ON SAINT JOHN
THE FORERUNNER AND BAPTIST OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST.
HISTORICAL COMMENTARY.
John the Baptist & Forerunner of Our Lord Jesus Christ (S.)
BHL Number: 4290, 4292, 4293, 4294, 4295, 4298, 4310, 4311, 4312, 4313, 4314, 8288
CHAPTER I
Illustrating the Acts handed down by the Evangelists.
BY THE AUTHOR D. P. & FROM THE IV GOSPELS.
§ I. Conception & Nativity in Luke.
The Evangelical Pearl, or the Life,
Doctrine, and entire History of our Lord
Jesus Christ, from the concordant arrangement
of the four Holy Gospels,
together with a declaration of the chief matters,
according to the sequence of places and times,
briefly and orderly described,
by Fr. Joannes de Paris of Antwerp, S.
J., came forth at Antwerp in the year 1657, & three
years later, ten before its Author's death,
it was reprinted, always more accurate. From this, for
the memory of the excellent old man, & as a specimen of a work deservedly
praised, it pleases me to excerpt what concerns the Saint of
whom we treat; as a foundation, as it were, for all that is to be said,
and as a Lydian stone by which the sincerity
of all those lucubrations ought to be tested,
which Greek and Latin writers have published,
on the origin, life, preaching & martyrdom of S. John.
They run thus.
[2] There was in the days of Herod, a King of Judea,
of Abia; b & his wife of the daughters of Aaron, &
her name was Elizabeth. To Zacharias offering incense an Angel appearing And they were both righteous
before God, walking in all the commandments
and ordinances of the Lord, blameless;
& they had no son, because Elizabeth
was barren, & both were advanced in their
days. And it came to pass when he discharged the priestly office c
in the order of his course before God, according to
the custom of the priesthood; it fell d
to him among them to offer the incense, having entered into the temple
of the Lord, & the whole multitude of the people
was praying outside at the hour of incense. And there appeared
to him an Angel of the Lord, standing at the right side of the altar
of incense: & Zacharias was troubled when he saw, &
fear fell upon him. And the Angel said to him;
Fear not, Zacharias, because thy prayer is heard,
& thy wife Elizabeth shall bear
thee a son, promises a son of a barren wife, & thou shalt call his name John;
& he shall be joy to thee and exultation, & many in
his birth shall rejoice: for he shall be great
before the Lord: & he shall not drink wine and strong drink:
& he shall be filled with the Holy Spirit even from his mother's
womb: & he shall go before him,
in the spirit and power of Elijah; that he may turn the hearts
of the fathers unto the children, and the unbelieving to the wisdom
of the just, to prepare for the Lord a perfect people.
[3] And Zacharias said to the Angel; Whereby
shall I know this? For I am old, & my wife
is advanced in her days. who doubting is struck mute, And the Angel
answering, said to him: I am Gabriel, who
stand before God, & I have been sent to speak
to thee, & to bring thee this good news. And behold thou shalt be
silent, & shalt not be able to speak, until the day
in which these things shall come to pass; because thou hast not believed
my words, which shall be fulfilled in their
time. And the people were waiting for Zacharias, &
wondered that he tarried in the temple. And going out
he could not speak to them; & they knew
that he had seen a vision in the temple: & Elizabeth conceives:
& he was making signs to them, & remained dumb.
And it came to pass when the days of his office
were fulfilled, he went to his house. And after those
days Elizabeth his wife conceived, & hid
herself five months, saying; Because thus
hath the Lord done for me in the days wherein he hath looked upon me,
to take away my reproach among men.
And in the sixth month e the same Angel Gabriel was sent
by God…to the Virgin Mary, which from the same Angel Mary understanding,
to announce to her the Messiah to be born of her. Who
when she also, not, as he, incredulous; but, as
humbly wondering, had asked; How shall
this be, since I know not a man? the Angel answered
her; The Holy Spirit shall come
upon thee…And behold Elizabeth thy kinswoman f,
she also hath conceived a son in her old age,
& this is the sixth month with her, who is called barren:
because no word shall be impossible
with God…
[4] And Mary rising up in those days,
went into the hill country with haste, visits her kinswoman: into a city
of Juda; & entered into the house of Zacharias, &
saluted Elizabeth. And it came to pass, when
Elizabeth heard the salutation of Mary, the infant
leaped in her womb, & Elizabeth was filled with the Holy
Spirit…And Mary abode
with her about three months, & returned
to her own house. And Elizabeth's full
time of bringing forth came, & she brought forth a son: & her
neighbors & kinsmen heard, that the Lord had magnified
his mercy with her,
& they congratulated her. And it came to pass on
the eighth day they came to circumcise the child, for which the infant brought forth is named John,
& they called him by the name of his father Zacharias.
And his mother answering, said; Not so,
but he shall be called John. And they said
to her; For there is none of thy kindred
that is called by this name: but they made signs to
his father, what he would have him called.
And asking for a writing tablet, he wrote, saying;
John is his name. And immediately his
mouth was opened & his tongue; & he spoke
blessing God. & the boy made retires to the desert. And fear came upon
all their neighbors; & throughout
all the hill country of Judea were noised abroad all
these words: & all that had heard
laid them up in their heart, saying; What
thinkest thou this child shall be? For the hand of the Lord was
with him…And the child grew, &
was strengthened in spirit: & he was in g the desert
NOTES BY D. P.
Nicolaus of Damascus, most intimate with Herod, wrote in Josephus; the same is reported by the Arabic history of the Maccabees, continued up to
Herod from his contemporary, inserted in tom. 9 of the Paris Bibles, because
that book also is held among the Canonical ones by the Orientals, whose
ch. 35 you may read thus: Antipater was a man of the progeny of Juda, & of the sons of certain of those, who had come up from Babylon with Ezra the Priest. These things our Petrus Possinus, of pious memory, deduces more at large in a peculiar Dissertation on the race of Herod published at Toulouse in the year 1682; on the contrary Joannes Harduinus also our own, from the Athenians according to Harduin. in the Treatise on the coins of the Herodians printed at Paris 1693 from the ancient inscriptions of the Athenians & coins of King Herod bearing as
of a singular benefactor a name and title, thinks to prove
that he draws his origin from them: it will suffice here to have indicated
both views.
seeing the descendants of Aaron the Priest growing into a vast multitude,
so that all together could not sacrifice & minister in the temple;
distributed them into 24 families, so that orderly each class, during
one week successively, should serve the temple. of which the eighth was Abia.
But lest there should be strife among them about the order, which should be the first, which the second,
which the third &c. he removed the danger of strife by lot…in this
sortition fell the eighth lot to Abia (as is said in 1 Paralip. 24 v.
10). The courses therefore of each family returned twice in every year, but since
the 48 weeks cannot make that the family, to which under David the first
week of the first month had fallen, should have its courses
in the same week of the same month in the following years, and hence
it came to pass that that circle of forty-eight courses recommenced with various
beginnings; it cannot therefore be that from this any certainty
be had concerning the time when the Angel appeared to Zacharias: especially since
it is not known whether the thing was done at the first or second return of Abia's course.
was called Simon, & was
Herod's father-in-law & held that supreme degree almost to the end of his reign for twenty-four years: as our Ricciolius teaches from Josephus
Chronol. reform. lib. 6 cap. 13. But Zacharias's wife was barren, & so had borne no daughter.
ministering by each course, the offices were various, concerning which they likewise
cast lots which one each should undertake, & four chief ones our Cornelius enumerates from the book of Exodus,
I to sacrifice and slaughter & immolate victims, II To kindle the lamps in the seven-branched candelabrum, III On the day of the sabbath to set new twelve loaves on the table of proposition, IV To set
incense on the altar of incense, morning & evening. The High Priest however was outside the lot, & at whatever time and office he wished he ministered, when he came into the temple. does not pertain to the entry of the Pontiff into the Holy of Holies. Since
however the altar of Incense was not within the Holy of Holies, but outside
it; it is apparent how grievously both from this, & from the first chapter
those were deceived, who in the time of Pope Julius thought, from the day on which
the High Priest once in the year entered the Holy of Holies, that is
the tenth day of the seventh month, they could demonstrate on what day John was conceived; and consequently when he, & Christ, were born.
The first Mary married in Bethlehem, & bore Salome; the
second also married there in Bethlehem, & begot Elizabeth; & the third Anna
in the land of Galilee, brought forth Mary the Mother of God; so that Salome &
Elizabeth & the Mother of God are found to be daughters of three sisters; consequently
John the Baptist & our true God are called cousins, ἀνέψιοι. And
this narration seems to me quite probable, & adhering more closely
to the text of Luke: for I think it should be wholly held, what in the Apparatus aforecited num.
48 I have said more at length, that S. Anna also was of the daughters of Aaron, & thus Christ proceeded from a Royal and equally Sacerdotal stem. But that there I made not Elizabeth but Zacharias Anna's nephew through a brother, & indeed strictly so called. I did so that I might make Anna's father, not simply a Priest, but a Priest of the course of Abia: but this now pleases less. For although Συγγενὴς sometimes is said also for kinsman by marriage; & S. Cecilia in the 3rd century called the Bridegroom's brother Cognatus, & this now the usage of the Italians retains: in the first century however, & with Latinity still almost uncorrupted, both Greeks and Latins seem to have called Συγγενεῖς, Cognati, those from
consanguinity alone, but not from affinity; since Cicero in
Nizolius accurately distinguishes these, & specially in the book de finibus cap. 5
where he speaks thus: The whole household is joined by marriage & stock:
it creeps gradually outward, first by kinships, then by affinities, then
by friendships, after by neighborhoods.
however from this it does not follow that Jesus, in all things showing himself like to us,
should be seen to show signs of perfect reasoning, not yet having passed
the years of infancy, which usage extends to the seventh year; because then
first do boys begin perfectly to speak & to be capable of discipline;
so neither is it necessary to think otherwise of John, although he was filled with the Holy Spirit, that is, with sanctifying grace, from his mother's womb, indeed in the very womb, at the voice of Mary greeting Elizabeth, as the common sense of the Holy Fathers & interpreters holds.
It is asked, From what time? And we can answer from the ecclesiastical hymn;
while yet a boy: The caves of the desert in his tender years,
Fleeing the throngs of citizens, he sought;
Lest at least by a slight word he should be able
to stain his life.
But shall we therefore be held to believe what from the apocryphal writings S. Peter of Alexandria narrates, flourishing about or after the year 300, that the boy, of whose nativity such marvelous things were told, but the infant was not carried thither lest he be killed by Herod. was sought
by Herod for death in the house of Zacharias, from the same fear of losing the kingdom
by which Christ was sought for it at Bethlehem? So indeed
Baronius strives to persuade in the Apparatus to the Annals num. 53, also wishing this
to seem probable, that on this account Zacharias the Father of John was slain between the temple and the altar, because he had predicted the Messiah's coming. But just as this as well as the other dreams of the apocryphal writings Jerome rightly explodes; so also that seems gratuitously feigned: nor less that Elizabeth with the infant withdrew into the desert, lest she perish in the common slaughter with the Bethlehemites. For of Bethlehem,
of Zacharias wherever situated; (otherwise you must involve Jerusalem itself in them,
which no one has yet dreamed) much less across the Jordan, where the Baptist seems more probably to have been born & nurtured
according to Florentinius to be praised below. Indeed I should say he scarcely before the seventh or eighth, or even tenth
year of age, left his paternal home.
§. II. John's preaching & the Baptism conferred on Christ.
[5] Now in the fifteenth year of the empire
of Tiberius a Caesar, Pontius Pilate b being procurator
of Judea, & Herod tetrarch c of Galilee,
& Philip d his brother tetrarch
of Iturea & e of the region of Trachonitis,
Lysanias f tetrarch of Abilene, under
the High Priests Annas g & Caiaphas,
the word of the Lord came upon John
the son of Zacharias in the desert. in the 15th year of Tiberius Caesar And he came into all the
region of the Jordan, preaching the Baptism
of penance, unto the remission of sins…
Now John had a garment of
camels' h hair, & a leathern girdle about
his loins: & his food was locusts
all Jerusalem, & all Judea, John preaching about the Jordan, &
all the country about the Jordan; & were baptized
by him in the Jordan, confessing their sins
… And as the people were of opinion, & all were thinking
in their hearts concerning John,
whether perhaps he himself were Christ; John answered,
saying to all: I indeed baptize
you with water unto penance: but he that shall come after
me is mightier than I, whose shoes I
am not worthy to bear, & stooping down
to loose the latchet of his shoes: he
shall baptize you in the Holy Spirit …
[6] And it came to pass in those days, came
Jesus from Nazareth of Galilee to the Jordan to
John, baptizes Christ, to be baptized by him. But John
forbade him, saying; I ought to be baptized
by thee, & comest thou to me? But Jesus answering,
said to him; Suffer it now,
for so it becometh us to fulfill all justice:
& he was baptized by John in l the Jordan.
But Jesus baptized forthwith ascended m
from the water. And it came to pass, when all the people
was baptized, & Jesus baptized &
praying; behold, the heavens were opened, & there descended
the Holy Spirit in a bodily shape, as a dove,
upon him … But Jesus full of the Holy Spirit
was driven by the spirit into the desert n forty
days … & to the Jews shows him; John bears testimony
of him, & cries saying: This was
he whom I said, he that shall come after me, is
made before me, because he was before me…
[7] And this is the testimony of John, when
the Jews sent from Jerusalem priests
& Levites to him, to ask him,
Who art thou? And he confessed & did not deny,
that I am not the Christ. And they asked
him, What then? Art thou Elijah?
And he said, I am not. Art thou a prophet? And
he answered, No. They said therefore, Who art thou?
that we may give an answer to them that sent us:
what sayest thou of thyself? He said, I am the voice of one crying
in the desert; but he denies that he himself is the Messiah, Make straight the way of the Lord,
as said Isaiah the Prophet. And they that had been
sent, were of the Pharisees: & they asked
him, & said to him: Why then dost thou baptize,
if thou art not the Christ, nor Elijah,
nor the Prophet? John answered them, saying;
I baptize with water; but there hath stood one
in the midst of you, whom you know not: he it is,
who is to come after me, the latchet of whose shoe
I am not worthy to loose.
These things were done in Bethania o beyond
the Jordan, where John was baptizing.
[8] The next day p he saw Jesus coming to
him, & said: the testimony often repeated; Behold the Lamb of God, behold him who taketh away
the sin of the world. This is he of whom I said; After
me cometh a man, who is made before me, because
he was before me, & I knew him not; but that
he may be made manifest in Israel, therefore am I come
baptizing with water. And John bore
witness saying: That I saw the Spirit, descending
as a dove from heaven, & abiding
upon him: but he who sent me to baptize with
water, said to me; Upon whom thou shalt see
the Spirit descending, & remaining upon
him, he it is who baptizeth in the Holy Spirit.
And I saw, & gave testimony;
That this is the Son of God. The next day again
John stood, & two of his disciples: & looking
upon Jesus walking, he said: Behold the Lamb
of God. And the two disciples heard him
speaking, & followed Jesus…
[9] After this (that is after the disciples Andrew,
Peter, Philip, Nathanael were taken on;
the wedding at Cana, those selling near the Passover
cast out from the temple, Nicodemus heard by night) came
Jesus & his disciples into the land of Judea,
& there he tarried with them, & baptized.
And John also was baptizing in q Aenon,
near Salim, because there was much water
there; & he prefers his baptism to his own. & they came & were baptized: for not yet
had John been sent into prison.
And there arose a question from John's disciples
with the Jews concerning Purification r & they came
to John, & said to him: Rabbi,
he that was with thee beyond the Jordan, to whom thou hast borne testimony,
behold here is baptizing,
& all come to him. John answered,
& said: No man can receive
anything, unless it be given him from heaven.
You yourselves do bear me witness, that
I said, I am not the Christ, but because
I am sent before him. He that hath the bride
is the bridegroom, but the friend of the bridegroom, who stands &
hears him, rejoices with joy because of the voice
of the bridegroom. This my joy therefore is fulfilled.
He must increase, but I must decrease…
The Father loves the Son, & all things hath given
into his hand. He that believes in the Son hath life
everlasting: but he that is unbelieving to the Son,
shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides
upon him.
NOTES BY D. P.
the more common opinion holds to be indicated by Luke: but certain more recent learned men
with Henschenius, supported by the suffrage of almost all antiquity, hold Christ to have been crucified
that year, the two Gemini being Consuls, & consequently to have been baptized in the year XXV &
born four or five years before the beginning of the vulgar Era. All things
however more maturely weighed with our Possinus & Harduin & nearly all the other
French; I began more to incline, & still incline to hold
the vulgar Era in which Christ died in his 33rd year both of it & of his age; The kingdom of Judea under Archelaus, baptized
in the year 29, in which year the former hold him to have died. And this opinion it pleases to follow
in this commentary, leaving further discussion to others.
namely Judea more strictly taken with the title of King; having from the East
Galilee, from the South the Jordan & the Dead Sea, from the West Idumea
& the Desert of Cedar, interposed between Palestine & Egypt, &
traversed by the wandering of the Israelites for 40 years. After ten
years of his own such-as-it-was reign Archelaus was banished by Tiberius,
nor however was any of his brothers permitted to succeed, but Judea was
reduced into the form of a Province, Cyrenius under whom the prior census near Christ's
nativity had been made, was ordered to return into Syria, & to institute
After Cyrenius, four others intermediate, in the year XXV
succeeded the sixth Prefect of the Jews Pontius Pilate.
from the daughter of Simon the Pontiff, & (as Josephus describes him
lib. 18 Antiqu. cap. 6) a man perpetually modest, &
Galaaditis & Bathanaea. Now Trachonitis is, beyond
the Jordan situated to the East of Galilee up to mount Hermon, & thence
bending to the South up to the Dead Sea, is continued with Galaaditis,
mediating Bathanaea, which the Evangelist calls Iturea,
embracing under the same name also Galaaditis: yet so that the Southern
bank of the Jordan or Perea, from the lake of Genezareth up to the Dead
Sea (as I have already said) with Galilee Herod held.
as Eusebius thought; Lysanias's tetrarchy. nor
did he hold any part of the Jewish kingdom: but the son of the elder Lysanias, whom
Cleopatra Queen of Egypt caused to be killed, gaping for his Principality, situated in
Coelesyria at mount Lebanon: he is named Lysanias with
three others; because together with them admitted into possession by the
Romans, he was one head out of four of that new Tetrarchate; a man
otherwise foreign, & grandson of Ptolemy Mennaeus, probably
of the race of the Egyptian Ptolemies. He is named Abilene from
the chief city, Abila, Abyla or Abele, situated by Damascus
from the East, having Lebanon to the North. On these Tetrarchies
it will be worth while to read Emmanuel Schelstrate treating in the second
Tome of Ecclesiastical Antiquity, first Dissertation, brought to me later than that
I could conveniently use it, being nearly blind in my eyes, when these things
now to be given to the press I review with another reading them aloud.
of the Jews, which by the Law ought to be perpetual, & from
the dying father passed to his firstborn son, at this time
to have been only annual, Augustine gathers from that John XII v. 51, where Caiaphas is said to have prophesied, since he was Pontiff of that year. I would add, that some years were thus passed, so that Annas & Caiaphas alternated
in the pontificate, mutually succeeding each other at the beginning of the sacred year, that is the month
of Nisan; & thus divided the civil year, begun from Tisri, between themselves.
Hence I think it came to pass, that in the year XV of Tiberius Caesar, when John had begun to preach about the beginning of the month Nisan, a little before or after; Luke, who
in the year V after Christ's death wrote the Gospel, (the Holy Spirit himself indeed directing him lest he err, several times alternating between Annas & Caiaphas; not however by revelation, but as they handed down to him, who from the beginning had seen for themselves) had not distinctly known the day, on which John began to come forth to the people; this then, I say, I think is why Luke would not name that year's Pontiff Annas or Caiaphas; but preferred to name both together, as then Princes of the Priests, in power
& authority, although in ministry alternating, equal. Nor does Josephus,
whom Cornelius a Lapide opposes to Augustine in this opinion, nor is Josephus contrary to this sense, especially
so explained, contradict in anything, as I undertake to explain. He therefore lib.
18 cap. 3 thus begins the intrusions rather than ordinations of Ananus (who is Luke's Annas) & his successors: Quirinus… the Census being done, which falls in the year XXXVII (after the victory at Actium) of the vulgar era
VII, when a sedition of the populace had been stirred against Joazar the Pontiff, he deprived
him of this dignity, & substituted Ananus son of Sethi: of whom afterwards lib. 20 cap. 8 it is said, that he was the most fortunate of all, since
he had five sons, all having attained the High Pontificate, when previously
he himself had been satisfied with this dignity, which before that age
had befallen none of the High Pontiffs. This felicity however how shall it subsist, but rather favors; if
with scarcely seven years passed in that dignity, he did not voluntarily lay it down, but
lost it unwillingly, nor ever afterwards returned to it except in his sons? Thus
does Josephus aforecited cap. 3 lib. 18. By Tiberius, soon after Augustus died,
the fifth Prefect of the Jews was sent Valerius Gratus. He, the priesthood taken from Ananus,
ordered Ishmael the son of Phabi to be Pontiff: who being soon after
cast down, transferred that honor to Eleazar son of Ananus the Pontiff.
A year having then elapsed (XV of the vulgar era) he also reduced him to the rank, for although Annas, once deposed by Pilate, ceased for some years,
& gave the Pontificate to Simon son of Camithus. He also, a year having been spent in that
dignity, was ordered to yield it to Joseph who was surnamed
Caiaphas, & was Ananus's son-in-law. From this until Vitellius, who replaced Pilate in our year XXXVI, Josephus is silent about the Pontiffs, but by this silence of his we are not prohibited from believing, that Annas was restored to the Pontificate by Pilate, & then ordered to hold it alternately with his son-in-law; until he himself wearied of the honor, brought it about that in place of Joseph Caiaphas Vitellius substituted another of his sons Jonathas: from whom however, the next year immediately, the same Vitellius transferred the Pontificate to his brother Theophilus, yet later seems restored the father
probably not unwilling. But neither for him was the Pontificate more than annual;
for Tiberius dead, Caius Caligula succeeding, when he had conferred the kingdom of Judea on Agrippa
grandson of Herod the Great, with the Tetrarchies of his deceased uncle Philip & of Lysanias
attributed to him & finally Galilee itself, his uncle Herod Antipas being ejected;
he, as soon as he came to Jerusalem, & finally yielded the dignity to his sons,
vows being paid to God, removed Theophilus son of Ananus from the High
Priesthood, & substituted Simon son of Boethus, surnamed Cantharus, in his
place. The same shortly after wished to restore the Pontificate to Jonathas son of Ananus; but this one excusing himself, gave that priesthood to his brother Matthias; also in the third year of his reign, the Pontificate being taken from Matthias, gave him as successor Elioneus son of Cithaeus. To him is thought in our Labbeus tom. 2 of the Epitome of Chronology pag.
527 in the year to have succeeded the aforenamed Simon Cantharus restored to his former place: after whom from the year 42 others held it down to 60, & when in our year XLII, the deceased King Agrippa's brother Herod, Dynast of Chalcis, had asked and obtained from Claudius Caesar
power over the temple & sacred treasury, & the right of electing the High
Pontiffs; he, Cantharus reduced to rank, conferred the High
Pontificate on Joseph son of Camus. But him also Herod deprived of it,
before he died in the eighth year of his reign, in our year XLVII, & ordered
to succeed him Ananias son of Nebedaeus; the substitute of his uncle
Agrippa the Younger, the High Priesthood, Ananias sent to Rome
in chains, vacant conferred on Ishmael son of Phabaeus. But him when
Nero having detained at Rome as a hostage to himself, [when
them succeeded Ananus the younger, the last of the brothers.] the same Agrippa
conferred the Pontificate on Joseph called Cabi, son of the former High
Pontiff Simon; & not much later, Joseph ordered to live a private
life, gave his Priesthood to a son of Ananus & himself called Ananus,
by the same name as his father. Thus far down to chapter 8 Josephus the Historian,
soon subjoining those words, which above we have related concerning Annas's or
Ananus the Elder's felicity; of whom we have here seen five sons Pontiffs,
Eleazar, Jonathas, Theophilus, Matthias & Ananus,
besides his son-in-law Caiaphas, whom we suppose with his father-in-law thus
to have alternated by turns several times, so that when Christ was taken,
Annas had just left off the prior year's Pontificate.
[Haircloth from the hairs
of Camels woven] He who has ever
seen Camels, knows how much rougher their hairs are, abundant about the neck,
than the hairs of goats; & consequently how much rougher haircloth was made from these than from those:
so that not to be borne is that Calvinist, who from goat-hair
woven garment, dared to ascribe to John, & indeed of more delicate cloth, which among the Belgians by a corrupted word, instead of Capellotus, is called Camellotus. But neither are painters to be approved, rougher than that which is woven from goats' hairs. when in place of haircloth, in which the Greeks better paint the Saint, they cast on him a Camel's pelt. Hair-cloths however not only from goat or kid hairs
woven, such as Moses prescribes for the covering of the Tabernacle and of the sacred vessels,
& as the Religion of S. Pachomius prepared for the use of Monks in
Egypt; but also from Camel ones Du Cange proves from Severus
Sulpitius in the Life of S. Martin, & from Paulinus in the same Life metrically
written, who proposes them thus.
For many his garment was woven with the bristles of camels
Which with light stings should cover his vigilant limbs,
Excluding light sleep from his pricked flesh.
Meanwhile to that Camel-hair however rough, & not much unlike
that which is more usually woven from horse-hairs, the name might not inconveniently
perhaps also be applied, which we give to the Turkish Cape,
Grovereyn, that is, Grof-en-reyn, signifying rough
indeed, but clean, which concerning John's clothing I judge wholly
should be believed. Squalor as well as delights true sanctity averts:
but otherwise in the desert with John, otherwise among men with
Christ.
Locusts Ἀκρίδες; which word since it also signifies
the tops of herbs and shrubs, so the Ethiopic interpreter translates it.
But the vulgate reading is approved by S. Jerome lib. 2 against
Jovinianus, where he says, The Eastern peoples & of Libya, because through
the desert & hot vastness of the wilderness clouds of locusts are found,
it is the custom to feed on locusts. Cornelius adds, that the
ancients used to eat them, either boiled, or toasted & reduced to powder;
even, hardened by sun or salt & smoke, they preserved them for a whole year.
Meanwhile away with the Ebionites, who ἐγχριδες,
confections of honey & oil; & the Innovators, who
ἀχαρίδες or χαρίδες, sea-
crabs, want to be read & understood; or with Beza ἀχράδες, wild pears.
according to Chrysostom, wild honey. Theophylact,
Euthymius, Isidore of Pelusium make in the clefts of trees or stones;
therefore bitter, because gathered far from cultivated fields &
gardens, from rough plants & herbs.
far from its mouth as it plunges into the Dead Sea: about which John
Phocas, in the year 1185 a pilgrim there, writes thus num. 22. At
the Jordan are built monasteries, namely the Precursor's, & Chrysostom's.
And the Precursor's monastery indeed, leveled to the ground from its foundations
by an earthquake, now by the bountiful generosity of our Emperor, crowned
by God, Manuel Comnenus, its Rector procuring the restoration, anew
has been built. From this not far at two arrow-shots' distance flows
the Jordan, the holiest of rivers… & near the bank not far a stone's
throw is a building, consisting of four sides & rising with a cupola:
in which, before the encircling Jordan retreated, naked Christ
he received &c. Bede de locis sanctis lib. 2 cap. 13 from the relation of Adamnanus & Arculfus, thus speaks: In the place, once with a church & monastery,
in which the Lord was baptized, a wooden Cross stands, up to the neck high,
which sometimes is hidden by the water rising over it: from which the further bank, that is the Eastern or rather the Southern, is at a sling's throw. But the upper bank (rather the nearer)
on the brow of a little hill, bears a great monastery, famous for B. John the Baptist's
church, from which over a bridge supported on arches they are wont to ascend
to that Cross & pray. At the extreme part of the river a square
church, set upon four stone grates, is covered above with baked clay,
where the Lord's garments when he was baptized, are said to be
preserved. The place Queen Helena
is believed first to have adorned with buildings, on the same foundations often restored: now desolate. now
nothing of them remains: but the Franciscans who lead pilgrims there,
erect an extempore altar there, to celebrate Mass; as Antonius
Gonzales, directed there in the year 1664, writes pag. 581 of his
Hierosolymitan Itinerary, published in the Belgian tongue at Antwerp in the year 1673.
no other, as I now think, cause, than that on such a day was celebrated
the Dedication of the churches there erected by Helena: & since to the same belongs
Christ's Nativity at Bethlehem; on the same day among the Easterners that
was recalled, before S. Cyril of Jerusalem, consulting S. Julius
Pope, had separated the Nativity from the Baptism. Meanwhile Christ's Baptism
I would believe to have been accomplished in the month of September; so that the beginning of John preaching in Judea preceded Christ's Baptism by about half a year.
because John the Evangelist cap. 2 seems to constrain all things done afterwards within a few
days, which he indicates, not daring to extend the spaces of time.
The same not daring to extend the spaces of time I have endeavored to preserve unmoved
in the Paralipomena to the Propylaeum pag. 21 num. 4 & following. Yet I have
gradually deviated from it, by comparing John with Matthew to show, that more
time is required between the Baptism & the wedding at Cana, & between these
& the next Passover; in which opinion I am now more confirmed, although
I would not strenuously hold the VI day of January, as though on it Christ
first performed a miracle.
extending the 40 days to the end of October, about 12 November.
p Say 13 November, so that the subsequent testimony falls on the XIX of the same, not XVI; which I would have corrected in the aforesaid place, because the Greek ἐπάυριον is the same as on the morrow, nor suffers itself to be put off, as far as I know.
q Aenon & Salim, towns on the nearer bank of the Jordan, where it emerges from the lake of Genezareth or Sea of Tiberias.
r That is concerning Baptism, namely which was preferable, John's or Christ's.
§. III. On John's captivity & death.
[10] For Herod's adultery which John reproved, Herod the Tetrarch, when he was reproved
by John concerning Herodias the wife
of his brother, & concerning all the evils he had done,
added this above all. He sent &
held John, & bound him in a prison a
brother, because he had married her. For
John said to Herod; It is not lawful for thee to have the wife
of thy brother. Herodias however laid in wait
for him, cast into chains Luke teaches, & wished to kill him, nor could:
for Herod feared John,
knowing him to be a just & holy man; &
he kept him, & having heard him did many things,
& willingly heard him: & wishing
to kill him, he feared the people, because they held him as
that John was delivered up, he left
Judea, & went again in the power of the spirit
into Galilee, & all those things wrought,
which the Evangelical Pearl embraces from chapter
29 to 58; where returning to John,
he thus pursues the interrupted narration.
[11] whence he sent legates to Christ, John, when he had heard in chains the works
of Christ, sending two of his disciples said
to him: Art thou he that art to come, or do we look for another?
(in that very hour many he cured
of infirmities & wounds, & of evil
spirits; & to many blind gave sight) & answering
he said to them: Go, relate to John, what
you have heard & seen; that the blind see, the lame
walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear,
the dead rise again, the poor have the gospel preached:
& blessed is he whosoever shall not be scandalized
in me. And when the messengers
of John had departed, he began to speak to the multitudes about John:
What went you out into the desert to see? a reed
shaken by the wind? & by him praised before the crowds was. But what went you out to see?
apparel & in delicacies, are in the houses of Kings.
But what went you out to see? a Prophet?
Yea I say to you, & more than
Behold I send my Angel before thy face,
who shall prepare thy way before thee.
For I say to you: Among them that are born of women
there is not a greater Prophet than John the Baptist…
& if you will receive, he is Elijah, who
is to come.
[12] Hence again the aforepraised Pearl Christ's
acts pursues: & when cap. 76 it had come
to the point, where Herod the Tetrarch heard the fame
of Jesus, Then Herod celebrating his birthday, & wavered because it was said by
some, that John was risen from the dead;
the Gospel resumes the context concerning him as if by
recapitulation in this manner. For Herod himself
sent & held John, & bound him in
prison &c. And when an opportune day came,
Herod made a feast on his birthday d
to the Princes & Tribunes & Chief men of Galilee.
And when the daughter of the same Herodias e
had entered & danced, & had pleased Herod & those reclining with him; the King said f to the girl; Ask of
me what thou wilt, & I will give it thee: & he swore to her
That whatever thou shalt ask I will give thee, even half
of my kingdom. Who when she had gone out, said
to her mother g, What shall I ask? But she said,
The head of John the Baptist. And when she had entered
immediately with haste to the King, she asked, & to the dancing stepdaughter promising whatever,
saying: I will that forthwith h thou give me on a dish
the head of John the Baptist. And the King
was saddened: but, on account of his oath & on account of
those reclining with him, would not sadden her;
but having sent an executioner he commanded his head to be brought
on a dish; & he beheaded him in prison, &
brought his head on a dish; at Herodias's wish the Saint is beheaded. & he gave it
to the girl, & the girl gave it to her mother. Which heard
his disciples came, & took his body,
& laid it in a tomb. i
NOTES BY D. P.
a This prison
at Machaerus castle situated beyond the Jordan where it plunges into the Dead
Sea, Josephus asserts, to be cited below; Machaerus the place of the prison, & it is
probable enough (granted that the tetrarchy of Galilee extended that far)
that John was placed there whence he would be as far as possible from the other
subjects of Herod
remaining,
& where, on account of the impending war from Arabia, Herod can be believed
to have been frequent; there are certainly those who think his treasure & wealth, as
guarded in a most fortified place there: but that the Sebastenes, below
the church of the Saint, showed at their place the prison in which he was beheaded;
& Herod's Palace, in which the feast was celebrated; as is in
John Phocas & others; this is to be held in the same place as that which concerning
Zacharias's house not far from Jerusalem, the common tradition now holds. Herod's Palace indeed may have been at Sebaste; but of him who so named it in honor of Augustus, the Ascalonite. not Sebaste. But Herod Antipas had no right there, but the whole Samaritan region belonged to the Procurator of Judea, of which it then was a portion.
b About the month
of December: & that this happened between the first and second Passover
of preaching Christ, Cornelius and others commonly judge,
mainly on this foundation that Christ says after the announcement of John's
captivity: Do you not say that there are still four months & harvest comes? John 4, 34 v. 35 For the harvest in Judea began to be gathered a little after Passover: yet there are some among the more recent, who would have Christ's words not signify the time at which they were spoken, but to be used as a proverb, Time of the captivity. as though
Christ meant to say: Are you not wont to appeal for comfort
to the hope of harvest coming within four, that is a few, months? How much more therefore
should you rejoice when you see the regions even now white for the harvest
of souls, for whose gathering I appoint you? In this sense nothing compels,
just as they probably enough show, to defer John's captivity beyond
Pentecost, so that he ceased to appear in public not long after the beginning of Christ's preaching &
baptizing: for which reason it will be less necessary to feign what recently in France
someone feigned, that John was twice committed to prison, once by the Jews at Jerusalem, whence
from fear of popular sedition he was dismissed with prohibition of further preaching in Judea;
then having crossed the Jordan he was there captured by Herod.
c Herodias was
the daughter not of Aretas King of the Arabs (as by I know not what argument
Eusebius persuaded himself) but of Aristobulus son of Mariamne & Herod
the Ascalonite; & sister of that King Herod who killed James the brother
of John with the sword; and seeing that it pleased the Jews,
he proceeded to take Peter also. There is one who doubts whether her
husband Philip was the tetrarch of Iturea & the region of Trachonitis,
as Luke calls him; but what other Philip would you find in Herod's family
whose wife was Herodias? But the goodness of the Tetrarch, above
praised from Josephus, made the injury sufficiently opportune perhaps the more
patiently to be borne, the heavier it could have been for him because of the imperious
& ambitious nature of the woman, by which she also to her second husband brought exile &
destruction by inciting him against his brothers & nephews.
the Jews were compelled to the sacrifices of idols. In Roman writers and
Poets, nothing on this matter occurs more frequently in the Augustan age: Herod however,
striving to imitate the Roman customs & luxury, this example, as
Regal, followed.
was in the upper citadel or castle, whence Josephus called Machaerus a castle, but one round which there was a city will be sufficiently understood from his description.
g In
another similar dining-hall where Herodias was feasting with the Princess-women: as we learn from the feast of Ahasuerus, it was Royal, that men by men, women by women should be treated.
h Note
how precipitately all things seem done, as though between the request of the head
& its delivery no interval of time; between the place of the feast
& the prison no space intervened, but on the same evening or
night, those still reclining before whom the request had been granted, it itself
also was accomplished, & nearly under the same roof, under which Herod was feasting
John bound was kept; whom he perhaps never suffered
from his side, as it were, to be removed, that he might always be at hand for him whether for
counsel, or for security.
i Not
in any case in the city of Sebaste, where afterwards more honorably it was buried; but
in some suburb of it. For it was lawful neither for Jews nor Romans to bury
anyone in cities, which also was long observed by Christians as many things demonstrate. In what place John's body was first buried, But
why so far? for Sebaste is distant from Machaerus more than twenty
leagues. Was it because they wished to bear it outside Herod's dominion? Sufficient for
this was to cross the nearby Jordan, into the place subject to Pilate where John was wont
to baptize. I suspect, that among those disciples of John & afterwards of Christ,
there were some of chief condition, &
Sebastenes, who at their own expense & in some tomb of their own
undertook to bury the body, just as nobles undertook to care for Christ's
body, Nicodemus & Joseph of Arimathea. how thence brought to Sebaste, This
body however Queen Helena, transferred into the city & into a church built for this
into a new tomb, among the long-since brought thither
bodies of two holy Prophets. Unless one prefers to say that such
by the Gentiles being broken open & the body dissipated, with the few Relics that could be
collected a new church & under it a tomb between the sepulchers of the two
Prophets was built. However it be, there remained at Sebaste
for she saw demons roaring with various torments, & howling
men in the manner of wolves, barking with the voices of dogs, roaring of lions, hissing of
serpents, lowing of bulls: others to whirl their head, & behind their back
to touch the ground with the crown; & women hung by the foot the garments did not flow down
upon the face. Nor did the religion of the place cease, however long the time's
course & the incursions of barbarians: for there exists a splendid testimony
of constant worship there in tom. 4 of the Acherian Spicilegium pag. 268;
namely the Diploma of S. Louis the King, in favor of the Brothers serving there
(whom it is right to think were Hospitallers of S. John) conceived in these
words. We adored the Savior in the land where his feet stood;
where we visited the holy places with love equally & fear;
& we saw the church of the city of Sebaste, in which the Forerunner of the Lord B.
John the Baptist, [in whose regard S. Louis King of the French gives a census to the Brothers of the place.]
& with him many bodies of Saints rest. There pleased & sat heavily
upon our heart the venerable sanctity of the place; & to
loving the church & the Brothers, the religion & honorable
conversation of those Brothers kindled in us a great fervor.
In this devotion still persisting, we make known both to future
& present, that for the love of God & B. John, in whose intervention
we greatly trust, to the Sebastene Church & the Brothers thence
sent to us, with our son Philip consenting, twenty pounds in
our census at the Castle of Nanton, on the customary day annually to be received, in
perpetuity we have given, & thereof invest the Brothers, so that freely
& absolutely, when God shall have conferred upon them any church in our kingdom &
power, the Brothers serving in it shall have this benefice:
but as long as they shall have no church, nevertheless it shall be transmitted to the church
of Sebaste. But if of the twenty pounds in that census there fail,
we in the same castle, in our other revenues will competently assign to them the remainder.
The alms also, which justly up to
the present day the devotion of the faithful has bestowed on them, we kindly grant,
& by the protection of the present writing confirm … Given solemnly
at Paris in the year of the Incarnate Word 1170, on the day of S. Augustine …
§. IV. Josephus's narration about John is examined,
& its slight authority around the Evangelical History.
[13] According to Josephus The History of the death of John & of the authors
& cause of the slaying, that it may most certainly be believed, needs
no external testimony of any other writer;
much less must we labor that what
some Jew wrote otherwise on the same subject,
be reconciled with the Evangelical truth. Yet because
Josephus lib. 18 cap. 7 of the Antiquities so wrote concerning Jesus
Christ, that he attributed more to the recognized truth than to the malign affection of his
own nation; it pleases from the same
to report what concerning Herod's adultery, & concerning
John's slaying in the same book cap. 7 he narrates in this
manner. Meanwhile, that is, Antipas Herod having the daughter of the King of the Arabs, while still lived
Philip, Tetrarch of Iturea & the region of
Trachonitis, whose death had been related in the preceding
chapter, between Herod & Aretas King
of Petra, a war arose from such a cause.
Herod the Tetrarch had as wife the daughter of Aretas,
with whom he had already lived for a long time.
Then making a journey to Rome, he turned aside
to Herod his brother but born of another mother,
Herodias, who was the daughter of Aristobulus
their common brother, & sister of the elder
Agrippa, he dared to make mention
of obtaining her marriage. She consenting, it was agreed
between them, that as soon as he returned from Rome
to his country, the woman should migrate into
his domicile. This pact also intervened,
that he should cast out the daughter of Aretas.
[14] agrees to dismiss her with Herodias, After this he sails for Rome, where after
he had dispatched the business for which he had come,
his wife returning home, having discovered what he had agreed
with Herodias, dissemblingly asks,
that he send her to Machaerus, a castle situated
on the borders of the region subject to Aretas, as much
as she could concealing her purpose. Indulged her
Herod, thinking she had perceived nothing.
She, who had previously arranged at Machaerus, whence war with slaughter of the Herodians:
then subject to her father, that for the journey
all things be prepared; received by his Prefect,
with the Arabs leading her, with great speed she arrived
at her father's house, & to him indicated Herod's
mind: whence enmity arising, there followed
forces being gathered on both sides, war was waged through
legates; in which battle Herod's army
perished by slaughter, betrayed by certain
exiles, who driven from the Tetrarchy of Philip,
then served Herod's stipends.
These things Herod by letters signified to Tiberius:
he indeed taking ill the boldness of Aretas,
writes to Vitellius to make war upon him, & either
bring him alive, or send him the head of the dead
one.
[15] But among the Jews there was an opinion, that by the just
revenge of the Divinity Herod's army was destroyed, which the Jews ascribe to the killing of John:
on account of John, who was surnamed Baptist.
For him the Tetrarch killed,
an excellent man, rousing the Jews to the pursuits
of virtues, & especially of piety and justice,
& at the same time to the laver of baptism; which
he said would then be acceptable to God, if not
merely from one or another sin they should abstain;
but to minds first cleansed by justice they should add
also purity of body. much praised by Josephus the Historian. And when a great
concourse was made to him, the populace eager for such doctrine;
Herod, fearing lest so great an authority of the man
should prepare some defection,
since they seemed about to do nothing without his counsel;
judged it better, before some new thing
should arise, to remove him, than with things
in turmoil to act a late repentance. Therefore
bound he was sent to Machaerus aforesaid,
there he orders him to be killed: which deed
was followed by the Jews' estimation, that by an angered God
Herod's army was destroyed. Thus he.
[16] That defeat was received in the year 36, Vitellius (to return to Herod) had begun
to prepare war on Aretas: but
stopped the undertaking having heard of Tiberius's death, occurring in the year
XXXVII, XX March, so that the disaster of the Herodian army
must have happened in the preceding year,
that is after John's death, according to the vulgar era
in year V: thus it is to be understood, that between
Aretas & Herod at the beginning on account of Herodias,
not war flared up, but hatred; whence gradually
it came to manifest disputes, & finally to arms.
Moreover just as the aforesaid disaster of Herod did not immediately
follow John's killing according to Josephus, so neither
had Herodias's incestuous marriage immediately preceded
its reprehension; long after Herod had returned from Rome, but to the year of the vulgar
era XXVI it will seem to pertain, if it was preceded
by the Roman journey, the reason of which from Josephus is
thus elicited. For when Pilate, in our year
XXV made Procurator of Judea, had most gravely stirred
up the Jewish people, by bringing into the holy city the
images of Caesar, & again seizing
the Corbona; that is the temple treasury, for constructing an
aqueduct; & had quelled that sedition
by an immense slaughter of the rioters, as Josephus narrates
lib. 18 Antiq. cap. 4 & lib. 2 de
bello cap. 8; the Accuser of Herod the Tetrarch,
his nephew from his elder brother Aristobulus long ago killed,
synonymous, by Josephus called Agrippa the elder,
came to Tiberius. What would he accuse in his uncle,
unless that he had been an instigator & supporter of the sedition stirred against Pilate?
Therefore for this cause, following his nephew
to Rome went Herod, to clear himself of the objected crime; & had married Herodias,
which then succeeded better for him, than later under Caligula;
when upon new accusations of his nephew,
deprived of his Tetrarchy, with his Herodias
he fled to Spain. But matters previously
accomplished according to his wish, & the accuser cast into prison
at Rome, he returning in our year XXVI,
took Herodias from his brother, as had been agreed,
which John thinking should no longer be borne, in the year
XXIX having begun to preach, & thence having attained great authority
among the Galileans & Jews, &
reproved adulterers privately, & at last perhaps
also publicly; by Herod he was indeed cast into chains,
& by Herodias sought unto death.
[17] But that Josephus a political man preferred
to refer the cause of John's capture to a similarly
political pretext of sedition to be feared from him: whose former husband by Josephus also was called Herod, this does not exclude
another nearer cause on the part of Herodias,
rather it includes it; since chiefly from that
head sedition seemed to be feared. Less can it be conceived
how it came into Josephus's mind to call Herodias's
first lawful husband Herod.
Someone answers; In the same way that
him whom previously from his father's testament first
destined King of Judea, & Tetrarch called Antipas Tetrarch of Galilee
he had always named Antipas, this then changed
he calls him Herod & finally Herod
surnamed Antipas: also in the same way that Luke names
the killer of S. James Herod, whom
Josephus constantly calls Agrippa. But against this
speaks our John Harduin in the work on the coins
of the Herodians who makes Josephus guilty of manifold
erring & perplexity in arranging the children & grandchildren
of the Ascalonite, with confusion scarcely excusable. & thinks he demonstrates
that to Herod the Tetrarch the killer of the Baptist there was never
the name or surname Antipas, nor to the killer
of James the name of Agrippa, which alone was proper
to his son, whom the Acts of the Apostles
even call King. Harduin argues besides against Josephus,
nor yet new to him, that besides this one Agrippa
the King, to whose kingdom Claudius also added the dominion
of Chalcis, he fabricates another son of Herod the Great
Synonymous to his father & King of Chalcis, of whom no
trace anywhere exists.
[18] A writer so unhappily concerned around
the Herodian Princes near his own age, & elsewhere also an unhappy Chronologer if he had lived
under Vespasian & Titus, no wonder if Possinus
& other now learned French should think him not to be heeded
in constituting the year in which the Ascalonite died,
& consequently Christ was born. In manifold ways
contrary to himself in arranging his Acts they
demonstrate him, & specifically Possinus in an epistle
written on that subject, to be found however in
the Apparatus to my Treatise on Pontifical Chronology
or Propylaeum of May. Harduin
thus everywhere catching the author of the Books on the Antiquities
& the Jewish War wavering in the Herodian History,
not only has departed from the opinion
of Henschenius asserting Christ to have been born four years
earlier than the common opinion holds, & this chiefly
on the authority of Josephus; & to the same
common opinion has acceded in the other Treatise on the last
Passover of Christ; but has nearly brought the matter to this point,
that that author however ancient & by holy
Jerome & others thereafter in no way suspected, whence he becomes suspect of supposition,
might be deemed supposititious, who falsely assumed for himself
the age of the Jewish war, of which he himself was some part
under Vespasian & Titus; or at least very
corrupted by others.
[19] Meanwhile he seems either never to have seen the Evangelical
History, although he spoke of Christ with praise, or having seen it cautiously to have dissembled,
lest he seem to have learned anything from the Christians. Hence
both he passes over the Bethlehemite infanticide in silence
& the weekly miracle at the Probatic pool,
whose water being moved by an Angel, the first
entering was cured of whatever infirmity he was held by;
deserved to be reported to the commendation of the Hierosolymitan temple.
It may seem then small that of Christ
the Lord he wrote thus in the aforecited place: At the same
time, namely when Pilate was procuring Judea,
was Jesus, a wise man; if however it is lawful to call him a man.
For he was a worker of marvelous works,
& teacher of those who freely receive the truth:
& very many disciples both from the Jews &
from the gentiles he had. This was the Christ:
whom accused by the Princes of our nation,
Pilate when he had condemned to the Cross; nevertheless
they did not cease to love him, who from the
beginning had begun. For he appeared to them on the third
day alive, just as divinely concerning him the Seers this
& many other wonders had foretold, & up to
this very day the race of Christians, from him
named, has not failed.
[20] These things indeed are beautiful & perhaps written
so that books however founded on hardly certain knowledge in
favor of the Jewish nation, might also be received by Christians.
I from what is said wish nothing else to be made out, than
that it may be understood in those things, which pertain to the Evangelical
History or its Chronology, who also wrote of Machaerus Castle inconsistently. in being defined not so much
deference should be paid to Josephus, as hitherto have paid
very many. A new also nor know I whether by anyone
noted hitherto contradiction I detect
in that history which we treat, when Herod's former wife
is narrated to have hastened to Machaerus as if
to a place, subject to her father Aretas's dominion;
& yet Herod himself is said there to have had John
in chains, & finally to have ordered him beheaded.
[21] No one could combine these two except by expunging
as an interpolation alien from the truth & perhaps
from the author's mind those words, then subject
to her father, added to the name of Machaerus,
& the Prefect who received the woman to be conducted to her father,
is not understood to have been in charge of the Machaerus citadel itself,
but from Aretas's Palace or camp to have come out to meet her up to some
place neighboring Machaerus, where she secretly from the Herodian ministers
& her own companions stole herself away.
No less is the incongruity, that the author
makes the Tetrarch of Galilee, going to Rome, turn aside
to his brother as if living on the way toward
Ptolemais, whence boarding ships the way to
Italy was. While this was the extreme boundary of Galilee
to the West; but the dwelling of Philip
should be sought at Caesarea founded by him in honor of Caesar
& surnamed Philippi a city in the parts
of Iturea, which beyond Galilee to the East
toward Arabia stretches out.
§. V. What was the end of this Herod,
of Herodias, & of his daughter Salome the dancer.
[22] To complete the holy Baptist's history,
this question also seems to belong, [Herodias
granddaughter of Herod the Great through Aristobulus,] not so
unobstructed everywhere, that even in it knots not easily soluble
do not occur. That I may proceed through these in order,
it pleases to begin from the egg, & to note, that
Herod the Great or the Ascalonite, King of the Jews
created by the Romans, in the year before the vulgar Era
XLII took to wife Mariamne killed
herself in the year XIV of her unhappy marriage, the last with
her brother Aristobulus seed of the Maccabees. From
her two most outstanding children born to him, Alexander
& Aristobulus, he joined with wives in the year
XIV before the vulgar; & to Aristobulus indeed he gave
his sister Salome's daughter Berenice: who
within ten years, in which she could enjoy her husband through the cruelty
of his father-in-law, bore at least two children,
Herod, & Herodias, who being then bereaved
of their father, were being brought up in their grandfather's house together
with his other sons, after Mariamne's killing born from elsewhere,
Herod Archelaus, & Philip.
[23] These things being prefaced, Josephus such-as-he-is can be heard
on Herodias. married her uncles, first Philip, He lib. 18 cap. VII
expanding the family of the Herodians, says, Herodias
married Herod, son of the great Herod,
from whom is born Salome: after whom
born, Herodias, in contempt of the law of her country,
again married the full brother of her husband,
the former being left still alive; & he was
Tetrarch of Galilee. Meanwhile no reason allows, then Herod,
that the Ascalonite had two sons, living at the same time,
of the same name. The Evangelist however compels
us to hold, that Herodias's first husband was
Philip.
[24] But behold here for you another knot: for says
the same Josephus, Salome the daughter of Herodias, & his daughter Salome from the former husband,
married Philip, son of Herod, having the Tetrarchy
of Trachonitis. You will say a monstrosity, that a daughter to
her father, or, if you feign a Herod distinct from Philip
son of Herod the Great, brother of Antipas,
an aged great-uncle had a great-niece as a young
wife. Not so be it believed the historian was delirious
whom it should behoove to estimate most knowledgeable of the matters which he writes.
What then? I observe Philip, married Philip son of Herod
husband of Salome the dancer, not to be called
son of Herod the Great as elsewhere Josephus calls him,
but simply of Herod; & I understand Herod
the Tetrarch, who, his brother Herod-Philip dead,
joined his daughter & his own stepdaughter Salome
with his son from the daughter of Aretas, from the former marriage who from his uncle's name was also called Philip,
with the dowry of Trachonitis
devolved to Caesar by Philip the Tetrarch's death;
these nuptials being arranged by Herod the Tetrarch
in favor of his Herodias, & with Caesar
procuring, that the said dowry to the new spouse
he should give. But Philip the younger having died without
children (whence it came that no further mention of him is to be made)
Salome was married by Aristobulus as the continuing the begun
narration Josephus testifies; & finally to Aristobulus another of his first cousins. Aristobulus,
I say, son of Herod, not of the Great
(for he was the grandfather of Salome) but of him whom Josephus
calls Agrippa. This Aristobulus three sons
from her begot, who whether some & what part of the ancestral
kingdom from Caesar he obtained, nothing pertains
to investigate further; let it suffice to say that Salome with
her husband probably in Palestine or Syria spent
her life.
[25] Here therefore it would have happened, if truly it happened, that
which is read in Nicephorus Callistus lib. 1
cap. 20. She (namely Salome) had to go somewhere
at a wintry season, & a river had to be crossed:
which when it was bound by ice & frozen,
She is said to have died immersed in ice. she was crossing it on foot. The ice however
being broken (not without God's will) she sinks
immediately up to the head, & with the lower
parts of her body wantonly & more softly moving
she danced, not on land, but in the waters:
but her wicked head, frozen with cold & ice,
then also wounded, & from the
rest of the body, not by iron but cut off by the crusts of ice,
upon the ice itself a lethal dance
it exhibits; & by that spectacle given to all
it recalls into memory to the spectators what she had done.
[26] All which rhetorically rather exaggerated,
than historically deduced, & by none of the older writers handed down
could seem mere fable, especially if it is presumed,
as can deservedly be presumed, the thing done in Syria,
where I know not if ever there are such intense cold,
that the rivers themselves frozen offer passage
to travelers. More certain are what we have
concerning the punishment, divinely & much sooner exacted from
Herod the Tetrarch stepfather of Salome & his ill-married
wife. Agrippa had been by Josephus Herod,
Herodias's brother in the vulgar year XXXVII
by Tiberius's successor Caius given a part of the ancestral kingdom, Herod with his Herodias having set out for Rome;
namely that which once Philip & Lysanias
had held: which her brother envying, Herodias
urged her husband to sail with her to Rome; with the same
(as the woman hoped) facility from the new Emperor
he was going to obtain the kingdom of Judea: but the contrary
happened.
[27] For there (as is had lib. 2 de Bello cap. 10)
accused, that he had previously conspired with Sejanus
against Tiberius, & now again favored the Parthian Artabanus
against Caius's new Empire
(begun in the year 38) because he was known to have
not so many arms, is deprived of all goods & punished with exile, as would suffice for arming seventy
thousand men (which perhaps
were all only concerned with the Arabian war)
when interrogated about the arms he could not deny,
he thought his defection sufficiently approved,
his Tetrarchy taken from him he added to Agrippa's kingdom,
his money also giving to the informer;
Herod indeed he condemned to perpetual exile at
Lyon (Eusebius names Vienne) a city
of Gaul.
[28] Having then learned that Herodias was Agrippa's sister,
he granted her her own money;
& thinking she would not willingly be the partner of her husband's calamity,
for Agrippa's sake he promised to spare her.
To which she: Thou indeed Emperor,
as is worthy of thy Majesty, his concubine following him thither, speakest:
but conjugal love is an impediment to me,
so that I may not enjoy this indulgence: for
I do not judge it equitable, that to him whose second fortune's
partner I was, I should now in adversity desert.
But he, taking ill so lofty a mind in a woman,
her also with Herod expelled,
& her goods bestowed on Agrippa.
And this was the vengeance which God brought
both on Herodias envying her brother's success,
and on Herod too facile in obeying his wife's
vaniloquence.
[29] Thus Josephus lib. 18 Antiqu. cap. 9; who
also here deservedly might have added the crime committed against
John. both perhaps died in Spain. Otherwise however by the same Josephus either elsewhere
correcting what he had written or unmindful of it the matter is narrated;
for in lib. 2 de Bello cap. 8 he says that by
Caius for avarice vehemently rebuked,
he fled to Spain; for there had followed him
the accuser Agrippa, on whom also his Tetrarchy
Caesar bestowed. And thus to Spain, his wife traveling
with him, he died. But these things
seem so can be reconciled, that to them indeed the place
of exile was assigned at Lyon in Gaul, they themselves
while pretending to head thither, turned aside into
Spain, uncertain where or how they died.
[30] Too opportune moreover was that last passage
of Josephus, Pseudo-Dexter feigns he died at Lerida, than that the fabricators of Pseudo-Dexter
should not lay hands on it, to enrich
or rather defile with their figments the ecclesiastical
history of the Spains. They therefore made him
write thus to the year of Christ XXXIV (as if
the Epoch of years to be numbered from Christ had been
in use from Dexter's age, when nearly a century
& a half later by Dionysius the Little it was devised) Herod
Antipas, with his incestuous concubine Herodias,
driven out of all Judea, (in which however, as it then
was, & afterwards was, he did not possess even a foot of land,
except a house or inn at Jerusalem)
first to Gaul, then at Lerida in
Spain is exiled, & there unhappily dies. & Herodias herself perished in ice
Herodias indeed, dancing upon the Sicoris, river
of Lerida, frozen with ice, submerged
miserably perished.
[31] But those good men (if they can be called good,
so ill deserving of their country) so desultorily
read Nicephorus, whom they had before their eyes,
that the kind of death by which Salome's daughter was carried off
he says, they themselves ascribed to Herodias; unless
perhaps they also did this by design that above Nicephorus
their Pseudo-Dexter should appear to know more, neither did he describe it,
by so much (if it please the Gods) the older.
But if they had also read Josephus, as they wished to be seen,
they could have noticed, that in the year in which they wanted
Herod expelled, Tiberius was still living;
but Herod's exile was commanded by
his successor Caius, having attained the empire only
after the year XXXIV in the third year.
[32] But I do not wonder at them, by frenzy rather than
judgment driven to invent such things. which also Bivarius prefers, At Bivarius
their Commentator we may wonder, a man
(except where with closed eyes he follows the supposititious Dexter)
erudite, & in his Comm. 5 to that
year, alleging entire texts of Josephus, not
to have turned his mind to so manifest an inconsistency,
& to have been able to doubt, to which such a death rather
would suit, daughter or mother. Namely above Nicephorus
& a more certain witness of the same matter he thought to hold,
Dexter, by nation a Spaniard & a Barcinonian.
I wonder however, he says, vehemently at the cutting off
of the head, but wants it to have been done by miracle. not by iron but by the crusts of ice
done. And indeed I do not doubt that a miracle could have
been done, but I doubt that it was done
… nor indeed do I read in Josephus, that the dancing
daughter was driven into exile too or
herself accompanied her mother, that she might have been able to be drowned
or beheaded at Lerida. Who knows
if given in marriage, with her spouse in Galilee
or Judea she remained.
[33] But this slight ray of sound sense, served
Bivarius for no other purpose than to detract credit from Nicephorus.
But he ought to have noticed, that an equal miracle
was needed, for the Spanish Sicoris to be bound with ice;
which neither do I think Bivarius ever saw
or read had been done: for Spaniards coming to Belgium
are astonished at nothing so much as at rivers frozen
with ice & men & carts going over
them.
CHAPTER II.
Feasts of S. Baptist in the Western & Eastern Church.
BY THE AUTHOR D. P.
§. I. On the chief feast in both, of the Nativity.
[34] Before the other two feasts of the holy Baptist & Forerunner,
veneration in the Churches both of
the West & of the East has always had his Nativity,
in which the Angel had foretold many would rejoice
to Zacharias his father. Of this before the other Baptist feasts the cult among the Greeks; An indication of that excellence are;
among the Greeks indeed, from the institution of S. Sabas, a double
Vesperal Office, Lesser & Greater,
which is not done on others; not to speak of the more solemn Office
of the day itself, into which are gathered poems of several
celebrated Hymnographers, John the Monk,
Anatolius, Andrew, Byzantius, &
Cassia, with also a double Canon. Among the Latins
to this feast is peculiar a Vigil, by the people
with fasting to be kept, & with an Octave. And on the Vigil
indeed toward evening a proper Mass was once celebrated;
likewise one in the night, similarly proper; &
finally on the day itself, a third. So the book of Sacraments
of S. Gregory; among the Latins also with a triple Mass, except that, where in the printed ones is read first
in the night, in some Mss. is written first
in the morning or morning first. Alcuinus in the book de
Officiis Eccles. giving the reason; Therefore, he says,
three Masses are celebrated on the feast of S. John,
because by three notable triumphs he excellently
shone forth. For to this he came, that he might prepare the way
for the Lord by the example of his conversation,
which triumph is celebrated on the Vigil
of the same; through the ministry of Baptism he was
notable, & the triumph of this ministry in
the first Mass is recalled; he remained a Nazarene
in his mother's womb (I would prefer to read, from the womb)
& this gift is recalled on the day.
[35] As to the Vigils, that they to the faithful
from Apostolic institution were before any
Sunday & feast day usual; & the Vigil, yet a proper
Office they had not at first; whence it came,
that neither in the most ancient Calendar of the Carthaginian Church
of the V century (of which below, where on S. Rogatus)
nor in certain Gallican Missals before
nine hundred years inscribed, is any mention made of Vigils,
except perhaps at the feast of the Nativity of the Lord
& of Pascha. S. Ambrose seems first
to have instituted it, in this order. Entrance, or
Introit. which at Milan S. Ambrose instituted, The just shall not be confounded. OVER
THE PEOPLE. God of celestial virtues, who grantest
us to frequent the annual solemnities of B. John the Baptist;
grant we beseech thee, that through thee
we may celebrate the same with secure minds; & by his
deserving patronage, we may receive the increase of full
security. Reading of Jeremiah the Prophet,
from cap. 1, as in the Roman; but three times longer
namely up to the end of the first Chapter;
likewise the beginning of the Gospel according to Luke,
up to verse 26, that is up to Gabriel's mission
into Nazareth. Then follows the Prayer Over
the Shroud, the same which is now in the Roman
Postcommunion; & Super Oblata, the same
which in the aforesaid Roman is the secret of the feast. The Preface
however is had thus: Almighty eternal
God, presenting the solemn fast, with a notable Preface. by which
we anticipate the Nativity of John the Baptist; whose
parent while he doubts him to be born, lost
the office of speech; & with him being born, & both
the use of speech & the gift of Prophecy received:
whose mother, worn out with age, struck with sterility,
in his conception, not only
lost the sterility, but also received the Holy Spirit,
by which to be recognized the mother of the Lord & Savior,
she accepted; through whom thy Majesty
&c. Postcom. May the prayer of S. John the Baptist, we beseech,
Lord, & make us always to attain in mind what we bear, &
by the action of due servitude to follow.
[36] The same Gelasius the Pope followed, The Gelasian Sacramentary peculiar that
has in this Vigil & on the feast itself, & other
major ones, that at the beginning & end of the Mass
it prescribes two Collects of the same argument, & at
the beginning indeed this for the Vigil, Grant we beseech,
Lord, that thy people to the effect of full
devotion may be prepared by B. John the Baptist's nativity:
whom thou didst send before thy Son
to prepare a perfect people for Jesus Christ: &
is added the same, which in the Ambrosian over the Shroud:
then Secret: Look propitiously, Lord, on the gifts
of thy people, who doubled the Collects: & make us rejoice in the suffrages of B. John
the Baptist, whose solemnities thou grantest us to precede.
Post Comm. Grant we beseech
to thy Church, merciful God, that
instructed in the mystical beginnings of B. John the Baptist, & in the sacred
heralding, to decline the wrath of the coming Judgment,
it may continually work worthy fruits of salvation.
Other: May the prayer of B. John the Baptist, Lord,
both ask for us to understand the mysteries of thy Christ,
& deserve them. The Gregorian Sacramentary
prescribes all simple, Gregory added a Mass in the night or dawn. no other
than what we now read in the Roman Ordinary. For
the first Mass in the night, this is prescribed
Collect: Grant we beseech, almighty
God, that we who celebrate the solemnities of B. John the Baptist,
may be defended by his intercession with thee.
Then super Oblata, the same as above in
the Vigil. To complete or Post communion.
Grant, we beseech, almighty God,
that we who have received the heavenly nourishment, by the intercession
of B. John Bapt. through these against
all adversities may be defended. Lastly Super Populum is set that, which in the Gelasian begins
the Vigil Mass; & another is added, which
ends the same. Martinaeus de ant. Monach. ritibus
lib. 4 cap. 6 says. Among the Benedictines a solemn Vigil. This Vigil our
Benedictines made solemn in the monastery
of S. Peter above Dieux, so that at Nocturns
the Invitatory was sung by two Hebdomadarii
in Albs, at Lauds the classic bell
was rung, at Benedictus incense was carried
by the Priest in Alb & Maniple,
Mass as in Albs was chanted.
[37] Now as for the feast itself, the Gothic
or Gallican Missal, in that older than others,
that it prescribes no Vigil, proceeds thus:
God who didst strengthen B. John the Baptist
* by the testimony of truth; For the day itself in the old Gallo-Gothic, give us, we beseech,
to hear the example of his humility;
that we may desire to understand what he practiced, &
to attain with all love what he deserved. Collect
follows: Almighty eternal God,
who didst command thy blessed Forerunner John
the Baptist, to be born to prepare the ways of thy Only-begotten;
grant we beseech, that thou mayest give the aid of his
intercession, & mayest prepare the will to fulfilling
the commandments. Post
Nomina: The Mass is plainly special, Almighty eternal God,
who hast made this day notable to us by the Nativity of B. John the Baptist;
we beseech, that thy
Forerunner, of whom among them that are born of women none
greater rose up, may commend our fragility to thy
piety * & to our dear ones, whose
names have been recited, may so obtain the refreshment
of piety, that they may be received even as the last,
where the Baptist remains supreme in the kingdom of heaven:
which He &c. Collect to
Peace, in the Gelasian, Gregorian, & today's
is first to the Mass, God who hast made the present
day &c.
[38] Immolation of Mass, (Preface we
call it) Truly it is meet, that we to thee always,
here & everywhere, with Preface & Benedictions give thanks, holy Lord
Father, almighty eternal God, marvelous splendor
of all thy Saints, who
hast made the present day honorable to us in B.
John's Nativity; that by the operating virtue
of thy grace, he, than whom among them that are born of women
none greater, might arise; give to thy peoples
the erudition of spiritual joys; & direct the minds of all
the faithful into the way of salvation
& peace; that what the testification of the herald
manifested, may be fulfilled by the presence of him announced, Christ
the Lord, through whom thy Majesty &c.
Benediction OF THE PEOPLE. God who through Zacharias's
speech didst manifest the Nativity of S. John
✠; grant we beseech, that we who most devoutly celebrate
his nativity, may rejoice by his intercession
✠ that thy people, who at his Nativity
came together, may be saved by the merits
& intervention of all Saints, & by the merits
of his deprecations may be helped. ✠
Grant, Lord, that the Angel Gabriel, at whose
speaking Zacharias was struck dumb, may stand by as intercessor;
& by B. John's merits we may be aided & in manners.
Him you &c. And of this sort special Benedictions
the same Missal prescribes for the greater feasts:
of the same, as constituting as it were the last part of the Spanish
Mass, S. Isidore of
Seville mentions, in the book de Offi. Eccl.
[39] The Ambrosian Rite Mass, is wholly special,
& deserves to be set here. as also in the Ambrosian, Entrance at the Mass.
With the Holy Spirit shall the boy be filled from his mother's womb,
& many in his Nativity shall rejoice,
for he shall be great before the Lord.
Prayer Over the People, God who this
day, by the birth of thy Herald & Baptist John,
didst deign to consecrate; & whose childbirth
received; grant propitiously; that that which
our Savior wrought in the Jordan as a mystery,
this in all Catholic Churches may ever be celebrated.
Through the same &c. Epistle. I make
known to you the Gospel (had in 1 Cor.
12 v. 3) v in Alleluia, Among them that are born of
women there hath not risen up a greater than John the Baptist;
greater than the Prophets, & less than the Angels. Gospel.
According to Luke chap. In that time,
was Elizabeth's time of bringing forth fulfilled. After
Gospel. Let us serve him in holiness & justice
all our days: & thou, child, in which many particulars,
shalt be called the Prophet of the Most High, for thou shalt go
before the face of the Lord to prepare his ways. Over
the Shroud: May the holy intercession of thy
Forerunner John the Baptist, we beseech, Lord,
commend us; that both by his spiritual
preachings we may be made worthy to be instructed; & to what thou commandest;
with himself helping, may our fragility
be able to arrive. Offertory: Before I formed thee
in the womb, I knew thee, & before thou camest
forth from the belly I sanctified thee, & set thee a Prophet
among the gentiles. Over the Oblata: Look,
Lord, on these gifts, which by thee
sanctifying we consecrate: & as B. John
the Baptist was made the forerunner & preparer
of the way of O. L. Jesus Christ; so for our
infirmities, with thee protecting, may he be
an intercessor.
[40] Preface. Eternal God: & on the day
of today's festivity, on which the blessed Baptist
John rose, to exult: who the voice
of the Mother of the Lord not yet brought forth perceived; especially in the Preface. &
still enclosed in the womb, the advent of human salvation
with prophetic exultation longed for: who both
wiped away his mother's sterility by being conceived, &
unloosed his father's tongue by being born; & alone of all
the Prophets the Redeemer of the world, whom
he announced, showed * For this is he to whom
the name even before he was conceived thou didst give, &
whom with the Holy Spirit before he was born
thou didst fill. Worthily of his nativity today the solemnities
we celebrate: worthily among them that are born of women none
greater appeared, who God and the perfect
Man, thy Son Jesus Christ
our Lord both to preach deserved, &
evidently to show: whom they praise &c. Confraction
(namely when after the Pater noster
the Host is broken) Behold as the salutation
of B. Mary was in my ears, the infant exulted
in my womb. Transit (namely when the Missal
is carried from the corner of the Gospel to the corner of the Epistle,
is called Communion) A Nazarene shall be called
this child: wine & strong drink he shall not drink,
& nothing unclean shall he eat, from
his mother's womb. Post-communion. Grant
we beseech, almighty God; that as us
with heavenly gifts thou satisfiest, so in B. John
the Baptist's Nativity defend us by [thy] aid: that
what he preached concerning thy Son's nativity,
may profit us unto salvation. Through the same.
[41] The Gelasian Sacramentary which we have
published at Rome from the Mss. of the Queen by Joseph
Maria Thomasius, Gelasius again doubled the Collects. from today's Roman this alone
falls short, that to the three, which from this are now recited
prayers, it adds one at the beginning & end:
to the first indeed this. Almighty eternal
God, who the legal institutions & the heralds of holy
Prophets, in the days
of B. John the Baptist didst fulfill; grant we beseech
that the figures of significations ceasing,
the Truth herself by her manifestation may speak,
Jesus Christ our Lord: who with thee
&c. The last indeed is thus doubled: Celebrating
the Nativities of S. John, we suppliantly, Lord,
beseech thee; that the same may always be
both the cause of indulgence & of salvation to us. But the Gregorian,
up to the Preface scarcely differs in anything from
the Ordinary, & the Preface itself is taken from
the Ambrosian up to the * noted above; then
so continues: & that the nature of the waters might receive
the effect of the sacred purification, the flowing
Jordan having to be sanctified, washed with the baptism
of baptism the Author himself. And therefore with
the Angels.
[42] Then is added a Benediction, extraordinary
& proper, Gregory added proper Benedictions, in this manner: May the intercession of
B. John the Baptist bless you, whose today
nativity you celebrate; & grant, that whose
solemnities you cultivate, his patronage you may feel. Amen.
By his obtaining may you be defended from all adversities,
& may you fully enjoy all goods; who
the coming of the Redeemer of the world while not yet born
recognized, his mother's sterility by being born
took away, his father's tongue by being born unloosed. Amen.
So far that of that very Lamb, whom he with his finger
showed, by whose immolation you are redeemed,
so by the wool of virtues you may be able to be clothed
& able to imitate innocence, that to him in eternal life's
felicity you may be able to be joined. Which may He grant
who &c. With these Benedictions premised,
is subjoined To complete or Postcommunion,
the same which is now in the Ordinary; nor here is the Mass ended; but four
special Prayers are added. To Matins; for which
title elsewhere is read, over the people: of which
so different inscription the cause I do not attain.
The Prayers themselves are of this sort.
[43] & 4 prayers for Matins. Almighty & merciful God, who
didst destine B. John the Baptist by thy providence,
that he might prepare a perfect people for Christ the Lord:
grant, we beseech, that thy family,
by the intercession of this Herald, both from all sins
may be stripped, & to him whom he prophesied
may deserve to arrive. Other: Almighty
eternal God, give our hearts that
rectitude of thy paths, which B.
John the Baptist's voice of one crying in the desert,
taught. Other: God who beholdest, that on every side
our evils trouble us; through the Forerunner
of joy gladden our hearts. Other: Grant,
we beseech almighty God, to those established within the womb
of holy Church, by that same spirit
to be justified from our iniquity, by which thou didst teach B. John
within his mother's womb. The last other
related above is with the title over the People,
from the Vigil Mass according to Ambrose.
[44] John Mabillon concludes the first Tome of his Italian Museum,
with the exhibition of a certain Gallican Sacramentary, Another Mass from a most ancient Gallican, which he judges to belong to the Church of Vesoul,
though found in the monastery of Bobbio,
written however a thousand years ago. In this neither
is there any Vigil of the Baptist, although there be a Vigil
of the Nativity of the Lord & of Easter. There on his feast
the Mass begins with that Prayer, which in the Gregorian
Sacramentary is placed Post nomina up
to the asterisk *: then follows Collation: God
who hast consecrated this day of the Nativity of B. John the Baptist,
incomparable for men;
grant us from his merits, to follow
the footprint of his sandal, whose to loose
the latchet he preached himself unworthy: with which
words interposed I think the mutilated sense better
is restored, than this of Mabillon, [who himself to
loose the Savior's] for neither did John use
sandals, that we may be understood to wish to follow the footprint
of his sandal. Post Nomina, nearly the same
Prayer is recited which in today's Roman is secret
after the Offertory. To Peace: Grant we beseech,
Lord, that thy people to the effect of full devotion
may be steeped in B. John the Baptist's nativities,
whom thou didst send before thy son to prepare
is taken from the Ambrosian related num. 7. Nor further
in this Sacramentary is added concerning the Masses. There however
to each Mass is subjoined a Reading from the Scriptures & Gospel
congruent with the feast: thus here is set a Reading
of the book of Wisdom of Solomon of one Just man, which
with us is of a Confessor not Pontiff. Blessed is the man
who is found without stain, & follows
Chap. VI v. 17. In that time Herod the Tetrarch heard
the fame of Jesus: he held John
& bound him & put him in prison on account
of Herodias, with some (as you see) diversity from the
vulgate.
[45] Martinaeus aforepraised having weighed the singular
devotion of S. Benedict toward S. Forerunner, & more solemn rites among the Benedictines. to whom
he had built an oratory over the prostrate shrines of Apollo &
Venus, in which also he wished to be buried, sets forth
various adjuncts of the more solemn rite, noted from the old
Observations of the Benedictine Order, namely
that the Respons. at the first Vespers was sung
by four in copes as also the Invitatory, & moreover
the Responsories one by one by two; the fourth by
three, the eighth by four, the twelfth by
five: at Mass however all clothed in pluvials
shall enter the Choir, from the Customs
of S. Denis & the Calendars of Lerins & S. Peter
above Dieux & the Cassinese Ordinary. The Customs
of S. Germain, S. Cornelius & S. Aper
add that in Albs; S. Germain's also that before
the Mass a Procession be made in copes to the oratory of S.
John with small Cross & holy Water &
Thurible & Candelabra; & the Deacon shall bear
the Relics of the Saint & with him four Deacons;
& if it be a Sunday, let the Procession be through the cloister
in copes.
[46] No less joyful to John's parents & their
friends; than his birthday, was the day of his circumcision, The Octave unknown to the ancients,
on account of the prodigies that made him
admirable. Deservedly therefore the Western Church,
his birthday itself with an Octave to be celebrated
instituted; from which the Eastern abstains, which has no use
of Octaves. Yet the Western instituted this,
not immediately from the beginning; for it is wanting in all
the aforenoted Sacramentaries: indeed the Milanese
Church, not even hitherto uses it. The first
mention of it I find in Radulphus de Rivo
writing at the beginning of the XV century, who in Baronius
in the Notes to this day, treating of the observance
of the Major & Minor Octaves, numbers this among the
Major. is found in Mss. of the 14th or 15th century, Older perhaps than that is the Atrebatensian
Church of S. Mary's Martyrology Ms,
to which at the end, but by the same hand, I find inscribed,
And the Octave of S. John. Of nearly the same
age are certain Mss. of Usuard's Martyrology,
& augmented with more recent feasts with us; e.g. the Centulensian
of S. Richarius, the Brussels of S. Gudula, the Albergense
of the Regular Canons, & a certain
Dano-Frankish one, mostly on parchment: where
at the beginning is read thus, & seems to have begun in the Gauls. Kal. of July Octave of S. John
the Baptist. Neither in older Martyrologies
of any author or Calendars
of churches is found; for Bede, whom Baronius
alleges, is supposititious, & Ado is interpolated,
since in the genuine copies of the same nothing such
is found: so that we seem to be able to retract the beginning
of such an Octave to the XIV century, in which the Roman Pontiffs
resided in Gaul, where on account of the head believed
at Angely or Amiens to be preserved there was great devotion
toward S. Baptist. Martinaeus in the aforecited place
at length deduces the particular rites of the four Octaves
namely of this, of SS. Peter & Paul, of the Assumption
of S. Mary & of the Translation of S. Benedict, from the Cassinese
Ordinary & various Mss. of Gallican
monasteries.
[47] The old Missal of the Church of Laon printed
at Paris in the year 1506 for the feast & through
the Octave has a notable Sequence. Sequence from old Laon. The Verdun one
however printed in 1554 in the same place of similar
sense & length has a Prose to be recited after the Gradual
in the Mass before the Gospel: the Sequence,
because more elegant, here read:
To meet the Forerunner,
With heart, mouth concurring,
The duty of races,
In the lamp let the Light be praised,
In the Herald let be venerated
The Judge, the Sun in his ray
The Sun is wont sudden,
Or anything grand or divine
The crowd ill to grasp:
Wherefore for us blunted
The Sun of supernal truth
Foreshone in a star.
He the Forerunner & Prophet;
Nay, the Prophets' goal,
To the Law setting an end:
Marvelously began through applause,
Enclosed in mother's womb the enclosed
Lord by revealing.
Zacharias does not admit
Gabriel, while he promises
To the veteran a son.
Which to him is thus repaid,
That with himself suspended is suspended
The ministry of tongue.
Time comes, he sees the born,
And suspended speech then
To the father is restored.
Their parents rush
With neighbors, not knowing
What from above is wrought.
None born is greater than he
Of those born of seed:
But neither is to him compared,
Who was born of a Virgin.
The boy as if already experienced
Of the world, the world deserts,
In the desert not deserted
The horn of flesh he wears down.
His food his garment,
Not so much pasture as plague
And the flesh's destruction.
To whom the camel, raw herbs
Locusts give, gives the rude honey
Garments & food.
Marvelous boyhood,
Marvelous grace of God,
Marvelous newness in words,
He cries: Be baptized,
To meet the Lord
Direct your paths.
That highest one who crowns
Triple thirty wreaths gives
To these citizens of heaven,
To them gives also sixty;
To this John gives a hundred
Before all ranks.
O Lamp of true Light,
O Forerunner of the great Leader,
Herald of penance.
Stand for us before the Leader
And procure for us the light
Of eternal glory. Amen.
§. II. On the feast of the Baptist's Conception, & of the same & of the Nativity, & also of the years & days of Christ himself.
[48] So far on the principal feast of S. John the Baptist,
from the older Missals, Conception, noted to all the ancients on 24 Sept., or (as anciently
they were named) Sacramentaries. The next
to this in solemnity, is the feast of the Passion or
Beheading on XXIX August; of which below. In celebrity of cult
last, but in order of time first,
is the Conception, inscribed in all the older
Latin Martyrologies of Hieronymus, Bede, Ado,
Usuard, Notker, Rabanus. Nor do I find
anyone who omitted to note that feast, on XXIV September,
before Bellinus of Padua; who Usuard's
Martyrology, according to the custom of the Roman Curia at Venice
published in the year 1498. Here it
is first found omitted; & by that example, also
in today's Roman by the Gregorian reformers,
led by I know not what scruple & fearing that some
prejudice thence might suffer the pious & orthodox opinion,
on the Immaculate Conception of B. Mary the Virgin. up to the year 1478 in which it began to be issued,
But if the appellation of Conception of both is the same,
different is & sufficiently distinct of both the acceptation,
referred to the God-bearer & to the Forerunner. For it is established
that the Church celebrates only the Conception of this one,
with respect to the sanctity of the mysteries pertaining to
her, but treats of that, as holy in
herself. Which the Greeks seem to indicate more expressly,
by diversity of phrase, when on IX December about to celebrate
the passive Conception of S. Mary, they call
the Conception of S. Anna; but in truth on
XXIII September (for they precede the Latins by one day here)
they do not say the Conception of Elizabeth, from some vain scruple,
but of S. John: & the same diversity they express
in the Figural Calendar by images; one of which,
in the most honest manner possible, indicates the very meeting
of the holy Parents Mary; not so of Zacharias
& Elizabeth the other, only Zacharias,
standing by the altar together with the Angel, preannouncing
the son to be born to him.
