African Confessors

ON THE HOLY AFRICAN CONFESSORS,

JUSTUS AND CLEMENS,

PATRONS OF VOLTERRA IN ETRURIA.

5TH CENTURY.

PRELIMINARY COMMENTARY.

The Acts, age, cult, and miracles of the Saints.

Justus, Patron of Volterra in Etruria, Martyr (S.)

Clemens, Patron of Volterra in Etruria, Martyr (S.)

BY THE AUTHOR D. P.

Although the zeal of the city of Volterra, in collecting the accounts for the instruction of this work, concerning the Acts or Relics of their holy Patrons, the men of Volterra having deserved most excellently of this work, our Bolland with most deserved right commended, on the 3rd day of February, treating of S. Candidus, the Roman Martyr, translated to Volterra: that most lengthy Commentary, however, which we have often used also in March, April, May, and shall use still more often in the following months, he would not, I believe, have promised to give here whole and word for word, if he had foreseen into how great a mass the Work begun by him must grow, through other more necessary Acts, that would have no place elsewhere. And so, with the good leave of the men of Volterra, we believe we shall do enough for their zeal, if we contract the whole matter into a compendium; and, intending to treat of each Saint there mentioned in his proper place and day, we believe it will be more pleasing if we pass over the Acts, of the Saints Justus and Clemens, we give whole only those things, which it more concerns to know about their cult and Relics; but those things which more lengthily dispute about the year of their coming into Italy, from the writers of this and the previous century, being handled by us, let us run through more succinctly after our manner and style, adhering to the more ancient ones alone. The old Acts of the same Saints (if indeed they can be called old, written several centuries after the death of the Saints, but fewer before our own age) the old Acts, I say, they nowhere cite, either because they are no longer had at Volterra, or (which I should rather believe) because they themselves neither approved them, nor believed they should be approved by us. This being supposed, we believe we shall enter into greater favor with them by passing over those things, which by the Annotations, otherwise necessarily to be added, would seem rather to be censured than illustrated. Since however they are the source of all those things which others afterwards endeavored to give more correctly, it must at least briefly be indicated here, what those are and whence they were copied for us.

[2] The shorter and more common ones the manuscript Codices found in the Vatican and Vallicellian library at Rome, and in the Camaldolese monastery, exhibited to us: of which in the Vallicellian this is the beginning, of which the first Author was Bliderannus, somewhat diverse from the others and more elegant. "Many have composed the deeds of the Saints, their life, or acts in a lucid style and with sweet modulation, whom if by the prudence of our quality we cannot imitate, yet by the stability of the one faith we stand fast." Among those many is likely reckoned Bliderannus, whose Treatise on the Life of SS. Justus and Clemens, for the thirteenth day before the Kalends of May, more verbose indeed, but in no way to be commended for elegance of style or sweetness of modulation, begun "To the honor of the holy and undivided Trinity" (these are the initial words), we found and copied out from that old Legendary of the Lateran Basilica, whence on the 3rd day of this month also we gave the Life of S. Davinus. That Author, after praising the Apostolic zeal of each Saint, and narrating their coming from Africa to Volterra: "It is not to be passed over in silence," he says, "what at that time we heard from Christian men, that these Saints Justus and Clemens did: and I indeed, Bliderannus, the Holy Spirit revealing it, feigning himself almost a contemporary of the Saints, knew what the Lord did through his Saints: and what things are true and probable, I wrote with my own hand; and what I clearly knew of the life and acts of the venerable Saints, I took care to narrate diligently and clearly enough."

[3] These words, considered in themselves, the greater faith they would make to the Acts, if they were of an almost contemporary author, or one taught by divine revelation (which both they pretend), the less they render it, he is proven to be far later than they, when collated with the following, where the pagan nation of the Vandals is said to have besieged for two years the city Antonia, which is called Vulturnense, possessed by a certain duke Vulturnus, just as Antonia was first founded by Antonius the Consul; or, as some will have it, Antonia, as if "Before all things," because it is said to have been founded before all the cities of Tuscany. No more is needed, that you may recognize a writer of the 11th or 12th century, playing in the manner of his age upon names, and assuming origins unknown to all antiquity from the little tales of the unskilled common folk. The name of Volterra, more ancient than the very city of Rome, and to have composed altogether unfounded things. the common folk contracted into Volterras; "Volturna" no one of the ancients is found to have said, much less "Antonia," either of old, or at the time of the incursion of the Vandals into Italy: which they never touched before the 5th century, much less in the time of the Emperor Constans, son of the great Constantine, in which the Author had before said that the Saints began to contend against the Arian perfidy and to exert their zeal. Something more tolerable was contrived by Augustinus Fortunius, in part 2 of the Camaldolese History, book 2, chapter 5,

who says the city was laid waste by the army of the Hungarians, and rebuilt by Otto I, from whom it was called Ottonia, and by a corrupted word Antonia. But that this too is gratuitously feigned is taught by the instrument of Guido soon produced by him, and to be produced below by us, who subscribes the same as Bishop of the holy Volterran, not of the Ottonian or Antonian, Church. Yet that such a fable prevailed in the 12th century appears from no. 11 of the Miracles.

[4] Scipio Ammiratus the Younger, in the Additions to the series of the Bishops of Fiesole, Volterra, and Arezzo, collected by the Elder of the same name, says that Raphael Volaterranus is said, in the year 1519, to have composed Lessons on SS. Justus and Clemens: The Lessons were not written by Volaterranus, which Lessons, approved at Rome, the Volterran Church then used, and perhaps even now uses. But no one will persuade me that Raphael, a learned man (which his 38 books of the Urban Commentaries abundantly prove), if he had been ordered to compose them, would have so begun: "While the most Christian Prince Justinian was reigning in the East, but the Goths, with Totila as leader, holding Rome, in the year of salvation five hundred and twenty." That blunder is too monstrous, since Justinian first began to reign in the year 527, and Totila to reign in 541. Far otherwise (if you correct the typographical error by which "III" crept in for "M," signifying "Great") far otherwise, who would not have spoken of the Saints under Justinian, I say, did Raphael define the times in book 5, page 51, where he affirms that the Vandals (by whose persecution the Saints are said to have been driven out of Africa) put in at Populonia, and thence ran out to Volterra, while Leo the Great was reigning, that is, between the year 457 and 474. Nor indeed could he do otherwise, who had translated from Greek into Latin the two books of Procopius of Caesarea on the Vandal war; and so he could not but look back to those times, in which he had learned that the African Church, Carthage being taken in the year 439, underwent the most hard yoke of the Arian Vandal Kings; of whom the first, Geiseric (as Victor of Utica or of Vita writes), in no way delayed to drive away the Bishops and noble Laymen from their Churches and Sees, utterly stripped; and if, the choice being proposed, they were slow to go out, they should remain perpetual slaves. But Volaterranus could the more easily look back to those times, and to have defended Volterra from the Vandals: the more distinctly he had read in Procopius, that the same Geiseric, from the death of Valentinian, that is, from the year 455, carried himself yearly in the early spring into Sicily and Italy, the cities being partly sent into slavery, partly leveled with the ground, seizing all things, and exhausting the regions not only of moneys but also of inhabitants, as long as he lived, that is, until the year 476; which we do not read was so done afterwards by his successors, sufficiently occupied in Africa.

[5] They did not come with S. Regulus in the 6th century. Since therefore the ancient tradition, expressed by the authors of the Acts, holds that the Saints came from Africa, after various contests with the Arians; and freed Volterra, besieged by the Vandals, by their counsel or aid; even though afterwards the Vandalic persecution grew fierce several times, and drove very many Catholics, especially Bishops, to exile whether voluntary or forced; yet you would scarcely find another time more apt, in which the Saints flourished, than the times of Geiseric persecuting the Church in Africa, and laying waste the cities in Italy, in which the aforesaid things happened. For as for the Lessons saying that they came with S. Regulus, who afterwards suffered under Totila; this is confirmed neither from the Life of that Saint, which we shall illustrate on the 1st of September, nor from those Acts of our Saints which we have. This therefore is a new contrivance, not older than two centuries.

[6] The same I should say of that, in which in the same Lessons it is handed down, that both were Presbyters; likely they were not even Presbyters, but laymen, and Justus indeed even a Bishop, consecrated at the request of the men of Volterra: since the older tradition, set down in letters by Bliderannus, holds that they "lived as laymen … imitating the Priests of the Lord by honest morals." Other Acts also have not even the least vestige of any sacred Order: but that which is set forth, as a most ancient Hymn, in which it is said, "Justus hence is chosen Bishop by the citizens," by this very thing that it contradicts Bliderannus, an author not the most ancient, shows its own not great antiquity. But neither do the sacred Orders well agree with the eremitical life, which the Saints are said to have led after the city was freed, in the places in which they were afterwards buried, in which Orders they ought rather to have ministered to the people, than to have lived to themselves. They were indeed not inexperienced in sacred letters, yet skilled in sacred letters. if truly (as the Acts have it) they composed books of the holy Trinity, and from the Davidic song (so rather than "the Davidic song" I think it should be read) inserted through each title a suitable sentence. For Africa, at that age, had noble Laymen, no less strong in confessing the faith, as is clear from Victor, than learned in defending it; as even one alone sufficiently proves, Marius Mercator, whom S. Augustine esteemed so highly, as the lengthy replies of the latter to him show; and that he flourished as a layman among the Auditorial Scholastics, when he wrote his books, our Garnerius the editor of these shows in chapter 2 of the General Preface to his works.

[7] About the city of Volterra, freed by SS. Justus and Clemens, all agree that this was done, loaves being thrown against the enemy: but the matter is variously narrated; Certain of their deeds are reported diversely from tradition. some adding miracles and prayers of the Saints; some ascribing it to poison, with which the loaves were medicated; some to charity toward the famished enemy destitute of provisions; others finally with Bliderannus, to a shrewd industry feigning plenty: in which way, namely, those things are wont to be varied, which, handed down either from mute pictures alone, or orally through the talk of the common folk, are committed to letters long after. It is irksome, amid so great a diversity of opinions, to report the words of each; and I think it enough, that either the hope of obtaining the city was taken from the barbarians humanly, or their mind was changed divinely. Under a like variety are narrated serpents (perhaps to be taken metaphorically) put to flight from those caves which the Saints wished to inhabit. These things therefore being omitted, I pass to the more certain and more distinct, concerning the beginning and progress of the veneration shown to the dead as Saints: for Bliderannus has nothing certain about their death, The manner and time of their death is uncertain. he only says this after the things reported above; that "The rocks of the mountain were cut, that at the time of their death human bodies might be buried there, because in the same place the future church was to be built." The shorter Acts thus write: "In this manner therefore, cleansing the place they had received, they held it, in which after some days remaining, when they perceived their bodies to be dissolved, the Holy Spirit intimating it, they preached to the peoples… Prayer therefore being made, resting in the Lord in one hour and one moment, they sent forth their spirit": which, as added later, I would not have held for certain.

[8] [There are those who say they died on the Monday of Pentecost and the 5th of June:] The Lessons say, "It is reported that he," namely Justus, "together with his brother Clemens, at almost the same time, which was the Nones of June, migrated to the Lord." The Commentary praised by us at the beginning asserts that by a most ancient tradition it is held that they died on the second day of Pentecost, which then falls on the 5th of June, when Easter is celebrated on the 16th of April; which, while Leo the Great was reigning, happened only twice, namely in the year 461 and 471. But how shall that be believed to be a most ancient tradition, which did not yet exist when Bliderannus wrote, and prefixed the Life of the Saints, to be read in the church on the 13th day before the Kalends of May, [but whereas they had earlier been wont to be venerated on the 19th of April, and that on account of the translation made in the year 1030,] or the 19th of April, as on their feast? I should prefer therefore to hold what the Lessons say, that of the day of the departure of either no certain knowledge is extant, nor even the foundation of a likely conjecture. But since from Augustinus Fortunius, to be alleged below, I learn that in the year 1030 the church of S. Justus was restored by Bishop Gunfredus, and the 19th day of April in that year fell on the 3rd Sunday after Easter; I can suspect that on that Sunday the new church was consecrated, the body of S. Justus being brought into it.

