things. We, despising both, let us proceed to the more certain arguments of true cult; and first let us see, by what reasoning the people of Pergula believe that those three bodies, for whose sake all these things were fabricated, were brought to them. We have on that matter a writing, drafted at the beginning with the already-said narrations, but in its progress more probable: of which a copy, from a Manuscript Codex of Pergula of the Augustinian convent obtained by Jacobilli, he transcribed for us with his own hand, in this tenor.

[6] The bodies of St. Secundus, of the lineage of the Emperor Aurelian, and of Sts. Agapitus and Justina his sister, children of Arnobardus, King of the Spains; The bodies are revealed in the Gubbio diocese, when they had suffered, in the time of the Emperor Maximian, in the Cirtensian Colonia, afterward Julia, and then called Gubbio, in the year of the Incarnation of our Lord 305; on account of the multitude of miracles and signs at their death, Eudoxia, a noble and most pious matron of the same city, took care to have them found and buried in her estate, far from the said city at 16 miles: which place today is called Mons-vetus of Serra S. Onda, commonly "la Terra delle Capre," under the district of the same city of Gubbio. But when in the time of Pope Alexander IV several signs began to appear over their tombs, and during plowing the oxen had knelt; a multitude came together, and the Relics of the said bodies being found, the greatest dispute arose among the neighbors, namely the people of Gubbio, and are conveyed in the year 1285 to Pergula, of Cagli, and of Pergula. Who at last by common consent placed them on a cart, which should be drawn by untamed bulls: who by divine nod, declining neither to the right nor to the left, with the greatest wonder of all, in the year of the Lord 1285 brought them to the town of Pergula, famous in the borders of Umbria, into the church of the Hermits of St. Augustine: where they were laid up in a certain chapel, not far from the major altar on the right side, which is now called the altar of the Pietà, on account of the image of the most holy Virgin, with her son taken down from the cross there existing, almost under the organ.

[7] a place nearer than Cagli, Even in the present maps of the Duchy of Urbino, at the sixteenth mile toward the northeast, there is noted "Terra de S. Onda," so probably called from the neighboring parish called S. Abonda, perhaps having St. Abundantius as Patron (for to the Italians such truncations of names are very familiar); but on the Northern side, at an interval of five miles, the same Terra faces Pergula; but on the Western side Cagli, at an interval of eight miles. All these things therefore agree excellently: but if the bodies were found in such a manner, as is said, and as it is credible they were found; it appears to a mind not preoccupied, that about the Saints themselves, how or when they suffered, nothing was then known: but, the names having been found, as usual, since no other Secundus was found than the one who suffered at Ameria, and there was perhaps some knowledge of such bodies brought thither from Gubbio; it pleased them to apply the Legend of Secundus of Ameria; without any knowledge of the Martyrdom. and to write that he was buried, not near Ameria, as the local Acts have it, but at the 16th mile from Gubbio, the name of Eudoxia who buried the Saint being nevertheless preserved. These things so set, I will not fear to suppose that all the Legends of the people of Pergula were composed in the 13th or 14th century, after the aforesaid discovery, and the stone carved for the memory, concerning which below. What further was done at Pergula in the year 1301, the same Codex, transcribed by Jacobilli, continues. The words of that Codex are at hand; yet before them it pleases to set the authentic testimony of the matter done, which we have received from the Pergula Manuscript thus:

[8] In the name of the Lord. Amen. Let all know, who shall inspect the present page and public instrument, namely that in the year of the Lord Jesus Christ 1301, in the 9th Indiction, in the time of the Pontificate of the most holy Father in Christ, the Lord Pope Boniface IX, on the twelfth day of the month of May, by the decree of the Noble man Gentile Ludovici of Osimo, before the Magistrate and many present, today's Potestà of the land of Pergula, on behalf of the Magnificent and Excellent Lord Pandolfo Malatesta, of the land of Pergula, and of its city, territory, and district, Vicar General for the Holy Roman Church, and of the prudent and discreet men, Pietro-Stefano, Confaloniere of the Commune of the aforesaid land, and Leonardo Berardi, Antonio Simone, Francesco Luca, Cola Marco, Filippo Domenico, and Miliano Nicola, of the number and Office of the Seven of the aforesaid Community; a solemn and mature deliberation of the general Council, of the Councilors, and of the men of the said Council preceding, gathered in the Palace of Piano, gathered at the sound of the trumpet-bell after the usual manner, wishing and desiring to investigate and know the truth about the Relics of the venerable and honorable Martyr Blessed Secundus, whose Relics were said to have been and to be in the sepulcher or pillar, existing in the church of St. Augustine of the Order of the Hermit Brothers, or in the borough called St. Augustine's of the aforesaid land.

