CONCERNING THE HOLY MARTYRS
LUCIUS AND AMANTIUS
AT CORNELIO IN THE DISTRICT OF PARMA.
Concerning their finding and cult.
CommentaryLucius, Martyr at Cornelio, in the district of Parma (S.)
Amantius, Martyr at Cornelio in the district of Parma (S.)
G. H.
Cornelio, a fortress with a little town, within the roots of the Apennine mountain, near the source of the river Parma, distant from the city of Parma itself 25 miles, Sacred cult among the people of Cornelio, celebrates on this day the feast of SS. Lucius and Amantius the Martyrs, as Ranucius Picus in the Theatre of the Saints and Blessed of the city and diocese of Parma, and Philip Ferrarius, deduce from the Tables of the Church of Parma and its Sanctuary; Ferrarius, who in the general Catalogue has these things: At Cornelio, in the diocese of Parma, of the holy Martyrs Lucius and Amantius, and observes in the Notes that this day is that of the Finding of the bodies, not of their natal day, which is unknown; if, however, it is at least that of the finding, and not assumed only for this reason, because the Martyrologies celebrate today Martyrs of this name (who suffered, as we have already seen, at Nividunum). The same Ferrarius, in the Catalogue of the Saints of Italy, published a eulogy taken from the Sanctuary of Parma, which is of this kind.
[2] moved by a miracle, to found a church there, Lucius and Amantius, Martyrs, at what time they suffered, is unknown. Yet their bodies were found at Cornelio, a town of the district of Parma near the river Parma. For when the people of Cornelio disagreed about the place for building a church, at last it seemed good to them that it should be built there, where two untamed bullocks yoked together should halt. And they halted on the nearby mountain, where the bodies of the Saints lay hidden. But also birds, vying with one another flying thither, indicated as it were that there it must be dug up. And so where they began to dig, where they were to find the bodies. a little coffin with an inscription of the hidden bodies is found. Which, a sacred shrine having been built for them, were deposited in a more fitting place. And the holy Martyrs, as they grew more famous from day to day by miracles, received as Patrons by the people of Cornelio, began to be held in the greatest honor on the sixth of June, on which day their bodies were found. Thus Ferrarius, but in the text, instead of the sixth of June, to which he everywhere referred it, by some lapse of memory he had written "on the Nones of June."
[3] In the Annotation it is added, that they are thought, from the ancient tradition of the people of Cornelio, to have been crowned with Martyrdom near the said town. For the place, in which the holy Martyrs crossed the river, is still pointed out. Ranucius Picus wove a similar history of the Finding, asserting that the mountain is called Cocarellus, and the peoples Terrazzani. Others say that from Cornelio the territory of Pontremoli is reached through the wood Cossa. Picus raises a doubt, Whether these can be reckoned the Martyrs of Nivedunum whether these can be reckoned Amantius and Lucius, Martyrs of Nivedunum with the other Companions, whose memory is celebrated today: but he does not dare to assert it, because very many Martyrs of those names are found. But I have already said what seems to me about this; being taught by experience how, for many, the day of cult was determined from the identity of the name alone, without any other regard. Bonaventura Angelus, in book 8 of the History of Parma, page 759, relates the same things about the Finding of the sacred bodies, adding that the fortress of Cornelio, rendered more illustrious by the preservation of the bodies of SS. Lucius and Amantius the Martyrs, They are renowned for miracles. and that there healings are conferred on the sick, and light on the blind. But when a certain woman did not observe their solemn feast, and had taken up her accustomed handiwork; her hand was withered by a certain paralysis: on account of which infirmity she had recourse to the altar dedicated to the Saints; and having confessed her error, she was freed from the evil.