[9] the cult is renewed with an altar in the year 1419, As therefore another reason must be sought for the 19th day of April, than that on it the Saints died; so that the day was changed, and the chief cult transferred to the Monday of Pentecost, and fixed in the Calendars to this 5th of June, I should attribute to some other occasion, which is not found marked in letters. For Augustinus Fortunius, in the Camaldolese history soon to be praised, part 2, book 2, chapter 8, narrates how in the year 1365, the church of S. Clemens being restored, there was made the invention of many holy bodies, which Justus the Abbot laid up with solemn pomp in the altar of S. Sebastian… and Justus III, from Prior of S. Mark made Abbot… in the year 1490 adorned the altar of S. Justus with the paintings of Andreas Grillandarius.

[10] However these things were, it is established that their proper cult belongs to each, both the Feria and the Day, in whatever way these are joined or disjoined: and it is most celebrated even to this day, for thus concerning this matter the men of Volterra write in the above-praised Commentary: The second day after Pentecost is held and venerated by the whole people of the city as solemn, festive, and peculiar. Nay, even though the holy universal Church on the aforesaid days celebrates the solemnity of the Holy Spirit, the Volterran Church nevertheless formerly performed the Office partly of Pentecost, partly of the aforesaid Confessors, which is celebrated also with the Octave by the Clergy, as is noted in the Rites of S. Ugo. He was Bishop of Volterra from the year 1174 to 1184, both the Monday of Pentecost and the 5th of June, and when he was still Archpriest of the same Church he published Rites, by which he reduced the divine Office to a better form, throughout the whole diocese, which manuscript book is preserved in the Episcopal Archive: but he himself is venerated on the 8th of September. Now too on the first and second day of Pentecost, with great solemnity and gladness of mind, the Clergy and all the Magistrates of the whole city, the people accompanying, go to the temple of Justus and Clemens; and there, the whole Senate assisting, they solemnly sing Vespers and Mass. The feast of the same also on the Nones of June, as of the principal Patrons, is celebrated under a double rite of the first class and with the Octave, and is venerated throughout the whole diocese by precept. The images of the same are carried to the temple of the Saints with frequent procession. and on the 2nd Sunday of September. These Saints, by God's authorship, wrought almost innumerable miracles, some of which are described by Dom Augustinus, in the Life of the said Saints published separately.

[11] Thus far they, who again after the Miracles, to be alleged in Appendix 2, will testify S. Clemens also reported on the 8th, that the temple of these Saints is visited on the 2nd Sunday of September by the whole people, in memory of the benefit there conferred. Philippus Ferrarius, in the Catalogue of the Saints of Italy, treats of both on this day: but in the general Catalogue of those who are not in the Roman Martyrology,

he leaves the 5th day indeed to Justus, but assigns the 8th day to Clemens: the Tables of the Volterran Church being alleged; but of which no mention is found in the aforesaid Commentary; so that that peculiar cult of S. Clemens is very doubtful to us, who should rather be venerated on the 1st of July. having experienced the frequent blunders of Ferrarius in this kind, until it be more certainly confirmed by the men of Volterra themselves; who, if they now wish to give a proper day to Clemens, will be able to choose none more just than the Kalends of July, on which his body was most solemnly translated, as will be said below, in the year 1628. Moreover there is found in the manuscript Florentine Martyrology in the keeping of Senator Strozzi, on the 16th of May, that "The Saints Justus the Bishop, and Clemens, brothers, at Volterra concluded their holy life with a perfect end": nor does there appear what can be the cause of his cult on such a day.

[12] Dom Augustinus Florentinus, who afterwards, resuming his family surname, called himself also Fortunius, by profession a Camaldolese Monk, [The miracles are given from an old manuscript, published by Augustinus Florentinus.] in the year 1568 published the Life of the aforesaid Saints extended in a more brilliant style; from which however we could carry over nothing here, had he not found their Miracles, written about the year 1140, as appears from no. 18, where there is narrated a deed done at a time a little before passed, in which intervened Crescentius, Bishop of Volterra, named at no. 19, who governed that church from the year 1130 to 1139: but they are written in a style far more polished and clearer than that which Bliderannus used, and—shall I call him an abridger, or an interpolator, of Bliderannus? for he appears stricter in words, ampler in matters, and now and then diverse. Those miracles (since it does not please to give the Acts copied out by those two) we here reprint, as the first and certain monument concerning these Saints. But since the Author several times mentions the Monks of the monastery of SS. Justus and Clemens; it is fitting that we premise something about the origin of the monastery itself, first from the last part of the Acts of both; then from the second part of the Camaldolese history, published four years after the first, which was put out in the year 1575. To the miracles themselves, then, and to their Appendix added by Augustinus, will be subjoined what the men of Volterra suggest in their Commentary about the body of S. Clemens, sought, found, and translated.

THE HISTORY OF THE MONASTERY

of the Saints Justus and Clemens, From the Old Acts and Augustinus the Camaldolese.

Justus, Patron of Volterra in Etruria, Martyr (S.)

Clemens, Patron of Volterra in Etruria, Martyr (S.)

BY THE AUTHOR D. P.

[1] When a certain man making a journey beheld the fragrant bodies of the Saints lying; the bodies of the Saints being found, a demoniac indicating it, and did not at once give honor to Christ; suddenly a demon invaded him, and, strangled, he began to run through the streets of the city, as it were warning the people by a sign, that they should at once come there, where he had seen the fragrant bodies of the Saints. The elders of the city therefore coming, and approaching with great veneration, a miraculous fountain springs up, embalmed the most sacred bodies with spices, and buried them in the same place with great fear. Beside whose sepulchre they found a fountain, pouring forth water of wondrous beauty: to which fountain first ran he who, suffocated, had indicated the bodies of the Saints to the people: and when he had tasted of the water, he was at once made whole; and reported to the people how it had befallen him. But whosoever of the peoples, if they were held by any infirmity, ran to the resting-places of the most blessed Justus and Clemens; and when they tasted of the water, given them by the hands of the Priests, they were made whole. Thus far the Vallicellian manuscript, and with this added, that these and many other signs even to this day, by the merits of the blessed SS. Justus and Clemens, and many signs are wrought: are worked, our Lord Jesus Christ granting it, they are concluded with the accustomed glorification of him with the Father and the Spirit. But in the Vatican and Camaldolese some other things are interposed, which from the text of Bliderannus (where however the aforesaid things are not read) as the more ancient it pleases to give word for word, and at the same time a specimen of that style which he used, having reported the death of the Saints thus continuing the history.

[2] two men, mocking these things, grow stiff, When the bodies of the Saints were revealed, almighty God made them renowned with so many miracles, that it can neither be explained in words nor marked in letters: therefore it is to be recorded, what happened after these things. There came two men, Mumno and Mamno, before the monument of the Saints, and mocked them before those who were present there … But doing such things they were astounded, made as it were statues, not seeing, not hearing, not speaking, nor moving; but scarcely throbbing heavily, they were led by the hands of another into their house. repenting, they are healed: But after many days had passed, they remembered that they had done ill, in that they had mocked the bodies of the Saints; whence quickly asking pardon, and vowing a vow and invoking the Lord, they commended themselves to the bodies of the Saints, setting orphans and widows before the monument of the Saints, and bestowed many alms. And by the merits of the Saints their prayers were heard: for at once they received their former health. Then the God-fearing faithful Christians, hearing the wonders which the Lord had done through his Saints, came and made a hut over the bodies of the Saints, and a covering before the door of the monument. Some placed curtains, some chasubles, some palls, some golden and silver chalices, the rest lamps and lanterns, the others candlesticks shining day and night before the Lord. and others sick of every kind: This being heard, the repute of the Saints grew through many regions. Then the feeble, the lame, the dumb, the deaf, the paralytic, and the blind came to the sepulchre of the Saints; likewise also the lepers and the demoniacs; and, health being received, by the merits of the Saints Justus and Clemens, they returned unharmed. Meanwhile the Judge of the city, named Alchis, when he saw the miracles which God had shown through the merits of the Saints, built a church, to the praise and honor of God, over the bodies of the Saints Justus and Clemens. Wherefore Maurus, Bishop of Siena, dedicated it. Augustinus says that Maurus was Bishop, and dedicated the church about the end of the reign of Justinian the Great: which Ughellus following ascribes the same to the year 565, and: This, he says, is he who consecrated the temples of S. Peter and S. Clemens at Volterra, that Bishopric being then vacant, perhaps through the incursions of the Lombards, of which from the year 514 to 646 no Bishop occurs to Ammiratus. the church is consecrated over it in the 6th, or 7th century: But since Alachis or Allhis is a Lombardic name, I do not think that such dedications were made before the conversion of that nation from Arianism to the Catholic faith, and the restoration of churches that thence followed: and therefore I judge that the Episcopate of this Maurus should be deferred to the times of Gregory the Great, or even to the 7th century.

[3] Further, for the one church which Bliderannus notes, the Camaldolese and Vatican manuscripts have two: but composing this dissonance Augustinus, in part 2 of his History, book 2, chapter 5, says: But the building was from the beginning two-membered, so that a separate little chapel with an altar, both to S. Justus and to S. Clemens, and it was double, was erected in a separate crypt. With Augustinus accord the men of Volterra in their Commentary; and they expressly teach that the tombs were separated one from the other: for the chapel and tomb of S. Justus inclined to the right toward the West; the altar and tomb of S. Clemens stood higher on the left. But the same Augustinus, continuing the subject begun concerning the origin of the monastery (as the title of the aforecited Chapter has it), says: There, a multitude of people flowing together, was raised up the village of S. Justus, and on account of the narrowness of the place, likewise the village of mount Bradonis. with the village of S. Justus, Then, the desolation of the city of Volterra following, which was made by the barbarian army of the Hungarians, whom Americus or Albericus, the petty-king of Etruria, called to his aid against Berengar I, who wished to expel him; the most sacred temple too was diminished. But the city being afterwards rebuilt by Otto I the Emperor, … the Bishops too of the august and preeminent stock began. And when in the year of salvation 1030 Gunfredus was Bishop, he not only undertook to restore the venerable temple, that the ancient religion might be renewed, near which in the 11th century a monastery is founded: going to the place with the people and Clergy: but that the divine worship might be increased, he established a monastery with a temple on mount Nibius with a college of Monks: designating the place with his Pastoral staff, and adjudging to the Monks the revenue and the estates, as many as had pertained to the basilica in past times: and Guido the Bishop, his successor, confirmed it, as is clear from the Diploma, of which the copy is of this kind.