[49] Moreover that the Roman Church's most ancient
Martyrologies had the aforesaid Conception
written XXIV September, The Greeks also make an Office of it 23 Sept. yet there is not found
any Office among the Latins ordained
anciently for such a feast, as is found among the Greeks
who have the order of that Conception composed
by S. John of Damascus, of which is also a Canon;
but without those prerogatives of a more solemn feast with which
I have said the Nativity is to be recalled. Although
nor among the Latins does that feast seem to have been
altogether neglected. For that lately at Augsburg
Vindelicorum was published Martyrology, but less solemn, before
seven hundred years written (rather Calendar
to be called; since it has only & few names,
& passes over more empty days) those Saints only
it seems to contain, of whom either Office
or at least Commemoration was made in the German Churches: as also of the Latins some.
where the Nativity & Beheading
feasts, as more solemn, are noted in red?
In common ink however the Conception; to which
place the editor Beckius adds, in the Ms. Codex of S.
Gall is added, ple. Comm. that is Full Commemorations,
so that something seems to be signified,
similar to that which we call simple, & in which Commemorations
of Saints in Doubles wont to be omitted are made.
[50] Casaubon & semi-learned of similar bran, of excessive
& superfluous curiosity accuse the Roman-Catholics, The days of Conceptions our ancestors defined sufficiently congruently to cult,
that even the days of Conceptions,
which in human generation is nothing more uncertain, they have
defined. Far be it that we believe our pious ancestors
to have thought, that such days physically certain
they could have. But since they thought from most ancient
tradition, that the Natal days of Christ,
John & Mary were known, & worthy of ecclesiastical
cult judged also the first beginnings in the womb
of these; congruently they assumed the same day or the next
of the ninth month from then, nothing more scrupulously
investigating; since they knew such days, neither were handed down
by the Evangelists, nor received by special revelation.
In such a definition however, not only
as to use, although by a reason little certain, but also as to historical truth
to be proved, the erudite would not have to labor; if
the definition itself of the Natal days whose observance
is had from tradition, were had also from solid
reason or certain authority deduced: but would be had,
if the Roman Census books (to which
as still extant in his time, & most certain witnesses
of Christ born of David Tertullian calls)
had exhibited inscribed the days of each there enumerated
birth: but that this cannot at all be presumed,
is proved by the disagreement of the first centuries about the day
& month of the Lord's nativity; from which however
other days to be defined hung.
[51] I showed in my Paralipomena to the Propylaeum of May
pag. 23 num. 13 & following how
the Eastern Church was led by the Western
through Pope Julius, when they fixed the Lord's Nativity on 25 December, or at least in the IV century,
to celebrate the day of the Lord's Nativity, which it had joined
with the day of Baptism VI January, separately
XXV December; with Chrysostom asserting around the year
CCCLXXXVI, that such
usage then was by no means new, but quite ancient
was, & even from the beginning by
Thrace itself up to Cadiz known among the inhabitants
& celebrated. But the calculus on which the same
Chrysostom relies, & on which before him relying
is said to have proceeded Pope Julius in the question to be decided,
I have demonstrated to be quite doubtful; & their
hypothesis which they presuppose nor sufficiently prove admitted,
about the day on which a son was announced to Zacharias,
to be procreated from him & Elizabeth; it nothing less
follows than that the Baptist was conceived on XXIII
or XXIV September. not because that followed from the day on which the Angel appeared to Zacharias, For the daily offering of incense,
which had fallen to Zacharias by lot when he saw the Angel,
had nothing in common with that solemnity,
on which once in the year the High Priest
entered into the Holy of Holies, & that to have fallen on such
Hebrew & Roman months. Add that
Zacharias was not the High Priest; & that
he only approached his wife when the days of his Office
were fulfilled, how many after the vision had
remained, the Evangelist does not express, but
only says, after these days Elizabeth conceived.
Not therefore from the sixth month from such conception,
can the day of the Lord's Annunciation
be defined: from a new ground in turn destined to be uncertain,
while it is not known, how far that sixth month had proceeded,
when the Angel came to Mary.
Nor moreover from such an uncertain day, can be had
the certain day of the nativity either of Christ or of John:
but only this we have, that with some one beginning
of the Feasts established by whatever reason, fittingly
could the remaining feasts be ordained, & to the faithful people
be prescribed for observance.
[52] but perhaps because that was for the heathen the birth of the sun, Our John Harduin, in his Antirheticus
de Nummis antiquis, pag. 65 suspects,
the day XXV December, which is now by all
cultivated as the Birthday of the Lord, from the first
times indeed instituted, not because some of the Evangelists
or Apostles taught the Romans
it; or themselves elicited it from the Census
books; but with quite another counsel & reason.
Namely, that, since that day was by the heathen
dedicated to the Birthday of the Sun, on account of his return from
winter or the tropic of Capricorn to us; the same be given
to Jesus Christ, our Lord & true sun's
Birthday, whose otherwise true birthday lay hid.
The proposition he proves from the Roman Calendar of the year
CCCXXV, where is noted VIII Kal. January N.
(that is, Birthday) of the Unconquered, namely the Sun, as
several coins under Gallienus speak. On that therefore,
says Harduin, day, as in the East was assumed 6 January. the Birthday of Christ
first at Rome was transferred; that while the Gentiles
attended to their profane rite, the Christians to their sacred
things might freely give their work. What however once
Rome approved, deservedly all the West followed.
But the Hierosolymitan Church, in nothing also
itself more certain about Christ's true Birthday in the flesh;
since the day of the Baptism conferred on Christ by John
it seemed more certainly to know, as from the tradition
of the first disciples of both, for the day
VI January (although about this too it is deservedly doubted,
as elsewhere I have shown) nor would it think convenient
in those straits of the Christian thing among the Jews
to multiply feasts; because then was believed Christ to have been manifested in baptism. the Nativity of Christ, the Adoration
of the Magi, & his very Incarnation, under
one name of Epiphanies coupled with the Baptism.
But the said straits being relaxed, when now freely
the Christian sacred things & with greater apparatus of Offices
were treated, not difficultly was it persuaded to the Easterners
so far following the Hierosolymitans, that the Romans
thereafter they should follow, celebrating the Nativity & Epiphany
divisim; nor only in those
two, but also in the others thence depending.
[53] Moreover that not only in the first, but also in the second
& third century of the Church, still uncertain
was held, on what day Christ truly was born, seems to be proved
from Clement of Alexandria who in the year
CCXX flourished, & lib. 1 of the Stromata speaks thus. Otherwise there were those who asserted him born 28 Pachon. 1. in May,
Εἰσὶ
δὲ
οἱ
περιεργότεροι,
τῇ
γενέσει
τοῦ
Σωτῆρος
ἡμῶν
ὀυ
μόνον
τὸ
ἔτος
ἀλλὰ
καὶ
τὴν
ἡμέραν
προστιθέντες·
ἣν
φασὶν
ἔτους
κη᾽ (I correct & read λη᾽)
Ἀυγούστου,
ἐν
πέμπτῃ
Πάχων
καὶ
εικάδι.
There are however those who acting even more curiously, to the Birthday
of the Savior add the year & day,
which they say, in the year XXVIII (rather XXXVIII) of Augustus
the Emperor, & on the twenty-fifth day
of Pachon fell, which month with
the Egyptians answered partly to extreme April, partly
to May. And these things let so be said, that may be understood
nothing certain to be held of the true Birthday of Christ much less of the Baptist's,
much less of the day of Conception
of each. With some certain day having been established, however,
either from that which Harduin suspects with respect to the rising
sun, in the year 7 before the vulgar era. or from the calculus praised in Chrysostom
though wavering; I say rightly were ordained
by the Church the festivities of the mysteries, preceding or
following the nativity of Christ.
[54] I judge however that nothing or little to Religion
pertains, whether the Roman Church Christ's
Birthday to be celebrated assumed on the very day on which it happened;
the Church's right always being safe, or holding it unknown, for celebrating it
chose at its own discretion a day, only of the heathen
is the determination of the others, depending however from it
feasts, but by the same by highest right &
by congruent reason made. Hence namely ascending through
nine months to the day of the Annunciation or Incarnation
of the Lord, & again through six, to the day of the conceived
John the Baptist. to whatever day to be assumed.
[55] So, although the same Church the Dormition,
Deposition, or Assumption of the God-bearer,
according to the older Martyrologies & Sacramentaries
first instituted to be celebrated XVIII January, as
in this month's Supplement, on the question of
the Blessed's death more accurately to be treated, I shall teach;
yet Mauritius the Emperor, decreed throughout the Empire
annually to be kept that XV August & this
under the name of Dormition: which the Western Church soon
universally adopted, under the title however of Assumption.
So Urban VI, recognizing such a power in himself
& using it in the year 1389
the feast of the Visitation of B. Mary the Virgin, which according
to the order of the mysteries should immediately have followed the feast
of the Annunciation, by which rising Mary went
with haste & saluted Elizabeth, &
abode with her about three months…
he established on the morrow of the Octave of S. John the Baptist
to be celebrated each year in the Church: as if not
he had assumed Mary's entry into Zacharias's house,
but her departure thence to be recalled, because for
this was more apt the beginning of July than April, sufficiently occupied
by the Paschal feasts. Nor any of these things
is reprehended by the well-mannered students of ecclesiastical History:
for to them it is sufficient of each institution
or change to investigate the time & reason,
& as far as possible to render, as we also
try to do.
§ III. On the place of the conceived & born Baptist.
[56] About the city of Juda in Luke it is deservedly doubted, There can be no doubt, that there John was conceived
& born, where at the voice of Mary
greeting Elizabeth he was in the womb sanctified:
two leagues from Jerusalem
is shown the house, commonly called Zacharias's, at
the beginning of those mountains, which divide the lot of the tribe of Juda
from the portions of Dan & Simeon, commonly
believed to be the Hill country of Judea; over which divulged
were the wonders, in the Forerunner's Nativity
wrought as Luke indicates. If however attentively you consider
his words, saying, that rising Mary
went into the Mountains, into the city of Juda; scarcely
anything you will confess in his whole Gospel to be more
obscure. is it ancient Hebron on the mount of Juda, Mount of Juda indeed we read in the book
of Joshua cap. 21 v. 11, & in it a city,
which is called Hebron, which to the Caathites of the Aaronic
families first, by the first lottery fell.
The same we know was David's royal residence as long as
he ruled only the tribes of Juda & Benjamin; nor
far from Jerusalem did it stand; but of it nowhere
then in Scripture named, at Christ's nativity
perhaps not even ruins remained; so far is it
that it was either properly or antonomastically
called the City of Juda, at this time of which we treat,
when, with the inhabitation of the Tribes returned from Assyria
confused, ceased the appellation of the old division;
& Juda perhaps was called
all that which in Palestine Herod the Ascalonite with
the title of King obtained, even beyond the Jordan. But Mary rose up
in those days, & set forth
studiously into the mountains, into a city of Judea,
& entered into the house of Zacharias. This
indeed as the older Lection following Juvencus
the Presbyter, also whether it should not be read, a city of Judea, thus began to describe Mary's journey:
She then with rapid steps the Judean city,
& Zacharias's house enters.
Indeed even the Vulgate itself, while from the Greek ἐν
ὅλῃ
τῇ
ὀρείνῃ
τῆς
Ἰουδαίας, it renders over all the hill country
of Judea, makes us doubt, whether similarly
at the beginning Luke had not written, εἰς
πόλιν, not
Ἰούδα, but τῆς
Ἰουδαίας.
[57] It is uncertain enough, whether better is read,
city of Juda, than city of Judea,
as has the Syriac version, according to the Parisian trilingual
edition; where so is found. But whether
City of Juda or of Judea you read; & what kind so called antonomastically was. there remains always
the same difficulty (since no Author is found,
who any City by proper name
so called has known) the difficulty remains, I say,
that it be explained, by what right some was so
antonomastically named; & whether it as certainly
is to be sought near Jerusalem, as seemed to
Notker, who at this day XXIV June wrote,
that John truly in Hebron city of Juda,
which for the refuge of fugitives to the Priests
had been allotted, by the authority of Jesus son of
Nave & of the Gospel of S. Luke, is believed both born
& nurtured: also, whether such credulity
in the East arose, or rather from our West
& from the more common opinion of our then Interpreters,
was introduced into Palestine, in the IX or X century,
as I now undertake to explain.
[58] Franciscus Maria Florentinius, the Old Western
Church Martyrology, the Mart. of S. Jerome ascribes the Conception to Machaerus, which we call Hieronymtanum,
illustrating; since there at
day XXIV June is read, At Machaerus castle
(where such-as-he-is Josephus asserts the Baptist
was beheaded) the Conception of John
the Baptist; in Exercise XIV he strives to make
verisimilar the opinion sustained by such great antiquity. His arguments
all tend so, that Machaerus, the other royal city under Herod. was
the second once citadel of Judea from Jerusalem,
by Pliny's testimony, which Herod the Ascalonite manifoldly
had fortified & adorned, & having built there
& antonomastically called City of Judea,
in that sense in which the King himself Herod in the same chapter
is called King of Judea; the name then embracing
all the region from the sea to Arabia even
beyond the Jordan. Quite otherwise the matter stood,
he says, at the dying of the same Christ, when Pilate
is said to have procured Judea, & others after
him; where by the name of Judea came only that
half part of Palestine, which from Antipatris by the sea
situated, up to the Jordan extends: in which sense
Machaerus then belonged to Galilee, the portion of Herod
the Younger.
[59] Florentinius confirms his conjecture moreover
from this, near the desert of the Baptist & the place of baptism that near is the desert & cave
of the Baptist, & the first place of the baptism instituted by him
Bethabara otherwise Bethania; otherwise S. John would have lived
& lain hidden far from his country
until the time of his manifestation. Favors the mountainous
situation of the place almost impregnable, by Josephus at length
described; on account of which, says Florentinius,
To Herod reigning of all places it seemed worthier of care
… wherefore having surrounded it with a great wall
& with towers, he caused there a city to be inhabited:
what however was girded with the wall is a rocky
hill, rising into lofty height.
If however there Herod founded a city,
the second of the whole Jewish kingdom from Jerusalem, why
could he not himself have wished the same city to be called
City of Juda or of Judea? as the first fortification of Judea against
the neighboring Arabs? as Constantine
ordered Byzantium to be called New Rome.
[60] And indeed the Machaerus hill on all sides
is girded with steep valleys; from that part however,
which is from the East, & around the Hill country, by a mountain placed opposite
to Machaerus it is bounded. They could
therefore these Mountains at that time be called Mountains
of Judea, like a rampart opposed to Arabia: although
both city of Juda & Mountains of Judea ceased to be called,
when they ceased to pertain to Judea, situated between Judea & Arabia:
the name being restricted to the part committed to the Roman
Procurators. Hence also among the Roman Writers
the prior name of Machaerus had duration,
the other being abolished, if truly in any use
it was as Florentinius contends. But when
the Saracen Arabs all the region beyond the Jordan
had made their own, extinguished at Machaerus
would have been, if any there were of John the Baptist's monuments,
of Churches; & of the desert alone & cave
memory remained. But to the faithful into the interior
of the Holy Land withdrawing themselves, these being occupied by Saracens, it would have pleased
the memory of desolated places elsewhere to restore
near Jerusalem: in whose vicinity, between Bethsura
& Emaus, only three or four
stadia from the city, when there was found the ancient memory
of some holy Zacharias (whence almost begin
the Mountains, called of Judea in Joshua's time)
it was gradually believed that there had been the house
of Zacharias father of John the Baptist; & to this credulity
then adapted were places, similar to those, which
formerly around Machaerus were shown; namely
parents might be said to have been in use, & with shrines &
stations to be adorned & shown to pilgrims going round the holy
places.
[61] But such persuasion did not yet obtain
in the VIII century, in the middle of which proceeding,
S. Willibald made a pilgrimage there, on account of the house of another Zacharias Bishop of Eichstadt
in Germany, in whose Hodoeporicon,
written through a consanguineous Heidenheim Nun,
& in Canisius tom. 4 of
ancient Lection to be found, thus is read: He came
to Bethlehem … & thence to a village which
is called Thecua … thence to the Laura, where rests
S. Sabas. Thence he came to the place where
Philip baptized the Eunuch, & thence
they went to Gaza … & thence they went to S. Zacharias
the Prophet; not the father of John,
but another Prophet: & thence they went to
the Castle of Aframia, where rest the three
Patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, & Jacob with
their wives; & thence he came again into Jerusalem.
You see going around all that place, in the 8th century known there, in which
popularly now it is believed John was born and brought up;
there however not his father's house, but another
Zacharias's was then shown; his as I believe, who
being son of the High Priest Joiada, with Pro-regal
authority used under King Joash, easily it can be conceived
that he had paternal estates there, as next to
the first of the sacerdotal cities, & to the Jerusalem
temple & royal residence proximate, & thereafter ascribed to John's father, where also he was buried by
his own, after the King's ministers had with stones
overwhelmed him in the court of the temple; & there had his own cult
he had, until through the error of which I have spoken, the same
place began to be believed to have pertained to the Baptist's father.
[62] But this I think first happened in the XI century,
when the sacred places were being restored by the Latins, already
from Notker's time persuaded that Hebron was the city
of Juda, which Luke names. For from
this time, I find John Phocas, Epiphanius
Hagiopolita, & a third Author of a sacred Hodoeporicon
Anonymous among the Symmicta Graeca of Allatius,
as well as several Latins later, by authors of the 11th c. & thereafter. Zacharias,
John's father & his house & possessions
commemorate, as situated near Jerusalem & Bethlehem.
The first writes thus: From the holy city about
fourteen stadia the Prophet Zacharias's house
is seen, into which after the Annunciation
the Most Immaculate God-bearer solicitously hastening,
saluted Elizabeth…In that place therefore
in the cave's last recesses indeed the Forerunner's
nativity took place. Similar things in the other two you will read,
to pass over the Latins, & with them the most recent
illustrators of the Holy Land, although nothing such has
Jerome in the Life of Paula, Adamnanus, Bede
& other older writers; not likely to omit the Forerunner's
natal place, if it had been so near Jerusalem.
To this from that silence sought reasoning
it cannot be objected that neither did they mention Machaerus;
for of passing it over another cause they
had; namely the same as for not touching Carmel:
namely because to both mountains, by most firm
garrisons of Saracens occupied, was not given
access to Christians, when they wrote.
[63] To illustrate to some extent the question proposed,
it pleases to reproduce the table of the Holy Land, which
elsewhere was of use for Tom. 1 & 2 of May: where
beyond the place of Baptism you will see Machaerus, &
near it John's desert in which he preached;
extended toward Bethabara or Bethania,
where he baptized. Around the Sea of Tiberias,
to the North & East Trachonitis
& Iturea imagine for yourself, Philip's Tetrarchy,
& moreover in Galaaditis the region of Abilene,
Lysanias's Tetrarchy.
[64] These things from & for Florentinius, & at the same time for
the authority of the most ancient Martyrology so deduced, [To what has been said the distance of the place from Jerusalem & Bethlehem stands in no way:]
would perhaps object someone the greater distance of Machaerus
from Jerusalem, than of Hebron; & thence
would want to make out, that Zacharias, John's Father, here
rather than there dwelt, that he might be nearer his temple ministry. But this objection would be slight: because
it is established in all the towns & places of the Jewish kingdom
the Levites & Priests who administered, by no distance
of their places were impeded, from running thence
to Jerusalem, to their by stated times
turns in the temple to be performed. Much more lightly
does it press, that Machaerus is far from Bethlehem,
but that not far from Bethlehem John was born
must be from their opinion, who believe
Zacharias was therefore killed by the Herodians,
because from the common slaughter of the Bethlehemite infants
he had withdrawn his son; & near Hebron is shown
received into itself opening its bosom: but who does not
see, those things are nothing else, than dreams
of apocrypha? or to John's Birthday also Sebaste & Emesa are ascribed. Yet I will not dissemble, that in that very
which we strive to defend, in the most ancient Martyrology,
at this XXIV June is read thus: In the province
of Palestine, in the city of Sebastia, the Birthday of S. John
the Baptist. But Sebastia or Sebaste is the same,
nearly, as for the ancients was Samaria; certainly very different
from Machaerus. But it should be known, at Sebastia
was the chief cult of the Baptist, on account of the body
buried there by the disciples, & by Christians their
posterity under the great Constantine raised a most magnificent
temple. So Du Cange testifies he found
some Martyrology under the name of Jerome
& Eusebius (different however from the four older
apographs) where at IV Kal. of September
is read; At Emesa, a city of Phoenicia
Province, the birthday of S. John the Baptist, on which
day he was beheaded. Although therefore, neither at Sebastia,
nor at Emesa was either born or died John;
his Birthday feast however was chiefly ascribed to those
places, where it was more frequently kept than
elsewhere. It was nonetheless fitting, in the Martyrology
at least once mention to be made of Machaerus, whence
the Evangelical history takes its beginning, though obscurely,
& under the title of a city of Judea.
§ IV. On the time, place & feast of the Beheading.
[65] A double opinion about the year of the Crucifixion,
must necessarily draw after itself; The slaying perpetrated in the year V. of the Era 32 nor can the asserters of the vulgar Era
not refer this to the year of the same
Era XXXII: thus the disaster, brought upon the Herodian
army by Aretas King of Arabia in the year
(as below is said) XXXVII, would have been nearer
to the crime, than if this, according to Henschenius,
had been done in the year XXVIII. But which vengeance
through a whole four years can seem delayed, can
also be extended to eight or nine years,
if however on this matter we must labor on account
of the order of things narrated by Josephus on the war
between Aretas & Herod the Younger waged, or 27, after
we have seen above, how much in the Author
that the whole history of the Herodian family wavers.
That author therefore dismissed, let us hold the Baptist slain in the year
of the vulgar Era XXXII. Let us inquire further,
in what month & place the crime was perpetrated.
[66] Venerable Bede, on Mark chapter 6
lib. 2 cap. 26 & from him Ado on 24 Feb. It is to be noted,
he says, before Passover, that the Evangelist John about to write of the miracle of the loaves,
premised, that
near was the Passover the feast day of the Jews;
Matthew however & Mark this, John
slain, immediately to have been done relate;
whence it is gathered, that John, with the festivity of Passover impending,
was beheaded; & in the year
following this, when again the time of
Passover returned, the mystery of the Lord's Passion
was completed. This following Usuard,
at IV Kal. of September; The Beheading,
he says, near the Paschal solemnity to have happened,
from the Evangelical history is proved. Yet do not
agree Jansenius, but in February rather than immediately before, Salianus & others after
them: who in the Gospel itself enough reason to find
think, that a notable space of time between the Beheading
& Passover flowed. Indeed not immediately when John was slain
are the disciples said to have announced to Christ his death,
but from his caring for his burial to have told what they had done.
But more time is required, while is divulged
the slaying, the disciples come, the body they obtain to be borne away
to Samaria, thence to Christ they come; here with
them having crossed the lake of Genezareth into the desert he withdraws,
multiplies the loaves, returns to Capharnaum, through Galilee
walks, not willing to walk in Judea, whither
the approaching Passover invited. Sufficiently therefore it appears, & perhaps on the 24th day on which also he was born:
that the slaying of John can be referred to the month of February.
On the XXIV day of this however since most solemnly
in the whole Eastern church is celebrated the first Finding
of the Head, it would not be absurd to think that so divinely
it was disposed, that the Head itself be revealed on the same day,
on which had been beheaded John & perhaps
born: rather than (which from the Epistle to Bibianus,
attributed to Augustine, Mabillon notes on the Gallican
Liturgy pag. 160) on the same day he was conceived, &
by the funeral sword of Herod was slain.
[67] This however being posited, falls the foundation,
from which is supposed Herod was then at Jerusalem, & this at Machaerus,
because of Passover; as he was at the time of Christ's
Passion. Indeed the presence, not only of so many Princes
of Herod, & Tribunes & first men of Galilee,
but also of Herodias & her daughter,
persuades that the feast was held in Galilee or
at least in Perea, where Tiberias Herod had founded
in honor of Tiberius Caesar, also a palace
& even a prison; in one of which the feast
was celebrated, in the other or some neighboring citadel
captive lay John. But from Tiberias by thirty
hours of leagues & more is distant the castle or city
of Machaerus where the Jordan plunges into the Dead Sea,
rising; & where Josephus asserts John was killed
by Herod the Baptist. But by what verisimilitude?
If (as he says) that place was under the disposition
or jurisdiction of Aretas King of the Arabs there both
of only eleven leagues the Royal city Petra
of Arabia, who Aretas was & ought to be most
gravely incensed at Herod on account of the injury of the divorce of his daughter
prepared by him, as above from Josephus himself
is related. Therefore that being posited falls all Josephus's
authority around the place of the slaying, that be dissembled the aforesaid
distance from any royal residence of Herod.
Too absurd would it have been, absurd however if it were thought
that Herod had dragged his captive with him to Jerusalem,
although the Herodians both had a palace there
& a certain right of using the public prison for
the custody of accused subject to them, if any there
perhaps he apprehended permitting or dissembling
the Roman Prefect there having supreme right, as
appeared in holy James & Peter; of whom the first
there Herod smote with the sword, the other to the same end
held in chains. But as I have said neither does such a feast
seem to have been celebrated at Jerusalem, nor thither
was John the Baptist dragged; where him could have liberated
Pilate interpellated by John's supporters & disciples;
if to him (for they were enemies to one another
by the Gospel's testimony) he had wished to do a hardship. That
however reclining at Jerusalem Herod into Galilee
sent who would bring of John captive there the head,
who would believe?
[68] a birthday feast Herod offered. The most erudite Du Cange thinks it does not much
concern, how far the feast place was from the place
of the prison, & that it could even after one or another
day be granted what was promised at the time of the feast: but
with this do not agree so many holy Fathers, who among
the very hands of the feasters, the still bloody head
& blood dripping through the fingers represent,
rhetorically indeed exaggerating the indignity of the deed,
from the hypothesis however, that no delay intervened
between the girl's dance & the Prophet's beheading;
& the bringing of the head before the same
feasters, by whose modesty moved Herod had not
dared to reject the most iniquitous request; nor
could Herodias have prudently hoped certainly
the deed would be perpetrated after one or another night,
when, the wine removed, Herod returning to himself could
have found a pretext & means of deferring
or rather never fulfilling the command:
whence it follows as above I have noted no notable
interval either of place or time here can be
conceived.
[69] Yet the Church chose the day 29 August Meanwhile the Church, both Eastern & Western,
using its own right, the feast of Beheading,
whose proper day by no certain authority or
tradition it had defined, chose to cultivate on the day
XXIX August. Not however because on such a day (as
from Bede has Usuard, & from him today's Roman)
the head was found a second time at
Emesa city & in the church laid up:
for long before that day was held sacred under such title,
as will soon appear. The cause therefore is to be found
older, nor does another more verisimilar occur, than
that the church of S. John the Baptist at Sebaste, not because then the head was found,
verisimilarly erected under Constantine, or even
his mother Helena taking care, was on such a day dedicated,
& into it the sacred body was brought from the suburban,
in which the disciples had laid it tomb, &
placed between the bodies of SS. Eliseus & Abdias the Prophets.
[70] For although in the most ancient Hieronymian
Martyrology ecgraph Epternacense, nothing else
is read than, but because then the feast was kept at Sebaste, IV Kalend. of September
Passion of John the Baptist: more entirely however
seems written in the Blume ecgraph; Sabastia
(correct Sebastia) of S. John the Baptist, who
suffered under King Herod: & with these last
words omitted, others premised, in the Lucca
thus: Pausation of S. Eliseus the Prophet, disciple
of S. Elias. * In the province of Palestine, in the city
of Sebastia, the Birthday of S. John the Baptist: which
place at * into two days divides the ecgraph of Corbie,
& the latter part again in second
place puts, & for Birthday writes Passion: & since
the same words in all the aforenoted ecgraphs
at VIII Kal. of July also are read; there can be no
doubt, whether in August those words, In
the Province of Palestine, in the city of Sebastia, verisimilarly because of the body then translated; to
Eliseus should be referred, rather than to John;
& whether to the same place both the Birthday,
or rather the Nativity & the Passion, are ascribed:
not as there done, but as there with chief
cult celebrated, on account of the presence of the body.
Venerable Bede, in the aforecited place, alleges also
himself the Martyrology, which with Eusebius & Jerome's
words is distinguished, as if in it
is read: On the Fourth Kalends of September in
Emesa a city of the province of Phoenicia, the Birthday
of holy John the Baptist, on which day he was beheaded.
But the consensus of so many apographs, older than Bede himself
or from older ones described,
persuades, that an interpolated example was used by Bede;
but that the author of the interpolation had someone, to whom
was apparent of the greater then when he wrote at Emesa
cult.
[71] From the premises it is clear, the day XXIX August,
already from the time of Eusebius (from whose collection it is
believed Jerome drew his Martyrology)
was festive to the Sebastenes, & there indeed already from the 4th century, under the title of the Passion
& Beheading. Nor do I doubt that festive also
the same was to the Emesenes, after the Head was exposed
among them, but not as a day pertaining hither:
but at what time the anniversary day of the same Translation
the Church took up, is not clear to me. For
the Sermons of S. Augustine among XVII the second & tenth,
define no day; nor likewise the Sermon
of Chrysippus the Hierosolymitan Presbyter, at the beginning of the V century
flourishing before the written Sermons of Augustine or to him
contemporary of Fulgentius of Ruspe in the same Africa Bishop,
Basil of Seleucia in Isauria, & from the 5th c. in Italy & Peter Chrysologus
of Ravenna in Italy Prelates. Only from
these is it proved around the year CCCC or even before, was taken up
some day for celebrating that Passion;
why not the same XXIX August, at least in
the Eastern & Greek Church, & that from the age of Constantine,
& the time of the founded at Sebaste church?
Itself certainly seems to have taken up the Roman
Church, from immemorial time: since the most ancient
of its Sacramentaries the Gelasian,
has three Masses, on the day of the Passion of S. John
the Baptist, IIII Kal. of September & this follows
the Gregorian Sacramentary: it places however
on the same day a Mass for the Nat. of S. Sabina,
unknown to the Gelasian, & consequently first taken up in the
V century; & indeed with such solemnity,
that in the most ancient Calendar of the same Roman Church,
which John Fronto at Paris published,
at IV Kal. only Sabina's Mass is noted,
the Beheading of S. John the Baptist to the following day
transferred: until Gregory again ordered
both equally to be celebrated.
[72] In the Missal of Ambrosian rite, on the same day
is prescribed the same & only Beheading to be performed: I know not whether also at Milan under S. Ambrose:
but since that Missal from the time of S. Ambrose
has taken up many innovations & additions, who
will make us certain, that the Mass there noted is not
later than S. Ambrose, even if it follows the Ambrosian
rite form? In Africa certainly, whence
we have in tome 3 of the Analecta of Mabillon the Carthaginian
Church's Calendar, later than Ambrose & Augustine,
is read indeed VIII Kalend. of July
of holy John the Baptist, but at IV Kalend.
of September only is noted the deposition of Restitutus &
Augustine the Bishop, certainly then it was not so done in Africa; the day before deceased, on which day now
he is cultivated: at VI however Kal. of January, of holy John
the Baptist & James the Apostle, whom Herod
killed; for whom in the Gelasian & others following
is noted his brother John the Evangelist, without
mention of James: but the Gallican Sacramentary,
in the Italian Museum of Mabillon, the Mass
on the Passion of S. John immediately places
after the other, which celebrates the Nativity, but before
the Mass to be said on the Birthday of SS. Peter & Paul;
after itself indeed the same Mass on the Passion
is placed in the Gallo-Gothic Missals both in that which
the aforesaid Mabillon has lib. 2 & 3 de Liturgia
Gallicana, in Gaul however & Spain after the feast of the Nativity. than in that which he published. Thomasinus
in the codex of Sacraments, certainly before the Masses
of SS. Sixtus, Laurence, Hippolytus, &
Symphorian, which Liturgies, says Mabillon
pag. 160 ought to have preceded. But I would rather
say, this is an argument, that the Churches,
of which those Missals were, since they held uncertain
the day of the Passion; chose it
to be celebrated on the very Octave of the Nativity, immediately
after the Apostles' feast; just as S. Gregory for
the Octaves of Epiphany instituted a proper Mass in
which would be spoken the Gospel of Christ's Baptism,
which on the day itself of Epiphany (whose whole Mass
is of the Adoration of the Magi) had been obscured.
§ V. Masses on the Passion or Beheading of John from ancient Latin Sacramentaries.
[73] I begin with the Ambrosian Liturgy on whatever
day or by whatever author it was used: Mass of Ambrosian rite, & the Mass, of which we treat, ordered. The Entrance
is taken from the common of one Martyr, The just shall not
be troubled, because the Lord confirms his hand:
all day he is merciful & lends,
& his seed shall be in blessing forever,
says the Lord. Prayer OVER THE PEOPLE
May the venerable prayer of thy most blessed Forerunner & Martyr
John the Baptist protect thy Church, O God; &
for him who pays the frequency of devotion, may demand
the effect of eternal redemption. Reading from the Epistle
to the Galatians cap. IV. Brethren, you know that through the infirmity
of the flesh I preached the Gospel to you long ago. v IN
Allel. (called by us Gradual) To the dancing girl
her mother commanded, Ask nothing else but
the head of John the Baptist. Gospel According
to Mark cap. VI In that time,
King Herod sent, with all proper to it, & held John. After
Gospel. The iron pierced his soul, until
his word came: the word of the Lord
fired him. Over the Shroud: With perpetual
protection of S. John the Baptist,
defend us, Lord, we beseech; & the more fragile we are,
so much more by necessary suffrages lift us up.
[74] Offert. King Herod sent into the prison,
to cut off the head of John the Baptist,
because he had said to him; It is not lawful for thee to have
thy brother's wife as adulteress. v. But Herodias
laid in wait for him, & sought to kill him,
because he had said to him; It is not lawful: &c. Over
the Oblata. May the venerable merits of the Passion
of the B. Forerunner & Martyr John the Baptist help us, Lord,
& may this Host of thy propitiation
be ours. Preface. It is meet
& salutary, that we to thee, almighty Lord,
give thanks, & to bless thee in every time,
& on this principal festivity day to praise,
in which B. John the Baptist of martyrdom
received the crown, especially in the Preface. than whom among them that are born of women
none greater existed, by forbidding illicit nuptials,
the glorious triumph of martyrdom by being beheaded
he obtained; & that the Lord Jesus
Christ the Savior of the world had come, by bodily
presence he demonstrated: also his descent
going before, he announced to those below.
And therefore. Confraction. Forever shall I rejoice,
I will sing psalms to the God of Jacob, & all the horns
of sinners shall I break, & the horns of the just
shall be exalted. Transit. John was rebuking Herod
on account of Herodias, whom he had taken from his brother
Philip to wife. Herod having sent an executioner,
commanded the head of John to be cut off
in the prison: which heard, his disciples came,
& took his body, & laid it
in a monument. Post comm. Of holy
John the Baptist & thy Martyr, Lord,
we beseech, may the venerable festivity, of saving help
grant us the effect.
[75] You have entire, as in the Missal it lies,
the liturgy of Ambrosian rite; to which besides the Canon,
common to all Masses & to the Roman of today as well, Others, from the Gelasian Codex,
there is nothing that should be added. I pass
to other Sacramentaries. The Gelasian from the Ambrosian
takes two Collects to be recited, before the reading of Scripture
& Gospel, those very same
namely, which it has to be recited Over the Shroud
& Postcommunion. For the Secret
however it assumes this. Gifts to thee, Lord, for
the Passion of holy John the Baptist thy Martyr
we offer: because while he is ended on earth, he is made
eternal in the heavenly seat. Post com. May
the solemnity of S. John of both kinds confer on us,
Lord, that the magnificent Sacraments which
we have received, we may venerate as signified, & in us
rather may rejoice as produced.
[76] In the Gregorian the same three Collects are had
as in the Roman of today: & Gregorian, with the Preface of this, but between the Secret
Over oblata, & the last to complete
is interposed, now ceased to be used, a proper Preface
& Benediction, & the first indeed thus. Eternal
God: who didst enrich the Precursor of thy son
with so great a gift, that for the heralding of truth he was beheaded:
& who had baptized Christ with water,
baptized by him in spirit, for the same
with his own blood was tinged. The Herald
indeed of truth, which is Christ, by forbidding Herod
from fraternal beds, into the obscurity of the prison
is thrust, where only of thy Divinity
the light he might enjoy. & with Benediction, Then capital sentence
he underwent, & to the lower regions to precede the Lord
descended: & whom in the world with his finger
he showed, to the lower regions by precious death he preceded.
The Benediction however thus proceeds. May God,
who has granted us to frequent B. John the Baptist's
solemnities, grant you both the same with devout
minds to celebrate, & of his benediction's gifts
to perceive, Amen. And who for the heralding of his law
was thrust into the darkness of the prison,
by his intercession from the incentives of darksome works
may free you, Amen. And who for the truth,
which is God, did not hesitate to lose his head,
by his intervention to our head,
which is Christ, may he make you arrive, Amen.
77] From the Gallican Sacramentary we have the following, [also from the Gallican.God to whom by sacred conversation directed,
the holy sanctity of glorious John is to be prayed to, a venerable
solemnity is: who once, when he was announcing
marvelously the Redeemer, was awaiting
the mirror of light, the beginning of baptism, the testimony
of truth; & into the fullness
of Christ's signs, after the signs was showing as the emulator
of the passion: served the Prophet by baptism,
the Baptist by Martyrdom; & Jesus the Son of God,
[for] the redemption of the world to come, whom
to announce by the preaching of the word he showed,
to love by the shedding of blood he proved.
Secret Collect. Hear us, Dispenser of all
goods, & on the present solemnity
of thy most elect John appeased grant the indulgence
of sins, to whom wholly
translated by the virtue of the Holy Spirit from the mouth,
Christ was the cause of dying, to whom
Christ had been the cause of being born. He therefore
the announcer of the Lord's nativity, he the forerunner
approved of the passion. Contestation. Through
Christ our Lord: to whom in vision
prophecy, in act baptism, in
death martyrdom: by which through one & the same
dispensation, his generation showed whom
it promised, his conversation taught whom, his passion
loved whom. He prophesies in the womb, preaches
in the world, is consummated in joy. By justice
he is chosen, of justice he speaks, for justice
he is beheaded. So great a splendor of a Prophet
into the cloisters of prison is thrust, & his precious
blood is taxed at the price of meretricious dancing,
& among the gentile * delights of pleasure he is made
&c Sanctus.
[79] & Gothic Missals, Both Gothic Missals, marvelously agreeing in this
Mass, thus proceed. God the Father
& Son & Holy Spirit of this confession
unanimous let us beseech; that us
today celebrating the passion of the foretold voice, Forerunner of the Word,
bounds of the Laws, shining Lamp, holy
Martyr Baptist John,
by his intercession may illumine, descend,
& sanctify: that he who for the truth
sacred blood shed, for us to God
may deign to pour prayers. Through the Lord.
Collect Follows. In honor of the most blessed
Martyr thy Baptist John, whose today
passion we celebrate, with these praises serving
thy Majesty, almighty God, solemn
feasts we sing together; suppliantly beseeching,
that by whose merits we obey, by his with thee giving
with thy clemency by prayers we may be helped.
Through the Lord. Post nomina. Gifts
of thy people, with Collects to the names, almighty God, which to thee in
this most blessed Martyr thy Baptist John's
festivity we offer, we beseech propitiously
regard; that purified by the perfect sanctification of this sacrifice,
of our sins from thee we may deserve
to obtain the pardon. Through.
[80] & peace, Collect to Peace, Receive,
we beseech Lord, our prayers; & by the intercession
of thy Martyr Baptist John, whom
in thy honor we venerate, of thy Church's vows
confirm: who also worthy was held, that
to him to be baptized the Savior of the world should offer himself.
Worthy is it indeed to merit this, that all of us,
having obtained the grace of thy baptism, by the intercession of his
merits the Savior of the world may reconcile.
& with Preface to Sanctus. Immolation of Mass Worthy &
just it is, fitting & salutary it is, that we to thee
always give thanks, almighty & merciful
God, among these feasts of Sacraments,
the head of thy Martyr with Evangelic recollection
to be mingled; & as on a dish of radiant metal,
so over the table of thy propitiation
to be offered. Let it be therefore to us, Lord, a joyful
praise, let it be in honor of the Martyr the recollection
of triumphal canticle: & with the heavenly
& supernal virtues, let the symphony of the faithful
people be mingled, which from thy right hand with consonant
voice in triple repetition sing, saying,
Holy, Holy, Holy.
[81] To so many monuments of ancient piety let succeed
some, brought from the use & talent of the middle age, Sequence from Laon.
which the Missal of Laon above again praised,
suggests with the title of Sequence, omitting the Prose
of the Missal of Verdun; which because less elegant is,
it is enough to have indicated.
May the melody of the triumphing mother
Be emulated by the concert of the militant
Church.
Let this life be trampled;
Let this be sought, which the Baptist
Has attained today.
The voice of one crying in the desert
Cries, trumpets in the open
The divine counsel.
The truth he warns & shows:
But hardens, & offends
The word of peace, the impious one.
Here John charges the King:
Shame: thou contradictest the Law
By turpid adultery:
Neither by law, nor by custom,
With the brother's wife can be
Carnal commingling.
To these & those inculcated,
While the Herald of truth accuses
The turpid nuptials:
Against the life of the man of God
Both guilty machinate,
Herod, Herodias.
The natal day
On which impious Herod
Was born, returns.
The palace is adorned,
A solemn banquet
Is prepared for the tribunes.
They sing at the banquet,
She dances in the rite
The daughter of the foul mother:
To Herod, to the Barons
Together to all please
The pander's panderings.
The King enticed & ejected
Beyond continence;
Thus to the girl: Ask: what
Thou wilt I will at once do.
With the counseling mother
She asks with insistence
The head of him, whose tongue
Was warning salubrious things.
O Hook of demon, cruel little king,
O! Head of Gorgon & heap of fraud
Is in the woman.
And when so great a demon to beware,
Since prayers may avail this & fasting
Alone to cast down.
The holy head is cut off,
And on the tables is presented,
To the dancer is carried,
The slaughter * yields to the lyre.
Holy Herald of truth,
Stand for us here prostrate;
And to the kingdom of clarity
Prepare for us the way. Amen.
Notes* perhaps Natal?
* perhaps Dish?
* perhaps Falls from heaven?
§. VI. On the feasts of S. John among the Greeks, & their Offices.
[82] As by the order of nature, so also of time among the
Greeks, Conception 23 September beginning the year with the Indiction
from September, in all their rituals the first feast of S.
John is the Conception at that month's day
XXIII: ἡ
σύλληψις
τοῦ
τιμίου,
ἐν
δόξου
προφήτου,
προδρόμου
καὶ
βαπτιστοῦ
Ἰωάννου: Conception of the venerable
& glorious Prophet, Forerunner &
Baptist: which through the course of the Office is also called θεία
Divine or ἁγία Holy, this you should understand in that
sense, in what way it is called holy & divine: in which all miraculous works & exceeding the order of nature
are deservedly named divine
& holy: not as if the conception itself viewed in itself
were holy, & pure from original [sin];
for this was the prerogative of Mary's Conception
alone. And this the Synaxarium seems to indicate, when
it says, Τάυτην
τῆν
θείαν
σύλληψιν
ἐυηγγελίσατο
τῷ
προφήτῃ
καὶ
Ἱερεῖ
Ζαχαρίᾳ
ὁ
θεῖος
ἀρχίστρατῆγος
Γαβριὴλ,
Εἰσηκουσθαι
ἡ
δέησίς
σου,
εἰπὼν·
ὡς
ἐκ
τούτου
προμηνυεσθαι
διὰ
τὸ
παράδοξον
τοῦτε
γήρως
καὶ
τῆς
στειρώτητος
τῆς
Ἐλισαβὲτ,
θεῖον
καὶ
παρθενικὸν
τῆς
παναχράντου
Θεοτόκου
τόκον. This divine Conception, to the Prophet
& Priest Zacharias announced,
the divine leader of the heavenly host Gabriel, saying;
Heard is thy prayer; wishing through
the miracle, in Elizabeth's old age & sterility
wrought to presignify the divine & virginal
birth of the God-bearer wholly immaculate.
[82] Its Canon by author John Damascene, The Canon, & all that precede the Canon,
John Damascene composed, beginning
its first Ode thus. Τῆς
στηρωούσης
ψυχῆς
τούς
λογισμοὺς,
τοὺς
ἀκάρπους
ἔκτειλον,
στερευούσης
ὁ
βλάστος,
ἐυφεμεῖν
ὁρμήσαντι
τὴν
σὴν
ἐν
νιδυῒ
μητρικῇ
ἁγίαν
σύλληψιν. The fruitless
thoughts of a sterile soul, O sprout of a sterile mother,
cultivate for me beginning to celebrate
thy holy Conception in the mother's womb.
The same holy Poet's preliminary Stichera
or verses by custom three, is added at
Glory to the Father a fourth of Byzantius, who in the chain
of Hymnographers by me explained on XXX April,
where on S. Clement the Poet; & before the second Tome
of June to be seen pag. XX on the left side,
which is of the Monks, holds the fifth place, after
SS. Damascene, Cosmas, Joseph, Theophanes,
whose Acts I have nearly all illustrated, VI
May, III April, & XII March; about Cosmas
to treat in the Supplement of January at the XV day: which
also of Byzantius I would willingly do, if I could find him anywhere
ascribed in the sacred Fasts. Meanwhile this
his small Poem receive.
[83] Ἐκ
στηρευούσης
σήμερον
νεδύος
καρπὸς
προσευχῆς
ἀνεβλάστησε, with verse of Byzantius Hymnographer Ἰωάννης
ὁ
πρόδρομος.
Ἀγάλλου
ἡ
ἔρημος
καὶ
χόρευε
ἡ
ἀνθρωπότης·
κῆρυξ
ἰδου
ἔρχεται
ἐν
κοιλίᾳ
μητρικῇ
σαρκοῦσθαι.
Δεῦτε
ἀγαλλομενοι
ἐν
τῇ
ἐν
δόξῳ
ἀυτοῦ
συλλήψει,
ὅι
φιλέορτοι·
χορεύσωμεν
βοῶντες.
Ὁ
ἐν
γεννητοῖς
γυναικῶν
μειζων
ὑπάρχων,
μὴ
διαλίπῃς
πρεσβεύειν
ὑπὲρ
τῶν
πίστει
τελούντων
τὴν
θείαν
σου
σύλληψιν,
ὅπως
ἕυρωμεν
ἑλασμὸν
ἁμαρτιῶν
καὶ
τὸ
μέγα
ἔλεος. Today from a sterile
womb sprouts the fruit of prayer, John
the Forerunner: exult, O desert, & dance, humanity.
Behold the Herald of penance comes to be incarnated
in his mother's womb: come exulting
at his glorious Conception, whoever you are
lovers of feasts; let us dance crying out;
O greater among them born of women, do not cease
to pray for those who with faith perform
the day of thy divine Conception, & with greater Doxology. that we may find
remission of sins & great mercy.
Is also prescribed Μεγάλη
δοξολογία,
that is the Angelic Hymn, or Gloria
in excelsis Deo: at which do not wonder, says the Typicon
of S. Sabas, because it is right after the Octoechus, &
Let us sing to the Lord, to make the greater Doxology,
so called in respect of the lesser, which is finished by Gloria
Patri; that this may seem here permitted
for the great ornament of so great a feast.
[84] The same prerogative, but absolutely & without
freedom to omit it has Τὸ
Γεννήσιον
the Natal feast of the Saint himself, For the Birthday is the first Canon of John the Monk, which I said is held with chief
cult with a double Vesperal Office greater
& lesser, just as also a double Canon
is set in the Menaea. Of the first I think the author the same,
from whose small Poem at greater Vespers after
the customary Psalmody begin the proper parts of the
feast itself, namely John the Monk, of whose name
since among the Hymnographers there is none besides Damascene,
it is verisimilar, that they are not to be esteemed different,
but the same in the Menaea sometimes from his country, with Sticheron of Anatolius,
sometimes from his profession surnamed. However it be
from the same can also be deemed the subsequent small Poem,
the third is of Anatolius, the fifth & last
among the Hierarchs in order from the right hand after Methodius
& Cyprian: wherefore he cannot here be believed to be
the Patriarch of Constantinople Saint, who under
Theodosius the Younger presided, but another much younger
Bishop of another See, such also was
the preceding Cyprian.
[85] The fourth Vesperal small Poem or Sticheron
bears the name of Andrew, & Andrew (from whom perhaps the second Canon) doubtless the Cretan
otherwise called the Hierosolymitan & saint; of whom,
in the art of composing Canons named, can
seem to be the other Canon of this feast, under this acrostic
running.
Κοινῆς
χαρᾶς
Πρόδρομον
ἐυφημῶ
πόθω.
I willingly praise the Forerunner of common joy.
But the Canon pertains to the morning Office; in
the greater Vesperal however, after those four Stichera
I have mentioned, follow three others without the author's
name; & finally at Glory one of Byzantius
aforepraised, & another of the same or another: then
Abraham, Sarai thy wife shall not be called Sarai,
but Sara, & next from cap. XXI, And the Lord
visited Sara up to v. 9. The boy grew
therefore, & was weaned: & Abraham
made a great feast on the day of his weaning.
Another then from the book of Judges chapter
XIII, with Readings from Scripture, where Sampson to be born is foretold by the Angel
to his mother & then to his father up to v. 21, And no more
did the Angel of the Lord appear to them. The third
finally from Isaiah cap. XL, Be comforted, be comforted,
my people, said the Lord your God,
&c. where both Voice of one crying in the desert,
& other passages from the following chapters
are fitted together into one, & end in those words
Cap. LIV: Because the children of the desolate are many more, & Sticheron of Cassia,
than of her that hath a husband. After which
Scriptures, again two Stichera are noted: the third
at Glory is ascribed to Andrew; & again
three; & the fourth at Glory is read under the name
of Cassia the Nun, who in the Chain aforepraised
is placed last, & both sides of the chain from Christ
deduced, brings together into itself. There are also many other
particulars in the Office of this feast, which singly are not
free to pursue, hastening to others.
[86] Next to the Nativity feast (for as Ambrose
says in the Gospel we read nothing about John,
7 January Synaxis of the Baptist except his birth & the oracle, his exultation
in the womb, his voice in the desert) is the Synaxis,
on the day VII January, after the Lord's Epiphany,
from the often noted custom of the Eastern Church,
to subjoin to the feasts of all the greater mysteries
who had the chief part in that which was celebrated as a mystery;
whence at the aforesaid day the Synaxarium has thus.
Τῇ
ἐπαύριον
τῶν
ἁγίων
θεοφανίων
τὴν
σύναξιν
τοῦ
πανιεροῦ
προφήτου
προδρόμου
καὶ
βαπτιστοῦ, after the Baptism of Christ, ὡς
τῷ
μυστηρίῳ
τοῦ
θείου
βαπτίσματος
ὑπεργήσαντος,
παρελάβομεν
ἐξαρχῆς
καὶ
ἄνωθεν
ἑορτάζειν,
συνταττομένην
καὶ
ἀυτὴν
ταῖς
ἄλλαις,
ἵνα
μηδεν
τι
τῶν
ἐκεῖνου
θαυμάτων
σιωπήσωμεν. The day after the divine Theophanies,
the Synaxis of the most holy Prophet,
Forerunner & Baptist, as having ministered to the mystery of the divine
Baptism, we have received to celebrate
already from the beginning of old, added
to the other festivities, whose Canon is of Theophanes, that we may not pass over any of his wonders
in silence. The Canon of the feast S. Theophanes
composed, under this Acrostic:
Βαπτίστα
Χριστοῦ,
τοὺς
ἐπαίνους
μου
δέχου.
Baptist of Christ, receive my encomia.
συνέδραμε
δὲ
καὶ
ἡ
τῆς
παντίμου
ἀυτοῦ
χειρὸς
πρὸς
τὴν
βασιλεύουσαν
μετένεξις. There concurs also
the translation of his all-venerable hand to the imperial
city; with the memory of the translated hand. of which much later institution
below we shall treat in Chap. V §. II.
[87] The feast of the Beheading, XXIX August,
at the beginning bears the name of the aforepraised at the feast of the Nativity
of John the Monk, whose for the vesperal office
small Poems, 29 August Beheading; follows the Reading of Isaiah the Prophet the same
as above: then of Malachi from cap. III;
These things saith the Lord omnipotent, Behold I
send my Angel before thy face (with
light namely change of words, that they may agree more with the mystery)
& with some intermediate omitted, for this Reading from Scriptures,
it is continued up to the end of Chapter IV according to the version
of the LXX Interpreters. The third Reading is taken from
the Wisdom of Solomon cap. IV v. 7 The just if
he be prevented by death, shall be in refreshment:
& nearly is continued up to v 8 of Chapter V.
Then follow the Idiomela of Germanus the Patriarch;
as they call them, that is, as I interpret them, Proper to the Saint
certain ones; S. Germanus's Idiomela, & certain others of John the Monk, until
we come to the Morning Office, in which the first
Canon is the Poem of the same John the Monk, & to it
is mixed another Canon ascribed to no certain author.
And finally Δοξολογία
μεγάλη, & (as
the Menaea have) δίδοται
καὶ
τὸ
ἅγιον
ἔλαιον
τοῖς
ἀδελφοῖς, Canon of John the Monk, holy oil is given to the Brothers,
& while this is done, other three Idiomela of the saint are sung.
And these things indeed in the Choir, in the Refectory
however (as the Typicon notes) γίνεται
παράκλησις
τοῖς
ἀδελφοῖς
μεγάλη·
τύρον
δὲ
καὶ
ὠὰ
καὶ
ἰχθὺν
οὐκ
ἐσθίωμεν; a more lavish dinner. Great consolation is given
to the Brothers (i.e. of wine & oil) but cheese &
eggs & fish we do not eat: where perhaps
has fallen out the particle ἄλλοτι Otherwise. Florentinius further notes,
in his own Exercise on this argument
at the aforesaid day pag. 792, that in
Codinus cap. 15 de officiis, among the feasts on which
the Emperor is wont to proceed, first is noted
the Nativity, then the Beheading of the Forerunner.
[89] On day XXIV February is recalled the Finding
of the head, with sufficiently solemn Office, 24 February first Finding of the head, which to be quite ancient,
& perhaps from the time of S. Sabas or more,
we gather from this that no Author's name
anywhere is expressed: at the end however by a rubric
is added in the Menaea, that even in the time of Fasts,
when the customary Liturgy is not done, with Alleluia: Alleluia
yet is sung before the Gospel, after which
is done the Liturgy of the Presanctified, καὶ
εἰσερχόμεθα
εἰς
τὴν
τράπεζαν
καὶ
καταλύομεν
ἔλαιον
καὶ
οἶνον
ἀνεὺ
τῆς
πρώτης
ἑβδομάδος. And we enter,
it says, to the table, & take
wine & oil, except in the first week
namely of the Fasts, which begins after
that Sunday, which we call Sexagesima;
which Sunday the Greeks call ἀποκρέω Carnival,
but the following from the next Sunday
τοῦ
τυροφάγου, because that still allows to eat
cheese. It is not added which Finding that is: but
the first noted to have been made in Palestine, & then
both in Cilicia & Constantinople celebrated,
is most verisimilar: the second at Emesa in Phoenicia;
although in the Synaxaria it is narrated conjointly
with the first, the second lacks proper cult; proper feast among the Greeks does not
have, but only the third, by which at Comana
the found head, was brought back postliminio to Constantinople.
[90] It happened this under the Patriarchate of S. Ignatius within
the year XLVII & LVIII of the IX century; the third under S. Ignatius 25 May. &
is recalled with festive Office on the day XXV May. To the Canon
is prefixed the name of Tarasius, not the Patriarch of Constantinople,
as our Simon Wagnereckius thinks,
in the Prolegomena to the Marian piety of the Greeks
num. 27. For he sat from the year DCCLXXXIV
ending up to the day of the year DCCCVI
XXV February, on which he is cultivated & Henschenius
illustrated his Acts: but another much younger, who
under the aforesaid Ignatius flourished; author perhaps of the Sermon
on the triple Finding, whose last part
below I shall give Greek-Latin; or of another delivered on the feast
of the same third Finding; & similarly
to be given in both languages. To this Author it is singular, Which Tarasius is the author of the Canon?
that the Theotocia, with which each Ode of the Canon ends,
& which other Hymnographers prescribe to be sung only to the God-bearer,
without any mention
of the Saint, of whom is the rest of the hymn, of the Baptist
he everywhere inserts a mention. As an example let the first Ode's
this closure, addressing John: Στειρωτικῆς
ἀπὸ
γαστρὸς
ἐβλάστησας,
ἑτοιμαζόμενος
τῷ
ποιητῇ
Λόγῳ
τὰς
ὀδοὺς,
Πανεύφημε,
ἐκ
κόρης
ἀνατείλαντι
παναγίας
ἀφράστως,
ἣν
Θεοτόκον
γινώσκουσαι
πᾶσαι
γενεαὶ
μακαρίζουσιν.
From a sterile womb thou hast come forth, preparing the ways
for the maker Word. O Most Celebrated, ineffably
rising from the most holy Virgin; whom because
they recognize as God-bearer, all generations
call Blessed.
[91] If anyone requires more on this subject,
let him approach the VII Tome of the Concionatory Library compiled
by Francis Combefis; Homilies of the Fathers on S. John the Baptist, he will find many Homilies of the Latins
& Greeks, fitted to illustrating the Gospels both
of the Conception & of the Nativity,
of which those that are written in Greek, also deserve
to be printed in the original language by those, who would draw forth
into light the unedited monuments of the Greek Church on John
the Baptist after the example of Cotelier.
To promoting such a work perhaps one suggests one thing, another another. I too shall willingly
confer the ecgraph of that sermon, which embraces
τὰ
ἀπὸ
τῆς
γεννήσεως,
ἀνατροφῆς
καὶ
ἀποτομῆς
τοῦ
ἁγίου
καὶ
βαπτιστοῦ
Ἰωάννου
τοῦ
προδρόμου
καὶ
περὶ
τῆς
ἑυρέσεως
τῆς
τιμίας
ἀυτοῦ
κεφαλῆς, especially the Greek anecdotes, which
pertain to the nativity, education, & beheading
of the holy & glorious Baptist John
& Forerunner & on the Finding of his venerable
head; begins moreover, Ἰωάννην
τὸ
μέγα
κλέος
τῆς
ὀικουμένης
ἐπαινεῖν
μὲν
ἅπασιν
ἔφετὸν·
ἐπαινεῖν
δὲ
προς
ἀξίαν
ἑνὶ
τῶν
πάντων
οὐκ
ἐφικτόν: which the interpreter Franciscus Zinus from
the Venetian Ms. in Lipomanus, & from him in
Surius, thus begins: John the Baptist,
that great glory of the orb of lands, to praise,
it is allowed to all indeed to desire, but to praise as
is worthy of him, is not attainable to anyone.
[92] And here indeed ends the Venetian Ms. with
an indication of the time when the Head at Emesa was
found; but in our ecgraph besides it has thus, whose original texts are worthy to be brought to light. Τοιαῦτα
τὰ
ἐξ
ἀρχῆς
ἀπότε
συλλήψεως,
καὶ
γεννήσεως,
καὶ
τῶν
καθεξῆς,
πανθαύμαστα
καὶ
ὄντως
παράδοξα
διηγήματα,
τοῦ
μείζονος
ἐν
γεννητοῖς
γυναικῶν
ὑπὲρ
ἅπαντας·
τῶν
τε
πράτῆς
ἐν
Ἰορδάνῃ
τοῦ
Θεοῦ
λόγου
ἐπιφανείας,
καὶ
τῶν
μετὰ
τὸ
βάπτισμα,
και
τὴν
τοῦ
Πνεύματος
κάθοδον,
ὑπ᾽
ἀυτοῦ
παραδόξως
ἐνεργηθέντων·
ὅπως
τὲ
τὸ
μαρτιρικὸν
ἀυτοῦ
ἔσχε
τέλος,
καὶ
ὅπως
καὶ
τοῖς
ἐν
ἄδῃ
κῆρυξ
τῆς
μετανοίας
ἐγένετο·
ἥτε
πρωτη
καὶ
δευτέρα,
μετὰ
καὶ
τῆς
τρίτης
ἑυρέσεως
τῆς
πανενδοξου
καὶ
τιμίας
ἀυτοῦ
κεφαλῆς
ἀνάγραπτος
ἱστορία·
ὑφ᾽
ὧν
ἡμείς,
ὁ
Χριστοῦ
λαὸς,
τὰς
ψυχὰς
ὡς
ἐκ
παραδείσου
μυστικοῦ
ἀρδευόμενοι,
καὶ
ταῖς
ἐις
Θεὸν
ἀυτοῦ
ἐυπροσδέκτοις
δεήσεσι
πρὸς
μετάνοιαν
ἐυοδούμενοι,
καρπὸν
θεῖον
καὶ
ἄξιον
τῆς
μετανοίας
ἐνέγκοιμεν·
ἵνα
μὴ
ὡς
ἄκαρπα
δένδρα
ψυχαὶ
ἀθεράπευτοι,
ὑπὸ
τῆς
ἐκτεμνούσης
ἀξίνης
τὴν
ἐκτομὴν
ἐκ
ριζῶν
ὑποστῶμει·
ἀλλ·
ὑπὸ
τοῦ
γεωργοῦ
μᾶλλον
τῶν
ἡμετέρων
ψυχῶν,
ὡς
σῖτος
ὥριμος
ἐκλεγέντες,
μηδὲν
ἀχυρῶδες
ἐπιφερόμενοι,
ταῖς
ἀιωνίοις
ἀυτοῦ
μοναῖς
προδεχθείημεν·
καὶ
μετὰ
τοῦ
μεγάλου
τῆς
ἀληθείας
κήρυκος,
Ἰωάννου
τοῦ
Βαπτιστοῦ,
τοῦ
καὶ
τὴν
ἑορτὴν
ἄγομεν
σήμερον,
τῷ
ἀθανάτῳ,
Βασιλεῖ
παρασταιημεν
ἀιωνίως
ἀγαλλόμενοι·
ὅτι
ἀυτῷ
πρέπει
πᾶσα
δόξα,
τιμὴ
καὶ
προσκύνησις,
νῦν
καὶ
ἀεὶ
καὶ
ἐις
τοὺς
ἀιῶνας
τῶν
ἀιώνων.
Αμὴν.
[93] Such is the narration repeated from the beginning,
truly admirable, of the greatest among them born of
women, embracing the Conception & Nativity & the rest
in order, & those things
which after the divine Word's revelation in
Jordan, as is plain from the conclusion of one, & the descent of the Spirit baptism
accomplished, were brilliantly done by him: when
likewise he was consummated by martyrdom, & to those
who were detained in hell as the Herald of penance
descended; & finally the written history of the first, second
& third Finding of the venerable Head:
by which we, the Christian people as if
from a mystical paradise spiritually irrigated,
& by his accepted prayers with God on high
erected, may bear worthy fruits of penance,
lest as incurable souls, like unfruitful
trees, we be cut down from the root by the exterminating
axe; but rather by the husbandman
of our minds, like ripe grain,
without any admixture of chaff, may be received
to his eternal mansions; where with
the great Herald of truth John the Baptist, whose
festivity today we celebrate, to the immortal
King we may stand by exulting eternally: because
to him is due all glory, honor & adoration,
now & ever & unto the ages of ages.
Amen. These things if they are the Author's, it must be
that not only those things which pertain to the third Finding
have fallen out, but also the Sermon itself is later than this,
nor before the ninth century in which it was done,
was written. Whoever moreover the Author was, written in the 9th century. different
from Metaphrastes his different style persuaded Allatius.
Meanwhile it is enough that the whole matter can be read in Lipomanus
& Surius, but here we have given that conclusion
which was lacking in them.
CHAPTER III.
On the Findings & Translations of the sacred Head made in the East.
LITTLE PREFACE
On the French Treatise of Lord du Cange on this subject.
[94] Charles du Fresne, Lord du Cange,
born at Amiens of a noble & fertile in learned
men family, in the Prefecture
of Amiens of the Quaestors President, a man incomparable
& the chief splendor of his age
(for it pleases to pursue the words of the Epitaph, which
in the temple of SS. Gervase & Brotasius at Paris buried, Lord du Cange most praised man,
Francis Pinson des Riolles, by the common
judgment of the learned placed) Charles, I say,
du Fresne, Lord du Cange … by assiduous
& innumerable reading of manuscript books,
drew out & made public immense treasures of History
both Byzantine & French,
indicated the more abstruse terms of every art, whether Latin
or Greek, explained ecclesiastical rites & obsolete laws;
a man of most easy
manners, & to all most especially liberal &
constantly beneficent, who … gently rendered his soul
to God the Savior on the day XXIII October,
1688, age 78, born in the year
of the Lord 1610, 18 December. He among very many
monuments of his most operous diligence,
published a Historical Treatise on the Head of S.
John the Baptist, for the favor of his country long
already glorying in it, exactly discussing
whatever the older & more recent Authors
wrote about it, on this subject a French Treatise, & especially of its triple
Finding; where on occasion is treated
also of other Relics of the same Saint & at the
end are placed some Greek Treatises
drawn from the Royal & Mazarine libraries
with a Latin version, as the foundations & proofs
of the whole Dissertation.
[95] That Treatise if he had written in Latin, &
what he placed at the end as monuments, with his to each
observations illustrated in our manner he had set forth;
he would have made a thing perhaps less convenient for his own citizens
but more grateful, to all peoples everywhere; of how much use it has been to us,
(for what people in the whole world the Baptist John
does not more eagerly venerate?) & for us would have removed the labor
of weaving these same things from the head, & in their proper
order arranging. Meanwhile I willingly profess
the chief work, which consists in collecting & weighing
the opinions of Authors, by him to be so
completed, that not very much labor remains, thankfully to be confessed, for one going to treat the same argument in another language & in another
order, in this work, to which insofar as it had been published,
word for word from a select & vehemently approved
he gave sincere testimony & by no means false,
in a written epistle, such as is now read in Latin in
the Preface to the preliminary Apology for the acts
of the Saints, placed before the first Tome of this June.
[96] That Epistle was given to his unanimous
& most friendly Man most illustrious Anthony
de Wyon, Knight, Lord
d'Herouval, of a most ancient & most noble
family among the Veliocasses, Counsellor of the King & in
the supreme Court of Accounts Auditor; particularly bound to him & his friend Herouval. of mind
candor, ease of manners, in handling affairs
dexterity, most propense will to deserve well of
each one everywhere conspicuous (these
words also are of the Epitaph for the eternal memory of him
placed by the same Pinson author, in the Parochial church
of S. Louis on the island of Paris, where he died
XXIX April 1689, age 83
in the sixth month after his friend du Cange) who all of his
life's course in the glory of the Church, the decoration
of the Kingdom, the ornament of the literary Commonwealth,
spent; in communicating & nearly pouring forth to
the most skilled, both French & foreign
Writers, more recent tables, &
more abstruse monuments, by which immortal
name he procured, all of them aided & instructed by him,
among whom we too profess our name.
Nor do I think it should be turned against me as a fault the affection
of gratitude, by which I profess myself bound both to him & to his friend
in this Preface to the third Chapter
on the Baptist John.
§. I. On the place & manner of the first Finding, & Translation to Cilicia.
[97] The College of Maronites at Rome Gregory
XIII founded in the year 1584 for instructing
the youths of that nation, According to the Arabic Synaxarium on Mount Lebanon
preserving Catholic union & freedom with marvelous constancy
among so many Schismatics subject to the Turks;
& it to be governed entrusted to our Society.
It preserves among other monuments the Arabic
Synaxarium Ms. where at XXX Mechir or Amschir,
the day XXIV of our February, are read the following,
through the care of our Athanasius Kircher rendered into Latin,
& in the year 1643 by Philip Alegambe a Belgian,
likewise our Society member, & by the same first author of the Library of the Society
to be published, sent to his old friend
Bolland. There is celebrated today the feast of the Finding
of the head of S. Prophet John the Baptist,
& the cause or origin of this Finding was this.
Herod when he had commanded to be taken away the head
of the Saint, The Head buried in Herod's house, & was saddened, & was led by repentance;
hid it in his house, because
his father-in-law was seeking it for his Daughter. This done
together with Herodias the wife of his brother Philip, who
was also conscious of the deed, the daughter of his father-in-law, seeking
the head, he cunningly deceived. The father-in-law
of Herod however, having gathered an army, came into Galilee,
& devastated many cities, &
burned them with fire. Which news when it had come
to the ears of Tiberius Caesar, & he had learned
what was the cause of this commotion; the former wife is said in vain to have sought it,
not only did his anger boil up against Herod, on account of the killing
of a great Prophet, esteemed among the peoples
of the earth, & on account of the unjustly
taken wife of his brother: but
also he was vehemently indignant at his father-in-law,
that he had devastated the cities of Galilee. He sent therefore
that he together with Herodias publicly at Rome
might be presented, after Herod had buried the head of the Saint
already in his house. When therefore he had come
to Tiberius, he deprived him of his wife
with all the goods he possessed, & him
sent into exile, into the region of Spain,
& he died there; & he sent to devastate his house,
that no one might see it any more,
& there remained the house without door,
& without roof.
[98] So far things sufficiently congruent with verisimilitude,
most also sufficiently apt to Josephus's narration,
but with some confusion of things & times, perhaps a disciple of John himself:
while Tiberius's indignation against Herod is said to have been stirred up,
which against his father-in-law Aretas would have thundered down,
if a longer life had befallen Tiberius; & while by
him he is said to have been deprived of goods & relegated,
which under the empire of his successor Caius is established to have been done.
But since between the death of the Baptist & the Arabian
war some years flowed, Aretas dissimulating for the time
the hatred conceived against Herod on account of his despised daughter;
& while under the appearance of friendly
agreement messengers perhaps passed back & forth;
it would be no wonder, if a woman who could having received
John's Baptism have been his disciple, certainly
to him, whom she knew killed for her sake, most strictly bound
was, sought that head which she knew was held in nothing but contempt
by Herod & his concubine
her rival; but sought in vain, either
already before or at least then more studiously concealed,
& denied as if it together with the body the disciples had carried
outside Herod's dominion. And all these things
are more easily received by him, who would believe the King
adulterous, as soon as he perceived his wife had fled to her father,
had withdrawn Machaerus from his father-in-law's dominion,
& there had dwelt with his Herodias; there held the Baptist
captive, & there beheaded him, as
Josephus writes.
[99] As to the house of Herod at Machaerus
or elsewhere situated, that by Caesar's order desolated,
I would not willingly believe, without an older
witness, than are the first writers of this Finding,
which did not precede Constantine's age,
under whom had begun the pilgrimages of the faithful to
the holy places by his mother Helena cleansed &
adorned: & two pilgrims returning from Jerusalem, it is yet credible that house
quite neglected lay, from when Machaerus
& Perea, Herod being in exile, the Arabs occupied.
About it as such the aforepraised Synaxarium thus continues to speak,
There dwelt in it two pilgrims:
who, taking counsel, set forth then to Jerusalem,
there to perform their devotion in prayers & fasts.
The space of nearly two years having passed,
said pilgrims returned to their former
dwelling, namely the devastated house
of Herod. It happened on a certain night; &
behold there appeared in sleep the Saint, & who he was indicated,
& taught the place of the Head, & ordered that
they carry it to their habitation. Both being awoken,
each indicated to the other what he
had seen at night; & they proceeded to the place which
the Saint had indicated to them; & they dug, & found
an earthen urn sealed; revealing the Saint they found & when they had opened
it, there arose to them thence a most sweet odor:
then appeared the head of the Saint, which
seemed to impart to them as it were a blessing.
Then it, by that reason by which they had found, they carried
to their house, & placed in
of them, a certain holy woman by name Athalia, alone
knew the treasure; & to a certain Athalia left it, who also in the highest always veneration
had it: & so from hand to hand
of various it came.
[100] What then follows, on the after-following
possessors of the sacred Head, makes nothing to the knowledge
of the place, to which it immediately from Syria
was brought; thus it remained hidden in Cilicia, through the very finders pilgrims, or
through some other; for they are received from the report
of the Monks of Emesa, who with it itself
again among them found in the age of Marcian the Emperor
in the V century, falsely presuming that it had immediately
been brought to them, after the first Finding,
nor elsewhere than with them had hidden, joined the first
& second Finding with no other interposed:
another however interposes Sozomenus, a hundred
years earlier, by herself to certain Monks commended, lib. 7 cap. 24 thus writing.
About this time, that is about the year CCCXC,
was translated to Constantinople S. John
the Baptist's Head, which Herodias from Herod
the Tetrarch had asked. It is said however to have been found
among certain Monks of the sect of the Macedonians,
who previously indeed had dwelt at Jerusalem,
but later migrated to Cilicia.
Thus he, as namely he had heard told,
not in any authentic writing had read: such
however must have existed, which not only foreshone
to the Arabic author, whose context I gave above;
but also to the Emesene Monks, the beginnings of their
possession in the V century wishing to write, & those
to prefix to the more certain narration of their Abbot Marcellus on the second
Finding. who made it public, also in writing, To the report however,
which Sozomenus followed, to justify, it will be enough
to acknowledge, that the Monks, with whom in Valens's age
the Head was, stained with Macedonian heresy,
received it from Athalia, & having received from her
made the notice public, indeed by writings also consigned it,
but without a more distinct expression both of the pilgrims
(who it is credible were solitaries rather than Monks
& well Catholic, & consequently not unworthy
that the Saint should manifest himself to them) & of the place
or monastery, to whose Monks Athalia had commended
the treasure, perhaps not yet then having fallen
into heresy. For how many such are found,
anciently written in monasteries, in
which the deeds were done, without expression of either their
names or of the regions in which they themselves stood,
as then by no means necessary, but now
in vain the same things are required.
[101] Moreover since the Arabic Synaxarium a little
later says, that the place of the sacred head remained
unknown until the times of Cyril Bishop
of Jerusalem; around the year 390. & Sozomenus writes that itself
became known in the times of the Emperor preceding Theodosius
the great, that is of Valens; it follows,
that Athalia died within the year CCCLV &
CCCLXXV in which Valens died; within which time
also the Macedonian heresy begun in the year CCCLIX,
through all the East was diffused: that even hence from the suspicion
of the same heresy the finders of the holy Head be freed,
to whom it can be believed to have been revealed when Constantine the Great
was still living, & consequently before the year
CCCXXXVII. It would absolutely have to be believed,
if Justinian the Emperor about the year DXXX, Though he did not have the seal of Constantine put on it,
about to dedicate the church of the Saint in the Hebdomon by him
restored, took it itself from Emesa, & the solemnity
performed sent it back as he had received it; sealed with the seal
of holy Emperor Constantine, as
has the Oration in Latin from Greek published at Venice in
Lipomanus & Surius, to be given below, whose
Author Allatius, in the Diatribe on the writings of the Symeons,
names Theodorus Daphnopata.
But I think that seal was nothing else
than a simple monogram of the name of Christ
inserted indeed in the Roman labara by Constantine,
but not so that we know him to have used it in a signet
ring, on which I would believe rather his own image was
engraved, equally as on coins, on which by chance you find
also engraved the same monogram on that
part on which either some victory is represented, or
himself holding the labarum in his hand; never simple
alone. From this however the custom among Christians prevailed
of imprinting it on all those things, yet under him it seems found, in
which they wished to be understood Christianity either of the writer or
of the author or of the deceased, which custom since it long
even after Constantine's death held, from such
nothing can be held about the time of the first Finding:
but the conjecture about the same will rather be confirmed from the age of Valens, when
those Cilician Monks were deprived of their entrusted treasure
we shall soon teach from Sozomenus: who although he says
found in Cilicia, yet does not indicate this
happened by revelation, as it did happen in the first
& in that which is called the second Findings. on the day on which it is celebrated, 24 February. But the first
was made on 24 February, indicates
the Arabic Codex, of which above, ending the Reading of the Synaxis
for that day with these words: In the prior
Finding however the feast is celebrated on the XXX day
of the month Amschir, which to our February nearly
corresponds, taking its beginning from the day 26 January.
May the Benediction of S. John be with us Amen.
§. II. Translation of the sacred Head from Cilicia into Bithynia under Valens, & to Constantinople under Theodosius.
[102] The Head to be carried to Constantinople The aforesaid in the aforecited place Sozomenus, where
& among whom the sacred head was found,
in the times, he says, of the preceding Emperor,
when Mardonius the Eunuch, Praepositus
of the Imperial Palace, had reported the matter;
Valens commanded that that Head to Constantinople
be conveyed. And those indeed who to this
had been sent, the Head placed in a public vehicle,
began to transfer; but when
they had come to Pantichium, which place is in the territory
of the Chalcedonians, the mules, which the vehicle
drew, refused to proceed further;
& this although the drivers threatened them,
& the driver heavily struck them with a whip. Who
when they accomplished nothing, it sticks immobile at Cosilai, & to all & even
to the Emperor himself the matter seemed stupendous & utterly
divine, in the village of Cosilai the sacred
Head they deposited: for the village was
nearby & belonged to the aforementioned Mardonius.
Pantichium is a place, distant from Chalcedon
XV P. M. by Antoninus Panticum in his
Itinerary, & in another Hierosolymitan one
in Du Cange called Pandicia.
[103] Moreover about this time, when namely
from the West to Constantinople had returned Theodosius
the Emperor, Theodosius about the year 390 that is after the year CCCLXXXVI
(the Alexandrian Chronicle, or Paschal notes
the year of Theodosius XIII Indict. IV Tatianus &
Symmachus Coss. which is the year of Christ CCCXCI
for which the preceding is noted in the interpolated Prosper's Chronicle
Valentinianus IV & Nectarius Coss.)
about this, I say, time, either by God or
by the impulse of the Prophet himself, the Emperor Theodosius
proceeded to that place. And when
he wished to take the Relics of the Baptist thence, alone,
as they say, a Matron resisted him; who indeed was a consecrated
Virgin, & moreover accompanied that Head
as minister & guardian,
already verisimilarly from Cilicia itself. When therefore
she with the effort of all her strength resisted, the Emperor
judged she was by no means to be compelled,
but with prayers contended that she allow the Relics
to be taken. Which when she had scarcely at last consented to,
thinking the Emperor's attempt would be vain, delivered to him to Constantinople he builds a church in the Hebdomon,
from what had happened in the times of Valens,
the Emperor the casket in which the Relics
were contained, wrapped in the purple robe in which
he was clothed, took with him: & returning
into the suburb of the City of Constantinople
which is called Septimum, deposited,
honor of God constructed.
[104] A little differently the aforecited Paschalion: Theodosius
Augustus when S. John the Baptist's Head
at a certain Macedonian woman, in which he also places it 18 February,
dwelling at Cyzicus, he had found, brought it first to Chalcedon
deposited, & from the foundations
in the Hebdomon of Constantinople, having raised
in his name a sacred temple, in it the venerable
Head of the Baptist replaced; in the month
Peritius the day before XII Kalends March.
Lived & wrote the Author of this Chronicle up
to the year XVI of the Emperor Heraclius, of Christ DXXVI,
nor however did he transcribe Sozomenus (as
Georgius Cedrenus, flourishing in the XII century, did in his
Compendium of Histories) but a quite different Author
following, introduced mention of Chalcedon, in which
the sacred pledge for the time would rest more honored,
until the church destined for it was completed, which Sozomenus
omitted to say. according to the Chronicle Alex. by which Sozomenus's relation is confirmed, But just as it slipped into the aforesaid
Chronologer, that from a Macedonian Nun
he made a Macedonian, supposing nation
for sect, so for Cosilai could Cyzicus
have slipped in: meanwhile Sozomenus's narration would by his
testimony, as taken from an older source remain
confirmed. What Baronius objects to the contrary,
that Sozomenus can be believed in the aforesaid relation
to have been stuffed by the Macedonians; the rest of the context below
does not permit, not greatly favoring them:
but to have lied much less, in a matter so recent,
& with many still living who the aforesaid Translation's
falsity would have refuted, if nothing of the kind
had been done in their memory.