[9] The aforesaid Lords, the Potestà, the Confaloniere, and the Seven aforesaid, in attending company, namely of the noble and discreet men, Jacopo Enrigi, Ludovico Jacopo, Domenico Gibellini, Lord Francesco, Lord Secondo son of the late Bartolo, Nicola Bradoli, Giovanni Palmeroli, Nicola Deotajuti, Pietro Benvenuti, and the whole Augustinian convent, Cecco Angeluta, Nicola Cola, Angelo Santo, Benvenuto Marco, Angelo Marco son of the late Pace, Giovanni Bartolo, and very many others, men worthy of faith of the said Castle, going to the aforesaid church. And declared their will and that of all of the aforesaid Council to Fr. Stefano Prior of the said place, and to Fr. Petruzio, Fr. Bartobello, Fr. Luca, Fr. Francesco, Fr. Jacopo, Fr. Ludovico, and asked from the said Brothers, that they wished to be certified about the aforesaid Relics. Who, Fr. Stefano the aforesaid Prior and the aforesaid Conventual Brothers together with Lord Gentile the aforesaid Potestà and the Lords Confaloniere and the Seven aforesaid and others, going to the said sepulcher, the sepulcher opened, the heads first seen, the Prior himself and the aforesaid Brothers, stoles prepared and candles lit, and the divine Offices solemnly and with a loud voice chanting, humbly and devoutly, opened the aforesaid sepulcher, constructed with iron plates fastened with lead, by a certain small crack, through which was seen the head of the aforesaid Martyr Secundus, and also were seen two other heads.

[10] Which seen, desiring to be certified more surely and effectively, they opened the aforesaid sepulcher more widely: then three little chests, in which sepulcher indeed there were three wooden little chests, in which and in each of them were holy Relics, and above them were three Heads. And before the said little chests there was a certain stone and tablet, on which tablet were carved letters, of the contents written below: namely. The holy Martyrs Secundus, Agapitus, and Justina the Virgin, who suffered under the Emperor Maximian. Secundus was seized in the city of Julia, in the house of Eudoxia: and was led to Spoleto and is placed on the gibbet, then by Dionysius the Vicar is scourged with combs, with a synopsis of the Martyrdom, because he refused to sacrifice to the God Hercules. He prayed, and the temple fell. Afterward sent to Amelia; boiling lead is poured into his mouth, and he is cast into the Tiber with a millstone at his neck. The questioners returning, a bear came, and killed eight of them; but the others who escaped were baptized by St. Eutitius. But Maurus the fisherman, coming to fish, found the body and buried it. And Blessed Eudoxia hearing, took the bodies of the Saints, and carried them to her house, near Julia at 15 miles, and buried them. But Blessed Agapitus, struck with the sword in the head, completed his martyrdom: whose blow on his head manifestly appears: and his sister Justina was beheaded.

[11] and of the elevation under Alexander IV, But on the other side of the said tablet and stone were carved letters, namely, The aforesaid holy Martyrs were found in the time of Pope Alexander. For when several signs appeared over their sepulchers, and animals had been seen to kneel there, and the report was spread; a dispute arose among the bystanders. At last all came together. They place the said bodies on untamed bulls: who by divine nod came to the land of Pergula, declining neither to the right nor to the left, and brought the said Bodies into the church or place of the Hermit Brothers of St. Augustine, and a note of the day on which each suffered. all being astonished at such a miracle. Blessed Secundus was martyred on the 5th before the Ides of June. Which things seen, inspected, and known, the bells ringing, the said Clerics and Brothers chanting and blessing, we declare the aforesaid finding so magnificent, adorned with true signs, declarations, and proofs worthy of faith. In testimony of which the Tabellions and public Notaries worthy of faith, for the perpetual and faith-worthy memory of the matter, subscribed with their signs and publication. I, Pietro Girolamo of the said land of Pergula, by Imperial authority a public Notary, by all the said, Gentile the aforesaid Potestà, the Confaloniere, and the others above named, and public faith is given of all things. as is read and narrated above, was present; and for the strengthening, and firmness of the truth and faith of the aforesaid, I subscribed, and affixed my sign.