[4] In the name of the holy and undivided Trinity. While men are vigilantly intent on the divine worship, the more ardently they are propagated; whence it comes about, that although whosoever is of such a mind seems to remain in the world out of necessity, yet, approaching the celestial motions of contemplation, he transcends all things falling away; and, according to Paul the Apostle, "desires to be dissolved, and to be with Christ, which is much better." Philippians 1:23 Which is to be imitated by us, who are reckoned among men by the name of Pastor: and so we ought to carry on those things which are external with unstumbling foot, so that, ever intent in mind on the abiding and eternal goods, we may merit to come to that inheritance, to be crowned one day. Whence it is sung here in the Psalm: "When he shall have given," he says, "sleep to his beloved, this is the inheritance of the Lord." Psalm 126:2 Because the elect, when they fall into the death of the flesh, then obtain the celestial inheritance. This sentence of the inheritance, therefore, I, Guido, Bishop of the holy Volterran Church although undeserving, revolving with diligent mind, with a view to the heavenly reward, and weighing the order of my Bishopric, burdened with a mass of great weight; that I may be able to attain that inheritance of the heavenly kingdom, the divine protection aiding me, applying myself according to my strength to the increase of good works; for repairing the honors of the Churches committed to me I directed the intention of my mind with all my effort to the zeal of religious work. And when I was insisting on many works, and, pressed by secular cares, could not fulfill the devotion of my mind by upright works to my desire; at length, kindled by divine desire, to the monastery of the holy Confessors, namely of Justus and Clemens, built near the aforesaid city, still needy through the newness of its ordering, I brought back the gaze of my mind. For this place, and of the Saints resting there, brilliant with the patronage of the aforesaid Confessors, is the more lovable to souls to be saved, the more it is removed from secular tumult, and stands glittering with the honor of the religion of the Saints resting there. For although the place had been distinguished by the veneration of the chief Confessors; yet until the times of our predecessor Gunfredus of happy memory it lay uncultivated, and remained unordered.

[5] The aforesaid Bishop therefore decreed that a monastery should be made there: continuing the work begun by his predecessor Gunfredus, and Brethren being brought into the same place, and a venerable Abbot being appointed, who endures even to our times, the Lord helping, he took care studiously to minister the necessaries of life, as far as he was able: who, as long as he lived, fostered the poverty of the new monastery with estates and other gifts. And since he could not fulfill whatever things had been necessary, the goal of death intervening; to me, who seem to hold the Chair of succession in the aforesaid Church, the repair and increase of the sacred place, I believe, was left by the Lord. For I do not distrust that I shall be a partaker of so great a remuneration, if help

I am eager to bestow on so sacred and venerable an ordering. Therefore in the first place whatsoever things Gunfredus, Bishop of happy memory, granted to the same aforesaid monastery, he confirms the things given by him, I, Bishop Guido, confirm, constrained by no necessity, nor infected by the promise or gift of any reward; but with a perfect heart and willing mind, for the love of God and the hope of future remuneration, and also for the souls of my predecessors and even my successors, namely the Bishops of this Volterran Bishopric, and also for the soul of Benedict the supreme Pontiff and universal Pope, and for the salvation of the soul of Conrad the most serene Emperor of august memory, my lord, and also for the salvation of Henry his most glorious King son, and for the remedy of the souls of the Emperors and Kings of this Kingdom, and for the salvation and remedy of the souls of the Dukes and Margraves of Tuscany, and also for the souls of all those who from their goods do or shall do any benefit to the aforesaid monastery, I grant, confirm, and desire to join in perpetuity; namely in this order, that if perhaps (which be far from us) either I, and provides for the immunity of the place under anathema. or any of my successors, or any ecclesiastical or secular person, on whatever occasion, shall wish to take away or diminish anything from these things, which belonged to the aforesaid church, or which the named Bishop conferred therein, or which I, the Lord helping, by this charter of confirmation and donation, now seem to give, or shall give, may they have their part in hell with Judas the traitor, and be anathema maranatha—to use his words—and other things which here are wanting. Done in the year 1034. the year 1034 I, Guido, Bishop of the holy Volterran Church, although undeserving, subscribe to this charter of ordering, freely made by me.

[6] Then in chapter 6, continuing the series of the Abbots of the monastery now established, Augustinus says: The succession of Abbots: When Raimbertus, the first Abbot, had died, Andreas is appointed in his place, in the year 1058: who obtained from the Bishop fourteen acres of lands on mount Nibius, and bought estates at Rucianum. After Andreas, Stephanus presided, to whom the Bishop granted exemption from the Fodrum in the whole mount and village of S. Justus and of Podium to the ancient bounds, in the year 1106. After him Guilielmus, under whom the monastery was joined to the sacred Hermitage. which, transferred to the Camaldolese, But a Camaldolese colony being established therein, Boninus administered the monastery, then Guido, then Azo; who labored much in seeking the treasure of the temple of the most holy Confessors which had been lost on account of the tumults of war … Azo being dead, Guido succeeded him, and Ugo him, and Joannes the humble him, who in the year 1191, seeking the most sacred body of S. Clemens at his crypt, Joannes in the year 1191 translates the bodies of two holy women, the ground being dug, found a marble stone, adhering to the wall, where the names of the holy Martyrs Actinia and Graeciniana, buried there, could chiefly be read. The most sacred bodies being therefore soon found and the matter divulged, the Bishop of Volterra betook himself to them with all the clergy and people; and them, raised on a bier, he translated up to the basilica of the monastery with a solemn procession, another restores the church in the year 1365, and placed them under the high altar on the 16th day before the Kalends of July, on which day their natal day is celebrated by decree of Pope Innocent III. Finally in the same Augustinus, chapter 8, these things are read: In the year 1365, the church of S. Clemens being restored, there was made the invention of many Holy Bodies, which Justus the Abbot laid up in the altar of S. Sebastian with solemn pomp … Justus the Third, from Prior of S. Mark made Abbot (he was the fifth after the above-named Justus) recognized the Relics of SS. Actinia and Graeciniana in the year 1490, and another adorns the altar in the year 1490. and adorned the altar of S. Justus with the paintings of Andreas Grillandarius.

THE MIRACLES

written about the year 1140. From the edition of Augustinus Florentinus the Camaldolese.

Justus, Patron of Volterra in Etruria, Martyr (S.)

Clemens, Patron of Volterra in Etruria, Martyr (S.)

BHL Number: 4611

FROM AUGUSTINUS FLORENTINUS

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[1] On a certain night, when the a Brethren of that very Monastery had betaken themselves to sleep, sacrilegious thieves, secretly breaking into the basilica of Justus and Clemens, carried off thence a chalice and the tablets of the Gospels, wrought with silver and gold, Having stolen the sacred things, with silken palls. They, wishing to flee farther, joining themselves to certain Pisan sailors, by crossing the sea tried to avoid the power of the Saints.

And without delay forthwith the waves are raised with billows.

A wondrous thing, and full of prodigy! The sea, a little before most quiet, becomes at once most swollen, threatens shipwreck, and is angered at the injury of the Saints. The wretched sailors weep, and inquire into the deeds of the rest, saying: Most merciful God, the salvation of those brought to the utmost straits, the protector of all who hope in thee, who willest none to perish; succor the wretched and unhappy, nor permit us to be submerged. Alas, what have we sinned? why are we tormented with so terrible and so grievous a peril of death? These things, and things like these, repeating with tears, compelled by a storm they restore the same: searching each one man by man, they discover the plunderers. For on the chalice it was thus written: This is the chalice of the Saints Justus and Clemens; and at once, the sea growing quiet, returning quickly to the shore, they send back those sacrilegious men with the sacrilege to the sanctuaries of the Confessors; and praising the Lord in his Saints, they everywhere narrated the mighty works of God. The beards too of the robbers, shaved off, before the thresholds of the Saints, as it were a certain memorial of so great a miracle, hanging long upon a branch of a tree, have now failed through age.

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[2] At the same time certain of the Pisans rowing, by chance fell into an ambush of the Saracens. And when, besieged by great force, they were held by the fear of death, and saw deadly peril at hand; mindful of Justus and Clemens, they pour forth these most humble prayers: Kindly Confessors, Justus and Clemens, come to our aid, oppressed; succor us, shipwrecked. Look down, O Lord, from thy holy seat, think of us, and rescue us, fleeing to thee, our only remedy. And the Lord heard their voices. And now for three days and as many nights they had stood in this affliction; when suddenly in the dead of night, Justus the glorious Confessor of God appeared three times to the steersman of the ship, Raynerius by name, saying: Awake, son, call together your companions, in the name of God take up arms; for the Lord shall fight for you. the Pisan sailors are freed from the hands of the Saracens, Act manfully, and let your heart be strengthened, you who hope in the Lord. Then the shipmaster, the rest being roused and strengthened, with armed hand urged that battle should be begun, thus saying: Do not, do not (I say) fear; for the Lord has sent our Patron Justus the Confessor, that he may be our champion and defender. The minds therefore of the afflicted, not a little refreshed in the power of the virtue of God, take up arms. And the renowned Confessor of Christ went before as it were a centurion, manifestly seen by the worshippers of Christ. And forthwith such great alienation of mind invaded the Saracens, that they did not even presume to defend themselves. At length, the barbarians being wholly conquered, two of the enemy's banners obtained, coming barefoot to the temples of the Saints, they offered these and other gifts there, giving the greatest thanks to the King of the ages.

[3] Nor long after God worked a not dissimilar miracle through his Confessors. For when certain worshippers of Christ were returning by sea from Africa, b the bringers-back of the Jerusalem pilgrims; the perfidious throng of barbarians, the sea being raging, began to attack them, and others returning from Jerusalem: and to pursue them vehemently. At length, when for some time they were afflicted by so many straits, they cried to the Lord and were heard. For for five days, and as many nights, wearied by a great whirlwind of storms, and by the hostile onset, they were now almost brought to the c Parthian ports. Then a certain woman standing among them, strengthening them, said: Brethren, let us invoke the patronage of Justus and Clemens: for they before the omnipotent Lord are of great merits; nor shall we be confounded, if we trust in them from our heart. And forthwith, on bended knees and with many tears, they besought the intercession of the Saints. And indeed the elect Confessors came to their aid, the wind prospering, leading the sailors thither from morning even to midday, whence in five days they had been driven. The enemy therefore being put to flight, they come to the holy sepulchres of the Confessors, giving praises to God, who never has been wont to forsake those hoping in him. They offered too precious palls, committing themselves and their goods to Justus and Clemens, and commending them in the greater degree. These things therefore duly performed, having obtained the safety of both their substance and their persons, they returned to their own with joy.

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[4] At almost the same time a certain Pisan named Alcherius, earnestly asked, built a ship of exceeding swiftness. Which, commended to the Confessors, he granted to a certain Vernacius, a diligent worshipper of the Confessors, for going to Messina, saying without doubt: To this raft divine mercy will not be wanting, because it has most holy and chief defenders before God. But behold, when Vernacius had begun to sail, those six ships of the Pisans came to meet him. With whom, faith being mutually given and received, they resolved to make an assault upon men who shrank from the faith of Christ. the ship is preserved by the protection of B. Justus. But by the cunning and persuasion of the demon the Pisans forswearing, what they had promised they did not observe: therefore the Lord destroyed them in a surging abyss. But the ship commended to B. Justus, defiled by no deceit at all, many barbaric rafts being submerged, and not a few of the infidels slaughtered, put in at Evisa. d Thence, the sail-bearing mast being broken, coming to the port of Denia, e Vernacius learned that ten ships lay in ambush for him: yet the Confessors guarding him, mocking that barbarous nation, he returned safe to his own. Wherefore returning to the thresholds of the Saints, he gave immortal thanks to those very ones, with all as many as had been carried thither in the ship: and also presented a pall of no small price for the adornment of the high altar.

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[5] The contraction of the feet is cured, Once, not far from our memory, a certain woman in the city of Volterra was vexed with such great dryness of contracted feet, that, unless she leaned with her hands holding little stools, she could in no way walk. She, hearing the so many wonders of the Saints, and seeing the reverend Canons on a certain day showing the due honor of procession to the Confessors, with hastened steps, as she could, tried to go before. Whose feet, though they had grown numb for a long time, yet the inward uprightness of her heart had the Blessed ones wholly propitious to her as quickly as possible: for in the sight of all, immediately strengthened in her feet, she took her way on a straight path. And the crowds, seeing this deed plainly wonderful, supplicating with all the affection of mind and great lowliness of body, blessed the omnipotent God, in whose name the Confessors had restored to this woman her step.