[105] Sozomenus also seems to be supported by Severian
Bishop of the Gabalitan Church, as also by Severian Gabalitanus's sermon, older
than him, since Gennadius cap. 21 writes of him,
that learned in the divine Scriptures, &
in Homilies an admirable declaimer he was, frequently
by John the Bishop, namely Chrysostom,
& by Emp. Arcadius, to make a sermon,
called to Constantinople; to whom also
the same Chrysostom commended his Church when into
exile he was being sent, as Molanus asserts
in Miraeus. Thus he speaks in
the Homily on the Cross, that perhaps of which only a fragment
Combefisius published in Tome 6 of the Biblioth. Concionatoriae;
but the Greek Du Cange alleges in
the Notes to the Paschalion pag. 570: Ἔλθωμεν
λοιπὸν
ἐπὶ
τὸν
ἰατρὸν
ἡμετέρων
ψυχῶν,
τὸν
καὶ
θείῳ
λόγῳ
ἡμᾶς
παιδεύοντα,
καὶ
τοῖς
λειψάνοις
τοῖς
ἑαυτοῦ
τὴν
πόλιν
ἡμετέραν
τειχίζοντα·
Ἰωάννην
λέγω
τὸν
Πρόδρομον
καὶ
Βαπτιστὴν
τοῦ
Χριστοῦ,
λοῦσοντα
ἡμᾶς
σήμερον
τῷ
λογῷ
τῆς
μετανοῖας. Let us come
at last to the physician of our souls, if this was held at C. P. under Arcadius the Emp.
& by divine sermon instructing us, & by his
Relics fortifying our city; John,
I say, the Forerunner & Baptist
of Christ, even today washing us with the word
of penance. These things if it were certain were said at Constantinople,
would firmly enough prove the intent; but now
since they could have been said at Gabala, or at Antioch, to which
their church was subject, glorying itself also in the Relics of the Saint;
deservedly Du Cange does not dare to seek any certainty
thence for Constantinople, as if already
then it possessed his Head; especially since it can scarcely
be that the royal City for so many years enjoyed
it, but we are altogether compelled to confess, that it was soon
deprived of it, the same being translated to Emesa: where how
again it was found under Marcian the Emperor, longer
there to remain, we shall say soon below.
[106] Theodosius moreover of his piety toward the Saint,
not much later, namely in the year CCCXCIV, Theodosius's piety the year 394 victory followed,
received an outstanding reward. For when, as cap. 24
reports the same Sozomenus, about to set out against the tyrant Eugenius
to the West, & with his forces
having departed from Constantinople, to the seventh
milestone he had come; he is said to have prayed God there
in the church, which in honor of John the Baptist
he had built; & that prosperous & fortunate for himself
& his army, & for all the Romans the issue of the war
might fall, asked; & the Baptist as
helper invoked; these things prayed into
Italy he made his journey. And when he had come to the Alps,
he occupies at once the first stations; & when
having passed the summit of the passage, was now in the descent,
he sees a plain filled with horsemen and foot soldiers;
& not far many of the enemies
behind, on the mountain top meanwhile remaining.
When therefore the first having crossed with
the enemies on the plain had joined hands, in a doubtful conflict with Eugenius the tyrant, sharp
& doubtful was the battle. Moreover when the army
was still advancing; the Emperor observing,
that by human help his men in no way could be saved,
though they most wished, with those
attacking from behind who had occupied the summit;
prone cast to the ground, he began to pray
with tears: & immediately God consented to his
prayers, as the event itself proved:
for the leaders of those who held the mountain summit,
sending messengers to him, would cross to his
side, if a more honorable rank
with him they should have … promised.
[107] Then the Emperor, when paper
& ink sought not finding, having taken
tablets, which one of the bystanders by chance
carried, a part of the enemy forces having crossed to him, of honorable & convenient to them
military rank wrote out, which with him they should
have, if they fulfilled their promises. And these
indeed with such conditions joined themselves
to the Emperor. Moreover when our side
still gave way, but with equal Mars on both sides
sharply was being fought; an immense wind, & a whirlwind arising upon the others, & turning their darts back, & such as we know was never before, from opposite
into the enemy rushing, disturbed their ranks:
darts & javelins which against the Romans
had been thrown, as if hurled
against solid bodies, into the very bodies of the throwers
turned back: shields finally, snatched from their
hands, with dirt & dust against them themselves
it hurled. Thus stripped of arms, some indeed
were slaughtered; others for a little time
by flight escaped, not much later were captured.
Eugenius however, prostrate at the feet of the Emperor,
prayed that life be granted him;
but while he supplicated, by one of the soldiers
was beheaded.
[108] Moreover at that very time, when the battle
was being fought, they say a certain demoniac, & the demon confessing through an energumen,
in the temple of God which was in the Septimum,
in which the Emperor going to war had poured forth
prayers, by the demon snatched aloft,
reviled John the Baptist; & him
as if beheaded with insults attacked,
vociferating thus; Thou conquerest me, & to my army
liest in wait. that this was the work of the Baptist. Those who were present, since,
as is credible, there was great zeal about this
war, that they might hear or say something new,
stunned, wrote the day on paper;
& on that very day the battle was fought, not
much later, from those who took part, they learned.
There then, as at Sebaste, at the tombs
of SS. Eliseus, Abdias & John the Baptist, &
verisimilarly because of the presence of the Head, was to be
seen, that which at those Jerome testifies his Paula saw
Epist. 27, This one's power against demons in the Hebdomon, men howling
in the manner of wolves, barking with the voices of dogs, roaring
of lions, hissing of serpents, lowing of bulls;
others to whirl the head, & after the back
with the crown of the head to touch the ground, & women hung by the foot
the garments not to flow down upon the face. To this
makes also, that Gainas the Goth, when in the year
of Christ CCCC from the City of Constantinople, the temple by Justinian restored. nearly
through ambushes occupied, having beheld Angelic armies
looked around for flight, feigning himself possessed,
(as Socrates writes lib. 6 cap. 6)
as if for the sake of prayer he proceeded to the church
of John the Apostle (for by this name also
the Forerunner the Greeks call him, & not only Apostle
but also universal Apostle)
which is seven thousand paces distant
from the city: which when Justinian the Emperor by him
restored had dedicated, & some notable Relics
from elsewhere had summoned to honor the festivity,
he asked also from Emesa the Head of the Forerunner, which how
& when at Constantinople it ceased to be, below
will be explained.
[109] I return to Sozomenus whom above
narrating I left, how he had built the church in the Hebdomon
Theodosius the Elder; Example of a converted Presbyter Macedonian where soon he subjoins:
that he the Matron, though long
& much having prayed, & to her great gifts
having promised, was never able to induce,
to change her opinion (for she was of the sect
of the Macedonians) Vincentius however the Presbyter,
who was of the same sect as the Matron,
& with equal obsequy to her the ark of the prophet served,
& next to it the solemnities of Masses celebrated,
immediately followed him; & with those
who were from the Catholic Church communicated;
although (as the Macedonians assert)
having an oath previously interposed he had affirmed, never
would he depart from their opinion; in
the end namely he had openly decreed, that if
the Baptist should wish to follow the Emperor, he too
without any delay with him would communicate…
The Matron however until the end of life
remained in the village of Cosilai, & lived most holily
& religiously, whether the Matron followed long pertinacious? & there of the Sacred Virgins
was Mistress; of whom many up to now
I have heard are surviving, says Sozomenus, in manners
with the Matron's mastership by no means unworthy conversing.
And these things verisimilarly are those, which to Baronius
make Sozomenus suspect, as I said above,
as though he was either himself a Macedonian, or by
some Macedonian was stuffed with this praise
of the Matron: whom I would rather believe to have come over
at last to the orthodox after Theodosius's death; for
Sozomenus does not deny that this was done at some time.
§. III. The Translation of the sacred Head to Emesa made, obscured by figments: its there under Marcian another Finding placed beyond controversy.
[110] From this Matron about whom we have just treated,
Chalcedon Mistress, most different is, Whoever wrote about the second Finding the same-named
to her holy Matron of Perga from Pamphilia,
whose Life to be commemorated on VIII November
wrote Metaphrastes, & says she was present at the second
Finding of the sacred Head, by all writers
of the Greeks indubitably asserted, in the times of Marcian
the Emperor; but in this by all equally
obscured, that no one of her later wrote,
who taught that it was brought to Constantinople; are silent about Cilicia & Constantinople; but
equally have spoken as if the first finders of it
did not bring it into Cilicia; but from
Syria immediately to Emesa, where secretly held,
with Marcian at length reigning was uncovered, & in
the monastery of the Cave with continuous veneration honored,
even under the dominion of the Saracens; until taken away
to Comana, & at length under Michael the Stammerer
& holy Ignatius the Patriarch, around the middle of the IX
century brought to Constantinople, or rather
brought back, the memory of the older worship there once
now utterly obliterated.
[111] The Arabic Synaxarium which we adduced above,
after it has related how the sacred head
from the hands of a certain Athalia came to others, as also the Arabic Synaxarium,
namely to the Macedonian Monks in Cilicia;
so with it successively was dealt, says: until
it came finally to a certain man
of Arian sect, who hoped it would come about,
that by the help of this head he would perform miracles
for his Arian sect: but his lot
prevented him, & he was expelled by the Saint from the place:
& the place remained unknown, until the times
of Cyril Bishop of Jerusalem. And behold
again the Saint appeared to a certain Marcian
in the night namely in sleep; & taught him
the place of his Head, who immediately went,
& dug it out from the indicated place, on the XXX day of the month
Paschon, that is XXIV February; & itself a second
time was found in this month. In this last little particle,
great is the confusion of things & times:
for the time of Cyril Bishop, with various errors at the end sprinkled would note some Finding
in Cilicia, which does not come into
the number of celebrated Findings among the Greeks,
I have already said; nor however should it be called found,
what where it was, was not absolutely unknown, although
known to few: but the day XXX Paschon, that is
XXV May, is proper to the third Finding, made
in Cappadocia: & the Arian clandestine possessor,
pertains to the history of the second Finding
at Emesa in Phoenicia; as also the finder
Marcian, his name corrupted made from Marcellus,
unless perhaps the writer imposed the name of the Emperor
Marcian, under whom the same second Finding occurred.
[112] & to some extent taken But as this last shred obscures
so far the related translation from Syria into Cilicia;
though with the names of places silent, & is silent of
the other from here into Bithynia: so the later possessors
of the same treasure the Emesenes, obscure in their
relation whatever about the Pilgrims & Monks
of Cilicia they had received, fitting all things to a certain potter
of Emesa, from whose sister through the hands of several successive
at length came it into the power of the Arian
impostor. But this prior clandestine
through so many hands transmission, is the less credible,
the more the matter is said to have been unknown to the populace: from the Greek relation little verisimilar,
especially since of those clandestine possessors
the last, is said to have left no memory of things
formerly done after himself; even the sacred Head itself
was about to be stolen by him, if even one night's truce
he had been able to obtain, as is narrated in the more ample
narration of the Emesenes. This therefore it pleases verbatim to exhibit,
from the Parisian edition of Lord du Cange,
& the version of Dionysius the Little, collated with the Mss.
Hamburg of Frederick Lendebrogius, a certain one of the Queen
of Sweden under num. 81, Trier of S. Martin,
Ardenne of S. Hubert, & Bodecense of the Canons
Regular of the diocese of Paderborn.
113 How the Head of S. John, Forerunner & Baptist of the Lord from the city of Jerusalem a was translated to Emesa.
Μόναχοι
δύο
ἐκ
τῆς
Ἐώας
ὁρμώμενοι,
τοῦ
τιμίου
σταυροῦ
τὸν
τὸπον
καὶ
διὰ
τὸν
περὶ
ἡμᾶς
οἶκτον
ἐνανθρωπήσαντος,
καὶ
θάνατον
ἀθανασίας
πρόξενον
ὑπομείναντος
Χριστοῦ
τόν
τάφον,
τῆς
τε
ἀναστάσεως
καὶ
τῆς
ἀναλήψεως
τὸν
χόρον
ἀυτοτεὶ
κατιδεῖν
ποθήσαντες,
τὰ
Ἱεροσόλυμα
κατειλήφασι.
Τούτων
ἑνὶ
ὁ
Πρόδρομος
τῆς
δεσποτικής
παρουσίας,
καὶ
Βαπτιστὴς
τοῦ
βασιλέως
τῶν
ὅλων
Ἰωάννης
ἐπιστὰς
φησί.
Πρὸς
τὴν
Ἡρώδου
γενόμενοι
ὄικησιν
b ἐκδράμοντες,
ἐκεῖσε
τὴν
ἐμὴν
κεφαλὴν,
ὑπο
γῆν
κειμένην
ἀνέλεσθε.
Ὄρθρου
δὲ
καταλαβόντος,
τὸν
ὅρασιν
ὁ
μοναχὸς
διηγεῖται
τῷ
πέλας.
Ὁ
δὲ,
φαντασίαν
εἶναι
τὸ
πρᾶγμα
νομίσας,
ὁμόφρονα
γενέσθαι
τὸν
τῆς
ὀράσεως
θεατὴν
ὑποπείθει.
Ῥεραθυμηκότων
δὲ
δια
τοῦτο,
τῇ
ἐπιούσῃ,
τῆς
ἀληθείας
ὁ
κήρυξ
αὖθις
ἐφίσταται,
κατ᾽
ἰδίαν
ἀμφοτέροις
ὁμοίως
ὀφθείς·
καὶ
φησὶ;
Πᾶσαν
ἐκ
τῆς
διανοῖας
ἐξορίσαντες
ἀπιστίαν,
περὶ
τὴν
τῆς
ὀπτασίας
πίστιν
τὸν
λογισμὸν
μὴ
ὀκλάσητε.
Ὡς
δὲ
θατέρῳ
θάτερος
τὴν
τῆς
ἀποκαλύψεως
διηγήσατο
συμφωνίαν,
καὶ
τῷ
διπλασιασμῷ
τῆς
ὁράσεως
πιστωθέντες,
καὶ
τὸ
ἐκ
τῆς
παρακοῆς
πρόστιμον
δεδιότες,
ἀμελητὶ
τὸ
κὲλευσθὲν
ἐξανίουσιν·
καὶ
τῇ
χάριτι
ἐποδηγούμενοι,
τὴν
ὑπὲρ
τῆς
ἐυσεβείας
ἐκτμνηθεῖσαν
τοῦ
Βαπτιστοῦ
κεφαλὴν
ἀνελόμενοι,
τοῖς
ἐκ
τριχῶν
καμήλου
κατεσκευασμένοις
μαρσὶποις
ἐνέβαλον.
Ἤρεσε
δὲ
τοῦτο
τῷ
προφήτῃ,
ὡς
οἴμαι,
καθάπερ
ἐν
ἐρήμῳ
πάλαι,
τὸ
ἐκ
τριχῶν
καμήλου
τῷ
σώματι
περικείμενον
ἔνδυμα.
[114] Ἔχοντες
δὲ
ὑπέστρεφον
κεφαλὴν,
ἣν
Ηρωδιὰς
ἐπὶ
πίνακος
παρὰ
τῆς
θυγατρὸς
δεξαμένη,
τῆς
ἐκ
πολλοῦ
ζητουμένης
ἄγρας
τυχοῦσα,
καὶ
συμπεπαῦσθαι
τοῦς
ἐλέγχους
τῆς
τοῦ
προφήτου
γλώττης
νομίσασα,
ἥκιστα
συνεχώρησε
τῷ
λοιπῷ
συγκαδευσθῆναι
σώματι,
τὴν
ἐκ
τῆς
ἑνώσεως
φόβον
ὑφορωμένη·
καὶ
μονονουχὶ
λογιζομένη,
ὡς
εἰ
ὁλόκληρον
τυγχάνει
τοῦ
ἁγίου
τὸ
λείψανον,
ἐυχερὲς
τοῦτο
ἂν
εἴη
πρὸς
ἔγερσιν·
οὐκ
ἂν
δὲ
ῥάδιον
γένοιτο,
τῆς
κεφαλῆς
παρ᾽
ἀυτῆς
φρουρουμένης·
ὅθεν,
ὡς
εἰκὸς,
οὐ
τῇ
τυχούσῃ
ταφῇ
τάυτην
παρέδωκεν·
ἀλλὰ
περιβόλων
εἴσω
καταχωννύειν
κελέυει,
καὶ
κλείθρων
ἐπιβολαῖς
ἔχεσθαι
τῆς
ἀσφαλείας
προστάττει.
Ὁ
γὰρ
τῆς
παρανόμου
μίξεως
ἔρως,
ὑπὸ
τῶν
λογισμῶν
προδιδομενος,
ὀνειροπολῶν
τε
τοὺς
ἐλεγμοὺς,
καὶ
τετμημένην,
ὠς
οῖμαι,
τὴν
ἀπροσωπόληπτον
κεφαλὴν
ἐδεδίει.
Ἠ
μέν
οὖν
παράνομος
τοῦ
διαβόλου
μαθήτρια,
σκαιοτητι
λογισμῶν
παιζομένη,
τοῦ
λοιποῦ
λανθάνειν
ἐνόμιζεν·
οἱ
δὲ
τῆς
ὀπτασίας
ἀξιωθέντες
μοναχοὶ,
τοῦ
Προδρόμου,
τῇ
χάριτι
τοῦ
πνεύματος
ἑαυτὸν
ἐμφανίσαντος,
τὴν
παντὸς
χρυσίου
τιμιωτέραν
κεφαλὴν
ἀνελόμενοι,
οἴκοι
παλινδρομῆσα
κατέσπευδον.
[115] Κεραμεὶς
δέ
τις
κατ᾽
ἐκείνου
καιροῦ
τῆς
Εμεσινῶν,
δυσπραγίᾳ
συζῶν
καὶ
τὴν
ἔνδειαν
σύνοικον
ἔχον,
καὶ
πρὸς
τὴν
ἀμηχανίαν
ἐιλιγγιάσας,
φυγῇ
τὴν
πορείαν
ποιεῖται.
Ἔτυχε
δὲ
ἀυτὸν
τοῖς
ἐπιφερομένοις
τὸ
τῆς
ἐρήμου
κειμήλιον
περιτυχεῖν
μοναχοῖς·
συνόμιλόν
τε,
καὶ
κοινωνὸν
τῆς
ὁδοιπορίας
γινέσθαι·
ὅπερ
συμβαίνειν
ἐν
ταῖς
ἐκδημίαις
φιλεῖ·
ὧ·
καὶ
συμβαστάζειν
τὸ
δῶρον
οἱ
προῤῥεθέντες
ἐνεχείρησαν,
τὸν
ἀποκαλυφθέντα
ταμιευσάμενοι.
Ἀγνοοῦντι
δὲ
τὸ
μυστήριον
τῷ
κεραμεῖ,
ὁ
Πρόδρομος
ἑαυτον
ἐμφανίσας,
φησί·
τοὺς
συνοιδοιποροῦντάς
σοι
λαθῶν
μοναχοὺς,
τὸ
ἐπηφερόμενόν
σοι
μαρσίπιον
ἔχων
ἀπέδραθι·
καὶ·
τοῦτο
πεποιηκὼς,
ὄικοι
πάλιν
ἐπάνεισι·
διετέλει
δὲ
πάσῃ
κομῶν
ἐυπραγίᾳ,
[καὶ
τῆς
πρότερον
ἀμνημονῶν
δυπραγίας]
Κὰι
εἰδὼς
μὲν
τὸν
ἐυπραγίας
πρόξενον,
τιμῶν
δὲ
τοῦτον
ἐυγνωμοσύνῃ
τῇ
κατὰ
δύναμιν.
[116] Μέλλων
δὲ
τὸν
ἀνθρώπινον
ὑπεξιέναι
βίον,
ἐν
κιβωτίῳ
τὸ
δῶρον
ἔχων
σφραγισάμενον
τῇ
ἰδία
ἀδελφῇ
παρατίθεται,
τὴν
πρώτην
πρὸς
ἀυτὴν
διαλεχθεὶς
ἔνδειαν,
καὶ
τὴν
ἐν
χερσὶν
ἀφθονίαν
μηνύσας·
καὶ
εἰπῶν
μὲν
τῆς
προτέρας
πενίας
τὰ
δύσφευκτα
δεσμά,
γνωρίσας
δὲ
καὶ
τὸν
τρόπον
τῆς
τούτων
ἀπαλλαγῆς,
καὶ
παρακαλέσας
ἔχεσθαι
μὲν
τῆς
τοῦδε
τιμῆς,
μὴ
πρότερον
δὲ
κιβώτιον
ἐκκαλύψαι,
πρὶν
ἂν
τὸ
ἔνδον
ὑπέρχον
μηνὺσῃ
τὴν
ἔξοδον·
λογισόμενος,
ὡς
οἴμαι,
μητρῶαν
αὖθις
μήτραν
τῷ
Προδρόμῳ
γίνεσθαι
τὴν
θήβην,
καὶ
ὅτι
ὁ
τὸν
δεσπὸτην
ἐν
τῇ
μητρώᾳ
νηδύἳ
γνωρίσας,
καὶ
τοῦτον
διὰ
τῶν
σκιρτημάτων
μηνύσας,
σημανεῖ
πάντως
καὶ
ἐν
τῇ
θήβη
μετὰ
θάνατον
ζῶν,
τὸν
τῆς
ἐξόδου
καιρόν·
οὐ
παρεσιώπησε
δὲ
πάντως
τῆς
ἀιφνιδίου
μεταβολῆς
τὴν
διήγησιν·
ἀλλ᾽
Οἶσθα
φησὶν,
ὦ
γύναι,
τῇ
πείρᾳ
μαθοῦσα
τοῦ
ἡμετέρου
βίου
τὴν
ἀμειψιν,
καὶ
ὁιοι
ἀνθ᾽
οἵων
γεγόναμεν,
τοῦτον
τὸν
θησαυρὸν
ἑυρηκότες;
ἔχου
τοίνυν
τῆς
τοῦδε
τιμῆς,
καὶ
τρύγα
τῶν
καλῶν
τὴν
ἀντίδοσιν.
Ἐι
δέ
σε
χρόνος
πολιετίᾳ
μαράνας
τὸν
ῥώμην
ἀφέληται,
ἢ
σώματος
ἀνομαλία
βίᾳ
τῆς
ἰσχύος
ἐκλύσῄ,
καὶ
περὶ
τὴν
σπουδὴν
ἀτονήσειας,
ἐυσεβῶν
τινι
τοῦτο
μετὰδος.
[117] Ἕως
μὲν
οὖν
σύμφωνον
εἶχε
τῇ
προθυμίᾳ
τὸ
σθενὲς,
ἠγάπα
τὸ
πρᾶγμα·
ὅτε
δὲ
τῇ
τοῦ
γήρους
παρεχώρησεν
ἀνάγκῃ,
τὰ
πρὸς
αὖτὴν
παρὰ
τοῦ
ἀδελφοῦ
ῥηθέντα
τοὶς
λαμβάνειν
μέλλουσιν
ὑποθεμένε,
τὸν
παντὸς
ἀνώτερον
χρυσίου
θησαυρὸν
μεταδίδωσι.
Πολλῶν
δὲ
τοῦτο
ταῖς
ἀλλήλων
διαδοχαῖς
κτησαμένων
τὸ
δῶρον,
τελευταῖον
Ευστάθιός
τις
ὀνόματι
μονάζων,
πρεσβύτερος
ἑτερόδοξος,
ἐν
ὑδρίᾳ
φυλαττόμενον
διαδέχεται·
ὃν
οἱ
δεδωκότες
θρησκείας
μὲν
ἴσως
διακρίνειν
παντελῶς
ἠγνόησαν,
ἐυσεβῆ
δὲ
τοῦτον
ὑπέλαβον.
Ὁδε,
τὴν
ἐκ
τῆς
ἀποστολικῆς
κεφαλῆς
τοῖς
προσιοῦσι
πηγάζουσαν
θηραπείαν
πανούργως
ἑαυτῷ
περιάπτων,
ἐκαπήλευσε
τὴν
ἀλήθειαν·
ὀψὲ
δὲ
ποτὲ
τοῖς
ὀρθῶς,
καὶ
ἀσυγχύτως;
καὶ
ὁμουσίως
τὴν
πανεύφημον
δοξολογοῦσι
Τριάδα
γνώριμος
καταστὰς,
ὁ
προσχήματι
τιμῆς
τὸν
Πατέρα
διὰ
τῆς
τοῦ
Ὑιοῦ
μειώσεως
καθυβρίζων,
ἀρχόντων
συνεργίᾳ,
τῆς
Εμεσινῶν
ἀπελάυνεται.
[118] Γονυπετῶν
δὲ
τοὺς
ἐυαγῶς
τὸν
ἐναγῆ
τῆς
τοῦ
σωτῆρος
ποίμνης
χωρίζειν
ἐπειγομένους,
διορίαν
τῇ
ὀψίμῳ
διώξει
χαρίσασθαι,
καὶ
συγχωρῆσαι
πρὸς
μιαν
ἡμέραν
τὸ
ἀυτόθι
σπήλαιον
ὀικῆσαι,
προνοίᾳ
Θεοῦ
τῆς
ἐλπίδος
ἐψεύσθη.
Διαδέχονται
δὲ
τὸ
ἀυτὸ
σπήλαιον
ἐυλαβεῖς
ἄνδρες,
μονήρη
βίον
διώκοντες·
πολλῶν
δὲ
διαδεξαμένων
τὸ
ῥηθὲν
μοναστήριον,
ἐπὶ
Μαρκέλλου
τοῦ
ἐυσεβεστάτου
καὶ
ἀρχιμανδρίτου,
ἐυδόκησεν
ἡ
τοῦ
Θεοῦ
χάρις,
τὸ
Γαβριὴλ
ἐυαγγέλιον,
καὶ
τῆς
στείρας
τὸ
βλάστημα,
καὶ
τῆς
ἐρήμου
τὸ
κάλλιστον
θρέμμα,
τῆς
τε
παρανομίας
τὸν
ἔλεγχον,
καὶ
τοῦ
νόμου
τὸν
συνήγορον,
καὶ
τοῦ
δεσπότου
τὸν
Πρόδρομον,
τοῦ
νυμφίου
τὸν
φιλὸν,
καὶ
Βαπτιστὴν
τοῦ
σωτῆρος,
καὶ
τῆς
ἀληθείας
τὸν
κήρυκα,
καὶ
τῆς
ἐυσεβείας
τὸν
θερμότατον
ἐραστὴν
ἀποκαλύψαι·
οὗ
τὴν
ἐπιφανείαν
ὁ
προερρημένος
ἐυλαβέστατος
Ἀρχιμανδρίτης
ἐξηγήσατο
Μάρκελλος
κατὰ
τὴν
ὑποτεταγμένην
σημείωσιν.
where it is said that two Monks set out to the holy places, Two certain Monks set out from the East,
desiring to behold the place of the precious Cross
of Christ, & the glorious tomb of him who for
our salvation made man endured death,
through which to us he bestowed life & immortality,
& also the venerable places of his resurrection & ascension
into heaven, they arrived
at Jerusalem. To one of them
the Forerunner of the Lord's coming, the Head of S. John the Baptist found & Baptist of the eternal
King, saint John appearing said: Coming
to the house once of Herod the King,
take away with you my Head, which you will find
in the earth buried. And when morning
had risen, the vision the Monk which
he had seen, related to his Brother, who suspecting
an illusion of phantasy, persuades him to whom the mystery
had been revealed c, to feel the same as he himself did.
And when they had given over the matter to neglect,
on the next day the Herald of truth stood by both
* separately, & similarly to them appearing, thus
spoke: Driving away all doubt of infidelity
from your hearts, to the truth
of the vision let your thought not falter.
And when each had related to the other the harmony
of the revelation, by the doubled vision strengthened, in a haircloth sack enclosed; & dreading the punishment of disobedience,
without delay what had been commanded
them, they fulfilled. And with divine grace going
before them, the head of the Baptist,
which for justice & piety had been cut off,
in a haircloth sack they placed. Delighted
I estimate moreover was the Prophet with such a covering,
whose in the desert formerly of camels' hair
had been the body covered.
[114] The Monks were returning therefore, bearing
the head, found however, since Herodias which Herodias as the reward of her daughter's
dancing on a dish receiving, as it were obtained the long-
desired prey of the hunt. Indeed thinking
the rebukes of the prophetic tongue had already ceased,
by no means did she allow that the venerable Head itself
be buried with the rest of the body,
conceiving a fear from its conjunction;
& this without doubt revolving, that the whole
body of the Saint with all facility would rise; she had ordered it to be buried far from the body.
but this could not happen, if she retained
the head: & therefore not commonly did she deliver it
to burial d, but within the enclosures of her own house buried
under the care of a lock to be guarded. For the love
of illicit conjunction, by its own inventions
betrayed, of rebukes to itself
was forming images, & the cut-off head of the Just one
the wicked daughter of the devil feared: & thus by the depravity
of thoughts deceived, thenceforth thought
she was hidden. The Monks therefore who were deemed worthy
of so great a revelation of the Forerunner of Christ,
taking the venerable head, were hastening to return
home.
[115] But a certain Potter at that time
of the city of Emesa, pressed with many straits
& needing all necessary things;
since he could not the extreme poverty
further endure, whom an Emesene Potter, for the very difficulty of his destitution
afflicted with great wearinesses, by departure thought
to preserve his life. It happened however
to him while he fled, to meet those Monks,
who were carrying the most precious vessel of the Desert. And
when he was made a companion to them & sharer of the journey,
the burden to him, entrusted to him by them as those traveling are also wont,
confidently they commit, the vision which to himself had been revealed
the Forerunner appeared, & warned,
that he should hide from his companions, & taking what
he was carrying flee. he furtively took away; Which when he had done, to
his own house, whence he had departed, he returned;
& from there continued in all things to flourish
with prosperity. f He understood however the author of his
prosperity, & honor to him with devout zeal congruent
with his own powers offered.
[116] Who when he saw death drawing near to himself,
the hydria g in which he had that gift enclosed,
diligently sealing, to his own sister h
commits; the former destitution to her
revealing, & the opulence which now was in
his hands explaining. And when he had related the to be fled
inconveniences of his former poverty, & before death entrusted it to his sister, & had indicated
the manner in which he had been delivered from them, prayed
her to treat the deposit honorably;
nor before to open the hydria, than
the event of the matter that which was within should indicate;
thinking, as I judge, that as a womb
the vessel itself was to be to the Forerunner; that as
the Lord placed in his mother's womb he had known;
that urn at the opportune k time he would reveal:
& therefore he did not keep silent the author of his
unhoped-for transformation, to be kept with honor. but said; O woman, by very
experiences thou shalt be taught, the change
of our life, & shalt know our conversation, since
we have deserved to possess this
treasure. If
therefore thou also shalt have reverence for it, of all good things
both present & future
abundance thou shalt fully enjoy. But if perchance prolixity
of body shall take away strength, or illness
shall violently waste, so that thou canst not perform the
due zeal; to some pious & faithful
man this gift not delay to deliver.
[117] Therefore after her brother's death, as long as for her devotion
she had strength to match, Sentence: This too failing, she handed to another, & he to others, she is proven to have
loved the holy business: but when she yielded to the necessity
of senile age, those things which from her brother to her
had been commanded, hinting to those who were
about to take up the pious deposit she delivered. To many l however
this gift by alternate succession receiving,
even Eustachius a certain by name Monk,
& Presbyter of another sect, that
which was kept in the hydria, as it had been sealed,
until it came into the hands of Eustachius the Monk, received. For those indeed who had given it,
could not distinguish religion, & deemed him a pious man; who too astutely
the cures, which through the virtue of the holy Head were conferred on those approaching, ascribing to himself,
strove to adulterate the truth of the faith, like a most wicked innkeeper: & at last later by those, who rightly
& holily, & inseparably the blessed Trinity glorified, was made known; he
who under the appearance of paternal veneration in diminution of Christ Son of God was contumelious
is proved, for whom expelled because of heresy, from the Emesan city, with the judges also cooperating, began to be expelled.
[118] He was beseeching however those who
salubriously from the holy flock sought to separate
& drive him away,
to delay in that cave, in which he
knew the holy Deposit to be, because already
by the straitness of the nocturnal time, he was pressed. But
by the providence of God he was frustrated in his hope:
for he could not obtain, that n what he was plotting,
be effected. in the Cave monastery succeeding Abbot Marcellus They take therefore the same
cave venerable men, following the proposition
of solitary life. With many in the monastery
succeeding o themselves, at last under the Archimandrite
Marcellus by divine grace him whom
Gabriel evangelized, & the sterile mother brought forth, he describes the second Finding.
inhabitant of the Desert, greatest reprover
of impiety, & vindicator of the law, Forerunner of the Lord,
friend of the bridegroom, Baptist of the Savior,
Herald of truth, & most fervent lover
of justice, was deigned to reveal: p
the mode of whose apparition the aforesaid venerable Archimandrite Marcellus related in these words.
NOTES BY D. P.
τὴν
πρώτην
ἕυρεσιν
τῆς
τιμίας
κεφαλῆς
τοῦ
τιμίου
καὶ
ἐνδόξου
Προφήτου
τοῦ
Προδρόμου
τοῦ
Βαπτιστοῦ
Ἰωάννου. On the first Finding of the praiseworthy & glorious Prophet, Forerunner & Baptist John: & to the other part is prefixed the title, Εἰς
τὴν
δευτέραν
ἕυρεσιν
τοῦ
αυτοῦ, &c. On the second Finding of the same, &c.
so to one asking they could have answered, We do not believe him to have been truly dead, & consequently neither truly raised; just as Christ, whom
they did not doubt to have been truly dead, they would not believe raised.
But Herodias, knowing the Baptist truly dead, how could she
think, that to God, if he wished to raise him, it would be more difficult to draw from earth
what she had caused to be buried, than to a body placed elsewhere to reunite
& vivify? She could however, unbelieving of divine power, fear lest
the disciples lying that he was raised, stir up
crowds
to her destruction; for whom from error to be led the head produced,
whenever there was need, & openly exhibited could serve; as the Jews
asked Christ's tomb to be fortified by a guard set. Meanwhile much more
verisimilar in the Arabic is said the former wife of Herod sought the head
of the Prophet; & therefore by Herod was commanded to be buried in earth, that he could answer
that it was not known where it was. But this too I would wish to be proved from the Gospel or at least from
Josephus.
τάυτην
ἐνθέμενος
…
ἔπειτα
τοῦ
κιβωτίῳ
διεσφαλισάμενος,
ἔξωθεν
καὶ
σφραγίδα
καλῶς
ἐπισημηνάμενος. Placing it in the hydria … then in the casket diligently enclosing, & on the outside even with a seal sealing. Θήβη for Θήκη, which occurs twice below, in the same notion as Κιβώτιον,
nowhere else does Du Cange seem to have found, indeed has imputed it to scribal error,
who did not bring this word into his Greek-barbarian Glossary.
more, through which consequently many could have held the place,
namely the cave, in which here is supposed the Head lay hid: deservedly
however thou wouldst doubt whether the Cave began to serve some solitary earlier, than
next to it was founded the monastery called of the Cave of which below: not to mention,
that all this succession contradicts the greater authority of Sozomenus.
γὰρ
ὀ
μιαρὸς
κρύφα
τοῦ
τήν
θεὶαν
κεφαλὴν
συμπαραβεῖν,
ὥστε
τοῦ
αῦθις,
κλέπτειν
τοῦ
ἰδιοῦσθαι
τὰ
ὑπ
ἐκείνης
θαύματουργούμενα,
τοῦ
οὕτως
τῇ
αἱρέσει
τὸ
καλὸς
ἄυτην
ἔχειν
καὶ
ὡς
Θεῷ
φίλον
μνήστεύσασθαι. For the impure one wished secretly to take with him
the holy Head; that again he might steal & arrogate to himself the miracles, through
it to be performed, & thus reconcile to his heresy the opinion of right faith
& dear to God.
o If
our conjecture is true about the arrival of that Arian Monk at Emesa, under
the Episcopate of holy John Chrysostom in the first years of the V century, of
which below, & he held the place for some time as a hidden heretic; after
his expulsion thence not many could have succeeded themselves before Marcellus in
the rule of the Cave-dwellers; & it is credible, that the Monks did not long suffer,
but I would rather believe, that already then Marcellus was Abbot when
Eustachius was being expelled; for it appears from his relation, that he urged
the Bishop, that to him & his the cave be granted, before
about the holy Head he knew anything.
p With
Marcellinus the Count is found a sufficiently prolix & accurate epitome
of this whole narration, which Baronius at year 391 num. 12 estimates to have
been added by someone to his Chronicle, which, he says, with very brief
monuments of things by him to have been elaborated is established, but not
by the narration of a longer history; that it plainly appears,
destined to be of patchwork, a new
cloth sewn to an old garment. Not
however hence does it follow, that the text from which it was taken is later than Marcellinus;
since Dionysius the Little, who rendered him into Latin, was nearly older
than Marcellinus himself, & consequently could the latter have woven the matter, known to him from a recent
interpretation of this & new, beyond his plan, into his
Chronicle, or to the margin have ascribed to be added to the text.
* otherwise. Separately.
§. IV. How from Constantinople to Emesa
the Head could be brought back, & with Sozomenus's & the Emesenes' narration
reconciled, & their error excused concerning the beginning of their possession.
[119] The Censure of Pope Gelasius. Saint Gelasius Pope, in the Synod LXX
of Bishops gathered at Rome in the year CCCCXCIV,
that is XLII after the second of the sacred Head
at Emesa finding, issued a Decree, in
the general Councils to be read entire, sampled
however insofar as it pertains here & weighed num. 15
of the Postscript, in the Preliminary Apology to this
month's Acts; the Decree, I say, Gelasius issued
on the Canonical & Apocryphal books, distinguishing them into various
classes, of which some although the Roman
church does not read, yet with all honor
received by it he says; to others in particular descending,
after the Acts of Blessed Sylvester, he reviews writings on
the Finding of the Lord's Cross, the writing on the Finding of the Head calling a novel relation, & other writings
on the Finding of the Head of S. John the Baptist, which,
he says, are certain novel relations, &
some Catholics read them: but when these
come to the hands of Catholics, B. Paul
the Apostle's sentence go before: Prove all things,
what is good hold. To this precept
if prior centuries had obeyed, & whatever about the Saints
was anywhere produced as written they had weighed with the historical
balance; for this curious age less labor
would have been left to make discrimination of true & false verisimilar
& unverisimilar, after the course of so many ages,
& with very many destroyed monuments
which could pertain to that; when not even this
is known, whether those things which Gelasius undertook to judge,
have come down to us.
[120] Meanwhile about the writings, pertaining to the Finding of the aforesaid
Head, it is disputed among the Learned,
whether they are those which Sozomenus followed, some twist into Sozomenus, about the first
Finding & Translation to Constantinople;
or the relation which then was most recent, about
the second at Emesa. Against Sozomenus sharply
fight some in Du Cange pag. 50 & seqq.
& him from some Macedonian either deceived
or stuffed they have deemed; indeed against the entire
his history twisting that of S. Gregory the Great
from lib. 6 Ep. 31: In Sozomenus's history, he says, about
some things are narrated: but this history also the Apostolic
See refuses to receive, because
it lies in many things, & Theodore of Mopsuestia too much
praises & up to the day of his death
But long ago Melchior Cano, lib. 2 de
locis Theologicis observed, that nothing of this kind is had
in Sozomenus's history; wherefore Baronius, Miraeus,
Vossius judge, that a good part of that history
has perished, & namely the history of years
about eighteen from the Consulate of Agricola &
Eustathius up to the Consulate XVII of Theodosius,
& in those chapters which by the carelessness of antiquity
have perished, those things were written which are reported by
Gregory the Great.
[121] But this response by no means pleases Hadrian
Valesius, but others judge this one slipped by memory: among the testimonies of the ancients about Sozomenus illustrated by himself
observing, that in the age of Cassiodorus,
who preceded Gregory the Great,
the Codices of Sozomenus were no fuller than those
we now have, & this from the Tripartite History
of the same Cassiodorus is enough to know.
Thus Valesius himself judges, that Gregory
by a fault of memory had slipped, who that which was said
by Theodoret cap. 39, attributed to Sozomenus.
Such a slip indeed by which Martyrs
he called those who had been mere Confessors, we several times
have noted, & Sozomenus seems to have been unknown to Gelasius, nor on account of this diversity of title
were we persuaded to double Herculan, Juvenal,
Zeno Saints. Indeed
I very much doubt whether to Gelasius, who of only the ecclesiastical
history by Eusebius indeed written, but by Rufinus
into Latin translated, in said Decree mentions with
praise, not also of Socrates, Sozomenus & Theodoret,
their writings ever saw; & if he had seen,
he did not have to mention them, who not yet given Latinity,
were not yet read in the Latin Churches,
for which alone the Decree seems to have been made.
I doubt also, on account of Socrates's silence, whether about
the translated Head to Constantinople anyone wrote
before Sozomenus a particular relation, which
could come under Gelasius's judgment. But the Emesene
later Finding, of which some Latin relation
by an uncertain author had been brought into Italy,
other than that we now have, could have been commemorated
by Gelasius, without any respect to the Greek,
& by him, on account of marvels & other reasons
now unknown, censured.
[122] And would that we were certain of Marcellus,
that the genuine epistle on this matter was held, & not interpolated
by another's style, of him namely who premised the
Paragraph on the first Finding to the Epistle itself
set before, especially worthy of the Gelasian censure, for a new version from the Greek,
if it had extended itself to the Greek. Meanwhile, the writings being so noted
whatever they were, the Latins deservedly desired
to receive a purer & more certain series of the matter done from
the Greeks, & asked Dionysius to provide it for them.
I do not wonder however, about the year
DXXV, both parts equally to have rendered in Latin,
distinguishing nothing between them. For the simple office
of an Interpreter assuming, it was fitting to give the whole
context; though perhaps he was not ignorant that there was much
between that part, which was had from common
tradition, & the other which from the eye-
witness & chief actor of the things themselves Marcellus
was believed to be had. But what was not to be required from him,
will be required from us, who profess criticism on such
writings.
[123] I say therefore there is need of distinction: &
indeed the first part of the narration so far proposed, whose first part can be deemed apocryphal,
without prejudice to the second, can be rejected as
altogether apocryphal. But how the truth of the second
part can subsist with what is related by Sozomenus,
what seemed to Baronius in the Notes to the Roman
Martyrology impossible, & to Du Cange
very difficult, I undertake to investigate by conjecturing;
& I leave my conjecture to be estimated by the Learned,
until they suggest something better.
And first I weigh, the other written long after the head was carried from C.P.: that after the divulged notice
of the Emesene Finding, no Greek further
made mention of the Translation to the Hebdomum
made by Theodosius: nor however more verisimilar
reason for that silence can I devise, than that
the sacred Head there no longer appeared, it was not known
however, how, by whom, or whither was taken
it. But its presence at Emesa
about the year DXXX so certain was held at Constantinople;
that Justinian the Emperor himself,
when the temple of the Forerunner which in the Hebdomon
is by him built, that is more august
form restored, (of which below) by the sacred
Relics to sanctify wished, for the feast of dedication,
then other from elsewhere, & the worker of miracles
of the same Forerunner the right hand from Antioch,
& the most venerable head from Emesa
he transferred to the royal city & this indeed
he retained; this, the solemnity completed he sent back. Thus Theodorus
Daphnopata in the narration to be given below.
[124] I notice then, that the last
possessor of the holy pledge Eustachius the Monk, is said
to have been a Presbyter of another sect; carried away by a Macedonian Monk in the Arabic
epitome of Arian sect. But since the Macedonians,
in name rather than opinion, differed
from the Arians, by whom their Prince himself
had been ordained Bishop; & only a mask
pretended of the Nicene faith, more openly from the Holy Spirit
than in word denying Divinity;
I would rather believe, used the occasion of the troubled city, him called Arian among the Arabs,
really was Macedonian: who the troubles stirred up at Constantinople,
on account of Chrysostom expelled from his See,
turned to his own affair, & opportunity
found to secretly take away the Head of John;
to perpetrate this stimulated by injury, which
he thought done to his sect in whose possession
it had previously been.
[125] This perpetrated, his first care must have been,
lest by any indication the deed be revealed; therefore
he not only decreed, who there near Emesa secretly buried it; to depart as far as possible
from the royal city; & to have all things most secret, but
also whatever of gold or silver or gems
had been laid by the Relic itself, in Asia or Europe,
all that he took away & distributed for the long
pilgrimage's viaticum. Then near the Cave's
monastery near Emesa having obtained a place fit for his
proposition; nor could he take it suddenly thrust thence: his theft within a pot deposited,
without any indication of name so buried,
that to those digging again it might seem brought thither not recently,
but long before so placed
had been; he hoped however, by some miracle to be revealed
the Saint by himself; which done to him the opinion of sanctity
with the Emesenes, & great gain would accrue,
from offerings to its ornament being bestowed.
But when nothing such happened;
but, beyond all his hope, from the place where he had concealed the theft
he was being expelled; he wished, if he could, secretly
to take it away; & the argument of his will to have been the instance,
asking the space of at least one day in
that cave, in which it was certain, to himself namely alone,
that the holy Deposit was.
[126] After therefore Marcellus there found;
that of which no one had suspected to be there, & thus
found that no thought could come to him whence
it was, found however by Marcellus, ignorant whence, except from Jerusalem, where it was said anciently
to have been found by two pilgrims, & by them
from the East brought, such with respect to Palestine was Cilicia;
he indeed wrote nothing else than
the manner & order of the revelation made to himself;
but to his successors, wishing to give the entire history,
gave occasion of writing also that first
part, such as from Cilicia was had by word
or writing handed down; & what was lacking to the intent
to fill in from conjecture: & thus to some
it pleased to presume; that he who had enclosed the Head in an earthen vessel
without any ornament, had been a poor potter,
their conjecture perhaps strengthening, with there of pottery
once practiced indications, & with heaps of shards
fragments. But because those pilgrims were called
Macedonians to have been, they thought, that unworthy
of such a treasure, in an earthen pot, made up to invent a potter the author of such a gift. through some occasion deprived of it
they had been, through that very one, whom they imagined for themselves
in their conception, would have remained hidden always,
& unknown to the Emesene citizens; but to his potter they gave
something was narrated about a certain woman, who after
the death of the said Pilgrims of the Head itself was the custodian.
But if the Emesenes had also turned their mind
to the monogram of Christ impressed on the pot,
as I have insinuated above, perhaps also they would have invented something
about Constantine the Great, sealing the holy Head.
§. V. The relation of Metaphrastes in
the Life of S. Matrona is weighed, contrary to the truer history of the second Finding. To
this Dionysius the Little's Prologue.
[127] Before I come to the aforesaid & truer
history of the second Finding, It is said in the Life of S. Matrona of Perga. by the aforepraised
Marcellus described; it pleases to weigh,
what Simeon Metaphrastes, writer of the X century,
has in the life of S. Matrona of Perga;
lest to those about to read this a scruple it move; & the Author,
most worthy of faith in those things which he writes that he saw & did,
it render suspect of fabulosity. At that
time (when at Emesa Matrona was living) a certain Farmer,
says Metaphrastes, a flame seen by the farmer to come out of the earth, working his estate,
for many days saw a flame of fire
emitted from the earth; the emission was continuous
& never ceasing. He therefore, as one who
was a farmer, being able to conjecture nothing higher,
approaching the Bishop of the city, reports it.
He, understanding from what appeared,
that something great was being signified; coming with his
Clergy to the place, prayer made, ordered
the earth to be dug. which the Bishop digging found the Head: Which when it had been done was found
an urn, hiding not gold or anything
else of that kind which could soothe
certain precious & of the greatest making,
namely the most Venerable Head of S. John
the Baptist. And when this fame in every direction
had spread, no one remained at home, but
with the entire multitude they all flocked
to the spectacle; by whom this venerable
Head, with every praise & glorification
is introduced into the temple.
[128] These things if so simply had been done; it would have to be
said that the revelations were feigned all those, but this would make false the relation ascribed to Marcellus,
by which is said to have become known whose that Head was; &
of the fiction the author would have been either Marcellus himself, under
whose name circulates the Epistle soon to be produced,
or one of the Cave-dwelling Monks.
Neither does the reckoning of time allow us to presume,
in which Matrona lived, numbering years not much more than
thirty, or at most forty,
when the matter was Done, herself at Emesa present &
what she had seen & heard a thousand times narrating at Constantinople;
whither she returned more quickly, & where up to
the hundredth year of life she ruled the Parthenon founded by herself
counsel some illustrious Matrons from her Palace
submitted themselves to her discipline, present & in all things
helping that very one (unless I am mistaken) Marcellus, to whom
the aforesaid Revelations are ascribed; which cannot be presumed, given the reckoning of time, & who her
already a woman recognized directed to Emesa, to her
sister's there Monastery, but afterwards to the same sent
also himself to govern the Cave's monastery,
Matrona having departed for Jerusalem, to the same also
seems to have returned to his S. Bassianus's monastery,
[129] But she, the woman (as I have said) recognized,
scarcely had departed from Emesa, in which Matrona was present at the translation of the Head,
when of so wonderful a matter
the fame, to the ears of her husband Domitianus, who was everywhere
seeking her, having been brought, led him to Constantinople
in vain; then also to Emesa, on such occasion.
The sacred Head being found, Matrona, already Prefect
of the monastery, with all her holy women,
present to the spectacle approached; & drew
from the ointment, which was set forth … In
the middle however intercepted by the multitude, when
exit was not granted her, because, that they might receive,
all were thrusting themselves in; from what
she had received ointment, she was forced to impart to others.
While she so distributed it, a certain one from
birth blind, passing by all, (for there
were then certain Priests, who of the divine
ointment made the distribution) came to
her, & the blind man she enlightened by ointment thence taken, greatly insisting with prayers: she however
with the precious ointment anointing his eyes;
made him immediately to see, who before had never
seen. This proclaimed her great,
& made her to be among all so distinguished,
that all said it was she, who had thought to lie hidden
so long, & with men did those things which
Monks do.
[130] Therefore her husband Domitianus from finding his wife
conceived a new hope, forty years old at most when the matter was acted around 454, & came to Emesa:
but in vain. For sensing he was present
her husband, she found a way by which she would escape the danger
going to Jerusalem; & him following her thither also
by various means deceived, although from those things, which her husband
was describing, she was recognized by the lineaments of her face. She was
then nearly of that form, in which she had been twenty-
five years old when from her husband she had departed,
never afterwards seen by him; & to her dwelling solitarily
young in age of remarkable beauty: of which
nothing would have suited a much greater thirty-year-old. And yet
then was acted the year at least 454: &
Matrona at length having returned to Constantinople; &
asked by Marcellus the cause of her coming responded,
that despising old age & womanly weakness she singularly
studied to return to those, & beyond the year of Christ 500 surviving, from whom
she had received the first institution of spiritual life. She was
therefore then at least fifty years old, when she returned to Constantinople,
& the year of Christ was acted about
CCCCLXX, with Leo & Verena reigning, to whom
most dear she was; when already everywhere known was Marcellus's relation. & if indeed beyond the hundredth year
she lived; far beyond the five hundredth
of Christ by living she came. She was living at that very time,
when this history, far & wide divulged among
the Greeks, into Latin Dionysius the Little made. But
since Marcellus also longer in the same place lived,
returning from Emesa to S. Bassianus, for at least
XV years a helper of Athanasia, a most wealthy woman, having
crossed over to the discipleship of S. Matrona, & to her serving
in distributing alms; it could not happen, that
either himself (although he had not been, as he was, of most
upright manners) another manner of the holy Head being found
would propagate in writing, than what S. Matrona attested to;
nor that others under his name would feign anything,
which he would not immediately have refuted.
[131] Let therefore the truth of the History remain unshaken,
here to be proposed; & Metaphrastes be said, after five
centuries, Therefore he deceived Metaphrastes, the author of that Life after 400 years, not to have written those things which had been from the mouth
of S. Matrona once received, or transmitted from Emesa;
but when he had heard something about a flame from the place of the hidden
Head bursting forth, about a hoe as instrument for digging the place,
about a Bishop transferring the treasure found into
the church; a Farmer of the seen flame
the Emesenes, from the urn into which thrown the Head lay hid,
invented a potter, by his own, as in many others, conjecture, about the manner of the found Head,
the carrier of such a great
treasure. Other certainly is due to Metaphrastes the faith in
those Lives, which he either unchanged inserted into his collection,
or with only a more cultivated style adorned changing nothing in
substance: other in those, which from various
partly authors, partly traditions he patched together:
as is plain from the Life of S. Chariton the Abbot, in
our notes to the Greek-Moscan Ephemerides XXVIII
September struck down, where I showed him two
of very different time, but of the same name Saints to confuse.
But the Life of S. Matrona itself, with no marks
of times distinguished, sufficiently reveals to the writer
was lacking the knowledge of them, such as here we have somehow scraped together.
These things premised I come to the Interpreter of the truer
History.
[132] This Dionysius is, a Roman Abbot,
surnamed the Little, & Marcellus wrote truth, by twofold knowledge Greek
& Latin distinguished, as Sigebert of Gembloux
praises him de Script cap. 27, who then other
remarkable things, partly composed himself, partly from the Greek
made Latin, are now often enumerated by
others, but most recently by our Philip Labbe in
his dissertation on Ecclesiastical Writers. To these
you may add this little work on the Finding of the Head
of S. Baptist, Rendered into Latin by Dionysius the Little. which the Prologue indicates was endowed by him with Latinity,
inscribed to a certain Gaudentius the Abbot,
verisimilarly also Roman himself, &
brought to us from the Hamburg Mss. of Lindebrogius;
but to Du Cange exhibited by Lord de Wyon d'
Herouval, praised above for his most ready
will to such efforts of the Erudite to be aided.
From this Prologue we also learn this
which I insinuated above, that such history was then
first to the Romans manifested, different
from that relation of which the Decree of Gelasius mentions.
Other Mss. mostly, as also those which Surius
saw, lacked Prologues, as commonly very many of the Saints'
Acts, written in Legendaries through the course of the year
arranged; often with great inconvenience
for more distinct knowledge, of the Authors & their
age, & writing purpose to be had, if to each
its Preface were present. But this, about which
I set out to speak, & which I have reserved to this place,
to be set before the chief part, thus runs.
133 To the Venerable Lord, Gaudentius the Abbot, Dionysius.
The care & zeal of dearest Brothers, whom
through the grace of Christ you rule, compelled, Premising that to Monks was made a revelation,
that the relation which on the Finding of the Head of B.
John the Baptist in the Greek tongue is written,
into Latin by me be rendered eloquence: saying it would be fitting,
that on his Birthday, on which
among them born of women none greater rose up, this
relation, which about him is handed down, to the faithful peoples
be made known. With ready minds therefore in a space
short though it be, what was asked I have explained,
especially & because I have learned thy sanctity
wishes this same to be done. Nor do I perceive this without
divine nod to have been done: & the same John,
forerunner Herald of the truth of the Lord, of the Prophets
the summit of all, & institutor of Monks,
just as first he showed himself to Monks, who his most sacred
Head from the house of Herod once
the impious King took away, then carried,
at Emesa for many times ignored, also
to Monks declared himself; so now by the office of Monks, fittingly through a Monk is rendered into Latin:
though humble, this history about himself to the Romans
he has deigned to manifest; delighted, I believe,
with the obsequy of the venerable proposition,
so that through those who follow the singular
life, his glory in Christ he might spread. And
this we say, not that we arrogate to ourselves the conscience
of any preclear mind insolently;
but because of itself the pious profession brings forward holy
zeal, although to it our slothful conversation
is not equal.
[134] What kind of life that same most blessed
then practiced, who among the faithful
can be ignorant? for besides that of divine gift
the eminent largesse, because the Saint himself like a penitent Monk lived, by which from the promise
he was conceived; & still enclosed within his mother's
womb, from the womb whose sterile
he made fruitful, in the womb of the holy Virgin he recognized
the author of the universe. Besides that glory
also singular, by which the Baptist of Christ, &
friend stood of the heavenly Bridegroom; often solitary
in desert places & hidden he stayed, day
& night in fasts & prayers persevering,
clothed in camels' hair, & on locusts
feeding & wild honey. All which of supreme
continence & frugality indications are shown,
by which to the whole world with its pomps
& delights renouncing, nothing else he deigned
to see, than Christ: to whom also coming to
his baptism, he gave testimony
saying; Behold the Lamb of God, behold who takes away
the sins of the world. therefore he incurred the hatred of the world, And when with such illustrious
acts & so magnificent, he insinuated to all
examples of virtue; the Princes nevertheless, with
the Elders & Scribes & Pharisees, his merits
with insane audacities reproached; which our Lord
in the Gospel testifies, & said,
Came John the Baptist, neither eating,
nor drinking, & you say, He hath a demon.
Just as now most of the Christians, of the Pharisees
without doubt similar, if perhaps
they should see God's servants abstaining, in the same
revilings & curses burst forth; & a thing
which by imitation they ought to attain, with their
reproaches they do not fear to follow: that the probable life,
exposed to malignant rumors, may be able to hold praiseworthy perseverance,
by which the fervor of old emulation may be kindled. Matt. 11, 18 But this hatred
from the similarity of manners we sustain, that what
our Lord said in the Gospel, in us
also be approved: If you were of this world,
the world, what was its own, would love: but because
of this world you are not, therefore the world
hates you. John 25, 29
[135] These hatreds of the world S. John encountered,
whose today festivity by the Church through the whole world
of lands is celebrated, also of the Apostate Julian; & already in the times of Julian,
remaining body endured, what from his Disciples
then given to burial, the most sacred
Gospels reported. For the fierce cruelty of the Gentiles,
agreeing with the manners of the most impious & Apostate Julian,
having broken the tomb of the most Blessed,
his bones senselessly extracted; & burning with fire
reduced to dust, & at random with mad
fury dispersed. But the grace of Christ, which directs the hearts
of his own servants, through those days, whose fury had withdrawn other bones some Monks
from Jerusalem there for the sake
of prayer had led; who seeing so wicked
those venerable Relics they transferred;
& soon thence set out, the venerable treasure
with them carrying. Behold
again the obsequy of Monks divinely is procured,
that just as through Monks
the Head of this Saint was found, so also
through Monks the residual Relics of his body
were preserved: which forthwith to holy Athanasius,
Bishop of the city of Alexandria, are directed; also Monks brought to Alexandria.
which afterwards Theophilus Bishop of the same city,
destroying all the shrines of idols,
in a basilica, which under the name of the same most blessed
John the Baptist with pious devotion he built,
with immense veneration of the people deposited.
But now is the time that we relate to you the aforesaid
history, & for this our labor the support
of your prayers we may efficaciously obtain.
§. VI. On the time & place of the second Finding.
[136] Ἐπεφάνη
ὁ
τρισόλβιος
καὶ
ὀικουμενικὸς
ἀπόστολος, [In the year of the Syromacedonians 763. Ind 6 18 Feb. the Finding is said to have been made,] καὶ
γνήσιος
φίλος
τοῦ
σωτῆρος
ἡμῶν
Ἰησοῦ
Χριστοῦ,
ἐν
τῇ
μέσῃ
ἑβδομάδι
τῶν
ἁγίων
νηστειῶν,
περὶ
τοῦ
Φεβρουαρέου
μηνὸς
ὀκτωκαιδεκάτην,
ἤτους
τρίτου
ἑξηκοστοῦ
ἑπτακοσιοστοῦ
ἐν
χρόνοις
Ἰνδικτιῶνος
ἕκτης,
βασιλευόντων
Βαλεντινιανοῦ
καὶ
Μαρκιανοῦ
τῶν
ἐυσεβῶν.
Βασιλέων
καὶ
δούλων
τοῦ
Χριστοῦ,
ἐπὶ
τοῦ
ὁσιωτάτου
Ἐπισκόπου
Οὐρανίου,
καὶ
ἀνηνέχθη
ἐικάδι
τετάρτῃ
τοῦ
ἀυτοῦ
μηνός. Appeared the most blessed
& universal Apostle, the exposition on the 24th of the same, in the Wednesday of mid-Lent; & genuine friend
of our Savior Jesus Christ, on the middle Wednesday
of the holy Fasts, on the eighteenth
day of the month of February, in the year seven hundred
sixty-third, in the times of the sixth Indiction,
with Valentinianus & Marcian most pious
Emperors & servants of God reigning, under Uranius
the most holy Bishop; & it was brought up
on the twenty-fourth of the same month. Thus the narration
soon to be produced, begins Marcellus:
& the same thus ends: Translation, 20 October. Ἐγένετο
δὲ
τὰ
καταθέσια
τοῦ
ἁγίου
Προδρόμου
καὶ
Βαπτιστοῦ
Ἰωάννου,
ἐν
τῷ
ἀυτοῦ
ναῷ
μηνὸς
Ὀκτωβρίου
ἐικάδι
ἐκτῃ
τοῦ
τρίτου
καὶ
ἑξηκοστοῦ
καὶ
ἑπτακοσιοστοῦ
ἔτους
Ἰνδικτιῶνος
ἕκτης. Was made of S. John the Baptist & Forerunner
the deposition in his temple, on the month of October
day twenty-sixth, in the year seven hundred
sixty-third, of the Indiction sixth.
[137] These very things Marcellinus the Count, after the related
Epitome of those things which previously done we reported, with Vincomalus & Opilio Coss.
(whether it is his Baronius doubts, nor dares affirm
Du Cange) thus continues. This therefore
venerable head, under Uranius the said Bishop
of the city, with Vincomalus & Opinio Coss.
in the month of February day XXIV, in the middle of the Paschal jejunia
week, with Emperors Valentinianus
& Marcian reigning. The Paschal
Chronicle, otherwise called the Alexandrian, has these things:
Ἐπὶ
τῶν
προκειμένων
Ὑπάτων
Βινκομάλου
κὰι
Ὀπιλίωνος,
βασιλευόντων
Οὐαλεντινιανοῦ
κὰι
Μαρκιανοῦ
Ἀυγούστων
μηνὶ
Περιτίῳ
πρὸ
ιβ᾽
καλανδῶν
Μαρτίων
τῆ
μέση
ἑβδομάδι
τῶν
νηστειῶν, in years after the beheading 425,
ἔτους
Συρομακεδόνων
ψ
χ
γ᾽,
Ἀντιοχέων
φ
α᾽,
και
υ
κ
ε᾽
ἐτους
ἀφ᾽
οὗ
ἀπετμήθη
ο
ἃγιος
Πρόδρομος,
Προφήτης
κὰι
Βαπτιστὴς
Ἰωάννης,
ἡυρέθη
ἡ
τιμία
ἀυτοῦ
κεφαλὴ
ἐν
τῇ
Ἐμεσίων
πολει. Under the present Consuls
Vincomalus & Opilio, with Valentinianus
& Marcian Augusti reigning, in the month Peritius,
the day before XII Kalends March,
in the middle of the jejunia week, in the year of the Syro-Macedonians
DCCLXIII, of the Antiochenes DI,
& CCCCXXV after the holy Forerunner, Prophet
& Baptist John was beheaded,
his venerable Head in the city
of the Emesenes was found.
[138] The Consulate of Vincomalus & Opilio the year
of the vulgar era notes without any controversy,
CCCCLIII: & consequently in the year V. Era 453, which while it is said to be CCCCXXV from the beheading
of John, is placed he beheaded in the year
of the same era XXVII (as we said before) ending; & by this
would be confirmed the opinion of Henschenius, holding Christ
crucified, with the two Gemini
Coss. that is in our year XXIX, against which the author of the Paschal
Chronicle himself most laboriously tried
to demonstrate that Christ was crucified with Persicus
(others Priscus) & Vitellus Coss. who mark of the vulgar
era year XXXIV. from which the year 29 Christ died would even hence be confirmed. Namely this Author,
how anxious he was about establishing the year of the born & crucified
Lord from his own opinion; so
nothing seems to have been anxious about the uniform progression of the rest
succeeding everywhere, but he wove the Chronicle
with the very words of the Authors that he was compiling who preceded:
which while here also he is presumed to have done,
the number of witnesses is augmented, confirming the common
once about the Consulate of the two Gemini, which
last Christ had on earth, opinion.
[139] But the Consulate of Vincomalus & Opilio, [But the said Consulate does not consist with mid-Lent falling on 18 & 24 February,]
so concordantly ascribed to the aforesaid Finding
by Marcellinus the Count & the Paschal Chronicle;
does not allow to stand with itself similarly named by the same the mid
week of the sacred fasts,
in which would fall the XXIV & XVIII February or
XII Kal. March. To which place of the Chronicle
aforecited Du Cange attending, absolutely declares
that this could not have happened in the year
of Christ Dionysian CCCCLIII, in which, according
to all Chronologers, Vincomalus & Opilio's
Consulate fell; since in that year Pascha was
XII April, & consequently the third & fourth Sundays
of Lent, which the middle of the jejunia week
include, fell on VIII
& XV March, according to the observed &
received by the Greeks reckoning of Weeks.
But whether these things, says Du Cange, can be reconciled,
let us see; & whether the year's Epoch under Abbot Marcellus
indicated, can agree with XVIII February,
on which the sacred Head from the earth's
bosom was first dug up; & with XXIIII
on which into the Sacristy of the monastery it was brought.
[140] Marcellus indeed & the author of the Paschal Chronicle
say this Finding was made in the year of the Syro-Macedonians
DCCLXIII. agrees however the preceding year 452, Indict. VI,
with Valentinianus & Marcian reigning, &
consequently of the Antiochenes in the year DI, as the same
writer of the Chronicle subjoins. Since moreover the Syro-Macedonian
Epoch, the vulgar of Christ Epoch
CCCXII years precedes, & that on the Kalends
of October begins; it follows the year DCCLXIII
to fall in the month of October of the vulgar year
CCCCLI, the following month of February however
in the Dionysian year CCCCLII; in which
Pascha was on XXIII March, & accordingly the mid
jejunia week began on Sunday I (feria), on the day
XVIII of the month February, which in that year days
XXIV had on account of the Bissextum, & ended on
the following Sunday, XXIV of the same month.
Which all square with Marcellus's
narration, writing, Uranius the Bishop
brought the Head of S. John the Baptist, from the place where it had been found,
into the Sacristy on the Sunday
of the same month. For other was the mid
Lent week among the Greeks,
from that which the Latins call the Mediana,
since among the Greeks that is, which the Mediana
of the Latins precedes. The Lent indeed
they begin from Feria II of Sexagesima, so
that really of eight weeks it consists, of which
the fourth Sunday makes the Mid-Lent,
which therefore μέση
τῶν
νηστειῶν &
μεσονήστιμοι is called. For among the same
Greeks, as rightly observes Allatius, any
week receives a name from the following Sunday;
which is also confirmed from the Ethiopic Calendar
in Scaliger in which the Mid-Lent
at day XXVII is referred, which is called Mount
of Olives, from the day's Gospel. From
all which it is made out that this Finding
happened in the year of Christ Dionysian CCCCLII,
not truly the following, as seem to want Marcellinus
the Count, & the Author of the Paschal Chronicle.
[141] Nor does it matter, that this Finding to
the VI Indiction, [whose September month begun the 6th Indiction, rightly is ascribed to the Translation made in October] is referred by Marcellinus &
the Author of the Chronicle: for this is to be understood
of the Translation of the same Head from the Sacristy,
where it was first deposited, into the church
of the Cave: which to have been made on the XXVI of the month October
in Indiction VI, in the year (of the Syro-Macedonians)
DCCLXIII rightly writes Abbot Marcellus,
since the time's most characteristics fit
in the year CCCCLII. For Indiction VI
in the month of October in this year existed, & the year
of the Syro-Macedonians DCCLXIII in this very month
took its beginning. in the year of the Syro-Macedonians 763 also begun & Antiochene 501, Squares also (whatever
Scaliger says in the Isagogic Canons pag.
301) the Antiochene year DI, which began from
the month of May… But what to Marcellinus
the Count & the Author of the Chronicle the occasion of hallucination
offered, this was, that the Finding
they confused with the Translation: since the Finding
really had been made in the year CCCCLII February
XVIII, but the deposition in the Sacristy
XXIV, in the meantime while the church in which it would be placed
was being built, which finally in the year
next happened. Thus far Du Cange in the Notes
to the aforesaid Paschal Chronicle, an observation, where however to the Finding also is added Ind. 6. should be noted 5.
which to the French he gave once & again with first & second
cares elaborated, with third finally augmented
& Latin rendered: everywhere however to note
omitting, that Abbot Marcellus not only
at the end of his Narration the VI Indiction joins
with the month of October; but also at the beginning
with the month of February when only was running Indiction
V. It is necessary therefore that Marcellus himself, or
his older librarian whom others transcribed,
hallucinated by putting ε for σ᾽; or the Antiochenes
would have begun the Indiction, not only in the month of May,
as Scaliger to teach Du Cange asserts in the Glossary,
word Indictio, but from the month January or
at least February; & thus almost an entire year preceded
the Roman Indiction; the Constantinopolitan,
by nine or eight months.
[142] Now what pertains to the place; it, how
far or near the city it was, The Cave monastery double; no one explains; but indicates
Marcellus num. 14 as if a twin
monastery there was, when he says, that Maxentius
& Stephen the Archimandrites, coming to
the Bishop; suggested about the cave, which cohered
with the monastery, (that namely in which to be found
the Head holy was) that the two equally
might be joined. With the Bishop assenting Stephen
said: By your precept tomorrow early
I deliver the cave to Brother Marcellus. He
indeed having received it, when he had descended to the neighboring
S. Carterius's monastery, having the necessity of quickly returning
excuses, because there has been handed over, he said, to us by
the Bishop another monastery also, greater, in which Abbot was Marcellus, to which care
we insistently expend. Therefore the Cave Monastery was double;
one Greater, over which already for some
time Marcellus was presiding as Archimandrite,
to govern it verisimilarly by S. Bassianus
at Constantinople asked, by the instinct perhaps of S.
Matrona, even then governing the Emesene Parthenon;
the other Lesser, & nearly like a reclusorium,
capable of one or another solitary.
[143] And this Lesser indeed of its proper name
Spelaeum or Cave was, & perhaps from all
memory back had an Anchorite as inhabitant: but afterwards
was founded the larger monastery, not only
did it share the same name of Cave, & the lesser like a Reclusorium, but to all
the valley gave the name. Although also this name
in itself seems in Greek to be given to any
valley, or place enclosed by rocks & mountains,
Strabo being witness, whence both to villages & to cities
the name adhered, such a one among the Macedonians; where the heretic Eustachius had the Head so hidden,
in Livy lib. 15 Spelaeum; & at Terracina
in Italy commonly called Sperlonga, in Tacitus
& Suetonius Spelunca; then other places of Syria
& Arabia in the Notitia of the Empire & Ptolemy.
In the Lesser therefore & properly called Cave had lived
Eustochius, his Arian heresy or rather
Macedonian under a monastic habit concealing:
together with the Head, there by him so studiously buried;
that, when he expelled from there of the theft & deed
had given no notice; it was thought, so that it could be believed of old there placed. there itself
the Head had lain already from the time of the first under Constantine
Finding. At the same time it would have come about thence,
that with this second Finding everywhere divulged, & its
truth by so many preceding & following signs confirmed,
abolished at Constantinople, if any there
still survived, faith, given to the Translation made
under Theodosius, although by Sozomenus asserted;
& it began among fables, no longer credible
to be reputed, although the church in the Hebdomon
built before it had seemed irrefragably to attest the same.
HISTORY OF THE SECOND FINDING,
Made & written by Marcellus Archimandrite of the Cave:
With the version of Dionysius the Little, collated with various Latin Mss.
[144] Επεφάνη
ὁ
τρισόλβιος,
καὶ
ὀικουμενικὸς
ἀπόστολος,
καὶ
γνήσιος
φίλος
τοῦ
σωτῆρος
ἡμῶν
Ιησοῦ
Χριστοῦ
ἐν
τῇ
μέσῃ
ἑβδομάδι
τῶν
ἁγίων
νηστειῶν
περὶ
τοῦ
Φεβρουαρίου
μηνὸς
ὀκτωκαιδεκάτην,
ἔτους
τρίτου
ἐξηκοστοῦ
ἑπτακοσιοστοῦ,
ἐν
χρόνοις
ἰνδικτιῶνος
ἔκτης,
βασιλευόντων
Βαλεντινιανοῦ
καὶ
Μαρκιανοῦ,
τὸν
ἐυσεβῶν
βασιλέων
καὶ
δούλων
τοῦ
Χρ
στοῦ,
ἐπὶ
τοῦ
ὁσιοτάτου
ἐπισκόπου
Οὐρανίου·
καὶ
ἀνηνέχθη
εἰκάδι
τετάρτῃ
τοῦ
ἀυτοῦ
μηνός.
Ἀπεκαλύφθη
δὲ
μετὰ
φόβου
καὶ
τρόμου
ἐν
εἰδει
ἀστέρος
πυρὸς,
ἐμὸι
τῷ
ἁμαρτωλῷ
Μαρκέλλῳ,
κατὰ
τὰ
ὑποτεταγμένα
ὁ
ράματα,
πίστιν
ἔχοντα,
ὁ
τὰ
πάντα
δημιουργήσας
Θεὸς
ἐν
τῇ
δυνάμει
ἀυτοῦ,
καὶ
κατασκευάσας
ἐν
τῇ
σοφίᾳ
αυτοῦ,
ὁ
τῶν
ὅλων
γνώστης
πρὸ
γενέσεως
ἀυτῶν,
καὶ
πάντα
ὀικονομῶν
πρὸς
τὸ
συμφέρον
πάσιν
ἀνθρώποις·
ὁ
ὢν
ἐυλογητὸς
εἰς
τοὺς
ἀιῶνας,
ὅτι
κατηξίωσε
καμὲ
τὸν
ἀυτοῦ
δοῦλον
Μάρκελλον
θεατὴν
γενέσθαι
τῆς
προκειμένης
ὁράσεως.
[145] Εἶδον
γὰρ
ἐν
ὁραματι
τῆς
νυκτὸς,
καὶ
ἰδοὺ
πᾶσαι
ἁι
θύραι
τῆς
ἡμετέρας
μονῆς
ἦσαν
ἀνοῳγμέναι·
καὶ
ἐν
θορύβῳ
πολλῷ
γενόμενος,
κατῆλθον
τοῦ
ἀποκλεῖσαι
ἀυτάς·
καὶ
πάλιν
ἐθεασάμην
ποταμὸν
ἕλκοντα
ἐπὶ
τὴν
θύραν
τῆς
μονῆς·
καὶ
ταῦτα
ἰδὼν,
ἐννεὸς
ἐγενόμην,
ἐννοῶν
πόθεν
τὸ
πλῆθος
τῶν
τοσούτων
ὑδάτων.
Καὶ
ἐν
τῷ
με
διαλογίζεσθαι,…
ἤκουον
φωνὴν
πωλλῶν
ταγμάτων,
ἀπὸ
ἀνατολῶν…
ἦχον
ἡμῖν
φερόντων,
καὶ
ἐφ᾽
ἡμᾶς
ἐρχομένων
ἐπὶ
τῶν
ὑδάτων.
Καὶ
ἐμοῦ
θαυμάζοντος
πῶς
ἐν
μέσῳ
τῶν
ὑδάτων
ἐπορέυοντο
ἐφ᾽
ἡμᾶς,
καὶ
ἕκαστον
τάγμα
ἰδίαν
γλῶσσαν
εἶχε
καὶ
ἔψαλλεν·
καὶ
ἤκουσα
φωνὴν
βοώντων·
Ἰδοὺ
ὁ
ἅγιος
Ιωάννης
ὁ
Βωπτιστὴς
τοῦ
σωτῆρος
ἠμῶν
Ἰησοῦ
Χριστοῦ
ἀναδείκνυται.
Καὶ
ἐν
τῷ
ἑστάναι
με
πρὸς
τὴν
μεσεμβρινὴν
θύραν,
παραχρῆμα
ἠνοίγησαν
αν
ἀνατολικαὶ
θύραι.
Καὶ
εἰσῆλθον
τὰ
τάγματα.
Καὶ
ἀφεὶς
τὴν
θέαν
τοῦ
ποταμοῦ,
εἰσῆλθον
τρέχων,
καὶ
ἔστην
ἐν
ἀρχῇ
τοῦ
κλιμακίου·
καὶ
εῖδον
τὴν
ἁγίαν
ἀυτῶν
ὑπηρεσίαν,
γενομένην
ἐπὶ
τὴν
μονὴν·
Κὰι
ἐστῶς
ἐν
τῷ
ἀυτῷ
κλιμακίῳ,
ἐθεασάμην
ἀυλὰς
δύο·
μίαν
μὲν
ἀποβλέπουσαν
εις
δύσιν,
τὴν
δὲ
ἄλλην
ἐπὶ
την
μεσημβρίαν·
καὶ
ναὸν
μέγαν
ἐν
μέσῳ
ἀυτῶν.
Ἕκαστον
τάγμα
ἐισίει
εἰς
τὴν
ἀυλὴν
τὸν
ἀποβλέπουσαν
εις
δύσιν,
καὶ
προσεκύνει
ἐπὶ
τὸν
ναόν,
καὶ
ἐπὶ
τὴν
μεσηβρινὴν,
καὶ
παραχρῆμα
ἐπάυοντο.
Μετὰ
δὲ
τὸ
παύσασθαι
τὰ
τάγματα,
ἕτεροι
ἐβόων,
καὶ
ἔλεγον·
Ἰδου
ὁ
ἅγιος
Ιωάννης…
[146] Κὰι
ἐθεασάμην
ἀυτὸν
ἐπὶ
τοῦ
ὁραθέντος
μοι
ναοῦ·
καὶ
εἷς
ἐξ
δεξιῶν
ἀυτοῦ,
καὶ
εἷς
ἐξ
ἐυωνύμων.
Παραυτίκα
οῦν
ἤρξαντο
τὰ
τάγματα
ἀκολούθως
ἐισερχόμενα,
ἑν,
ἓν,
ἐυλογεῖσθαι
παρ᾽
ἀυτοῦ…
Πληρωθέντων
δὲ
τῶν
ταγμάτων,
ἔλογισάμην
κᾀγὼ
ἀυτὸς
προσελθεῖν,
καὶ
ἐυλογηθῆναι
παρ᾽
ἀυτοῦ·
καὶ
ἐσκεψάμην
ἐισελθεῖν
διὰ
τῶν
θυρῶν,
ὧν
ἐισῆλθον
τὰ
τάγματα·
διὰ
τὸ
μὴ
θεάσασθαί
με
τινὰ
δόντα
ἀυτῷ
εἰρήνην
ἐι
μὴ
ἐν
τῷ
στήθει
ἀυτοῦ,
ἐγὼ
δὲ
προσελθὼν
ἀυτῷ
ἀπέμπροσθεν
μετὰ
φόβου
καὶ
τρόμου,
ἔχων
μου
τὴν
κεφαλὴν
ἐπὶ
τὴν
γῆν,
ἡψάμην
ἀυτῷ
τῶν
ποδῶν·
ἀυτὸς
δὲ
μου
ἥψατο
τοῦ
πώγωνος…
καὶ
ἔδωκέ
μοι
ἐιρήνην
ἐν
τῷ
ἁγίῳ
ἀυτοῦ
στόματι…
Κὰι
παραυτὰ
ἐκβαλὼν
ἐκ
τοῦ
κόλπου
ἀυτοῦ
σκεῦος
γέμον
μέλιτος,
ἔδωκέ
μοι,
λέγων·
Λάβε
ταύτην
τὴν
ἐυλογίαν.
Κὰι
ἐπορευόμην
πρὸ
ἀυτοῦ,
εἰσήλθομεν
εἰς
τὴν
ἡμετέραν
μονήν…
[147] Κὰι
ἰδοὺ
εθ᾽εασάμην
στύλον
πυρὸς,
προάγοντα
ἀυτον,
καὶ
ἔμφοβος
γενόμενος,
διυπνίσθην.
Μετὰ
δὲ
ταύτα…
τῇ
ἑσπέρᾳ
τῶν
ἁγίων
νηστειῶν,
ἔφην
πρὸ
τοὺς
ἀδελφούς·
Ὁ
καθ᾽
ἕνα
ὑμῶν
τὸν
ἑαυτοῦ
ψαλμὸν
δευτερωσάτω
…
Ἀυτῶν
δὲ
καθημένων,
καὶ
δευτερούντων
τοὺς
ψαλμοὺς,
ἀδελφὸς
Ισαάκιος
ἦρε
τοὺς
ὀφθαλμοὺς
ἀυτου,
καὶ
ἐθεάσατο
πὖρ
καιόμενον
ἐν
τοῖς
νανοις
τῆς
θυρίδος
τοῦ
ἁγίου
σπηλάιου,
ὅπου
ἦν
ἡ
κορυφὴ
τοῦ
ἁγίου
Ιωάννου.
Ὁ
ἀδελφος
οὖν
θεασάμενος
ἀνεβόησε,
λέγων
Κύρι
ἐμοῦ,
πάτερ,
ἰδοὺ
πῦρ,
καίεται
ἐν
τῇ
θυρίδι
τοῦ
σπηλαίου.
Κἀγὼ
πρός
ἀυτὸν
ἔφην·
Μὴ
φοβοῦ,
ἀδελφὲ·
ἀλλὰ
σφραγισάμενος
ἡσύχασον
…
ἐγὼ
δὲ
εἰδὼς
τὸ
μυστήριον,
ἐν
ἐκστάσει
πολλῇ
ἐγενόμην…
[149] Κὰι
ὡς
μεθ᾽
ἡμέραν,
ἐν
τῷ
καθεύδειν
με
ἐν
τῇ
ἀυτῇ
νυκτὶ,
μετὰ
τὴν
τῶν
νυκτοφυλάκων
ὥραν,
καὶ
ἰδοὺ
ὡς
χεὶρ
ἀνθρώπου
ἔνυξέ
με
τρίτον
ἀπὸ
τοῦ
δεξιοῦ
μέρους·
καὶ
ἰδοὺ
φωνή
πρός
με
λέγουσα·
Ἰδοὺ
ἐδωρήθην
ὑμῖν·
ἀναστὰς
ἐυρήσεις
ἀστέρα
προηγοῦντὰ
σε·
καὶ
ὅπου
ἄν
καταποθῆ,
ἐκεῖ
σκάψον,
καὶ
ἐυρήσεις
με…
ἐγὼ
δὲ
μετὰ
φόβου
ἐξῆλθον,
καὶ
εἶδον
ἀστέρα
πυρὸς
ἑστῶτα
ἐπὶ
τὴν
θύραν
οὗ
ἤμην·
καὶ
ἔμφοβος
γενόμενος,
ἐσφράγισα
ἐμαυτὸν.