✠ And I Bartolomeo son of the late Gradolo of the said land of Pergula, by Imperial authority Notary and ordinary Judge, and now Chancellor and Notary of the Reformations of the said land, was present at all these aforesaid things, and asked to subscribe, for the satisfaction and validity and full faith of the aforesaid, subscribed as a witness, and affixed my seal. ✠

[12] The same required by decree in the year 1401 (read 1572). These things summarily related, the Manuscript Codex of the Augustinians proceeds, transcribed by Jacobilli in this manner: In the year of the Lord one thousand five hundred seventy-two, on the 17th before the Kalends of May, while Lord Guidobaldo Duke of Urbino governed, the aforesaid Relics, for the greater convenience of making an organ, were translated by the said Brothers to the left side into another chapel like it, near the major altar, a marble chest and an iron grate being constructed at public expense: and on the first Sunday of June, with the two following days, with a great concourse of people in the said church to the honor of these Relics the anniversary is solemnly celebrated, by the public decrees and statutes of that place. The Head of St. Secundus, decorated with a silver ornament, The Translation of the year 1572 into another chapel: within a tabernacle made of brass, and chased and gilded by a learned hand, with many silver votive offerings hanging here and there, is solemnly carried through almost the whole town with the utmost reverence, accompanied by the Religious, the Magistrate, the Militia, and the rest of the People. But on the return of the procession, the said University every year offers ten pounds of candles and tapers. In the place where the said Relics were found, in the said Mons-vetus, there stands today a little church dedicated to St. Secundus, where the Saints are honored by an annual tribute by the Praetor and Magistrate: which is the title of a simple Benefice, not requiring perpetual residence. There is added to the veneration of St. Secundus, that when first a new Praetor comes to this land of Pergula, by ancient custom and statute, he is bound to visit the Relics of St. Secundus, accompanied by the Magistrate and many citizens; and to offer candles and one florin of old money at the least, before he swears that he will faithfully render service, in rightly and lawfully performing his office. The same we have confirmed by a Letter of the very Governor of Pergula, Lord Giovanni Francesco Leta, written to the above-praised Father Domenico Frederici, at Pergula on March 28 of the year 1688, but the heads are shown every year. which autograph letter I preserve; and from it it is also established to us, that the said head of St. Secundus alone is carried about in procession; but the other two heads, at the time of the aforesaid procession, are offered to be seen, the grate being opened: of which there are five keys; three held in the power of the Priors of the University of Pergula, two accustomed to be kept with the Augustinian Fathers: of which Religious the antiquity in the said place is hence better illustrated, than from the Augustinian Alphabet of Herrera, who could find no memory of that Convent before the year 1388.

[13] As now pertains to the controversy, among the three cities, The Relics of St. Secundus seem to have been taken from Ameria proposed in the Henschenian preliminary Commentary; I think the matter can be thus defined, that, the people of Ameria being able now no longer to show any Relics of St. Secundus, they were taken away, after the Legend of him was composed there, in which mention was made of him as still present; and transferred to the suburban church of the Canons Regular of Gubbio; to Gubbio, perhaps at the same time, in which there were brought to Gubbio the bodies of Sts. Marianus and Jacobus, Secundinus and Agabius, the Cirtensian Martyrs. And these indeed first passed to the Canons of the Cathedral church, brought by their Prior St. Ubaldus, not yet Bishop, about the year 1110 to the Regular form of common life. But when another new Cathedral, under the names of Sts. Marianus and Jacobus, was held finished in the year 1190, and the bodies of the Saints were to be transferred from the old into the new; just as by divine appointment it happened that the body of St. Ubaldus the Bishop was carried outside the city, and thence after one or another Translation up the mountain to the place now proper to him; so too it seems to have happened, in whatever other way, that the Relics of Sts. Secundinus and Agabius were carried down to the likewise Regular church of St. Secundus; whence it came about that they were thereafter honored with a common cult with St. Secundus, on May 10, as was said there among the Passed Over.

[14] the head with the bones of St. Justina to Pergula, This notwithstanding, it could have happened that the heads with the better bones, and with the body of some St. Justina, hitherto venerated on the 5th before the Ides of June, were brought to the outermost borders of the Gubbio diocese; where, before the names of Secundinus and Agabius, the names of Secundus and Agapitus pleased, as of Martyrs more famous to the common people, and so the former was believed to have suffered on May 10, but the latter began to be honored with a common cult with St. Justina on June 9: before which then to the people of Pergula, having obtained that sacred treasure, it pleased to take the first Sunday of the month, because on the very Kalends the holy Secundus is believed to have suffered near Ameria; whom the people of Gubbio and of Pergula both indeed claim for themselves, yet both cannot have him, at least whole. But each will have his own whole, if they are willing to believe one a Roman, the other an African; but whether of the one or the other, or even of some third, is the arm which the Servite Fathers have in their Sacristy at Viterbo, enclosed in silver, I cannot divine.