[6] On the same day too, the Priests wishing to celebrate Mass solemnly, a certain woman with a disease of the hands, and of the hands, her hands contracted for no short time, implored the help of Justus and Clemens by assiduous prayer. And when, groaning unceasingly, she did not cease from prayer, the Lord heard, and had pity on her: for indeed she merited the wholly restored health of her hands. Which being seen, the people redoubles its praises, hymns resound on every side, and the jubilant choirs sing glory with dancing to the kindly Confessors; whose glorious merits had adorned the present day with two supreme miracles.

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[7] At another time likewise a certain little woman, in the villa which is called Quintum, f in all the

members of her body ill affected, could in no way by her own effort rise from her cot. Wearied therefore by continual pains, she asked the intercessions of the Confessors; and an infirmity of all the members, whom she had learned, fame announcing it, to shine with wondrous works. And struck by very frequent sobs, with plaintive voice she burst forth into these words: Why, wretched, do I not die, dead beforehand in every part of the body? why does the unhappy soul not depart? Alas for me! who, desiring to die, am compelled to live in torment. Holy men, Justus and Clemens, I beseech you, intercede for me, at least that it may be permitted to die, since I cannot survive. These things and things like these very often redoubling, at length according to her heart's desire she merited to have Justus and Clemens as intercessors before God. For, the Saints being propitious, by the mercy of God, the infirmity wholly fled, entire safety is altogether restored, nor did any signs of the past sickness remain. And as she had been too long afflicted, and affected with grievous pains; so by the benefit of recovered health she did not cease immortally to rejoice, and to exult with the utmost gladness.

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[8] The renown of the name of the most blessed Confessors growing daily greater, again a contraction of the hands: a certain man coming from foreign shores, dry in both hands, could do nothing at all, nor even take food without a stylus or any other instrument, much less move his hands to his mouth. He, frequently demanding the help of the Saints, lying down in the evening under the shade of a tree, the Confessors interceding before God, received the entire health of both hands.

[9] There was besides a certain man in the Castle of Mount g Gabri, who, long since dumb, could utter nothing at all. Him, when his kinsmen had brought to the most sacred sarcophagi of the holy Confessors on their birthday, The dumb man is healed, and with much asking had besought them for the obtaining of speech for their kinsman; and the dumb man himself too with great affection of mind had asked God, who looks into the hearts of men; forthwith his mouth was opened, and he spoke rightly, vehemently extolling the name of Jesus Christ. And mindful of this benefit, as long as he lived, he yearly offered a jar of oil to the church of the Saints to be lighted. To this, a little maiden, wholly destitute of the office of the tongue, when in the solemnity of the Confessors she stood before the sacred altars, and the dumb girl. the throngs of men praying for her the Lord heard. For at the hour of Vespers, speaking readily, for so great a benefit conferred on her she repaid praises to the Saints: wherefore by all the name of the Lord is blessed, reigning through all the ages.

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[10] The manifold cure of various persons being explained, we thought it would be unbecoming to pass over in silence that the blind too were enlightened by the merits of the Confessors. Of these therefore a certain one, born in h Valdarno, for several years bereft of both eyes, hearing the miracles of Justus and Clemens, The blind man. demanded their most holy Relics, bearing little gifts, with contrite heart, by the guidance of his brother. Meanwhile in the place, the journey almost completed, he lost the offering which he carried. And when he could not find what he had lost, humbly and meekly he thus implored aid: Justus and Clemens, most pious Confessors, by whose merits and intercession God Most High and Greatest forthwith drives away all infirmity; both with heart and with lips I pray you both, that you enlighten my eyes; so that, being enlightened outwardly, no darkness of mind at all may be left within. Wondrous to say! suddenly he recovered his sight, and the gift being found he hastened to the sanctuaries of the Confessors: and there the gifts which he had brought being offered, giving thanks to God, most joyful he returned to his own.

[11] Likewise a certain foreign mother had led her only daughter, deprived of sight, to other temples of the holy Martyrs and Confessors even in other provinces; the blind woman, nor yet had the daughter recovered her lost light. But having stayed for some time at i Antonia, going now hither, now thither, she had passed to other places, in vain however. Admonished therefore by divine instinct, that she should betake herself to the most holy bodies of Justus and Clemens, as soon as she first enters the doors of the temple, both supplicating, the sight of the daughter is forthwith restored.

[12] At almost the same times a certain smith named Ferrarius, from the Castle of Saint Mary in k Monte, while he was forging iron, a fiery spark hurting his eye, swelled up his whole head. hurt in the eye: Who, when he could be cured by no art of the physicians, at length, accompanied by his wife, sought the merits of the Confessors. After whose long prayers, as he was falling asleep, his head inclined upon his wife's knees, Justus the renowned hearer of prayer standing by, and wholly clearing his eye, removed at once all the swelling of his head, the scaly rottenness flowing out from the eye. Then the multitude of the bystanders sang many praises from their heart to the Lord, in whose name so many wonders were wrought.

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[13] These wondrous works of Justus and Clemens being meanwhile divulged, demoniacs brought to the altars of the Confessors are forthwith freed. Of whom one, born in a place which is called l Vallis, named Martinus son of Corbolinus, was without intermission vexed by an unclean spirit. the father of demoniacs, For so great a wickedness of the hostile demon harassed him, that, gnashing with his teeth, he gnawed his very bonds. What more do you seek? The prayers of Justus and Clemens being heard, after no small conflict of the demon, the possessed man himself is loosed from all the diabolical snares. and the son. But after a few days the angel of envy, grieving at such an expulsion, vehemently seized his son, Petrus by name. To him too, offered to the Bodies of the Saints, the clemency of God was in no way wanting: for, the demon being put to flight, leaping up with incredible joy, he returned to his own.

[14] Likewise Angelsina, a maiden m of Montepulciano, when she was tormented in all ways by a most wicked spirit, and when she had stood for some time with her mother and some kinsfolk before the Relics of the holy Confessors, The maiden, and all prayed God greatly for the deliverance of this Maiden; on the day of Pentecost, the Eucharist being taken, the wicked spirit at once departed from her. Wherefore all the bystanders gave singular thanks to God, who works wondrously every day through his Saints. The Cleric, To this, a certain Cleric, born n in the territory of San Gimignano, struck with incredible madness, as if driven by the monstrousness of a demon, tore all his garments. He, when he was set before the sacred altar of the Blessed Confessors, forthwith came to his senses: and thenceforth with the utmost tranquillity both of body and of mind he passed his whole life. But it would indeed be far too long to recount each miracle of this kind: for several raging with the vexation of demons, as Albertus of o Urceaticum, as another man of p Mount Zani, as a man and his wife of q San Cassiano, as finally several others, who, disturbed in health and in mind, recovered by the intervention of the holy Confessors.

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[15] In the times of the Saracen persecution, when that barbarous and monstrous nation expelled the faithful of Christ from the most sacred Sepulchre, in which our Savior was laid; r a certain pilgrim, born in the borders of s Val d'Elsa, by those infidel and barbarous men, while he fought most pugnaciously, The captive in the Holy Land is freed, was taken. He, held in chains, when he was afflicted with the highest and dire torments; night and day, using these prayers and supplications, sought Justus and Clemens as helpers: Come to my aid and succor me, Saints of God, wasting away with pains and innumerable torments; and hasten to be at hand to me now perishing by an untimely death. Free me, Lord Jesus Christ, who didst free Peter thy Apostle from the prison of the most foul Herod. Hear, most pious Confessors of Christ, my prayers; and for me, placed in this hard captivity, intervene before the omnipotent Lord. Attend, I beseech, and see my straits, most kind God, who through the Prophet didst say, "Call upon me in the day of tribulation, and I will rescue you." At this force of tears, poured forth from the depth of his breast, Justus and Clemens break the iron bars, and at once dissolve and shatter the hard fetters, and lead the poor man, rescued from that exceedingly heavy servitude, to safe places. Psalm 19:15 Who, passing through Byzantium, bought there a tablet quite skillfully painted, and containing a declaration of his most grievous case, and brought it to the Saints (by God's gift) his deliverers, and hung it up as a memorial of so great a benefit.

[16] There was at almost the same times a certain Pisan man, taken by the barbarians in the parts of Majorca: t on whom when they had cast chains, and he himself had implored the help of Justus and Clemens, another in Majorca, having easily obtained liberty, he adorned the temple of the Saints with very many gifts, and as a token of so great a miracle, left there his heavy fetters. Likewise another Pisan, named Trambus, when he had been taken by Gualfredus de Pichena, and every kind of cruelty was applied to him every hour; that wretched captive, when, commending himself, he had betaken himself to the patronage of the Saints, two others: at length escaped from the savagery of that most atrocious tormentor. To this, that the same according to his heart's desire befell Guilielmus, Presbyter of Serena, cast into chains by Ugo son of Guido (the help of the holy Confessors being implored), is handed down to memory.

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[17] Lately too the Marquis Conrad, forcing the castle of u Bulgarus to surrender, took thence some hostages: whom in the town which is called Silvicula, near Siena, in the bottom of a huge tower of a dark prison, another held hostage: under the strictest custody, he had confined. But behold, having no confidence at all in their own people, they thus commended themselves with much groaning to Justus and Clemens: O great Confessors, most dear friends of the Ruler of the whole world! O intercessors most excellent in piety! O hearers of prayer, quicker than said, most ready! we beseech, have pity on us: show us, most Clement God, thy mercy, and give us thy salvation, in this foul prison destitute of all hope at all. And when, wearied, they had now fallen asleep, B. Justus was seen to appear to them, saying: Arise, and do not tremble: for I am Justus, whom you so greatly asked. Do not, do not, I say, fear: for the Lord looses those in fetters. Roused by this vision, they flee, hindered by no one: and brought back to their own country, they never ceased both to give and to feel wondrous thanks to God.

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[18] At a time a little before passed, a certain woman of x Puppiano, named Bellenda, lacked milk, with which to nourish her own little daughter. To her a neighboring sorceress persuaded, that for all the things which she was to eat on the Lord's Day, she should seek only the water of a living fountain necessary for herself; nor on that day should pray to the Lord God, or fortify herself with the sign of the Cross; but three times should sprinkle her face with that very water, her hands being washed therefrom. Without any delay, the woman, too credulous, wholly obeyed the counsel of the sorceress: and when she had besprinkled her face with the water, and a very little had entered her mouth, at once no small number of croaking ravens was present there, namely the illusions of the demons; and a very great pain seized her through all her members. When therefore she was thus sick; possessed by a demon, she returns home and by all it was thought a far other infirmity: for in her the devil lurked until the day of the Lord's Supper. Then two Priests, kinsmen of her husband, wishing to bring her into the temple, could by no means accomplish it: for since the devil had now revealed himself, he resisted vehemently. Wherefore, being asked why he had seized her? he answered of his own accord, that this had been done by no wickedness of the possessed woman, but had happened only on account of the many and grievous crimes of the peoples by the permission of Almighty God. There are

for there are very many men at this time blasphemers, perjurers, adulterers, fornicators, envious, litigious, detractors, sacrilegious, robbers, murderers, usurers, deceivers, on account of the sins of others, avaricious, corrupters of justice, and so the human race almost universally has rotted in vices of this kind, like beasts in their own dung: wherefore even innocent vessels are granted us to vex and destroy. This wicked spirit, vociferating such things, now barked with canine gaping jaws, and at times, after the manner of rabid wolves, sent forth the howling of a dire voice, distorting the mouth with various gestures. The neighboring peoples, seeing these things, greatly terrified, a three-day fast being proclaimed, settle and wholly lay aside their lawsuits, abstain from fornications, amend their robberies, beware of blasphemies and oaths, shun avarice, follow justice; to embrace mutual charity by turns, and at last to set an end for the future to all kinds of sins and vices, all to a man, God leading, they decree: and no delay being interposed, running together in supplication to the Relics of B. y Zenobius at Florence, with the inmost affection of heart, and great effusion of tears, they implored the divine mercy.