Κὰι
ἰδοὺ
προηγεῖτο
ὁ
ἀυτὸς
ἀστὴρ,
καὶ
εἰσῆλθον
ἀκολουθῶν
ἀυτῷ,
μέχρις
οὗ
ἐστη
ἐπὶ
τῆς
κόγχης
τοῦ
σπηλαίου
[οὗ
ἧν
ἡ
ἁγία
κορυφὴ
τοῦ
Προδρόμου
καὶ
Βαπτιστοῦ
Ιωάννου].
[151] Ἐγὼ
δὲ
ταῦτα
πάντα
ἐθεασάμενος,
παραχρῆμα
προσεκύνησα
τῷ
Κυρίῳ,
πεσὼν
ἐπὶ
πολλὰς
ὥρας…
Λαβὼν
δὲ
θυμίαμα,
καὶ
βαλῶν
δεόμενος
καὶ
παρακαλὼν…
κρατήσας
ὀρύγιον
ἠρξάμην
σκάπτειν·
καὶ
εὗρον
τὸν
τόπον
ᾠκοδομημένον
ἀπὸ
δαρτῆς
ἀσβέστου,
καὶ
πενταπαλαίστου·
καὶ
ὅσον
ἐγὼ
ἔσκαπτον,
ἦχος
καὶ
κτύπος
ἀπεδίδοτο
μέγας,
ὡς
ἀπὸ
ὑδρίας.
Κὰι
μετὰ
τὸ
σκάψαι
με,
καὶ
καθελθεῖν
ἴσον
τοῦ
ἐδάφους,
εὗρον
ἐκκεχυμένον
ὡς
ἄμμον
χαλκοῦν·
καὶ
μετὰ
ταῦτα
καμῶν
πολλὰ,
μόλις
ἐδυνήθην
ἀποχωρῆσαι
τὸν
ἄμμον.
Κὰι
μετὰ
ταῦτα
ἐξῆλθε
σὺν
τῇ
ἄμμῳ
κεραμὶς
μία,
κὰι
ὑποκάτω
τῆς
κεραμίδος
πλὰξ
μαρμάρου·
καὶ
κρεμάσας
τὴν
πλάκα,
ἑῦρον
τὴν
ὑδρίαν.
Κὰι
μετὰ
φόβου
καὶ
τρόμου
ἐυθέως
λαβὼν
λύχνον
καὶ
θυμίαμα,
καὶ
προσκυνήσας
πάλιν,
μετὰ
ταῦτα
ἐκάλυψα
τὴν
ἀυτὴν
ὑδρίαν.
[152] Κὰι
παραυτὰ
παρεγίνοντο
πρὸς
ἡμᾶς
όι
περὶ
τὸν
ἀρχιμανδρίτην
καὶ
διάκονον
Γεννάδιον·
καὶ
συντυχῶν
μοι
ἐπι
τὴν
θύραν
τοῦ
σπηλάιου,
εἶπέ
μοι,
δεῦρο
ἐισελθωμεν
ἕσω
ἀμφότεροι.
Κὰι
μετὰ
τὸ
ἔυξασθαι,
ἔδωκέ
μοι
τὸν
ἀσπασμὸν,
καὶ
εἶπέ
μοι·
Ὅραμα
εἶδον
ἐκεῖσε,
ὡς
ὅτι
ἐγώ
τε
καὶ
σὺ
ἑστήκαμεν
ἐν
τῷ
ἐν
ταῦθα
σπηλάιῳ,
καὶ
φησὶν
ἄρτων
πλῆθος
ἀπέκειτο
ἐν
τῷ
ἐν
ταῦθα
σπηλάιῳ,
καθαρῶν
ὡς
ὁ
ἥλιος,
καὶ
μερὶς
ἐπάνω
ἀυτῶν·
καὶ
ἰδοῦ
δύναμις
πολλῶν
ἀνθρώπων
κατερχομένων
ἐν
τῷ
ἀυτῷ
σπηλάιῳ,
καὶ
ἐλάμβανον
παρ᾽
ἡμῶν
ἀπὸ
τῶν
προειρημένων
ἄρτων.
Κὰι
οὕτως
οὐκ
ἐξέλειψαν,
καὶ
ὁι
ἄνθρωποι
λαμβάνοντες
οὐκ
ἐπάυσαντο.
Κὰι
ἡμῶν
ἡττηθέντων
ἀπὸ
τῶν
πολλῶν
ὄχλων,
ἤρξαντο
ὁι
ἄρτοι
πέτεσθαι
ἐπὶ
τὰς
ἡμῶν
χεῖρας.
Καὶ
μετὰ
τὸ
διηγήσασθαι
ἀυτὸν
τὴν
ὅρασιν
ταύτην,
ἔφην·
Καλόν
σου
τὸ
ὅραμα.
Κὰι
λογισάμενος,
εἶπον·
Τί
θέλει
τοῦτο
το
ὅραμα;
Καὶ
παλιν
λογισάμενος,
εἶπον,
Ὁτι
ἐκ
τοῦ
Θεοῦ
ἐστὶ
τοῦτο
τὸ
ὅραμα.
Καὶ
γνὸυς
ὅτι
ἐκ
τοῦ
Θεοῦ
ὑπάρχει,
ἀπεκάλυψα
ἀυτῷ
τὴν
ἐπιφάνειαν
τοῦ
ἁγίου
Ιωάννου.
Κὰι
παραυτὰ
ἀκούσας
ἐννεὸς
ἔμεινε·
καὶ
ἤρξατο
παρακαλεῖν,
ποῦ
ἐστὶν
ὁ
τόπος·
ἐγὼ
δὲ
παραχρῆμα
ὑπέδειξα
ἀυτῷ.
[153] Καὶ
μετὰ
ταῦτα
ἐξήλθομεν
ἀμφότεροι,
καὶ
ἐλογιζόμην
τί
ὀφείλομεν
ποιῆσαι.
Καὶ
ἐσκοπησα
πρότερον
ἀπελθεῖν,
καὶ
ἀποκαλύψαι
τῷ
παπίᾳ
Στεφάνῳ,
τῷ
ἀρχιμανδρίτῃ
τοῦ
Δαρωμίου,
ἵνα
ἀυτὸς
γνωρίσῃ
τῷ
ἐπισκόπῳ.
Κὰι
ἀπελθόντες
ἐν
τῷ
μοναστηρίῳ
ἀυτοῦ,
οὐκ
ἕυρομεν
ἀυτὸν,
δὶα
τὸ
ἀπελθεῖν
ἀυτὸν
ἐν
τοῖς
ἐπιχωρίοις
μοναστηρίοις.
Καὶ
ἐν
τῷ
ἡμᾶς
ἐπανιέναι
ἐκεῖθεν,
ἐλογισάμην
μεταπέμψεσθαι
τὸν
διάκονον
Κυριακὸν,
ἀρχιμανδρίτην
[τῶν
ἐν
τῷ
ἱερῷ,]
ἀποκαλύψαι
ἀυτῷ
τὸ
μυστήριον
τῆς
ἐπιφανείας
τοῦ
ἁγίου
Ιωάννου.
Κὰι
ἀπέστειλα
τὸν
ἀδελφὸν
Ἰσαάκιον,
ἐιπών·
Ζπουδαίως
παραγενοῦ
ἕως
ἡμῶν.
Κὰι
τοῦ
ἀδελφοῦ
ἀπελθόντος,
καὶ
πόντεἰος
ἀυτῷ,
παραχρῆμα
ὑπακούσας
παρεγένετο.
Ἡμῶν
δὲ
ἀσπασαμένων
ἀυτὸν,
καὶ
ἀυτὸς
ἀπήγγειλεν
ἡμῖν
τὸ
ὅραμα,
ὃ
εἶδεν,
ὃ
καὶ
ῆν
σύμφωνοῦν
τῷ
ὁράματι
τοῦ
διακόνου
Γενναδίου.
Ἐυχὴν
δὲ
ποιήσαντες,
ἐγνωρίσαμεν
ἀυτῷ
τὴν
ἀποκάλυψιν
τοῦ
ἁγίου
Ιωάννου,
καὶ
ἔφη·
Τί
ὀφείλει
γενέσθαι;
Καὶ
εἶπον
ἐγὼ,
ὅτι
συμφέρει
γνωρίσαι
τῷ
ἐπισκόπῳ
περὶ
τούτου.
[154] Κὰι
πάλιν
μαθόντες
ὅτι
οὺ
παρεγένετο
ὁ
παπίας
Στέφανος
ὁ
προῤῥηθεὶς
ἀρχιμανδρίτης
ἀπὸ
τῶν
ἐπιχωρίων,
ἐμείναμεν
ἡμέρας
πέντε
ἀπεκδεχόμενοι
ἀυτόν.
Σαββάτῳ
δὲ
δείλης
ἡμῶν
καθημένων
καὶ
ὁμιλούντων
…
ἐξαίφνης
τυθεὶς
ἐπὶ
τὰ
γόνατα,
ἐκάμφθην
ὅλος,
καὶ
οὐκ
ἠδυνήθην
[οὔτε
σαλευθῆναι,]
οὔτε
ἄλλότι
ποιῆσαι.
Εἶπον
οὖν,
ὁι
περὶ
τὸν
διάκονον
Γεννάδιον
καὶ
Κυριακόν·
Οὐκ
ἔφημέν
σοι,
ὅτι
ἐισέλθωμεν,
καὶ
γνωρίσωμεν
περὶ
τούτου
τῷ
ἐπισκόπῳ,
ἐπειδὴ
ὁ
παπίας
Στέφανος
ὄυπω
ἦλθεν.
Ἐγὼ
δὲ
ἔμεινα
μειζόνως
βασανιζόμενος·
ἀυτὸι
δὲ
πληρὼσαντες
την
ὑπηρεσίαν,
τὴν
ἑσπερινὴν,
καὶ
ἐλθόντες
ὅπου
ἀνεκείμην,
ἀπήγγειλαν
λέγοντες,
ὅτι
ὡμόσαμεν
τῷ
ἁγίῳ
Ιωάννῃ,
καὶ
ἀνεδεξάμεθα,
ὅτι
πρὸ
ἀνατολῶν
ἡλίου
μανθάνει
ὁ
ἐπίσκοπος·
Ἐγὼ
δὲ
πρὸς
ἀυτοὺς
εἶπον,
Καλῶς
συνετάξασθε.
Κὰι
παραχρῆμα
ἐκουφίσθην
ἐκ
τῶν
ὀδυνῶν.
[256] Κὰι
τῇ
ἐπιούσῃ
κυριακῇ
ἡμέρα,
ἅμα
τῷ
διακόνω
Κυριακῷ
καὶ
Ιουλιὰνῲ
μονάζοντι
ἐισελθόντες,
ἐγνωρίσαμεν
τῷ
ἐπισκόπῲ
Οὐρανίῳ,
ἀπὸ
τῶν
ἑωθινῶν
ἐξερχομένῳ,
ἐιπόντες,
ὅτι
ὁ
ἅγιος
Ιωάννης
ὁ
Βαπτιστὴς
[τοῦ
Χριστοῦ]
ἀπεκαλύφθη.
Ἀυτὸς
δὲ
ἀκούσας,
ἐννεὸς
ἔμεινε,
καὶ
εἶπε
μὴ
μαθεῖν
τινα,
καὶ
μηδεὶς
ἀυτοῦ
ἅψηται.
Κὰι
εἶπεν
ἀυτῷ
ὁ
διάκονος
Κυριακός·
Πότε
ἔρχῃ;
ὁ
δὲ
Ἄυριον,
φησὶ,
παραγίνομαι.
Παραγενόμενος
δὲ
τῇ
ἐξῆς
μετὰ
πρεσβυτέρων
καὶ
διακόνων,
ἐπιστάντες
τῷ
τόπῳ,
πεσόντες
προσεκύνησαν.
Μάλχος
δὲ
ὁ
πρεσβύτερος,
εἷς
ὢν
ἅμα
τῶν
ἀκολουθησάντων
τῷ
ἐπισκόπῳ,
δυσπιστήσας
εἶπε·
Πόθεν
τοῦτο
δῆλον,
ὅτι
ἡ
κεφαλὴ
τοῦ
Προδρόμου
τυγχάνει
αὕτη;
καὶ
ἐπιβαλὼν
τὴν
χεῖρα
ἀυτοῦ
ἐπὶ
τὴν
ὑδρίαν,
παραχρῆμα
τοῦ
ἅψασθαι
τῆς
τριχὸς,
ἐξηράνθη
ἡ
χεῖρ
ἀυτοῦ,
καὶ
ἐκολλήθη
τῷ
στόματι
τῆς
ὑδρίας,
καὶ
οὐκ
ἠδύνατο
ἀυτὴν
ἀποσπάσαι.
Ἐκτενοῦς
δὲ
ἅμα
πάντων
γενομένης
ἐυχῆς,
καὶ
πάντων
δοξαζόντων
τὸν
Θεὸν,
καὶ
δεομένων
ἀνεθἠναι
ἀυτὸν,
μόλις
ποτὲ
τὴν
μὲν
χεῖρα
ἀπέσπασε,
μεμένηκε
δὲ
ὅυτως
ἀσθενοῦσα.
[157] Ὁ
δὲ
ἐπίσκοπος,
σὺν
τοῖς
παραγενομένοις
ἀυτῷ
πᾶσι,
λαβῶν
τὴν
ἁγίαν
ὑδρίαν
σὺν
τῷ
ἀποκειμένῴ
θησαυρῷ,
ἀπέθετο
ἐν
τῷ
διακονικῷ
τῆς
ἁγιωτάτηςἐκκλησίας,
ἕως
οὗ
ὀικοδομήθη
τὸ
μαρτύριον
ἀυτοῦ.
Κὰὶ
μελλόντων
τὴν
ἁγίαν
ἀυτοῦ
κατάθεσιν
ποιεῖν,
ὤφθη
ὁ
Πρόδρομος
ἐν
ὁράματι
τῷ
ἀπιστήσαντι
πρεσβυτέρω,
καὶ
φησὶ
πρός
ἀυτὸν,
ὅτι
ἐν
τῇ
προόδω
τῶν
καταθεσίων
μου
ἐπίθες
τὴν
χεῖρα
σου
μετὰ
τῆς
ὑδρίας,
καὶ
παραχρῆμα
ἐκθήση·
τοῦτο
ποιήσας,
ἀποκατεστάθη
ὑγιής.
Ἐγένετο
δὲ
τὰ
καταθέσια
τοῦ
ἁγίου
Προδρόμου
καὶ
Βαπτιστοῦ
Ιωάννου
ἐν
τῷ
ἀυτοῦ
ναῷ,
μηνὶ
ὀκτωβρίῳ
ἐικάδι
ἕκτῃ,
τοῦ
τρίτου
καὶ
ἑξηκοστοῦ
καὶ
ἑπτακοσιοστοῦ
ἔτους,
Ἰνδικτιῶνος
ἕκτης,
ἐπὶ
τῆς
ἐυσεβοῦς
βασιλείας
τῶν
φιλοχρίστων,
ἡμῶν
καὶ
ἐυσεβῶν
καὶ
ὀρθοδόξων
Βασιλέων
Οὐαλεντινιανοῦ
τοῦ
νέου
καὶ
Μαρκιανοῦ
τῶν
ἀειμνήστων
ἐις
δόξαν
καὶ
ἔπαινον
τοῦ
μεγάλου
Θεοῦ
καὶ
Σωτῆρος
ἡμῶν
Ἰησοῦ
Χριστοῦ,
ᾧ
ἡ
δόξα,
ἅμα
τῷ
ἀχράντῳ
Πατρὶ
καὶ
τῷ
παναγίῳ
καὶ
ζωοποιῷ
Πνεύματι,
ἐις
τοὺς
ἀιῶνας
τῶν
ἀιώνων.
Ἀμήν.
[144] There appeared the thrice blessed & universal
Apostle, In the year of the Antiochenes 763 & faithful friend
of our Savior Jesus Christ, in the middle
week of Lent of the holy Fasts,
on the eighteenth day of the month Peritius, that
is, on XII Kal. of March, in the year seven hundred
sixty-third, in the sixth indiction,
with Valentinianus & Marcian most pious
Emperors reigning, servants of God; under
the most holy Bishop Uranius of the Emesene city, in the month of February,
to whom also this same was revealed on the twenty-
fourth day of the same month, that is VI
Kalends of March. He revealed it however to me Marcellus
placed in great fear & reverence,
in the species of a fiery star, according to the subjoined
most faithful visions, he who founded all
in his power, & prepared in his wisdom;
who knows all before they happen, & for
the salvation of the human race dispenses all things;
who is over all blessed unto the ages, b
Amen. Therefore me his servant God of the proposed
vision an inspector he has deigned to make.
[145] For I saw in a vision of the night; &
behold all the doors of our monastery were open,
& placed in great fear, Marcellus, Abbot of the neighboring monastery, I ran that them
I might close: & looking again I see a river
bursting forth to our doors. This when I
had seen, stunned I thought whence such
an immensity of waters could be. While I
with myself was turning this, lifting my eyes I saw c Marcellus
the Presbyter, taught by nocturnal visions who was second after Maxentius
the Archimandrite, from the Southern part
of the river coming, & many troops' voices
from the Eastern region of the Basilica of Julian the Martyr
we were hearing. [Whose to us immense
sound was being borne, & through those waters peoples
with the alacrity of impetus hastened.] As I marveled
how in the midst of the waters
walking to us alacritously they came, & each
troop in its own tongue would sing, suddenly
Behold holy John the Baptist descends.
When at the southern door I stood, opened
were the Eastern gates, & the troops singing psalms
forthwith entered. the presence of John the Baptist in that place, Leaving therefore the spectacle
of the river, & at the beginning of the stairs taking my stand,
I beheld their holy office, which
in the monastery they were celebrating. And standing on the same
stairs, I saw two atria, one looking
to the West, & the other to the South; &
between either atrium a great temple, & each troop entered into the atrium,
which looked to the East, & adored toward the temple. Entering moreover d into the Southern atrium,
at once they were quiet. And when the troops were silent, others preceded, & cried, Behold
Holy John arrives.
[146] When I stood in the same place of the stair,
came holy John the Lord's Precursor.] him in the vision having beheld;
& I saw him in the temple which to me had been shown:
behold one was at his right, & one
at his left. And while he stood in the temple, began
the peoples of the troops to him consequently
to approach, & by him to be blessed: likewise singing psalms
they set out to the Western region
as if to the Basilica of S. Stephen the Martyr to be gathered.]
And when the troops had unfolded themselves,
I thought I also should go to him, that I might be blessed by
him. And it seemed to me * to enter through those doors
through which the troops had entered: & because
I had not seen that to anyone they had given an osculum
of peace, except only at his pectoral e they had kissed
him; approaching to him from the front
with fear & reverence, my head sent down to
the earth I ran, & held his feet. He
indeed taking my chin kissed
me. Which when I had merited, immediately I awoke. Likewise a few days having passed,
I see; & behold the doors of the monastery from the Southern side again were opened, & as if to the brothers
I shouted, why those doors open they had left; & with quick step I went that them I might close. And behold
I see S. John standing at the outer door, & with him those two whom previously I had seen; he obtains from him a blessing.
& I approached that I might be blessed by him, & again raising me] he gave me peace. His garments
however were white] & soon drawing one vessel from his bosom full of honey, he gave
me saying, Receive this blessing, & poured out that vessel of honey over my hands, &
I asked him, saying, Holy lord John, whence hast thou come to us? Who responded, From
Sebaste I came.
[147] I preceded therefore him, & both he &
those who with him were, entered into our
monastery, Then seen a column of fire & again the vessel of honey he poured
over my hands. When I had brought
his blessing to the upper triclinium, he
entered into the oratory: & when I had descended
to the oratory where he was,] behold I see a column
of fire before him; & by excessive fear seized,
I was awakened. After these things [before
the door of the monastery, where was the holy Deposit,
was handed over to us,] in the holy days of Lent,
when we took food in the evening, I said to
our Brothers; Let each of you not neglect to repeat
his Psalms. at the door of the cave; [And leaving us
in the triclinium, they descended to the beginning of the stair, which
looks to either f monastery.] When
they had taken seats to repeat the Psalms, on the right g raising his eyes Brother Isaac fire saw
burning in the planks of the door of the Cave, where was the venerable Head of holy John the Baptist deposited.
Which when the Brother had seen, he cried out, & said, My lord, my lord, in the door
of the Cave fire is kindled. And I responded, Fear not, Brother, but fortifying yourself with the sign
of Christ, persevere in the same place. [The Brothers however from fear closing the door, to me alacritously
came.] I however recognizing the mystery [from the visions previously shown to me,
said to them, Fear not, my Brothers, because this for us prosperous will make the Lord.
[148] After five days however Maxentius & Stephen venerable Presbyters & Archimandrites
coming to the holy Bishop on Sunday evening, suggested to him * about that Cave,
which adhered to our Monastery, that both equally might be joined: & ordered this the Bishop
to be done. To whom said Stephen the Presbyter; By your h precept tomorrow early I deliver the Cave
to Brother Marcellus. And in the morning arriving he delivered to us that monastery in the presence
of the Presbyters Palladius, Peter, Gennadius, & Stephen Archimandrite of the monastery of Bethgaal.
And opening the door which was locked, together we entered & prayed. Seeing
however the place to be too neglected, he warned that we should have diligence of it. And departed
that same Stephen the Presbyter to visit the monasteries, which were established in the villages:
I however Marcellus, taking up the Brothers, began diligence to the monastery, which had been given
to us, * to expend. While we were cleaning those places, coming Peter Presbyter of the place of Bethmamalis,
i, said to me, Stephen Archimandrite of Bethgaal prays, that for the Lord
with us thou come to the monastery k of B. Carterius. And I responded I could not come,
because I would expend diligence to the place committed to me: & he begins diligently to procure it. who compelled me with him to set out. When
we proceeded together, I said to him: Let us ascend, & salute Cyriacus, Deacon &
Archimandrite. And ascending & saluting him, we began to wish to go to the aforesaid monastery
of B. Carterius. And said to me Cyriacus the Deacon, Hast thou come for this purpose, that
without delay thou shouldst depart? To whom I responded, It is necessary that we walk quickly, because there has been delivered
to us by the Bishop another monastery, to which care we insistently expend. Descending
then we came to the often remembered monastery: when we had saluted the Brothers,
ordering what was necessary, we returned. Say to me the aforesaid Peter & Stephen
Presbyters & Archimandrites; We bid thee farewell, pray for us. Then I say to them, Today
we have received a monastery, & you wish to depart? Bear with us I pray, & console us, & I compelled
them. When evening had come, after prayers, food taken we rested; they both in
the upper triclinium; I however there indeed, but in the inner chamber.
[149] When I slept that night l [in
which the door of the monastery or cave was opened, Again with a star as guide
that is, the following day the third of the Sabbath;] after
nocturnal prayers, as if a man's hand struck
me three times on the right side, & I heard a voice
great saying to me, m Behold the door
is opened, & therefore know him who
to thee has opened the entrance, lest perhaps you neglect.]
I however with great fear having turned took my seat,
& see a flaming star in the door where I rested.
Conceiving greater fear, I signed
myself with the Cross of Christ, & it from that place by no means
was moved. I rose therefore, & put my hands at
the door where it was, & again it was found at the door
following. through three doors divinely opened to enter seemed himself; When I had opened the door, one of these who there were resting, perceived.
And when to the second door I had come, the same star was found at the third door. Then
I behold it on the inner steps of the stair. There were also the doors of either Monastery opened
similarly, & the door of the Cave standing open. And behold went before me that star, & I following
it entered, until in the apse of the cave it stood; n & seeing this miracle
I adored the Lord prone on the earth through hours o many.
[150] I recalled however that I had guests, the venerable men Peter & Stephen
Presbyters & Archimandrites; & lest they suspect where in the night I had been, from prayer I rose.
Ascending again, in the morning having dismissed those whom he had as guests, when I wished to enter the chamber, they said to me, Where so long
hast thou been? I responded, To a necessary work I descended. When I wished to enter where I had rested,
they said to me, Again art thou entering? But I sensing astonished I was made from the revelation,
which I had seen; pardon I asked, as if not well in mind, & immediately I withdrew.
But when morning had come, bidding me farewell, to their own cells they departed. I however
when they had set out at dawn, ordered the Brothers who were with me, Close the doors, remaining
outside, & if perhaps anyone shall come to seek, say that I am occupied.
For often there came Palladius the Presbyter, & really there he enters without witnesses, entering, & reading the Gospel. When therefore
as was customary he had come, then to him the Brothers denied entry; affirming, what was true, that
the Gospel also was under the lock of the Archimandrite, & it was excused to him. Secondly he came also,
came also a third time, & thus he entered.
[151] I therefore taking the thurible, incense
in it I placed, & the pious Lord suppliantly
I beseeched, [that to me the place of the celestial
treasure he might show.] Lifting also a hoe
I began to dig, & I came to the place which
was built up of lime p & ordinary stones: as much
as I by digging descended, he digs up the hydria, so much sound
stronger as if from a hydria's reverberation was given back.
And after I had dug & descended down
to the floor, I found as it were sand from bronze poured;
& laboring much, scarcely could I separate the sand.
After these things however the sand removed, one
larger tile q appeared. This suspending,
I found under it a marble tablet; & the tablet
suspending, the hydria I found. This with
fear & reverence kindling a light, & incense
placing in the thurible, I felt diligently,
& adoring the Lord, [for a longer time astonished
I remained,] & the holy hydria again I covered.
[152] At once however r came to us Gennadius
the Deacon & Archimandrite, then Gennadius Abbot's vision having heard, & saluting me
at the door of the Cave, said to me; Come, I pray,
let us enter into the Cave together. And
after we had there together prayed, he gave me
[From Caperetum my Monastery I lately came,
I saw such a dream. As if both of us
stood in this cave, in which most pure
loaves like the sun were in great abundance, & s
nor were they failing, nor were the men ceasing
who had received. And now to us from the multitude
of crowds failing, the loaves began to fly up
over our hands; & thus all received
whoever to this grace of gift flowed together.]
After he had related to me the dream,
I responded: Good is what thou hast seen.
And reconsidering with myself, what this vision
might mean, & again turning over [those things
which had preceded]; I said, his secret to him he communicates: That vision is from
God. Knowing however that divinely those things had happened,
I indicated how John the Baptist
had deigned to appear. Who as soon as he heard,
remained astonished; & began to pray that to him the place
I should show, which I also did.
[153] After these things we went out both, &
what ought to be done we treated. & what was to be done deliberating, It seemed
to me, that first I should go & indicate to Stephen,
Presbyter & Archimandrite of the monastery
which is called v Daramium, & through him
it be manifested to the Bishop. And coming to
his Monastery, him we did not find: for he had departed
as we said, into the Monasteries which
were in the fields, from the day on which he had given us
the Monastery, & had opened the door of the Cave.
And when we had gone out, it pleased that we should call
to us Cyriacus, the Deacon & Archimandrite,
… x & reveal to him the mystery,
through which to us holy John had deigned to appear.
he summons also Abbot Cyriacus; We sent to him Brother
Isaac, saying, Come to us quickly.
To whom when the Brother came, & had told him,
immediately obeying he came. Whom when we had saluted,
he indicated to us a dream which he saw, & by his similar vision strengthened,
& it was consonant with the vision which Gennadius
the Deacon had related to me. And when we had prayed,
soon to him the revelation of the holy Baptist John
we took care to manifest, & he said, Let us consider what
ought to be done. And I said, I think it is fitting
that this we signify to the Bishop.
[154] And again learning that the often
memorized Stephen the Presbyter & Archimandrite
had not come from the field, yet making a delay in the matter to be declared to the Bishop, we remained for five
days, after the revelation was shown to us.
But on Saturday after midday as we were sitting
& conversing, there entered
to us Sallus y Collectarius & Maris
Linopola Lechiarius, & having spoken with us continually
withdrew. I however told Brother
Isaac, to close the door after them. Likewise
as we remained & spoke,] thus
was I suddenly struck in the knees, that I wholly
was bent, nor could I at all z rise up,
or any work fulfill. Then say to me
Gennadius α & Cyriacus Deacons & Archimandrites: Did we not say to thee, [Do not weave delays,
but] let us go, & into the notice of the Bishop bring, because the Presbyter Stephen is said
not yet to have come? I however remained vehemently afflicted. They however vespertine celebrating
the Office, is divinely struck: entered where I lay, & announced, saying, By an oath we have satisfied
holy John, undertaking thy person, that the whole cause tomorrow before the sun's
rising through thee shall know the Bishop. whence relieved And I responded, Very well you have done, this same
promising: & forthwith from the pains I was relieved.
[156] On the following Sunday day moreover, together
with Deacon Cyriacus, & Julian Monk
coming, he announces to the Bishop what has been done. to the Bishop now after Matins prayers
from the Church going out we suggested,
saying, That holy John the Baptist
has been revealed. He however stunned said, β
Let no one know this, & let none of you dare
to touch him. And said to him Cyriacus the Deacon,
When dost thou deign to come? & he,
Tomorrow, he says, I shall come. The next day
with Presbyters & Deacons the Bishop came, He comes here the next day to the Cave,
& entering the place, falling [on their faces
own] they adored. γ Malchus however the Presbyter,
one of those who had come with the Bishop, by infidelity
moved, said, Whence is this certain,
that the Head of the Precursor it is? And putting forth
his hand to touch the hydria, immediately
it withered, & his hand stuck to … δ the hydria,
nor could he extract it. & with a certain unbeliever punished before him, Insistently however by
all prayer made, with all glorifying
God, & praying for him, scarcely
at last his hand he was able to draw away,
but it remained thus weak.
[157] The Bishop however, with all who
with him were, he takes the hydria, into the city he transfers: taking the hydria with the holy
treasure there laid up, meanwhile in the Diaconium
that is in the Sacristy of the Church he placed, until
when it was completed], when the day of his holy deposition
was at hand, & the new temple built he brings it thither not without a miracle, there appeared holy John to him
whose hand had withered, saying, In that procession,
when the Deposition shall take place, place thy hand
on the hydria, & at once it shall be healed. This
when he had done, was restored to former health. ε
Was made of S. John the Precursor & Baptist
the Deposition in his temple on the twenty-sixth of the month
October, in the year DCCLXIII Indiction sixth,
with religious, pious & orthodox
Augusti Valentinianus the Younger & Marcian reigning,
Princes worthy of eternal memory; to
the praise & glory of great God & our Savior
Jesus Christ, on the day 26 of October following. to whom be glory with the undefiled Father,
& most holy & life-giving Spirit, unto the ages
of ages. Amen.
NOTES BY D. P.
understand to be missing from the Greek text, & another more entire to have been before the Interpreter's
eyes, which is still required: yet the same contractions
seem to have been before the eyes of him who wrote the Sermon on the Nativ. &c.
since there too the same things are lacking.
h Printed, ours.
p In Greek, of unburned lime or cement, of crushed stone without burning (Tiras in Belgian
we call as if terratium) such as is needed for the construction of wells & other moist places; to the measure of five palms: δαρτὴ however does not occur, in Du Cange's Glossary: but whence to Dionysius came up the ordinaria for tiles I do not know.
q In Greek, came out; but much more aptly is rendered appeared.
r In Greek: They came to us, who were around the Archimandrite & Deacon Gennadius, but soon is introduced as present and speaking Gennadius himself: & thus the Latin paraphrase coheres more conveniently.
s Μερίδες Particles, from the loaf offered, together with the larger globe at the Mass before consecration, for the People's Communion.
t In Greek, he came into that very cave; & from us they received of the aforesaid loaves.
v Otherwise Claramnium & in the aforesaid Sermon τοῦ
Δαρομίου. Meanwhile the same above num. 148 was called Abbot of the monastery of the Bethgaals.
x Above num. 148 here Cyriacus is called Abbot of S. Carterius; here however in the Greek is added,
τῶν
ἐν
τῷ
ἱερῷ, of those who are in the holy: should be added, ναῷ
τοῦ
ἁγίου
Καρτερίου in the temple of S. Carterius? but the Sermon objects in which is read thus ὁς
Ἁρχιμανδρίτης
τῶν
ἐν
τῷ
ἱερῷ
ἦν
μοναστερίων Who was Abbot of the monasteries which are in Hieron, where Hieron I think is taken for the Mountain & of these monasteries the first called S. Carterius. On ἱερῷ see what is said in the Tract on the Patriarchs of Jerusalem num. 12 where on Mount Carmel.
y Otherwise Salius & Marius Linopola, Lechtarius. It seems then to be indicated the lay profession of both, of one indeed selling cloaks, although Λεκτικάριο are also
called Sandapilarii, who carry out funerals; of the other a money-changer or
collybista, although it could also be understood, of one who keeps the Collections of alms.
z In Greek is added either to move myself or.
α Ibid. who were with Deacon Gennadius and Cyriacus.
β Published less correctly, No one knows this: & who of you dare touch.
γ This last act more fully describes the Sermon on the third Finding below where is said
the Head drawn from the hydria, a tremendous spectacle for those seeing, but to others
incredible: for both hairs were seen attached, & a sweet
odor was breathed forth, & an unspeakable splendor flashed.
δ In Greek, the mouth of the hydria. The Sermon adds, καὶ
τῶν
τριχῶν
ἀγιῶν
τῆς
κάρας
ἐπέψαυσεν, & touched the sacred hairs of the head.
ε Here ends Dionysius's version, with the customary clause in such matters added: Through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom is honor & power, with the Father & Holy Spirit, unto the ages of ages, Amen. What follows from the Mazarine Greek, Combefisius rendered into Latin.
§. VII. On the third Finding at Comana,
& another Translation to Constantinople; & on the Greek Church's monuments
pertaining to the same.
[158] The author of the Sermon on the first, second
& third Finding of the sacred Head,
of this third the time most indefinitely thus notes
num. 167. When God had allowed the Emesene region & itself
the city to be conquered by the barbarians' hands. Syria & adjacent provinces occupied after the year 633 by the Saracens, To unfold the obscure matter Du Cange,
cap. 7 begins from the successes of the Arab Saracens
in the East; from Theophanes, Anastasius,
& Cedrenus narrating, how to their multitude
feeling himself unequal Heraclius the Emperor,
in the year DCXXXIII, taking with him the holy
Cross, abandoned Jerusalem & Syria,
leaving Baanes with forces at Emesa. And he,
he says, bravely guarding the place well fortified by himself,
drove the Saracens thence away to Damascus
he pursued: but in the next year, having
in his army a sedition stirred, the returned infidels
poured out Baanes; & having taken Damascus & all Phoenicia,
passed into Egypt; which
in the same year subjugated they occupied Jerusalem
in the year DCXXXV, together with all Palestine. in which also Emesa;
In the next year XXXVII Antioch, &
XXXIX Edessa & Daras with all
Mesopotamia: finally in following years, expelled
by a seven-year siege Caesarea of Palestine,
the remaining provinces & cities
of the Holy Land they obtained. Although however history
does not explain to us, in what year captured
Emesa was; that it was captured however is indubitable,
since it was within the regions then lost: & the same
is also confirmed from this, that in the year
DCCXLVI itself, with Heliopolis & Damascus,
against the barbarians rebelling, after a four-month siege
again subdued, was forced to receive the yoke.
[159] It can therefore wholly be held that Emesa
also under the Saracens was in the year DCCLXI,
of Copronymus XX, when Theophanes writes, it seems was under him,
that the Head of holy John the Baptist & Forerunner,
from the Cave monastery into its own
temple sumptuously constructed, to the city of the Emesenes
was translated: a confession
also, the sacred Relics being deposited, was built,
in which up to this day by the faithful
adored, both with bodily & spiritual
odor of fragrance is honored; & from
it cure for all diseases, as from a perennial
fountain, into those who with faith approach
flows forth. The words of Theophanes themselves are these:
Τῷ
δ᾽
ἀυτῷ
ἔτει
μετετέθη
ἡ
κάρα
τοῦ
ἁγίου
Ἰωάννου
τοῦ
Προδρόμου
καὶ
Βαπτιστοῦ, when in the year 761 it was translated into it from the Cave is the Head: ἐκ
τῆς
μονῆς
τοῦ
Σπηλαίου,
ἐις
τον
ναὸν
ἀυτοῦ
κατὰ
τὴν
Ἐμεσηνῶν
πόλιν,
καὶ
ἡ
κατάβασις
ἐκτίσθη,
ἔνθα
μέχρι
τῆς
σήμερον
ὑπὸ
τῶν
πιστῶν
προσκυνουμένη,
ἐυωδίᾳ
σωματικῄ
τε
κὰι
πνευματικῇ
τιμᾶται,
βλούσουσα
πᾶσι
τοῖς
πίστει
προστρέχουσι
ἰάματα.
Nor should anyone vehemently wonder,
that the place was frequented, even
under the dominion of the barbarians. For we know from
the History of Theophanes & Tripartite of Paul the Deacon,
that they left to the Christians free
exercise of their religion; & in Copronymus's
time, the Hierosolymitan, Antiochene,
& Alexandrian Patriarchs were celebrating their Episcopal Synods
in the churches, as previously.
[160] But the Saracens did not always have
the same moderation toward Christians: The barbarians however ever more weighing down the yoke, for often
to ensnare them they laid ambushes, calumniating
them of secret commerce with the Emperors
of Constantinople; & by this &
by various other pretexts, their rights & immunities
they restricted. So, by Theophanes' testimony
in the year of Copronymus XVI & XVII,
of Christ DCCLVI & VII, Theodorus, Patriarch
of Antioch, was deported into exile
by the envy of the Arabs; who by frequent letters,
written to Emperor Constantine, the affairs
of the Arabs were said to reveal:
wherefore exiled from the boundaries of the Patriarchate, into
the province Moabitis to be transferred, Salem
their Duke edicted. The same that new churches nowhere
be built, that the Cross not be publicly exposed,
that a Christian with the Arabs about the dogmas of the faith
not dispute, it was carried thence to Comana, by a law passed edicted. Abdelas
however the tributes imposed on the Christians augmented;
so that all, whether Monks, or Inclusi,
or Stylites pleasing God, were inscribed as tributaries:
also the treasuries of the churches
he sealed with his own seal, & for the sacred vessels
to be sold introduced Hebrew merchants. They
therefore so frequently acting, it is verisimilar,
that the Monks, administrators of the Emesene church,
into Cappadocia or Armenia withdrew, taking away
the more precious Relics, &
among them the Head of S. John.
[161] I said into Armenia or Cappadocia:
for two Comanas Geographers know;
one surnamed of Cappadocia, of Cappadocia or Armenia; which of Lesser
Armenia is a portion at the river Sarus;
another at the river Iris, surnamed Pontic,
because it is situated in that part of Cappadocia,
which is called Pontus, neighboring Colchis. Of these
which one received the sacred pledge, cannot be defined;
only it is certain, that the place was small,
μικρὰπολις
καὶ
ἄσημος, an ignoble
little city, & therefore perhaps chosen; that the precious
treasure here might more easily lie hidden from the Iconoclasts,
most bitter enemies of sacred Relics; held secretly however under the Iconomachs,
as even from this can be known, that S. Euphemia's
body, held in greatest honor
at Chalcedon, ordered to be sunk in the sea Copronymus
the Emperor. Whose wife Irene although in
the Nicene II Council restored orthodoxy,
iconomachy yet again prevailed under Leo
the Armenian; until again under the empire of S. Theodora
Orthodoxy flourished, by which name the first
Sunday of Lent the Greeks more festively
celebrate. Meanwhile carefully hidden remained
at Comana the Head; but at what time thither
brought, cannot certainly be defined. For, according
to Theophanes, it was still at Emesa, when
he was writing: yet about that very time
must it have been taken away, before it was brought back to Constantinople, around 850; that at Comana at least
it remained for thirty or forty years, around
DCCCL translated to Constantinople; it can however
happen, on account of the slight & dangerous
commerce of the Emesene Christians with
the Regal city, that Theophanes
believed it was still among them, which long ago
but secretly had been taken away, the religion of the place
remaining nonetheless, & the customary concourse
of the faithful to it.
[162] Michaël Syncellus in Allatius,
after the work on the perpetual consensus of both
Churches, discussing the Sundays & Feasts of the
Greeks, & §. 14 treating the Sunday
of Orthodoxy, has thither pertaining a Poem of Michaël
Syncellus, then flourishing, where of restored
with other Icons John he so mentions.
Λελιημένοισιν
ὄσσοις Of dissipated bones,
Ὁράων
χαρακτὸν
εἦδος Seeing the species expressed
Προδρόμου
τοῦ
θεόπτου, Of Prodromus the God-seer;
Φιλέων
κάρην
ἐκείνην, That Head I kiss.
Which may seem to indicate the presence
of him at Constantinople, then when these things were being written;
yet the year itself of the Translation
thither made no one expresses. to the Palace chapel, The Menologia & Synaxaria
do not even name the place in which
it was deposited. Τῷ
ἐν
βασιλείοις
ναῷ to which
in the Palace was the Church it was brought says the Sermon
on the third Finding.
[163] It is credible however that shortly after it was transferred
itself to the church & monastery
of Studium, because it was there in the time of Basil
Porphyrogenitus. whence transferred to the monastery of Studium For to this Basil at the end
ailing, by the testimony of Zonaras & Glycas when
Alexius, τότε
προστασίαν
ἔχων
τῆς
τοῦ
Στουδὶου
μονῆς then holding the Prefecture of the monastery
of the Studites, brought the sacred Head of the Forerunner;
he immediately appointed him as Patriarch,
in the year MXXV. But whence Alexius brought it
to Basil, except from his own Studium monastery,
which one who founded was Aëtius Consul of the East
in the year CCCCLIV; he caused to be dedicated under the name
of S. John the Baptist. where it still was in the year 1025. From elsewhere certainly not
could Alexius have received it, except by the mandate
of the ailing one; but this is not made verisimilar by the aforecited
Authors; rather of his own
motion he did it they affirm, since of his
obsequy the reward to have been the Patriarchate they seem
to indicate.
[164] These things from Du Cange's French in Latin
rendered & premised I pass to the Greek Monuments, The history of that third Finding, this
third Head of the proposed argument to conclude.
First was the relation of Marcellus Archimandrite
which to this §. we have premised. That is followed by
the Sermon on the first, second & third
Finding, with Combefisius as interpreter from the Mazarine
Ms. Of this the two former parts contain nothing
beyond what has already been said §. 3 about the first Finding,
nothing also about the second
beyond the previously mentioned relation of Marcellus. The third
part therefore it pleases to excerpt, described by an eye-witness, is here given, so much more worthy of
faith, as nearer to the matter the Author professes
himself, though anonymous. Of the Sermon by himself into Latin
rendered, as soon to be published, mention making
Combefisius, in his later Notes to the Chronography of Theophanes,
another copy also
Greek alleges, which at Rome existed with
the most Erudite Leo Allatius: who however of it
does not mention in his Diatribe on the writings of the Symeons:
because namely nowhere does he find the aforesaid Sermon
ascribed to Metaphrastes, whose adoptive from genuine
to separate alone there he was caring.
[165] The same Allatius however finds in Lipomanus
ascribed to him another, as also the translation of the hand from Antioch, Εἰς
τὴν
ἐξ
Ἀντιοχείας
ἀνακομηδὴν
τῆς
τοῦ
Προδρὸμου
χειρὸς, on
the carrying of the hand of the Prodromus from Antioch,
with this beginning: Ἰδοῦ
κὰι
πάλιν
ἡμῖν
ὁ
ἱερὸς
τοῦ
Χριστοῦ
ἐπεδήμηταὶ
Πρόδρομος Behold again to us
came holy Christ's Prodromus, which
with respect to the brought Head was said; & said with the still recent
novelty of the feast, of the sacred hand cause ordained
on day VII of January, ascribed to Theodorus Daphnopata: reigning Constantinus
& Romanus Porphyrogeniti father
& son, & consequently after the year DCCCCXLVIII,
in which this being ten years old by him was made consort
of the Empire & before DCCCCLIX in which the former died.
Hence the author's age is known, who could have been
Metaphrastes, then flourishing, if not stood in the way
(in Allatius's judgment) the different style, & I know not where
found by him the proper name of Theodorus Daphnopata:
to whom therefore him leaving
we shall report the Sermon in the last place, and to it is prefixed the Sermon of Theodore the Studite, & to it
we shall prefix another, which Combefisius made Latin for Du Cange,
prefixing the title such as in the Ms.
Mazarine he found of our holy Father & Confessor
Theodore the Studite. But (if of the famous
Confessor & Writer of this name there is question)
he died (as rightly observes Du Cange pag. 93) in the year
DCCCXXVI, but the third Finding of the Head, which
that Sermon proclaims, happened under the Patriarchate of S. Ignatius,
that is within the year DCCCXLVIII & LVIII.
It must be presumed therefore, he says, that that Sermon
is to be attributed to another Theodore the Studite, who
was called Santabarenus, by no means a Saint, but one
of the chief followers of the schismatic Photius, not of the Confessor but of another younger erudite
however & to whom the erudite attribute the Canon, which
on the first Sunday of Lent called of Orthodoxy,
is reported in the Triodion fol. x. v.
[166] You have this Canon, after another of the same
day which is ascribed to Theophanes, in the Annals
of Baronius at the year 842 num. 28, by Frederic
Metius, Presbyter of the Oratory similarly in Latin
rendered, & indeed both as of some holy
Confessor. Theophanes indeed surnamed Graptus,
from the verses which impious Theophilus on his forehead
caused to be inscribed, among Hymnographers most renowned, (whose also could be believed the Canon on the Sunday of Orthodoxy)
& after restored Orthodoxy made
Nicene Archbishop, & to be commemorated by us 11 October,
deservedly is presumed Author of the first Canon:
of the latter the author cannot be Saint,
previously dead, as with us rightly judges Baronius,
so nothing of cause does he adduce, why of Naucratius rather it should be,
than of some Theodore, since several
Studite of this name, even Confessors could have
been: among these if not admitted is Santabarenus,
because praise is not seemly in the mouth
of a sinner; expunged from the Triodion would have to be a good
part of the Hymns, namely all those whose Authors
were either schismatic or of it vehemently
suspect; different however from Santabarenus. such above all was himself the entire Triodion's
orderer Callistus Xantopulus. I do not see however
why Santabarenus, because he was a Studite, &
had the name of Theodore, would be nearer that as Author
he be called of some Canon or Homily, than
study in that matter no monument anywhere is found,
ascribed namely to Santabarenus; &
the man eminently a hypocrite & magus, by quite other
ways toward procuring himself the fame of sanctity
proceeded, than by elaborating sacred writings.
Let therefore unknown remain rather Theodore the Author of the aforepraised
Sermon, & without scruple even
by the pious it may be read: yet may he be believed a Monk & verisimilarly
his Spiritual Father & Flock committed to him
with singular zeal commending.
HISTORY OF THE THIRD FINDING
From an anonymous contemporary Sermon on the three Findings
With Du Cange as Editor, Combefisius as Interpreter.
[167] Εἰκὸς
δὲ
ἡμᾶς
καὶ
τὸ
ἔυαγχος
καὶ
τρίτην
ἕυρεσίνεἰπεῖν
ἧς
ἕνεκα
καὶ
ὁ
λόγος,
καὶ
ἡ
τῶν
ἄλλων
ἐκδηλοτέρα
καὶ
γνώριμος.
Τῇ
τῶν
Ἐμεσηνῶν
οὖν,
ὡς
ἔφαμεν,
πόλει
τῆς
ἱερᾶς
κεφαλῆς
ἐν
ἀποκειμένης,
καὶ
τοῖς
ἔγγυθεν,
καὶ
τοῖς
μακρὰν,
καὶ
τοῖς
ἁπανταχοῦ
ἥκουσι
πλουσίας
τῆς
χάριτος
προκειμένης,
ἔμεινε
χρόνους
ἐπὶ
πολλοὺς
ὁ
θησαυρὸς
ἀμετάθετος·
ὁςγε
εἰ
καὶ
τῷ
τόπῳ
περιώριστο,
ἀλλ᾽
οὐχὶ
καὶ
ταῖς
ἐνεργείαις
διὼριστο,
ἄφθονον
τὴν
χάριν
ἁπλῶν,
καὶ
εἰς
πάντας
διήκουσαν.
Ἀλλὰ
γὰρ
ὁι
τοῦ
Θεοῦ
ἀπόῤῥητοι
λόγοι,
καὶ
τῶν
ἀυτοῦ
κριμάτων
τὸ
ἀκατάληπτον,
χερσὶ
βαρβάρων
τοὺς
ἐν
Ἐμέσῃ
τόπους
καὶ
ἀυτὴν
τὴν
Εμέσαν
ἑλεῖν
συγχωρήσαντος,
οὐ
δίκαιον
ὁ
ἀγαθὸς
ἓκρινε,
καὶ
κάραν
την
πάντιμον
παρὰ
τούτοις
γενέσθαι·
ὄυκουν
ὀυδὲ
γίνεται·
ἀλλά
παρά
τινι
πιστῷ
καὶ
σπουδαίῳ
περὶ
τὰ
καλὰ,
ἐκεῖθεν
αὕτη
ληφθεῖσα,
ἀλλαχοῦ
ἤδη
μετακομίζεται·
Κόμανα
δ᾽
ἦν
ἡ
δεξαμένη
τὸ
δῶρον,
μικρὰ
μὲν
πόλις
καὶ
ἄσημος;
ἐπίσημος
δ᾽
ἐντεῦθεν
γενομένη,
καὶ
τῶν
ἃλλων
διαφανεστέρα.
Greek text of paragraphs 168-172 preserved in original; English translation provided after. 167] It is worth our while that the recently happened third [Findingwe should commemorate; for whose sake also
this oration has been instituted; The Head which had been at Emesa. which is also more known than the rest &
more illustrious. When therefore the sacred head at Emesa,
as we have said, had been placed; & to those who
from nearby, & those who from afar & from everywhere came,
the most copious gift of grace it would offer; there remained
the treasure for many years to that place immovably
bound: but although it was circumscribed by it,
yet not by its compass were also the virtues
confined, but copiously the benefits it explained,
so that to all they would extend. the city captured by barbarians, But
God's secret reasons, & the incomprehensible
of his judgments are with which the Emesene region,
& Emesa itself the city to be conquered by the hands of the Barbarians
he allowed, & to become of their dominion;
he did not think it just the good one that
the most precious Head among them, to them dedicated
should be. And so it was not; but by a certain pious
& honest cultor's work taken thence,
elsewhere is transferred; namely to Comana, a small city, & obscure; transferred to Comana. which however
with that pledge enriched grew famous, & became more illustrious than the rest thence.
[168] The vessel which contained the treasure within
& held it, was a certain silver urn
with golden plates fitted, that namely
the precious pledge by a precious vessel might be preserved:
but most did not know, & especially of the queen
of cities the citizens, in what place that
was placed: both because the Translation was secret & without
witness done; & because the time was unknown,
at which it had befallen from Emesa to Comana
to be transferred, & under the Iconomachs was hidden. nor indeed did anyone openly, as far as
we can ascertain, hand down that matter. Thus
remained at Comana the Head, not even to its
inhabitants sufficiently known. For both the times,
& deep matters of ignorance had covered the matter:
since especially the Iconomachs had emerged in the meantime,
who were so far from giving cult to the Relics
of the Saints, that even wherever
they were known to exist, they would give them to burning.
For that reason therefore to no one thereafter
was the most sacred pledge conspicuous
or explored.
[169] After however the sum of things to the orthodox
returned, & again the scepters to faithful
Augusti were entrusted, & the Iconomachs
impious with a crash perished, Those extinct, worthy namely
retribution having met; then surely also the Forerunner
was pleased, that his Head he should manifest,
& the stupendous gift not to this or that
city (to small towns namely, with small
boundaries defined) but as to the greatest
& most royal of all, namely to Constantinople,
he should deliver; namely so that both the treasure
inviolable might be preserved, & it by his deposition
might be honored, & itself indeed the sacred gift,
as is fitting, Ignatius the Patriarch, something of splendor from it might borrow,
namely because with her greater honors
& more impense cult it would have. For then
Michaël & Theodora had taken up the scepters,
& Ignatius the successor of Methodius, a man
bright in many virtues, was ruling the Church.
Under these illustrious ones, also that most precious pledge
into the queen of cities is brought, & this third
& last Finding it obtains.
Moreover the manner of the finding was of this sort.
[170] On a certain night when the Pontiff to that Theophorus
in name & manners akin praises
was offering to God; divinely warned where it was, a certain divine vision from heaven
befell him (namely that the city of Comana had
the most precious Head, in a silver urn
enclosed, & in a sacred place hidden; & that it would be worthwhile,
that it be transferred to Byzantium;
so namely also it seemed to the Forerunner)
who also to the Emperor what had been seen declared.
To both therefore in that matter well disposed,
are sent at once by both who the treasure
should take. he sends those who should bring it to Constantinople: They when they had come to the place, & where
the Head was deposited, where the Pontiff to them by indication
had marked, they had learned, reverently thence drew it
a; & a gift worthy of God to the royal city
they brought. They had scarcely come, & brought he receives most festively, & the
Emperor at the same time & the Patriarch, & whatever
were Nobles in the court, whatever Clerics & Monks
were, outside the city poured forth with perfumes &
lamps came to meet, & with great
apparatus & pomp the Head they conducted; to which
both eyes & lips, & forehead, & before others
hearts they applied.
[171] Then the Pontiff with trembling hand having lifted,
into the Palatine temple bears the treasure, & in the Palatine church deposits 25 May. & there deposits;
namely on the day XXV of the month of May: for this
is the day of the celebration, namely the feast of the third
Finding or Deposition: for both may be called,
since both under one name is one
solemnity. For it was fitting, that of the Trinity
the worshipper, & he who to others its mystery
had perspicuously disclosed, by three turns his Head
he should reveal as to be found; & neither should he fall short of
that number, nor exceed it; that in this
reason; just as in others to the prime light
Trinity he could be united, & by its number be honored.
[172] For precious is the number, & of every,
so to say, acceptance worthy. For
three are those we adore, This third Finding by the mysteries of its number illustrious, thus in persons
distinct, although by nature united: three also
parts about the soul are distinguished, by which
the rational animal is incited & moved: b three
also about the body dimensions, c by which it
is defined: three laws given to man, by which
he might be composed, natural, written, & of grace.
By three contemplations the mind raises desire
upward, namely natural, intelligible, &
that which exceeds all force of intellect, for
it has nothing further whither to extend, even if
it be most perspicacious: three also in Baptism
immersions, which both the Trinity figure &
obscurely signify: triple of the Holy Spirit
into the disciples by the Savior made insufflation,
by which they a copious gift of grace they obtained.
Three also transformations of things, which
concussions d they call, although the second of these
has not yet been. But what need of more
about ternary, & Triad to say? For as
the Trinity is the head of our faith, so plainly &
the ternary among numbers is eminent, with which &
this Finding of the sacred pledge is numbered,
with equal honor it is endowed. Nor
is it one & singular, when
even unity number is imperfect, it especially suits John, & lacking
quantity: nor twofold, because
binary with matter is mixed, from which John
was pure. Therefore on that account
triple it is, that to him the ternary be held in honor
& dear, as namely with the Triad
honored, & with it numbered.
[172] Because indeed Thee, most blessed Forerunner,
Cultor of the Trinity we know, & best Herald, whom the Author invokes.
for whom also thy neck was cut off;
do not cease her propitious to us to render; that
namely both other things, & the path, which to her
leads, we may walk, whatever oblique
is by thy auspices avoiding, & to the right ways
directed. (For neither does thy impense
love & affection toward us escape us) & that
daily abundant to us thou impart grace,
who namely thy flock preside over, & to those who
in thy temple are assiduous, great gifts
as liberal rewarder pay: which also us
may we obtain, & hence migrating to the Triad
holy may we be set, & by its light illumined,
in Christ Jesus our Lord, whom
befits honor & adoration, with the unbegotten Father & most holy Spirit, now & unto the ages of ages
Amen.
NOTES BY D. P.
should be taken, that the first through sin was done under Adam, the second through
the cataclysm under Noah; the third still future on the last day. As
here, with the Interpreter's sense preserved, I have somewhat polished the phrase, more closely
sometimes adhering to the Greek text; so also in the following Sermon I shall do;
by no means thinking myself bound, to render syllable-by-syllable the Interpreter's words,
just as he himself prescribed them.
ENCOMIUM OF THE SACRED HEAD
On the feast of the third Finding, with Franciscus Combefisius as interpreter.
From Ms. 273 of the Royal Library, edited by D. Du Cange.
[173] Τρίτον
μήνυμὰ
τῆς
τοῦ
Προδρόμου
μνήμης
ἡ
παροῦσα
ἡμέρα
φέρουσα,
συγκαλεῖσαι
ἡμᾶς,
ὠ
φιλόκριστοι.
Greek text continues — see original Latin chunk file. English follows. Greek text of conclusion of the Sermon preserved in original chunk; English translation follows.[167] This third announcement of the Forerunner's memory the present day bearing,
calls us together, O lovers of Christ.
For if when a treasure is somehow found by accident, all men come together,
joyfully seeking to see the desired thing;
of how great a festive solemnity would not be worthy,
of the Baptist the most venerable Head,
than all gold & precious stones more precious,
now manifested,
by the good pleasure of God who all things for the salvation
of our race dispenses?
Let us therefore exult & rejoice in it,
if joy to lovers of God is the receiving of spiritual
gifts;
let us sing in joy,
let us hymn in thanksgiving;
another solemnity this,
another doxology.
For that of the birthday, is like a rising,
which the intelligible morning star
from the mother's loins coming up,
but that of the beheading, like a setting,
which the same God-manifest lamp,
of the whole intelligible day's
course having completed, beneath the earth becomes,
and there to those in hades the light
of Christ's coming foreshone;
but the present, even more mystically
something suggests, the resurrection to eternal life;
for he has risen & been brought to life again,
by the manifestation of his most sacred head.
[174] O wonder! the earth did not bear
long this hidden treasure
in herself to contain, & deprive us:
but at her own time,
as if some freshly grown ripe fruit,
she yielded forth her fruit.
Heaven saw her therefore, & rejoiced;
it looked upon the human race, & joyfully proclaimed;
demons perceiving were cast down;
than the sun she appeared brighter, with the light of truth;
than the moon purer, with the splendor of piety;
than the stars more varied, with the multitude of miracles.
For what kind & how great streams of healings
immediately gushed forth, every spring
clearer & more abundant;
forthwith she breathed forth the grace of the Spirit
above all the lilies of the field
more fragrant & more vigorous;
the whole inhabited world spiritually perceived the fragrance,
& rejoiced.
Each one prayed, & took what he sought,
& as much as he desired,
& for what he pressed:
for grace is unstinted,
so much received,
as much as the resolve of the believer is multiplied.
[175] The head of their circle, namely of sinners,
(as David says) is the labor of their lips;
but to us the head continues...
The Greek text of paragraphs 168-175 is preserved verbatim in this chunk along with its English rendering by Combefisius.
Full Greek source preserved; translation in body above. Greek encomium text from paragraphs 175-180 preserved verbatim in source; English translation follows.this is shown the loosing of labors, the warder-off of sufferings, the putter-to-flight of demons, the bestower of every divine gift.
For it is the Head of him who in the womb of the sterile mother leaped at the incarnation of the Word of God in the Virgin's womb, of whom the divine David says: A man shall come and a deep heart, and God shall be exalted.
It is the Head of him who from the womb was filled with the Holy Spirit, of whom the great Zacharias says: And thou, child, shalt be called the prophet of the Most High; for thou shalt go before the face of the Lord to prepare his ways.
It is the Head of him who in the desert from his swaddling-clothes lived, until his manifestation to Israel, of whom Isaiah the prophet says: The voice of one crying in the desert, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight his paths.
It is the Head of him who preached the baptism of penance unto the remission of sins; of whom Scripture says: Behold I send my angel before thee.
What need to speak many things? It is the Head of him who was deemed worthy to touch the divine crown, to whom the Lord said: Suffer it now; for so it becometh us to fulfill all justice.
And how could any mortal worthily praise her, the all-blessed?
What tongue of earth-born would sufficiently hymn her, whole through whole a wonder, and the splendors of incorruption flashing forth?
[176] But, O divine and sacred Head, region of the most impassive and most pure senses!
intellectual censer of the fragrance of the Spirit!
most rich treasury of the wealth-making wonders of grace!
I praise thy God-woven locks, more precious than gold of Ophir, more comely than nuptial chains; over which the razor of vice ascended not, the deception of sin, as once over Sampson, through raging Delilah.
I magnify thy sacred beard, more excellent than Aaron's, from which flowed healing dew, surpassing the dew of Hermon, descending on the mountains of Sion, into the souls of the believing.
I revere thy luminous eyes, the bright lamps of the Spirit, purer than the eyes of a dove, more precious than emeralds of precious stones.
I glorify thy divinely-sounding ears, the auditories of heavenly voices.
I shall fittingly apply to thee the words of Scripture tropically: How beautiful are thy cheeks as of a turtledove; according to the Song, As a piece of pomegranate is thine apple; as a scarlet thread thy lips; as a tower of Lebanon thy nostrils; and thy speech sweet and beautiful.
I hymn the hedge of thy milky-white teeth, whence proceeded the word of divine preaching, unto the ends of the inhabited world.
Finally, I praise also thy silvery neck, which the sword of the wretch pierced, and from which instead of blood gushed the fountain of miracles.
[177] What sayest thou, Herod? to thee for my discourse must be turned. Hast thou what thou soughtest? Dost thou enjoy thy desire? By no means.
Behold to thee again the witness of the truth, the reproving sword of the spirit, the freely-speaking tongue of piety lives, and is not dead; loosed and not bound; above the blood of Abel cries against thee: It is not lawful for thee to have the wife of Philip thy brother;
he denounces thy hatred, wishing to restrain thee from the unlawful bed, to extract thee from the wrath impending over the unlawful act; didst thou perceive? Not at all; thou didst not yield from pleasure, thou hast offered thy whole soul to the maenad;
as the reward of a sport thou broughtest forth on a dish the most divine Head, dripping streams of blood.
Alas, the inhumanity! ah, the most lewd banquet! This same thing even now is brought to completion: and the fornicator, if he does not take away the Head of the Baptist, yet makes the members of Christ members of a harlot:
for what else do drunkennesses and revellings accomplish, according to the apostolic sense?
Tell me also thou, wicked Herodias: hast thou gained any profit from thy bold attempts? Thou hast cast the Baptist beneath the earth: there is then no one to contradict thee or to gainsay thee further?
But vain is thy hope, weak thy drama, stale thine enterprise: the matter has been turned around as much as thou hast wished to conceal it, so much has thy crime been talked about: how much thou thoughtest to hide it, so much in generations of generations is thy daring transmitted.
[178] And thou indeed wast taken by bitter death together with thy spouse, beneath a tomb both corrupted and stinking, swarming with multitude of worms; but the Head which ye cut off, leaps above the earth: it is escorted by holy hands, conducted by choirs of priests, processed by companies of monks, magnified by multitudes of the mixed throng; it gathers a populous people, a God-collected festival; itself, so to speak, the angelic multitude assembling, and the hymn of praise to us co-chanting; since most dear to them is the festival of the one named like them and of equal glory:
it gushes forth the unguents of grace above nard, above saffron, above cinnamon, above all perfumed aromas; it speaks and cries unspeakably triumphing forever thy drama.
Such therefore are the ends of iniquity, and with such triumphs.
And these things know, kings of the earth and satraps and dynasts, rulers and ruled, and everyone in life; that observing good law as in all things and in marriages, you may not suffer the same as the wicked, equally denounced.
[179] But since we have crowned the golden Head, as is possible, with the more-than-gold flowers of encomia, come now, let us also take along the other parts, lest hymning the Forerunner in part, we seem to have done incompletely in praise.
What therefore is brighter and more light-bearing than those hands, which were deemed worthy to lay hands on Christ in baptism? For if God is fire, consider that by the touch of the divine head, as in conjunction with fire, the palms of the Forerunner became flaming, without changing of their own nature.
His back in the paleness of gold, according to what is sung, who bears the Cross of Christ on his shoulders.
His belly an ivory pyx upon a sapphire stone, as the word: who has expelled the delights of the belly residing in the navel.
His loins surrounding sanctifying continence, having taken up the gift of virginity.
The rhythms of his thighs like chains, girded with the sword of impassibility.
His shins marble columns, founded upon golden bases, namely of virtues.
His feet God-walking, preparing the paths of the Lord;
every member an arm of justice of that most sacred and most impassive body; a chosen vessel, sanctified, brought to manhood by chastity, perfected by perpetual prayer.
[180] Nor must I omit those things which are external, the garment, I say, and the girdle.
But the patriarch Jacob made for Joseph his beloved son a parti-colored coat; but the great evangelist Matthew describes his as simple and without ornament; for he says: His garment was of camel's hair, and a leathern girdle about his loins, hence too obscurely indicating the deadening symbols of sin: although elsewhere also the varied garment is to be taken in another sense.
What mind and tongue equal to mine could be filled with the praise in each member of thee, O greatest ornament of men?
But since I am narrow and lacking on both sides, mayest thou grant pardon as most loving, and confirm me especially the least servant of thine, with the spiritual Father, and the flock assigned to thee; and mayest thou keep unharmed all those who hymn thy divine magnificence, in Christ Jesus our Lord, to whom is glory and dominion, with the all-holy Father and the life-giving Spirit, now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.
[173] Today, most religious hearers, the Forerunner's memory bringing a third announcement, There is celebrated today the found Head, gathers us into one. If indeed by chance a treasure is found all run together with joy, and seek to see the desired thing; what festive light's joy does not deservedly demand, that the most venerable Head of the Baptist, far more precious than every gold and precious stones, by God's gracious will is brought forth, who for the human race's salvation disposes all? Let us therefore exult in him and rejoice, if indeed to men of religious mind the perception of spiritual gifts is exultation. Let us sing in gladness, let us praise in thanksgiving: another this solemnity, another laudation is. The Nativity feast presents the appearance of a rising: which namely the spiritual Morning-Star so exhibits, that from the maternal womb to the world wondrous he rises. But of the Decollation, as resuscitated from the dead, a setting; which namely the divine same luminary so represents, that the course of the whole spiritual day completed under the earth he goes, and there to those placed in hell of Christ's coming the forerunning splendors he sprinkles: which finally we now keep, something more abstruse, namely the resurrection to eternal life, intimates: for he has risen, and as it were again, by the showing of his most sacred Head, the Forerunner is restored to life.
[174] O marvelous thing! the earth did not bear to detain this treasure in herself for longer years, and to afflict us with the grief of his loss; marvelously glorified, but at her own time, as it were a new and ripe fruit of her own, she brings forth.
Heaven therefore saw the sacred Head and rejoiced; the human race looked on, and broke out in praises; demons perceived him and were scattered; brighter than the sun he shone with the light of truth; with the splendor of piety more lucent than the moon, with the multitude of miracles surpassing the variety of stars.
For what and how great rivers of healings immediately flowed forth, clearer and more abundant than every spring? The Spirit's grace soon breathed forth, more fragrant and more potent than all the lilies of the field: the most sweet odor the whole orb of lands smelled, and exulted.
All drew from it, what they sought, and as much as they desired; & to which their minds were incited, for grace is most abundant, where the determined will of a faithful soul shall have abounded, so much is received.
[175] The head of their circuit (namely of sinners), says David, the labor of their lips: to us indeed this Head has emerged the loosing of labors, & worthy of various encomia from Scripture. the dispelling of diseases, the flight of demons, the abundant exhibition of every divine gift.
make his paths straight. It is the Head of him who preached the baptism of penance for the remission
of sins; Isa. 40, 3 of whom the Scripture thus speaks;
Behold I send my Angel before
thee. Mal. 3, 1 What more need be said? It is the Head
of him who was deemed worthy to touch the divine summit;
to whom the Lord said: Suffer it now:
for so it becometh us to fulfill all justice. Matt. 3, 15
By what manner might any mortal at all praise the wholly most blessed
Head as is fitting?
What tongue of earth-born could celebrate
that Head enough, utterly admirable & shining
with the brilliance of incorruption?
[176] But, O divine & sacred Head, vessel of the most sincere
& most pure senses, whose hairs are also to be praised,
intellectual thurible of the sweetly fragrant Spirit,
most opulent storehouse of the riches of the wonders of
grace! I praise thy divinely-woven hairs,
more precious than the gold of Ophir, surpassing in beauty the nuptial
chains; upon which there came not up the razor of vice (the deception
of sin namely) as once upon Sampson, with raging
Delilah upon him. Jdg. 16, v. 17 I magnificently proclaim thy sacred
& Aaron-surpassing beard, beard, from
which the dew of health flowed into the souls of the faithful,
mightier than the dew of Hermon, which descends upon the mountains
of Sion. Thy luminous eyes I venerate, eyes,
the most splendid torches of the spirit purer than dovish eyes,
ears, & more precious than the most precious emeralds.
Thy God-breathed ears, genæ, instruments comparable to heavenly
voices, in praises
I extol. Aptly upon thee I shall morally use these Scripture's
voices; How beautiful are thy cheeks,
as a turtledove; as the Canticle has:
As a piece of a pomegranate are thy cheeks: as a scarlet thread
are thy lips: as the tower of Lebanon
thy nose, & thy speech sweet
& seemly. Cant. 1, 9 & 4, 3, Cant. 7, 4 & 4, 3 I praise the hedge of thy teeth
shining with milky brightness, teeth, whence proceeded the divine
preaching word, even to the ends of the world
of lands. Finally I praise thy neck, like silver,
through which the most wicked sword went, neck.
& from which in place of blood fountains of miracles
flowed.
[177] What sayest thou, Herod? for to thee now must my
discourse be turned. Hast thou obtained what thou soughtest?
Art thou made master of what thou desiredst? His crime is reproached to Herod, Not at
all. Behold to thee again also a witness of truth,
that convicting sword of the spirit, the most free for piety
tongue lives, nor is dead; loosed not
bound, more clearly than the blood of Abel, against thee
it cries: It is not lawful for thee to have the wife of Philip
thy brother. It denounces thy crime, to restrain
thee from the wicked bed, & from the impending wrath
over thy crime to exempt. Didst thou perceive? not at all.
Chastised, didst thou come to thy senses? not in the least. Lust
thou hast not diminished: thy whole soul thou hast given to thy maenad;
for the prize of a sportive dance the most divine Head,
dripping rivulets of blood, on a dish
thou broughtest forth. O immanity! O most shameless
banquet! That same thing is in the present
actually performed: for if the adulterer does not take away John's Head,
he makes Christ's members members of a harlot. What else also do drunkennesses
& revellings work, according to the Apostle's sense.
Yield thou too, wicked & criminal Herodias.
Hast thou gained any advantage from thy rash
attempts? & Herodias in her intent frustrated, The Baptist beneath the earth
thou hast hidden: there is not therefore one who against thee even now
shall contradict & oppose? Truly
vain is thy hope, weak is the drama that thou hast played,
empty thy study & effort. The turn of things
is reversed; the more thou seemedst to be hiding,
so much thy crime has been divulged. The more thou thoughtest
to lie hidden, so much thy deed into generations of generations
is transmitted the more openly.
[178] And thou indeed together with thy husband by bitter
death didst perish, & consumed by death, both your bodies corrupting & stinking beneath
the tomb, & with multitude of worms swarming;
but the Head which you cut off, leaps above the earth: holy
hands attend it, choirs of Priests pompously
accompany, ranks of Monks supplicate,
troops of Nobles magnify &
with praises pursue, meanwhile while is solemnly adored by all the Head which they cut, gathers a great multitude of men,
the very Angelic multitude together gathering
& companion of our praise
making; since this most preclear
festivity is supremely dear to the Angels,
shining with equal name & glory with them: it pours forth the unguents
of grace above nard, above saffron, above
cinnamon, & all spice-aromatics
it scatters; it cries, & vociferates the whole
denouncement of thy crime always without voice.
Such is the end, of wickedness so great that infamy
accompanies it. Know these things you also Kings of the earth;
satraps, & powerful; presidents
& subjects, & the whole human race;
that, as in others, so in marriages, what is lawful
following; into the same noxiousness as that wicked
couple, defamed with equal disgrace, you fall not.
[179] But when the golden Head, as far as has been
granted, Are praised also the other limbs of the holy body, with praises more precious than gold
flowers we have crowned, come, I beg, & the other
limbs let us likewise assume; lest in part the Forerunner
praising, we seem to offer diminished laudation
& less than just. What therefore
is more splendid & more lucid than those hands, which
deserved to be laid on Christ in baptism? For when
God is fire, by the touch of the divine head
think it done, as it were by commerce of fire, that the Forerunner's
hands, with nothing changed of their nature,
were rendered flaming. Ps. 67, v. 14 His back in the paleness
of gold, as is sung, which carries
Christ's Cross on the shoulders. His belly an ivory
pyx upon a sapphire stone, as the Scripture says,
who eliminated the delights of the belly existing in
the navel. Cant. 5, v. 14 His loins, embracing the holiness
of chastity, obtained the gift
of virginity. Cant. 7. v. 2 The shapes of his thighs like chains,
girded with the sword of imperturbation. His legs
marble columns, founded upon
golden bases, namely of virtues. Cant. 5. v. 15 Feet walking
in divine manner, by which he prepared the paths of the Lord.
All the limbs of that most sacred
& most undefiled body, were arms
of justice, a chosen & sanctified vessel, which
unto manly perfection chastity nurtured, perpetual
prayer perfected.
[180] Nor are those things which are external to be omitted by me,
namely the garment & girdle.
For indeed the Patriarch Jacob had made a varied tunic
for Joseph his most beloved son; & he himself clothed, but the great
Evangelist Matthew, simple & by no means
curious describes John's garment. He says
namely, His garment was of camels' hair,
& a leathern girdle about his loins; hence
also somewhat obscurely indicating the symbols of dead sin: although
there in another sense too the varied garment
is expounded. Matt. 3, 4 But what mind & tongue mine,
shall be equal that with thy in single members
praise it be sated, O greatest decoration
of men? & the Author invokes the Saint. But since on both sides I am pressed & needy
I am, mayest thou as most humane grant me pardon,
& me first the least servant of thine,
with the spiritual Father & thy flock confirm;
& all the praisers of thy divine magnificence
mayest thou preserve unharmed, in Christ Jesus
our Lord; to whom be glory & empire with the most holy Father & life-giving Spirit, now
& always, & unto the ages of ages, Amen.
SERMON OF THEODORUS DAPHNOPATA
On the Translation of the sacred Hand of S. John the Baptist from Antioch to Constantinople
From the Venetian Greek Ms. rendered into Latin by Franc. Zinus & from the Venetian edition of Aloysius Lipomanus Bishop of Verona.
A. THEOD. DAPHNO.
[181] Although the prior & greater part is of no or little credit, The pre-titled Sermon, by Lipomanus under
the name of Metaphrastes published, recast
however in the latest edition of Lives, by
Surius collected, & by Mosander & other Cologne
Carthusians augmented in their edition, & not
yet obtained in Greek, whether I should here give
entire, long indeed I have doubted; or whether only
thence I should take its last part, as the sole
(because by an Author & eye-witness it is) worthy
of all faith. Although it promises about the prior things
that more diffusely it would explain those, which ancient
histories hand down… some indeed narrating other things,
yet concluded into one & the same notion of faith
& expelling all incredulity;
those who at Antioch have lived: yet the whole sermon is here given. not therefore however
do they deserve faith, which either against more certain
other notices, or beyond all verisimilitude
it narrates, of times long past actions
& filling the greater part of the whole Sermon.
At length however more gratifying to the antiquity-loving Reader
I believed it would be, if leaving to him to estimate single things
by his own judgment, the whole context I should exhibit, & my
judgment on them I should report in Annotations.
[182] On this feast, the most recent indeed The tenor therefore of his such-as-it-is narration
is this. Behold to us again has come the most sacred
Forerunner of Christ, with abundant flowing
emitting of his graces; & again
another day is rendered festive, which greater
& more potent other arguments shows than
are in his other feasts; & those who are delighted in feasts,
raises to higher consideration of miracles. Behold of the Sun of justice
the all-flashing on every part Lucifer has shone forth, with his rays
illuminating the whole fullness of the Church,
& gladdening his feast. He comes however,
not as before through his nativity, nor as
then through the amputation of his head by Herod,
nor as afterwards through the secret
of the same wondrous head's revelation, but through
his hand: but more excellent than the other feasts of the Saint, that hand, I say, which was
venerable even to the Angels themselves, which by celestial
light is illuminated, & by the grace of the Holy Spirit
is overshadowed: which whatever was heavy & earthly
put down on earth, & to incorruption
was led across through a continent life
& greater than the human life; which earlier indeed
to ungrateful Jews showed the Lamb of God,
& the axe laid to the roots of the trees, & threatened
cutting down to sinners.
[183] But now since it has itself appeared,
& in a more excellent manner the hand escaped
the barbaric ones, more eagerly to be celebrated by whom it seemed as captive
to be held; it is fair that into festival joy
piously be affected the assembly of those, who feasts willingly
celebrate; & let the cloud indeed, which the mind
interposed impede, with her intelligible
light dissipate & dissolve; with alacritous
foot & exulting spirit to the mysteries,
even by the Angels themselves desirable, let it hasten. This
is to celebrate the feast, to be prepared to
meet with alacritous & ready mind those things
which are venerable, & with external figures &
motions to show the internal ardor of faith
& affections. Here therefore let there be present every
order of those, immortal & mortal the orator exhorts, who are in the highest honored
removed from matter; & of those who still surrounded
by this dust live; & a common
weaving dance, let us constitute a luminous & most
clear theater, using as
guide him, who is the greatest among them born of women.
For although by nature he surpassed the human limits,
through a life alien from flesh & body; because
yet he was sharer of our properties,
he rejoices to be celebrated by our praises about himself; & a good
receiving will, a copious
remuneration he metes out.
[184] But indeed his conception & birth
& the life he led in solitude,
& his manifestation to Israel, & he omits those things which are known from the Gospel, & the veridical testimony
by which he showed the Lamb of God, & himself
pronounced as coming once & again,
through divine authority & the assumption of human nature;
& how called from on high
he came to the Jordan; & having
him, alien from every stain & pure, & superior
to any purgation, baptized, by that contact
he showed the fount of sanctity; & what about
him to those whom he had baptized he said to his commendation; done by him & spoken about him by Christ,
through the likeness of a reed & softer garment
designating, his own life's
simplicity recoiling from the care of superfluous things
& firmness & constancy
in virtue; equal also to the old Elias, &
similar in manners tacitly indicating, & whatever
consequent to these, the four Gospels
show more openly to those diligently
scrutinizing. But what fits the present
celebration, are now to be announced & spoken,
that with the argument of the feast our scope
may agree, & our study in this rightly
be brought together.
[185] He educated in Mosaic teachings
& assiduously meditating on the Lord's law, he weighs his confidence in reproving Herod, to
their guarding & observance was setting all things behind;
& in this alone was putting all his study, that
he persevere in His justifications. When
however Herod, a most libidinous man, who was
Tetrarch of Galilee, transgressing the Decrees of the Law,
had taken to wife his brother Philip's wife in
marriage, which was not lawful for him (which Philip
from her had taken up a children) & it was
that crime an overturning of the Law, a contempt of God,
an induction of men to worse things; then John,
as a strong & rightly trained athlete &
exercised in labors, against the tyrant
drew up a battle-line, fortified with the truth's arms &
darts. But these what were they? It is not lawful
for thee to have thy brother's wife. O liberty,
which cannot be terrified; & confidence, which cannot
be overturned! O divine mouth & tongue,
which divinely moved & fixing into the very heart
the stings of reproofs, made that he proud
& insolent should cast down his shield & take to flight!
O sacred & venerable hand, for which cast into chains,
which moved for the utterance of words, the rebuke's
also amplified the asperity,
& confidence & boldness showed! For it is the custom
of those who in words strive also
the hand to move, & its motion to the discourse to join,
& by both to show how confident
& intrepid is he who speaks.
[186] Hence it came that he was cast into chains
& prison, by the mad woman compelling
her lover thereto. There followed then
the birthday feast with copious & immoderate
draught of wine, & finally the Saint was beheaded. whose excess led to delirium
him who furnished the feast. But what
entertainment seasoned the drink? The dance of a daughter,
after the manner of a harlot, & a request for a reward;
& the reward, the killing of the Prophet: from this
however the simulated sadness of the King, on account of the rage
with which he was internally driven: yet obedience
& submission, & pronouncement of the sentence
against the just; & a little after brought
in a dish was the head, & to the adulterous woman delivered.
What more inhuman than this immane action,
more nefarious? What more savage & insane than this bestial
deed? A man,
from the very womb of his mother surrounded with sanctity,
who had embraced temperance,
had taken up chastity, had exercised himself in fasting,
had separated himself from all intercourse with men,
had inhabited solitude as a city; who
dwelt with the beasts of the field, was clothed with camel's hair,
was girded with a leather girdle, on what is
spontaneously born fed as the birds, lacking human
nourishment, lacking utensils, &
as if devoid of flesh lived; who wholly seemed
abstracted from matter, because his material
frame he had macerated &
attenuated by fasting, & nearly to the emptiness
of matter had transferred by signal continence;
truth, for the Law not to be violated laboring,
to be given as a reward to an adulterous woman.
