ON SAINT FELICULA,
VIRGIN AND MARTYR AT ROME.
UNDER DOMITIAN.
Historical Commentary.
On the Acts from the Passion of S. Domitilla; ancient cult, on the several bodies of many,
under the veneration of the same name.
Felicula, Virgin & Martyr at Rome (S.)
BY THE AUTHORS G. H. & D. P.
[1] On the day XII May SS. Nereus
& Achilleus, Eunuchs; & S.
Flavia Domitilla, Roman Virgin;
Martyrs at Terracina in Latium, near
the end of the first century, are venerated: whose Acts from
many very ancient Mss. of the best
faith we have illustrated. Into these are inserted in chapter IV the life &
death of S. Petronilla, and the martyrdom of S. Felicula &
Nicomedes the Presbyter, from the response of Marcellus the Roman
Christian, sent to the said Martyrs Nereus & Achilleus,
at Terracina: & indeed in number 15 are narrated
the Acts of S. Petronilla: Companion of S. Petronilla, who when she was sought
in marriage by Flaccus the Count, it came about that for a space of three days received
the Virgin occupied herself with holy fasts & prayers,
having with her the holy Virgin
Felicula, her foster-sister, perfect
in the fear of God: where some Mss., instead of Foster-sister
(which I rather approve) have Companion: which is not
alien from the delicate nature of girls, naturally dreading
nocturnal solitude, and thus not altogether
to be rejected. Then the same Petronilla on the third
day, when she received the Sacrament of Christ, reclining
herself on the bed, sent forth her spirit. This was done on the day
XXXI May, on which we have set forth the rest of the Acts of S. Petronilla.
But soon in number 16 the martyrdom of S. Felicula the Virgin
in the already-said response of Marcellus to SS. Nereus &
Achilleus, is thus explained.
[2] she dead, refuses to marry Flaccus: Flaccus moreover, changing his mind, said to Felicula:
Choose one of two for thyself; either be
my wife, or sacrifice to the gods. To whom S. Felicula replied:
Neither shall I be thy wife, because I am consecrated to Christ: nor
shall I sacrifice to idols, because I am a Christian. Then Flaccus
handed her over to the Vicar, & made her be shut up in a dark chamber,
without food for seven days, wherefore afflicted by hunger in which
the wives of the guards said to her; Why dost thou wish to die a bad death?
Take a noble husband, rich, young,
elegant, a Count, & friend of the Emperor.
Hearing these things Felicula, offered no
answer at all to their speech, except this; I am a Virgin of Christ,
& besides Him, I accept none whatsoever.
But being thrown out after seven days she was led to the virgins
of Vesta, tortured on the rack; & there for another seven days without food
she remained: for by no reasoning could they bring her
to this, that she should take food from their hands.
After these things being raised on the rack, she cried saying:
Now I have begun to see my lover Christ, in
whom my soul is fixed. But all said to
her, even those who were torturing her: killed she is cast down into the sewer: Deny that thou art a Christian
, & thou shalt be released. But Felicula cried out:
I do not deny my lover, who for
my sake was fed with gall, given vinegar to drink, crowned with thorns,
& fixed to the cross. After these things she was taken down & cast
into the sewer.
[3] & is buried on the Via Ardeatina. But Saint Nicomedes the Presbyter, placed on the lookout,
secretly lifted up the body, & through the night
in a two-wheeled cart brought it to his little cottage, on the seventh
milestone from the City Rome on the Via Ardeatina, & there
buried her: in which place his prayers bear fruit
unto this present day. But it came to Flaccus
that Nicomedes the Martyr had done this, & he caused
him to be held. Then his martyrdom & burial having been narrated,
thus that chapter is concluded. Here end the writings
of Marcellus, sent to Nereus & Achilleus. Here begin
the rescripts about their passion. Which there
are set forth, & we have said the Birotum to be a vehicle
of two wheels. The birthday of S. Nicomedes is XV
September, & S. Felicula is believed to have suffered, on the day XIV after
the death of S. Petronilla, this XIII June, & indeed
under Domitian the Emperor; as Usuard and others with the Roman Breviary
have concerning Nicomedes.