[19] she is wretchedly tormented, Likewise, the most celebrated solemnity of Justus and Clemens drawing near, the Priests, whom we said above to be kinsmen of the woman, with other men of the same family, bring the woman herself, possessed by a demon, to the Basilica of the Confessors. There the demon, before a very great multitude of the people, began to torment her far more keenly than usual; for her hair, as if about to flee, was raised above her head: her mouth was distorted in all ways: her neck, as if broken, sank down here and there. But when Crescentius the Bishop, a man indeed most excellent in every kind of virtue, the venerable crown of Canons accompanying him, according to the old custom of the solemnity did all things rightly and in order; that wicked spirit cried out with vast voices: Behold the Bishop comes; and that not once, but again, and the more often repeated it: Behold the Bishop comes: and so whom he had not yet seen, he soon recognized as Bishop. And the bystanding peoples most diligently observed the fury of the demon: then after 11 days she is freed. for at times he imitated the manners of one praying, as if he seemed to revere the Saints of God; at times he assailed them with reproaches, and despised them like some mocker; and that, to hinder the vows of all the faithful. What more do you seek? For eleven days the woman remained there, afflicted with manifold torment of pains. At last, the Monks of that sacred temple praying without any intermission from their heart, with bare feet and bare knees; that most wicked spirit was at length driven away by the Confessors of Christ: and she who before had been very cruelly tormented, made wholly unharmed, is at last led back by her own people to her country. And all, as many as then came to the sacred edifice of the Confessors, were witnesses of so great a miracle. Nor is anything to be doubted of so firm and so illustrious a testimony: because the woman herself too soon adorned the Basilica of the Confessors of Christ with very many gifts, and, as long as she remained in life, was wont piously and holily to visit the same.

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[20] At almost the same time, the Lord worked in no way dissimilarly through his Confessors. For in the territory of Lucca at the Parish of Suvilianum, as they say, a certain girl, on whom the name of Judith had been bestowed, betrothed by her parents to a certain young man, The girl, possessed through the imprecation of her betrothed, had not yet withdrawn from her father's house. Her the betrothed tried to persuade (such is the titillation of venereal pleasure at that age) to make herself available to him: which the modest and chaste maiden as wisely as constantly affirmed was not fitting before the nuptials should be celebrated according to custom. And when, having taken the linens, she was going to wash them; the man, moved by anger graver than can be told, said: Go with the curse of God, and may the devil be with you. At which words the girl, approaching the river, was so terrified, that the tempter at once was present; and the most wicked one found an occasion of invading her: for under the appearance of a horrible crow horribly cawing, the unclean spirit seized her, gaping with great fear. In whom, the devil still lurking, the man after the nuptials noticed that she had become foolish: she is possessed: for she utterly denied all the things affirmed by himself, on the contrary confirming the things denied. Wherefore the husband, thinking that she would always be useless to him, sent her back to her parents to be guarded. But behold, the demon, revealed by certain signs, began to torment the woman most keenly. Wherefore all her people, bearing the matter most grievously, carry her to the Relics of Blessed aa Potens. And at once the demon exclaimed with stammering mouth: That Potens will never be able to cast me out: for the omnipotent God granted that to Justus alone. But being asked about his name and office, after 30 days she is freed: he calls himself a captive, and the keeper of frogs. These things being heard, carried by her kinsmen to the temples of the divine Justus and Clemens, day and night she assists at the sacred altars: from whose mouth in the dim night a fiery boy went forth, and, having gone around the Altar of the Confessor, was seen thence again to return. Further, those Monks insisting on prayer; at last after almost the thirtieth day the woman, freed from that siege of the demon, and restored to her former health, withdrew home. Yet from her the kindly Confessors most easily drove away the demon, resisting with no force and no contumacy. And this was believed to have happened for this reason, that it might be shown that the merits of Justus and Clemens before God are so great, that Satan, when he is driven off, in his departure dares not at all to afflict the body of the possessed.

NOTES BY G. H. AND D. P.

p Mons-Sani, by others Mons-Jani or Mons-Fani, in the maritime domain of Siena.

q San Cassiano, in the same Sienese domain on the borders of the territory of Orvieto.

r The Christians were expelled in the year 1187.

s The river Elsa of the Florentine territory glides into the Arno, whence the whole tract by it is called Val d'Elsa.

t These things were done when Majorca was subject to the Saracens; who were driven thence by James, King of Aragon, about the year 1232.

u The town or castle of Bulgarus is in the Pisan domain, called Gerundesia, not far from the sea; and this siege seems to pertain to about the year 1120, when Conrad, grandson of Henry V, left by the same Mathilda dead as Marquis of Tuscany, also besieged Pontorme in the Florentine territory; in a certain instrument of Lucca drawn up under the date of the year 1129, in Florentini in the memoirs of Mathilda, page 346, thus subscribed: Conrad, by divine grace Duke of Ravenna, and Governor and Marquis of Tuscany, whose successor in the year 1131 is subscribed only, Ramprettus, by divine gift Governor and Marquis of Tuscany.

x Puppium, a town of Etruria in the Apennines, where in the monastery of the Vallombrosan Order we copied out the Life of B. Torellus the solitary, published by us on the 16th of March, on which several things about Puppium are had: yet it is permitted to suspect that Puppianum is diverse from this, not yet found by us.

y The Acts of S. Zenobius, Bishop of Florence, we gave on the 25th of May.

z Crescentius the Bishop, namely of Volterra, is found in Ughellus to have succeeded Rogerius in the year 1130, subscribed to a certain agreement in the year 1134, such as his successor Adimarius is then found to have signed in the year 1139.

aa S. Potens the Martyr is venerated on the 7th of December: and he is one of the Martyrs who are venerated at Toscanella in Etruria under the Pontifical domain; as S. Communis the Martyr on the 8th of February, and Thesidius the Martyr on the 1st of April, and others. But that Episcopal See is now united to that of Viterbo.

APPENDIX

Added by Augustinus Florentinus.

Justus, Patron of Volterra in Etruria, Martyr (S.)

Clemens, Patron of Volterra in Etruria, Martyr (S.)

FROM AUGUSTINUS FLORENTINUS

Chapter 44

[21] In the region of a Radda, certain common people, wishing to build a temple in honor of the holy Confessors, Near Radicofani, had chosen, with concordant and unanimous will, a certain place exposed to the rays of the sun. They, going thither on a certain day to lay the foundations, when a certain plowman happened to be working two young oxen near the place itself by plowing … but when they began to scrape the ground, the young oxen forthwith take to flight. Then the master, following them with panting breast no little way up and down, not without a prodigy, came by chance to certain willows; where, thinking it best to do, if he should pluck some twigs both for himself and for those who had run to bring him help, to hinder the flight of the young oxen, he climbed into one. Wondrous to say! as soon as the rustic struck a branch at the first blow, forthwith drops of blood flowed from the willow. And the young oxen, checking their course, mild, and as if motionless, the church of S. Justus is built. all being amazed and marveling, suddenly stop there. By which prodigy those men, the former place being left, by the highest will of all, built the temple there altogether by divine providence, in honor of the divine Justus. Which from that very prodigy is even called, to this day, the Parish of S. Justus on the willow. For whose perpetual memory of the matter, they took care to adorn the wall of the temple with the ornament of paintings of the deed so done; in the place, namely, where that willow had been planted, a notable stone c also being placed for the knowledge of posterity.

Chapter 45

[22] In the year d 1530, in which almost all Etruria was ablaze with war, a certain Captain of soldiers, wholly unmindful of the Christian religion, a certain detachment of the army,

with some horses, Soldiers violating the right of the church. permitted to have its station in the sacred edifice of Justus and Clemens; establishing there in the sacred grotto of B. Clemens a storeroom of bread and wine at once. But certain women of Mount Bradonius and of the suburb of S. Justus, at the soldiers' approach to the city of Volterra, had first fled to that very sacred edifice, as to a sanctuary: then, the soldiers having come nearer to the doors of the temple, they had withdrawn trembling into the tower and under the roofs, hiding. These, beginning to despair of safety, did not cease to commend themselves to God and the holy Confessors again and again vehemently with poured-out tears. Wherefore, because no one of all seemed able to vindicate both their peril and the pollution of the sacred shrine from the injury of that savage and raging army: the kindly Confessors resting there drove away (as was just) the injury done to them by a horrible prodigy, and freed the women, fearful and trembling in zeal for chastity, by the divine mercy granting it, from all fear and peril at all. For when a certain soldier approached the very grotto, for the sake of dragging out and stealing thence some things; behold, suddenly surrounded by a globe of a certain flame, half-alive he is cast out from the place and out of the temple, together with the bystanders. Which thing being learned, the military forces were affected with so great fear, together with that Captain of the soldiers, terrified by a thunderbolt they depart: that, repenting of the crime committed, no one dared to approach there hereafter. And thus the women, at first terrified, soon freed from the incursion of the soldiers, gave many and great thanks to the omnipotent God, everywhere proclaiming his wonders. And certain women, who are still living among men, attested, even with us hearing, that they saw that globe of flame go around the whole temple three times through the window which is called Paradise.

Chapter 46

[23] In the months recently past, when the solemn day of the Lord James the Apostle had dawned; and almost every Monk had come to his altar to sacrifice according to custom, and to each of those sacrificing not a few of both sexes were always present (since in the house and work of God no one at all thinks that peril of this life threatens him, after Mass the roof falls without harm: but everywhere thinks of the joy of the eternal); it came about that, all the sacred rites being performed, and all who had come to the temple having gone out thence, a certain part of the roof, the beam being broken, fell over the chapel dedicated to the divine James himself: which damage of the temple was at once repaired at public expense. The rumor of which fall being received outside the temple by all those who had gone thither for the sake of performing the sacred rite; free from so great a peril, and from it, by the kindness of God and the protection of the holy Confessors, plainly preserved, each began to weigh, what is the life of man, and to how many and how great perils everywhere it is liable. To this it will not be amiss to note, how in the very chapel of the divine James are placed also the bones of B. James of Certaldo, who was a Monk and Abbot of that monastery; which, uncovered by such a fall, were secretly taken away, some besides the skull: but the rest, with us present, who committed these things to the memory of letters, remained covered there with the highest honor and the highest diligence.

Chapter 47

[24] A case much to be noted happened in the city of Volterra about the year 1508. When Silvester Faeus, held among his fellow citizens of no slight fortune and dignity, had let his house in the street of Burgus to a certain Baptista of Como to be built; he, although Silvester was away from the city, yet pressed on the building so, that he had now reached by building to the top of the first windows of the front part. And when the solemnities of the divine f Octavianus, which were wont to fall yearly on the Friday before Palm Sunday, were now at hand, and he was admonished by Petrus Covacius, a citizen of Volterra, the contempt of the feast of S. Octavianus, most zealous of the Christian Religion, who had by chance passed by there, that he should cease from the building, saying, Alas Master Baptista, what indeed do you do this morning? Why do you not rather strive with us to venerate the festival of the divine Octavianus our Protector and Patron, than to violate it by building? To whom Baptista, as that rustic kind of men is irreligious and most desirous of gain: What have I to do with the divine Octavianus? I will rather serve Silvester, from whom I receive my wages. These words he had scarcely uttered, when one of the boards, from which he had built a scaffold, slips, and so, placed headlong on the ground, broken, torn, he at once breathed out his soul. he is punished by sudden death. Which case, as it was very grievous to the whole city, so to Silvester himself, returned to the city, it cast such terror, that he by no means permitted the building to be raised higher, which very thing even now anyone of men may see. And of this matter most ample witnesses still survive, the chief citizens, and almost all octogenarians, as Gabriel Ricobaldus, as Michael Vintha, as Mariottus Leonardus; as very many others, who say that they were present, when the funeral of Baptista himself was carried out.