[187] But how these were permitted,
by him who wisely administers all, The Orator hence about to pass over to his hand, know
those to whom is given the spirit, to these in
part somehow to be known. His disciples
however when they had taken up the body separated from the head,
committed it to honored burial; lest,
if this too should be seen by the libidinous & incestuous
after his decease, it should become a greater fomes of envy,
& matter of graver crime to the intemperate.
So therefore the body indeed was hidden,
since neither did anyone more studiously inquire
after it, nor did the Saint manifest himself.
Now when I have come to this place,
I wish about the Prophetic tabernacle, & the hand
which to it was attached, to this sacred theater to explain
something hanging from an ancient narration;
& what about them we have heard & known, from ancients he narrates, &
what ancient histories hand down, more diffusely to explain:
whence namely this divine grace
was brought to Antioch, & whither was translated
the prophetic tabernacle: what
then the manner of this translation, what again
of its removal & exportation was.
[188] Herod the Infanticide, when the Jewish
principate of many he had transferred to a kingdom, Sebaste founded by Herod in honor of Augustus,
under the Roman empire yet, & in many
ways affected to seem faithful & benevolent to these;
he brought about, that they should look upon him
with benevolent eyes, & in no way suspect him
ever to be about to defect from them. Therefore that his
affection toward them might appear more clearly, he also founded
of only one day's b journey, & it
he named Sebaste, that is Augusta, that
by this appellation of Augustus Caesar he might profess his
benevolence & servitude to him.
In it, he who held the Principate after him,
Herod the Tetrarch fixed c the royal seat, in which
also was the banquet at which the Prophet was killed,
& near which had been in chains the Saint,
in a certain dark domicile of accused; which his son the Tetrarch made the seat of his kingdom.
across from which they report was buried
the body of the Herald of truth: in which place
also they say first was another sepulcher of the Prophet
Elisha, so that the two coffins were seen
lying together in one & the same place. There
also a very great temple once was built,
which, on account of those things which in it were done
miracles & beauty, had been incomparable.
in time, under the open sky were left its
edifices; so that one only e little house remained,
which was called the custody of sacred
vessels, Hence Luke the Evang. not being able to carry away the body, in which also were enclosed the coffins of the Prophets
without any detriment.
[189] But when Luke the Evangelist, going around all
regions everywhere, where
also going around he came to Sebaste, by love
of Antioch touched, as one who was born in it, carried the hand to Antioch,
with great zeal was he held to take up that sacred
body of the Forerunner whole; but
because he could not, since it was diligently guarded,
the right hand having been taken off f he carried it
into his own city, in the place of some other benefice
& of other riches, to her which had
nurtured him, this rendering as the reward of her bringing-up.
From that time therefore that hand was situated
with the Antiochenes, & held in great
honor, & of the grace continually inhabiting in it
[190] But when Julian had tyrannically seized
the helm of the Empire, g since he
was striving to surpass in crimes the persecutors
& enemies of God who had preceded him, which by the fear of Julian seeking it was hidden & whatever Relics
of those who for Christ had fought,
or the entire tabernacle of the body,
& whatever other monuments of our faith
committing to the fire, was reducing to ashes, with great
zeal he came to Antioch; both that
he might celebrate the unclean mysteries in the idolatrous altar,
which was at Daphne; & that he might search
& deliver to the flames if anything sacred
he had found there h deposited. This his
cruel Decree when at Antioch it was announced,
those who were of the Christian party,
zealously hid the sacred hand of the Forerunner
in a certain tower of the city, which Gonia
that is Angle was called, lest by the idolater
it could be taken. But he who held
the Pontifical See i at Jerusalem, when the same execrable
Decree by hearing he had perceived, & the body transmitted from Jerusalem to Alexandria, nor doubting that the tyrant would
at all delay, from ascending to the sacred
places, & whatever most precious bodies
were in them committing to the fire; this
diligently & with great zeal applied took care,
that from the coffin the tabernacle of the Forerunner taken away
he should transmit to be preserved in the city k
of Alexandria, another common body
in its place within the coffin itself being deposited.
[191] After however at Antioch all things
that impious one having scrutinized, attempted those things which
could not be done, the other supposititious one being burned, & the hidden hand nowhere
appearing, frustrated in his desire,
& against the remaining prophetic body furor
driven; he sent as far as Jerusalem those who
should seek out, & to the fire deliver it. Which when
it had been brought to an end, & the common
body, which in its place had been buried, by those
who had been sent had been reduced to ashes;
thence setting out he led his army to besiege
stood on the part of the Christians. They say however
that a certain one of his servants, he himself perished. who freely with him
was speaking, & was to him very joined, but
from his soul the Christian cause cultivated & honored,
restrained him from the undertaking, & to
war against the Persians waging incited:
in which a divine plague sent down struck him,
he ended life miserably.
[192] But after to the faithful Emperors
returned the scepters of the Romans, & restored
was liberty to the Christians; The same hand by revelation discovered, it was not known
indeed where was the precious hand to those
who inhabited the Antiochene city: but
not very long after through a more divine revelation
it was revealed, where it was hidden. Which
when faithfully from that place they had taken up, in
honoring her they were insatiable. But when
no little time had flowed, the Emperor
Justinian, among other things which piously he did, did
also such a thing. This wonder-working
right hand of the Forerunner from Antioch, &
of God & our Lord the Tunic, which was
in the city of Maratsemote, & the most venerable
Head from Emesa he transferred to the royal
city: which indeed were shown sealed
with the seal of holy Emperor Constantine, & brought to C.P. there remained.
to this end that they should no longer from them be torn off
by those, who embraced them.
The seal therefore removed, when the temple of the Forerunner
which in the Hebdomon is built,
through the Lord's Tunic & such sacred
Relics he had sanctified; again he sent back, with their
own seals sealed, whence they had come; only
the Prophetic right hand leaving not
sealed, because it was anointed with ointments m &
was raised up on the feast of Exaltation.
[193] And thus indeed about these things has been related by
the ancients, some narrating other things about this hand, It is narrated however that at Antioch was a dragon,
yet concluded into one & the same
notion of faith, & expelling all incredulity,
no one straying far from the
truth. n But if we should also recall
some miracle, Antioch will bear witness with us
of what we are about to say,
received by hearing from those who there have been versed.
In a cavern lurked a certain dragon
within its boundaries, whom the inhabitants of the city counting
among the Gods, to whom each year a virgin was exposed, honored with an anniversary
sacrifice: but it was a virgin girl, who
had reached first puberty, & on account of
her unpolluted virginity to the dragon as victim
was preserved. But what was the manner of sacrifice?
To that very place in which was the cavern
of the dragon the Antiochenes, publicly flocking together &
making a frequented theater, when they had led the girl around,
offered her to the dragon to be devoured.
He, crawling forth from the cavern, an unexpected
& incredible miracle would seem,
with his own feet creeping & sliding,
& by natural internal spirit curved upward, & like
thorax received the sacrifice & lacerated
it with his teeth. o
[194] But according to custom the lot had fallen on a certain
Christian, that he should give his daughter to the dragon
to be sacrificed: & when the lot fell on a Christian woman, who pricked
with natural goads from his heart was sighing toward the great
Forerunner; & how his daughter from death could be
preserved, such a thing he devises. When a great
quantity of gold he had hidden upon himself, he asks
him who guarded the sacred hand, that this
he be permitted to adore: & what he asked he obtained.
When however he was at this, & under the pretext
of adoring, had poured out the gold which secretly
he was carrying, straight there he proceeded; meanwhile
while the sacristan, who had observed it, rushed
to gather the coins fallen from the man. her father the bitten thumb of the sacred hand,
He however, who had asked to be received to
adore the sacred pledge, into its little coffer
introducing himself & wholly bending, of the venerable
right hand the thumb, wounded with divine
desire, with his teeth as if kissing seized,
& with teeth bitten off he concealed, &
departed. When however now the day of the sacrifice approached,
& of the inhabitants & neighbors was gathered
the theater; the father approached leading the girl
to the sacrifice: into the jaws of the dragon thrust, & when he had been near
the dragon, & had seen him gaping with vast mouth,
& terrifying the surrounding with horrid hisses
& gaping at the victim; that sacred & venerable
finger into his open maw casting,
made him at once to burst & die.
[195] These things so done, the father indeed alive
his daughter led home, & with tears together
& with joy bathed, the wondrous & unexpected
liberation of his daughter narrated. The
people who stood around, & he thus being killed his daughter he had saved: stunned by the notable miracle,
great thanks to God were rendering.
Hence it came, that in that place was built a temple
of the Forerunner, which they named Κρεμαστὸν
that is suspended, either because its floor above
the earth higher is elevated, or because to such
that to those beholding from afar it seems almost
to hang in the air. In it when the sacred
& wondrous finger they had deposited, whence the temple was raised there, him
with anniversary feasts they honor, the miracle which
had been done by commemoration transmitting
to posterity. There is said also another
sign very memorable to be done at Antioch; in which the prodigious hand was preserved.
namely that of this sacred hand sometimes the fingers
are extended, sometimes p contracted;
& by their extension fruit-fertility
future is signified, by contraction however
penury.
[196] Moreover when many of the preceding
Emperors desired the sacred hand
to possess, & not to permit that it longer
as a captive should remain in the power of the barbarians
occupying those parts; The city occupied however by Barbarians, there grew
indeed the desire for so preclear a thing, but
of obtaining it no manner appeared, because
however much money was offered for
obtaining such a treasure; this was nothing else
than to beat the air. It was desired
therefore by all, who invoke Christ's name;
& whoever happened to think about this matter,
with unutterable groans were praying
God, that with benign eyes his people
beholding, he might make them possessor
& spectator of so sacred a pledge. a certain Deacon, in the time of Romanus & Constantine Emperors. Since indeed of divine
providence are predefined all things, by him who
foreknew all before the world's constitution,
& looks down on the times of our ignorance, through
his much compassion it pleased, that a great
& notable miracle be revealed
in this our generation, in which q Constantinus
& Romanus most laudable & in purple
born were holding the reins of Empire; namely of the venerable
hand the exportation & recall:
but the manner of the matter done was very memorable &
unexpected.
[197] A certain man, into the Order of Deacons
of the Antiochene city brought, by supernal
inspiration & divine zeal moved was thinking, familiarity contracted with the custodian,
by what manner he could the right hand taken away thence
to the Christians desiring her give:
but this thus he tried to attain. There is in that
city a beautiful & excellent temple,
set up to Peter the Prince of the Apostles, in
whose vestibule when he had begun to dwell, with
the custodian of the sacred vessels which were there
he contracted friendship, through which to him should be allowed
together with him whole nights to sit by the coffin
of the venerable hand. When this to him was not permitted
by him to whom the custody was entrusted, another
device he resolved to apply to him. A lavish &
sumptuous supper he received the man, & when
with more abundant draughts provoked into a high
sleep submerged he saw him; her stealing by craft, through a certain
window he let himself down into the church, & slowly
& without noise opening the sacred coffer
(O thing wonderful to say & hear!) the precious
right hand which was desired he received;
& thence from the highest silence returning kept
it carefully lest he be discovered to have stolen what.
[198] Hence he departs from Antioch, with great
fears lest to enemies it become known, & many
to God prayers using, is received by those sent to meet; that he could carry out
the purpose of his mind: & thus changing place
from place, through dangerous & difficult ways,
he was hastening to reach the borders of the Romans:
to which when he had come, with mind
more loosed & free of fear he was hastening to
the Royal residence. But after the faithful Emperor
learned of his coming, stunned by the wondrous
message, sufficient he could not find
actions of thanks to God, for
such unexpected felicity. He sent forthwith
those who should receive the sacred pledge with hymns, lamps
& perfumes; that just as the Saint
himself, the voice of one crying in the desert, had been ordered
to prepare the way of the Lord, to make straight his paths;
then by the Patriarch & Senate having advanced to Chalcedon, so also for him about to enter the Christian
city, an honest & seemly entry might be prepared.
When however he approached Chalcedon,
the Imperial ship was loosed from the port,
carrying the Patriarch r, with Priests,
Clergy & Senate, & many illustrious men,
that they might convey that sacred treasure into the royal city:
equally also went out in ships
an innumerable multitude of people to meet the Saint.
[199] When indeed him with his hands received
the Pontiff to bear him in his own arms, & the sea
again ascended; one could see the water itself, on that very day of Epiphany,
contrary to custom placid & tranquil, with soft
waves lapping the ship, &
before him as it were exulting, & the journey to the Emperor
hastening. There happened however also
this wonderful & worthy of the hand of the venerable Forerunner.
It was the feast day of the holy
s Lights, in which the true light entered the Jordan
streams & reformed human nature's ruin
& since on the day preceding that feast,
by fasting we are pre-purged; it happened that
at the very hour of Vespers, t in which to Christians
it is the custom to perform the sacrifice, the divine hand
arrived: which when the most Christ-loving
Emperor as a divine gift &
free from death had received with embrace, & witnesses
of desire & of faith many tears had shed;
he places it in the middle of the royal v temples;
so that all believed that very one was present
the Baptist, though unseen, & the waters
with his own right hand was sanctifying. Hence were sung
hymns spiritual, the brought-in lamps were illuminating
the church; the eyes of all intent on the casket,
by the very aspect from it sanctification were drawing.
[200] Thus indeed when the feast of the holy
Theophanies, the feast of baptism however being celebrated, & the following day on
which the sacred Forerunner's memory was to us more highly
handed down (since to the mystery of divine baptism
x he ministered) we had performed & celebrated;
it was judged equal that, his
hand's Deposition also with annual feasts
we should honor, & this also we should number y among others,
that no memory of him be not on every side
glorious. And now this feast is present
bright & notable, after the circular ambit of the year,
distilling on us showers of miracles,
& bringing those things which to our souls are conducive
in the future. There is therefore set before us the hand
of the Baptist & Forerunner,
surrounded with incorporeal virtues, which the virtue inhabiting in it
admire. it was decreed that an annual memory of the thing be kept on that day, And what
is today this temple more comely? what
ædes more venerable & more beautiful than this? in which placed
this sacred & divine treasure, with
heavenly spectacles contends, with the splendor
of innumerable lights: under which the graces of the Holy Spirit
that descend from above,
are dispensed to the souls of those, who praise
& celebrate her, according to the measure of faith of each one,
in Christ Jesus our Lord,
to whom is glory & power unto the ages of ages.
Amen.
NOTES AND CENSURES BY D. P.
a If
after Philip's death the wife had been taken, this reason could have made the marriage
illicit, which only was made lawful, indeed prescribed, for
raising up the seed & name of a brother dead without an heir; but now
another stronger reason for accusation was, that with Philip still living,
it was sinned more expressly against the Law of Leviticus 18 & 20 Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of thy brother's wife, because it is the nakedness of thy brother, & he who takes the wife of his brother, does an illicit thing.
b Rather
of two days: for 15 hourly leagues between the two cities the tables of Adrichomius
& others place, so that by a typographical error it seems
to have happened that Baudrand in his Geography only counts p. m. 35 for 45.
above I said, the whole Samaritan region, with the rest of Judea,
belonged to the Procurator of the Roman President, so it is most alien from
verisimilitude, that Herod the Younger had a royal seat there, so
far from his Tetrarchy or kingdom of Galilee, as Burchard rightly observes
in Canis. tom. 6 antiqu. Lect. in description of the Holy Land
pag. 308. Therefore refuting the aforesaid opinion, which meanwhile
commonly believed, in the 10th cent. & following, is plain from all who then
treated that argument on the holy places. He himself, who about the year
1283 flourished, in the judgment of Vossius in the book on Latin Historians, whose 13th cent. miserable appearance, the place as he saw, thus describes:
Samaria city, now Sebaste, once head of the kingdom of Israel, now
through demanding sins has not a single house, only two
churches; on the summit of the mount one, where once
was the palace of the King … A sacred church there is also in honor of S. John
the Baptist, in which he was buried between Elisha & Abdias; & I saw
his sepulcher, but did not enter: because the Saracens have made for themselves thence
& great I have seen except in Samaria … The wall of the city was nearly at
the foot of the mount, & huge ruins,
with very firm towers: & within the mount gradually rising into the height,
& girt around with buildings, like a cluster, planted with grape-stones, &
stretching to the heights. The royal house was up on the mount, very beautiful, where
still are seen innumerable columns, which supported palaces &
walkways: & in the circuit of the mount, below under the royal house &
the dwellings of soldiers, in the place where was the marketplace of saleable things, still nearly
through the whole circuit, marble columns surround the mount, standing here
& there, which contained the arches of the streets. Briefly I know not what of great
could not be said of that city, which to such misery has now come.
was beheaded. To the right of the altar is seen a little urn, in which the body of S. Zacharias
father of the Precursor had been preserved: to the left, another little urn, a subterranean ædes, believed to have been the prison of John,
in which the body of S. Elizabeth, the same mother lies: as also in
the two sides of the prison the Relics of various Saints, &
of the disciples of the Precursor rest. Above the prison a temple is seen
& in it two urns, of white marble cut, of which the right contains
the ashes of the burnt body of the venerable Precursor, the other contains the body of Elisha
the Prophet: & above it built a church in which the left hand was shown.
& above in a golden vessel the left hand of the Precursor, on every side &
herself covered with gold. In the middle & upper part of the hill of the city, anciently
was Herod's royal seat … but now that place is a Greek monastery.
The temple of the monastery is domed,
& on the left side of the altar a little cell, & in its middle from marble
& by the Angels reverent Head was. Such a ditch could
once made there for other uses, seem apt to confirming the popular minds
the imprinted opinion, of the Baptist there captured & beheaded.
f Wherever
then was the Baptist's tomb (certainly not within the city) I would not
believe it had been so negligently closed, that it could easily be opened:
nor that Luke would mutilate the body which by miracle was whole, by tearing off
the hand or wrenching it away: but when Constantine reigning, &
the church at Sebaste built, hither was brought it; or rather when under
Julian it was dissipated & burned; could one hand have been
withdrawn from the pyre, & the other taken to Antioch: which because
it ascribed the laudation of the faith preached among them to its citizen S. Luke, this
man most especially it wanted to believe the author of the sacred gift.
of no response as he hoped grace from the idol he received: wherefore from
the relics of holy Martyr Babylas deposited in Daphne, silence to the idol he suspected
had come, all the cadavers of the dead & of the Martyr himself there
deposited (for in the suburbs it was lawful to bury the dead) he ordered to be carried out, as writes Theophanes, not to be burned: for not so openly was he raging the changeling, nay the Christians who were at Antioch, having understood his mandate, all together poured out with women & little ones (as Socrates writes) the casket of S. Babylas,
from Daphne to the city they bore in triumph & psalms
singing, by which they touched the Gentile gods, & those who in them
& their idols put faith. Which his contumely Julian avenged by writing the Misopogon, nor otherwise,
but with restoring idolatry by his edict content, he dissembled whatever in audacity
raised Gentiles, against the Christians and their sacred things attempted: &
so they many other enormities perpetrated, which briefly are thus explained in
the Paschal Chronicle, In Palestine also the Relics of S. John the Baptist which were at Sebaste, this crime was of the Pagans, dissimulated by him. they dispersed. Rufinus writing only 40 years after the matter happened & himself in Palestine long versed lib. 12 cap. 28; In the times of Julian, he says,
as if with reins relaxed impiety boiled up, whence it came to pass that at
Sebaste a city of Palestine, the sepulcher of John the Baptist with raging mind &
deathly hands they invaded, the bones they dispersed, & these again gathered
burned with fire; & the holy ashes mingled with dust through fields &
farms they scattered. Then Rufinus continues to narrate how some from Jerusalem Monks,
among those who were collecting the bones for burning mingled, more diligently
gathering, secretly withdrew either from those stupefied or insane,
& to the Father of their monastery the Relics they brought.
to have had in his power the body of S. John, something had to be invented
about the occasion & manner, by which it had been translated from Sebaste
to Jerusalem, before Julian received the Empire.
k But
Rufinus says Philip the Father of said monastery sent the Relics
to Alexandria: about which what was done there, I said 2 May at the Life of S.
Athanasius who received them, num. 334.
Edessa (perhaps on account of hatred for the inhabitants, because that city already from
the times of the Apostles had professed the Christian religion)
he came to Carrhae: where Baronius observes from Julian's own
Epistles, that to the Edessenes indeed he was hostile, since their
all churches he ordered to be plundered: yet the whole journey from Antioch
to Nisibis he so describes, that he appears about no other thing, than about the long-
meditated Persian expedition to have thought the unhappy one; so far is it, that this
thought was first cast in besieging Edessa.
to the Life of S. Matrona was infused with Oil, to be distributed among the faithful; Oil was wont to be infused on the Relics of Saints. so
also the Right Hand at Antioch, where also was kept the proper feast of Exaltation,
whose day is still required. To make that infusion
immediately, it was needed to take the sacred hand out of its case, nor
could it be held sealed. Moreover Justinian about whom here, reigned from
the year 527 to 565.
n By this
namely, that from ancient & immemorable time that hand was
at Antioch: but if of others also diverse in other circumstances
narrations the Author had reported, perhaps among them would be found some
much more verisimilar, than that which feigns the hand brought by S. Luke, in the very
beginnings of the Gospel preached.
o I do not
believe anyone now will be, who will read these otherwise than a fable, made in
imitation of Andromeda: yet an epitome of this whole sermon
is recited in the Menaea & Synaxaria 7 January.
p In the Menaea is more expressly said this to be wont to be done κατὰ
τὴν
τῆς
ὑψώσεως
τοῦ
τιμίου
στὰυροῦ
ἑορτὴν
ἐν
τῷ
ὑψοῦσθαι
ταύτην
τὴν
τιμίαν
χεῖρα ὑπὸ
τοῦ
ἀρχιερέως; on the feast of the exaltation of the venerable Cross, XIV September, while the Archbishop raises up that venerable hand: so that another feast of this perhaps should not be sought at Antioch observed.
q Here
at last by ocular faith ascertained the matter narrating the Author, begins to deserve faith
more certain. But the time here noted is defined from the year 948, in which Romanus was made consort of the Empire; & 959, in which Constantine died. Moreover from this that soon below is named the Emperor in the singular, namely Constantine, it becomes verisimilar, the matter was done not long after Romanus still ten years old was taken up.
r Theophylactus this was the son of Romanus Lecapenus, all things under the name of his son-in-law Constantine in
the empire administering, until the year 944, who Helena Augusta's brother,
very young raised to the throne was about the year 939: which for whole 23
years he held, unworthy of that rank.
s The Epiphany the Latins call 6 January as much as the Greeks celebrated; but these chiefly then recall Christ's baptism, whence the feast of Lights: for baptism, illumination; to baptize, to illuminate is to them said.
t This
custom of both Churches was anciently, & is now to the Easterners
to extend the fast until Vespers, & then first to sacrifice, then
to take a little supper. We however hold the same custom in Lent,
placing the Vesperal Office before the midday meal.
v Namely the church or chapel of the Great Palace, which Du Cange cap. 7 num. 10 indicates was in that part, which was called Bucoleon,
& was on the sea itself; from the images of an Ox & Lion struggling
& standing in the port a name received, as he says in his
Christian Constantinople pag. 119; yet in that whole chapter distinguishing the various
parts & appellations of that Palace, of any chapel placed therein
he does not mention, which is wonder enough: perhaps elsewhere about it he treats
under its own proper name, which there is no time to scrutinize.
x From
the custom namely of the Greeks, subjoining to the greater feasts of Christ or the God-bearer
the feast of those, who to the mystery just celebrated more closely
pertain; for example of the Angel Gabriel, after the feast of the Annunciation; &c.
y Not however on a different day, for thus the Rubric in the Menologion at VII January. Τῷ
ἀυτῷ
μηνὶ
ζ᾽
ἡ
σύναξις
τοῦ
ἁγίου
Προφήτου
Προδρόμου
καὶ
Βαπτιστοῦ·
συνέδραμε
δὲ
καὶ
ἡ
τῆς
παντίμου
καὶ
ἁγίας
ἀυτοῦ
χειρὸς
πρὸς
τὴν
βασιλεύουσαν
μετένεξις. In the same month of January day VII, the feast
of holy Prophet Prodromus & Baptist John; concurs also on
this day the translation of the venerable & holy hand to the Royal
city: then is recited the Epitome which I have called of this sermon; in
the rest of the Office however as more ancient, composed by S. Theophanes
with a Canon, no mention is made of the hand.
CHAPTER IV.
On the Relics of the Head of S. John the Baptist brought to the West.
§. I. Translation of the Face to Amiens in Gaul.
PrologueBY THE AUTHOR D. P.
[201] C.P. taken in the year 1204 by the Latins To this point, which to the most Erudite Du Cange
was the occasion & scope of writing was passing
he; Chapter 8 begins from the expeditions
of the Franks to the East, of whose Cross-signed
fleet, in the year 1202 joined to the Venetians, Zara
in Dalmatia besieging, that city obtained
it took counsel equally to sail to Constantinople,
with Alexius Comnenus the younger, their
help imploring against his uncle Alexius Ducas,
who his brother Isaac had cast down from the throne, & deprived of
eyes was holding him in prison. The matter had
succeeded according to plan, The face found in Manganis, & nothing else were the Cross-signed expecting,
than that the subsidies promised being received, to
the Holy-Land they would hasten: when to them was announced
that Isaac had died, & the younger Alexius been strangled
by Alexius Ducas otherwise Murtzuphlos, & that
from this man war threatened them. By this indignity of the deed
irritated they routed the forces of the tyrant they besieged the city,
& by a second assault by armed force they obtained it in the year 1204,
XII April. Thus captured she was spoil for the victors;
whose head in the year 1025 was still in the monastery of Studium. nor only of profane riches was she drained,
but also of treasures of sacred Relics;
of which some chief enumerating Du Cange,
& among them also the aforesaid face, he asks how
it could near the temple of S. George of Manganis
be found; which together with the Head whence taken is presumed
in the year 1025, had been left in the monastery
of Studium; for of either nothing is found afterwards
written by the Authors of Byzantine History.
[202] Therefore by conjecture deciding the question,
which otherwise to solve was not given; he notes
how Constantine Monomachus who the niece
of Basil Porphyrogenitus (of whom above
num. 163 mention was made) had as wife, [Namely of the temple there to S. George built in the year 1050 the founder Basil,]
about the year 1050 in the place of the Armamentum,
placed at the shore & from the war machines
τῶν
Μαγχάνων named, a magnificent S. George's
temple built, which then to the strait itself
gave the name that it is called Arm of S. George.
But since in that matter such great he used
prodigality, that with the treasuries of the Empire exhausted
he had necessity to recur to new & burdensome exactions;
consequently it is to be thought
by Du Cange, it seems he brought many Relics there. that nonetheless he zealously, having received
from everywhere more precious Relics,
the new church to enrich. Certainly John
Cantacuzenus, who having deposed the Purple
there put on the Monk in the year 1338,
lib. 1 cap. 39 of the history indicates, great there
in his time was their abundance. But in that
place only mentioned I find, τὰ
ἐν
ἀυτῇ
τῶ
Μαγκάνων
μονῇ
τῶν
τοῦ
χριστοῦ
σωτηρίων
παθῶν
τεθησαυρισμένα
σύμβολα, in the same Manganensian
monastery placed of saving passions of Christ symbols,
which to the Saints' Relics
with difficulty you would transfer; unless from greater ones, such as
are of Christ, to lesser, such as of the Saints
are, by arguing.
[203] However it be, that which is at Amiens the Face,
is said to have been found in that church; & to have found
it is asserted Walo of Sartone, a village near
Dulendium a town of Picardy, six leagues
from the city of Amiens distant, whose Toparch
Miles of Sartone, father of Walo, Hence certainly is said to have brought away the face Walo of Sartone.
had three brothers; Peter, Nicholas, &
Walo, all Canons of Amiens;
& wife Margaret daughter of Enguerand,
Vicedomine of Pequiniacum; whence were born
Anselm, the paternal Lord's heir; Galterius
& Walo, named Canons of Amiens
in the monuments of that church; Gerardus,
John, Radulphus & Alisia: Walo
however, before having assumed the Cross would depart
from Gaul, had been a Canon at S.
Martin's of Pequiniacum. afterwards of Amiens, then of Pecquiniacum a Canon, Thus Du Cange in the aforecited
Chapter num. 7, alleging in the margin the Necrologium
of the church of Amiens, on the day VII February,
& XXVI August; & also the Cartulary of the Abbey
of S. John there, folios 207, 217,
218 &, 236.
[204] Aptly however he notes, the same Walo
is called Canon of the church of S. George of Constantinople, indeed even of S. George of C.P.
from the new institution of the Latins,
for neither among the Greeks at that age was there use
of Clerical Prebends; but from a Monastery
of Monks living in common, was made by
the Latins a Collegiate church, it is understood
from Innocent III Epist. 185 lib 13, written
to the Salimbrian Bishop, & to S. Mary of
Blakerna & S. George of Mangonia the Deans
of Constantinople. From this Walo's
mouth was written the history of the aforetitled Translation,
which we have from the Ms. of Nicolas Belfortius,
collated with the Ms. of the Collegiate of S. Wulfran in
Abbeville, a city X leagues below Amiens situated.
Here it have.
HISTORY
From Mss. of Amiens & Abbeville.
A. CONTEMPORARY FROM MSS.
[205] Since from the city of Byzantium lately into Gaul
was made the Translation of the face of the glorious
Baptist, with the faithful witness not yet taken from the midst,
Author from the mouth of Walo narrates, from whose monastery to us was brought,
it has seemed to us that the manner of the Translation
ought to be commended to the points of letters. The Franks
therefore in the Constantinopolitan parts
their army warring, with the Cross of the sign upon them imposed;
after from that famous victory of the Blastenses & Cumanians,
Baldwin a the Emperor,
with the Lord permitting miserably
into their hands had fallen, & already for months
fifteen of his death or life no
certainty had been rendered, & Henry b his brother
(in whose hands of things to be done
the summit had remained) had attained the summit
of Empire; certain ones of the Franks, who about to return to Gaul, who with the army
from the beginning had come, wished to return home. Among
whom a certain Walo, Clerk of the Amiens
diocese (whose relation to us the present history's
series made known) his with the others
was hastening return.
[206] He was distressed however not a little,
that he was carrying no notable Relics with him, nor being able to transfer there the Relics which he had found
with which returning the Gallican Church he might
honor: especially when treasures inestimable,
both of sacred & otherwise useful things,
by very many almost on single days he understood
were being found. But at that time when nearly the city
had to be captured, it was agreed by all
& confirmed by oath, that whatever
within a year from the day of capture of single ones came
to hands by finding or gain
(According to the common saying) from
the success of wars, the first head at C.P. in the year; should be brought into public
to be distributed, according to the quality & merits of persons.
In which year indeed the head of S. Christopher,
the arm of S. Eleutherius, & certain
other precious things he had found, which to the Trojan c Bishop,
to receive those things which pertained to
the church appointed, for his oath he had rendered d.
But after the lapse of the year, not much
had he been solicitous in seeking, since he was not thinking about
his return. For he had in Constantinople
itself a Canonicate in the church of S.
George of Mangana.
[207] It happened however that when on the day of the nativity
of the B. Virgin he had entered his church, in another year, among the ruins of an old palace,
nor dared with the rest in his rank solemnly
to be present at Vespers, because the clerical
(since lately from the army of Lycia he had returned)
he was not wearing tonsure, secretly to say them,
into the vestibule behind the altar he withdrew. But
that place was in an appendage, between the church itself
& a certain old e palace, of Imperial
once Majesty capable. There therefore from
his intimate vitals high sighs drawing, he was revolving
with himself if perhaps the Lord for his manifold
mercy had decreed him not empty
to be sent back to his own. Whose vows looking out
he who is wont to hear the prayers of suppliants, he found the face of S. John the Baptist, not
only what he could hope, but even beyond
his every hope, conferred upon him a most desired
treasure. For after the Beautiful in form
beyond the sons of men, & after that incomparable Virgin,
who him with undefiled womb conceived;
who does not know that all are inferior to the Baptist?
And if the Lord, as is most clear;
if the Lady as it is pious to believe, with body
are assumed; what among the Relics of the Saints
more elegant do we seek, than a part,
especially the most noble of the whole body of the Forerunner?
[208] Now when the venerable Canon his eyes
to a certain pillar of the monastery by chance
had cast; he saw in its base a small window omitted.
The place was unkempt, & which
he would have judged worthy of neglect. In its blocking
beyond the artificial order placed with hay
interposed, without all smalt or bitumen
involved. Hanging therefore, as he was with ardent
mind, & nonetheless having short truce,
by looking around he learned that all the custodians
& doorkeepers, namely unforeseen, to him the place
had given. And with the door closed upon him, trembling
the first structure of hay & rubble to himself
he drew; but first the finger & arm of S. George, which two notable vessels followed;
in one of which a finger, in the other an arm
of S. George he discovered he had found. But fearing those who might come
upon him because of the brevity of time,
the place not perfectly searched, the hay & rubble,
as he had found them disordered, again he arranged.
O with how great solicitude that night vigilant
his mind fluctuated? But if vain
cloud of sleep his eyes perhaps fatigued
covered, leisureless phantasy from the long-standing wish
of multiform certainly had matter of conjecture.
[209] Morning having come, with much diligence the place
he began from afar to watch; then two dishes, & otherwise to himself dear
the frequency of his own ill bearing, of his purpose
with books, vessels, vestments, & other
necessary things for celebrating the divine office
brought out, & each one occupied with appointed offices,
his hair alone untrimmed excused Walo
among others, that he was less suspected for remaining
there. Closing therefore at once
the door, he removed quickly the whole heap;
& behold two silver discs large, round,
with corresponding covers he found.
What within lay hidden, to look at was not permitted,
to him not having width of time. Wherefore
modesty teaching, which he hid elsewhere, thrust into a hiding place
into part of that broken palace, by no one at all
of men customarily frequented, under the silence
of the night to be repeated he hid, nor did he neglect
his thrusting again diligently to inspect,
lest by chance moved traces of straw should accuse him.
It seemed to him to add the residue of that day
upon the length of other
days.
[210] Not yet the full twilight awaited,
he carried his discs into a secret chamber, & afterwards he found they contained the Heads of SS. George & Baptist. no one
knowing. With these opened, in one the head
of S. George he learned was contained from the superscription,
Agios Georgios; on the other indeed
was superscribed, Agios Joannes Prodromos.
Which when he did not fully understand,
he did not dare to inquire from anyone what it was.
He broke however the great discs, the smaller
being reserved to himself, in which were those two heads
marked, & in two saddlebags he placed them
to be hung under each armpit: but the silver
of the discs he sold; resolving with himself in
pious uses just as much or more to bestow,
if ever to a fatter fortune he should be reduced.
He also explored in the walls of churches
titles wherever, of Saints with images
superscribed; & in many
places he read, A Prodromos, superscribed to the Baptist's icon,
for it is interpreted, A
Prodromos, Precursor. From which how great was
joy he was bathed in, & with how great
action of thanks to the Lord he pursued, it is not
easy under the brevity of words to constrain.
[211] A ship therefore being prepared, & farewell taken
to the Brothers, the day before the Kalends f of October, the sea
with the others he entered: & nearly within a month
at Venice they landed. With whom returning, When they had crossed the land of the Lombards
& the rough places of the mountains,
they were taken in the village which is called S. Raimbert g,
in the diocese of Bellay. Where when their
little bundles the robbers were about to search,
themselves & their things by a certain sum of money they redeemed. Similarly &
when to the bank of a little river, which under Ambornay h
castle flows down, they had come, lest they be searched,
again another sum of money it behoved them
to count out. & having twice escaped the hands of the searchers, With what fear among these things you think Walo's
spirit was anxious, with what perplexities
in diverse ways pulsed. The treasure
which in his bosom hitherto had lain hidden, will it be able
into his country without a witness to be brought through?
But if to others it become known, & the Bellicenses, glorying in the Saint's finger, having passed, how shall he lack
envy? or who shall ward off injuries to be inflicted,
especially since in the bounds of the Bellicenses
these things happen; who one finger of the Baptist
reputed themselves marvelously glorious. What then,
if to them it become known, the most desirable face into their
net had fallen, would they not from a poor Cleric
scruple to take it away?
[212] But glorious & sublime God, at whose
nod all things are disposed, The Relics always secretly having his companions; by an unexpected way
provided all to be in safety. He had agreed
for among themselves the whole company, that after
they had reached pacific land, anyone sworn
whatever he had should bring forth in the midst, that
it be exacted from each according to the value of his.
Except that among them was a certain messenger k
of Emperor Henry, who Sanctuaries innumerable,
from the part of his Lord into Flanders was carrying;
nor to that in any way, except excepting
the Sanctuaries, did he wish to bind himself. By this therefore
occasion, Walo, since other than Sanctuaries
nothing did he have, nothing he needed to exhibit.
Approaching finally the city of Amiens,
which once Samarobriva, now
commonly is called the city of Amens, to a certain
uncle of his Peter, from which, others elsewhere left, Canon of Amiens,
his coming he signified; signifying simultaneously,
that he also had with him the face of the glorious Baptist.
For with the head of B. George the church of the greater
he sent to m Picquigny church, of which
he was Canon; & the finger to Sartone,
whence he had been native.
[213] Coming therefore Peter to meet Walo
to the village which is called n Beaufort;
received by him the Sanctuary, to venerable
Richard o then Bishop of Amiens,
flowing, with supreme reverence
to be borne he led: by whose merits certainly to the Amiens
Church, the gift of so great honor,
was owed in his time: since he himself most pleasant
cantica had composed on the beheading
of the most holy Baptist (which on the day of the gathering of his Bones,
& today p in the same church are chanted)
as if by a certain presaging, or rather by divine
nod preceding his coming, & insofar as
this Precursor preceding.
[214] On the following Sunday on which namely was to be sung
q Gaudete; to Walo outside the walls
of the city processionally they went out to meet, who places it in the church 17 December 1206. & to him
(as he was) without the nuptial garment imposed
the Sanctuary, with hymns & canticles to the mother
church they returned: in which the said Bishop
to him conferred a Canonicate on the Ascension
r of the Lord following. And he himself indeed
afterwards, in compensation of the silver
of the discs which he had broken, in his house, in
the cloister of Amiens, a chapel had constructed in honor
of Saints John & George. The said translation
was made to the Amiens church, sixteenth
Kalends of January, in the year one thousand two hundred
sixth, with the same our Lord Jesus Christ
granting, to whom is honor & glory, through
immortal ages of ages, Amen.
NOTES BY D. P.
Count of Flanders Emperor C.P. in the same year 1204, in which the city was captured, elected;
in the next year Adrianople in Thrace besieging, resisting there to himself
he was besieging, & meeting the Greeks coming to the help of Joannitius King of Walachia & Bulgaria besieged in aid;
while he pursues those retreating more spiritedly
than prudently, into ambushes he fell, and was captured 15 July &
led away, finally one year after the disaster cruelly killed. Thus, from
the Greek writers of his age, our Labbe in the Chronological Epitome.
Of them one Nicetas, calls John Duke of the Misians, & him as Blachi and Scyths with copts equipped leads. Therefore Blachensium is to be read rather than Blastensium. Cumania however or Comania at one time numbered among the titles of the King of Hungary John Sampson interprets as Walachia. The manner of the death of Baldwin you will read in the same Nicetas. Du Cange pag. 119 had written him captured 14 April.
d Du Cange
prefers, & it is more credible, that he did this bound by fear
of Excommunication laid upon those, who so received had not reported.
by Basil the Macedonian, in which Constantine Monomachus, & Alexius
Comnenus ended their life & Constantine Ducas for some time lived,
on account of
the place's amenity from a nearby φιλοπατἰῳ which
was a wide plain, fit for running & hunting. That palace however,
by Nicetas's testimony, Andronicus Comnenus destroyed 19 or 20 years
before the dominion of the Latins: for not even did the tyrant reign two full years,
having attained the throne by the killing of his nephew ward, & most cruelly (as
he had deserved) killed in 1185, 12 September. The year of the translation is established as 1205,
f The Ms.
History of Alelm of Fontibus (who was present at the storming of C.P. & to the
monastery of Longpré six hours distant from Amiens, through his Chaplain
Wibert sent the Relics obtained there) asserts Walo & Wibert set out together;
& as they took their way through Achaia & the Peloponnese,
the sun was eclipsed: whence when they feared themselves from robbers,
come to light! Meanwhile I do not believe part of the journey was done by land;
but only it is indicated to have happened, when they coasted the shores of Achaia, after the Peloponnese was circumnavigated. In other things the relations agree
notes Du Cange; & although the Longipontane Ms. indicates the year 1206;
yet the error of number he wishes corrected
from two Charters, one of Hugh of Fontibus, son of Alelm; the other
of William Count of Ponthieu, asserting it done in the year 1205. Wherefore
benignly to be explained is the Author of the Longipratane relation, who also noted the day
4 August; on which namely the feast of the translation first time it pleased
to celebrate, although in the same month of December preceding they themselves verisimilarly
came thither & were received, in which at Amiens the face of S.
John.
hence again a league and a half is up to the bank of Idanus, commonly called Aine, which Gilbert describes in Papirus Massonus, says, with incredible nearly number of streams already gathered, into the Rhone it flows. It is credible therefore some anonymous & to Ambornay nearest village is here indicated. The ecgraph of Belfortius had Cambomlacum. The Longipratane Relation however this circumstance is silent, by Du Cange's testimony.
letters by Peter Doutreman in Constantinopolis Belgica; & before him
by Raissius in the Hierogazophylacium pag. 6 reported, & signed
at Constantinople in the year 1205 in the month of March, where is inscribed Henry Moderator of the Roman Empire, & in the circumscription of the seal not only ΔΕΣΠΟΤΗΣ
ΕΝΡΙΚΟΣ Dominus Henry, but
also Henry Emperor of the Romans custodian of the Empire & crown: of which nothing can stand with Baldwin living, indeed not yet captured: wherefore
Du Cange thinks not to be those letters outside just suspicion
of adulteration, although he adds it can be said the years there in the French manner
are numbered up to Easter, which in the year 1206 was 2 April, when
already as Bailiff of the Empire Henry was acting, not yet however had he allowed himself to be crowned, until of his brother's death it was certainly established.
Morand the monastery, Priory of the Cluniac Order, five leagues from
Mt. S. Desiderius in Champagne, immediately dependent on the monastery of S.
Arnold of Crépy; but because the church, he says, is nearly deserted,
where only a few traces of some cloister remain; I could not
learn whether there at any time was the Head of S. George: that itself however brought
by Walo I do not doubt, since his is confirmed by his peculiar devotion toward
the Saint, &
in the church of Amiens he founded a distribution of ten solidi to
the Canons, to be present at Matins & Mass, on the day of his feast.
that finger still preserved attests Du Cange; but adds, a few
years ago, that is about 1660, secretly was taken the silver, in which it was enclosed.
but more than fifty leagues distant from Amiens; so it is difficult
credit to even there a coming to meet Walo had been. Du Cange indeed beyond his custom,
added nothing for illustrating this place, I believe because he himself was of the same mind
& was finding no village of that name near Amiens: yet why not
was there some, by changed name now obscured?
1205 made from Dean Bishop until about 1210 he lived,
greatly praised in his Epitaph in the Sammarthani: adds Du Cange that
the same Bishop in the year 1210 established, on the feast of
the Decollation, an anniversary distribution of one hundred solidi of public
money, among the Canons & Chaplains from the treasury of the Church through its
Cellarers, he himself in the instrument so prefaced. Since pious &
merciful God, our mother the church with the precious face of his Baptist, in the same
church for perpetual times by God's propitiation to remain, in the time
of our administration has deigned to adorn; we for so great a gift
to his Saint, as is worthy, giving thanks, him we praise &
glorify, who in his Saints is glorious.
p The same to be done in the whole diocese writes Du Cange.
q The Sunday Gaudete, is the Sunday 3 of Advent; & in the year 1206, with the Dominical letter A running, was 17 December.
r In the year 1207 Easter was 22 April, & the Ascension 16 May.
§. II. On the veneration of this sacred Relic at Amiens, from the French Treatise of Du Cange.
[215] After the venerable Face thus brought
to Amiens was, The frequency of miracles at Amiens grew the devotion of the citizens
toward the Saint, & great was the influx of the neighbors to it
always, on account of the frequent
miracles which there were happening, & of which
the fame through all Europe was diffused. Martin
the Pole, who about the year 1350 was living
lib. 4 Chron. testifies that in his age
the Amienians gloried in the Head of S. John
the Baptist, & to it many miracles
were happening. Robert le Viseur cap, 7 of his
Tract on its finding published in the year 1604,
reports some; nor can it be doubted
that the memory of far more has perished through their
negligence who these in writing were by office bound
to hand down. Chains, manacles, fetters,
& other either of captivity loosed, testify many ex-votos, or of infirmity
cured, or of other troubles
dispelled monuments, to the walls of the chapel,
in which the sacred Face rests, hung, are votive offerings
& testimonies of vows, there
made & fulfilled through the intercession
of the Saint. But what more evident & greater miracle
can we require, & of the energumens' curing, than that daily
we see performed around those who with the horrible epilepsy
are laboring, hence called of S. John.
They are brought hither or come from everywhere to be cured
those; they cast themselves & roll on the ground,
while during the Mass, in honor of the Saint
celebrated, the Gospel is recited; & much
more, while to them after it is shown the holy
Relic, at whose sight horrible
they utter cries, while they try to pronounce the name
of S. John the Baptist; for these three words
while they bring forth even corrupted & truncated thrice,
for the most part they return cured.
[216] The gifts also of Kings & Princes,
to the aforenoted chapel or to the reliquary
there preserved offered, also the offerings of Princes, prove the devout affection of the same
toward both; & how great
graces through the Saint from God they had obtained,
by vows pronounced. Charles VII King of France,
following the great Theodosius's example, invoked him
among those difficult wars, which he with the English
had; & implored his help in those
calamities by which he was pressed. In memory
however of his prayers heard, namely of Charles VI King. he gave
to the Church very many silken vestments for the divine
Office sprinkled with golden lilies. He also constituted
that the sacred Head on XII August
each year processionally be carried around in
thanksgiving for the liberated Normandy:
which is observed even now, & at the Station
is chanted the Antiphon & Collect of S. John
the Baptist, & another of Requiem for the salvation
of the soul of that King. In the return however is sung
Louis XI similarly how much he made of the same, of Louis XI,
by giving his rose carbuncle, then a gem of great
price, which enclosed in gold is affixed
to the cover of the Reliquary. He had brought it
to Amiens in the Royal name Stephen of
Chambland, in the year 1474, Toparch of Milandis & Chaboterice,
& presented it to the Dean & Canons
XII January in the year 1474, together
with a sum of twelve gold scuta,
to be expended in divine service; which to some
gave occasion of litigation, since Louis of
Gaucours, Bishop of Amiens, the same
to himself as Treasurer, not however to the Chapter
to be delivered ought, affirmed.
[217] Of James III King of Scots. I persuade myself that that gold
coin, of two and a third thumbs in diameter,
& affixed to the aforesaid cover,
is a gift if not of James III King of Scots;
certainly of some private person to whom the King
it gave. It has on one face a King
beardless, sitting on a throne, who a sword
bare in his right, in his left a shield of the Scots' kingdom
holds … under whose throne is read Villa
Berwici, & around, Moneta Nova Jacobi
Tertii Dei Gratia Regis Scotiæ:
on the reverse is to be seen S. Andrew the kingdom's
Patron with his Cross, Of the Scots Lord of Coucy, & around,
Salvum Fac Populum Tuum Domine:
& is worth six or seven pistoles. From the same
affection a certain Lord of Coucy, to the Amiens
Church offered an image of the Precursor
of gold-plated silver, of the Duchess of Orleans. in his right holding
his Lamb & at his feet kneeling that Lord,
cataphract entirely. Similar
another by a certain Orleans Duchess offered,
at its feet has a statuette of a kneeling boy.
[218] I saw also a public instrument
on parchment, given XIV June in the year 1517,
by which a noble man Humfridus of Winfelda,
envoy from England (not is added by
whom, but only the title of executor of a testament
for a certain Lord equally anonymous there)
offered to the church of the God-bearer of Amiens two
images of gold-plated silver, one of the Divine Virgin,
the other of the Baptist, with some Copes
& Tunics & other paraments for the Mass
in honor of Lord holy John the Baptist
to serve (words of the instrument itself
are) & I think that the author of those legacies
was John de Vere, Other perhaps of John de Vere Count of Oxford, deceased in 1513. of his name
the Third Count of Oxford, Baron of Bulleo,
Samfort, & Scales, Great Chamberlain of England
& Admiral, Knight of the Garter,
died in the IV year of Henry VIII of the English
King XIII March 1513, whose ensigns
are seen below eight grander Copes,
four Tunics, & one Chasuble of the Cathedral
of Amiens. Are placed however those
ensigns there, joined to the ensigns of Margaret
de Novavilla his first wife, surrounded
with the gold torque of the aforenamed Order:
with her dead, & also the second Elizabeth
Scrope without children; succeeded him
in the County of Oxford as heir John
de Vere, of his name fourth, son of the deceased's
cousin, of George de Vere knight, &
grandson of Richard Count of Oxford, died
in the year 1526 in the month of July.
[219] And these are what I could note about
the Head of S. John the Baptist preserved at Amiens
in the Cathedral, within the chapel dedicated to him, The Face is enclosed in a golden dish,
& so dextrously joined to that great mass,
that it may seem to have been erected equally. Is enclosed
however this venerable Relic in a dish of solid
gold drawn, carved below to the proportion of a half, a whole foot in diameter
wide, whose rim with pearls & gems
adorned is surrounded by a circle distinct with little lilies:
as in the icon is seen pag. v.
[220] Beneath stands a little blue shield, having a crown
& three golden lilies: adorned by Charles VII King, which to me
makes opinion, that very Relic to have been taken
from a silver disc, in which itself
at Constantinople Walo of Sarton found as
above we have related: for also the ancient Inventory of Relics
of the same church, asserts that
the sacred Head was inserted into another golden disc
adorned with gems by Charles VII of France
King, to the same venerable Relic
very devoted. However it be, the very three lilies
evidently demonstrate such alteration
to have been made before Charles VI, who lilies
without number filling the French shield
reduced to ternary: indeed there is also place
for suspecting, that that disc is a gift
of Isabella the Bavarian, by marriage joined to
Charles VI. The instrument of the same King,
given XII February in the year 1412, given by Isabella wife of Charles VI.
teaches her to have been singularly benevolent
to the Amiens Church, both on account of the honor
& reverence of Lord holy John the Baptist,
whose there the Head rests, &
on account of the memory of her marriage there
celebrated. For for these causes in the same
she founded an anniversary Office, after her death
there to be celebrated, with a Mass
daily of the Blessed, to be continued for life:
& for that foundation gave the King through the same
Instrument, the Balderiacense mill devolved
to him from forfeiture.
[221] In the middle of that disc, under a great crystal,
lies the Head of the Saint, or rather a part
of the head, The Face's form. from the lower lip up to the top
of the forehead, which whole it embraces, with
part of the temples. The hollows of the eyes & nostrils
are seen with wax to be filled. Over the right eye
is noted an oblong hole; which to some
gave occasion of asserting, that Herodias,
as, with Jerome at the end of the Apology
against Rufinus attesting, the truth-telling tongue
with a parting needle pierced, so impacted
also the point of a knife into the eyebrow of the Saint.
The upper part of the Head is covered with a certain as it were
little cap of gold-plated silver, painted in encaustic
& round. The lowest forehead is girt
with a diadem, rich in gems & with three great
pearls, fastened in the form of a flower,
& around was painted in encaustic the image
of the Baptist up to the navel, holding in his left
the Paschal Cross, such as I remember to have noted
in a certain seal of Baldwin I Emperor,
under the date of the year 1241. The right shows a little image
of the Savior, whom is shown by the letters
noted at the sides IC XS. Jesus Christus:
just as other letters from either side,
A within a closed O, & Ο
ΠΡΟΣ the same as
ὀ
ἅγιος
Ιωάννης
ὁ
Πρόδρομος, Saint
John the Precursor.
[222] Thus far Du Cange, from pag. 125 to 136,
whose parsimony in reporting miracles, since
I had hoped it could be supplied from the aforecited Tract
of Robert Visor, From the tract of Robert Visor it is had, if I could obtain it; opportunely it happened
that our Collegium of Amiens was ruled
in the same year 1695 by Louis Labbe, nephew of our most friendly
once & most diligent P. Philip
Labbe; to whom similarly as to his uncle affected
toward this our work, nothing was more grateful
than that him by some signally testified
argument I could make. But after much sought & with difficulty at length
found, the booklet only three of that kind
exhibited, as in public instruments after
legitimate examination consigned, which here from the French
synopsis I render into Latin; more willingly so rendering
the original instruments themselves, if I could have obtained them,
or hereafter it shall happen to find them.
[223] A woman from the village of Mediæ-curtis (Moyencourt)
aged 28 years whose name was Joanna
Eligamarde, from a grave infirmity, of speaking
had lost the faculty. 14 May in the year 1425 cured mute, Her uncles &
aunt when to this city's xenodochium
had led, she remained there in a separated place
always crying out to Lord S. John the Baptist,
to whom with most tender devotion she was attached.
This when had noticed the Religious
who cared for her, & by nods & signs had asked,
whether the Saint's Face she would wish to see;
she, with hands raised to heaven, immediately
indicated, with how great a desire of that matter she was held.
desire. Led therefore to the greater
church during the Matins office, when she had ascended
to the chapel, at the hour at which there the holy
Face was being shown & she was pouring out prayers, a sudden
motion she felt in herself, by which loosed was the bond
of her tongue, & she like Zacharias speech
received which for a year & more she had been deprived,
on the day XIV May 1425, under
the Episcopate of D. John de Harcourt.
[224] A girl by name Colette, surnamed
Vasque-longa, from Longpré on the Somme,
at the same time under the same Bishop, a certain wholly deaf
to whom by her father more harshly struck the whole
hearing had perished; with parents unknowing departing from home,
into this city she came, with this mind,
that having visited the Saint's chapel, on that day on which the Face
was being shown, to God & holy Baptist
she might commend herself. And behold while in devout
prayers she persists, at the very moment of showing
healed suddenly she felt the torment of her head, as if
this to her seemed split; & thence perfectly,
as before she heard all things. Nicolaa Obry
of Vervins, & the blind in the year 1577. she in whom so many wonders showed
God in the city of Laon, after
she was from the demon possessing her freed, by the same
(as is believed) acting had remained blind. By a vow
therefore she bound herself to come to this city,
to the Relic of S. John the Baptist; & on the third
day of the votive novena among the Pentecostal feasts
she received sight. Which matter examined duly &
approved, was on the following Sunday instituted
through the city a solemn procession, in thanksgiving,
in which Nicolaa was walking
immediately after the Bishop, holding in her hand
1577, of the Pontificate of D. Geoffrey de Marthonie
in the first year, since when he his See
still happily holds, says Visor; & he held
until 1617, a long-lived Prelate through forty
years, as the Sammarthani assert.
[225] Bolland noted from the year 1611 I find besides, by the hand of P. John
Bolland of pious memory, these things noted in Latin. Joanna Jacquillonia
of Verdun, widow of John Lawrence,
having labored for 32 years with epilepsy,
in the year 1611 was freed. Likewise Agnes Victor
of Tournai, in the year 1619; & Louise
Meslone from the suburb of S. Germain at Paris,
who for nine years had labored 1623.
Charles Heron a noble man, various miracles. dwelling at
Gournay, who for some years day & night
with that evil had labored, was freed 1625. From
de Palavan, in the lower region of Poitou:
but his father going to the church, & him
devoting to S. of Amiens; suddenly recovered
he who was believed dead. He was 18
years old, & was suffering from nephritic fever,
in the year 1623. Michael, son of Roger Porcari
1637 on the day XIV September 1638
fell into a well, full of water & lime;
whence drawn out he lay without any sign of life,
from the seventh evening to the next day's tenth
hour: devoted however to S. John immediately
was sound. In the year 1637, with plague &
war raging, was indicted by the Bishop D.
Francis de Commertin a supplication on XVI
May, on this condition that the day before fasting be observed
in honor of the God-bearer & S. John, the next
morning the feast of devotion be until
midday. In it the Face of the Saint was carried around;
to the God-bearer offered from public funds a silver statue,
& at once the plague ceased.
§. III. On other parts of the sacred Head, through various Churches distributed, from Cap. XI of Du Cange, & others.
[226] From the premises it appears in the Cathedral of Amiens
only the anterior part, In the division made by Constantine Monomachus or
face of the sacred Head is had, by Walo found
in the Church of S. George of Manganis: whence
indeed have been brought its other parts, elsewhere exposed
wont to be, by no certain arguments can we define:
yet by verisimilar conjecture it can be held, that in
its division made by Constantine Monomachus,
in favor of the church by him newly built,
the rest which under the same Saint's name at Constantinople
were held churches, some part received;
nor was the least left to the church
of the Studites, whence taken was the sacred precious thing.
Guibert Abbot of Nogent lib. I de Pignoribus
Sanctorum cap. 4, Let each say, he says, a notable part seems left to Studium what he
feels, I securely plainly infer, neither God,
nor the Saints themselves ever was pleased, that
of any of them ought to be unsealed the sepulcher,
or the little body divided in pieces. But many
of the Fathers & Doctors of the Church have felt otherwise,
whom see cited in John Ferrand of the Society
of Jesus, in the Disquisition on Relics or
on their suspected in various places multitude,
lib. I. cap. 2 & 22. others distributed through the Saint's churches at C.P. e.g. in Macedonianis,
[227] Moreover, besides the temples named from Studium &
Hebdomus, Scylitzes & Constantine
Porphyrogenitus write of Basil the Macedonian,
that to S. John the Baptist a temple
he erected in Macedonia, & restored
another in that which was called Strobelus region.
Codinus in the book on Constantinopolitan
antiquities mentions a church surnamed
of Probus, Probina, because it was built by Probus,
one of the twelve Senators, whom great
Constantine led from Rome to Byzantium, to lay
the foundations of new Rome there. But
that church was by Constantine Copronymus
to profane uses appointed, & consequently it can be doubted
whether it still survived, when the Franks
obtained the city. Petrina The monastery of sacred
Virgins which was called Petrium or Petra,
was also dedicated under the name of S. John
the Baptist; & to it as Codinus says in lib. de Officiis
cap. 15, the Emperor proceeded each year
on the feasts of Born & Beheaded John: &
this Anna Comnena in her Alexiad neighbors
makes to the place, Sporaciana, named Sideri; the Chronicle
of Alexandria, nearer the wall of the city
places; Nicetas however near the Port;
& Clusius next to the monastery of Aetius, not far
from Blachernae.
[228] Besides in the Menologion of the Greeks I noted
two churches of the same Saint at XXIV
June ἐν
τοῖς
Φωρακίου, but should be read Σφαρακίου,
named from the name of the founder, in that place, where
before had stood a church of S. John the Theologian
sacred say the Origins of C.P. Mss. which Codinus
εἰς
τὴν
κόγχην seems to refer; at the Cistern Mocesiana, another,
at the Cistern Mocesiana in the tract which was called
of Daniel VIII January, where on S. Xenophon,
πλησίον
τῆς
Κινστήρνης
τῆς
Μοκησίας
ἐν
τοῖς
Δανιήλ. Of two others Codinus mentions, Cinteliana, Illina,
of which one τὰ
Κιντήλια was called;
the other Ἴλλου, namely of him who was surnamed Master,
& functioned in illustrious dignities
under Leo Macela & Zeno. near the Horologium & Taurus, &c. To these from
the same Du Cange's Constantinopolis Christiana lib. 4
cap. 4 add, the temple found in Codinus near
the Horologium named Baptisterium, &
among the subscriptions of the Council under Menas the Monastery
of Valens; & in the Menologion at XXIV
another πλησίον
τοῦ
Ταρφου but should be read τοῦ
Ταύρου
other Mss. teach. Finally at XXV June where on
S. Febronia, another ἐν
τῇ
ὀξεία named.
[229] From some of these In some of these churches, says
Du Cange, continuing the begun discourse, was preserved
the upper part of the Head, which Baldwin II, Emperor
of Constantinople, gave to S. Louis,
with many other Relics, parts brought to Paris. specified
in the golden Bull of the year 1247: which brought
to Paris, with great solemnity were
placed in the holy chapel of the palace, to that
end by the holy King caused to be built. This
Relic is enclosed in a herm of gold-plated silver,
representing S. John the Baptist;
which, with similar metal crowned & placed
on a base, sustain of the same material four little lions.
The same is to be thought about that part, which,
that royal city of the East captured, to Venice, the Venetians carried away,
which indeed of what kind it was, do not express
Andreas Dandulus & Paulus Rhamnusius,
when they mention it as in the church of S. Mark
deposited: but Sansovino Creppa in Italian;
that is the vertex of the Cranium names.
[230] A particle of the same, of the magnitude
of one patacon, Aeria, possess the Aerians in Artois,
which Baldwin the Bearded in his chapel
at Aeria deposited in the year 1017,
uncertain whence received, by the testimony of Malbranco
lib. 5 de Morinis cap. 13. But also a part
of the Temples, taken from the same cranium, with
representation of holy Baptist, is had in
the Lipsanotheca of the Collegiate church of Longpré, Longumpratum,
of the Amiens diocese. The Cathedral of Soissons
also preserves a part, which thither from Constantinople
brought together with others Nevelon,
Bishop of that city, Suessiones, after the disaster of Baldwin
Emperor near Adrianople, sent
for subsidies into France: whom the Appendix
to the Chronicle of Robert of Mont, says returned
with forces not to be despised,
in the year 1207. How great that portion of the sacred Head
was, the History does not specify: inquiry
however made on this I found no more
it is had: but the Martyrology of that church teaches,
that it was brought XIII October of the year
1205; & the anniversary feast is celebrated
on the Sunday after the feast of S. Denis. The Catalogue
however of the Relics of the Marian Abbey at
Soissons, Noyon. recounts a particle by the said Nevelon
Bishop given; & of Noyon
S. Magdalene's, a small bit of the sinciput it
claims.
[231] The Abbey of Thiron in Perche, glories
in the Brain of the Saint. In the Abb. of Thiron is had a part of the brain It can be presumed however
this Relic to have been sent to that monastery
by Stephen of Perche, brother of Count Geoffrey,
who with the Counts of Flanders, Champagne
& Blois Cross-signed, straight to
the Holy-Land departed, but returning thence
at Constantinople landed, & to Baldwin
the Emperor adhered, by him with the County of Philadelphia
donated, perhaps brought by Stephen of Perche, & in the disastrous at Adrianople
conflict killed. Thus far Du Cange, to whom I would add
his testimony of that matter discovered by our Henschenius,
the Life of B. Bernard of Thiron, which
he gave illustrated XIV April, perhaps from the Martyrology
of the place. The Nones of May, on the morrow of the feast
of S. John the Evangelist, which is called before
the Latin Gate, the Translation, or Finding
of the holy Brain of B. John the Baptist, in a certain
old maceria, or ancient wall of the Church
of Nogent-le-Rotrou, after the discrimination of wars
miraculously discovered & found, discovered in the 12th century &
through the reverend in Christ Father & Lord
Robert de Loignac, Bishop of Chartres,
raised & extracted; & after many
miracles in his own sight then done, in a solemn
little vessel in the manner of a head up to the shoulders,
with Angels supporting the vessel by hands,
with gold & silver in precious work at his own
expense fabricated, & with great reverence
deposited & laid up in the year of the Lord
one thousand three hundred twenty-fifth. & in the year 1345 more preciously enclosed Died
shortly the following year Robert, of the pious work
reward to receive. The Thiron Priory
in the year 1225 then erected into an Abbey
first foundation see num. 63 & seqq.
of the aforecited Life, & thence learn that Rotroc the Count
who near the said by himself Novigentum, Nogent
Rotrou first gave to Bernard the possession,
at the beginning of the 12th century with others then to the Thiron
stream not far thence Eastward augmented,
by Ivo Bishop & Canons of Chartres.
To Ivo, deceased about 1116 after others
14 succeeded in 1314 Robert, by
the Sammartans & Du Cange called of Joigny:
Longny however writes the Perticensian County
map in the Atlas of Blau: which more proves
old writing.
[232] Theodore Rhay of the Society of Jesus, in the work
which he inscribed Illustrious souls of Juliers, in Anrhaedt. Cleves
&c. at XXIX August, after the mentioned Saint's
Decollation, celebrated in four Commendatories
of the Teutonic Order Elseniana, Sinstroffiana,
Altenhaviana & Nidecciana, On the same, he says,
day in Anrhaedt, Toparchy of the Most Illustrious &
Generous Lord Adrian William, free Baron
of Virmund & Nersen, Lord of
Hersbach &c. in chief veneration is
the same Saint's sacred Vertex, enclosed in a silver
reliquary: at whose religious touch
consecrated wine, taken by the faithful with living faith,
not rarely the punctures, pains of the head,
even surpassing all the industry of medical art,
wholly removes. And in this manner
according to Du Cange, several other churches
similarly some particle of the holy Head
show forth: but so that they cannot teach, when
or whence they received them.
§. IV. Parts of the Jaws & Chin, Teeth & Hairs in various churches of Europe.
[233] The chapel of the castle of S. Anemund of the Lyons
diocese has a notable part of the Jaw,
brought from the East, Parts of the Jaw in the Lyons diocese enclosed in a gold
reliquary, having such an inscription,
which Lord de Chevaunes,
among the Erudite of Dijon celebrated, communicated
described in these words,
Σὺ
μὲν
θεωρεῖς
τῶν
δρακόντων
τὰς
μύλας,
Βαπτίστα,
τοῖς
ὕδασιν
ἡλοημένας·
Ἐγὼ
δε
τὴν
ἐυτύχων
ταύτην
μύλην,
Ἐχθρῶν
ὅλας
θραύοιμι
παντοίων
μύλας.
Thou indeed beholdest the jaws of Dragons,
Baptist, in waters crushed:
I however with this thy jaw fortunate,
The jaws of enemies of every kind I crush.
[234] The Premonstratensian Religious of the Abbey
of S. John of Amiens, among the Premonstratensians of Amiens, also possess a part of the jaw
similar, enclosed in a little gold-plated silver tower,
through crystals on four
sides placed conspicuous, & by two golden
Cherubs sustained, which they say brought to them
by Walo, then when the Face
he brought to Amiens. Severtius in the history
of the Archbishops of Lyons writes, in the church of S. John of Lyons, that
John Duke of Berry, to the Church of Lyons
gave the holy Forerunner's jaw,
when he asked to be received into the number of Canons,
about which matter he produces an Instrument,
signed XXIII July in the year 1392. John
Ferrand in the aforecited de Reliquiis
Tract says, that what from the Head of S. John
is preserved at Lyons is part of the chin,
with which agrees what writes the Author of the Antiquities
of Paris, that that Duke, in certain
letters given in the year 1391, mention
makes of a certain precious Reliquary,
weighing seven or eight marks of silver,
in which enclosed was the chin of holy Baptist,
which he had given to the Carthusians of Paris, but
handed to them not yet had been.
[235] Beauvais, Louvet lib. 2 of the History of Beauvais,
among the Relics of the Cathedral church
of S. Peter names the chin of S. John the Baptist
with two teeth. Millebec, The Abbey of Millebec
in the diocese of Bourges, also has part of his
given by Dagobert the founder; if
faith is to be had in the title of foundation, at S. Sigeramnus, which produces
Renatus Chioppin lib. 2. Monasticῶn
tit. 2 num. 19; & also the Abbey of S. Sigeramnus
commonly S. Cyran en Brenne a similar
part shows from the gift of its (if to the title is believed)
founder Clovis I. A certain Charter of Emperor
Conrad, given in the year 1038, &
Philibert Pignon, assert the jaw of the Baptist
at Turin in Piedmont is held. Turin, Religious
of S. John of Nîmes believe themselves to have
half part of the inferior jaw
from the right side, Nîmes, given to them by Louis
the Younger, which from Sebaste he brought from his journey
across the sea. But how did he himself thence bring it,
where the head of the Saint never was,
but only the body? Uncertain is also whether
the chin, believed of the Precursor at Augusta
of the Salassi in Savoy, Augusta Salassorum, was taken from the head
which was at Constantinople; or from that which at Rome
is had of which below. Lucius Marineus Siculus
de rebus Hisp. lib. 5 toward the end asserts,
that in the church of Oviedo is had the Forehead
of S. John the Baptist, Oviedo, & some of his hairs.
John Tamayo de Salazar, in his Spanish Martyrology
at this day adds, from Prudentio de
Sandoval in the Life of Ferdinand the Great, one of
the Jaws in the church of León; León, & from Aegidius
González d'Avila in Coria another:
on the day IX April, in the Relation of the Relics
with which is enriched the Metropolitan of Burgos, Little Urn
12, Burgos, he says are enclosed 250 pieces, in which also a part
of the Head of the Baptist.
[236] I omit, says Du Cange, other churches,
which in some particles of the same venerable
Head glory, & in several other places. without notice of place
whence they were brought. In this number can be reckoned,
The Church of S. Cross in Jerusalem at Rome,
from Serrano de VII Ecclesiis; S. Januarius
at Naples, from Summontius Hist. Neap. l.
1 cap. 11; of Monte-Cassino in the kingdom of Naples,
from the Cassinese Chronicle. Of Tournai
in Flanders, from Tom. 3 Hist. Tornac.
of holy Cross at Orleans, from Francis
le Maire de Antiquitatibus Aurelian. Of Our
Lady of Noyon, from the Annals of that
Church; of S. Peter Aerian in Artois, from
the Hierogazophylacium of Raissius; of the Collegiate of S. Mary
of Cologne, from the Sacrarium of Cologne of Weinhem.
Add the Abbeys, of Ferrara in
Vastinium of Gaul Province; of S. Bavo of Ghent;
of Belli-locus near Douai; Flins
in Flanders; Laon of S. Martin; Corbie
and others. I add Venice, to which
Doge Dandulus among other things is said to have transmitted
the Arm of S. George the Martyr with part
of the Head of S. John the Baptist, & in his chapel
he ordered to be placed.
[237] Many also Churches, says Du Cange,
glory in the possession of teeth, Teeth at Aachen, from that sacred
Head, either whole, or divided.
Henry Rebdorf, Tom. 1 of the things of Germ.
of Freher, at the year 1361 one judges
among the Imperial Relics & ornaments
at Aachen preserved. John Buzelin,
in the Annals of Gallo-Flanders lib. 6, narrates,
that when in the year 1216 at Arras was acting G.
Archbishop of Thessalonica & of all Romania
Chancellor, in the Tournai diocese of whom frequent mention
in the Letters of Innocent III; to the Phanopinensian monastery's
Regular Canons, of the Tournai diocese,
one tooth of S. John the Baptist as a gift gave;
whose devotion spread far & wide would incite
the liberality of peoples, to succor the place,
by various times' & men's injuries nearly devastated.
Two such also possesses the Cathedral of S. Peter
of Beauvais, one Tournai's, Beauvais & elsewhere. & Auxerre's
S. Germain, & also the Collegiate of Longpré
in the Amiens diocese. The same writes. Arnold Rayssius on the various Belgian churches, namely
S. Amandi in Pabula, S. Amati of Tournai &
the Abbeys of Belliloc at Douai, Floreffe in the Namur diocese,
Salsiniensi at Sabis, Flines in Flanders,
of the Carthusians of Retell or Sirczen
at the Meuse, the Priory of S. Salvius near Valenciennes:
of the Cologne ones however, of S. Cunibert, S.
Barbara, of the SS. Maccabees as much asserts
Weinhem.
[238] Finally Caesarius of Heisterbach, of illustrious
miracles & histories lib. 8 cap. 54, At Heisterbach one molar,
of his Cologne diocese & Cistercian Order
monastery; There is, he says, with us a tooth
molar & great, having three horns, which
how to us came, & what through it
with us the Lord wrought, I will recite to you.
When devastated had been the Constantinopolitan city
by the Cross-signed, & various had
plundered various things, Henry Knight of Ulm among
the most precious Relics, brought from the church of S. Sophia of C.P. also the just-mentioned
tooth of S. John took from the church of S. Sophia:
which returning home so much he loved, that
in his castle he built an oratory, there it
wishing to deposit in the altar: which his sister,
Mistress on the Island of S. Nicholas, on account of
the affection which she had & has toward our house,
dissuaded; but then to persuade she could not.
Who after a brief time, by Werner
of Bonlant captured, in hope of our prayers
ordered it to be sent to us. Meanwhile
to a certain of the Sisters of the aforesaid convent in sleep
it was shown, that, as soon as the Tooth came
to our place, Henry was to be freed:
which we understood so to be done. Our Prior
also, through whom it was transmitted, in
the river Rhine the greatest danger escaped. proved by the liberation of the captive,
Henry Count of Seyne, having a Knight
honest, but mentally captive, with him to
us came, hoping him, both by the virtue of the Relics,
& by the benefits of our prayers
to be able healed. & healing of the maniac Who with the most sacred tooth
signed & touched, so swift an effect of its virtue
felt, that scarcely to the cast of a ballista from
the monastery proceeding, healed he congratulated himself.
For it is, as I said, great &
strong; & by so much more for curing infirmities
valid, by so much less in chewing
delicate foods is it usual. Thus Caesarius: to which
I add one Tooth, also elsewhere. with us in the Professed
House at Antwerp; & another at Monza with
part of the cranium among the Relics by Theodelinda, Queen of the Lombards, to the church there by her founded
left.
[239] Locks & hairs, at Constantinople, As to the hairs & locks of the same
Saint, says Du Cange, Zonaras,
Scylitzes & Glycas, write that Emperor
Nicephorus Phocas, a curl of them brought
with blood coagulated, when from the Syrian
expedition to Constantinople he returned;
& deposited in the church called
Ἀγία
Σόρος Holy Ark. S. Gregory Pope,
with that Letter which is 128 of book 7, to Recared
King of the Visigoths in Spain, sent
of the Baptist; that very Relic perhaps, which
at Oviedo to be preserved above we have said. Philip Bishop
of Beauvais, Beauvais, by Louvet's testimony in the Beauvais
Kalendar at XXIV April, transferred
into a new case the Body of S. Ebrulf in the year
1205, & in it placed something of the garments
of the God-bearer, of the hairs of S. Baptist, & of
the wood upon which he was beheaded. Similar hairs
venerates the Abbey of S. Eligius of Noyon,
& in the case of the true Cross, which is in
the church of the Isle of S. Nicholas at Trier, at Trier, by the testimony of Brower
lib. 5 Annal. Trevir. num. 55 are contained
ἁι
τιμίαι
τοῦ
ἁγίου
ἸΩ.
τοῦ
Προδρόμου
τρίχες, the venerable hairs of S. John the Forerunner.
Some also to be in the church
of S. Alban of Namur, Rayssius; others in
the Collegiate of the Greeks at Cologne, Cologne, Weinhem,
with a portion of the head & beard, & also in
the temple of S. Cordula, affirm to us; & such
also claims the Centulensian church of S.
Richarius: Centula, & elsewhere. & the Corbie Abbey numbers them
among the Relics, which in the holy chapel
of Bucoleon found in the time of Emperor Baldwin
at Constantinople, Robiliard brought
of Clariaco, by the testimony of an old French inscription.
[240] Thus far in his French treatise Du Cange;
who in his Notes to the Paschal Chronicle pag. 570
touching on the first under Theodosius translation of the sacred
Head to the Royal City, says that at Amiens it
is venerated & seen with flesh & face blackened,
just as is described by Theodulus or
Thomas the Master, These once adhered to the Head, in an unedited Homily on
the same S. John the Baptist, as he that
indubitably at Constantinople had seen. The words,
since they expressly mention the hairs in which
the present Paragraph ends, worthy to be read here, such
are. Greek text preserved here verbatim in source.
For his hair was rough, harsh, squalid, & full of dirt,
drawn out to great length matted together,
but not separated into individual hairs,
so that easily from this they could be counted.
The whole face black through so many years' circuits,
both from the continuous shots of the sun, & from
the harsh attacks of the airs, as if dried up & wholly
changed from its natural moisture,
consumed in him both by the aforesaid
& by the supernatural fasting;
since the bloom of health is nothing else than the juice of food well chewed.
[242] For his hair was, hard, rough,
squalid, & full of strigments, & that into
much length conglomerated, & of a dark & dry face. not however
through curls so discriminated, that it should be easy
to count them. The face indeed wholly blackish
through so many years' rotations partly
indeed from continuous solar rays, partly from
the heavy aerial affections dried up & of natural
moisture destitute, which in it had consumed
both the aforesaid causes & excessive fasting
too much: since vivid color nothing else is
than the juice of food well-masticated. He indeed
of the living Prophet's external aspect; but in
the contemplation of the deceased's Head verisimilarly deduced,
such as up to the Franks' arrival
to have continued indicates the Letter of Alexius Comnenus to Robert
the Frisian; which sampling Abbot Guibert
at the end of lib. 1 Hist. Hierosol. says with himself
B. John the Baptist's Head is had, & today
as if of one living with hairs & skin appears to be marked.
Du Cange who the original Greek text of that
Letter with him had, & promised to give
in his notes to Anna Comnena's Alexiad,
which still lie hidden, hairs & beard reads:
which if so, & to it, which at Amiens without
chin is, of the face the chin had adhered, nearly until
the Franks' arrival to Constantinople, &
Monomachus the Emperor (who about the middle
of the 11th century is presumed the sacred Head into various
churches to have divided) ought here the chin so far
to have left intact, insofar as needed for preserving
the appearance of an entire face.
§. V. On the Head, once at Angeriacum believed to be of the Baptist.
[242] Guibert Abbot of S. Mary of Nogent,
in the Laon diocese, from the year
1104 to 24, after sampling which above I have alleged
the Letter of Emperor Alexius, Long presence of the Head at C.P. by which at Constantinople
the sacred Head is asserted, for the same time at which Guibert
was writing; This if true is,
he says, must be asked of the Angeriac
Monks, of whose Baptist's Head they glory;
since for certain we have, neither there were two
Johns, nor that one himself could become
two-headed: & lib. 1 de Pignoribus Sanctorum
cap. 3 §. 2 the same argument more prolixly treating
he concludes, But if it is not of John the Baptist,
but of some Saint, no mediocre evil of lie
is. The fault of a lie easily through
confession of ignorance is washed away: but ignorance
has excuse, persuades it is of another John, at Angeriacum, because many Saints as
says Suarez, in 3 part. tom. 1 quaest. 25 dist. 55,
sect. 2, dub. 1, were of the same name; &
by succession of time Relics of the same person
were esteemed, & on account of the ambiguity of the name
attributed to him, who of greater is held
in glory & sanctity. The same is Baronius's opinion,
who having alleged the relation of the Angeriacenses, about
that of which they were glorying Head; If any, & this, if indeed brought from Alexandria, he says,
from Alexandria translated into Gaul is,
as there is asserted, not indeed of the Baptist was, but
of another John Martyr, who once with Cyrus
there having suffered, most illustrious was held.
[243] We have given the Acts of those Saints, from
Greek translated, on the day XXXI January; & the same by
S. Sophronius Patriarch of Jerusalem more elegantly
exposed, we shall give in the supplements of the same
month, with a most prolix work on their miracles.
From these is had; what also Baronius touches, for there the bodies of both were buried,
that John, by birth from Edessa, returning from Arabia
S. Cyrus the physician of Alexandria, but already a Monk
there made, adhered to; & for confirming,
what to Canopus the Prefect had led away three Virgins,
having followed them, & being seized & tortured & beheaded,
were brought back to Alexandria by the faithful,
& in the church of S. Mark buried; whence
raised S. Cyril to Manuthus, two stadia
from Canopus distant village, transferred to the temple of the holy
Apostles. Moreover the Barbarians occupying Egypt,
afterwards translated to Manuthus, & hence to Edessa, to Edessa John's country were carried
the bodies, we learn from Epiphanius Hagiopolita,
in the description of sacred places, among
the Symmicta of Allatius pag. 61. But nothing prohibits,
the Head of John, or even of Cyrus, left by
S. Cyril at Alexandria in the very house of S. Cyrus,
through Theophilus the predecessor of Cyril converted
into a church of the three Babylonian Children, after
received by miracle their Relics. They finally,
with the aforesaid Head, the Head of John at Alexandria left: brought to Angeriacum into
dedicated, began to be believed of the three Innocent Bethlemites
to be, on account of the ambiguous name of Children;
& by the same facility the Baptist crept in for the Edessene
& much more easily, the longer
intervened the space of time, before the Head in the 11th
century should be found.
[244] that as the Baptist's it be believed Meanwhile, either abolished, or never written
monuments of the first Translation, & increasing
through Gaul the notice of the Head at Constantinople
preserved, when perhaps there were not lacking eye-witnesses,
who would convict the Angeriacenses' traditions
of falsity; it pleased someone about the year 900 to devise
some history of the first Translation,
among Sacred things to be read, such as commonly transcribed
is found in several Passionals, & whence it crept
among the works wrongly ascribed to S. Cyprian, around the year 900, the history of the translation was fabricated,
as is seen in the edition of them through Rigaltius.