[4] There is outside, but near, the walls of the city of Meaux in
Gaul, the monastery of S. Faro, where the body of S. Fiacrius, to be remembered
on the XXX August day, these Acts drawn out at Meaux in a lengthier discourse, rests, most celebrated
by miracles. Hither I judge that pertained a notable parchment
Legendary, written about four hundred years ago,
a fragment of which we found at Dijon in Burgundy
in the year MDCLXII at the Councillor le Mare's.
For it contained, not only the Life & Miracles of S. Fiacrius,
but also in the margin in an ancient hand, yet flowing,
was written a Responsory proper for S. Fiacrius
with a Collect. There in the same larger character
was found a Sermon on the birthday of S. Felicula, of which,
distributed into nine Lections, we have taken for ourselves a copy
with this beginning; The most impious one seeing, that he had effected nothing
against Petronilla's handmaid; renewing other arms with viperous
poisons, began to think about the destruction of Felicula.
where perhaps a Relic. These words, since they are not fit to begin a Sermon,
but rather show themselves to be part of a lengthier sermon,
in which either the whole Acts of S. Domitilla, or
Marcellus's narration about SS. Petronilla and Felicula had been rhetorically
extended; I have not judged that great favor with posterity could be earned
by working out that composition, which
would neither have the whole work, nor anything new
pertaining to history to be taught from it. Meanwhile I could not
but think, that in that or another monastery, where S. Fiacrius is so
peculiarly venerated, the cult
of S. Felicula had flourished specially, on account of some notable Relics,
once brought thither under that name, in the manner we shall
say below.
[5] The most ancient memory of the same S. Felicula, as
suffering at Rome, Name inscribed in the ancient Fasti: is in the copy of the Hieronymian Martyrology
of Epternach, instead of which in other copies through
the error of scribes is read Feliculi. The genuine Bedan
Martyrology, At Rome, of S. Felicula. Usuard
indeed from this Saint thus opens this day: On the Ides
of June, at Rome on the Via Ardeatina, the Birthday of S. Felicula the Virgin
& Martyr: who unwilling to marry, nor to sacrifice
to idols, was handed over to a certain Vicar: who caused
her, persevering in the confession of Christ, after
dark custody, & the want of hunger, to be raised on
the rack, & so finally to be taken down & cast into
the sewer. Ado finally produces almost everything from the Acts
related above; & all later ones agree with them,
with the present-day Roman Martyrology, from Peter de Natalibus,
book 5, chap. 12.
[6] The Via Ardeatina, drawn from the Via Appia immediately from the city,
The body of some S. Felicula in the church of S. Praxedis; proceeded to Ardea, in which we have said above
that the body of S. Felicula was buried; which it is agreed was thence
translated; but whither it was carried, & where now
it is kept, the authors do not agree. Carolus Bartholomaeus
Piazza in the Roman Sanctuary, at this XIII June
asserts it to be in the Church of S. Praxedis, & there the feast
to be celebrated. On the contrary Octavius Pancirolius, in the Hidden Treasure
of the City of Rome, region 2 church 42, says
another Felicula to be venerated there, but it is not known which: for neither
is it she, of whom we here treat; or another, who by
Ado is referred to the V day of June; when also we
referred her, from the most ancient Martyrologies, as having suffered at Rome
with twenty-four others there named. But this
Pancirolius notes is not called a Virgin: but
region 5, it is thought to be of this one in the church of S. Lawrence in Lucina. church 5 he affirms, the body of S. Felicula the Virgin
, by a certain Canon formerly of the Collegiate Church
of S. Lawrence in Lucina, named Benedict, was found
on the Via Ardeatina, & translated to this church,
in the time of Pope Paschal II, in the year of his Pontificate
XII, of Christ MCX. This Pompeius
Ugonius confirms in the History of the Stations of Rome to be celebrated
through Lent, at Station 24, which on the day
Friday after the third Sunday of Lent in the said
Church of S. Lawrence in Lucina is held; asserting
under the high altar to be preserved the bodies of S. Felicula the Virgin
& Martyr, & of other Saints. Antonius
Gaonius, in the History of the Holy Roman Virgins,
after the related Life of S. Felicula, Virgin &
Martyr, adds; her body is preserved in the church
of S. Lawrence in Lucina.