[25] That many other and indeed illustrious things were once done, and even daily done, by those Confessors of Christ, of whom we have hitherto had discourse enough, let it be doubtful to no one at all. But that we may at last make an end of this slight labor of ours; this is the last thing, that we strive to imitate the charity of so great Fathers according to our manly part: Peroration. for they, bound by turns by the closest bond of fraternal love, always labored to seek out, and in the very deed to perform, those things which are greatly approved by God Most High and Greatest, as everyone could quite clearly understand: and for that, raised into heaven, they are adorned with and enjoy the most ample reward of their labors. Going therefore to them humbly and meekly, let us ask, that they so guard the patronage of us they have undertaken, that the sins of us all may be remitted and forgiven us by God, to whom be praise and glory supreme and eternal. Amen.

NOTES BY G. H.

APPENDIX II

From a manuscript Relation of the men of Volterra.

Justus, Patron of Volterra in Etruria, Martyr (S.)

Clemens, Patron of Volterra in Etruria, Martyr (S.)

[26] Besides, in the year 1530, as Giovio and Ammiratus left written, when the Marquis del Vasto, The city about to be occupied in the year 1530, attacking Volterra with fierce effort, had striven to burst into the city through the gate of S. Angelo, and Maramundus had made an assault upon it at the monastery of S. Linus; and there with the engines of war had thrown down the walls, so that, the defenders retreating, the wall was stripped bare; and Franciscus Ferruccius, Prefect of horse and foot, wounded and terrified, had withdrawn into the citadel; then the Nuns of S. Linus, soon to be the prey of the raging conqueror, fled to the help of the Patrons SS. Justus and Clemens and Octavianus: who suddenly were present with a cohort of Angels to the Virgins praying: and the victory being taken from the enemy, and the boldness of the soldiers repressed, the Virgins, fearing for themselves, began to hope for certain safety. The enemy, beaten back from the walls, are compelled to retreat, the ruin of the walls is defended by the virtue of the Saints; until Joannes Broccardus, a Patrician of Volterra, coming up with many chief citizens, repaired the ruined walls. The Saints seen to fight. Whence not only did the Nuns assert that they had seen the holy Patrons fighting with a huge army of the celestial court and standing for them; but the soldiers themselves too, beaten from the wall and seized with fear, testified. But especially Amicus Arsula, a Captain of the soldiers, when he had returned into the city with Ferruccius to guard the walls from the enemy, greatly marveling, confirmed that he had beheld with his own eyes an infinite number of unknown combatants for the safety of the city, among whom three chiliarchs especially, formidable in valor, reverend with the gray of age, whom that they were the aforesaid Saints, who had suddenly flowed together from heaven to remove the wretched plight of the city, was doubted by no one.

[27] Those fallen into a precipice are preserved: There are also near the church of the Saints certain horrible chasms, of a depth most deep in vastness, hollowed out in their innermost places, which even in our time have swallowed up the greater part of the temple. Yet none who has by chance fallen into those chasms have the merits of the glorious and holy Confessor permitted to die in them or to be crushed: though in our age Julius Battaglionus, worn out with age, and Lucretia daughter of Julius de Pagninis, slipped by a miserable fall into the deep gap of those rocks.

[28] In the year 1527, when almost all Italy and especially Etruria were afflicted with famine, The city freed from famine, plague, and war in the year 1527. plague, and war, the men of Volterra alone bound themselves by a vow, for any year up to the twentieth, of visiting the temple of the Saints, and of placing in matrimony virgins laboring under too great poverty; by their merits and intercession they are freed. The monument of which miracle, cut on a marble stone, carried from the old sacred edifice to the recently erected one, is seen with this inscription: Because with Thee as leader, O Justus, in this year 1527 the men of Volterra were freed from war, plague, and famine, with which calamities the rest of Italy was vexed; hence the whole people, by sentence of the Council, decreed solemn supplications yearly on a set day at thy shrine. Marius Mapheus, Bishop of the High Temple, to eternal memory.

[29] Likewise in the year 1531, when the men of Volterra labored with famine, and in the year 1531. and were much more pressed by pestilence, they vowed each year, for a fixed space of twenty years however, to go to the old and the new church of the Saints, to offer alms according to their strength and the devotion of their mind, and to fast on the Saturday preceding the second Sunday of September, on which their temple is visited by the whole people; they are rescued from the onset of the plague.

THE HISTORY

of the Body of S. Clemens, found, often translated, and recognized. From an authentic relation of the men of Volterra.

Justus, Patron of Volterra in Etruria, Martyr (S.)

Clemens, Patron of Volterra in Etruria, Martyr (S.)

FROM THE AUTHENTIC INSTRUMENT, BY THE AUTHOR D. P.

[1] In the name of God, Amen. When already from Belgium a constant fame had spread abroad, The men of Volterra, moved by the fame of the work begun by Bolland, that the most Reverend in Christ Father, Dom Joannes Bollandus, of the Society of Jesus, a man excelling in the piety of religion, exceedingly versed both in the humaner and in the more sacred letters,

and most happy in the comprehension of ecclesiastical doctrine and the liberal arts, was laboring vehemently at accurately writing and illustrating with Notes the Lives of the Saints, as many as are venerated in the world or celebrated by Catholic writers, and at drawing out the illustrious deeds of the Blessed from hidden and most ancient monuments; that those things which had long lain hidden in darkness, to the glory of God, to the greater honor of the Saints, to the rousing in the peoples of a model of imitation, might shine forth more known; and that Godefridus Henschenius, Theologian of the same Society, was also bestowing his labor and zeal upon it; hence it happily came about that all the citizens of the most ancient and most noble city of Volterra (which, resolve to instruct him concerning their Saints, as in human preeminence it presided over the empire of the twelve ancient cities in Etruria; so by celestial favor and the preordination of God, was the first that recognized the light of the true faith, and received the worship of the Christian religion) desiring that the heroic works of the Saints, both of those whom, born on the soil of the city itself, the common fatherland bore, and of those who, coming to Volterra from foreign nations, either rested in it by a holy end, or, by the fervent savagery of the gentile Emperors having attained the palm of martyrdom, flew up to the heavens; that all their Relics be visited, through Deputies. and likewise that their Bones, Relics, Bodies, which even now rest in its bosom, for the solace of souls and for their honor, be made public and come into the light; on the part of the most Reverend Chapter, the most Illustrious and most Reverend Lords Canons of the greater and mother church of Volterra, in the name of the whole Clergy, by legitimate suffrages of votes, on the 18th day of December in the year 1646 (as I, the undersigned Notary, saw and read in the book of Capitular deliberations) chose the learned and patrician men, the Canons, Dom Franciscus Broccardus, chosen in the name of the Clergy, and Dom Alexander Riccobaldus Bava, Doctor of Both Laws and Prior of S. Michael; and on the part of the Senate of Volterra, the most Illustrious Lords Priors of the People and City of Volterra, and in the name of the most Illustrious University and the whole Senate (as appears in the Diary of Decrees of the College of Volterra, on the 12th day of June 1647, which I myself noted in reading) appointed Dom Raphael Maffeus, Doctor of Both Laws, in whom shines forth all zeal in conducting human affairs, and of the people: all humanity and prudence, on account of which by the most Serene Grand Duke of Etruria he was applied with the highest goodwill to the unwearied office and charge of Provider both of Salt and of the Citadel of the city of Volterra (a matter of the greatest moment), and Curtius Inghiramius, Patricians of Volterra; who all together should, by restoring, collect the memorials of the holy Patrons, Citizens, and other Blessed ones, which could be found at Volterra; and, approaching their bodies, bones, or relics, should recognize, note, and describe them; concerning which they should faithfully instruct the said sacred Writer; and should take care that all the acts of recognition be delivered to him in a sincere writing.

[2] All these, chosen from the selection of Patricians and unanimously elected, coming together with unanimous consent, who together with the Pro-vicar of the Bishop, suppliantly besought the most Illustrious and most Reverend Lord and Father, Dom Nicolaus Sacchetti of Florence, by the grace of God and the Apostolic See Bishop of Volterra, and Prince and Count of the Holy Roman Empire, that he would preside over so pious a work. He first praised the burning desire of the citizens, then promoted the work, and thence committed to Dom Fridericus Ghettus, his Vicar-general in spiritual matters, that he should be present at this undertaking, and assist with ordinary authority. Wherefore the aforesaid Lords (as has been said) chosen, and the Notary, coming together, except Dom Maffeus, who in this delegated his place to Dom Curtius his Colleague; appointed me, Ser-Franciscus son of the late Sebastianus de Contiis, Citizen and by Ducal authority Notary of Volterra, with equal consent, to attest the acts written below, and to reduce them to public form.

[3] But on the 12th day of December 1647, in the presence of the above-written Dom Pro-vicar and Dom Ludovicus de Minuccis, [in the year 1647 on the 12th of December, beginning from the Sacristy of the Cathedral,] Dom Horatius de Maffaeis, and me the undersigned Notary, and others, in the sacristy of the greater church, when they were together present, coming together, they asked Dom Bonamicus de Bonamicis, Archpriest of the same Volterran church, and Dom Bartholomaeus Bibonius the Canon, and also Dom Alexander de Faeis, Captain of the Soldiers, and Dom Julius de Maffaeis, all Patricians of Volterra, and at present chosen Conservators of the Sacristy; that they would show the more notable Relics, which were kept under their custody, to be recognized and described. Therefore the very pious aforesaid Conservators, assenting to so religious a petition, ordered the Presbyter Paulus de Cortinovis, one of the Sacristans, to open the tabernacle of the Relics. Now the tabernacle is placed in the middle of the sacristy like an altar, made of walnut boards, skillfully carved with gilded images, barred with two locks, which are opened with two keys, however not matching, of which the one is kept with Dom Bartholomaeus as ecclesiastical Conservator, after certain other Relics had been inspected, the other with Dom Alexander as lay Conservator. When this was opened, all the same Conservators being present, the Sacristan having let down a silken veil of scarlet color, exposed the Head of S. Victor the Martyr enclosed in silver … Afterwards the Presbyter Michael Leonius, another of the Sacristans, brought forth from the sacred shelf one silver image of S. Octavianus … Then the Sacristan set out an image of brass, or a little casket of gilded bronze, carved with various images, in which a great part of the head of one Infant of the holy Innocents was kept … Then the silver image of S. Ugo, Bishop and Confessor, is set forth for us to behold … This being carried back to its place, there is shown to us the head of S. Candidus the Martyr, with the neck, breast, and shoulders … Then the heads, down to the breast, of SS. Justus and Clemens, the heads of SS. Justus and Clemens being seen, skillfully carved in silver, are set forth to be seen.