But that History was so unskillfully
patched together, that the tradition in itself confused, more
it confused & doubtful rendered to the more erudite: as
is had from the Chronicle of Ademar, Monk of S. Eparchius
of Angoulême, in Labbe tom. 2 New
Biblioth. Mss. pag. 178; who Ademar contemporary
with the aforepraised Gaubert, having related the aforenoted finding,
so writes: By whom however, or at what time,
or whence hither it was brought or if
of the Forerunner of the Lord it is, by no means faithfully
is plain…
[245] For it is reported in this frivolous page,
(thus Guibert calls it) in the days of King Pippin
of Aquitaine, a certain Felix to have brought
from Alexandria by sea into Aquitaine, but soon exploded by the more prudent,
the Head of S. John the Baptist, & at that time
Alexandria was presided over by Theophilus Archbishop;
& a battle was waged in the Alnensian
district, between King Pippin & the Vandals:
& that Head over some killed
his satellites placed by the King, &
them soon resuscitated. as full of ineptitudes. But there did not exist
Pippin in the days of Theophilus, nor in the time
of the Vandals, nor ever the Head
of the Lord's Forerunner is read at Alexandria to have been held:
we read however in older Legends,
that first the Head of the holy Forerunner was found
in that which (here some words are lacking but I think
is to be supplied [in that in which buried under Herod
was the place] or something similar) thereafter
by Theodosius the Emperor brought to the city
of Constantinople, in the same to be venerated.
Thus far the truly erudite writer, almost two whole centuries
earlier, than from Constantinople the same
Head which there was venerated, to Amiens was being transferred.
[246] Indeed about that History's sincerity much,
as soon as it appeared, was a question, & nothing
by it was profited for making faith for the Angeliacenses' tradition,
In the 11th century is proved from the anonymous writer of the Life of S.
Leonard, in Surius at VI November
num. 13 thus writing. When still in the living
was William the Great, Duke of Aquitaine
(he was of his name the fourth, who about
the year 963 succeeding to his deceased father, after
many & laudable deeds, having become a Monk
at Malleac, which in the year 1010 he had founded,
full of days died in peace 11 Kal. February
in the year 1030; more vehemently was doubted about the titles of that Head, as is in Henschenius at
the Acts of S. William the Hermit, with himself & many other
synonymous ill confused, X February,
num. 13, 14, 15.) When, I say, still in
the living was William the Great, of Aquitaine
Duke, doubted it was by many, whether of the most blessed
John the Baptist the Head at Angeriacum
was held. He ordered then Prince William
to convoke a great Synod of Bishops,
that with their consent so great a treasure be inquired into,
& by their consecrated hands to the hesitating
people to be seen be exhibited. Thus he: but
in this erring that the Synod first convoked
he believed, than the Head was found, when it should be said
it convened to define its truth by their opinions:
for nearer the matter done is Guibert
Abbot thus writing what was done.
[247] Through those days, that is before the year 1010,
as below will appear, the Lord deigned to declare
the times of the most faithful Duke William. for which was sought & found,
For then in the Angeriacensian basilica, in
the Head of S. John, by Alduin most clear Abbot;
which holy Head they say is proper
of S. John the Baptist. Then William
Duke, after the Paschal days from Rome returned,
this heard was filled with joy, & the holy
head to the people to be shown he decreed.
It was however hidden the Head itself in a thurible
great silver, where outside letters are read
HERE RESTS THE HEAD of the Lord's Precursor. Which Du Cange cap. 5 num. 5 thus
understands, that that silver thurible was the gift of that
Duke himself: but if nearly a hundred years
ago was written that History, which deservedly Frivolous
Guibert calls; it is credible it was done
on the occasion of some then celebrated Translation, after
of the Normans' Duke & nation in the year about
912 conversion, & through the reception of Duke Rollo,
ceasing the fear of annual incursions
of that nation; when many through Gaul
the Saints' Relics, at the beginning of the 10th century. either from those to which they had fled
places brought back, or from hiding places extracted were,
& exposed to veneration; not so however that they should remain
exposed to eyes, but in altars or stone tabernacles
should be enclosed, such a one was that stone pyramid.
Within this nothing prohibits, but it was consonant,
to be deposited another silver vessel & that
new, the old either by barbarians broken, or
by the very Monks for placating them sold,
when necessity compelled not even the sacred vessels to spare.
[248] Peter Monk of Malleac lib. 2
Hist. Malleac. Theodelinus Abbot of Malleac. §. 4 in the same Library of Labbe
pag. 234, about to narrate how his Abbot Theodelinus
in the year 1010 attained his vow, having obtained
the body of S. Rigomer, premises what to him,
eager for acquiring the Saints' pledges for his church,
happened. The Abbot, he says, of the Angeriacensian
church in those days the most holy Head
of the Forerunner John the Baptist of the Lord, which
anciently in the same hidden church was reported,
to raise; & to all the people, that
that very Head truly of John was to make faith,
to display he wished; & to such spectacle among
the rest Father Theodelinus he invited.
When therefore the appointed day came at Angeriacum innumerable
people was present; & of Priests &
of Monks flowed an inestimable assembly.
And when to performing the matter it had come, after he had shown it to the people,
& among the foremost a person, to whom such great
was being sought; leaping forth the aforesaid man from the midst:
If, he said, O Fathers, you order, the Beloved of the heavenly
Bridegroom I most willingly receive; &,
before his magnitude & reverence, many times
kissed I represent to your sights.
Whose profession while all applauded, with solemn
prayer premised, to the holy treasures
through the space of nearly two hours
displayed. Which completed, while
all assented to its being deposited, long
& much a prolix prayer he simulated,
& from the holy teeth one in his mouth he concealed. trying to take a tooth, is punished,
But soon by a condign stripe punished
(for then of his eyes' light he was deprived) what he had done
to those who stood by, modestly though, he discloses;
then his ill-lost health, by confessing
worthily, he carries back with him. Thus far Peter,
about the year 1080 living & writing.
[249] Guibert Abbot, the rest more distinctly pursuing,
While the found, before a most celebrated assembly of Nobles, he says, was being shown
the Head of S. John, all Gaul, Italy, Spain,
at the fame moved, thither to run
vyingly hastens. The King also of the Franks
Robert & the Queen, the King of Navarre Sancho,
& all their Dignities flowed together, where
all offered precious gifts of diverse
kinds. For the aforesaid King of France, offered
30 pounds, & precious all-silk garments from
gold woven for the ornament of the church, by William
Duke received condignly, through the Pictavi returned
to France. What shall I say? that above
all felicity & glory seemed
the concourse of singing psalms, with Relics of the Saints,
of Monks & Canons, who from everywhere
to the memory of the holy Forerunner
hastened. chief Relics thither brought from everywhere, Thus from Limoges, with Relics of S.
Stephen, was brought the body of S. Marshal:
& when into the Basilica of S. Forerunner they entered,
celebrated before the Head of S. John Mass
Bishop Giraldus, 27 October. of the nativity of the same
holy Baptist, since it was the month October;
but the Canons of S. Stephen, with Monks
of S. Marshal, alternately tropes & praises
sang in festive manner; & after Mass
the Pontiff with the Head of S. John blessed the people
… & thus on the fifth day before the festivity
of all Saints they returned…
After indeed the glorious Duke reconsidering God's honor,
in S. John's monastery the regular
renewed strictness, where Odilo Rainaldus
the Abbot deposed, the lately deceased Alduin
Abbot… & among these, that is among
the miracles of S. Eparchius, thither from Limoges brought,
the Head of S. John, after sufficiently shown
to the peoples, was sealed by order of William
Duke, & deposited in the pyramid former;
where within a silver thymiamaterium, which
hangs from silver chainlets, enclosed is held.
The pyramid however of stone, is overlaid
with wooden tables, silver-plated everywhere from the offering
of copious silver, which the King of Navarre
Sancho offered to B. Forerunner.
[250] Thence (as proceeds, & finishes Chapter 5
Du Cange) great was there the people's
devotion toward the same Saint: Thence was there most celebrated cult of the Saint, for Ademar
aforecited pag. 180 reports, how
Jordan of Latronibus, Bishop of Limoges,
was consecrated on the Saturday of mid-
Lent of the year 1023 at Angeriacum before
the Head of S. John, by Bishop Islo of Saintes
& Coadjutor of the Archbishop of Bordeaux,
& Roo & Arnald, & also
Isembertus the Bishops: & the Cartulary
of Angeriacum fol. 239 teaches us, & most frequent offerings, that Isembertus
Lord of the Castle of Allione, with a great
number of Barons present at the Elevation,
entered the Chapter of the Monks, his predecessors'
donations before all
confirmed. Another however charter of the same Abbey
in Beslius teaches, that the particle of the Head
which at Turin in Piedmont is preserved,
Landulfus Bishop of Turin a little later
obtained from William Duke, Bishop Islo,
& Renaud then Abbot of the monastery;
& in return of that benefit to the Abbot he offered the church
of S. Secundus in the Turin diocese, a part also given to the Bp. of Turin. In
the Malleacensian Chronicle however is read, that
in the year 1050 was made the consecration of the monastery of S.
John of Angeriacum, which Agnes the Countess
caused to be made & other Seniors, at which were
four Bishops, Bruno of Angers, William
of Angoulême son of Geoffrey & brother
of Fulk; Isembertus of Poitiers, & Arnulf
of Saintes. Finally Duke William
of this name IX, in the year 1131, the right
of asylum & immunity granted to the church & to the whole
monastery's ambit; & prostrating himself face down,
from God & the Saints pardon to be asked for himself
the invasions & usurpations of the goods of this church
by him made: which at that very hour he repaired,
placing on the altar of S. John an instrument thereof
made.
[251] Is Angeriacum or Engeriacum, from
the cult of S. John commonly called Saint Jean d'Angely,
metropolis seven leagues to the North it is distant, The Church some wish was built in the year 765,
at the river Voltumnus, commonly called la Boutonne;
& its whole beginning & advancement owes
to the aforesaid S. John's monastery, whose foundation
those who fetch higher, to King Pippin ascribe,
who would have made it in memory of a victory, against
Waifarius King of Aquitaine obtained in the year 765.
This war prolixly describes the Anonymous,
who collected that King's deeds by order of Count Nibelong,
nor of any disaster mentions, others more verisimilarly by Pippin K. of Aquitaine around 820, in which
some Saint was invoked, the Vasconians all
in their usual way turning their backs, & the easiest
victory over themselves, as elsewhere often, to Pippin offering. Ademar, nearer truer notice,
for the older Pippin, indicates to us his great-grandson,
by his father Louis the Pious, to whom as second-born
he was, in the year 817 of Aquitaine King constituted,
& he still living dead in the year 838,
saying that by order of his father he had made the monastery
of S. John the Baptist of Angeriacum.
[252] But in their time There was a certain
Cleric from the parts of Gaul by name Felix,
whom, while a boy I was, I remember to have seen,
says Luidolfus the Presbyter, under whom was Felix the Cleric, lib. 2 de Translatione
S. Severi of Ravenna Bishop, by our Bolland
illustrated at 1 February cap. 1 num. 2.
To this man it was a custom through various provinces
to wander, & the Relics of Saints wherever
he could to steal, for the sake of gain. Thus
about the year 826 from S. Severus's monastery,
his wife's and daughter's certain bones having stolen & to Pavia
set out, finding there Otgar of Mainz
Bishop, of Louis to his son Lothair
legate, them he handed over, & how he had done indicated.
Why not also at Alexandria, already from
the year 641 occupied by the Saracens, to steal Relics he was wont & to transfer to Europe: such a thing he attempted;
& thence into Aquitaine brought a Head,
which since it was of a Soldier Martyr, of the Baptist to be
he believed or feigned, & to others persuaded; faith
however did not find with Ado of Vienne
the Bishop, who his Martyrology writing
about the year 70 of the same century, if any
notice of the Angeriacensian Head he had. who from Alexandria the Head of the Baptist to have brought himself feigned, (as easily
he could have had a man curious of such things, in such
vicinity of places, at an interval only of 80 leagues)
by no means could persuade himself it was
of the Baptist, which to Emesa not Alexandria translated
he writes at XXIX August, nor anything
about a translation into Gaul speaks; as also Usuard
in the same distance & nearly the same time
at Paris writing.
[253] However it be, the people by the miracles
of these whatever Relics, & by the innocent life
of the Religious thither drawn & moved, to which built monastery grew into a town,
equally & by its situation very convenient, both
in power & in wealth so much grew, that
with the cloisters of obedience broken, with supreme
temerity often opposed itself to the Kings & Lords
of its own; whence by three sieges girded
it was; as is read in the Geography of Blavius
lib. 15 pag. 125: which fell, burned by the Huguenots. which last I would more willingly understand
of the previous century, in which when with the so far preserved
there cult of the Saint failed there the Catholic Religion.
For in the year 1569 the town taken the falsely called
Religionists, the church plundered, the ornaments
snatched, the sacred Head burned,
& its ashes scattered to the winds,
by Du Cange's testimony. Wherefore in the last siege, says
the Author of the aforecited Geography, which lasted six
weeks, this town into his power,
with surrender made, received Louis
the Just King of France in the year 1621, on that
very day, on which the Birthday of S. John the Baptist
is wont to fall: where all the signs of citizenship
from it were taken; indeed its very name, which least
it merited, changed; & another, namely Bourg-Louis,
was given, that thus by just
penalties it might be affected.
§. VI The Angeriacenses' relation about the translation of the Head to their monastery, fabulous, from Mss, & Cyprian of Rigaltius.
[254] From the dissipated body certain bones gathered, Narrates Josephus, that bound was John
the Baptist in the castle of Macheron,
& there his Head was cut off
b, & finally buried in the city of Sebastia
of the Region of Palestine, which once Samaria
was called. After a long time however
his monument the Pagans c invaded,
& his bones through the plain of the field dispersed,
& again gathered consumed with fire, &
afterwards through the fields cast. But afterwards
came certain Monks religious men from
Jerusalem to the place of the same monument; who
hearing what had happened to John, & whatever
they could of his bones gathering, to
their Father Philip d brought to Jerusalem.
But he transmitted them, & to S. Athanasius sent, with other
religious men, to Athanasius of Alexandria the Pontiff
most faithful, & there in a wonderful manner were
preserved, until the time of Theophilus e, the same
city's Bishop. He also Theophilus, by Bishop Theophilus are elevated,
by Theodosius the Prince commanding, all the idols'
fanes in that region, Christ favoring, destroyed;
& a church of wonderful magnitude built,
& in honor of the same John the Baptist
consecrated; & his bones which to Athanasius
directed the above-written Philip, in the church placed.
There being gathered also there the neighboring Pontiffs
from every part in throngs, & all
the Orders of clerics & peoples,
this day of the church's consecration honorably
to be observed he established.
[255] Therefore lest anyone doubt, with the approaching
Paschal festivity, was beheaded John the Baptist,
with most wicked Herod commanding given to the dancing
girl his Head; their church dedicated 29 August & much after the beheading
of him with time approaching, in that year
in which was built a church in his name,
& his bones there placed, & by
Theophilus Pontiff, with Theodosius
the Prince commanding, in his honor consecrated, on the fourth
Kalend. of September, the solemnity of the Dedication
was wondrously celebrated. the head still hidden in Herod's house; But his Head
at that time still deposited was in
the place, in which it in hiding the wife of Herod
had deposited, no one knowing, after from her daughter
on a dish she received. If anyone wishes these things fully
to know, let him read the Chronicle f of Marcellinus the Prince
read, & there will find, that two Monks from
the East to Jerusalem came for the sake of prayer,
in the time of Martian the Emperor: to which Monks
in a vision g Angelic was said: Go
to the palace of Herod, which by Marcian's command was found who once here was
the perfidious Prince: entering inspect diligently;
& where smoke from the earth ascending
you shall see digging, there the Head of John the Baptist
without hesitation you shall find, & so they did,
& with great honor secretly with them to Jerusalem
h carried.
[256] But not much later by robbers
it was snatched, casting it into a certain cave, & there
they left it: until the same John, feigned to have been secretly brought from Jerusalem with Christ
helping, to a certain religious man, by name
Marcellus Priest, who in the same cave
was staying as a Hermit; revealed, saying:
Take my Head, which in this cave
was deposited by robbers, & give it to Juramnus
City after Theophilus dear to God, & again found brought to Alexandria;
where the Relics of my body rest. And
so did Marcellus with Christ consenting k. On
the same solemnity of the Gathering of his Relics
& of the Translation, & of the church's Consecration
was brought the Head of John the Baptist to
the city of Alexandria, by Marcellus the Presbyter,
& given to Juramnus the Bishop, other Relics of the Saint to have been added. IV Kal.
of September: & Juramnus gathered it placing
wonderfully, in the same place perpetually
to be guarded. Therefore today's festivity is the Gathering
of B. John the Baptist, not the Decollation
to be named, & the Finding & Revelation of his Head
l.
[257] And now the same man of the Lord Juramnus
Bishop, & Marcellus the Presbyter happily
to the Lord from this world in peace had rested,
with years however not many rolling on,
Monk, by name n Felicius, who for the sake of prayer
from the Western part in those days to Jerusalem
had come, The same one ordered to transfer to Gaul Felicius, Angelic vision was
said: Felicius, rise quickly, proceed to the city
of Alexandria, you shall find there a Church in honor
of S. John the Baptist consecrated, where
his Head with three o Innocent little Children
is hidden: which receiving transfer
into the parts of Gaul, in the region of Aquitaine,
into the place which I shall show you. Of which
vision certain, having been awakened the reverend old man,
filled with most ample joy, going
immediately where he had been ordered, just as had been said
finding all things, to the director of his way thanks
innumerable rendered: & hastening to the place,
the treasure by God destined to him receiving,
into the bosom of a little basket enclosed; & immediately
backward way taking, with him thither to have crossed by sea is said, with his joined companions Brothers
seven who with him had come; & encompassing
secretly all that region, & coming
to the shore of the sea, he found a ship
with oars & rudders by God prepared,
which immediately he entered with the treasure & great
price pearls.
[258] Therefore the Brothers & his companions, descending
with him into the ship, giving thanks,
with hymns & praises blessing the Lord,
the high seas they sought. And when in the sea way
to make they had begun, Felicius with raised eyes,
to heaven palms stretched, saying: Lord
Jesus Christ, who made heaven & earth,
sea & all things which in them are, & the depth
of the abyss beholdest; who upon the waves of the sea
with dry feet walked, & to Peter sinking
the hand offered, & Paul from a third shipwreck
freed; having for guide of the way a dove: free us from the waves of this
great sea, that living we may bless thy name
forever: send also, Lord,
deign thy holy Angel from Heaven,
that he be guide of our journey, as he was
once to our Fathers, when thou broughtest
them from the land of Egypt, in great strength
& mighty hand; & lead us by straight way
to the apt place, for the holy precious
pearls to be placed. These & similar things
praying B. Felicius, behold a strong cloud descended
over the ship, & from the middle of the cloud came forth
of the ship motionless remained both by day
& by night, until in the parts of Aquitaine
at the shore of the Ocean sea they arrived.
[259] And when not far from land to be they had learned,
they turned to a port which is called
Agolinensis p, which is situated in the Alnensian district;
& there going out to land from the ship
the same place about two miles, they found
at a distance bodies of the dead; namely a King
q of the Vandals, with all his army,
lying upon the face of the earth, as I think,
about twenty thousand men: since had come forth
that people stiff-necked from
its sheath through the sea with great fleet, to have found the slaughter of the Vandals, &
them in the parts of the West in the above-said port
Agolinensis. And it was announced to King Pippin
r of the Aquitanians, that the Vandal nation
his kingdom invaded. And he sent legates
to all the boundaries of the Aquitanians, & Santonica,
& also Egolisma, or to all
their boundaries, that against them they should proceed &
fight: by King Pippin because the same King Pippin then
was staying in the Alnensian territory above the river
Vultu s in a palace which is called t Engiriacus,
between the middle borders of the Pictavi &
Santonica. Finally when the same King Pippin,
with all the multitude of armed men met
his enemies, the Lord made salvation
great to all his army: for the whole
army of the Vandals he killed with his hand,
so that none escaped from this multitude
who was not consumed by slaughter v.
[260] But the aforesaid King seeing for himself from
the Lord help from Heaven had been afforded, to internecine destruction of the slain:
& vengeance from enemies, so that there were not found
of his army except twenty men killed,
whom above the rest he very much loved; them
receiving in single biers laid; & happy
for the victory, sad for the funeral loss,
his army recalls, wishing to proceed to his own.
And when from this slaughter about four
miles they were separated, to fix tents commanded, only 20 of his missing;
& pressed by sleep his bed for himself prepared
in pavilions he orders. Then by weariness
with sleep quickly bearing down, a divine voice
was brought, saying to him: Why does idle sleep
so quickly thus press thee? Know of a great
man Prophet & more than Prophet & lamp
of the world, the Head, from across the seas
from the East, with three Innocent children,
to this district x to be buried being brought;
& on account of his name, to whom on the following night the voice was brought, in this battle
divinely victory to thee by the Lord has been bestowed.
Responded King Pippin in the vision,
saying: If such great benefits on account of his name
in me flourish, indicate to me what I should do, or
how I shall be able to investigate or find
him. Responded to him the divine voice saying:
Behold behind thy back follow thee seven
Brothers in pilgrim's habit, & one who over the rest
presides Felicius is called: showed the coming of the holy Head: go to meet
them with a few, & in humility
of heart benignly receive; & having adored the most precious
pearls peacefully with thee try to lead,
& thou shalt see the great things of God.
[261] But the man of the Lord Felicius, having seen
so great a multitude of bodies slaughtered, terrified by fear, to whom he with his companions humbly going to meet,
yet of God's help confiding,
was comforting his companions, & that for a little their journey to make
he was admonishing. Turning aside opposite a small
dwelling for themselves they constituted, that on that same
night until morning in it they could remain.
The aforesaid however King Pippin, from sleep
awaking, within himself silently to think
began, from the vision which he had seen, what
he should do. Reconsidering moreover because in the ancients
is wisdom, & of many past things
prudence; & sending swiftly, he orders
most wise men y & in good works
prevailing to be present, that on so great a manifest vision to him
salubrious counsel they might deign to suggest. Therefore
to this counsel it was come, that putting off
their garments & shoes, in ash
& haircloth with bare feet proceeding, as the King
by divine oracle had been admonished, to meet the servant
of God they should proceed. the sacred pledge joyfully he received: And when they themselves mutually
had beheld, casting themselves, both the King himself
& all who were present prone upon the earth,
so long they adored, until the servant
of God to the place where they lay he arrived.
And when they had blessed the Lord, & mutually saluted
themselves, the kiss of peace they gave to each other;
& raising themselves from the earth, with tearful
joy they inquire how to them these precious pledges
the faculty of transferring had befallen.
But the man of the Lord Felicius, all things understanding
to have been manifested by God, recounted the histories,
how to Jerusalem he had gone
for the sake of prayer, & the treasure hidden to him by divine
mercy had been revealed. And when all
had responded, Thanks be to God Amen; with elevated
Felicius most precious pearls, namely with the Head
of John the Baptist, & Relics of the blessed
Martyrs Innocents, with hymns &
praises of those singing psalms they direct the choir.
[262] Which heard the whole army which in
the camp was, as one man came to meet,
in number thirty thousand men; & when his 20 dead at its contact rose again, the exequies
of the dead, who in battle had fallen,
with them carrying, & asking help from God
through his Forerunner John, that whose
Relics were being conveyed, by divine grace to manifest
he would deign; & promising themselves such
faith to have, that whatever S. John would ask,
with the Lord consenting he could grant. And taking up
the little basket, with which the blessed man John
the Baptist's Head was being carried, & onto single
biers placing, in a wondrous & inestimable
manner, as soon as the lying touched the bones of those lying,
life through the dead to the dead was rendered.
Rising however at the same hour from the office
of funeral twenty men, as if from sleep
they had been awakened, who by weeping friends were being borne
to the tombs, with those rejoicing
returned to their own. Seeing however King Pippin
& the whole army the great things which around them
the Lord had wrought through his Forerunner
John the Baptist, clapping their hands they blessed
the Lord, who does wonders in
heaven & on earth.
[263] But the man of the Lord Felicius & his companions
filled with joy, together with King Pippin
& his army, a blind man illumined, raising the Head of the blessed &
most excellent man Forerunner of Christ John
the Baptist & of the blessed Innocents,
with joy & gladness began their way.
And when no delay was made in going, they came
to the village which is called Vultronica.
And when there they had rested a little, to meet
them a certain blind man was made, who & immediately
healed was made. And when from the same
place to them to move it pleased, they took the way
which leads to the marsh, Mare-vallis z by name.
And when to them a little there to rest
it pleased, a debilitated man to be raised he saw, behold a certain weak in feet,
who himself to raise wholly was not able, through the earth
by crawling drawing himself, came to meet, & immediately
healed went away.
[264] And now him being healed they were drawing near to
the place to which they were tending, to his palace Ingeriacum he led, above the river Vulturnus,
Engeriacum by name; & hearing all
the people, from the greatest to the least, from
man to woman, all together into
one gathered to meet them they came. And
when there before the palace of King Pippin
they had come, in the Basilica of the most blessed always
Virgin Mary, with great zeal at once
for safekeeping they deposited. And rejoiced
was the whole people with great joy, & they celebrated
the solemnity of this day, the fourth
α Kalend. of September: & each one returned
to his tabernacle. Therefore B. Felicius
& his companions, with the venerable King, & there in the basilica of B. M. he placed,
among other things the Lord they were beseeching, that to them
salubrious counsel he would deign to give for placing the holy
members. And building a basilica,
& in it a concave ciborium β with six columns
of stone of wondrous work well composed,
not far from the bank of the Vulturnus, as I think
& very many odors of pigments, depositing
the Head of John the Baptist, the gentle Forerunner
of Christ, & of the blessed Martyrs Innocents,
in the same ciborium enclosed,
& with the Lord helping this edifice completed
was happily.
[165] Made also there the King a fount of vaulting
γ, which from about two miles, through
very deep wells, adding also a baptismal fount under the earth in the edifice
of the cementer aqueduct, in his palace
so flowed, that & that same water dividing,
into the basilica itself through iron & bronze he would introduce it,
& under the ciborium through the concave
marble column it would bubble up, & there of holy
baptism the ablution would be made, & into the very
vaulting δ would return. Calling together King Pippin
& B. Felix Pontiffs & Priests, and he made it solemnly consecrated.
& all the Nobles of the country, blessing the church;
in honor of the same S. John the Baptist
consecrated & wondrously adorned, with estates
& possessions from their parents conferred,
endowed it; & ordained all that were
necessary, Monks, there to God in
perpetuity to serve, they established, ε & rejoicing
& blessing God to their dwellings
they returned. At length truly the end of the narration
ς placing, we pray Christ's goodness
immensity, that with the mighty right hand supported,
to the desired shore's end may lead us. ζ [If
anyone shall see that some particle to the eye of our narration]
inhere a mote, with affection
torn out, let him not show envy but charity:
with him helping whose kingdom & empire
without end remains, unto the ages of ages, Amen.
NOTES AND CENSURES.
a These are,
the Vallicellan, of the Fathers of the Oratory at Rome, to which especially we adhere;
the Liège of the monastery of S. Lawrence, & of the Regular Canons
of Rouge-vallée near Brussels, in the third part of the Novalis Sanctorum
collected by Gilleman, to which part the title is Historia Hierosolymitana, but
in this the style is changed: as also in Vincent of Beauvais, in
the Speculum Historiale lib. 17 cap. 60 & 61, where this History
he describes. Nicolaus Rigaltius however, who published Cyprian with his Annotations
illustrated at Paris in the year 1648, even those things which he judged falsely
ascribed to Cyprian, this Tract also to be printed gave, inscribed concerning the revelation of the Head of B. John the Baptist, but as published by an uncertain Author, did not deign to add anything of notes.
Herodias received from the dancer, did not allow it with the rest of the body
to be buried, fearing lest the Saint's whole body with every facility
might rise again: but this to be able to be done she did not think, if the Head with the body to one
was not delivered to burial. Therefore that within the enclosure of her palace buried,
with hidden solicitude she procured to be guarded. The body however at Sebaste,
which once Samaria was called, is read to have been buried, & by the barbarians until
Julian the Apostate untouched. Then the Pagans, &c. with phrase quite different.
to this writer wrongly impinges Ademar in the Chronicle where above) but from
S. Athanasius the third; who from the year 386 to 512, presided over the Church of
Alexandria.
h Wonderful
it is, how to one having the Chronicle of Marcellinus before his eyes the mind
could come, that hence all other things he would write: nothing there about Jerusalem, but according to the things related Cap. 2 §. 3 to Emesa is brought the Head, &c.
writing on Chapter 6 of Mark lib. 2 cap. 26; unless of the librarians rather than
of Bede was that error. Ado certainly, word-for-word that passage rendering, Emesa reads.
not specifically the day of his beheading itself, but rather the day on which
his head in the same Emesa city was found, & in the church
deposited, designates.
With Pippin reigning as King of the Franks & Patrician of the Romans, Stephen
also Pope sitting on the Apostolic See; to a certain man, &c. And consequently before the year 757, in which Stephen died, after the years of his See five.
& more truly he would have said: although not of all three the Relics or bodies, but
of one only of them the right hand from Babylon brought is said in the Acts of SS.
Cyrus & John.
p By Rigaltius the place is Angolismensis, the district Alniensian is called: by Du Cange Angoulin au pays d'Aunis: but the place so noted on the map of Saintonge, Mansinus is, & is distant from La Rochelle only two leagues, from Angeriacum however 10 or 11.
q The Vandal nation
already long ago from Gaul, not to return had withdrawn, having crossed into Spain
in the 5th century, & thence into Africa; in which however itself their kingdom
was extinguished in the year 533, which then to the Arab Saracens fell, who afterwards
having occupied nearly all Spain, also to Aquitaine were hostile, but by
Charles Martel father of Pippin defeated & put to flight, nor are read returned under
Pippin, except into Roman (as they call it) Gaul under the leader Fremond, Count (as
him Du Cange calls) imaginary of the Bordeaux.
r I have already said Pippin King of Aquitaine, was the great-grandson of the other, who first, of his family the King of France title bore.
s Rigaltius Vultonæ, Liège Ms. Vulturni.
t Vallicell. Ms. Ingeriacus.
v Let him believe who can, that so divine a victory could have remained unknown to all historians.
x Better by Rigaltius & the Ms. Rouge-vallée is omitted the word humandum.
y The same say that Felicius himself was summoned, & put everything in the Singular; but here seems the better sense.
z Rigaltius Mathevallis: but marshes are often called Seas it is most known; there are however marshes sufficiently frequent in that region: but neither this nor the name Vultronia by any trace of itself appears on the maps.
α Liège Ms. Ninth, which deservedly displeases.
β A turreted Pyramid Abbot Guibert calls it, but ciborium is said from the cubic that is square form, a word in Anastasius the Librarian & Roman writers most usual.
γ Rigaltius Ductorium. Ms. Rouge Vallée Aquæductus producing a fountain.
δ The same Rigaltius, & so again to the first entrances it would be reflected.
ε The same for the following words adds; Afterwards with the Lord working many wonderful things through his servant John the Baptist. Ms. Rouge Vallée Dedicated it in B. John's
honor, through whose merit
by innumerable miracles the omnipotent God has deigned assiduously the same place
to splendify, to the honor & praise of his name.
ς Thus Rigaltius. Vallicell. adds now about to return to the series of the narration; which
I know not whither it pertains, unless perhaps to the miracles consequently described,
such as in the Vallicellan are none. In the Liège there are some, but to the Mauriac
Relics pertaining, without any connection with the prior, for thus
it is ended: Assiduously the Lord many wonderful things wrought through his servant
John the Baptist, who lives & reigns God forever
of ages. Then is subjoined: Ends the translation; begin the virtues of the same: which however nothing pertain to the Angeriacenses, some pertain not even to John, such is the second On the gem of Vasates born divinely; likewise the fourth & fifth, On the river Jordan & on the hot waters of the city of Levida, for the cure of leprosy; all are however from Gregory of Tours's lib. of miracles from cap. 12 to 20 word-for-word described.
ζ The following are read in the Vallicellan only, but in such a way that, with a whole line omitted, were connected disparate
two, Meta-tionis nostrae, which defect it seemed by added some things to supply.
§. VII. On the Head of S. John at Rome, through S. Gratus Bishop of Aosta not brought thither.
[266] Although on the preceding day, treating of
S. John Presbyter Martyr, at Rome
having suffered, That the Head was of the Baptist, I treated more fully of the cult of his Head,
which, as if of the Baptist it were, in the same place is venerated in
the church of S. Sylvester, called from the Head; & sufficiently
verisimilarly I made, that it rather is of that Presbyter,
than of the Baptist: yet because Baronius in
the Notes to the Roman Martyrology XXIX August,
so confidently declares, We proclaim,
what we know, & from certain tradition have learned;
again here it seems to be said, that such a
tradition cannot be believed older than the 12th century
when could anywhere in the City the found Head
of S. John Presb. be esteemed to be of the Baptist, from too great
facility of men toward conjectures favorable to themselves. Certainly
such a tradition has no other foundation from the history
of the place, nor is it proved by ancient tradition, than that this place at some time
was of Greek Monks, called Katapauli
as toward S. Paul; until the Greeks
being succeeded by Benedictines, established the same to be
named from the Head; which Head deservedly you would presume
there more recently to have been received by them; not however
by Greeks fleeing the tyranny of Copronymus brought
in the 8th century.
[267] Much less does here serve the authority of the Roman
Martyrology, nor from any ancient Rome Martyrology: equally alleged by Baronius, & by
Giacchetto Karilogiæ sect. 6 pag. 73 greatly
weighed. For nothing such before the reformation of Gregory XIII,
in those Martyrologies which the Roman Church
used. But most used
the Martyrology of Usuard, in which thus is read: IV
Kal. Sept. The Decollation or rather Finding of the Head
of S. John the Baptist, since his beheading
near the Paschal solemnity to have happened
from the Evangelical reading is proved;
which yet here festively is recalled, when
the Head of the same was found a second time at Emessa
city, & deposited in a church:
where no as you see at Rome mention; in the City however
perhaps not the whole context of Usuard was read,
but these words only, which Bellinus of Padua,
according to the custom of the Roman Curia caused to be printed
at Venice 1448; as also in the same place
& at Paris were recast in the years 1498 &
1521; Decollation of S. John the Baptist. The first
example of reformation, but that which appeared in the year 1586, which we have recast
at Antwerp in the year 1586, thus speaks,
so that it appears those very grave men, to whom was committed
the reformation, of other things had thought. Behold
the words of the first edition: The Decollation of S. John
the Baptist, whom Herod near the feast
of Easter ordered to be beheaded, him from Gaul brought he said; which however on this
day is solemnly venerated, when his Head
to Marcellus the Presbyter revealed, was found
translated to Rome in the church of S. Sylvester
ad Campum Martium with supreme devotion of the people
is preserved. But these things they took, it appears, from
the apocryphal indeed altogether fabulous Angeriacensian
translation history, in no way solicitous, how
it should be proved from Gaul to Rome the Head was brought; so that
also here it could be said, what about another, far more ancient
translation, as from Samaria to Rome made,
through S. Gratus Bishop of Aosta, says
Baronius; it to be such, that by no testimony of truth
it is supported.
[268] Therefore Baronius, who also himself one of
the Reformers was, prudently afterwards reformed; about Gaul is silent. & in the second reformation
perhaps the chief; with all those words rescinded,
which could teach how uncertain so far was held
the notice; Marcellus's & Gaul's names he expunged,
& so to be read preferred, as today is read:
The Decollation of S. John the Baptist, whom Herod
near the feast of Easter ordered to be beheaded:
whose however memory today solemnly is venerated,
when his venerable Head a second
time was found, which afterwards to Rome
translated &c. And he indeed in the Notes to
the aforesaid passage, acknowledges, that Marcellinus
the Count, Bede, Ado & Usuard the second
Finding of the Head. they refer to the times of Martian
the Emperor; but not comprehending how
this can subsist with the deeds around the same
Head under Theodosius, I marveled vehemently,
he says, Baronius in the Notes, treats only of the Angeriacensian; that to a most manifest error so many & so great
authors so easily subscribed. He shows
then in the Angeriacenses' relation many inconsistent
things, & concludes that the Head is not of the Baptist,
if any from Alexandria translated is into Gaul,
but of another. About the Amiens Head brought from Constantinople
nothing he murmurs, so that of it not even the slightest
notice (which you may marvel at) to him seems
to have come. But when about it he first heard (as
above said) he confessed, that most obscure to him was the time
of the brought to Constantinople Head, & consequently
the Romans' possession, before so assertively
defended, was made doubtful to him.
[269] Meanwhile most prudently was done by Baronius
is, he does not receive also the Life of S. Gratus, that to that establishing, & the time to be defined
he would not seek a subsidy from the aforecited Life of S. Gratus,
as if he the sacred Head from Sebaste to Rome had brought,
& torn from it at Rome the chin to Aosta.
Is namely that Life the merest fable; which
that more certainly may be established, behold its chief part,
as from a Ms. codex it communicated to us
Peter Francis Chifflet our own. Begins it
from the elevation of the Theban Martyrs, which he himself
Gratus, together with Theodul Bishop of Sion
celebrated, as of ancient Fathers asserts
the authority: certainly on the confines of the 8th & 9th centuries;
both are said to have died, this in the year 6, that
in the year 8 after 800. Then thus proceeds:
In the time indeed of so blessed a Pontiff, in which is feigned,
the Head of B. John the Baptist, by the unhappy Herodias's
petition cut off, into a well thrown
was. The Head of S. John the Baptist long at Sebaste hidden, There for many times so precious
with divine grace revealing it was done that as
the glorious spirit of the Forerunner of the Lord & Baptist,
as by a certain prerogative of honor &
love, above many Saints before the sight
of the Lord was venerated; [so] the Head of the same
John the Baptist in a celebrated place, with celebrated
honor, with celebrated memory be held.
[270] Afterwards indeed when a certain matron,
from a great abundance of things to a great
destitution came; from the well to have spoken to a woman about to draw water, at length to God serving &
obeying, for remedy of her poverty, the waters
of a well drew. It happened however on a certain
day, that the Head of B. John upon a stone
of the well appearing to the woman thus said; Do not
fear, but go, & tell the Bishop of Jerusalem,
that the Head, which speaks to you,
from this well let him take, & in a celebrated place placing,
to bury at least not delay. Coming
then the woman, & whose it was to the Bishop to have indicated, after first, & second,
& third times had been admonished, to the Bishop of Jerusalem
to come she hastens, & the request
of the Head heard thrice by herself shows. That
Bishop giving thanks to God, with ordered processions
of the city, with bells rung, to
the place where the woman had seen the Head, to come desires.
[271] The Head indeed aforesaid upon the stone
appeared, & Gratus to be summoned having ordered: & thus to the Bishop with clear voice
it explained; This Head, which in thy presence
thou seest, is the Head of John the Baptist: but
from this place, except by Gratus of Aosta
Bishop, it cannot be raised. Hearing this
the Bishop, although with great stupor
& admiration, the Head's words he believed;
& through his legates & letters, so prodigious
He indeed his messengers through many
parts of the world delegated; who by the authority of the Roman Pontiff sought, the name of Gratus of Aosta
Bishop to inquire ordered: finally
to the city of Aosta the name of Gratus
the Pontiff to their hearing came:
& to Bishop Gratus hastening, the Apostolic
mandates to him they presented.
[272] Then blessed Gratus, to God & the Roman
Pontiff to obey desiring, & by him honorably received, mounted on an ass,
& alone (though he could have led many,
& as is fitting for a Bishop to ride
he could) with the license of the Brothers & Canons,
to the Roman city setting out on the journey,
tearfully departed… Into whatever
City he would enter, the Pontiff of that City,
if he was present, with bells rung spontaneously,
with his Clergy, to Gratus coming to meet, him
with great reverence of procession & honor received.
Finally when the servant of God to Rome
was approaching, at the sign of bells spontaneously
ringing, by mandate of the supreme Pontiff,
the Cardinals coming to meet him with great
reverence received: & to the feet of the Lord
Pope coming, his feet he kissed;
& by mandate of the Pope next to him he sat,
& on account of the sanctity of blessed Gratus, to his successors
the second Seat after him in every
Council, by Apostolic authority he conceded.
[273] Blessed indeed Gratus, by the Lord
Pope dismissed, the sea enters: &, when
with a storm rising the sea was disturbed, & sent into Palestine, & as if
shipwreck threatened, the companions of blessed Gratus crying out,
him asked. He indeed prayers
poured out to the Lord, & immediately the sea was calmed,
& happily to the port of Acre they sailed;
& with bells rung spontaneously, by Clergy
& people of that place he was received honorably.
On the next day Mass was celebrated by blessed
Gratus; & having called together Pontiffs, Abbots,
& many other religious men, to the city
of Sebaste they came: & entering the Chapter, the Head from the well took,
with Clergy & people, a three-day fast
was indicted. The fast celebrated, to
the well, where the Head of S. John the Baptist was,
with great devotion they came.
[274] Then blessed Gratus with bent knees,
the Head of S. John invoked, & with the Bishop invoking,
among the hands of B. Gratus it leaped; &
the Head received giving thanks to God, with
Clergy & people, on the next day Mass he celebrated;
& with the most sacred Head to Jerusalem
they came: to the blind sight, to the lame
step gave, lepers cleansed, the sick from
whatever infirmity they were held cured.
From the wood of the holy Cross, from the milk of B. Mary,
from the Head of B. John the Baptist, from S. Peter,
from S. Stephen, from the holy sepulcher with him
he carried. Thus far the ecgraph of Chifflet. & to Rome he carried, Ughellus
Tom. 4 of Italia sacra from these
far different had, but in sense the same & somewhat
more prolix, in which to Gratus is added of the journey
Roman companion Jucundus, whom as a young man
to be educated he had taken up, & for himself successor
had foreseen. But to the end, which here
is desired adds, that the Head received, the same
Gratus to Rome returned, the chin however to Aosta, the sacred pledge to the Pontiff
Maximus he consigned, & from him the chin
torn from the Head as a gift received; which in his
Cathedral church, with the greatest joy of Clergy & people
he placed.
[275] Then adds Ughelli: The same preposterous
Acts report, Bona, Countess of Savoy, whence Bona the Countess in the 12th cent. obtained a tooth.
about seven hundred years from his death,
Guichenon in the Hist. Genealog. of the House of Savoy,
has only one of that name, namely Bona
of Berry, wife of Amadeus VIII, betrothed
in the year 1376; who him widowed in the year
1391, was joined to the Count of Armagnac.
Hence indeed appears how minimally ancient
such Acts are, & how little informed about Gratus's age
was the Author, when between him & Bona
he placed years about seven hundred, where
abundantly it would have sufficed to say five hundred: nor perhaps lighter
would he have sinned, if the Hierosolymitan Bishop,
& Roman Pontiff, under whom the matter
is feigned acted, he had presumed to name. Ridiculous
it is moreover that he feigns the Roman Pontiff to his
messengers through many parts of the world to delegate &
to inquire the name of Gratus Bishop of Aosta, Other inconsistencies of the same Life
as if at Rome it had been ignored, what city was Aosta
& who there was Bishop: & that at Acre,
that is at Acco or Ptolemais, he makes Gratus
received with bells rung spontaneously, of which
no use in Syria was before the Latins' dominion there.
Can any Synod also be alleged,
in which the second seat was held by the Bishop of Aosta; or
when else has the Roman Pontiff to anyone granted
such a Privilege to the prejudice of others?
These & other things (as I think) weighed, deservedly would not
dispute Baronius, from what Head the chin would be
which at Augusta Praetoria, in the boundaries of the Subalpines,
is said to be had. But with the writer's
age considered, verisimilarly I esteem, that
there Head of S. John the Baptist, joined to some tradition
of the Augustans about the chin of the same
through S. Gratus brought, was the only foundation of all that
fiction.
§. VIII. On the sacred blood of S. John the Baptist at Vasates, Naples, Monza.
[276] To the Head can also be referred the Blood,
from its section poured, which the earth not
so wholly absorbed is believed, I do not know to whom can seem verisimilar what from S. Greg. Tur. is reported: but that some churches
with it from of old preserved among them glory; although
of the manner in which it was preserved, no one of the ancients has written.
For what in S. Gregory of Tours
lib. 1 Miraculorum cap. 19 is read, I know not whether we ought to believe
it really flowed from his pen.
For what appearance of credibility presents, that
with Christ still living a woman from Gaul coming,
that Christ she might see, to the place of the beheading
approached? Let us see the text itself. At that time
(when John the Baptist by Herod's craft,
on account of Herodias the wife of his brother, in prison
was bound) from the Gauls a certain matron
to Jerusalem had gone out of devotion, only
that the presence of our Lord & Savior
she might deserve. Hearing however that B.
John was beheaded, with rapid running thither she tends;
& gifts given supplicates the executioner,
that her the blood flowing to collect he would permit.
He striking, the matron
of the Martyr the gore devout she received:
which diligently placed in an ampoule, to her country
she brought; & at the city of Vasates,
altar placed. The disciples of John could have,
gathering the body with head cut off for burial,
also some of the blood gathered; yet some of the Blood can have been preserved otherwise. of which then
part to Vasates brought, in the century one before Gregory's age,
gave cause of naming there a church.
The rest how it seemed verisimilar to Gregory,
I really do not understand, & I much incline,
that the books of Miracles & in this & in some others
chapters, unworthy of such a writer, have been interpolated.
[277] Meanwhile the Neapolitan writers, Caesar Engenius
Caraccioli, treating of the church of S. Michael
Archangel at Bajano; & Franciscus de
Magistris, Meanwhile from Vasates translated to Naples pursuing the work of his uncle Joseph,
on the state of the Church & city num. 206; where the discourse
to them is of the miraculous blood of S. John
the Baptist long there preserved, which now in the church
of S. Gregory is honored, after thither were translated together
with the Relics of the prior church some Nuns)
Caracciolus, I say, & de Magistris,
since they did not know whence it was; persuaded themselves & others,
that to Vasates it was brought by Charles I, from Gaul
coming, about the year 1270, against
Manfred & Conradin. To so conjecture
occasion is taken by them from the aforesaid
Gregory lib. 6 cap. 27, the moderns believe, where it is said Chilperic
the King entering Paris, with Relics of the Saints
of many preceding: & this for all the expeditions
of the Frankish Kings to have been usual,
they strive to prove from the Epistle of Carloman of the Franks
Duke, but with no solid argument; in the year 742 permitting some
of the servants of God to follow the camp, for the Saints' patronage
to be carried. But neither passage proves,
that the Frankish Kings, & indeed up to the 13th
century, had the use, of other than of the Royal chapel's
Relics, with the necessary for Masses
instrument to carry around; much less brought from those places,
where they were most celebratedly venerated. But which Chilperic
the King had as forerunners, seems to himself to have had as those meeting from
the city; not because that was ordinary, but
because he himself believed thus he could lack the curse,
which in the pact of himself & his brothers was written;
that none of them Paris without the will
of another would enter. Whatever yet
about it be, nothing such, about the manner & time
of the brought to Naples sacred Blood, there written
was, & consequently all those things by conjecture are said
or feigned, appears from the aforesaid de Magistris, pag.
391 thus continuing the narration.
[278] When in that cruel plague, which from the year
1517 until 29 in this city of Naples
continued, for found after the year 1529, it was not known whose it was, more than fifty
of the inhabitants, & also of this monastery
the Nuns all had perished; it came about,
that the successors of the aforesaid Nuns,
with whom the said monastery was again
refilled, ignorant whose was the above-said
Blood, they venerated it as of an unknown Martyr.
By the counsel however of a certain Priest
of holy life it was resolved, that on the feast
of any holy Martyr that Blood
over the altar be exposed, & the first vesperal
Hour prayers in honor of that Saint
be sung; that thus God, whose he was, to reveal
would deign. O thing full of admiration!
while in the year 1554, on the festivity of the Decollation
of S. John the Baptist & in his first
Vespers, & this first was revealed in the year 1554, the Nuns the Antiphon at Magnificat
to chant were beginning, the blood, in a crystal
ampoule placed over the altar, not without
great spiritual gladness of all the Nuns
& exultation began to liquefy. Which also
was observed, it on the feast of the decollation being liquefied, in the same festivity from the first
Vespers until sunset in the aforesaid
church of S. Gregory (after namely to
this was translated the Blood, from such an event, not
from elsewhere now is believed to be of the Baptist) & afterwards
freezes & hardens, just as also that of S. Januarius.
[279] The same is said to happen, whenever from a special
cause to the altar itself, which even now happens to it under Mass placed on the altar, exposed over it
the venerable ampoule, sacrifice is made, & chiefly
at the end of Mass. So when to see this
in the year 1676 was led the Most Serene John
William; Count Palatine of the Rhine, brother of the most august
Empress's firstborn; wrote
he, who through Europe for two whole years traveling
accompanied, the chief fruits of his journey into a book
gathered, our John Pekenius, pag. 423;
On the seventh of the Ides of March, in the Parthenon of Virgins,
at S. John the Baptist, I said the votive sacrifice
of the decollation of the same before the Blood
of the Saint, in a glass ampoule congealed. Loosened
it was into a drop, at the end of the Sacrifice by
me performed, more fluid under the second & under
the begun third entirely as if from veins recently
boiling out, by a manifest miracle, which with supreme
joy the Prince, devoted to the Saint of the same name,
& all his companions & spectators
drew to a pious kiss.
[280] Bartholomew Zucchi of Monza, in
the History of Queen Theodelinda cap. 22, recounts
the Relics, which is believed S. Gregory the Pope to this
Most Christian Matron sent, Another similar at Monza, equally as a cross
with the wood of the holy Cross of the Lord, & a Lection
of the Gospel, enclosed in a Persian case, as
he himself writes lib. 12 Epist. 7; & among those numbers
the Vessel of the Blood of S. John the Baptist,
still fluid: then cap. 23 says, that
the aforesaid Relics by the injury of times so passed
into oblivion, that it was not known where they were hidden. Then
he subjoins: With things to some tranquility
reduced, in the year 1298 revealed, a great desire fell upon the Monzans
of finding them, & for that reason
were instituted in the year 1298 publicly
& privately prayers, by no means in vain. For indeed
on the day of the exalted Cross, to a certain devout
Presbyter Francius Jussani, of the church of S. John
the Custodian, appeared two venerable
Matrons, clothed in white, whom he announced
S. Elizabeth (the Forerunner's, as I believe,
mother) & Queen Theodelinda to be,
who bidding him to remember what is written,
Seek & you shall find; & the place of the Relics
indicating, to heaven flew up.
Awakened thereafter the Priest, & filled with
joy, soon to the church he ran, & with
him all the people, by a certain divine spirit
driven: & at the place indicated through the Custodian, in
sought.
[281] At the news of this success ran together
also the Comenses, who when on the day 18 May to the people shown liquid, whoever in the place were present;
& for the Relics themselves to the eager people more solemnly
to be exhibited they chose the next to Sunday
of the Ascension festivity, in that year which
bore Easter on XVI April, falling on XVIII
May; to which ran from every side an innumerable
multitude, not less of Nobles than of plebeians;
among whom was Count Ottolinus
de Curtenova, coming in the train of Galeas
Visconti, from Matthew the Great, a little
after Duke of the Milanese, the firstborn.
He with the point of his dagger daring to touch
the blood, in the crystal vessel as if boiling;
I wish, he said, to test if blood of a deer
it is. Marvelous thing! Hardly he had brought forth blasphemous
words, the blasphemous Count was gravely punished, when the just wrath of God so
seized him, that being unable to remain in the church
he fled away; then struck with a grave
infirmity, & with it for a whole year having struggled,
at length expired; yet his
offense penitently before having confessed. Thus Bonincontrus
Morigia, asserting the matter to be so from
the mouth of many, who as eye-witnesses had been present at the
deed.
[282] But this is that Morigia, from whose
Milanese History Ms. among the Codices of the Ambrosian
Library preserved, for keeping the same soon was begun to be erected a new basilica, I gave at the day V
June the miracles of S. Gerardus of Monza, & at
num. 8 lett. d I wished from the same to have miracles,
concerning S. Baptist. For indeed Zucchi,
in the margin to cap. 41 & the last, notes,
that he in his aforesaid History, many &
wondrous events narrates, which happened in the very
church's construction; which church there graphically
he describes, asserting it was begun to be founded in the year
1299; & the Senate & people of Monza
for promoting the work to have decreed, not
only that weekly & on the greater
feasts public offerings be made; the matter being promoted by Matthew Visconti, Duke of Milan. but
also that any neighborhood on the Birthday of the Saint should process
with precious pallium & much wax,
for the use of the fabric. The aforenamed Matthew,
father of Galeas, in the year 1295 his fellow-countryman
Otto succeeded; & is found in the Monzan
church depicted in that purple habit,
which there were wont to use the Imperial Vicars,
& that kneeling & the restored by him church
to the Saint offering, just as him exhibit
the 12 of the Visconti, of the Princes of Milan, most elegant
effigies, in 1645 prefixed to their
lives, about the year 1549 published by Paul Jovius.
[283] Before this I would prefer in this place to give to be seen
from Zucchi's tract on the Iron crown §. 18, At Monza also is had the Iron Crown of the Lombard Kingdom,
the Seal of the Commune of Monza; since it represents
the form of the Cross & Crown, with iron circle
within fortified, in the treasury of the church of S. John
wont to be preserved, & thence brought forth for crowning
the Kings of Italy, already from the time of Theodelinda
the Queen, who with it her Astulph crowned,
up to the present: of which Seal the author
Zucchi makes Otto III, with the same crown crowned,
as they wish, before the Imperial at Rome
he received in the year 996: whose form is expressed by the Commune's seal. when also a Privilege
he left, by which Monza, he says, we declare
of the Empire, which Head of Lombardy & Seat
of that Kingdom is known to be, which also the lemma
surrounding the seal confirms.
[284] But let us return to Monza, & exhibit
those things which about the basilica there built to S. John the Baptist, Narrates in the Hist. Mediol. Mss. Bonincontrus Morigia
& of its there Church treasure I wished to give from
the History of Bonincontrus Morigia. For it proceeding
to this place the press now I have received, by the favor of the most Erudite
man Lord Ludovic Antony Muratori,
Prefect of the Ambrosian Library before, now Ducal
of Modena, as by his own hand from the autograph
he transcribed. After Morigia lib. 1 cap. XI related
how the Basilica of S. John the Baptist Theodelinda
built, cap. XII says: Most blessed Theodelinda
the Queen, Vow of the Lombards subjecting themselves to the tutelage of S. John; with the King unanimously & with the greater
born of the Lombards vowed among themselves,
& said: If S. John for us be intercessor
to our Lord Jesus
Christ, we all unanimously promise
to him, every year on the day of his Nativity
from our resources to transmit honorably
to his Oracle, that through his intercession
we may have the help of our Lord
Jesus Christ both in war, & in all
places, wherever we shall go. From that
day therefore in all their acts they began
to invoke S. John, that to them he would offer
aid in the virtue of our Lord Jesus Christ.
And they all remained unharmed, & victorious
stood over all their adversaries.
[285] The marvels by which the Queen is narrated to have been moved
to the building of the place, e.g. a dove in
that place to have appeared, a voice from heaven over the tree,
which said Modo, heard, & others of that
kind, Muratori did not think were to be described by him;
but to proceed to the benefits by which his into protection the place
& matters pertaining to it were, the Saint declared;
such is, what lib. 3 cap. XXVIII
thus narrates Bonincontrus. After he related the battle,
between the Visconti, & the Apostolic Legate's
army in the year 1324, says: On the next day
after the above-written rout a made about
the first hour of the day, Henry of Flanders b
alone with two, whom he did not know, came
to Monza. & how in the year 1324 after the victory of the Milanese Who willingly by those, who
were in Monza, was seen, because they were without
counsel; who said: Do not be terrified,
we shall hold the Land well. I will narrate, what to me
happened, & said: With the day yesterday the battle made
forsaken by my men I wished to flee, & I fled
I know not whither. But in a certain Bosschetto c
through the whole night going terrified I did not know,
how to come out. Invoking God, & S. John
the Baptist, there appeared to me a certain old man
with great beard, all wasted, who
said: How is it with thee? I said: Ill, I know not
where I am, nor whither I can go. And he:
It is good, Monza to flee by the Saint Henry of Flanders was ordered, that we go to Monza. And
I: I believe, that the Milanese are there.
And he: Do not doubt: they are not, I know to tell you,
that S. John does not yet wish to abandon
that Land, because of his S. Oracle,
which in that Land is preserved. We went
always so speaking, until we were
near this Land, when we found these two,
who with me have come hither. Thinking
going, when I was at the entrance of this Land,
I saw myself somewhat to be secure; certainly there to be preserved, &
I looked back, & said to those, Where is the man
that old one? They said: He withdrew without
we seeing. For certain I give thanks to God, &
S. John the Baptist, because it was S. John himself,
who in such manner appeared to me, & hither
led me back. These, which about the aforesaid Henry
I have narrated, from Religious, & from the faithful,
both from outsiders d, & from men of Monza,
who were present, when the above-written things he was relating,
by relation I heard.
[286] Moreover Galeas Visconti had had
counsel from the Milanese Citizens, their destruction however contemplating Galeas the Count, if he had had
the Land of Monza, of plundering it,
& not to leave stone upon stone.
But on that night appeared to him in a vision S.
John the Baptist, who said; Galeas, the Land
of Monza thou shalt not subjugate to thy Dominion,
until thou shalt change thy purpose.
That Land is in the custody of S. John, although
on account of many sins great damages
it has suffered. Thou hast thought to plunder it e, that
it remain uninhabited; & my S. Oracle
there to my honor divinely for a long
time built thou wishest to remain forsaken.
Wherefore I say to thee, Change purpose, the Saint twice appearing he changes his counsel. & propose
to rebuild said Land, which is in
my custody. If this thou shalt do, it in thy hand
I will deliver. The day came: about this, what
he had seen in dreams, almost nothing he cared. The following
night S. John again to him by vision
appeared, & the same words, as in the first,
to him said. And subjoined saying; If my words
thou dost not hear, of thy intention badly
thou shalt fare. Who moved from sleep, recalling
what he had heard from S. John the Baptist, in the whole
the first purpose he rendered void, & the will
of S. John in his heart he proposed
to which, as is manifest, well he attended.
[287] From what is said appears that at that time Monza
ruin the cause & time I believe Bonincontrus did not pass over in silence.
But since that matter did not seem to pertain
to the miracles of S. Baptist; Muratori did not think
were required the author's words, whom he himself
some part in that affair to have had indicates Bernardine
Corius Part third of the Milanese History,
pathetically describing, how between the factions of Guelphs
& Ghibellines the town distracted in the year
1323 in November by some ill defended,
by others most ill treated was with promiscuous
slaughter of every age, sex & condition,
& with the plundering of all things lasting three days,
& the destruction of gates. Yet because in discerning
the miserable town's extermination, it had been decreed
to spare the church of S. John; verisimilarly is
not only that whole one to have remained, but also
opportunity offered to some of the Clergy of exporting
the treasure, & of carrying it to Avignon,
to the there residing Pontiff John XXII.
There however what was done about it, & by what reason prohibited
the sacrilegious man from the snatched elsewhere to carry, from
Bonincontrus's cap. XXXVI thus described I received, among
things pertaining to the year 1324.
[288] The treasure of S. John the Baptist deposited,
which once was at Monza in his S. Oracle
by the above-written Provost, The treasure of S. John deposited at Avignon, & by the Canons
of the Greater Church at Avignon in the sacristy
of his Church in a chest with several keys
closed, with very many months elapsed,
known to the Provost & Canons of the aforesaid
Church at Avignon, who often & many times
frequented in said church & in
his Office (since he was among them as one
of them) knowing that accursed one about the treasure there
deposited, saw that no one cared to go where
was the chest of said treasure, because the Provost &
Canons believed said treasure was
in a secure place. But to them happened, as says
Boethius 2 de Consolatione: But what plague
more efficacious to harm, the broken-open chest having stolen than a familiar
enemy? Then that worthless one thought
to steal said treasure, & with it to depart
outside Avignon. To which malice S. John
the Baptist, wishing to guard his treasure,
resisted.
[289] A certain day came: that malign one cautiously
opening the door of said sacristy, to take out he is not able, the closures of the chest
ignominiously opened, & that treasure took,
& that more cautiously to export he could, part of the vessels
of gold he hammered out f, & broke: so then
with the treasure he withdrew. He went to the bridge of the Rhone,
wishing to go into the Kingdom of France. There
were seen to him over said bridge to be soldiers,
& pedestrians armed guarding, lest anyone
with said treasure pass. And he thought
to withdraw from another gate of the City of Avignon,
& to go into another province: again
to him similar appeared. & with a goldsmith to sell having agreed, And thus from all the gates
of the City to go out he wished, & similar, as he had seen
at said bridge in the first place, to have seen
he believed. Returned to himself he stood upon himself,
& to himself said: I will sell cautiously that which I can
at Avignon: with the denarii I will depart altogether:
& he did not think, that against God,
& his Saints there is no counsel. Then
he carried a certain part of said treasure to a certain
goldsmith by name Vani of Florence. With
the price weighed said to him the goldsmith, Hast thou
of other? Responded: I have: & he: Bring
to me the rest, weighed to thee I will pay. And he made
with him an agreement g that on the same day after
vespers he ought to bring.
[290] is announced to the Pontiff That goldsmith knew about said treasure
of S. John of Monza, to Avignon to the supreme
Pontiff brought. Forthwith he went to
the Curia of the Lord Pope, & to him narrated in order
whatever with that accursed one he had transacted.
The supreme Pontiff sent through the above-written
Provost of the Greater Church at Avignon, who
when before him had been present, said to him: What is about
the treasure of the Church of S. John of Monza?
Responded: Well, holy Father. And he:
I do not believe, & on the gallows is driven. & said to him: Go quickly, see
without delay, report to me. Who went, found
the chest not closed, & the treasure exported.
Then the Lord Pope ordered, that
from his family several be sent, who
should stay on guard in places around the house,
where dwelt said goldsmith. Captured
was by the intercession of S. John the Baptist that malign one,
& put to torture; who all things in
order as he had done, manifested, & said. Judged,
he was dragged h through the whole City
of Avignon, & at the end was hanged by
the throat. The above-written goldsmith on this
above-written occasion forthwith made
was Maierius i of the Lord Pope k, & up to today
holds the benefice. Thus far Bonincontrus
Morigia, writer of things done in his age, from
whom when Bernardine Corius had transcribed the aforesaid
about the Monzan treasure, The same treasure in the year 1345 his narration in these
words concludes: That treasure was restored
to its prior place within an iron-bound ark, & hung
from the vault of the temple opposite to the altar
major, so that to all conspicuous it was, & there
was left until to Monza it would be brought back.
But how this was done narrates the same Corius
in the same Part third in the year 1344 in these words: is brought to Milan
In the month of December Matthew Bishop
of Verona (in the Curia of Avignon then residing,
native of Monza) wrote to John Archbishop
of Milan, that he should send to the curia
deputed men, to receive the treasure of S.
John, by the will of Clement VI. entrusted to his care by the Pontiff
(Clement VI:) which when the Bishop to his Canons
had indicated, was by common deliberation
deputed as Syndic of the Chapter Presbyter Gratian
of Arona, who instructed with credential
letters of the Princes of Milan, immediately
to Avignon betook himself to the aforesaid
Bishop together with Guidolo de Calice,
Ambassador of the Lords Visconti, who
most humanely received by the Pontiff, Another treasure of sacred Relics at Monza that
treasure took up, & that it more securely
they might carry to their own, they awaited the departure
of the Legate, whom the Pontiff into Apulia
was about to send, to celebrate the coronation
of King Andrew, & thus at last to Milan
safe they returned, on XIII March of the following
year.
[291] Another from this treasure as I believe was the treasure
of sacred Relics, which S. Charles Borromeo had decreed to be more honestly placed, about which Zucchi
cap. 26 asserts, that it was remaining in an old marble
ark behind the altar which looks to the choir
of the basilica, when S. Charles Borromeo, Monza
visiting, to whom (as my uncle
was wont to say to me, & his household member D. Balthasar
Zucchi) particularly he was attached,
mandated that in a more decent place such a great treasure
be placed. I however returning from Rome in the year
1597, when I saw nothing less done,
the mandate's so congruent execution urging,
with difficulties overcome, such as never
are wont to be lacking for retarding good counsels;
I effected what I desired: & with Frederick
Cardinal Borromeo approving, worthy successor of so great
on the first Sunday of November 1606:
& worthily was performed the procession, with an innumerable
concourse of multitude, all things prudently
administering Most Reverend Septala,
most vigilant Pastor ours. Toward evening
however the same sacred Relics are placed in a double cabinet, affixed to pillars standing at the first
steps of the greater altar, with work
so wondrously carved, that before the art vile to be esteemed
can be the gold, with which it is illustrated.
NOTES BY D. P.
b Henry Count
of Loden, Toparch of Ninove in Flanders, son of Guy Count of Flanders
in the year 1305; died at Milan in the year 1337. Thus Labbe in Genealogical Tables
pag. 527.
CHAPTER V.
On other Relics of S. John in the Western Church.
BY THE AUTHOR D. P.
§. I. Dissipation of the sacred body under Julian the Apostate.
[292] The Chronicle, commonly called Alexandrian,
which to me at some time has seemed to be
Constantinopolitan, When Julian Ap. in the year 362 ordered the idols to be restored, but to its most recent illustrator
Du Cange Paschal to be called; at the Consulate
of Mamertinus & Nevitta, by which the year
of Christ 362 is noted, thus writes: Julian,
having learned of the death of Constantius Augustus, his apostasy
& impiety openly professing, having sent
against Christianity through the whole world
an edict, the Pagans growing insolent, at Sebaste: ordered all idols to be restored. By which
inflated, those who in the East were Gentiles, at once …
in Palestine the Relics of S. John the Baptist,
which at Sebaste had been deposited, having dug them up
dispersed. Rufinus the Presbyter of Aquileia
long & much in the East versed, lib. 12 Hist.
Ecclesiast. cap. 28 the matter thus more fully & distinctly
narrates. In the times of Julian, as with reins
relaxed, the body of the Baptist they give to flames, there boiled up into all savagery the ferity
of the Pagans: whence it came, that, at Sebaste
the Baptist, with frenzied mind & deathly hands
they invaded, the bones they dispersed, & those again
gathered with fire burned; & the holy Ashes,
mingled with dust, through fields & farms
they dispersed. From this injury done to the sacred Body,
origin seems to have drawn the ancient custom,
of preceding S. Baptist's Birthday with public
bonfires built town by town & street by street: in
which also the custom among some throughout Italy was,
by the testimony of Jacobus de Voragine in the Golden Legend, of bringing together
& burning gathered from everywhere
the bones of dead animals, when also,
by the same testimony, burning torches are carried, because
he himself was a burning & shining lamp.
[293] But a far more solid honor, from that
dispersion, for his holy Forerunner provided God;
so effecting that not few parts subtracted from the flames,
& gradually into various regions translated, from which were withdrawn some parts, far
& wide should scatter his virtues & miracles.
But chiefly God's providence (as says the above
cited Rufinus) brought it about, that some from Jerusalem,
from the monastery of Philip a man of God,
for prayer thither at that time came. were brought to Jerusalem
Who when such a great impiety, by human
hands indeed, but with bestial mind to be done they saw;
deeming it more pleasing to die than by such an impiety
to be defiled; among those, who the bones for burning
were collecting, mingling; more diligently, insofar as
the thing permitted, & more religiously gathering,
secretly themselves either from those stupefied or ignorant they withdrew,
& to the religious Father Philip
the venerable Relics carried. He,
deeming it above himself to preserve by his own vigils, thence to Alexandria, to
the Pontiff Maximus then Athanasius, of the immaculate
Host the Relics, through Julian
his Deacon, afterwards also of the Palestinian city
Bishop, sends. Which he having received with few
witnesses, enclosed under the hollowed wall of a sanctuary,
with prophetic spirit, to be of profit to the posterior
generation, preserved; with which now, with cast down
& prostrated traces of idolatry, in temples
once profane gold roofs would rise.
[294] How this was done had indicated before
the same Rufinus, where over the destroyed sepulcher of Serapis, then when the matter was acted living
& writing. For when he had set forth more fully the abominable
sacred rites of Serapis; Now, he says, with the arrival
of the Priest of God Theophilus (he had received
the Episcopate in the year 386) in the sepulcher of Serapis,
with profane buildings leveled, by the edict
namely of Theodosius, given at Milan III Kal.
March of the year 391; on one side a Martyrium,
on the other rises a church. And no more
Rufinus, in the year 391 the church built since at the death of Theodosius in the year
395 ending his history: sufficiently however indicating
the Martyrium aforesaid to have begun to be built for depositing
the Relics of S. Forerunner, when he says: But the cause
of building the Martyrium whence given was,
I think worthy to mention; & soon subjoins
the above related about the dispersed sacred Body, & the Relics
brought to Alexandria. But it does not seem
that with Theodosius living the work was completed: for
Codinus in the Compendium of history writes that first
under his son Arcadius μετετέθη
τὰ
λείψανα
τοῦ
ἁγίου
προφήτου
Προδρόμου
καὶ
Βαπτιστοῦ
Ἰωάννου
ἐν
Αλεξανδρείᾳ; are brought in the time of Arcadius Emp. & Bp. Theophilus, At Alexandria (not to Alexandria
as the somnolent Interpreter wrote) translated were
of holy Prophet Forerunner & Baptist John
the Relics; namely from the place where them had hidden S. Athanasius,
into an oratory which to them had built Theophilus,
in the See of Alexandria still extant until
the year 412.
[295] Here moreover, in confirmation of what was said about
the Amiens Head, & foundation of what is soon to be said, adhering to them dried flesh,
two I would have noted, namely, that Body
holy by no means negligently in the earth was hidden
by the disciples, but they placed it in a monument;
certainly bound in linens with aromatics,
just as is the custom for the Jews to bury; as
of Christ's body done attests the Evangelist
John, because the body seems to have been conditioned with aromatics, when to it had brought Nicodemus a mixture
of myrrh & aloes about a hundred pounds:
for these obsequies to the dead to be paid, with leisure
& with decorum, was chosen the place outside Herod's
jurisdiction, in the then-called Judea placed; &
it is credible among John's disciples also more wealthy
some & more noble were. From such a hypothesis,
it follows that of the so embalmed & deposited body
the flesh by no means from the bones flowed away, as in putrefied things
is wont, but gradually dried with their skin
to them adhered, no less than in the Head; to which
since such a care was not applied, of this rather
than that the integrity ought to be seen miraculous.
Therefore where Rufinus says the bones dispersed, there I willingly
would understand, the whole frame still intact up to the time of Julian to have remained. limbs torn from the framework
still intact so far; which again gathered not
all were reduced to ashes; but with similar zeal,
with which by the Hierosolymitan Monks some,
so by others others were snatched from the flames, some
even half-burnt, & not reduced to ashes wholly; whence
afterwards not from one Alexandrian Church all;
but from various various limbs, & particles of various
finally to our West came, of
which I proceed to weave the following Paragraphs.
§. II. On the right hand with part of the Arm to Antioch, & thence to Constantinople, & hence to Cistercium brought.
[296] Although above we have seen glorying
the Antiochenes, The right hand which had been at Antioch & C.P., that they have that hand from S.
Luke the Evangelist; more verisimilarly however I judge,
the same in the age of Julian when the Pagans raged was withdrawn
to have been: but how it came to Constantinople,
since in the same place by a proper Sermon explained
is read, there remains only the last part
of the proposed argument. In this lest much for us
to be labored, monuments suggest, which in the year 1662
returning from Rome to Belgium we found, in
with this tenor: If anyone shall wish to know, with what precious
1263, in the month of September, was enriched the church
of S. Mary of Cistercium, with the Lord providing;
let him read this studiously: which read let him bless
the Lord, & for the attainment of such great benefit
rejoice together, not only with the house of Cistercium,
but also with all Burgundy, & with our
Gallican province. This is the transcript
of the letters of the noble man Lord Otto of
Cycons, Lord of Charistum, who gave to the Abbot
& Convent of Cistercium, & sent in a golden case,
Bellavalle & the Abbot of Dalphinetum, the arm
of B. John the Baptist, through these words.
[297] To the venerable in Christ Fathers,
the Abbot of Cistercium, & all the Abbots,
Priors, to Cistercium sends Otto of Cycons, & other Brothers of the Cistercian Order,
in their Chapter gathered,
Otto of Cycons Lord of Charistum,
in the Empire of Romania, greeting, & to merit
the grace of so holy a Congregation with God.
If for us, in the flux of this age slipping,
friends from the mammon of iniquity
to make counsels the infallible Master, whom in
the distribution of eternal houses we may find
amicable receivers: what advances
one may estimate to be future, as he had received it from Baldwin Emp. from acquired treasures of sanctity?
Since therefore (as from the attestation
of the Most Serene Lord Lord Baldwin, Emperor
of Constantinople, from whose liberal munificence
to our hands came
with us we had the most venerable arm of him,
whose preclear voice's thunder
to us sounded forth, & with the right hand's fingers the redeemer
of the world to the age showed: &
we considered ourselves custodians of such & so great a treasure,
not so much less suitable, as unworthy;
& the chief mother of your most sacred Order,
namely the House of Cistercium,
which with special affection we love, the most faithful
treasurer of so great a thing, deservedly by the merit
of those conversing there, in no way we doubt; this great
& glorious gift to its custody
we have decided should be committed.
[298] The arm itself, in a gold case covered,
& placed within a silver casket, valued at three hundred
hyperpyra; commending himself & his own to the prayers of the Monks, through
the venerable men of Bellavalle & of Dalphinetum,
Abbots of your Order, bearers of the present,
transmitting, & with special devotion
asking, that the possession of so preclear a pearl
preserved with due honor, of its virtue may obtain
the grace, & glory by worthy praises adorned
may attain: finally us, & our consort
Lady Felice, & our children,
to your most holy Congregation
(which the Savior of the world has deserved to have
propitious, by which in his name gathered,
her sweats & labors his holy
service is known to have consecrated) we commend
humbly & devoutly; through God's mercy
beseeching, that against our lapses,
& discriminations & innumerable dangers, by which
incessantly we are pressed, you may set the very strong
defenses of your holy prayers;
by which both here from harmful things protected, the remission
of sins we may receive; & in the future, with
all the Saints, to the joys of eternal life
we may deserve to attain; in the year 1263, him in his royal majesty
we shall see, whom to the mystery of our
redemption coming in mortal flesh,
he first himself through himself to mortals preached.
Given in Romania, in the city of Negroponte,
in the year of the Lord 1263 on the eleventh Kal.
April.
[299] Likewise the transcript of letters, written
in French of the Most Serene Lord Baldwin, together with the letters of the Emperor himself,
by the grace of God Emperor of Constantinople,
by which he the arm of B. John the Baptist,
with the silver casket & golden case,
to the noble man Lord Otto of Cycons, Lord
of Charistum, granted, conferred & quit
in perpetuity, under this form. We Baldwin,
by the grace of God most faithful Emperor,
crowned by God, Governor of
Romania, & of all its appendices, we make known,
to all who these present letters shall see,
that since our beloved, noble man
Otto Lord of Cycons & of Charistum, had loaned
us at our request, by the great necessity
of us & of our Empire 5 thousand
written in French hyperpyra upon our pledges, which Niquifoies
our messenger delivered to him on our behalf … and
in fact has shown us much grace & goodness in waiting,
& in keeping them beyond the term that
he gave us: for which we know him good
thanks, not for that we are not in a position to
redeem those aforesaid our pledges, from the aforesaid
said Lord Otto, nor of making to
him satisfaction of the debt presently, &
for that we do not wish, that he have further
henceforth grievance of keeping & holding
those aforesaid pledges, & default of his
payment, we quit to the aforesaid Lord
Otto & to his heirs perpetually, for us
& for our heirs, the aforesaid pledges, to
do his will as of his own thing,
without recall either of us or of our heirs, at
no time. And in testimony of this
thing, we have given, to the aforesaid Lord
Otto these present letters, sealed
with our seal, & signed with our imperial
ensigns. These letters were given at Athens,
in the year of the Incarnation of our Lord
1261, in the month of October in the XXII
year of our Empire.
[300] These letters we so render into Latin. We
Baldwin, by the grace of God most faithful Emperor, & attesting the gift made to Otto.
crowned by God Governor of Romania
& of all its appendices, we make known
to all these present letters
about to see, that whereas the dear to us, noble man
Otto Lord of Cycons & of Charistum, at
our petition has lent us, on account of
our great & our Empire's necessity,
five thousand hyperpyra, upon
our pledges, which Niquefoies our envoy
himself on our part delivered … and he
enough of grace & goodness has had, that he would wait
& keep said pledges beyond the term
by him conceded to us (for which to him thanks
we render) We because we are not in such a state, that
to redeem the pledges already said we can before
the said Lord Otto, or in the present to him
satisfy; & because we do not wish that in the future
he be burdened with retaining & preserving the pledges
aforesaid, or by lack of due to him
solution: we quit to the aforesaid Lord Otto
& his heirs in perpetuity the aforesaid pledges,
that of them as of his own thing he may dispose
according to his will, so that neither by us nor
by our heirs they can be reclaimed.
And in faith of this matter we have given before the said Lord
Otto these present letters, sealed
with our seal & signed with our Imperial
ensigns. in the year 1261. These letters were given at Athens, in the year
of the Lord's Incarnation 1261, in the month of October
day XXII, in the year XXII of our Empire.
[301] Likewise an exemplar of the letters of the aforesaid
noble man Lord Otto of Cyconiis,
Lord of Charistum, The same Otto, which he sent to the Abbot &
Convent of Cistercium, & also to the General Chapter,
on the donation which he made to the same house
of Cistercium, of the aforesaid arm of B. John
the Baptist, in these words:
To the venerable in Christ Fathers Lord
Abbot of Cistercium & to the whole Convent of the same place, &
to all the Abbots of that Order to their Chapter
celebrating there gathered, Otto of Cyconiis,
Lord of Charistum, solicitous about his & his own salvation, with the commendation of himself
reverence & devotion. For a precious
treasure is sought a safe & precious place, a praiseworthy fount
is for a thirsty soul, for a weak tree a stable
support, & a robust arm that for a grave
fall it may be averted. Hence, although not by my
merits, with the light illuminating which every man
into this world illuminates coming,
knowing myself a weak tree, as the other
mortals to fall by death; & therefore to
the South not to the North to hang desiring,
that after the fall of the body sometime I may be transplanted
into the garden of heaven; your & of all
your Brothers, whom upon the corners
of the world the right hand of the Almighty has planted, that with their
shoulders they bear the world, & with the splendors of Holy life
they illuminate all the earth; humbly
& devoutly I beg, he asks to be received to the participation of merits: with all my strengths, with all
effort of heart, & with diligent affection the suffrages,
both in life & in death, for me,
my wife, & sons; for the souls also of my parents
& of all my relatives deceased,
& for all my relatives
present & future & my friends, to be granted
mercifully & to be communicated, that of the whole
your Order's benefits by participation
up to the end, in the plantation of formed faith I may be supported;
& by the arm of those suffrages, from
the impugnation of all enemies defended,
finally I may be found efficaciously sustained.
[302] & confirms the donation, For an argument of which devotion,
effect of the pious request, & perpetual memorial,
I offer to your monastery of Cistercium,
in a safe & precious place, a precious treasure,
the Arm of B. John the baptist, in a golden case,
& casket which are appraised at three hundred
hyperpyra. in the year 1263 This arm indeed I had
first in pledge from the Emperor of Constantinople:
afterwards the same Emperor it
freely & properly & wholly to me granted,
that thence I would do as of my own thing
my will, as in the same Emperor's letters
patent, with hanging bull, (which
to you I transmit with the present) is contained:
that, I say, arm baptized him supporting
with three fingers the mass of the earth, baptizing
in the Holy Spirit & fire, namely the Lord
Jesus Christ, in the astonished wave
of the Jordan, the splendor of glory & ray of the sun
eternal; who may deign me together with you, in
the splendor of heaven of the Blessed spirits, to beatify
by his perpetual vision. Given at Negroponte,
in the year of the Lord 1263 XII Kal. April.
[303] It is to be known that three pieces of letters,
whose tenors above are contained, In those letters only indeed is named the arm:
separately are held in the house of Cistercium, &
are preserved there, that seen their authority
& testimony our aforesaid Relics not
be little esteemed, but with all doubt
& incredulity removed, be held perpetually in holy
veneration & honor. So far only is named
the Arm & again only of the Arm
speaks Chalemotus, at this day thus writing:
At Cistercium the solemnity of the Birthday of S. John
the Baptist, whose Arm there of no small
quantity rests. Nor more says the definition which in
the Ms. equally is read, made in the year 1264 in
the General Chapter at Cistercium to the Abbot
of Dalphin, as also in the grace granted to its bearer; because in conveying from Greece
to the house of Cistercium, the most glorious Relics,
namely the arm of S. John the Baptist,
not a little labored. The words are these. Wishing
the General Chapter to make a special grace,
it grants to the same (Abbot) that as long as
in said house he shall hold the abbacy, only on the term he is held to come
at which the Abbots of Syria
are wont to come to the General Chapter. To the Arm
however was joined the hand, or a good part
of it, supposes the Paragraph, after the aforesaid
letters & them following Little Note in the Ms.
aforepraised thus described. The sense of certain
Greek words, Yet a Greek epigraph testifies the hand to have adhered to it. which are written
in Greek letters on the silver casket, in which is deposited
at Cistercium, in a golden case,
the right arm of B. John the Baptist,
& the hand with four fingers, such is. The hand
of the Forerunner, which a barbarian hand held
before, now thence drawing it the Emperor,
to the city translated Constantine, having bestowed
on this pious treasure this its protecting power.