[7] Also there is some at Parma, Ranuccius Picus, in the Theater of the Saints of the city
& territory of Parma, among those reckons S. Felicula,
Virgin & Martyr on XIII June; judging,
her sacred body to have been translated thither in the year
MCCCCXXVII, on the day III June, to the Parochial church
of S. Paul, & deposited in a marble ark, &
upon the mausoleum, this epitaph composed by Nicolaus Barcius the Rector.
Under this small marble lies here Felicula the Virgin,
Long ago born of the blood of a Roman father.
Her death under Flaccus, she shone in contest for ages,
Life eternal in the Elysian fields belongs to her.
Why now her body is translated in the church of Paul,
The Annals record: learn, traveler: depart.
These things there: to which Ranuccius adds, the Annals of this History
ought to be accurately examined, & weighed on the balance
of truth. It is moreover said that body by two men of Parma
received from pilgrims to Rome, when one of them
oppressed by grave infirmity, having implored this S. Felicula
through the other, had been freed. But it is wrongly added
that the body had been raised from the tomb on the Via Ardeatina: because that body
at the time of the Pontificate of Paschal II had been translated from the said
place to the church of S. Lawrence in
Lucina: and so by the said two pilgrims that body
or some part should have been translated from the said church.
& at Pavia & Fulda. Meanwhile Ferrarius wrote in the Catalog
of the Saints of Italy, in the Annotation to this Life,
that this one is venerated at Pisa & Parma; at Parma the body also
is preserved in the church of S. Paul, the ecclesiastical Records attesting.
He could so also have added the name of the city of Pavia:
for among the Saints, whose bodies the Emperor
Otto II in the church erected by him there, now called S. Felix,
placed in a subterranean Oratory in three arks;
S. Felicula is also reckoned, resting in the same ark with S. Marina
. Also at Fulda in Germany are said
to be held, several notable Relics of S. Felicula,
Virgin & Martyr; and on that account a feast is there
held under the rite of a Double of the 2nd class. What then is to be determined here,
if the body of S. Felicula Virgin & Martyr
is still preserved in the church of S. Lawrence in Lucina, as
the Minim Clerics pretend, who now hold the said
church? Certainly we shall say, that, just as the name
Felix taken up for men, was so common, that
sometimes in one class of many Martyrs three or four
are found, called Felices; so the name Felicula
given to women, could have been common to many
Martyrs of the same sex; but by now common use,
let me call it use or abuse, recourse is had by all, having found such,
to some chief one of that name; & thence arises
a confusion, so often troublesome to us. Much more advisedly
it would have been done by the Parmensians, Whence that confusion? if for the day of the cult of the said
Felicula, III June had been taken up, on which day above
it is affirmed her said body to have been translated. This
Jacobus Gualla seems to persuade the Pavians, in the Sanctuary
of that city book 5 chap. 18, when he says; The kind
of martyrdom I ought not relate, since from the ancient
Chronicles, which testify her to have been crowned with it, this I have
not learned; he could have added, neither the place, nor
the day. We have thus far given three Felicula Martyrs
of Rome, namely XIV February, V June & this XIII.
Why might not many other Martyrs of this name, as we have said,
have been, Relics at Bologna, & in Belgium; but of different ones. whose notice little by little is
drawn out from Martyrologies, or even with the sacred bodies themselves
found, or also at the will of the elicitor adapted to them
newly. Thus at Masinus, in Bologna surveyed
is proposed on this day, S. Felicula Virgin &
Martyr, on account of her Relics preserved with the
Fathers of S. Mary of Graces in the square of S. Mamulus,
& of S. Catharine called of Saragossa. So also the body
of S. Felicula the Virgin to be in the Premonstratensian monastery of Bonne-Espérance
near Binche, Rayssius asserts, in
the Belgic Hierogazophylacium page 119. But here he adds it to be
from the eleven thousand of Cologne. Why also might not by a similar
occasion the same name have been given elsewhere & to others?