[4] I omit, as it appears, and … by a mark, whatever things the Deputies judged should be noted about each, and that P. Bolland should be taught. For of S. Victor I treated after Volume 7 of May, in the Appendix to the 8th day; of the Saints Octavianus and Ugo, there will be treatment on the 2nd and 8th of September: of S. Candidus Bolland treated on the 3rd day of February: the things further treated consequently about SS. Justus and Clemens, from authors partly of this, partly of the previous century, look to this, that at last, the opinions of various men being reported, it may be concluded for certain that these Saints came to Volterra with S. Octavianus in the year 520, Thrasamund ruling among the Africans, they weave an ample relation about both: who then cast two hundred and twenty Bishops into exile, as Paul the Deacon records in book 17, chapter 3; likewise at that time in which Theodoric, the Arian King of the Ostrogoths in Italy, greatly favored the Arians. There follow the things which I transcribed above in the Commentary, no. 10, about the cult of both and the things reported in Appendix 2 of the Miracles; and finally about the silver head of each Saint, carried back to its tabernacle; and there is a passing on to the silver Head of S. Marius the Martyr, of whom there is to be treatment in the Supplement of January at the 19th of January.

[5] On the 13th of December, there was a going to inspect the Relics kept in the church of S. Petrus in Silice, then they visit 3 other temples on the 13th, 14th, and 16th of December, and to be commemorated on various months. On the 14th day the Lords went to the temple of S. Franciscus of the Minor Conventuals; where among many others is the body of B. Bonamicus de Bonamicis, of whom see many things in the Appendix of the Passed-Over to the 1st of May. Then on the 20th day of the same month see the Analects on S. Bernardine of Siena, where at no. 11 you will read what the same Lords saw on that same day toward evening in the temple of the Name of Jesus. On the 16th of December the Relics were surveyed with which the temple of the Hermits of S. Augustine is adorned; and toward evening in the Cathedral the altar of the Crucifix was taken apart, in which there was a report, strengthened by old writings, that many and precious Relics of various Saints had been laid up.

[6] On the 17th day of December the aforesaid Dom Pro-vicar and the Lords Deputies came together at the temple of Dom Marcus in the suburbs, and on the 17th the church of S. Marcus, and placed within the ancient walls of the city, to see and recognize the bodies of the Saints placed there. There was likewise present Dom Inghiramus Inghiramius, one of the Workmen of the monastery and nuns of the same place; there were present Dom Antonius Maffaeus the Canon, the Knight Dom Camillus Leonorius, Dom Jacobus son of the late Benedictus Incontri, Dom Aloysius Falconcinius, Dom Franciscus Maffaeus, Dom Ludovicus Minuccius, and very many others, who came to the greater altar of the church, opened in the middle. There were in it two chests, on one of which was read inscribed, THE BODY OF SAINT CLEMENS; on the other, where the body of S. Clemens was found, THE RELICS OF THE SAINTS CRESCENTIUS, DULCISSIMUS, AND CARISSIMUS. The altar being bared, the Knight Dom Camillus Leonorius and Dom Inghiramus Inghiramius made oath to me the undersigned Notary, that that was the same altar, in which they asserted that the aforecited Relics, on the side of the Gospel, in the year 1628 on the Kalends of July, had been deposited … and that nothing in it had been changed from its former form; but that it remained untouched and entire, as it was on the said day, since they themselves had been present: and being asked about witnesses they spoke of themselves, of the Knight Dom Franciscus Falconcinis, of Dom Pyrrhus Liscius, of Dom Camillus Maffaeus, and of many others.

[7] they recognize, When the truth of this matter became known, at once the Lords Deputies ordered Bartholomaeus Massellius, a mason, to demolish and open the altar at the side, through which the Relics had been put in. This being opened, the chest of S. Clemens was brought out, which, torches being lighted, is placed upon the greater altar. It is unlocked with one key, which is in the power of the most Reverend Chapter of Volterra, and was handed over by Dom Alexander Bava the Canon. It was likewise unlocked with another key, which is kept with the most Illustrious Lords Priors of Volterra, which Doctor Thomas Brogius, Chancellor of the Senate of Volterra, brought. But although they had inspected the chest sealed with a triple lock; two being opened, they had found the third also open, because it had not been closed, when the same Relics had been deposited there. The chest being opened therefore was wholly lined throughout with white silk. The silk being removed which covered the most holy bones, the whole head and the greater part of the bones of the body of S. Clemens was inspected by the bystanders. In a pouch of cloth of Attalic make, the ashes of the same holy Confessor and Patron were kept: and in a certain earthen vessel, some fragments of his bones were most carefully sealed. All which, recognized and venerated, were again covered with the same silk: and there on parchment we placed an inscription, and lay them up again: lest the memory perish, of the following purport. The Body of S. Clemens the Confessor, recognized with the observances to be observed, as appears from the attestation of Ser-Franciscus de Contiis, son of the late Sebastianus Augustinus, Citizen and public Notary of Volterra, in the year of the Lord 1647, Indiction 15, on the 18th day of the month of December, Innocent X being supreme Pontiff, Ferdinand II Grand Duke of Etruria ruling. This chest was again closed with only one key of the City of Volterra:

for the key of the Chapter, because the wood of the chest had shrunk, lost the use of closing.

[8] But how the body of S. Clemens was carried to the church of the divine Marcus is further to be noted. It had once been in its own church, Hence are briefly narrated most of those things which we set down above from the more ancient Acts in the history of the Monastery of SS. Justus and Clemens, about the building of the twin church, and the consecration made by Maurus, Bishop of Siena; then from Sigonius and others it is narrated how Volterra was at last laid waste by the Lombards, called into Italy through Narses, in the year 579, and the aforesaid oratories suffered great loss: how likewise, the empire of the Carolingians in Italy growing worthless, the same was reduced into the power of Adalbertus Albericus of the Lombards, who then resided at Lucca; and how he, driven from Rome by John X, summoned the Hungarians; who, attacking Etruria itself, consumed almost the whole city of Volterra with fire, in which ruin the churches of the Saints Justus and Clemens, having suffered much through the Lombards and Hungarians, built by Alci, are polluted and overthrown … But in the year 962 Otto the great Emperor, entering into Etruria, … when he had restored the walls of Volterra … reduced the circuit of the walls into a narrower form. Afterwards too Gutfredus the Bishop, in the year 1030, with his Clergy, began to rebuild the oratories of SS. Justus and Clemens; as we more fully reported from the instrument of his successor Guido, on the foundation of the monastery; where also about the Abbots from Augustinus Fortunius we gave those things which seemed to pertain thereto. These things being thus touched on, the Deputies thus continue the narration begun.

[9] These Monks established by Gutfredus, wearing the black habit, and in the year 1113 handed over to the Camaldolese, in the year 1113 took up the white garment of the Camaldolese; and Rogerius, Bishop of Volterra, chose Dom Boninus as the first Abbot, clothing him with the white garment. But both, when the grotto of S. Clemens, wont to be frequented with great concourse and devotion of the people, threatened ruin in some part; undertook to seek the body of S. Clemens in that grotto with the highest zeal. Which at length, found near the altar in a low tomb in the year 1140, placed then for the first time in an urn, they laid up under the altar of S. Sebastian. Thence in the year 1579 the holy Relics, recognized by Guido Ser-Guidius, Bishop of Volterra, were placed in the chapel of S. James under the bells. Likewise in the year 1612, when Cosmus II, Grand Duke of Etruria, came to Volterra, they were again opened and seen; found in the year 1140 and recognized in the year 1579 and 1612, and placed more decently in the same urn of pumice-stone, wrapped in silken cloths, they are arranged in the same place: and there again is set an old round leaden plate, with the ancient inscription, in which these words were noted written: Here lies the body of Saint Clemens. And in that recognition of the holy bones, all who were present were astonished at the admirable fragrance of odor exhaling from them. All this clearly appears from the instrument of Ser-Raphael Tanellius, citizen and public Notary of Volterra, on the 12th day of September 1612.

[10] Likewise in the year 1627 on the 2nd day of September, at the hours of noon, the church being placed in the crypt in the year 1627, the church of S. Justus fell headlong into the contiguous chasm. And so the body of S. Clemens, together with the other Relics which lay in the altar of S. James, was carried back into the same grotto of S. Clemens behind the altar of the most holy Crucifix, the door of the grotto being closed with three locks. The first key was handed over to the Cathedral Chapter, the second to the Senate of Volterra, the third to the Camaldolese Monks. And when more honorable chests of walnut had been made for the said Relics; on the 25th day of April of the year 1628, the third day of the Lord's Resurrection, by the most Illustrious Lord Bernardus Inghiramus, then Bishop of Volterra, drawn out of the urn, they are laid up in the new chest: and then (as is noted in the books of the Abbey and handed down to memory) two bones were drawn out, to be carried to the Cathedral. There were there the heads, down to the breast, skillfully carved of silver: then in 1628 laid up in a new chest, but into the silver head of S. Justus, which the Mount-of-Piety paid for, no Relic is inserted. But in the silver effigy of S. Clemens, which the magnificence of Dom Joannes Maria Ormannius gave, in a crystal vessel two bones of the Saint, namely the knuckle of the foot, or the ankle-bone or talus, and a part of the arm, except two bones carried to the Cathedral. with an inscription on parchment, were placed; which the said Bishop Inghiramus in the year 1629, the Canons and others being present, inserted and enclosed. Afterwards each image or effigy was shut up in the tabernacle, and is carried to the temple of the Saints with frequent procession. Besides those two bones, the rest of the parts, enclosed in the same recent case, the whole people being present, are laid under the altar which was then of the Crucifix, but now is dedicated to the divine Justus, in the same chapel of S. Clemens.

[11] But since, on account of the impending ruin, the Relics of the holy Patrons were not there thought well secure: the sacred congregation of Bishops and Regulars (though the Monks objecting and contradicting) judged that the same Relics should be transferred from the temple of the divine Justus to the temple of the divine Marcus: as appears from the letters of the most Eminent Cardinal of S. Sixtus, on the sixth day of May of the year 1628, and finally translated to the church of S. Marcus. which appears in the Register of the Commune of Volterra of the same year. Which translation indeed was made by the most Illustrious Bishop of Volterra, by the Chapter, by the Senate of Volterra, at the expense of the same Community, on the first day of the month of July, with the greatest solemnity and pomp: On the 1st of July, and the same Relics were handed over in deposit to the Workmen of the same monastery on this condition, that when the notable mass of the new church should be completed, which the men of Volterra began to erect in honor of the holy Patrons, they should be transferred into the same, as it is said to be established from an instrument made by Michael de Tanis. there the Deputies inspect an old urn, of the year 1140, But since the old urn too, in which the holy body had first been placed, was kept in the sacristy of the said monastery; the aforesaid Dom Pro-vicar and Deputies and others who were present resolved to visit the same urn. It is a square stone chest, two feet high and long, but one foot broad: the covering stone is suitable to the sepulchre; of simple form and bared of all ornament and figures. Yet these words are read on it in most ancient letters: Here rests the Body of B. Clemens, and it was found in the times of Pope Innocent II, 1140. There were in the same chest two locks fortified with lead, but yet opened.

[12] We saw the urn unlocked without any key, full of bones, and in it the bones of one man: which were known to be of one whole body. Upon which bones the Lord Knight Camillus Leonorius, and Inghiramus Inghiramius, the Lord Pro-vicar being present, made oath and asserted, that the aforesaid urn was the same, which had already been brought out of the grotto of S. Clemens, and from which in the year 1618 the Relics of the same Saint were drawn out, in memory of which it was translated to S. Marcus. They asserted also that in the aforesaid year, while the body of S. Justus was being sought, the bones of one man had been found in the rock (which is commonly called "panchina") extended as great as is a man's length: of which corpse a part had been under the high altar of S. Justus, and a part outside far from the steps to four arms' length without any inscription in the very tomb, [They understand that in the year 1628 the bones of a whole body were found under the altar of S. Justus,] covered on either side with roof-tiles, and above fortified with bricks and broad stones. The same bones had been carried by the Presbyter Lucantonius Francissius to S. Marcus, wrapped in the altar-cloth, and placed under a bench in the Sacristy. Likewise that another body had been found under the steps, in a deeper place four cubits inward from the steps themselves: whose bones were covered with tiles and roof-tiles; and, although water flowed there from every side, yet they were most beautiful, exceedingly white and whole. The Bishop Inghiramius therefore advised that the same bones, placed back in the said urn, should be carried to the church of S. Marcus; intending with maturer counsel to investigate, and another body under the steps: whether the first or the second could be judged of S. Justus, or of another Saint. As cause of their knowledge they said: that they had been present at all things: of the place, in the temple of the divine Justus: of the time, in the year 1628: of witnesses, of themselves, of Dom Benedictus Bava the Vicar general, of the Lord Knight Franciscus Falconcinius Prefect of the militia, some of which is perhaps of S. Justus. of the Lords Canons Aloysius Inghiramius, Sebastianus Ciupius, and of very many others. Meanwhile it is not explained of what body were the bones, which the deputies testify they saw in the old chest: whence it only remains for us to conjecture that they are of one or the other body, found under the altar of S. Justus; so that it remains to inquire what became of the bones of the other body.