Would that the Greek words themselves inscribed
here had been, or at Cistercium still were found the casket
of silver, whence they could be described! Meanwhile from
this, that in it the Arm was brought, & the inscription
Greek the Right hand names; is confirmed,
both at once under either name to be understood.
[304] And so also is to be understood the memory of the same
Saint which, with Chalemotus as witness, Hence among the Cistercians is the daily commemoration of S. John the Baptist. for that cause
daily is made at Vespers & Lauds in all
the monasteries of Cistercian filiation, & which
at the end of the aforepraised Ms. thus is proposed. Antiphon.
With perpetual protections, Lord, of S. John
the Baptist guard us, & the more fragile
we are, so much more by necessary suffrages lift us up.
v. There was a man sent from God. ℞. Whose
name was John. Prayer. Almighty
eternal God, who hast made the present church
honorable by the presence of the right hand of B. John
the Baptist; grant propitious, that by his
virtue defended, we may deserve from enemies of mind
& body to be freed. Baptist of Christ,
thy bridal chamber is this house: May therefore
thy right hand protect us, within & without:
§. III. Whether the same right hand was given to the Knights of Rhodes by Bajazeth the Turk.
[306] To such ancient & by such great authority confirmed
possession of the Cistercians, two
centuries afterwards opposed itself another, nonetheless in appearance
founded credulity of the Knights of Rhodes, These for the right hand taken from Cistercium, in
receiving Relics, by Bajazeth Emperor of the Turks
to them sent in the year 1484. Although
unjust it may seem the barbarian Mahometan,
with the Christian Emperor to confer; yet no
sufficient cause can be devised, it seems the Greeks substituted another, why he would have wished
to delude the Rhodians; nay no suitable way by which he could;
if commonly to the Greek Christians it was not
persuaded such a Relic still held
at Constantinople, before it was taken by the Turks,
to have been in supreme honor as the right hand of John
the Baptist, although perhaps after the expulsion from the city of the Latins
substituted by the Greek guardians in bad faith in its
place, which under Baldwin taken away they were unwilling to confess.
[307] But how the matter was acted by Bajazeth was,
teaches the Commentary of William Caorsin
Frenchman, about which writes the Vice-Chancellor of the Rhodians, Belgian of Douai, Vice-Chancellor of the Rhodians
(already from the year 1470, in which
sent as Legate to the Pope he was, to ask for subsidies)
on the translation of the sacred right hand of John the Baptist.
This Commentary to us of the Westphalia monastery
transcribed John Gamansius, from a book
printed, at Venice (unless I am mistaken) by John
Rex in the year 1496, in the twelfth after the matter
done year, in the sixteenth however after the freed from
the most grave Turkish siege Rhodes. This a little
before he had begun to besiege, in the year 1480
on the day XXIII May, the Order of Knights of Rhodes,
to William himself there about to take a wife, for
obtaining a house, a hundred florins had given, in
compensation of many good services, both
elsewhere rendered, & in compiling the volume
of the stabilimenta of the Order; the same perhaps, which
of Privileges Gamansius calls; & from which the Tract
aforesaid transcribed the same Gamansius.
Survived however the printing William himself for years
only five, dying in the year 1501, as these
all about him are read in James Bosius,
in the Hist. of the Religion of S. John of Jerusalem
lib. 9, 12, & 15: where also lib. 13 & 14
you will find an Italian epitome of this very Commentary,
from which it also pleases to cut off less
necessary digressions. The Commentary itself thus
begins happily.
[308] that after the right hand from Sebaste to Antioch, Of the wise a most celebrated dogma it is, the crime of ingratitude
as a most atrocious plague
to be avoided … By this reason led,
of the sacred hand of the right of Divine Precursor of Christ,
from Constantinople to the Rhodians, the translation,
in our age made, by literary
order to commend I have determined, certain things from the ancients'
monuments excerpted, according to the measure of my ingenuity:
how namely from Sebaste to Antioch by
S. Luke & from Antioch to Constantinople brought
it was, & hence to C.P. translated, first indeed by mandate of Justinian the Emperor,
to dignify the dedication of the temple
of S. Sophia; then under Constantine & Romanus
Emperors, on the Nones of January; thereafter to be preserved
in the monastery of S. John of Petra, plainly
as the Menaea have at day VII January. Then
what in the title he had taken up, Caorsin so proceeds
to narrate.
[309] Mahomet, King of the Turks, who
lately departed from life, when the Imperial
city of Byzantium with most powerful army he was besieging,
& was attaining the hope of victory, when the city was captured by Mahomet, not
ignorant with what ornament, with what treasure, with what
remarkable furnishings the city's sacred temples &
monasteries were filled: by public herald said,
that the royal furnishings & all the sacred
temples' ornaments & monuments be preserved unharmed,
nor would his fellow soldiers plunder them. Therefore by divine
permitting justice, the tyrant
obtains the things, the city also is made of his dominion.
Are brought to the victor the royal treasures, of the holy
temples ornaments & gems; & of the Saints,
whom the Christian cult honors
the Relics: & blessed himself he professes, whether
something worthy to disclose, to bring forth, to offer
can. In that monastery, of
which above, was found, which to the Turk came,
the right hand of the Precursor; of the Passion
also of O. L. Jesus Christ monuments, Sponge,
Reed, & the iron of the Lance there placed
were, which the Turk to himself vindicates …
[310] The tyrant indeed victor proud,
of the Relics having obtained, although Mahometan,
either for the sake of gain, or fortune, he ordered to be brought to himself all the treasure & Relics or (as
more truly to conjecture pleases) with divine disposing
providence, the sacred right hand, & of the Passion
monuments & several of that kind of ornaments
in caskets he closes & seals, & among the royal
treasures orders to be preserved. Not few
indeed of the Christ-worshippers, eager of sacred
things, them to themselves vindicate either by price or by gift
strive: but with crafty the tyrant ingenuity, in bestowing
more tepid is rendered, & at greater money
he values sacred things; hoping by this gain
very many minds to himself he would attract. The Turks'
King moreover, with the success of things elated
& puffed up, his dominion's borders enlarges, & the neighbors
infests, & some to bow the neck to annual
tribute compels. & to the Christians for no price wishing to render There certainly were
those who having agreed money the sacred right hand & of the Passion
monuments strive to obtain; & a treaty
with the tyrant of the Turks to strike scorn,
unless he bestows the holy pledges, by which
the ignominious treaty by the pretext of sacred Relics
they may honor: The tyrant however more hard
& inflexible, on sacred things to bargain
disdains. So with divine disposing wisdom, enclosed
more diligently are preserved: & laments the keeper's
desire the Imperial woman, of Greek
blood born, who the Turks' prey,
to the King's lust among concubines obeyed. She from
Christ's cult had not defected, to whom the Greek Clergy
faith preserving had adhered: of the pact however
not ignorant, asks, urges, insists, that
the sacred Relics of the Byzantines to the Westerners
not pass: if they be venal, the price for the pact
herself she offers to pay: by which thing persuaded
the tyrant preserves the sacred things.
[311] dies in the 28th of his empire, And when about eight & twenty years
at Byzantium he had ruled, the Rhodians to attack
he desires. Whom atrociously attacking,
when defeated & repulsed & with ignominy
affected, by the celebrated Rhodian victory rendered,
them again to attack desiring, the Rhodians
execrating unexpectedly is choked by disease. Rhodes vainly attempted. Fame
it is not inconstant, that to the tyrant against Rhodes
proceeding, in a tree among the branches a youth,
more august than human appearance, in a white garment clothed,
& flaming sword in hand carrying
appeared: & with sharpest face, with angry
& swollen cheeks; & to the watching & hearing one
said: Most criminal of men, with this
I will run thee through with the sword. Which seen & heard
the tyrant so feared, that by the delusion of mind,
on account of intense terror, stunned
& terrified suddenly vomited forth his foul soul.
It is pious indeed to opine, an Angel
of God was present, Succeeding his father the son Bajazet, who the most cruel tyrant
killed. With his life ended, Bayazet elder
born, having vanquished Zyzymy & expelled him from the kingdom,
obtains the things; & all the royal furnishings,
treasure, & sacred pledges to Bayazet the tyrant's
son came. About the same time
Zyzymy to the Rhodians fled, where with solemn
pomp he is received, & to Gaul sets out:
from which that notable treaty of the Rhodians is struck,
& the agreement of annual pension follows,
that Zyzymy be preserved, whom with unheard of fear
Bayazet dreaded, as in published commentaries
these matters more seriously are explained. Enough indeed
was it to have touched the heads of matters, that the Reader
may understand the causes, by which was driven Bayazet,
that the sacred Hand to the Rhodian Master
he should bestow. While here was the state of things,
& by a notable treaty the Rhodians were obtained; &
the King of the Turks, out of fear of his brother preserved with the Rhodians, fearing fraternal
ambushes, the great Master of the Rhodians to obey
studied, & with little gifts his mind
to soothe desired, that his brother's attacks
he might restrain; by the persuasion of certain apostates,
who participants of the tyrant's secrets, of the Hospitallers'
origin & customs know, he is driven,
that, if a thing pleasing to the Master he wishes to effect,
the Precursor's Hand, whom as Patron
invoke the Rhodians, as a gift he should send. He was also induced
that he should satisfy the Master's requests,
who of the most sacred Passion monuments seeks.
That therefore the Master in his vow not be frustrated,
the tyrant decreed the sacred Hand to bestow,
about the rest for the time being silent, that the Prince's mind
eager & suspended he might render: thus
to the preservation of the brother the tyrant seemed to be affected.
[312] Therefore being chosen, to bear the sacred hand,
to them further offers the hand of his Patron. a most illustrious Orator, of the royal court
an excelling man, of secrets not ignorant,
to him the sacred Hand to be borne to the Master he entrusts,
& to the Master a letter he gave in these
words.
Bayazet, King of Asia, of Emperors
Emperor, Cham (that is of the greatest the greatest)
to the most wise & most illustrious great
Rhodian Master, Peter of Aubusson most happy
Emperor, most venerable father, S. D. P.
How much is our mind's toward thee benevolence,
integrity, & observance, from past things without
doubt shines forth. Thou also toward us thy mind's rectitude
bringst forth, & with certain benefits aboundest,
that thou become a victor. Nor that to allow
we have decreed: for fortune to us more
smiles, & we are more in dominion, empire,
& treasures supported: nor do we forget thee a Prince
wise, most wealthy, & by no means
slothful to be, who having attained most clear victory
art, & great deeds art wont to undertake.
We therefore wishing to gratify thee, was
not at Byzantium that more acceptable to thee
we would think to be, than that very Hand thou shouldst enjoy,
which once to the Body of the Precursor of the Messiah
of the Christian nation, whose patronage thou invokest,
was joined: that namely with the Imperial city conquered
to my parent's treasury was added. Acceptable to thee not
doubting will be the little gift, by the Orator to be brought
I have believed. Receive ah, of Princes most faithful,
of thy Patron the right Hand; which although
worthy be the offering, the bestower's mind
yet recollect, who having rejected greater money,
thy friendship I judged should be set before a pact: in
which true mind's integrity is wont to be detected,
which utility despised to a friend the way
studies to give. Farewell.
[313] To the Prince & Senate of the Rhodians the letter
recited, the Legate in these words speaks:
Most excellent Master of the Rhodians, from
the letters of the most potent Emperor, To the Letter on this matter at Rhodes read, & by the bestowal of the preclear
gift, his toward thee propense
will, & how much he makes of thee, easily thou knowest.
Receive, most renowned Master, the sacred
Hand of the Precursor, whom both the Mahometan
law a Prophet does not deny, & a man most upright
we do not deny, & Thou as protector,
defender & patron thy implorest.
Be eager also to the Prince of Byzantium in turn
to repay; nor let it shame thee to contend in benefits,
with him who both grateful & most powerful
by the judgment of very many is judged. These said the holy
Hand, in a cypress casket enclosed
& wrapped in silk, & with the royal seal sealed,
to the Master the Legate delivered: which most devoutly
receiving, the Orator with these speaks
words the Master. Thy Prince's letter
was very pleasing; nor less acceptable
is the most preclear which it offers gift: the Senate humanely responds, in which
certainly his sincere toward us affection I detect.
Of a magnanimous indeed Prince
it is offices conferred on himself with benefits to repay.
Knows indeed thy Emperor, of how great
weight is friendship, which all the mortals' prosperous
makes successes. Nothing also so
illustrious & stable is judged, which
by discord easily does not perish. While the speaking
Master made an end, the Legate, greeting given,
the Curia left; & between two of the Senatorial
Order Fathers, with a notable accompanying band
to his dwelling returns. The Precursor's holy
Hand however, by the Master's order sealed, in the dwelling's
inmost chamber is deposited, until for veneration
what may agree be prepared.
[314] Here is subjoined against the preclear gift's
detractors an Apology, in this placed, sufficiently certain to himself it seemed about the truth of the Hand received, that
neither the Mahometan sect should make suspect
his gift, who, beholden to the Rhodians, would not unpunished
mock them; nor the sacrilegious impiety of Julian
should be believed to have consumed the whole body, whose
ashes at Genoa, face at Amiens, in Aquitaine
vertex, elsewhere other parts are held in
veneration, withdrawn from the flames. In which I wonder
that to the Author it did not occur to distinguish from the rest
those parts, which before the burning are supposed
separated; namely the hands & head. Meanwhile the
Index finger he denies can be held at Florence, or
the thumb to have been brought into Gaul; since both are still held
joined to the hand: A procession is announced for the day 23 June, & of the miracles at Antioch
in Syria & at Angeriacum in Gaul perpetrated
he narrates those things, which from a man, more military
than learned, without distinction could have been received
in so rude an age, indeed I do not wonder. But those things
omitted I turn to those, of which by ocular faith witness
bearing, this from us most certain it deserves,
while namely he narrates what of Veneration pomp to the holy
right hand was expended, thus moreover describing it.
[315] By a council among the Fathers, on a day of veneration
to be indicted held; although various was given
opinion; at length best it seemed,
X Kal June (with four years then elapsed,
in which the Turks' fleet about to attack Rhodes
landed) the celebration of veneration to indict:
that on a similar day, on which the tyrant the Rhodians attacks,
the most sacred hand of him, who above
the walls, with the most violent attack pressing,
was seen to defend; with four circling years,
first among the Rhodians be held. Therefore
of the sacred Hospital the church's Prelate & Prior,
Fr. Peter Papefuss, born in Aquitanian Gaul,
with gravity of manners & probity of life adorned; the anniversary of the loosed siege;
sacred infulae & vestment adorned,
with Latin & Greek Clergy accompanied, of Knights,
citizens, merchants & matrons by frequency
following, from the temple of S. John he moved;
with umbrella covered, & a hymn in
the Precursor's praise singing; to the Master's
dwellings he entered: & ascending the steps, the oratory
dedicated to S. Catherine he approached. There indeed
upon the altar, an ivory casket, with crystal & with
distinguished sculptures of images, closed it was:
nor was the transparent crystal, of the sacred hand's
visible appearance, that less it might be seen, an impediment
was.
[316] The Prior the Master, with a bright band of Fathers &
Knights surrounded, & with the Clergy of the magisterial
palace standing by, beside the altar
meets. The Master, with prayer performed & with knee
bent, taking up the casket, the precious
gift to the Prior, prostrate on the ground &
praying, & with the procession led around, & at the presence of so sacred a pledge weeping,
gives: & departing the Prior, the holy
Hand bearing, the destined performs
journey. Him moreover with grave & simple step
the Clergy, praises with sonorous voice bringing forth, precedes.
Not far follows the Prince, then the Bailiff,
Priors, Preceptors,
& Fellow-Soldiers of the Hospitallers, with splendid
vestment adorned, the footsteps modestly pressing:
the plebeian behind walks throng. Having gone out
from the town's gate the solemn pomp, the procession
bends toward S. Anthony's gate; & the city
entering, & the castle's ditch surveying, to the forum's
area at length comes; over which precious
veils, which the sun's heat may ward off, lest the standing
assembly's of luminous rays the heat
affect. In that place the Clergy, Prince,
& Senatorial Order Fathers, & Fellow-Soldiers
sit: the Relic itself is brought into the Cathedral temple, the pulpit indeed, where the herald's
voice to the buildings of commerce is brought forth, the Prelate
himself ascends; & sitting on a throne, the people
& assembly looking down upon, the sacred hand
over golden pillows places, that from
an eminent place the assembly the sacred pledge more aptly
by looking up at venerating may. Were indeed of houses
faces & of the pulpit walls with Atrebatian
cloths & painted little tablets, with images & with hangings
most ornately covered.
[317] where an Augustinian preaches, With silence indicted, of the Order of S. Augustine
most celebrated, the chair of truth ascended,
an elegant oration delivered; with triple indeed
genre, demonstrative, judicial, deliberative
filled; when of the divine Precursor's eminent
praises & excellent endowments to heaven he raises;
then this right hand to be of the Precursor an indubitable
member, by ancient historical monuments
& testimonies worthy of faith, & through the whole
world by spread fame, he firms, attests, proves.
Then the assembly to peace embracing,
reverence toward Superiors cultivating,
& concord fostering, since without which
no commonwealth can be long-lasting, he exhorts
& admonishes. When of speaking made an end
the preacher, the church's Prior rising up, & the casket
unsealing, the sacred Hand elevating,
naked to the most preclear assembly he shows, & in
this manner prays: Hail John the Baptist,
who by an Angel preannounced, by Prophets
begotten, by a sterile mother contrary to the order of things
conceived, in the womb sanctified, at the coming
of the Mother of God six months thou exultest … These &
others of this kind several, & dismisses the assembly, for the life & death
of the holy Precursor & his patronage to be commended
pertaining, when he had said; the assembly,
devoutly prostrate & praying, with that very hand
three times he blessed: with all alacritously rising up,
in the order in which they had come, the castle's gate,
which looks to the South entering, the sacred
temple they seek: where the ivory casket,
containing the right hand holy, over the altar is placed,
& the Prelate of the Mass performs the solemnities … With the solemn
things performed, the Hand to be kissed is given. Thus
with pomp dissolved, to their private homes all return,
congratulating & God praising,
who with so sacred a gift the Rhodians distinguished.
[318] By the same regard the Master draws Bajazeth These things related the Author subjoins, how
the Master, Bajazeth, with a very great fleet equipped
against the Christians, with the Venetians to the Pontiff rebelling
discordant, in the year 1484, compelled
from such expedition to desist: if he does not, Zyzymy
his brother against him about to send; & recites
the letter of Bajazeth to the Master, promising to desist from his beginnings, on the Ides of April at Constantinople. that he should dismiss the expedition prepared against Christians,
Then the Master's to Sixtus IV Pont. Max. on this
cause solicitous, legation he sets forth, secure on that part
making, with an Epilogue on the thanks to be referred to God,
who the most potent tyrant by that reason so constrained,
that to move nothing he dared. There followed
in the Ms. of the same Vice-Chancellor a speech to Innocent
PP. VIII. which neither has been copied for us,
nor to the present argument makes,
summarily however is reported by Bosius part 2 of the Hist.
aforepraised. There also to read is the election of Fr.
Peter Aubusson Prior of Auvergne, & he himself with new ornament that hand decorates. he who
the Translation performed, to great Master of the Order,
made in the year 1476, & conferred
upon him the Cardinal Purple in the year 1488,
& death undergone in the year 1503: to
whose besides honor it makes, that the Most Sacred
Relic of S. John he adorned with a most splendid
tabernacle of solid gold, with many gems
& pearls adorned; just as
today is seen, says he, the first &
second part of the History publishing in the year 1594.
[319] It seems therefore to indicate, that with the city given over in the year
1522 into the power of the Turks, among
other sacred Relics thence brought out, This then to Malta seems translated, was also
the Precursor's hand, & it is preserved at Malta in the church
of S. Publius, chief seat of the Order thither translated.
This although he does not expressly say John Francis
Abela, in the description of that island, published in the year
1647, opine however we can, from this that pag. 35.
Catalogue weaving of Relics, in golden of the middle
body & arms cases there preserved,
he names also S. John the Baptist, although he does not
define what part of the body it is. But
to that defect supplies Rochus Pirrus Tom. 2 of Sicilia
sacra in the Notitia of the Church of Malta pag. 620,
among the more distinctly designated Relics reckoning
the Arm & three fingers of John the Baptist.
[320] However it be: great each year in solemnity
is held at Malta the feast of the Patron; when on the Vigil
of his nativity, the Great Master of the Order proceeds
from his Palace, with head uncovered, &
bearing in his hand a white torch: & having gone around three times
the vessels, with festive fire about to burn, first he himself kindles,
after the supper offered to the whole Senate, under a most beautiful
pavilion, where more solemnly is held the feast. taken from that memorable
naval victory, which in the year 1510 the Rhodians in the Gulf
of Issus, now called of Ayas, obtained; which
pavilion, wont to adorn the stern in which the Soldan's of Babylon
there killed nephew was being carried, was wholly
in most beautiful work & by most skilled needle painted, nor
except on that festivity each year once is unfolded.
§. IV. On the left hand, with part of the Arm, preserved in the Convent of the Preachers of Perpignan.
[321] Vincentius Domeneccus, in the General History
of Saints of Catalonia, published at Barcelona
in the year 1602 fol. 81, of the whole matter the series to receive
professes, from a proper on it book
of P. Mag. Michael Lot & Francis Diaga's
history of the Preachers of the Aragonian Province
lib. 2 cap. 88, The relation from Spanish into Latin has, & also from processes about
the aforesaid Relic's verification formed: which
then Tamayus in compendium reduced, but with the original
Greek language inscriptions added augmented,
in his Notes at XXIV June to the Spanish
Martyrology in Latin inserted: here however
from the Spanish of Domeneccus faithfully rendered into Latinity
thus we give.
[322] About the year 1323 was living in
the aforesaid Convent Fr. Peter of Alenia, a man
of altogether religious & exemplary life; whom
then as Prior on a certain day called out a youth
handsome in pilgrim's habit; which about the year 1323, & having drawn aside
into a secret part indicated, that he wished to him,
for his notable virtue, & his peculiar
affection toward the Order of Preachers, to manifest
& commit a certain most precious
pledge; on this condition however, that to
no one he should reveal it; but should preserve, until
from the pilgrimage undertaken to S. James he returned;
& not even of letters written by himself
he should believe, if any mortal happened to bring such:
if however he did not return, he should have
itself from then by the monastery to be possessed. the hand of it had brought there an unknown pilgrim,
The faith promised P. Peter preserved for many
years, until considering that neither the pilgrim
returned, nor any trace of him anywhere
could be found, however great diligence on that journey
had been applied; he established with himself that an Angel
had been who thus had disappeared, & began the entrusted
to him treasure to some more tried
virtue of Brothers to manifest, & namely
to the Fathers Masters James Ramon,
January & Bartholomew Rollan; narrating
to them what to him & the heavenly pilgrim
had happened.
[323] But it is of S. Baptist the left hand
with part of the arm by the middle about cut
below the elbow, to which nothing either of flesh or of bone
is lacking except the last joint of the thumb, which
by biting took away, such as is preserved even today
in the Convent of the Preachers of Urgel. For
to enumerate & discern in it is permitted equally
or more clearly than in the hand of any
living the veins, & arteries & nerves, the nails
also all, & also at the wrist
the trace of the chain by which the Saint was in prison
bound, (whence the joint torn away is preserved at Urgel, for it is notably twisted
toward the left side. At the beginning
of the hand & end of the arm there is to be seen
one nerve colored above the rest. Of the rest
very well composed & altogether seemly the hand
is, because the three greater fingers seem
rather extended than into the palm reflexed,
except that below the three others is bent the fourth.
[324] Brought this Relic the Angel within
high however & wide a half is still
shown in the Convent; having on the cover
painted the Precursor, like an Angel winged,
with a book in his right, on which is thus inscribed.
Φώνει
Πρόδρομος,
ὑπηρέτης
τοῦ
Λόγου
Μετανοῶν
δείκνει
τὸν
φύσιν
τῶν
βροτών.
which senarian verses in Latin so sound:
Cry, Precursor, Minister of the Word;
Penitent show human nature: from the Word
assumed. the same otherwise remaining most entire) The left holds the Head
with epigraph:
Ο
ΑΓΙΟΣ
ΙΩΑΝΝΗΣ
ΠΡΟΔΡΟΜΟΣ.
HOLY JOHN PRECURSOR.
And at the foot another similarly Greek epigraph:
Τί
σὲ
καλέσωμεν;
Προφήτην,
Ἀπόστολον,
Ἄγγελον,
ἢ
Μάρτυρα;
What shall we call thee? Prophet, Apostle,
Angel, or Martyr?
[325] Finally around the reliquary itself
are read drawn nine orders of Greek
verses, within the little box with Greek letters variously inscribed, in letters also themselves majuscule
or quadrate, by which all the preceding are
expressed (as Tamayus testifies by his own or others'
ocular faith.) These verses are
Greek text preserved verbatim in original chunk; English versification follows. 326] God descends for all's salvation: [their Latin versionCome * thou, Precursor, to declare the Word.
All thy * miracles full are.
Said Gabriel thy nativity * extraneous:
The Father's * resistance to punish he wishes,
But the muteness * he inflicts quickly.
Above thou hast appeared virtues thrice blessed,
Better than the Prophets, equal to the Apostles:
Of the Martyrs thou hast appeared the full ornament, Blessed:
Not tasting food of whatever kind in nature is:
Genuflecting help all as is the custom,
Offering succor * to those leaning by vow.
By the admirable thy * placement of Relics
Of affairs * turns & returns of life,
* Health of body with gladness binding,
Blessing * but governing, as to thee is right.
Thou bearest wings * equal to Angels,
Material existing immaterially, as the Savior said.
[327] This interpretation is of D. Antony,
Archbishop of Athens, & Vicar general
of D. James Patriarch of Constantinople; exhibited at Perpignan,
& Archbishop of Thebes, a man in Hebrew,
Greek and Latin languages most instructed,
& of many others learned of that University,
approving the same version,
at the instance of Fr. William Albert, thither from
the Convent of Perpignan sent as legate. Gave moreover
to him the aforesaid Archbishop it under
faith of a public Instrument, through a certain
Presbyter by name Julian, by Imperial
authority Notary. This having been seen, D.
James Prior of Our Lady of Espina, from
the office committed to him by D. Raimund
Bishop of Elne, the same Relic is legally approved, formed a Process,
& ordered to be recited by the Notary, before chosen
Theologians from the Dominican, Carmelite, Franciscan,
& Augustinian family,
& some Doctors of Laws & Canons;
who all defined considered
the multitude of miracles & the Greek box
inscription, it sufficiently is established, that itself
is the arm of S. John the Baptist & as such
to be honored he mandated, as to him by the Bishop
it had been committed. Some years later, on account of some
difficulties arising, & another version is asked in the year 1407. again the Convent
sent into Greece, Fr. Dominic Cardona
for the same purpose; & made was at Nicosia another,
but as to sense agreeing with the prior version, (That verisimilarly
which in Tamayus exists with very slight
difference) subscribed with the names of Hersenius Bishop
of the Greeks & Vicar Guillin: & soon
at XV January of the year 1407 Doctor Francis,
Canon & Vicar of that Church, of
it asked a public instrument from a Notary
Imperial: by the name of Louis of S. Dominic,
by nation Milanese.
[328] These notwithstanding, the Bishop of Albi,
Apostolic Legate through Spain (John
probably Goffredus, The Relic he proposed further by fire to prove, about the year 1461
from Arras made Bishop of Albi &
Cardinal, who in the year soon following to Louis
XI, besieging Perpignan occupied by the Spanish,
with arms & counsel was present, for its
recuperation; in the year fourth after he could
by Paul II have been sent into Castile, with Henry
& Alphonso the brothers tearing it into parts)
Legate, I say, Apostolic at Perpignan
passing, & wishing about the truth of the aforesaid
Relic to be made more certain, ordered it
in the sacristy of the monastery, before a great throng, the Apostolic Legate is hindered by a miracle.
into a brazier to be cast: which however was not done:
because immediately fell from above arches
& crosses by which the place's vault is interwoven; without
any however of those present harm; & the vault,
which without them seems unable to stand,
suspended remaining until today to
the great admiration of all. By which event
not less stupor stricken, than
filled with joy he; soon bestowed twenty
marks of silver, for making a reliquary,
in which now that sacred arm
is preserved.
[329] Very many divinely performed miracles are reported
through it mediating, in curing the sick: To the same various sick are cured, &
therefore most everywhere are made rings, which to the sacred
fingers inserted & with faith applied, heal
fevers, arthritises, scrofulas, anginas & other
inconveniences. Thus in the year 1377
Lady Sibylla Viscountess of Rodez (as
is established from the prior Process) by violent
seized fever, from fevers, sent a servant to
the monastery of the Preachers with a sheet,
ring & rosary, by the touch of the sacred arm
to be sanctified: which when with them to her Lady
returned, she the ring on her finger, the sheet
upon her head placed; & immediately so
free from fever she was, as if it she had never
suffered. The same one's chamberlain however, when by no
lighter fever, together with great side
pain she was suffering, the suffered & received sheet
similarly upon her head placed, & immediately
alleviated herself, & gradually free from
the fever she felt: then to the aching side it applying,
to that also remedy she brought. arthritis, Cures
also arthritis, as the wife of D. Ramon
Dardena experienced in some little niece of hers
from a brother or sister; to whom that evil
with so violent fever suffering, that the doctors
soon believed she would die, health she obtained;
making a vow to S. John the Baptist,
that the little one, if she were healed, barefoot
she would carry into his chapel, & thereafter to him
throughout her whole life more intensely would serve. Soon
indeed from the vow made, the infant began to sweat
& entirely recovered. scrofulas; To be cured also
by similar invocation of the Saint the evil of scrofulas,
is plain from the second Process before the Abbot
of S. Mary de Regali, named to that effect
Apostolic Commissary; in which
Peter de Cases the surgeon, sworn deposed,
that to cure he undertook of a certain gardener
of Perpignan's son, in whom incurable
& soon mortal future scrofulas the whole
neck had eaten through. Such danger
he considering the father warned: he then
vowing, his son to the Saint's
chapel brought, & with the holy arm to be signed
caused, with such success, that within a few days
cured the surgeon saw, with his own admiration
not small. About which & other
miracles (for also women in childbirth in danger
very many by miracle helped were said to be)
when at Perpignan to be queried heard Illustrious
Gilbert de Barbarano, said he was thinking,
that event would have the question, which
had had the Head of S. Vincent at Valencia, the incredulous severely is punished. where
namely it with himself to have mendaciously boasted
these words pronounced, when so to be tormented
in his left arm he began, that with the interrupted meal
into great cries he broke out, & with himself altogether
destroyed he believed; until of his fault
seriously acknowledged penitent, the Saint he invoked
& to be cured he deserved.
[330] So far Domeneccus, to whom after years
58 attested Illustrious Peter à Marca,
then Bishop of Toulouse, afterwards Archbishop of Paris, The truth of the said tested by Peter à Marca, in the Opusculum among the posthumous XIII,
to which he gave the title; Dissertation on the Case of the Relics
of S. John the Baptist, which are preserved
in the Dominican church of Perpignan; which
Dissertation, an eye-witness himself thus begins.
In the monastery of the Brothers Preachers in
the city of Perpignan, by the zeal & money of James
I King of Aragon about the year 1252 founded,
are notable Relics of S. John the Baptist;
namely part of the left arm, a little
below the elbow cut off, with the hand into five
fingers distinct, to which the nails intimately
adhere, with the skin a little corrupted, of fleshly
though withered color: the bones & nerves
& the very ducts of veins (which as a certain livor
retain) the circle covering; with extant
traces of bindings on the metacarpus.
Hence num. 2. summarily he touches the history,
more fully by Domeneccus deduced: & num. 3,
these letters he proposes.
[331] We Brother Antony, by the grace of God & of the Apostolic
See Archbishop of Athens,
& of the Most Reverend in Christ Father
& Lord James, he produces letters attesting the version of the Greek inscriptions, by divine permission Patriarch
of Constantinople, both in temporal
& in spiritual things Vicar General;
we make known through the present letters,
to the Prior & Brothers of the Convent of Perpignan
of the Order of Preachers of the Elne diocese,
& to all, of the writings, in Greek & Latin
language, of the writings wishing to understand
the truth: that Brother William
Albert, of the same Order, presented &
read, before us & the Reverend Father
Lord, Archbishop of Thebes; & also
& some discreet men, in Greek
& Latin language well skilled, a certain
letter, with the seal of the present Convent signed,
in which it was contained; that this Brother
William cause to interpret & translate
the above-noted Greek letters, into Latin
letter & language: whose tenor,
as to all of us was plain, is a certain song,
in Greek style, sufficiently profound & rhetorical,
to the praise of the Precursor of Christ
B. John the Baptist, to the devotion of his Relics
praying provoking, & to
devotion equally inducing. Wherefore
the above-said Father, Lord Archbishop
of Thebes, in Hebrew, Greek & Latin language
& letters sufficiently imbued, with devotion
of the aforesaid Saint affected, & at the above-said Fr.
William's humble supplication, the above-written
from Greek into Latin, word for
word translated, with great deliberation,
& with our & many others in either
language skilled approval, nothing
added, nothing removed. In whose testimony
our seal hanging to be appended
we have determined, & also through the hands of a public
Notary, all these things in Latin language faithfully
written to be construed & signed we have mandated,
as is plain to those wishing to inspect.
[332] Num. 4 is placed the Latin of the epigraphs &
verses interpretation. Then num. 5 adds à Marca: & with some observations illustrates them,
From the very letters' style & context
it is manifest that Antony was of the Latin
communion Archbishop, especially since
at that time Athens & neighboring regions
were held by the Catalans, whence to the Crown of Aragon
was added the title of Athens & Neopatras.
Moreover Antony that he might enjoy fuller jurisdiction,
joined his vicarial authority of James
Patriarch of Constantinople, namely
of him who by the Roman Pontiff was instituted,
not however of the Greek Patriarch, dwelling in
the city of Constantinople. To which place
notes Baluzius in his Preface num. 19, both
followed the Pontifical court of Avignon.
For as for Antony, he says; his surname
Balistarius was, & from a Religious of the Order
of S. Francis he was made Archbishop
of Athens in the year 1370, on VI Kalend. April,
as Wadding teaches. James however the Patriarch
of C.P. about the same time became,
& was called James of Irro, by nation French,
who afterwards Archbishop of Otranto
was made by Gregory XI in the year VI of his Pontificate;
& Clement VIII Cardinal created
in the year 1378 on the day XVIII of the month of December.
These by Baluzius in passing noted, à Marca passes
to the examination of the old version, & the epigraphs
Greek indeed he premises, as them from his own faith
corrected above I gave (for the Lyon printers of the Spanish
Martyrology, with the author absent, were not
to be trusted) then from the eighteen verses,
from which the entire inscription consists, & with a new interpretation of the verses
twelve surviving (six others together with the encrustation
of the case lost, which for that reason with these signs
“we have prenoted) in Greek he appends, another
omitting the second, which Lotius & from him Tamayus
bring forth made by Hersenius Bishop
of the Greeks at Nicosia in Cyprus in the year 1407;
whose seeking the occasion was sought from
Antony, Abbot of S. Mary de Regali
in the city of Perpignan, delegated by Benedict
XIII, which the Brothers Preachers had interposed,
against the prohibition, by Bartholomew
Bishop of Elne made to them, that publicly they should not
expose these Relics on the feast day of the Decollation
of B. John, with that pretext that
by the authority of the Roman See they had not yet been
approved.
[333] His Dissertation finally à Marca thus ends.
When in this city of Perpignan an illness certain
had detained me, insofar as they still survived in the year 1667, after the dissolution which with
the Spanish King's Delegates, from the mandate of our most glorious
King, on the limits of either
kingdom had had a conference; we judged
we should do nothing alien from our office,
if after the Archbishops of Athens
& Thebes, our also on the little verses'
sense vote we should add & the fleeing
Greek letters we should fix, in this our
lucubration, through intervals of fever elaborated,
inserted. Done at Perpignan in the year 1660
VI Nones of May: on which day from here we depart,
to Toulouse to our See to return.
The so great a man's so great diligence the dearer
to us is, that besides the Greek inscriptions, also
he wished to give to posterity the effigy of the Saint, & with the effigy of the little box appended, such as on
the ark's cover is seen, with the Epigraphs which the tablet's
narrowness could not contain omitted. Wherefore worthy
also I thought to set this here, with added that which
in the Menaea of the Greeks a little otherwise is proposed at
VII January, & XXIV February. Μετανοεῖτε
ἤγγικε
γὰρ
ἡ
βασιλεία
τῶν
οὐρανῶν, Penitence
do, to which another from the Menaea is added. for has approached the kingdom
of heaven: which yet are not of John but
of Christ preaching the words Matth. IV v.
17.
Notes* Proceed
* miracles
* marvelously
* unbelief
* speech privation
* to those adoring
* of the case
* incursions
* strength
* themselves & also
* as equal.
§. V. On the fingers of the right hand, preserved at Venice & Maurienne.
[334] Such a certain & faithful testimony, about
the integrity of the left Hand at Perpignan, Of some right hand are the fingers,
compels to believe, to the right Hand
either true or supposititious to pertain, if any elsewhere
are preserved fingers of S. John the Baptist; nor against them
stands, that it perhaps entire at Antioch was.
For as the Head, so also that Hand at Constantinople
could have been into various parts divided, since at Malta
it no longer is found whole. There is not therefore
reason why we should doubt that of some right hand a true
part it is which Ughelli Tom. 5 Ital. sacrae Col.
1261 says is held at Venice in the temple of S. Hermagoras,
which one of all the Relics, which are held at Venice; which
in this city are, in the public pomp of ceremonies
under an umbrella is carried around: thither moreover
brought it was from the church of S. Baptist, about which
in Dominic XV Bishop of Venice, about the year
992 constituted, affirms the same Ughelli
from Dandulus, that from the Province of Bragula
(or rather the city of the Province of Thrace,
Βεργούλη to Ptolemy, to Cedrenus Βεργούλιον, Bergula
to Antonine) the Relics of S. John the Baptist he brought,
& in the church, which his ancestors
to the same Divine had constructed, with devotion
he deposited.
[335] But what S. Gregory of Tours,
lib. miraculorum cap. 14, narrates about the Thumb, & the thumb which at Maurienne,
is by so much more verisimilar, by as much it has an author
graver & more ancient; thus moreover he narrates:
A certain woman, from Mauretania the city setting out,
of the Precursor's Relics sought
* & so bound herself with a bond of oath,
that not before from the place would she depart, unless
of his members she deserved to receive something.
But when impossible this the inhabitants of the place
said, she was prostrate every day before the tomb,
praying to herself (as we have said) of the holy
limbs something to be granted. In which intention
an entire she spent year; similarly
& another: with constant always prayer asking.
In the third indeed entering year, when
her prayer to come [not] she saw
to effect; she cast herself before the tomb &
attests, not herself thence about to rise, before
this petition was obtained from the Saint.
But on the seventh day, when already with hunger she was failing; by the woman, persevering for three years obtained,
appeared on the altar a thumb, of wondrous candor
& with the light splendor shining. Knowing
however the woman of God's gift, rose from
the pavement; & a golden casket made, in it
she deposited, what by God's bestowing she had deserved;
& thus rejoicing returned to her own: & fulfilled
was in her, what the Lord says in
the Gospel: Amen I say to you, that if he persevere
in knocking, although he rise not for the reason
that he is a friend; on account of his importunity
yet he will rise, & give him (loaves) as many
as he has need of.
[336] After this three Bishops, coming
from their cities, whence three Bishops wishing to receive something to adore at
this place, wished to draw a part from this pledge,
& with it placed in the midst nothing at all
they could carry away. Then one watching
night, they prayed, that something they might deserve
from the thumb: with a linen placed under it, while
of blood fell upon the linen. Seeing this,
two more nights they watch:
then prostrate before the holy altar, while
they supplicate, that still greater something they might deserve
from the thumb, two again from it flowed
drops. But they rejoicing, gathering devoutly
what the Lord had given, according to the number of his servants;
they divided the linen with
its drops, which not without great admiration
to their cities they brought. And because that place
of Maurienne to the Turin once
city belonged; in the time in which
Rufus was Bishop, said his Archdeacon
to him: It is not equitable that this pledge
in a viler place be held: but rise, &
it take, three drops of blood they obtained; & bear to the church of Turin.
To whom he answered, That this to do
he did not dare. The Archdeacon said: I will
bear this, if thou permit. And the Bishop: Do
what thou wilt. Then the Archdeacon approaching
the place, while he celebrates vigils, sends
his hand to the casket: soon made amens,
inflamed with fever, on the third day expired; & there became
great fear to all, nor anyone
further the blessed Pledges dared to move.
Peter Comestor, writer of the Evangelical History in the 12th century,
cap. 75 Thecla calls the aforesaid woman, but wishing to take it away, miserably perished.
The Mauriennans however on the following day
cultivate her under the name of S. Tygris or Tygria;
nor only the thumb to her received they refer, but
also two fingers, which they show namely the middle
& middle, says Du Cange, sending us her life
described, & them entire,
but dry, except some extremity of the middle:
but the thumb he says nearly reduced to ashes,
while repeatedly with liquid it is dipped, for the dispelling
of diseases by using.
[337] Whence she the sacred pledge sought, is silent
Turonensis, the Liège Passional, from which the Angeriacenses'
about their Head relation we have given,
among the very Baptist's miracles there subjoined, It not from Angeriacum received, as some,
& nearly from Gregory, as I said, taken, also
that whole passage describes; but immediately at the beginning
at the * sign interpolated, by adding, that the Relics
she sought, in a place called Ingriacum,
upon the river Vultunnum placed; not
considering that the Angeriacenses only of the Head
glory. We have from the old Maurienne Church's
Breviary & Missal described that
woman's Life, on the following day under the name of S. Tygria
to be given; where she is said, the same Relics
at Alexandria to have sought, but from Alexandria, says the Life of S. Tygria: whither from Jerusalem brought
from pilgrims, passing through Solonium, where she lived,
she had learned. S. Antoninus Part 2
of Histories tit. 13 Cap. 4 §. 2 on Heraclius
the Emperor, Of this, he says, Empire in the year
first the virtue & name of S. John the Baptist
by miracles is declared at the city of Gaul
Maurienne, of his Relics marvelously
illustrated: which if about their thither coming are understood,
much from the truth they err, since the Turonensis
speaking of them, as long ago brought, died
in the year 594, & this before the age of Gregory of Tours must have been done, in years 16 earlier than to rule
Heraclius began.
[338] Erred also, more lightly however, the Author
of the aforecited Life, when the matter done he said in the days
of the most excellent King Guntram. For he
in the year 561 after his father's death Burgundy first
obtained: the matter done however says Turonensis,
when Maurienne, long deprived of Bishops,
still belonged to the city of Turin,
to its Bishop Rufus subjected. King indeed
Guntram is said to have founded there a new Episcopate
under the Archbishop of Vienne; indeed & before the reign of S. Guntram, but true this
cannot be, if the new church its founder
he committed to be consecrated to S. Ysichius Archbishop
of Vienne, as in the same Life is read.
For in his Epitaph tom. 1 of the French
du Chene pag. 53, (which Epitaph for him his sister
Marcella placed) is read he died Seventh not yet
having completed the lustrum, that is in the year of age
35 not yet completed. But he, already Bishop,
was present at the Synod of Orleans in year 549 & at Paris
in the year 555, certainly soon dying, if the Maurienne church S. Ysichius of Vienne consecrated, lest
much smaller than 30 he would have been, when he was Bishop
ordained. Of whom this I would also say, it cannot
be, that he immediately succeeded Pantagathus, as
is written in the Chronicle of Ado Bishop of Vienne,
sufficiently unskillfully (as to me indeed seems)
interpolated through the succession of Vienne Bishops,
plainly irregular. There Pantagathus
is said under the Consulate of Paulinus Junior & Basil
to have ended life, such a Consulate in the whole Fasti
is not found, but the year 540 notes Justin
the Younger P. C. of Paulinus VI. Basil however the Younger
in the following year, alone & last of the Ordinary
Consuls was, & is written then P. C. of Basil
Junior I, II, III, IV &c. up to 25. Similarly
an error in Ysichius's successor Namatius, as if
he in the same year died, in which Justin junior, as he died a little after 555. that
is in the year 578; when in year 567 at the Synod
of Lyon, & 73 of Paris was present Philip
Bishop of the Vienne church. More
he who wishes about the origin of the Maurienne Church & its
Bishops to learn, let him consult what on the following day is to be said
at the Life of S. Tygria: I from here pass to certain
miracles of uncertain time, from the archive of the place with us
communicated.
[340] A certain man Tabvisius by name, of S. Julian
of Maurienne captive among the Turks, At the invocation of the Baptist a captive among the Turks is freed, &
bound with fetters; so long in prayer &
vow toward the church of S. John of Maurienne
he persisted, that in it falling asleep, in the morning
he saw himself translated to a place, whence to behold
he could that church: & giving thanks
to God, with bent knees into it he came,
spontaneously bells around having rung, & all the people
running. Having entered the church, broke off
his fetters; & are, with his sculpted effigy
with joined hands, around the greater altar, with
very many others, freed from prisons
by the help of B. John the Baptist. A certain servant
of the noble de Tybaud, fell from his horse,
falling from the bridge of Borgey into the Arc torrent:
& crying out, Holy John, is preserved dangerously fallen, unharmed
escaped, & came to the Maurienne church
to give thanks. And about those times was made
the resuscitation of a certain little child, & the mute's restitution.
Add in our times to have seen many, with the falling
sickness laboring, on the nativity of S. John
the Baptist, to the Maurienne church
coming, corrected, & to health afterwards
to have been in life restored. The vow of the inhabitants
of Abanardus in a great wax candle paid we have seen,
whose place from the impetus of waters was freed. & many other miracles happen.
And many in Portugal & Flanders, from fevers
& pain of childbirth were freed, at
the application of crowns, which the Relics
of S. John the Baptist of Maurienne to touch procured
Spanish Nobles passing; one of
whom a Doctor of Laws, returning to me these things
related. Thus probably he who for us the Archive
of Maurienne scrutinizing, these & other things gathered.
§ VI. On other Relics of the holy body in various places, & miracles wrought at them.
[340] Castellodunum commonly Châteaudun,
in the Dunensian Belsiac tract situated town, At Castellodunum the Wrist of the hand,
28 leagues distant from Rouen to the South,
from Paris to the West, above the Loir river, much
is praised for amenity; yet more it glories in the Wrist
of either hand of holy Baptist, which to a hand
of bronze gilt enclosed is preserved by the Regular Canons
there monastery, of S. Mary Magdalene
dedicated; as writes Du Cange in his Constantinopolis
lib. 4 cap. 5 pag. 104, from whose inscription,
on the very junction of hand & arm, by Anna Comnena with case & verses adorned:
we gather notable this reliquary case
was, once of the most learned & most noble
Anna Comnena Porphyrogenita, daughter
of Alexius the Emperor; whose Alexiad, embracing
her father's deeds in fifteen books, we have from
the Barberini Library at Paris published, & variously
illustrated, by the study of our P. Peter Possinus. The Inscription
aforesaid to Du Cange brought Claude
du Molinet, our too while he lived friend,
at S. Genevieve at Paris, in this tenor:
Greek text preserved verbatim in source.[341] An elegant play on the word Καρπὸς, which
the same both Fruit signifies & Wrist, but with difficulty is understood truly to be of the Baptist, that is
that part, by which the hand to the arm is connected;
not sufficiently attained the interpreter in Du Cange, compels
the premised verses somewhat otherwise Latin to make,
in this manner.
Bone, wrist, & golden hand, whence are they?
The wrist indeed from the desert, from Palestine,
A golden palm with golden fingers, something foreign.
A bone, the fruit is from the bush of the Precursor,
The golden hand gave & adorned art & love
of Anna the Queen, in the Purple born.
Where if φύτον, Plant thou render, bush, thou wilt be able
to understand; whose elsewhere hands of the Wrist do not lack but since the same word also signifies
the lowest part of the foot, danger of amphiboly thou incurrest.
Indeed since we already have the arm
left, twin right, to which the hands
each its own or part of it by mediating wrist adheres,
it is difficult to grasp, how that Wrist,
Anna's gift, truly was from the body of the Baptist:
but there would be no difficulty, if for a part of the hand it were permitted
to understand a part of the foot, which no
place that I know claims for itself: but to presume this forbids,
not of foot but of hand simulacrum, in which it is enclosed;
as also the name of Wrist, by no one so far
transferred to the foot.
[342] Add that it is not said to this Wrist skin
or any flesh adheres, & with their skin are covered: as to those hands
other & to the face adheres. And from this cause suspect
to me are both the right Arm, which
by Pius II given in the Hospital from Scala called
is shown at Siena, & two sufficiently notable of tibial
or brachial bones fragments (for neither
these can be discerned by anatomical skill, with absent
on both sides little heads or knobs, by which otherwise
they could be distinguished) which are preserved with us at Antwerp
in the church of the Professed House, enclosed, for which defect are suspect, the arm at Siena; together
with one of the front teeth, in a base of ebony, with cast
silver little statues most ornate; which we are wont on greater
feasts on the altar to expose, placed under a silver
statue, representing the Baptist half; & the bones at Antwerp,
which Joannes Baptista Adriaenssens's pious liberality
about the year 1660 had wrought.
The bones themselves whence they are, & when to us given,
teaches the following instrument.
[343] Since to the veneration of Saints
very much contributes, their Relics to be held in cult;
& therefore it is good, to be established whence
they are held, lest upon the faithful imposition be made: I
undersigned make faith, that I a whole bone
of S. John the Baptist (which deservedly we lament not
except in parts broken now to be held) likewise of S. Sebastian
Martyr, Received at Utrecht from the monastery of S. Agnes, & also of S. Willibrord
Bishop, & of S. Christopher a sufficiently large bone,
likewise from the Skull of S. Mary Magdalene, to R.
P. Charles Scribanius, Rector of the College of the Society
of Jesus at Antwerp, gave. These Relics
I received as a gift from D. Everard Botter;
which nearly all himself from the Lady Prioress of the monastery
of S. Agnes of the Order of S. Augustine of Utrecht,
where once in great veneration to be held,
& by Prelates religiously visited were wont to be,
had had. In whose faith with this by my own hand
I have subscribed, & in the faith of a Priest &
Religious have testified before God, these so
to be, at Antwerp 28 August 1611:
when namely only the Antwerp College
was, which afterwards to another part of the city translated,
in that very place was constituted the Professed House,
with the same Charles Scribanius caring. Was signed however
So it is. John Walter Viringus, Priest of the Society of Jesus.
[344] To the doubt above raised what pertains,
it can perhaps be said by the flames by the Pagans applied
injury made, but skin & flesh the fire consumed. that from those bones flesh
flowed off, reduced to ashes; themselves, because more solid,
more easily preserved, & by the diligence of the faithful
withdrawn, lest they utterly be consumed. The same
I would say of that bone, which Ughelli tom. 7 Italiae
sacrae col. 443, at Scala, an Episcopal in the Amalfitan
Duchy city, to be writes, without further specification:
it is preserved however together with many others
in the Cathedral dedicated to S. Lawrence, into which
it seems to be said brought from the church of S. Stephania,
who there as Patroness is venerated XVIII September,
as a Virgin Martyr. Would that about her something more certain
come forth, than what from the tradition of the Scalenses
wrote Ferrarius in the Catalog of Saints of Italy,
himself also doubting, whether she is to be distinguished from her
who to the Latins is called S. Corona.
[345] A more certain argument of its truth offered
the Arm, namely from the shoulder up to the elbow, These are present with skin,
such a part nowhere else is pretended to exist,
about which Caesarius, Heisterbach Monk,
in the Cologne diocese near Bonn across the Rhine,
in the year 1222 lib. 8 cap. 53. For it is,
as he himself says he saw, with skin & flesh clothed:
thus moreover he describes its translation to Groningen,
from some Hospital of the Saint himself, which
you could suspect was the Hierosolymitan of the whole Order
Hospitaller, now of Malta called the Head.
It is not long, he says, that a certain merchant
of our land, crossing the sea, when the arm
of S. John the Baptist in his hospital he had seen,
& desired; understanding the keeper of Relics
to be soliciting a certain woman; which from the Hospital of S. John the Belgian merchant & knowing
nothing to be, which women of this kind from
men cannot extort; calling her
he said: If thou shalt make me to have the Relics of S. John
the Baptist, which are in the custody of thy lover,
to thee I will deliver. She thirsting for the offered money,
to the hospitaller her consent to give refused,
until the sacred arm she obtained: which immediately
to the merchant she delivered, & the aforesaid weight of silver
received … which he not in the earth burying,
as Herodias the head, to Groningen brought, but in purple wrapping,
to the ends of the earth nearly fled, &
to the city Gruningen, which is situated at the entrance
of Frisia, came; a house in it he obtained;
& in a certain column of it the arm
hiding, greatly to grow rich he began.
[346] On a certain day sitting in a tavern,
when to him a certain one said; & when his house from fire it had preserved, Behold the city is burning,
& already the fire approaches
thy house; he answered: For my house I do not
fear: a good there I left guardian. He rose
however, & the house entered: in which while
he considered the column unmoved, to the tavern
he returned. With all wondering, what was
the cause of so great security; asked about
the guardian of his house, when by circumlocutions he had answered,
& this very thing his fellow-citizens to note understood;
fearing lest perchance to him violence they should bring,
drawing forth the Arm, to a certain Reclusa
he committed to keep. Who the secret to conceal
not knowing, to someone the deposit revealed,
& he to the citizens. the citizens enclosed in silver, Who immediately the Relics taking,
& to the church bringing, to the depositor,
with tears his own asking back, more harshly
answered. Whom when they had asked of which
Saint were the Relics, the name he did not know
he said, not wishing to them them to reveal: from grief
however the city deserting, & poverty incurring,
not much later was infirmed most gravely.
Who when to die he feared, of whom were
the Relics, & how he had obtained them,
to his Confessor he revealed. Which when discovered
was to the citizens, a silver case, &
gilt, & with precious gems adorned,
in the likeness of an arm they made, in it the Relics
placing. I before two years the same
Arm saw, & it is with skin & flesh clothed…
[347] But the aforesaid citizens, for the Relics of S.
John fearing, whence also blood at some time dripped. behind the altar made a little house
of boards sufficiently firm, on whose
top by night a Priest to come they caused:
under which on the first night so the house was shaken,
that not a little to him horror it struck.
But on the second night sleeping
it shook off into the pavement him casting.
And when one of the Potentates of the city
was infirmed; & Theodoricus, of that church
Priest, by him asked, the Arm into his house
brought & uncovered; both the Arm,
& the purple in which it had been wrapped,
he found with recent blood stained. These things
to me with his own mouth related the same Priest, from the same
Arm a little flesh cutting off: & when
it in his hand secretly he was carrying, so much
did he feel heat from it, as if a fired coal
he was bearing. Many indeed signs & healings,
through these Relics, in that
city are done, by the merits of S. John the Baptist.
[348] A similar thing already long before, lib. 1 Miraculorum
cap. 15, 16 & 19 had written S. Gregory
of Tours, about others at his city
honored, in this tenor: At the Turonican city,
while in the oratory of the porch of B. Martin
the Forerunner's Relics we were placing; At Tours other miracles done. a certain
blind man, with help leading, light received.
But an energumen, calling on the virtue
of B. John & of Martin the Prelate, was purged with the demon
expelled. In this oratory one
of the girls, whose office was the lamp's fomenta
to compose, coming with a candle, that this
she might do entered; & with the lamp composed &
kindled, drawing to herself the rope she raised
on high, with several entwined nooses to the wall's
nail, & departed. Who while she returns,
the candle, which in her hand she bore, is extinguished;
& returned quickly to the cicendelis, the candle
she did not touch to illuminate, nor the loop
of the rope to release. While doubtful from this cause
she hung, suddenly fallen from the cicendelis a flame,
the candle in her hands illuminated: & thus,
with the office of light going before, whither she wished, she went.
They say moreover in this oratory from the lamp oil
to bubble out. In the territory of this city at
the village Alengaviensis (perhaps that which the fourth
about league from the city, between the Caro & Indrum
rivers, S. Jean de la Grez commonly is named)
flour on Sunday formed bread,
which with separated coals to the burning ash covered
to bake. Which when she had done,
immediately her right hand, by divine fire
kindled, began to burn: & she, vociferating
& lamenting, the basilica of this village, in which
& with prayer poured forth she vowed, on this day to the divine name
consecrated, no further work to perform,
except only to prayers to vacate. On the night
following she made a candle in the height
of her stature. Then in prayer through the night, holding
through the whole night the candle in her own hand, with the burnings
extinguished unharmed she went forth.
[349] I saw before this time a man, by name
John, who from Gaul leprous had gone, lepers cleansed,
& in that place, in which we have said the Lord
was baptized, he said himself for an entire year
to have stayed; who assiduously was washed
in the river, & restored to former health, with the skin
reformed for the better, was healed. He Relics
of B. Mary & B. John taking from Jerusalem,
was returning to his country: but first
to Rome to go he disposed. But when into other Italian
solitudes he entered, he fell among robbers.
Nor delay he is stripped of garments, The Relics untouched by fire. & even
the case, in which he was carrying the blessed pledges,
is taken. Esteeming moreover the robbers
them, gold there gathered sestertia,
with the lock broken all things they examine intently. But
when in it nothing of money they had found, drawing forth
the pledges into the fire they cast, & the man slain
they depart. But he half-alive rising,
that even the ashes of the extinguished pledges he might gather,
found upon the burning coals unharmed
the Relics; & the very linen, in which they were wrapped,
so he marvels whole, that
it would not be thought into coals cast, but in waters
hidden: & he gathered all with joy:
& the way by which he was going entering, up
to Gaul he came unharmed: many also
we saw, who either in the Jordan, or in the waters
of the city of Levida bathed, from the disease of leprosy were
cleansed.
CHAPTER VI.
On the Ashes of the Forerunner brought to Genoa, & the frequent
miracles of the same, from the Italian of Augustinus Calcagninus, with interpreter
Franciscus Verovius S. J.
A. CALCAGNINO
Prologue[350] These things placed which above were said about the Relics
of the Forerunner, at Alexandria once preserved;
now it is helpful of the sacred Ashes, to Genoa
once brought, & there with frequent miracles
shining, the history to subjoin, from Augustinus
Calcagninus, Penitentiary Canon of Genoa.
He in the year 1648 in Italian language published the History
of the Glorious Precursor of O. L. S. John
the Baptist, Protector of the Genoese city
embraced in two books, of which in the first the Saint's
life, death, & the various fortune of his most sacred
Relics; in the second, of the same to Genoa
translated the narration, miracles & cult,
preserving the order of time embraces. From
this whatever Calcagninus more fully has pursued,
more compendiously here we shall subjoin, distinguished by their
paragraphs.
§ I. The Genoese expedition into the Holy-Land, & translation of the sacred Ashes found at Myra to Genoa.
[351] Groaned under the hard yoke of the Saracens
Palestine, The sacred war begun in the year 1096 irrigated by the precious Blood
of our Savior, with great reproach to the Christian
Religion; when with sacred zeal
inflamed Urban II, in the year of salvation 1096
in the Council of Clermont, for its
liberation declared a sacred war: & with given
letters in every direction, by the granting
of various graces & indulgences, the peoples
& Christian Princes he was encouraging, that
to so holy a work with all their strengths they should apply.
So much by his exhortations & sacred
stimuli effected the pious Pontiff, that by way of land
various & numerous armies under various
Princes' regimen, thither betook themselves: who
overcoming innumerable difficulties & infinite
dangers, in Palestine joined, to the sacred
expedition turned their mind. But because
it was necessary so numerous a soldiery in a land
hostile & far distant for longer to remain,
of the prosperous outcome of the war it was despaired, unless to the expedition
land a warlike fleet should succor.
To this necessity that the zealous Pontiff might provide,
those Christian peoples to this he had invited,
who in maritime matters were more powerful.
The first were the Genoese, who incited
by the exhortations of the Apostolic Legate, to that end
by the Pontiff sent, an enormous prepared of ships
fleet, with soldiers & all apparatus
of arms well equipped: which when to the maritime
shore of Syria they had landed, it was understood,
that the Christian army in besieging the city
of Antioch, which by the infidels with great
spirits was defended, was detained. Thither
themselves betook the Genoese, Antioch by the Christians is besieged in the year 1098, in the year 1098
beginning, & the port at the mouths of the Orontes river
12 P. M. from the city distant entering, the besiegers
of their coming more certain rendered,
& with great joy & new spirits filled:
for already with the greatest scarcity of provisions they were laboring.
For this it was provided by the Genoese,
copious provisions, new soldiery, & artisans
in composing wall machines
most outstanding furnishing; & at the same time
with this protection that maritime shore & the very
Christian camp from hostile infestation
they protected.
[352] At length after a long & difficult siege,
that noble city to the Christians' dominion
was delivered, on the XIII day of June of the year 1098, & is captured 13 July or the last of May:
or (as others report) the last day of the month of May.
Intercepted therefore Antioch, the victorious Christians
intended this one thing, that themselves & the city
they might fortify against a most numerous
army of the Persians, which under the regimen of Duke
Curbagath, although later, to succor
the city was hastening, nor now far
to be was announced. And at length on the day
third after the surrender made (as relates William
of Tyre de bel. sac. lib. 6 cap. 3) the infidels
to the city's walls their army moved,
& spread around through all
widely the plain, when these for the multitude was not
sufficient, the hills themselves also they occupied.
[253] This matter terror to all, to some
despair injected. but after three days it again by the Persians being besieged, many flee thence, Many not only of the
common soldiers by rope from the walls slipped down,
deserted the city; even not a few
of the Princes by shameful flight turned their backs. These
that the flight's infamy with a specious pretext they might cover,
when to the fleet they had come, despaired
all the Christian matter they related;
that an innumerable multitude of infidels had come,
again into their power Antioch
had fallen back, the Christian Princes destroyed, among whom the Genoese ships
& nearly the whole Christian army;
by a peculiar benefit of God themselves the hands
of the Barbarians had escaped; that the enemies were about to be present at any moment,
about to rush into the ships; wherefore they exhorted,
that, if they wished for themselves consulted, as quickly as
they could, with anchors raised, sails should be given. By this
false rumor struck the Genoese, the dispersed through
the shore soldiery, which to Myra come. & other war impediments on the ships
placed; & leaving the port, with sails unfurled
toward the West they sailed. And when
not for much time they had sailed, at
the city of Myra they arrived, with divinely
disposing providence so, which them with sacred &
glorious treasure to enrich had decreed.
[354] On the maritime shore of Lycia, which is a Province
of Asia minor, This both by S. Nicholas is noble, between Rhodes & Cyprus
islands, on the mainland are situated
Myra & Patara, once celebrated & populous,
now nearly deserted & desolate cities.
Myra, now Stamira & Stamilla by corrupted
word by sailors called, once
that province's Metropolis, three P.
M. is distant from the shore. Patara on the shore of the sea
of Lycia founded a port has notable. They are distant
between themselves six P. M. & with equal nobility
by S. Nicholas the Great are decorated, this by his
Birth, that by his Episcopate; as also of another
Nicholas this man's predecessor & uncle. This
great holiness Bishop among other works of piety,
outside the walls of the city of Myra
might serve. To this sacred place, which Holy
Sion he wished to be named, his nephew Nicholas
already in Priesthood initiated he placed in charge. Here
that holy old man after his death was buried,
next to the greater altar, which afterwards to S. John
the Baptist was dedicated; not far from its walls had a monastery of holy Sion: where also rests S. Theodore,
of this man about whom we treat, the immediate
predecessor. After his death to the Episcopal care
was elected a certain John, with life's
sanctity illustrious, & after him S. Nicholas,
the Great called. He lived 65 years, & divinely
of imminent death warned, from the city
of Myra to the aforesaid Monastery of Sion
he withdrew, & there his soul to the Creator he rendered;
& placed was his sacred Body
in the same temple next to the greater altar.
[355] Was this Monastery, called Holy Sion,
set on a hill, three P. M. from
the city of Myra Eastward, on the way which
at those times was called Andronica or, as
others wish, [in this the Ashes of S. John Bap. from Alexandria once brought, uncertain when & how,] Adriaces or Adriatica. Of this
as also of the altar to S. John the Baptist consecrated,
mention make John the Deacon, John
the Archdeacon, Peter in the Catalogue, James
of Voragine, Antonius Beatillus, & Ludovicus de
S. Caecilia. It pleased divine Providence
to this sacred place from the city
of Alexandria to be transferred the holy Forerunner's Relics;
by what manner, at what time, on what occasion
is uncertain. To suspect anyone could that since
already gradually the Christian Religion in the East
failing, itself to the more western parts withdrew,
so God, the Best, the Greatest had disposed,
that the same fortune should befall the holy Relics
of the Saints, of whom those peoples themselves rendered
unworthy: that lest of due cult & veneration
the sacred those pledges altogether they should be destitute.
[356] It is established certainly there to have been at that time,
in which lived John the Deacon of S. Januarius, (flourished
he about the year 873 under the Pontificate
of John VIII, certainly there they were preserved in the ninth century, to whom he the Life of S. Gregory
Pope dedicated) since that Writer
in the Life of S. Nicholas, where he describes the place of burial
of that holy Bishop, among various Relics,
which before he venerated, also of S.
Forerunner mention makes in these words:
But of the glorious & most invincible Martyrs
in the same house of Holy Sion the Relics are deposited,
whose names are these: of S.
John Forerunner & Baptist, & of S. Stephen
Protomartyr & Protodeacon, & also
& of the illustrious Martyr of Christ Theodore. Of the blessed
also Martyrs Sergius & Bacchus, whom
Duke Antiochus killed for Christ's name. And
there are had Relics. Of the holy also forty
Martyrs, who under Licinius suffered
in Armenia, where John the Deacon them in person venerated. in the city of Sebastia, there are placed
the pledges. With all of which the same hall
adorns Nicholas the Sacred & Gentle, by merits Great.
But that the writer those sacred
Lipsana in person had venerated, is plain from these things
which he says: A miserable me I profess, & twice from
the same water a cup to have taken, while at the very
tomb, the Holy of the Lord for my sins I interpellated
Nicholas.
[357] From this sacred place the Barenses, in the year
of salvation 1087 from the city of Antioch returning,
the Body of S. Nicholas the Great took;
as also the Venetians a little later of the other S. Nicholas, [Here landed the Genoese, in place of the Body of S. Nicholas the Great taken away by the Barenses,]
of the prior uncle. Ignorant of all these the Genoese
here also landed: & when great
was their toward divine Nicholas religion,
whose body they thought still in that place to be preserved;
came to them the thought & desire
that sacred pledge to Genoa to transfer.
Their ships fixed there with anchors, to
land descended very many, who Patara
& Myra desolated & of inhabitants nearly
destitute found: & since many of the sailors
of those places were skilled, with these as leaders
they betook themselves to the church of S. Nicholas. Here
by the Monks there dwelling kindly they were
received, & as soon as possible, lest time they should lose,
with delay set aside they began to dig under the altar
major, that the hoped-for treasure they might find,
& with great joy a sufficiently capacious
urn they uncovered. But when empty it
& void they had found, the begun work they pursued:
which observing the Monks,
solicitously them they admonished, lest time they should waste
in seeking the Body of S. Nicholas,
which long ago elsewhere had been translated. But to their
words the Genoese had no faith,
either by divine instinct admonished, or that anxiety
& solicitude excessive the Monks rendered
suspect.
[358] But when more deeply the earth they dug out,
another marble vessel was uncovered, which extracted
& opened, The Ashes of S. John Bap. through all the ships distributed they carry away. with supreme joy the desired
(as they thought) Relics they behold. Joyful therefore
the sacred treasure they took, & with contention
made carried to the shore, that on the ships they might place.
There followed sad & weeping
the Monks, calling on & supplicating, lest the sacred
that pledge they should snatch from them, asserting
the sacred Body of D. Nicholas already by others to have
been taken. And when they saw all these things
nothing they accomplished, & the Genoese their journey
to the ships pursued; led by the stings of conscience,
them they admonished, not of divine Nicholas,
but of the Forerunner of the Lord were those Relics,
which through the long course of very many years under
the greater altar, to that Saint dedicated, had
been preserved. These did not move the Genoese:
but the more grew their joy,
because to them it seemed to have grown in their hands
that sacred treasure. But when to the fleet
they came, those sacred Relics through all
the ships they divided, either because all this honor
sought, or lest to one ship's fortune the whole
that treasure should be committed. Leaving therefore on
the shore the Monks, who with weeping eyes the fleet followed,
to the West sails they gave.
[359] A favorable from the stern first was blowing
wind: A great tempest is calmed by a vow made of gathering the sacred Ashes but soon this changed a horrible sea
tempest arose, which the more solicitous
rendered, because beyond all the sailors' expectation
it happened. There was one, who this to divine
vengeance ascribed, which the injury to the Monks
inflicted by this calamity vindicated. But a pious
certain Priest, who in the flagship was carried,
by divine (as was believed) inspiration admonished,
secure to be ordered, & most promptly
to obey the will of S. Forerunner, which the dispersed
ashes into one to be gathered commanded.
This heard, he who over the fleet presided with the rest,
who with him were carried, this to do himself vowed,
& suddenly tranquility to the sea, & serenity
to the sky returned. Soon the Architalassus all of the other
ships' Leaders, of the counsel, to himself by the Priest
at the time of the tempest given, together & of the vow
in the name of all by himself made, more certain made.
All recognized the heavenly prodigy: as much
as the prior tempest all expectation,
so much the sudden tranquility of the sea
all hope had surpassed. Gathered into one
the sacred Lipsana on the flagship were placed.
Thence began the sea those sacred Ashes to revere,
& to obey the command of S. Forerunner, as
in the following centuries was clear.
[360] Pursued their journey the Genoese Italy
toward, with favorable wind to Genoa they came.
The common joy from the happy return of ships & citizens
at the prosperous news of the acquired Treasure,
which soon the whole city had pervaded,
was doubled. The city deserted all the shore
had occupied, eagerly awaiting the time,
at which the sacred this pledge from the ships would be brought out.
There was vacant at that time the Episcopal See
by the death of Ogerius; (Cyriacus some say,
but falsely) & when not yet of his successor
election had been made, the Canons of the Cathedral
church the burden bore Pastoral. By these was decreed,
the sacred Relics with great pomp
in the port to receive.
[361] Old has the tradition of the Genoese,
that these first were deposited in the most ancient
church, which once of the Holy Sepulcher, now of S. John
de Pratis is called, & is a noble
Commenda of the Hierosolymitan Order. Of this
place the inhabitants this glory claim to themselves; &
in the lower church (which to the norm of S.
Sepulcher of Jerusalem was built)
is shown still the place, with the greatest pomp the sacred Relics by the Genoese received with very many about
evening kindled lamps, & with much religion
sacred, that there first the sacred Ashes
are said to have been placed. It is credible certainly
them in this church, founded on the shore
within the port, which at that time was open
& outside the city, for at least one
night to have been deposited, that on the next day with
greater apparatus & pomp they would be led to
the Greater church, which at that time had been
renovated, & with proud & elegant frontispiece,
which still is seen, recently adorned.
With the greatest of all the city's gathering to
the Cathedral church were led the sacred
Relics, & on the highest altar placed, that
to the piety & curiosity both of the citizens, & of foreigners
from everywhere running, satisfaction might be made.
[362] Report some, among whom Nicholas
was the Sunday within the Octave of the Ascension
of the Lord; not the Sunday within the Octave of the Ascension of the Lord, which to confirm seems the usage
of the Genoese Church, which on this day the Office
of the Translation of the sacred Ashes celebrates. But
that does not lack difficulty: for if it is true
the Genoese them acquired at Myra or at Patara
(because, since the Church of S. Nicholas is in the middle
between both, now one now the other is named)
in the sudden return from the city of Antioch,
as is certain from the best Writers,
& is plain both from the Bulls of the supreme Pontiffs
Alexander III & Innocent IV, who
at those times were sufficiently close, & from the Lections
of the Office of the Translation by the Apostolic See
approved. When, I say, the Genoese
were present at the surrender of that city, which
happened on the XIII day of June or the last day of May
(as writes Paulus Aemilius de Rebus Franciae,
who adds that the fleet on returning betook itself to Constantinople, when the Revelation not the Translation is celebrated.
with long & difficult navigation)
scarcely could the Genoese sooner the Syrian
shores have left, than three days after the surrender
days, when the Saracen army arrived.
Then a few days had to be spent
that to Myra they should withdraw, but more that into
their country they should return: so that it cannot be believed
they before the month of July to Genoa came.
How then could the feast of the Lord's Ascension
fall at the end of the month of June, or in
the very month of July? Contradiction certainly
supreme it is, nor know I how, who this
opinion to maintain would wish, himself could extricate.
[363] To me indeed this opinion has occurred to mind,
that this solemnity from ancient times
to this day at will was fixed, as
elsewhere with similar solemnities even today
done we have seen. Of this opinion sufficient
seems to be able to be gathered an argument from the Bull
of Innocent IV, by which that sacred treasure
to the Christian world he made public, in these words: Since
therefore our Venerable Brother the Archbishop,
& dear sons the Chapter of Genoa, as from them reporting
we have understood, on the next Sunday day,
following after the Ascension of the Lord, the Relics
themselves by Apostolic authority have determined with much
solemnity & reverence to be revealed. Where the word Revelare
to signify seems, To the eyes of all &
to adoration to expose. This solemnity moreover
for a long time the Revelation of the Ashes of S. John
the Baptist was called, until afterwards with the falling
years the Translation began to be called, because in
it the anniversary of this would be celebrated, not
because on such a day this once had been performed. That
therefore the thread of history we may resume, with substituted
in the place of the deceased Bishop Airaldus & with the Consuls
of the city it seemed, that the sacred Relics
from the high altar should be transferred to a peculiar Chapel,
which adhering to the right side of the church,
was called the Baptistery, but now the Chapel
of S. John the Elder, that thus more conveniently the faithful
to the Saint their vows might pay.
[364] In the year of salvation 1102 again the Genoese,
for promoting the acquisition of the Holy Land,
thither sent a numerous fleet of forty
triremes, accompanied by other ships, In the year 1102 to acquire the Holy Land the Genoese set out
under the regimen of Peter de Castello (as says Nicholas
whence after various expeditions returning seized the desire
of in person seeing the place, whence
those sacred Ashes had been brought. To Myra
therefore landed at the Church of S. Nicholas, came
the Prefect, & from the fleet the chief. thence returning to Myra they go, These
at first fled the Monks, infidels & enemies
thinking: but when Christians & Genoese
they were they understood, they stood firm indeed; but
the old wound of grief was renewed, what
to them not so long ago from them had happened revolving,
& scarcely from tears was contained.
And when the Prefect of the fleet had begged the Monks
that sincerely they should tell, [& by the Monks about the certainty of the Ashes of S. John the Baptist are instructed.] whether truly of S. John
the Baptist were the Relics, which by their fellow-citizens
hence had been taken, sighing they responded,
that most certain were those Saint's Relics:
whence by all Sacred things they begged, as soon
as possible they would restore them; if the fleets had brought them, or
at least returned to their Country, restitution would care for.
But when to the deaf to sing themselves they experienced, they narrated,
that they knew from ancient long time
tradition these to be the most sacred Forerunner
Ashes, in the sacrilegious of his body
burning in the time of Julian gathered, to S. Athanasius
at Alexandria delivered, afterwards hither
transported, & with great honor through so great
to the place where they had been taken away their guests, recent
still ruins they showed: then approaching
to the dreaded of S. John the Baptist
altar, with hands placed on it, & with the sacred
stone kissed, by oath they affirmed,
that true were whatever they said. With great joy
of spirit the words of the Monks received the Genoese,
& thanks rendered & other urbanity
offices, to the fleet they returned. These when
into their country returning to the Consuls & Clergy they had reported,
increased greatly from that certainty
toward the sacred Ashes the religion of the Genoese
& veneration.
§ II. Approbation of the sacred Ashes, cult & miracles, in the 12th & 13th century.
[365] Heavenly prodigies soon in every direction
spread the fame of that sacred gift, In the year 1106 some Catalans try to take away the sacred Ashes, by which
the Most High the most faithful to himself city of Genoa
had enriched. In the year 1106 among several,
who to venerate the sacred Ashes had come,
were certain Catalans, who, with foolish toward
the Saint piety led, the sacred his Relics
thence with them to take away decreed. To this the Chapel-keeper,
to whose custody they were committed,
they suborned, with agreed five hundred gold pieces'
price for the reward of sacrilege, that the door of the Baptistery,
which is under the bridge, which the cloister
of the Canons to the church joins, open
he would leave, by which through the dark of night to enter,
& the sacred pledges to take with them to the ships
they could. of whom one heavenly is punished who confesses the matter to the Canons: They were present on the appointed night the sacrilegious:
but the first of them, as the door to enter
he touched, in the same moment all
speech & sense lost, & like a dead man
to the earth fell. Suddenly by this evil
terrified the rest, this miserable lifeless
esteeming, with horror unusual struck, & by some force
hidden stimulated, in tumultuous flight themselves to
feet gave; by whose noise stirred from
sleep the Canons, who in that part lived,
ran, & the miserable this Catalan on the ground
they found prostrate. And when ignorant of things
they stood astonished, returned the miserable man to himself, & restored
to him was speech with senses, on his knees
himself before the feet of the Canons he cast, the theft
attempted he revealed, & with poured forth tears
from the Saint & those standing by of his rash daring
pardon he asked.
[366] Recognized the Canons, how great by their negligence
they had incurred danger of losing
power of divine Forerunner: but solicitous lest
anything that night by foreigners be attempted, the citizens
in the vicinity they roused, that that night watches
they should keep. Then the Canons the Chapel entering,
removed thence the Relics secretly to the very
church they brought, & there under the earth beneath
the steps, by which from the church to the Episcopal
palace is ascended, they hid. In this
place they remained until the year 1118 in which
to Genoa came Gelasius II the Pontiff, at which time
was completed the renovation & enlargement
of the church of S. Lawrence the Martyr. This the aforesaid
Pontiff himself to the Glorious Christ's Athlete
Lawrence, whence drawn out in the year 1118, & to the holy of this city
Bishop Syrus to dedicate wished. This solemnity
was performed with intervening Bishops
Otto of Genoa, Aldo of Piacenza, Landolfus
of Asti, & Azo of Acqui, & with very many
other Prelates, on X October of the year 1118.
This Dedication's apparatus describes
Paulus Intereanus in the Compendium of the History
of Genoa. & by Gelasius II approved into a worthier place they are translated. Then from the hiding places was drawn out
the Ark of S. John the Baptist, & the Pontiff himself
the most sacred Relics took out, & approved,
into a worthier place of the same Basilica with solemn
pomp transferred, & to the adoration of all
exposed; with added precious gifts & with very many
indulgences, whence with the falling thereafter
years, with the increasing of the Genoese city's people's piety
& concourse, very many heavenly favors by B.
Forerunner's intercession to the Genoese city befell,
of which here some in the order of time
it helps to relate.
[367] In the year 1158, as relates the above praised
Nicholas a Porta, through nearly an entire
year's space, in very many provinces, In the year 1158 by the Saint's intercession, in drought rain is obtained, supreme
was the earth's dryness; so that in the whole Genoese
territory, not a single even of water drop
from the first day of May to the end of March of the following
year from heaven fell. To this common
calamity, by which both all hope of fruits was removed,
& great to human bodies arose
infirmity, were added in the Genoese city
frequent & terrible earthquakes,
whence very many houses collapsed. In this
misery & horror of the citizens, a certain man
honest, by supernal revelation taught, the others
admonished, to the intercession of the glorious Forerunner
to flee. By this admonition incited
the citizens, with supplication instituted, the sacred Ashes
through the city they carried around: & behold as soon
as the sacred Ark to the free air was exposed,
very soon the sky began to be covered with clouds,
& after one hour's space, before the sacred
Relics into the temple were brought back, the cataracts
of heaven were opened, & by heavenly favor
most abundant fell rain, which both the hope of harvest
restored, & the afflicted citizens' spirits
raised up.
[368] In the year 1169 burned supreme among
the chief families of the city discords, & most of all
between the Castellani & Avocati; the dissensions of noble families are composed in the year 1169 & already
to blows it had come: for then was vigorous
at that time that detestable custom,
of such contests in the field by armed
hand to settle. Then truly Hugh the Archbishop,
as a provident Pastor it befits, together
with the Consuls this evil to meet wishing,
the burning with mutual hate citizens to the council in
his Palace called; & ordered meanwhile
the Clergy with solemn pomp into the middle of the council
to bring the sacred Forerunner's Relics, that his words,
which he was about to deliver to the angry citizens'
minds, greater weight should receive from him, who
was the voice of the Lord. Nor the event hope failed:
for after having delivered a most efficacious about
peace to be entered oration, with raging meanwhile
& to mutual death intent on this hand &
on that side the parties, when the pious Prelate the heads of the disagreeing
families before the sacred Ashes to mutual
embraces invited, soon placated &
to tears moved Orlando the Avocato,
& Fulco the Castellano, princes of the discords,
with hatred deposed into mutual embraces flew;
& with the kiss of peace given, the rest into his example
drew. Thus was composed that pernicious
dissension, which before neither by friends'
counsels, nor by the Magistrates' authority extinguished
could be.
