ON SAINT EUTYCHIUS,
BISHOP OF COMO IN ITALY.
ABOUT 532.
A HISTORICAL COLLECTION.
On his Cult, Life, Translation.
Eutychius, Bishop of Como in Italy (S.)
BY THE AUTHOR G. H.
[1] This is the second Bishop of Como or New-Como, whom in this month of June we celebrate, two others below at the 17th and 22nd of this same month of June being also to be given. The first, Aloysius Tattus of New-Como, Theologian of the Somaschan Congregation, and Consultor of the holy Office, in his New-Como Martyrology composed the eulogy of S. Eutychius thus: Eulogy from the Como Martyrology. On the Nones of June. At New-Como, in the Archpresbyteral church of S. George, of S. Eutychius, Bishop and Confessor: who, piously brought up by his parents, advanced so far in integrity of morals and praise of doctrine, that, Eusebius, Bishop of Como, being dead, by the highest consent of all the orders he was appointed in the Episcopate. Placed in so sublime a dignity, he diffused the rays of his holiness over the whole region and diocese. Continually watching with constant zeal over the sheep committed to him, to pray the divine clemency for the same, he used to withdraw to the steep solitude of a neighboring mountain, on which even now from his name a huge Cross is seen. There, given to fastings, prayers, and tears, he constantly conversed alone with God, when no necessity of his Church urged him to be present. In this illustrious solitude, admirable for miracles and merits, at length he fell asleep in the Lord. Thus far there, to which in the Notes these things about the burial are added. A wondrous burial in the church of S. George: Immediately after the death of Eutychius, a great contention arose among the citizens, all eagerly desiring the Body of so great a Bishop. When they could not come into one opinion, it pleased at last some, which afterwards the rest too approved, that it
should be placed on a cart, and untamed young oxen yoked; that where it should be drawn by them, there, as in a place divinely designated, it might rest. Scarcely had the oxen been brought to the vehicle, when they rushed at a hastened course into the temple of the divine George, where behind the high altar it was buried in a marble sepulchre. Thus far there; to which similar things, both about his deeds, and about the conveyance of the body by the oxen, have Ferdinandus Ughellus in volume 5 of Italia Sacra, among the Bishops of Como, no. 8, and Philippus Ferrarius in the Catalogue of the Saints of Italy, who also mentions him in the general Catalogue.
[2] Famous is the memory of the same S. Eutychius on the second day of May, and in the same Tattus it is thus indicated: the translation on the 2nd of May in the year 1569, On the sixth day before the Nones of May, at New-Como in the Archpresbyteral Church of S. George, the dedication of the same Church, and the first translation of S. Eutychius, Bishop and Confessor, and his replacement in the former tomb behind the high altar by Joannes Antonius Ulpius. And in the Notes is added: A special mention of this translation of the holy Bishop is also had in a tablet, published for the use of the Church of Como at New-Como at the press of Hieronymus Frova, under Philippus Archinto, Bishop of New-Como. With so famous and so great a concourse of peoples was such a supplication performed, in the year 1569 of the past century, that it was from that time numbered among the more solemn days, on which the laws are silent.
[3] The second translation is commemorated on the 26th day of April in the same Como Martyrology in these words: On the sixth day before the Kalends of May, at New-Como in the Archpresbyteral church of S. George, within the suburb of Vicus, the Translation of S. Eutychius, Bishop and Confessor: whose Bones, from the ancient seat, another on the 26th of April in the year 1641, in which they lay a thousand years and more, carried to the high altar in the same temple, were more decently placed under it by Lazarus Carafinus. Which, for the sake of greater light, are thus illustrated in the adjoined Notes. The tomb of S. Eutychius had been opened once by Joannes Antonius Ulpius, Bishop of New-Como, in the year 1569. He had recognized one by one the sacred Bones of the blessed Bishop, and soon translated with solemn pomp had placed them back in the same place: but those, behind the high altar, were seldom seen and venerated. But because the remembrance and cult of B. Eutychius among our citizens was continual, Lazarus Carafinus decreed to transfer the old sepulchre under the same altar: so that, the antependium or covering of the altar being removed, which often happens, these sacred pledges, frequently beheld by the people, might receive from it due veneration. There was then cut on the tomb, for the perpetual memory of the matter, this following inscription:
The bones of the body of S. Eutychius, Bishop of Como, with this inscription. recognized by Joannes Antonius Ulpius the Bishop in the year 1569, Lazarus Carafinus, Bishop of the same See, for the concourse and celebrity of the people, in the ancient marble chest, placed more decently under the altar, laid them up in the year 1641, on the 26th day of April.
[4] The time of his See. The same Tattus, in the sacred Annals of the same city of Como, has similar things everywhere; and with Ferrarius asserts that he was born in Vicus outside the city, which place of Vicus, says Ferrarius, is also called Burgus, and is joined to the city; and with Ughellus refers the beginning of his Episcopate to the year 525, having premised however that nothing certain can be affirmed about it; and in the same way he places his death about the year 532: in each of Tattus's two treatises also very many Writers are cited, chiefly of Como and more recent, who mentioned S. Eutychius, and may be seen in him. But in the Breviary of Como, A proper Office. recognized by the authority of the above-praised Bishop Ulpius about the year 1592, and by the care of Felicianus Ninguarda his successor published in print, is contained a whole proper Office, with Lessons. These Lessons indeed in sense in nothing, in copiousness of words very little, differ from the Eulogy reported above: but now they alone are used by the Clergy with Hymns, Antiphons, and Responsories from the Common Office: which, since they teach us nothing singular, nor have great commendation from antiquity, we prefer to abstain from them, although by the kindness of the aforesaid de Tattis they are at hand.