[13] These things being thus performed, the case also being inspected, containing the bones of SS. Dulcissimus, Carissimus, and Crescentius, of whom there is to be treatment on the 6th of July, the Lord Pro-vicar and the Lords Deputies resolved that the two cases should be carried to the old sacristy of the monastery, The same, after certain other things, where now is the little window of the Nuns; intending to investigate more diligently, with whom was the power of the lacking third key … But on the 17th day of December, it became known that the third key might exist with the most Reverend Lord Abbot, who was then away … wherefore each case was carried back under the greater altar, as it was before: which chests the same mason fortified with bricks, stones, and cement on every side. On the 19th the Relics existing in the Priory church of S. Stephen the Protomartyr in the suburbs were visited: but on the 29th the inspection of the Relics in the sacristy of the Cathedral church was continued. And finally on the 8th of January, the Lords returned to the church of S. Marcus; and, having learned that the aforesaid third key existed with the most Reverend Father Abbot of the monastery of SS. Justus and Clemens, the Lords Deputies asked the aforesaid Abbot, returning on the 8th of January to the church of S. Marcus, that he would be present with his key at the recognition and description of the aforesaid Relics. The Abbot, the truth of the matter being inspected, and understanding that no fraud lay beneath, he too desirous of promoting so pious a work; that he might both second the wishes of the most Reverend Chapter and the most Illustrious Senate of Volterra, and that the aforesaid Saints might be venerated more and more exalted to the glory of God; himself with the Lord Pro-vicar, the Deputies, and Doctor Thomas Bregius, Chancellor of the city Senate, betook himself to the church of the divine Marcus: and there the part of the altar at the corner, on the 18th day of December again smeared with cement, with the Abbot of S. Justus, and again restored with stones, was recognized and well and diligently examined: which was found whole and in no part tampered with nor moved. Whence again, the Lord Pro-vicar, the Lords Canons, the above-said Father Abbot being present,

and the Patrician men already deputed and the witnesses to be cited below, Master Joannes Maria Sanfinochius the mason was ordered to demolish the restored corner of the said altar.

[14] Hence was brought out the case, in which the bones of S. Clemens rest: and that chest, the most Reverend Father Abbot and the monks looking on, the key of the most Reverend Chapter being offered by the aforesaid Dom Alexander Bava the Canon, they recognize the Relics of S. Clemens: conservator of the Capitular archive, and also the key of the most Illustrious Lords Priors being brought by Doctor Thomas Brogius, Chancellor in the name of the University of Volterra, was opened, torches being lighted. And the lid being raised and the silken covering removed, the holy Relics were seen and recognized, which are covered with the same silk; and the manuscript writing on parchment, which had been left there on the 18th day of December, was taken away, and another with the below-written memorial was set.

D. O. M.

In the year of the Lord 1647, Indiction 15, on the 8th day of January, and with a new inscription, Innocent X being Supreme Pontiff, Ferdinand II Grand Duke of Etruria, the body of S. Clemens, Patron of the men of Volterra, laid up in this little case, formerly buried in the old church of the said Saint, outside the ancient walls of the aforesaid city. Who, after he freed Volterra, together with Justus his brother and Octavianus his companion, from the Vandalic savagery, extinguished the Arian heresy, put to flight the demon and the most dire serpents, lived most holily and, renowned for miracles, rested in the same place, in the year 1140 found, is placed in a little stone case: and in the year 1612 recognized, at length in the year 1627, on account of a most ancient chasm, with the greatest grief of the men of Volterra, the most ancient and most devout temple of the holy Patrons falling, enclosed in this urn, deposited in the church of S. Marcus, to be transferred to the new edifice of S. Justus and S. Clemens, by decree of the sacred Congregation, on the 6th day of May 1628, was again recognized. From the attestation of me, Ser-Franciscus Contius, son of the late Sebastianus Augustinus, Citizen and public Notary of Volterra, the observances to be observed being observed. The little case therefore was closed with the key of the most Reverend Chapter, of the most Illustrious Community, and of the most Reverend Abbot of S. Justus … In the presence of the Lords Franciscus Maffaeus, and Ludovicus Minuccius, and Michael Bonamicius, the witnesses asked.

[15] Again they shut it up. The little case therefore was closed with the key of the most Reverend Chapter, of the most Illustrious Community, and of the most Reverend Abbot of S. Justus; and there was a proceeding to the chest of SS. Dulcissimus, Carissimus, and Crescentius; but on the 18th day of January to the inspection of SS. Actinia and Graeciniana … Besides, the Lords Deputies, mature counsel being held about what should be done in the description of the Relics which remained in the old temple of SS. Justus and Clemens, by common consent resolved, that there was no need for an actual recognition to be made. Nor do they think the things still hidden should be sought. Because there are two kinds of them: for partly they have already been found and are sufficiently known: partly they are unknown and still to be found. The Relics already found, besides that they were seen by the Lords Deputies, were also diligently recognized in the month of May 1642 by the most Reverend Dom Alexander Bava the Canon, and then Pro-vicar of the most Illustrious Dom Nicolaus de Sacchettis the Bishop, who even at this time is one of the Lords Deputies … and this was done, when the most Reverend Dom Camillus de Monte-varchio restored the chapel and altar of the Crucifix, and transferred it to the greater altar of S. Justus. But because among the recognized Relics was numbered almost the whole body of B. James of Certaldo, of him there is here more lengthy treatment; but they inspect anonymous Relics, translated in the year 1365: and finally these things are added about the Translation of the body, which we gave after the Life on the 13th of April. In another urn lie various notable Relics, with a parchment, in which the names of the Saints are written: but because they are confused among themselves, the aforesaid Lords Deputies did not think they should be noted. There is also there another chest of pumice-stone, lined with light green silk, filled with the Relics of very many bodies, in which is written, RELICS WHOSE NAMES ARE UNKNOWN. These holy bodies in the year 1365, by Dom Justus Guiducci de Gottis, a Patrician of Volterra, in restoring the church of S. Clemens, and in building the walls, and in the vaults for sustaining the grotto of S. Justus, were found: which bodies were laid up by him in the altar of S. Clemens, which afterwards was named of the Crucifix, as appears from the book of the Abbey, page 166.

[16] The body of S. Justus, not only by a most ancient tradition was it constantly and always believed and is believed Concerning S. Justus, uncertain whether the body is his. to have been in the same place, in which we beheld his altar lately to stand; but it also manifestly appears from the memorial books of the Abbey, and the testimony of the Church of Volterra, in the Hymn of the Office of the Saint, and of a most ancient manuscript Breviary, and from the clear title and inscription erected on the very altar: but his tomb was never opened out of reverence. But when the old church had fallen, in the year 1628 on the 29th day of July, and the altar by decree of the sacred Congregation had been demolished; there was found, in a tomb in the rock, a certain body without inscription, whose legs lay under the altar, but the rest of the parts of the bones outside on the side of the Epistle. And at once by the command of the most Illustrious Bishop on the same night, the aforesaid bones, carried to the temple of S. Marcus, and in a little case, shut with a single key, which, found under his altar, was translated thither in the year 1628; were laid up in the sacristy of the aforesaid monastery, with the following memorial, written with the proper hand of Dom Aloysius Inghiramius, Canon of Volterra, then chosen for it, which many witnesses by oath recognized from my attestation. It, rendered from Italian into Latin, has this sense: This body found under the rock, on the side of the Epistle, where by most ancient tradition it is held that the body of S. Justus was buried in a tomb, hollowed out in the "panchina" to the length of a human body, rising about two ells above the floor of the chapel. Wherefore the aforesaid Lords Deputies, yet they inspect it. since the key of the little case was lacking, nevertheless opened it; and all things being found, with the above-written Italian inscription, they placed them back in the same little case, and fastened the lid with little nails, and sealed it with the seal of the Maffaei and the Minucii, and resolved to refer the whole to the most Reverend Chapter and the General Council. But about seeking out the rest of the Relics, not yet found, which in the said church of S. Justus, in the caves, and in the well of the Martyrs full of bones, are said to lie; and also about drawing out other bodies of the Saints, which are believed to be found there; the aforesaid Lords Deputies, thinking that such authority had not been delegated to them; and, even if it should be entrusted to them, judging that the time was not suitable for this matter; but that it should be done with a preceding fast, communion, and the prayer of the whole people, with mature counsel resolved.

[17] The fourth part also of the Annals of the Order of the Friars Minor, written by Barezzo Barezzio, was brought: who, because in chapter 30 he affirms that at Volterra in the monastery of S. Linus the Pontiff, They collect also accounts of the Blessed buried at S. Linus, the bodies of many holy women lie buried … the Lords Pro-vicar and Deputies resolved that they could not be recognized, but ordered that certain things worthy of mention should be noted about each named by Barezzo … In the same temple of S. Linus, there rises a most noble Sarcophagus to Raphael Maffaeus of Volterra. Of whom, dead about the year 1522 on the 8th day before the Kalends of February, and once venerated like a Saint, many lengthy things follow worthy to be given at least by way of a Corollary in the Supplement to the 25th of January. The visitation being finished, then, by the inspection of the Relics kept in the temple of S. Dalmatius, on the 23rd day of January; all four Deputies, considering and about S. Leo I and others through the diocese, that something had been written about all the Volterran Saints, except about S. Leo the Pope, who received the name of the Great, judged that about him too, as born at Volterra, Bolland should be taught more lengthily, as we indicated in the preliminary Commentary to his Life on the 11th of April, no. 12: and they did the same about other Saints too who flourished in the towns, district, or diocese of Volterra. But most recently, the Lords Deputies proposing it, it seemed good to the most Reverend Chapter and the most Illustrious Community, to increase their faculty and amplify their authority, that they might transfer the Relics of S. Ugo from the altar of the chapel, and finally they translate the body of S. Ugo. to the noble deposit of a sarcophagus, which the most Illustrious Lord Knight Antonius Incontrius had already taken care to have made to the right of the greater altar. As the deed is described on the 5th day before the Ides of February: and the whole Process, or Instrument of the Visitation and Recognition of the Relics, is confirmed with the solemn subscription of the Notary named above, the Priors of the People of the city of Volterra making it credible to him, through their Chancellor Thomas Francisci de Brogiis, on the 13th day of May in the year 1648, Indiction 1, with the impression of the seal of the Community in green wax, as the authentic itself is kept with us, for the perpetual memory of so singular a zeal, and for the use of the rest of our work, when there shall be treatment of each. One thing I here add, that I find noted by the hand of Bolland, that the whole matter was carried on, chiefly through the care, with the Chapter and Senate, of N. N. brother of our Father Leo Sanctius, a Benedictine and Doctor of Sacred Theology in the Academy of Pisa.