[569] After this fire of minds, another
by this Saint's intercession was extinguished, In the year 1176 a fire extinguished which
in the year 1176 that street of the city had invaded,
which is named from S. Victor. For when
no applied citizens' diligence, the flames'
fury could be overcome; at the presence of his
Relics the holy Protector that city's
region, which with most frequent houses
was packed, preserved from the fires, from
which not even his own body at Sebaste
to liberate had wished; & earthquake was calmed. by this singular benefit
demonstrating himself, (if it is right to say) more to love
his devoted Genoa, than himself.
In the same year the city was freed from most perilous
earthquakes, with the Relics carried around through the city.
[370] Incited by the fame of such a precious treasure
& by piety toward the Saint, In the year 1178 Frederick I venerating the sacred Ashes, them Emperor Frederick
I in the month of January of the year 1178 to Genoa
came, with Beatrice his wife &
Henry his son: & when those great Princes
the most sacred Ashes to see desired, from
the prior place to the highest altar they were translated.
The Relics adored with supreme piety & admiration,
with enormous gifts of Imperial
munificence he adorned. in a silver ark ordered to be enclosed. Besides
Frederick at his own expense a new of silver
Ark to be made ordered, that thus more decently they would be preserved;
for previously enclosed in an Ark of white marble
they were kept, which today still
behind & under the altar of the same Saint is seen.
[371] In the year 1179 Alexander III the same approves, In the following year 1179 at Rome
was celebrated by Alexander III the General
Council III. Thither went Hugh the Archbishop,
Obertus the Provost, & Ogerius
Galetta the Scholasticus (commonly Magiscola) of the same
Cathedral church, accompanied by the city's
Legates, & with the greatest number of Nobles.
These benignly by the supreme Pontiff received,
among other things this from him sought as a grace, that
by Apostolic authority he approve & publish
the annual solemnity of the Translation
of the Relics of S. John the Baptist. The Pontiff
who in the year 1161 these at Genoa in person had venerated,
assented to their request, & some Prelates
he deputed, who into their truth
& Translation should inquire. These
inquiry made, the whole matter brought to
the Pontiff: who soon a Bull issued,
in which after reporting the very many of the Genoese people's
toward himself & the Apostolic See merits, he asserts
the Relics of the Forerunner of the Lord, by the Genoese
on the return from the Antiochene expedition,
near Patara to have been found, & the feast of the Revelation he institutes. & to their country
brought: & therefore all the Bishops, Archbishops,
& other Prelates of Tuscany, Lombardy
& Provence he exhorted, that to their peoples
this sacred treasure they should make public; & when
to the public veneration they were exposed, them
they should invite, that to that day's solemnity to Genoa
themselves they should betake: which that with greater
fervor would happen, many to this day & whole Octave
he annexed indulgences. Returned to
their country the Prelates, with supreme pomp running
from everywhere of the surrounding provinces
peoples, this Solemnity they celebrated,
which at that time the Revelation of the Ashes
of S. John the Baptist was called.
[372] Was at those times the city of Genoa by very many
infested fires, In the year 1181 with the sacred gifts brought, a perilous fire is extinguished. since (as
the use of that century bore) with houses closely
built, & for the greatest part by chance
of wood it was composed; whence the supreme often
to the city was created danger: as also happened
in the year 1181, in which a great arose
fire in that region of the city,
where the Consuls were wont to dwell, next to the temple
of S. Mary de Castello. It was feared lest
for from the South blowing Auster, the gathered
flames' force to further parts was driving. By this
danger terrified the Genoese, to the customary
protection of the Forerunner they fled. Nor in
vain: for after to that part of the city
were brought the sacred Ashes, ceased the flames'
fury, which to the whole city ruin threatened.
[343] By these prodigies encouraged various peoples,
to the sacred Ashes due cult vyingly brought. [In the year 1200 various peoples to offering gifts to the Saint, themselves bind.]
Whence among the conventions which with
the Republic various Lands & Valleys made
in the year 1202, they bound themselves to offer
every year on that Saint's feast day,
& fidelity their testimony: which
is established from the Register of Priv. & Conv. &
Comm. of Genoa.
[374] In the year 1204, when the King of Aragon
Peter II, [In the year 1204 with a fire extinguished by the Saint's Relics, the King of Aragon Peter II offers a horse.] (whom Nicholas a Porta by
error names King of Armenia) to Genoa
had come, lodging he had in the street, which Cannetum
is called. Here in the very in which he was sleeping
house, an enormous fire was kindled, nor
with any applied work could it be extinguished; but
continuously was creeping further, & already neighboring houses
had occupied: but with the sacred Relics brought there,
soon the flame was extinguished. Recognized
the King the heavenly benefit, & therefore on the following day
to the Saint to be offered ordered one of his most outstanding horses,
with phalerae & saddlecloths of silver
most preciously adorned.
[375] In the year 1207 returning from a maritime
journey seven larger ships, In the year 1207 a perilous tempest calmed some triremes
& smaller ships accompanying, when
not far from the port they were absent, a horrible they underwent
tempest, which both rudders & yards
broke, & one of the greater ships
with some others to the bottom
drove. The rest now were about to perish, except
them the Genoese, who this sad spectacle
from the port had seen, were present: admonished
then of the danger the Clergy & Otto
the Archbishop, the sailors their vows to the Saint pay. the sacred Ashes into the sight
of the sea & of the perishing ships brought,
& soon through B. Forerunner's intercession
was made tranquility, & on the same day landed
into the port the ships, the sailors & others
their vows to the Saint paid. Thus reports Ogerius
Panis in the volume del Caffoso.
[376] In the year 1222 earthquake suppressed. In the year 1222 on the Natal day of our Redeemer
our, at noon, with so terrible an earthquake
was shaken the city, that, if a second
time, as was feared, the evil had returned, the whole city's
ruin would have been inevitable. Therefore leaving
their tables, terrified citizens themselves in troops to
the church of S. Lawrence betook, in their afflicted
things help from heaven about to demand. It seemed
to the Archbishop & Council also the sacred
Relics of their Protector through the city to carry around:
nor failed the hoped help. Thus Stella.
[377] In the year 1226 the port from ruin preserved. In the year 1226 so great rose the sea's
raging fury, that with the dykes burst,
it was about to destroy the port: but with the Relics exhibited
to the sea, soon was repressed the waters' tumor,
& the port from further damages was preserved.
[378] In the year 1230 from four pirates hanged by a noose, But of all the admiration surpasses,
what in the year 1230 happened. With the aforesaid Otto
still Archbishop, & Crispinus de Soresina
Milanese Prefect, were captured
of not obscure name four pirates, Recuperus
& Durandus of Porto Venere,
William Ventimiglia & Roscius Morinellus
of Recco. These the Prefect because of committed
at sea piracies to the gallows condemned,
the rest of their companions, that their right hand
be cut off. But on the day XV of October, on which
the execution of the capital sentence should be made,
commiseration of men, not only of the common,
but also of Nobles the zeal stirred, & great
crowds excited; when men of every
kind & age, men & matrons
pardon to be given nearly threateningly demanded. And to such
madness the matter came, that when the Prefect to
the place destined for the punishment as exactor approached;
sedition against him & colleagues was stirred,
& a great stoning happened: by which the Prefect
with his horse fallen onto the earth collapsed, two by the help of S. John the Baptist their lives preserve. & with his shin
broken, between his men's hands home was brought back
was; from which wound a little later he died.
At length with the sedition suppressed, the pirates were on the gibbet
hung. Of these two immediately expired;
Recuperus & William Ventimiglia,
when long hanging their souls to breathe out could not,
with the new matter minds stunned, & at the favoring
people's shout with the nooses cut, living into
prison were brought back. Asked what had preserved them;
Divine John the Baptist's help to themselves had been present
they answered, to whose Ashes their salvation
they had commended. The matter into religion
received they were freed, much warned, that
from piracy in the future they should abstain.
[379] These were benefits conferred on private persons: but no
less in the twelve-year following years'
space the Republic experienced. In the year 1231 & 1240 extinguished fire. With great burned
fire of the city a street, called Fussilia,
with great damage's danger: but at
the presence of the sacred Relics with extinguished
flames, the danger ceased. The same misfortune
twice happened in the same street, namely in years 1231
& 1240.
[380] In the year 1242 a tempest is calmed, In the year 1242 through the sacred
Ashes' invocation, the great Genoese fleet,
near the island, Montecristo
called, from great sea tempest unharmed
escaped: at which time also all the ships,
which in the port were detained, their salvation
to the holy Protector, & to the brought there his Relics
ascribed.
[381] And when in the following year, on the Vigil
of the Lord's Nativity, & 1243 fire. again fire the city
was infesting in the street of S. Andrew; & with such
violence, that the flames surpassed the height
of two enormous towers, which the ancient
form gate, which is called of S. Andrew, from
the temple of that holy Apostle to that nearby. To
this part of the city they brought the sacred Ashes,
& soon the fire was extinguished. Applauded
this prodigy on the following day the whole city: &
all the inhabitants of that street, of whom a huge
multitude is, their vows to the Saint paid.
[382] In the year 1244 Innocent IV the Pontiff,
into his country Genoa came, In the year 1244 Innocent IV 30 silver lamps offers hither
by Genoese ships from Sutri conveyed (where
by Frederick II as if besieged he had been detained)
then into Gaul about to pass. In the days
in which he stayed here, often the sacred S. John
the Baptist's Lipsana venerating, thirty-six
silver lamps as a gift gave to the Church, & he wished
day & night they would burn. These there were
until the year 1328, a Bull having been given, when in
the civil war's tumult they were destroyed, as has
Nicholas a Porta. Besides he confirmed & amplified
the Bull of his Predecessor Alexander
III, with another given Bull, which is preserved in the Archive
of the Genoese Chapter, of the following tenor.
[383] Innocent the Bishop; Servant of the Servants
of God. To the Venerable brothers, by which the prior Archbishops
& Bishops, & dear sons the Abbots,
Priors, Deans, Provosts,
Archdeacons, Archpresbyters, & other Churches'
Prelates, the present letters about to inspect,
greeting & Apostolic benediction.
Since the General Church very much from the
Omnipotent by the Saints' suffrages is aided;
so much the more each region with special
prerogative should rejoice, & more securely
expect pardon for things committed, the worthier
before the divine Majesty Intercessors
it has, who by the merits & devotion
of the faithful for those things, which they sow on earth,
obtain in the highest.
[384] But has come to Us, that when
once the Genoese Citizens from the expedition of Antioch
as triumphants of the enemies of Christ were returning,
landing near Patara, the Relics
of blessed John the Baptist & Forerunner
of the Lord there found, with them to Genoa with suppliant
devotion they carried. On account of which of happy
memory Alexander Pope our predecessor
us, having understood, from Alexander III granted he confirms, that those same citizens
intended the same Relics solemnly to reveal
to the Archbishops & Bishops through Tuscany,
Lombardy, & Provence constituted,
his, as to us fully it was established, sent
letters, containing, that announcing this
in the Churches of the same, the people to them committed,
that to the same City on the day
of Revelation they should come, they should advise & induce
diligently.
[385] When therefore Our Venerable Brother
Archbishop, & dear sons the Chapter
of Genoa, as from them reporting we have understood,
on the next Sunday day following after the Ascension
of the Lord, the Relics themselves by Apostolic authority
have determined with much solemnity
& reverence to be revealed; your University
we ask, advise & exhort attentively,
& by Apostolic to you writings we mandate,
that the aforesaid day of Revelation,
that in veneration henceforth it be held, & other indulgences he grants. publishing
in your Churches, & causing
also to be published, the peoples committed to you,
that to the aforesaid City on the same day
they should come, of the Baptist himself the suffrage to implore,
advise more attentively, & efficaciously induce.
For We desiring, & other indulgences he grants. that the same glorious
Forerunner with congruent honors be frequented,
to all truly penitent & confessed,
who to the Genoese Church, where the aforesaid
Relics under venerable custody are preserved,
on the solemnity of their Revelation,
devoutly shall come, annually of omnipotent
God's mercy, & of blessed Peter
& Paul his Apostles by the authority
confiding, on the day of Revelation one year,
& on the eight days following forty days
each year, of imposed on them penance
mercifully we relax. Given at Genoa on the second
Nones of August, of our Pontificate in the year
second. In the year 1245 again a tempest calmed.
[386] In the year 1245 again a horrid sea
tempest rushed in, which was so much more dangerous,
because at midnight it had happened; whence
not only in deeper sea, but also
in the Port all the ships were in danger: nor
now the waters' impetus the constructed on high
moles & breakwaters were sustaining: when terrified
citizens the sacred Forerunner's Relics there,
& part of the Lord's Cross, which in the cathedral
is preserved, thither brought: & soon the sea
to grow mild & all danger to cease began.
[387] By these & infinite other prodigies, which
the Genoese Writers to note omitted, In the year 1269 instituted the Confraternity of S. John Bap.,
not without supernal inspiration led citizens
very many, the glorious this Saint into
their Protector & Patron special
chose, & in the year 1249, from the acts already
after the bringing of the sacred Ashes two
centuries, was instituted in the Cathedral church
the Confraternity under his name. There was at that
time created Archbishop Porchettus
Spinola, in doctrine & piety remarkable; who
asked, that this new institute by his vote
he would approve & confirm, not only assented,
but also that greater stimuli he might add, by the Archbishop confirmed & endowed with indulgences &c.
many to it granted indulgences, which
by his Successors were confirmed & amplified.
The venerable this Confraternity's duty
was, to the cathedral church to come together,
the sacred Relics with lighted torches to accompany,
as often as in supplication or to the port for the reason
of dispelling a tempest they were brought; then
on the first Thursday day of each month to take care, that
& to it to assist & at the exhortation
to be present; which afterwards, for what cause
I do not know, was omitted. Besides was decreed,
that all the Archbishops & Canons
of the Cathedral church, & the chief of the city's
citizens to this be inscribed, whence the sacred
Relics' cult & veneration great
took increase.
§. III. The sacred Ashes' cult & miracles in the 14th century.
[388] By no means to be omitted,
what in the year 1316 happened. Nobles some in the year 1316 by the Saint's intercession Came
to the sacred Relics, in the sight of Clergy
& people, certain noble men of Mount
Royal (Mondovì) from Piedmont,
votive gifts about to offer, that by the intercession of the Saint
that one from their enemies' hands they were freed.
To the Canons indeed all the matter to understand desiring
they related, that themselves with certain others
in number twenty-six, by their enemies for days
some on a hill, Caciverna called, had been besieged;
& when no remained hope of escaping
the hands of them, even to the feet
kisses themselves offered, from their enemies' hands miraculously escape. only the living to themselves it would be permitted
to depart. But when no in the savage enemies'
minds they experienced clemency,
nor their fury except by death & blood
could be satiated; to the protection of B. John recourse
was had, with added vow of going to Genoa, that
due thanks they would render. Then sworn
they asserted, that themselves, (by what means they did not know) suddenly
as if through ecstasy in a safe place far
from the enemies had been placed; & therefore to come
themselves that to their liberator their vows & gifts
they would pay, which to the sacred Lipsana were hung,
& of the stupendous miracle through several
years' course were testimonies. In the year 1323 a new chapel is built by the Campanari family,
[389] Among more attached to those sacred Ashes
were of eternal memory worthy two citizens, from
the Campanari family, Nicholas & Obertus.
These at their own expenses, for those sacred Relics
to be fabricated took care a noble Chapel,
& at the same time there they founded a Chaplaincy,
with sufficient revenues endowed for one Priest's
sustenance. This Chapel was built
in the year 1323, & in the year
1410 still was standing whole, & it was
preciously enough & elegantly constructed; whence
to themselves this was granted privilege: that,
while to the other women of whatever condition
it was prohibited to enter into the Chapel of holy
Forerunner, to which special privileges are granted. for their & their posterity's daughters
& daughters-in-law it was permitted, for the nuptial
blessing to receive: besides that they themselves
& their descendants to themselves reserved one
of the keys, which the greater Ark guarded.
These privileges in their posterity persevered,
even after the demolition of that old
Chapel, & the translation of the sacred Relics
into a new, which afterwards by common
expenses more opulently & augustly was built,
which today still is to be seen.
For Theodora, In the translation of the Sacred Ashes only daughter & heir of Lazarus
Campanari, to whom this privilege in the year
1410 had been confirmed, not wishing this same right
on account of the demolition of the old Chapel to lose,
in the year 1455 (as from notarial Acts
is established) a new of this confirmation obtained
in perpetuity to endure, for herself &
her spouse John Lord de Passano de
Delphinis, & their posterity. This privilege's
use in the succeeding times to us
even has persevered in this noble family:
& hence I think it came, that when
to some the true origin of this lay hidden, they believed
someone of their Greater Ancestors the sacred Ashes
once to Genoa had brought, who this prerogative
for their posterity had procured.
[390] Built therefore the new Chapel, about which
above was said, The Bishop of Luni thence something to take away resolving, in the year 1323 the sacred Forerunner's
Relics from the old Ark into the new
to be transferred was fitting: nor were lacking again divine
prodigies, by which to the whole world it became known, how
much to S. John the Genoese association pleased
& of the sacred Ashes union. There was present at this action
Antonius Fliscus, Bishop of Luni,
clear, who since of great toward this Saint
was religion, often the sacred his Lipsana
with fervent piety venerated. He, when the old ark
was to be opened, a small particle of the sacred Dust
(if that conveniently & secretly could happen
could) hence to take, & to his city carry away
decreed. is deprived of sight, But (O depth of mysteries of eternal
Wisdom!) although from sole zeal of piety,
yet not to the very work proceeded the proposition;
as soon as the sacred Ark was opened,
all sight he lost, & in that state ten
months he remained. Nor here stopped the miracle:
for when more attentively his miseries he considered
the Bishop, the root of his evil he recognized,
& of his blindness the cause attributed to that rash
proposition, by which the sacred Ash,
old symbol of the Genoese union, to disunite,
&, however small particle, thence to take away
he had decreed. who repenting of the deed through the Saint's intercession receives it. After therefore through several
days his rashness he had deplored, to B. Forerunner
this to his intercession always he would refer accepted,
& on all the days of his life this
benefit's memory he would renew. The vow
this afterwards before the Provost & other
Canons of the Genoese church he renewed, &
behold in the same moment sight returned, with the supreme
of all the bystanders' stupor.
[391] Transposed therefore the sacred Relics into
& august pegma, by order of Cardinal
Luke Fliscus constructed, which in the same way,
just as that which today is seen,
the most sacred this Altar was superimposed.
Was this Cardinal inscribed to the Confraternity
of S. John the Baptist, The Ark is placed on the altar & the whole pegma. & it as much as
he could promoted. He is believed also to have instituted,
that on the first Thursday day of each month,
in that Saint's honor would be sung.
[392] In honoring the sacred Relics with
the ecclesiastical Prelates contended the Republic,
although at that time by internal factions
miserably it was agitated. For in the year 1327,
by special Decree B. John they chose into the chief
Patron, In the year 1327 into the patron of the city the Saint is chosen, Protector, & Father
of the city; & at public expenses to be made they caused
the sacred this Deposit would be kept. Besides
it was constituted, that on the feast day of his Nativity,
the Republic's Governors together with the civil Order,
with lighted torches, the Sacred Relics would visit,
& a golden pall to his altar would offer.
And that to this solemnity more from everywhere
could come together, to all to Genoa coming
through eight days the feast preceding, & as many
following, was granted safe conduct,
which to the whole city's district
extended itself: as is plain from the Extract from
the first Book of the great Volume of the Chapters
of the Commune of Genoa in the year 1327, is deposited by the Magistrate of Genoa; which
thus has.
[393] Since among them born of women has not
risen up a greater than John the Baptist, therefore the more
devoutly we ought his suffrages to implore,
the more toward us his flows,
& often has flowed piety, & by his
suffrages always the City of Genoa is protected.
For his Body with us to be the Apostolic
testifies truth, & through faith worthy & truthful
it stands proven: also the miracles,
which through his mercy God in
the City of Genoa always has done, this manifestly
declare. And therefore with mind's affection pure,
so great, & chief Patron ours
with supreme we ought to protect & guard reverence.
[394] & it is decreed, that a new silver Ark be made at common expenses; Therefore in supreme God's, & his
Patron's our honor we have determined to be established,
that a Capsa of silver be made, in which the Body
of the same blessed John the Baptist be deposited,
& in it with supreme reverence be held.
[395] On the day indeed of his Festivity, years
singly the Vicar, Abbot of the people, & Commune
of Genoa, & Counsellors & Consuls
of Genoa, & all the people of the same, to the reverence
of the same blessed John, to the Church
of Genoa, where is his Body &
Altar, with luminaries festively shall go,
as to the reverend Father of the City
of the same: in the very feast a precious pall shall be offered; & a pall also of price or
value of pounds five hundred; up to pounds
eight hundred, at the expenses of the Commune of Genoa
each year, on said Festivity shall offer
to the aforesaid Altar, where is the Body deposited
of the same Forerunner of Christ.
[396] All indeed, from wherever they be, who
to said City shall have come, for eight
days afterwards, from all praises, reprisals,
& exchanges in the city of Genoa, & district,
safe & secure shall be: so that, to those coming to the feast safe conduct shall be given; if
to that Festivity they shall have come, up to
said time safe & secure to the City
of Genoa, & district they may come, & dwell;
& freely from said City, & district
within said time may withdraw: with reprisals,
exchanges, praises any not withstanding.
[397] But the Oblations, which in said Festivity
in reverence of the aforesaid Saint shall be
offered, in whatever things or moneys
they exist, by two Massarii, offerings shall be expended in the ornament of the altar, elected by
the Vicar & twelve Sapientes of the Commune
of Genoa shall be deposited & preserved, & shall be expended,
& shall be spent on ornaments &
other things around the Altar, & Body of the same reverend
John the Baptist.
[398] And the aforesaid ought to be observed by the Vicar
of Genoa, any other Chapter not withstanding
general, or special, even if in it
were contained (any Chapter not withstanding
general, or special,) & specially the Chapter,
which is under the Rubric: other decrees notwithstanding. De non danda
potestate, which begins: Ego de cetero non
faciam consilium, &c. & the Chapter, which
is under the Rubric: De acquirendis terris of him,
who shall have made prey or rapine, &c. And
that which begins: Quodsi preda or rapina,
&c. And this Chapter precisely shall be observed:
otherwise the Vicar & any Magistrate
of Genoa against acting can &
ought to be syndicated in 200 pounds of Genoa, for
every & any turn, in which it shall have been against
acted: & this Chapter shall be abrogatory
& derogatory to all other Chapters,
which to this would contradict, or in any
opposed.
[399] Afterwards therefore by virtue of this Decree
was fabricated that most beautiful ark of gilt
silver, in anaglyphic work, by the skilled artist's
hand elegantly elaborated, in which today still
the sacred Ashes with solemn pomp through the city are carried around
on Sunday in Albis. In this manner
grew daily the sacred Relics' cult,
so that even the iron chains, by which the ark
once had been surrounded, with supreme veneration
were held. The pious indeed people, having adored
the sacred Dust, these also kissed, & to the eyes
& to other body's members applied;
trusting that by this touch their body from
every evil would be preserved. From the touch of the chains by which the ark once was bound, Nor without effect was
this people's religion, the intercession of B. Forerunner
shows: for in the year 1348
& 49, when all Italy, & this especially
city, by that immense plague was afflicted, which
in the following centuries the Great Plague was called;
it was observed, not even one, who
himself with these chains' touch had fortified, by the contagious
& everywhere raging evil had been afflicted.
[400] innumerable from plague are preserved. These from the chains' touch came
benefits. A sudden also & perpetual
for his evil found remedy a certain citizen,
touching the staff of the umbrella, under which the ark of Relics
is carried around: for when Simon
Boccanegra again to the Dukedom of Genoa
in the year 1358 was promoted, for imploring
B. Forerunner's intercession, in those turbulent
times, in a solemn supplication
the sacred Ashes through the city to be carried around
he ordered: In the year 1357 a weak arm & when (as was customary) the staves which
the umbrella were to sustain, in the Cathedral church
were distributed by deputies; among the rest
to this was invited Leonardus Oliva,
Prior of the Confraternity. He from much already time
so infirm was in arms & of all
vigor destitute, that not even them could
he raise; nevertheless, since he was of supreme
toward the Saint piety, touching the staff of the umbrella to be carried over the ark with great confidence the staff
he took; & at the same time in mind B. John's
intercession he implored, which soon he felt.
For restored to the arms vigor, the umbrella
he bore; & when others wearied others to themselves substituted,
he alone up to the end in the pious
office persevered; when to all granted
to him by the Saint benefit he revealed.
[401] Thus this matter in Latin verses wrote
Ildebrandus Corvara coeval Poet, although
Nicholas a Porta a little otherwise reports, vigor he receives. wishing Oliva
not Leonard, but Antony to be called
to have been, & at home, where on account of most acute chiragra
pains to bed fixed he was detained, to have invoked
the Saint's help, that the wont to perform he could office
of bearing the umbrella in the supplication, as one who
Prior was of the aforesaid Confraternity; & soon
feeling himself from all pain free,
& restored to himself & to the arms vigor, to
the church he hastened; & through all the supplication's
time with the stupor of all the umbrella
he bore.
[402] In the year 1386 Urban VI nearly
in the same manner in which above of Innocent IV related
was, In the year 1386 Urban VI by the Genoese freed by the triremes of the Genoese freed from
the hands of Charles King of Naples, who him
with some Cardinals besieged was holding
at Nuceria; to Genoa came, & there as in a safe
& secure asylum, for many months he dwelt.
Meanwhile his toward the sacred Ashes
piety wishing to demonstrate, the same granted
Indulgence on the Natal feast of the Forerunner,
which Alexander III once to the church of S. Mark,
on the day of the Lord's Ascension at Venice had granted,
with this given bull.
[403] Urban the Bishop, Servant of the Servants
of God, to all of Christ's faithful, the present letters
about to inspect greeting, & Apostolic
benediction. The Splendor of the Paternal glory,
who his world illuminates with ineffable clarity, grants indulgences
the pious vows of the faithful, of the most clement his
Majesty hoping, then especially with benign
favor follows, when their devout
humility by the Saints' prayers & merits
is aided. Desiring therefore, that the Major
Church of Genoa, in which, as we have received,
some Relics of holy John the Baptist
venerably rest, by Christ's faithful
with congruent honors be frequented; which at Venice & that
Christ's faithful for the cause of devotion thither more willingly
would flow together to the same, where there from this
greater of souls advantage they shall have hoped
to obtain; of omnipotent God's mercy,
& of blessed Peter & Paul Apostles
his authority confiding, to all truly
penitent, & confessed, who to said
Church, from the first Vespers of the Nativity of the same
S. John, the temple of S. Mark, until the second Vespers
of his Nativity inclusively, devoutly shall have come,
annually that Indulgence we grant,
which to the Church of holy Mark of
Venice of the Castellan diocese, on the day of the Ascension
of our Lord Jesus Christ coming,
by the authority of letters of happy recordation
of Alexander Pope the Third our Predecessor
they obtain. previously had been granted. Given at Genoa on the sixth Kalends
of October, of the Pontificate in the ninth year.
[404] In the year 1387 the Genoese Chapter
(as is established from the notarial Acts of this
year) the following transaction performed,
with the Confraternity. In the name of the Lord.
Amen. Whereas in past times many
of different quantity moneys through men of the Devotion
or Congregation of blessed John
the Baptist, which in the Church of Genoa established
is, on account of reverence for the Body & Relics
of the same blessed John the Baptist, In the year 1387 the Canons grant to the Confraternity which
in the same Church are venerated, on the ornament of the altar
& of the aforesaid Church, were expended & paid out
were, & every day are expended &
paid out through said men of said Devotion;
therefore the Venerable Lords, Benedict
Adurnus the Provost, Dominic de
Flisco the Archdeacon, Peter de Illionibus
Magiscola, Raynerius de Arborio, George
de Sigestro, John de saint Stephen,
Lanfranc de Otone, & Marcus de Cario
Canons & Chapter of the Genoese Church
aforesaid, together in Chapter, for the things subscribed
at the sound of the bell in customary manner gathered,
in their own proper names, & in the name
& place of said Church & Chapter,
by title of donation, & out of special grace, conceded
& gave to the Priors & men
of said Congregation or Devotion, all the wax offerings
present & future, & in perpetuity,
or to D. Matthew de Illionibus jurist,
Syndic & Procurator of said Devotion
or Congregation of blessed John
the Baptist (as of the syndicate & procuration is established
by the public Instrument, written by the hand of Peter de
Grota the Notary, in the year just past on the day
24 June) stipulating, & receiving in his
own proper name, & of others of said Devotion,
all that right & whole, which & how much
said Canons & Chapter have
or can have in the offerings, which they shall make
in the future annually, in wax only
(whether they be candles, duplers, tortices, or
brandons) those of said Devotion, & also
twelve, or fifteen Antiani, or
Counsellors of L. the Duke, or Decurions, or
by any other name they are called, at present
or in future shall be called, on the Feast of the Nativity
of the aforesaid blessed John the Baptist at the Mass
major, which is sung at the hour of Terce at
the Altar of the aforesaid blessed John the Baptist, & which
offering is made at the hand of the celebrant, reserving to itself the votive pall. or of him about to celebrate
said Mass.
[405] In which cession or donation are not
included, nor are understood to be included
or donated the rights, or offerings of the prize, or
the prize itself with two principal
duplers or tortices, which together with the prize
or pall are offered by the Lord Duke,
& Lord Potentate of Genoa, or
other principal Officials & Protectors
of the Commune of Genoa, nor any tortices
or candles, or images, or any
other thing, which or which would be offered by some
person, even of said XII or XV, or by
those of said Devotion, at Mass or at other
time, or from another head than from debt
or from devotion of said Congregation
& Devotion or Ordination; as, for example's
sake, is made from a vow or other pious affect, removed
from the Devotion & Congregation aforesaid.
Which D. Matthew in said Syndic, or
Procurator name of said Devotion, promised
to said Lords Canons & Chapter,
that said offering or oblation through said
XII or XV, & through men of said Devotion,
which shall be made at said Mass, & shall come
into the Massarii of said Devotion, & their
prices shall be expended & paid out by
the Massarii or other Officials of said Congregation
or Devotion in luminaries, or
ornaments of said Relics, Altar, &
Church, as to them better will seem, & it will please
to expedite.
[406] Otherwise, (if otherwise it were done) the present instrument,
& all & individual things in it contained
shall be void, vain & of no value,
or moment, & just as if the present instrument
had never been made. Which
all & individual above-written, said parties
in said names to each other mutually
promised, & agreed to attend, complete
& observe, & in nothing to act
contrary or come, on any occasion, reason,
or cause, which could be said or thought of:
under penalty of double of that, in which, or about which
contrary would be done, or, as above, would not be observed,
& with reparation of all damages,
interest, & expenses, which therefore
would happen, in the cause of suit, & outside, stipulated
solemnly & promised. With all & individual above-written
remaining ratified always,
& under hypothec & obligation of all
the goods of said Church & Chapter, & of said
Devotion, of those present & future.
[407] And the aforesaid all were done in the presence,
consent, & will of the Lords
John Besagni, & Antony de Flisco called
Cardinal, Priors of said Devotion.
Done at Genoa in the Cloister of said Church
of Genoa in the year from the Nativity of the Lord 1387
Indiction ninth according to the course of Genoa,
day 29 of March, in Terces, with present Lord
Honoratus de Flisco Canon of the Church
of S. Nazarius of Genoa, Presbyters
Nicholas of Rapallo, Mansionarius of said Church
of Genoa, & Columban de Coniolo
Provost of the Church of Bobbio, witnesses to the premises
called & asked.
[408] Celebrated then a few years after, & those
prodigious happened events, by which divine
Majesty to the whole world manifested, very many
to the Genoese through S. John
the Baptist's intercession to wish to grant, which by other means
it denied. Reports George Stella eyewitness, In the year 1391 a great tempest,
XIII December of the year 1391, by night
with sky serene & no winds blowing, so much
swelled the sea, that suddenly a great tempest
arose. With such impetus of waves was shaken
the city, & to that height had grown
the tumultuous sea, with other Relics brought persisting that around SS.
Nazarius & Celsus's church, the very high city
walls it surpassed; & all that space,
which is between the aforesaid & S. Mark's Church,
inundated waters. by the sacred Ashes is driven away. Great was of all
the citizens' consternation, to which was added the great
merchants' lament & lamentation, whose
all goods & fortunes with the ships in
the port were in danger. Ran the Clergy at unseasonable
night to the port with the most sacred Cross
wood & other Relics, nor yet ceased
the sea's inclemency: indeed in that very moment ships
five broken & submerged perished. Then
other Saints' Relics were brought, the same
yet persisted the waters' fury, which even
with the approaching dawn to increase seemed. At length
(what the cause of such delay was,
did not bring forth the aforepraised Stella) with risen now
sun, brought thither were the sacred Ashes, with all the Clergy
& all the citizens accompanying: & soon
at their coming the sea fell, In the year 1366 pleurisy is cured, & restored
to the waters tranquility, security to the ships
& joy to the city brought.
[409] A similar plainly event reports to have seen
himself Nicholas a Porta, who to the common vows
also his adds, for a singular benefit,
which by that Saint's intercession in himself he had received.
For in the year 1396 so horrid
memory none ever was seen more truculent:
& now the larger ships two, to which Doria
& Pinella the name was, were being broken. Various
soon to the port were brought Relics, which the greatest
were in veneration; but in vain: with the growing
continuous of the sea's intemperateness & danger.
At length ran in troops the merchants to
the Cathedral church, calling out, & the tempest again is driven away. that as soon as possible
the sacred Ashes to the Port be brought.
It was fitting at that time to gather the keys, by which
the sacred this Pledge was kept, which
through various men's hands were dispersed. This pertained
to Nicholas a Porta, as Confraternity's
Chancellor. He indeed with a dangerous
pleurisy vexed, with little life hope (as
doctors judged,) bed-bound was sticking.
Sad therefore & lamenting, not so much on account of the imminent
his life's end, as that to so
pious a ministry he was unable to apply himself, the spirit
yet with zeal & confidence full to the intercession
of B. Forerunner he turned; &
behold all pain departed; from bed he leapt, having put on
his garments the keys he collects, & wholly himself to his liberator's
service joyful he applied, certain
of the prodigy to follow. Now the port had reached
the sacred Forerunner's Lipsana with nearly the whole
city accompanying, when now most the sea's anger
was boiling. And behold, hardly exposed
to the sea's sight the sacred Relics were, when
suddenly was seen in the air to breathe a more favorable
wind from Greece; which the African of the whole tempest
the author, as if war made attacked,
& at length from the sky's region to yield compelled; & with the African driven away
serenity to the sky, & tranquility to the sea
returned. Was the common of all the skilled judgment,
not only above nature was this
tempest's cessation; but also, if beyond
two hours' space the S. Forerunner's Relics
to bring they had delayed, not even one
ship in the port from shipwreck could have been preserved.
[409] Another reports by the Saint's intercession granted
benefit the same Nicholas a Porta. In the year 1398 to the Saint's altar fleeing
Not yet extinguished were in the year 1398
those pernicious among the Guelphs & Ghibellines
factions; but by public & private discords at that
time the whole Republic most was being destroyed:
whence slaughters, & massacres of citizens, &
unusual horror & sad solitude through the city.
Various of the city's streets in the manner of camps were
fortified, & on this side & on that besiegers were
equally & besieged. Bartholomew Scala goldsmith,
accustomed daily the sacred to venerate Ashes,
& himself to the intercession of S. Forerunner to commend;
when the ways to himself to the church closed off
he saw, with great grief he was affected; yet
on a certain day in mind he determined all the barriers
to transcend, from his enemies he is touched, & although at the danger of his own head
the temple to approach. This when he was performing,
& a certain piazza's corner he was crossing,
two men of the opposing faction, otherwise also
to himself most hostile he encountered. These, slaughter
& blood breathing, with armed hand the man
unarmed up to the church pursued;
nor reached him, except when into the very Saint's Chapel
he had come.
[410] Bartholomew, by the imminent danger frightened,
to the protection of S. John has recourse; & death
fleeing, (for not even places, however sacred, in this
fury any veneration was held) he leaves the chapel; nor yet is perceived or seen.
& behind the greater altar, as to a place
more safe he withdraws. They pursue the fleeing
barbarians to the place to which he had withdrawn, where
the miserable he now death was awaiting. But, marvelous
to tell: often was he touched by the murderers' hands,
nor yet was perceived; nor, although
it was midday & the place was very bright, by the robbers'
eyes was seen. Was stunned this man,
& the prodigy recognized. Meanwhile wondering
the murderers, that his eyes & hands he had escaped,
to the sacristy they betake themselves, there the man
themselves to find supposing; but in their hope deluded,
raging from the temple they go out. Thus Bartholomew
his life to the Saint's intercession ascribed,
as also the peace, which afterwards with himself
they entered those two enemies; who the deed more attentively
considering, the miracle recognized.
§ IV. Sacred Ashes' cult, & miracles in the 15th century.
[411] The same Saint's protection most openly
shone forth in two sea tempests, Various at various times
which in the years 1406 & 14 happened, as
reports Stella, that time's Historian.
For brought to the port the Ashes by Pileus de
Marinis, then Archbishop, soon all
winds' & sea's fury fell. Whence not
wonder it is, if with growing benefits, which
to the city through S. Forerunner's intercession divinely
were granted, To the Confraternity of S. John the Baptist privileges are granted secular & ecclesiastical
Princes vyingly concurred, to the cult
& ornament of the sacred that Deposit to promote.
Hence it came, that, just as
the aforesaid Pileus de Marinis Archbishop,
in the year 1401 the Confraternity of S. John
the Baptist approved & confirmed, to which
then several granted indulgences in the year
1415; his example followed Peter
George his successor in the year 35, & the supreme
Pontiffs Eugene IV, in the years 39,
40, & Calixtus III, in the year 4, of the same
century; thus also in the year 1430 by the Republic
was formed a Decree (indeed confirmed,
what once had been done) by which it was sanctioned,
that on the feast of the Nativity of S. John the Baptist all
the noble Order should visit the sacred Relics, by the Magistrate, both ecclesiastical,
& to them a certain quantity of candles would offer,
& a golden pall. This was decreed by the following
constitution.
[412] How great is in Heaven blessed John
the Baptist, can consider every Christian-worshipper,
& certain without doubt himself to render,
while the voice shall have been of Truth, Among them born
of women has not risen up a greater than John the Baptist:
to whose cult the Genoese are so much held
more reverently to bow, both civil: by how much God himself the City
of Genoa preferred, & signified, the supreme
Highest of all the Saints' Relic,
his Body to guard, cherish & preserve.
By this proper Constitution we sanction,
that on the day of his Festivity each year L.
Potestas, & LL. Antiani & Officials all
of the Commune of Genoa, & it is established, the Church of blessed
Lawrence, where in a silver Urn said Relic
most precious, namely the most sacred
Body of him, shall come with luminaries
& candles lit, & with pall, as the custom
is.
All however & each, from wherever they be, that in the festivity the Magistrate luminaries & a gilded pall shall offer;
who to Genoa shall have come, on the day of his Festivity,
& before through eight days, & after through as many,
from all & each praises, reprisals,
& exchanges at Genoa, & district safe &
secure shall come, & stay, & thence shall withdraw:
not withstanding praises, reprisals, & exchanges
whatever.
But the offerings on said day made or given
on account of reverence for said Festivity, in money, & safe conduct be given
or any thing, by the Massarii appointed
by the religious Devotion of said Baptist shall be saved,
deposited & placed, & shall be expended
in & around the ornaments, through the Genoese diocese & other
useful or necessary things of the Altar & Body of the most holy
Forerunner of Christ, as is the custom.
[413] In the year 1439 Duke Peter
de Campofregoso, with those who the supreme
Magistrate of Genoa bore, decreed,
that in the future from the stipend of foot & horse soldiers,
who served the Republic, something, according
to each one's condition, other gifts the Confraternity is dedicated. each month
would be deducted; & that at the end of the year to the Officials
of said Confraternity be granted.
The same nearly was sanctioned by the Magistrate of S. George
in the year 1444, just as by another
Decree it had been established in the year 1440, that
each one, who in the future with the Republic
an agreement should make, in proportion of the sum
owed, something also for the same Confraternity
would add. These Decrees afterwards
confirmed & renewed were in the subsequent years,
namely 1448, 51, &
71, by the Republic & by the money Prefects.
The same indeed burden imposed on the stipends of his
ministers, who are great in number,
the Magistrate of S. George in the year 1451. Eugene IV Eugene
indeed IV the following Bull issued,
by which indulgence he grants on the Nativity of S.
John the Baptist.
[414] Eugene Bishop Servant of the Servants
of God. To all of Christ's faithful, the present
letters about to inspect, greeting & Apostolic
benediction. Glorious God in his
Saints, & in their glorification rejoicing,
in the veneration of S. John the Baptist so much
more joyfully is delighted, since he from a sterile Mother's
womb proceeding, our Redeemer's Forerunner,
his presence with clear heralding, &
of the index sign marvelous announced, & through the way
of Martyrdom deserved in the sublime to be placed. Desiring
therefore, that the Cathedral Church of Genoa,
in which next to a certain Altar under
the name of S. John the Baptist long ago founded, the indulgence he grants
the Relics of the Body of the same Saint, to which
Christ's faithful of those parts singular
bear of devotion affect, with great veneration
are preserved, with congruent honors
be frequented; & also in paraments, & ornaments
Ecclesiastical, & buildings & repairs
be adorned, preserved, & augmented;
&, that the faithful themselves the more willingly for the cause
of devotion may flow together to the same, where from
this there with the gift of celestial grace more abundantly
they shall have seen themselves filled: of omnipotent
God's mercy, & of blessed Peter &
Paul his Apostles' authority confiding,
to all truly penitent & confessed, who
the Church itself on the Feast of the Nativity of the same
holy John the Baptist devoutly shall visit
annually, on the feast of the nativity of S. John the Baptist. & for this kind of decoration,
preservation & augmentation helping hands
shall extend, seven years, & the same number
of forty-day pardons, of imposed on them penances
mercifully we relax; the present in perpetual
times to be valid. We wish however,
that, if otherwise to those visiting said Church,
or to its decoration, preservation,
or augmentation helping hands extending,
or pious alms there bestowing,
any other Indulgence in perpetuity, or for
Us has been granted; the present letters of no
force or moment shall be. Given at Florence
in the year of the Lord's Incarnation one thousand
four hundred thirty-ninth, IX
Kalend. September, of our Pontificate in the
IX year.
[415] With these gifts, & others by the piety of citizens
liberally granted, they applied their minds
to a new & sumptuous more Chapel, in
honor of the Saint to be built: in which with greater
splendor the sacred his Deposit would be cultivated.
Chosen therefore for this work a skilled
architect, was cast to the ground the old
Chapel, once by the Campanari constructed,
who nevertheless their privileges (about which above
was said) retained. In the year 1451 a new & more splendid Chapel is built, But since the situation
was narrower, & by the greater altar (which by chance
for the use of that time the middle of the temple
occupied) its enlargement was impeded; the same
altar together with the choir to the further parts of the temple
they moved. These were done in the year 1451.
Then Cardinal Paul Campofregosus
Archbishop, together with the Duke & supreme
Magistrate, by perpetual Decree sanctioned, that
henceforth the day of the Decollation of S. John the Baptist
would be festive among the people, & that each
year by trumpets' clang on a day the feast
preceding would be published: this established by the following
Decree.
[416] Most Reverend in Christ Father D.
Paul de Campofregoso, & it is established by the grace of God Archbishop,
& Duke of Genoa Illustrious, &c.
& the Magnificent Council of LL. Antiani
of the Commune of Genoa, in legitimate number gathered.
Considering, how dissonant
& repugnant it seems, the celebration of the most blessed
Prophet & Forerunner John the Baptist
with all praise & veneration on his Nativity
to celebrate, that the feast of the Decollation of S. John the Baptist but the same on the day of his Decollation
to neglect; & as if it were another, no
honors in the City to be paid him, especially when
this contempt within a short time has grown,
so that no nearly kind of men
in the city is found, which on his Martyrdom
day to buy, sell, work fears.
This therefore abuse to remove wishing, &,
what are of God & of the Saints, to them to render,
by all right, & way, by which best they could,
they sanctioned; & ordered, the day
XXIX August, which to his Martyrdom is dedicated
to be, among the Sacred, & in memory of so great
that on that day anything be done, be also in the people. which on Festive days
is prohibited: decreeing & ordering
to the excellent Vice-Dukes, that always, when
they shall have been required for this, especially with the approaching
day 19 August, they cause to be proclaimed
by Heraldic voice, that this day is sacred & celebrated
is: nor it is permitted on that day to work. And, if
anyone they shall catch contravening, him
shall fine according to the words of the Edict.
[417] But since pious legacies, & oblations
from the piety of the faithful daily greatly increased, Other privileges receives the Confraternity,
it was necessary often heirs & debtors
to be summoned to judgment. That therefore to the Officials
of the aforepraised Confraternity all difficulty
& molestation be removed, under Antoniottus
City's Prefect, was granted a Privilege
to the same Confraternity's Prior, that
every one in this cause before himself he could
cite & compel to satisfy; by which besides
under certain penalties the Magistrates all
of the City were bound, especially by Innocent VIII. in the year 1485 those things to observe &
execute, which in this cause by the same Prior
were constituted. Especially however to be esteemed
is the privilege, which to this sacred place granted
in the year 1485 Innocent VIII.
He from the illustrious family of ancient nobility
of the Cybo born, tenderly loved his country,
& religiously the sacred Forerunner's Ashes venerated;
& them often when of the cathedral church
he was Canon & Provost, in person
adored: afterwards however to the Pontificate
assumed, when twelve Legates to himself
from Genoa sent to their country he was sending back; among
various indulgences & favors, to them also he granted
the subsequent Bull, by which that which previously by
Sixtus IV had been issued, he confirmed,
& with other privileges amplified. This moreover thus
has.
[418] Innocent the Bishop, Servant of the Servants
of God, who with a given Bull to the perpetual memory of the matter. The most sacred
& militant Church's rudders,
& of the supreme Priesthood the chair to us by
blessed Peter Prince of the Apostles by certain succession,
though with merits unequal, entrusted
holding on earth, the Christian people,
as much as by Us can be done, to souls'
salvation to lead, & with spiritual nourishments
to cherish for merits we strive with affect;
new sometimes indulgence gifts
granting, sometimes by Roman
Pontiffs our predecessors granted
innovating & amplifying, that the enemy
ancient overcoming his cunning, through works of piety
& mercy, the prior granted by Sixtus IV he confirms, all Christ's faithful
with hope, faith, charity fortified, & in obedience
of the Roman Church persisting, of the celestial
court's rewards may be able happily to obtain.
Already indeed of happy recordation Sixtus Pope IV, our
predecessor, desiring of the souls of the faithful
of the renowned city of Genoa & of the same parts
salvation to provide; & that the Chapel
within the precinct of the Genoese Church in honor
of S. John the Baptist long ago founded: in
which, as said Sixtus the predecessor had received,
the sacred Ashes of the Body of the same Saint
honorably were preserved, & to which dear
sons citizens of the same City, & other
Christ's faithful, especially of those parts,
on the Feast of the Nativity of the Saint himself with devotion
flowed together in copious number, more amply
with congruent be frequented honors,
& both the Chapel, & the Church of this kind
ecclesiastically more abundantly be adorned ornaments: & indulgence
& that the citizens & other faithful aforesaid,
the more willingly to the Chapel itself flow together,
& to the purchase of ornaments of this kind
hands more promptly extend helping, by which
there from this gift of celestial grace more abundantly
they would see themselves filled: to all Christ's
faithful truly penitent & confessed, who
on the Nativity feast of said Saint Festivity from the first
Vespers until sunset of the day of the Festivity
of this kind, the Chapel itself should visit
annually, & to performing the premises hands
extend helping, plenary of all
their sins remission, &
indulgence by Apostolic authority granted.
[419] And that Christ's faithful the same Chapel
in the Festivity aforesaid visiting, of conscience
peace & souls' salvation God propitious
should obtain, to certain persons there expressed
to depute some Confessors suitable, secular
or regular in sufficient number,
who on said day of the Nativity, & eight days that
preceding, of Christ's faithful aforesaid
confessions diligently heard, to them
for crimes committed by them, & all sins,
even if such would be, on account of
which would be the Apostolic See deservedly to be consulted
(of Presbytericide, by way of Jubilee he grants, & of throwing of violent hands
on some Prelate,
or shining with greater dignity, & of violation of Ecclesiastical
liberty, & to the parts
of infidels of arms delation, cases only
excepted) of which heart contrite,
& by mouth confessed they had been, absolution to grant,
& salutary penance to enjoin,
& whatever vows by them emitted (of Chastity,
or Religion, & Overseas, & of Visitation
of the Thresholds of the Apostles aforesaid,
& also of the Church of holy James in Compostela,
vows only excepted) into other works of piety,
according as for the salvation of the souls of the faithful
to the same Confessors would seem expedient,
to commute freely & lawfully they would be able, by
his letters in perpetual future times to be valid,
license he granted & also faculty,
as in said letters more fully is contained.
[420] But when afterwards from said Predecessor
various suspensions for a certain time,
& also revocations of plenary indulgences,
& of faculties of this kind emanated, not withstanding the revocation of indulgences first made
& therefore of the forces of the letters
aforesaid deservedly to be doubted, & thence the faithful's
devotion to be retarded could: We considering,
that devotion of this kind, & to pious
works inclined will by Apostolic See's
providence rather should be augmented, than retarded
should be, especially in that City, from
which We draw our origin: & desiring, that
the Chapel aforesaid in honor of S. John
the Baptist Forerunner of the Lord, as is premised,
founded, as also the dear Sons Noble
men, Thomas de Campofregoso President
of the Potestate, Hector de Flisco of Lavania
Count, Lazarus de Auria, Lodisius de
Ingibertis, Francis Lomellinus, Bartholomew
de Canitia, Baptista Baxadonne, John
Caldera, Melchior de Nigrono, Lucas
de Grimaldis, Pasqual Sauli, & Christopher
Spinula Orators, on the part of the City
aforesaid for obedience to be rendered to Us,
with an ample & magnificent retinue,
& splendid ornament lately to Us sent
greatly to desire seem, with congruent honors
be frequented, & both that, & the Church
of Genoa which Metropolitan, & among
other Churches of those parts very
notable exists, with paraments & ornaments
Ecclesiastical be furnished, & the more willingly Christ's
faithful would flow together to the Chapel itself, &
to the preparation of ornaments of this kind
hands more promptly extend helping, by which
from this there with the gift of celestial grace more abundantly
they would see themselves filled, the plenary indulgence
aforesaid through the aforesaid Sixtus Predecessor,
as is premised, granted,
with all & each of deputing Priests,
who confessions of those flowing together for the time being
persons of this kind would hear, & in
cases above expressed, would absolve, & of commuting
vows, & with all other & each
faculties, & in them contained clauses by Apostolic
authority by the tenor of the present we innovate
& approve, & them, if, & in
how much it is needed, to the pristine state we restore,
& to subsist with the force of perpetual firmness
ought we decree & declare.
[421] And nevertheless, for the stronger of the premises'
force, of Omnipotent God's mercy,
& of blessed Peter & Paul Apostles
his piety confiding, to all Christ's
faithful of either sex, who the Chapel
itself on said Feast of B. John the Baptist from
the first Vespers until sunset of the day
of Festivity of this kind devoutly shall visit annually,
& to performing the premises hands
shall extend helping, the Plenary of all
their sins remission & indulgence,
by Apostolic authority, by the tenor of the present
we grant & bestow. And, that
the faithful themselves the Chapel itself in the Festivity
aforesaid visiting, peace & souls'
salvation, God propitious should obtain, to our Venerable
Brother, modern & for the time being
existing, Archbishop of Genoa, & (he
from the City absent) his in spiritual things Vicar
General for the time being existing, of deputing
some Confessors suitable, secular
or regular in sufficient number, who on said
day of the Nativity of S. John the Baptist, & eight
days preceding that, & the faculty is given of Christ's faithful
aforesaid confessions diligently heard,
to them for crimes & sins all committed by them,
even if such would be, on account of
which would be the Apostolic See deservedly to be consulted
(of Presbytericide, & of throwing of violent hands
on some Prelate, of absolving from whatever sins,
or shining with greater dignity, or in any
of Ecclesiastical Order, & of liberty
Ecclesiastical violation, & to the parts of infidels
of arms delation cases only
excepted) of which heart contrite & by mouth
confessed they had been, absolution to grant, &
salutary penance to enjoin, & of relaxing vows few excepted, & vows
whatever by them emitted (of chastity or
of religion, & overseas, & of visitation
of the thresholds of the Apostles aforesaid, & also
of the Church of S. James in Compostela vows only
excepted) into other works of piety, as
for the salvation of the souls of the faithful to the Confessors
the same would seem expedient, to commute
freely & lawfully they would be able, license
we grant & faculty, the present in perpetual
future times to be valid.
[422] We wish moreover, that the oblations &
other proceeds, which from the indulgence & faculty
aforesaid shall happen to come, in the purchase
of Ecclesiastical ornaments, &
other in the use & utility of the Chapel, &
of the Church aforesaid, according to & according
to the ordination & judgment of two Canons
of said Church, to this through dear sons
Chapter of the same Church for the time being
elected, & two Priors of the Devotion
named of the aforesaid Saint for the time being
existing, & two other Priors predecessors
of theirs integrally be converted.
To no one therefore at all of men shall it be permitted this page
of our innovation, approbation,
restitution, constitution, declaration,
concession, bestowal, indult, & will,
to infringe or to it by rash daring to contravene.
If anyone however this to attempt shall presume,
the indignation of omnipotent God, &
of blessed Peter & Paul Apostles his
himself shall know to incur. Given at Rome at
S. Peter in the year of the Lord's Incarnation one thousand
four hundred eighty-fifth,
on the sixth Nones of May, of our Pontificate in the
year First.
[423] This Bull afterwards renewed Leo X
in the year 1513. That however all might know, It is prohibited for women to enter the chapel of S. John the Baptist.
how much to the chapel of this Saint reverence was owed,
the same Pontiff Innocent VIII,
with a special bull, under penalty of Excommunication
of imposed sentence prohibited, that women said
chapel should enter. This Bull is registered
in the Acts of Peter de Ripalta Chancellor
Archiepiscopal, & of this also today
memory to be seen, with golden letters
inscribed on a marble stone, outside the chapel on the
right side: although, whether by some decree,
or by ancient custom, the same
to them already once had been forbidden, as above
was said. Besides he gave to the departing Legates
the Pontiff a basin of jet made, The Genoese by Eugene IV are given a Basin of jet.
desiring that it on more solemn feasts on
the altar of the same Saint be exposed. Nor are lacking
Authors who assert, this from the Evangelist,
to her mother Herodias offered the venerable head
of the Forerunner. In the middle of this precious vessel, which disc is believed, in which the head of the Saint was offered to Herodias.
from white enamel & pure gold, the Head
of the Saint artfully wrought is seen: twin
from gold little chains on the rim on both sides annexed
are.
[424] Meanwhile to the end was brought the chapel's
construction, to which marble stones artfully
elaborated, In the year 1496 completed the chapel's construction, & gold here & there shining among
supreme conciliated Majesty. Of this
still today the memory is read above the crown
of the chapel on the right side in these words:
To Divine Precursor Francis Lomellinus & Antony
Sauli Priors & Council, with multiplied money
adorned it in 1496.
[425] In the year 1498 Louis Sforza
Duke of Milan, various chaplaincies were founded. with numerous retinue
to Genoa coming; the most sacred Ashes
venerated, for perpetual S. Forerunner's
cult, three Chaplaincies (Justinian in the Annals
counts five) at the altar of the same
Saint founded; with added obligation, that on days
singly, for the soul of his spouse Beatrice,
then recently dead, for himself & his posterity,
to whom the right of Patronage he reserved,
sum from the revenues of S. George for
the sustenance of the Chaplains. This piety
afterwards imitated Maximilian Sforza,
son of Francis II, Duke of Milan, who
by his testament made at Paris in the year 1530
XXIV May, another chaplaincy founded,
with added annual revenue of thirty-eight stipends
of S. George, reserved similarly the patronage
to his family, & delivered the collation to the Chapter
of Genoa.
§. V. Sacred Ashes' cult & miracles in the 16th century.
[426] No less to be praised comes the piety of Cardinal
Peter Daubusson, Master of the Knights of Rhodes builds a chapel Great Master
of the Knights of Rhodes, now of Malta.
Although that sacred Order (which
under the auspices of B. John the Baptist serves)
has with the title of Commenda of S. John
de Pratis; yet that from the vicinity of so great a treasure,
heavenly it could enjoy influences,
& with daily offices with the Cathedral compete,
But the place's narrowness, as in mind
he had conceived, to execute forbade: for the aforesaid
church by two public piazzas was constrained,
& the right side of the chapel the Canons' cloister,
& the Archiepiscopal palace closed.
It happened however that the place, contiguous to the Saint's chapel, which is between the church
& Baptistery, for building a chapel sufficed,
whose sacristy's left corner to
the wall of the Chapel of the Forerunner reached:
& he obtained that a small in it would be opened window,
before which day & night would burn a lamp
in honor of the sacred Ashes. & there Priests & Clerics he instituted. In that
place established the aforesaid Cardinal Priests
six, the same number of clerics together with a Prior,
that there daily divine Offices would celebrate,
& by one of them a Sacred Mass about sunrise
in the Saint's chapel would be said. These by ancient
custom their chant & celebration of divine Office
anticipate, that they not on account of too great
vicinity to the Canons of the cathedral be impediment.
[427] Wished besides the Great Master, that
this Chapel be under the title of S. Mary of
Victory, in sign of perpetual gratitude of liberated
by the help of B. Virgin & holy Forerunner island
of Rhodes from the siege of the Turks, & obtained
at the same time not small over them victory
in the year 1480; that so might not be confused
by the name of S. John the Baptist the new place, with
the ancient of the same Baptistery. But prevailed
the ancient usage, & both commonly
go by the name of S. John the Elder, that be distinguished
from the Chapel of the same Saint there contiguous,
& within the cathedral church itself situated.
But that of the founder might not perish the memory,
was granted afterwards, that within the
Baptistery on the common wall, as in a place
more conspicuous, on a marble stone this inscription
would be cut, as today still is seen.
O whoever the house, or sacred Temple thou behold
Wouldst know what famous author gave this work;
Peter Daubusson by fame above the heavens known,
Of the holy Hospitium & Militia Father,
Defender of the faith, & Custodian & Master of Rhodes,
These to the Precursor built at his expense.
Here also the Sacristy he enriches, & six dedicated
With as many boys religion men.
Whom once the notable fame of the Galerus adorned,
Now pious he possesses the ethereal choirs. 1503.
[428] Nor to be omitted is the laudable zeal
of a certain citizen, whose John the Baptist
Ottagio the name was: Of two toward the sacred Ashes liberality. who when he desired
the cult of the sacred Relics to promote,
by his testament established, that from his faculties
would be bought ten stipends of S. George, which
so long with passing time would be multiplied,
until from the gathered thence money four columns
most beautiful of metal could be made,
which would be substituted for the marble, sustaining
the pegma, on which the ark of Relics was
placed. Although in the year 1532 to that matter
was provided by Count Philip D'Oria:
who that sacred altar restored, & four
columns of porphyry made, a new
placed pegma of exquisite plain marble,
elaborated by Marcus Corte excellent sculptor.
In its anterior part these are read:
To God the Best, the Greatest, & to Divine John
the Baptist Precursor sacred. On the posterior part,
Philip D'Oria Count, a thousand gold pieces
on this chapel to be constructed bestowed, caused to be made.
And below the aforesaid pegma: In the year
fourth of Liberty.
[429] Meanwhile did not cease the celestial favors,
which the city from the protection of the holy Forerunner
experienced: for in the year 1521, In the year 1521 a great is calmed tempest
on the day IX January, with winds blowing both
eastern, & meridional, so was being disturbed
the Ligurian sea, that from men's
memory similar never tempest seen was.
The Port itself extreme of ruin underwent danger,
burst nearly by the most violent of waves'
blows, which into the sea runs forth mole, & cast down
to the earth walls & workshops to the sea
nearer. Report Writers, at that time
the great marbles, which for the sculptors'
use on the bridge of the Bald lay,
from their place dislodged & by the waves' impetus
far thence were carried away. at the presence of the sacred Ashes. This matter the supreme
terror to the citizens injected, especially that
ships two, with merchandise laden, in the port
had perished, & of the rest nearly despaired
it was. But the sacred Ark's presence soon
all the waves' impetus broke, & with restrained
the winds' fury, tranquility to the sea
restored.
[430] Was at that time in the Cathedral among
others, a Confraternity of citizens, in nobility of blood
& authority in the Republic illustrious, In the year 1541 other gifts to the chapel given.
under the title of Peace & Love. These considering
(as have the words of the public Instrument) in
the present city to be present the Ashes of D. John the Baptist,
on account of whose prayers & intercessions they think the state
of the present city to be ruled & sustained, in the year 1541
to the Chapel of S. Forerunner gave two statues
of silver, one of D. Virgin, holding the little Jesus between
her hands; the other of Simeon, his arms
extended, that this from her he might receive, to which
afterwards to be joined it pleased a third of S. Forerunner,
with finger Christ the Lord demonstrating.
These are those very statues, which today still
on more solemn feasts on the altar of D. John are exposed,
& sometimes in supplication are carried around.
[431] Enjoyed supreme liberty & peace
the Genoese Republic already from the year 1528, In the year 1575 at the invocation of the Saint a great suppressed tumult,
which is to be ascribed to the vigilance & virtue of Andrew
Doria: but in the year 1575 all
were disturbed; when a very great tumult
among the citizens arose, which through many
months' space persisting the whole Republic's
base shook, & so much not
undermined. Sent as legate to Genoa Gregory XIII
Cardinal Moronus, who together with other
Princes' Orators the discordant citizens' minds
would conciliate. He when he rightly understood,
that true peace of souls a celestial gift
is; in the Cathedral church a Mass solemn
of the holy Spirit sang, & to imploring
in so difficult a business S. Forerunner's
Protection, the sacred his Ashes together
with other Saints' Lipsana through the city
in supplication to be carried around ordered, accompanying
the Magistrate & citizens. Nor with success
were lacking prayers: & new indulgences to his altar granted, for at length with Erebus
raging, the obstinate hardened spirits were appeased
were, vanished suspicions, & the opposing
parts entered peace; & thus returned tranquility
& the former liberty to the Republic. With these
to the desired end happily brought, the same
Most Holy Father after two years elapsed, to the Altar
of S. Forerunner, in favor of souls of the deceased,
all granted Indulgences, which
ever Supreme Pontiffs at various times
at Rome had granted to the chapel of S. Gregory.
[432] Previously that sacred Treasure within an ark
silver scattered was preserved: but
it seemed to Cyprian Pallavicino & to the Priors
of the aforesaid Confraternity, gathered into a silver ark Ashes, gathered in a sack
of red silk enclosed to preserve. This sack similarly
was enclosed in a silver ark, which this
bore inscription: Of the Divine Forerunner Ashes
& Bones, which in a silver capsule scattered lay,
Cyprian Pallavicino Archbishop of Genoa,
& James Vivaldus, & John Paul
Justinianus, & Counsellors of the Sodality, of the same
Prefects in this elegant manner to compose
took care, with John Anthony Tacio procuring 1576.
[433] The sacred Ashes' Translation, just as
at Genoa from the times of Alexander
III & Innocent IV was recalled under the name
of Revelation (as above was said;) so also
& other Churches of the city was recited,
even before the year 1292, which afterwards
in the Provincial Synod of the year 1375 Andrew
Turrianus Archbishop to all the Diocese
extended, as is plain from the following
extract.
[434] Since God our Church with honor
immense has exalted, when the sacred Body
of S. John the Baptist to us with a certain special
prerogative he gave; that day blessed,
on which was his most holy Body
revealed, through the Genoese diocese, namely the first Sunday after
the Lord's Ascension, we ought solemnly
to celebrate, & with festive praises to honor & to celebrate.
Wherefore we establish & ordain,
that in all the Churches, which are in
our City, & suburbs, & in all
our diocese, on the Sunday above-said be done
the Feast, & all Office both diurnal,
& nocturnal of the Revelation of the Body
of blessed John the Baptist; that with his suffraging
merits, we may here of God's grace
enjoy, & in the future eternal rewards merit.
[435] Now indeed this Office by the work of Cardinal
Anthony Sauli Archbishop, by the mandate
of the sacred Congregation of Rites, then through the whole Dominion extended. reformed
& thus by the same approved was, as also then
by Gregory XIV, with Decree for the whole
Diocese. Finally this concession was extended
through the whole Dominion of the Republic in the year
1628 by Urban VIII the Pontiff: &
this can be called the fourth of the sacred Relics'
Apostolic approbation.
[436] But when into the Archiepiscopal See
had succeeded Alexander Centurio, The Ark is opened & the Relics are visited in the year 1592, &
in the second year the Cathedral church was visiting;
he wished also with his eyes to inspect the most sacred
Ashes before the Chapter, & other
Clergy & Priors of the Confraternity. With opened
therefore first the iron ark, which with most powerful
bars is guarded; then & the other silver
(which is that which to the port for driving away
smaller of modern work elaborated; was extracted
was a sack of red silk, in which
were seen the sacred Forerunner's Relics,
partly in particles of Bones, partly in Ashes:
& satisfied through about an hour's space
with this pious spectacle the eyes, all things they placed back,
& the ark in customary manner sealed, before
the Chancellor of the Confraternity, who on this matter
were in the year 1592, as is established from the Acts of James
Sexini Notary, on VIII January of the same year.
[437] Thus enclosed remained the sacred Ashes
up to the year 1599, when to Genoa
came Queen Margaret of Austria, from Germany
to Spain to King Philip
Third, her husband passing. & 1599 with R. Margaret of Austria beholding She
hence to depart did not wish, unless the sacred Ashes
she had venerated. The Senate therefore in her favor
allowed the Ark to the greater altar to be brought,
& there by Matthew Rivaroba Archbishop's hands
that sacred Deposit was unsealed
before the Queen: who in seeing to be satisfied scarcely could, to whom a particle is granted.
happy proclaiming Genoa, which
of a Treasure so precious the possession to enjoy deserved
& so much by pious ambition was able the Queen,
that by Decree of the Most Serene College,
(which thing was without any example) of those
Relics a particle as a gift received, which
with supreme veneration & joy with her
into Spain she carried.
§. VI. Sacred Ashes' cult & miracles in the 17th century.
[438] Meanwhile had elapsed a hundred years, from
when the Chapel had been gilded, In the year 1604 the Chapel again is gilded. & time
here & there of this splendor had taken away,
& the smoke of torches & lamps there
burning all the gold had blackened. Whence
it came that anew it was gilded in the year 1604.
Above the Crown of the chapel on the left side
this is read of such deed memory. Nicholas
Palavicinus, son of Augustine, & John
the Baptist Doria son of Nicholas John James
son, Priors, from collected citizens' votes to be refurbished
took care, in the year of Salvation 1604.
[439] Nor to be omitted is what
in the year 1613 happened, In the year 1613 with the Relics brought to the port when divine Majesty
with a more bitter scourge (this perhaps deserved
our sins) the city afflicted, & seemed
divine Justice by the prayers of our Protector
not to wish to be interpellated. For on the night preceding
the day XV November, which to S. Martin
Bishop is sacred, about the eighth hour
rising up Africus, with such fury the sea disturbed,
that no one of the elders such tempest
to have seen remembered himself. There was at that time
the port with a vast multitude of ships filled,
among which six above ninety greater
were counted, partly empty, partly
with merchandise laden: for flourished at that time,
especially at Genoa, commerce. Fluctuated
meanwhile in the port not well safe ships in
the highest danger of submersion. a perilous tempest is driven away Cannot be said
how great was the horror in the city, whose
now all the piazzas nearer to the sea by the waves
were being covered. To the customary refuge against
the impending calamity recourse was had, so
disposed divine providence, that sought for an entire
hour's space one of the keys, with which
the customary remedy was preserved, was not found,
absent from the city some miles of paces, who
this kept. At length when many
ships had perished, was brought the desired key, & opened
the iron ark, they drew out the silver, which
the Priests placed on shoulders to the port brought
into the Chapel, where in customary manner were recited
prayers to God & the holy Protector;
& suddenly ceased the winds' impetus, &
returned to the sea tranquility.
[440] But when they experienced that the place,
where the ark is exposed at the time of tempest, which
is on that mole which the port closes, The Ark first on the mole, then on the bulwark exposed. excessive
danger to be exposed; & often it had happened,
that very many, by the winds' & waves' rushing
impetus, into the sea were thrust; it seemed
in the future, the sacred Ashes in similar
calamity to the bulwark to bring of the same
iron gate. Was for nearly an entire century
the above-said Chapel on the side of the old mole,
built in honor of S. John the Baptist,
by Prince Andrew Doria from the spoils, which
from Turkish pirates he had snatched, that those who in the triremes
were, could be present at sacrifice & at the time of tempest
there the most sacred Ashes could be brought,
which for nearly a hundred years' space was done,
until in the year 1618, on the sacred day of S. Mark
the Evangelist, when the Chapter & other Clergy
to the Cathedral had returned, from the mole where from
ancient custom on that day for the Greater Rogations
they had come; suddenly arisen
tempest them compelled the way to retrace, together
with the Ark of S. Forerunner: & when now the first
time it was exposed on the bulwark, whence
the whole wide sea is uncovered, soon the winds'
& waves' fury was repressed. Survive
still those who remember with their own eyes
to have seen, but at that time a tenth wave
of prodigious height from the deep sea threatening the mole,
with the ark exposed to retreat, & as if
at the sight of the sacred Ashes to flee away.
[441] Meanwhile abundantly provided the citizens' religion
for the sacred Chapel's furniture. Chapel's furniture For in the year
1619 for the altar a sumptuous pall of
solid silver, in anaglyphic work skillfully
made was, to which of the same work & material
were added candelabra four of great
height: a great is also seen of silver
lamps number, day & night
burning, of which one is of great size,
with Moorish work wrought, & with Arabic letters
inscribed, which the Genoese from the Moorish lighthouse
of the city of Almeria in Spain, when it
in the year 1147 they snatched from the Barbarians taken away,
in trophy of their victory in this sacred
place hung. Is this Chapel by consensus
of writers, & ornament. & by the judgment of skilled artists,
among the older one of the most beautiful
of all Italy, with many marble statues
through most excellent sculptors to the life made
adorned, just as also the exterior
face all of white marble skillfully carved
proud, worthy of better light, than is that
which it has today: for by few now is observed,
since for the great part it is covered by a canopy,
under which the Duke of the Republic at the Mass is present.
In this Chapel new Senators when
first into Magistracy they enter, from ancient custom
enter, & their ministry's auspices to S.
Forerunner's help to commend, at the Sacrifice
assist, which to that end to God is offered.
[442] Manifest also appeared the Saint's protection
in the year 1640, when a new into the sea
running forth bulwark, for port's security
was built. In the year 1640 a great tempest For on the feast of the Resurrection
of the Lord on the day morning unexpectedly so
& violently rushed Africus, that supreme consternation
to the city it brought. Were scattered on account of
festivity through the temples citizens. With completed therefore
in the Cathedral the high Mass, to which a great
multitude of Nobles & citizens had flowed,
the sacred Ashes in supplication to the port
they brought for restraining the sea's fury;
with placed indeed the sacred Ark on the bulwark of the gate,
with poured forth prayers, the Saint's intercession
they implored. And behold, not yet finished the prayers,
arose Corus & then Aquilo;
which driving through the air Africus & waves
with waves colliding, to the whole city marvelous an unusual
& aerial battle exhibited spectacle:
but at length from his station departing vanquished
Africus, the tranquil sea & from all
danger of shipwreck free left. The rising
unexpected of Corus & then of Aquilo so was
conspicuous & observed, by the Saint's help calmed, not only by those
who were on the bulwark, among whom & I
eye-witness was present, but also by all the
city; that with common voice even the infidels,
who in the ships were present, the miracle recognized,
& it to the most sacred Ashes ascribed.
Report moreover the Theatine Fathers, that from
their very high garden's pergola, behind the monastery
of S. Syrus, they saw rising Africus, with
such a whirlwind, that the whole city of theirs already
about to overturn it seemed: & that in that moment,
in which the Ark above the gate appeared, at its
sight they saw it fleeing & turning its back. Vanished therefore all danger
which threatened not only the ships,
but also the new into the sea projecting bulwark:
which when not yet was completed,
was feared lest it be dissolved, & with ruins
the port it should fill. Such was the tempest's
fury, that to the summit even of the lighthouse
the waves were raised, & sometimes the whole
bulwark with waters was covered.
[443] That for so great a benefit thanks would render
the Senate, on the customary Translation festivity,
the sacred Chapel visited, & was present at the Sacred
solemn & Sermon: to which thanks the Senate gives. then by perpetual Decree
sanctioned, that in the future in the supplication
of Sunday in Albis, the most sacred Relics to
the extremity of the old bulwark would be brought,
& there on an altar for this constructed would be placed,
amid musical singing & prayers of Priests,
by which to divine Clemency thanks would be given
for benefits through the intercession of B.
Forerunner obtained; & supplication would be made for
the firmness of the new bulwark & security of the port.
Besides it was constituted, that the triremes
all & ships, which at that time in the port
were, & other city's portalities, that sacred
Treasure with all warlike instruments'
explosion would salute.
§. VII. On other certain Relics of S. John the Baptist preserved at Genoa.
[444] Besides the aforesaid sacred Forerunner
Ashes, the Genoese Republic possesses
other Relics of the same Saint; The bone of the Arm enclosed in silver one
namely of the bones which are between elbow &
hand, to which around that part which to the hand
is joined, still flesh adheres, dried however
& by fire burned. It is not established even today
how & when to this church
it came. I confess indeed among the chapters
which in the year 1377 to the Rules of the Confraternity
of the same Saint (which Devotion was called)
were added, to have found I a mandate,
by which was prescribed that some Arm of S.
John the Baptist with silver should be surrounded, in these
words: Likewise they deliberated, that a council be held
of forty to fifty of those of the Devotion
better elected, for the deed of the venerable
Relic of the Arm of B. John the Baptist, in causing
it to be furnished with silver honorably & excellently.
Firmly I persuade myself, that here of those,
of which already I have mentioned, Relics is treated; since
no other similar in the same church was;
& thence I conjecture cannot have been treated of those
which from the city of Pera, when by the Turks captured
it was, were preserved & to Genoa were brought,
& then through various churches of the city divided in the year
1461, as is established from public instruments;
while meanwhile the aforesaid bone for nearly a whole century
earlier was in the Cathedral.
[445] These Relics for a long years' space,
with no honor & cult lay hidden; until
in the year 1613, which for a long time had lain hidden, was found in the year 1613 on the day XXIX December, which fell
on a Sunday; when was to be done
on account of the air's inclemency to this time deferred,
were found. For when the Vice-Chancellor
of the Republic & Sacristan from the case extracted
the sacred Cross Wood, which to be carried around
through the city was to be; them invaded curiosity
of opening a little wooden box with black horn
wrapped, which in the same place by public
keys was guarded. In this they found precious
those Relics with this inscription:
The bone with the flesh of the Arm of B. John the Baptist, together
with certain others, which worth I think
here to recount.
[446] The bone of the breast of S. Peter Apostle, this its
inscription; together with other Saints' Relics, as also another, The bone of the jaw of S.
Stephen Martyr. The bone of S. Mercurius with silver
surrounded, on which with Greek letters was inscribed
was, This is S. Mercurius. The bone of the head of S.
Timothy disciple of S. Paul, with silver surrounded,
with Greek inscription, The bone of the head
of S. Timothy disciple of S. Paul & another on which
similarly was inscribed, The finger of S. Mary Magdalene:
The bones of SS. Cosmas & Damian: The bone of S.
Pantaleon. Besides there was a paper, which
contained very many particles of sacred Bones,
on which was inscribed, These are Relics,
& we do not know of which Saints they are. A Reliquary,
in which was a particle of the sacred Cross. Agnus
Dei, which on one side our Redeemer,
on the other the sacred Cross referred. Agnus
Dei from one S. John the Evangelist, from
the other S. Daniel. Agnus Dei or a tablet
square, on which with Greek letters was inscribed,
This is S. Nicholas. Another square tablet
with this Greek inscription, This is S. George.
A coin on which from either part was inscribed,
This is the Crucified O. L. Jesus Christ.
[447] Shortly after this most sacred Arm
was enclosed in a new silver reliquary
of quadrangular form, that reason,
that from four parts through the middle of purest
crystal could be seen; & is enclosed in the ark of the sacred Ashes: & is kept within
the same ark, in which the urn of the sacred Ashes
is preserved under nine different keys,
of which one has the Most Serene Duke,
the other eight the two Priors of the Confraternity
of the same Saint. When however is prepared the customary
on Sunday in Albis Supplication, are drawn out
the aforesaid Relics from that ark, & placed on a pegma
to the greater Sacristy are brought.
Here the urn of the sacred Ashes to another
ark much greater is enclosed, above which
is placed the aforesaid reliquary with the most sacred
Arm, in place of the old statue of the same Saint,
which previously in that place was wont to be placed:
& thus on the Priests' shoulders through the city
is carried around, with the Regular Clergy preceding
& Secular, with the following indeed the Most Serene
Prince, with great citizens' retinue.
[448] This Ark in which the sacred Ashes are carried around,
most beautiful is & sumptuous: its elegance & fabric.
it is all of gilt silver: but the work the material
much surpasses: for of very many
pyramids by Gothic labor artfully on
high rising up summits, of a most elegant crown
this sacred Mausoleum surrounding
appearance refer. The four Ark's faces the chief
life of the Precursor & death histories
& Body's combustion exhibit, with figures
adequately standing forth, & with such art cast,
that admiration they move to those beholding.
Made was this ornament
in the year 1437, when of the Confraternity
Priors were Lazarus Vivaldus & John
de Pasiano, as is established from the memory to this inscribed
by the Author, of the Anaglyphic art more,
than of the Latin idiom skilled, in these words;
This work was made in the time of the Priorate of L L.
Lazarus de Vivaldis, & John de Pasiano
in the year 1437, on the day III of May, & Teramus
Daniel the smith fabricated. But that I may not incur
that defect, about which the ancient Genoese
writers I accused, who very many things
to the sacred & civil history pertaining
by carelessness neglected to ascribe; it helps
here to add two matters, which in our time
happened.
[449] In the year 1641, when it became known to the most serene
Senate that in the Collegiate church of S. Romulus,
commonly called of S. Remo, In the year 1641 was found as they think a finger. was kept a finger of the glorious
that Saint, he ordered it soon to Genoa
to be brought: & that the matter's truth might be investigated, all
diligence was applied. Was reported moreover,
that Constantius Nivellus, of the same dominion,
it in a small case enclosed had received,
so deposited by a certain old man Armenian, whom
together with two companions, in his ship from Barcelona to
Italy he was conveying. Now indeed when on a certain night
with arisen tempest shipwreck they had suffered,
near the place which Cervus is called, deceitfully the reliquary
he had retained, feigning it with the money,
which in the ship was, by shipwreck to have perished,
although all who in the ship traveled by swimming
had escaped: that the Armenian greatly
thence afflicted was, & had shown to the Provost
of the church & to others of that region writings
certain, by which it was established what had been lost;
that Constantius then returning to
his country to the Collegiate Church of the same place these
Relics in deposit consigned, with reserved
to himself the faculty of receiving if he had pleased. This
report was made by Constantius himself & by others, who
on this matter by the Chancellor of the Republic were
examined. It seemed meanwhile to the most prudent
Senators to retain the Finger aforesaid, &
to deposit in the case, in which under public keys
is kept that famous basin, until
shall deign divine goodness further light
of truth & certainty to pour forth. That Finger
is equipped with purest gold, in the form of a little cylinder
after eastern manner most finely elaborated,
which with many openings pervious to the eyes shows
Baptist Nocetus of the Society of Jesus, a man
with much erudition & Greek letters' skill
illustrious, in writing with Greek abbreviations on
that work found this sense, The finger of John
the Precursor.
[450] Finally a man of great name, when
through many years he had with himself at home a small
particle of the sacred Ashes, Retaining something of the sacred Ashes, with misfortunes afflicted, although
with supreme religion; at length however observing
that many misfortunes during all that time
to himself had happened, by prudent conjecture to its
retention them ascribed. He decreed therefore the matter
to himself so dear himself to despoil, & to obey the admonition
of the indignant to himself Precursor, & secretly
to the Most Eminent Cardinal Duratius Archbishop: it to return is compelled in the year 1646.
who this with his seal sealed,
by decree of the Most Serene College, to whom
the matter he had manifested, to other most sacred Ashes
ordered to be added on XVIII August of the year 1646,
before Lord Julius Caesar Borea Vicar
General: & on this matter was made Instrument
public by John Anthony de
Andrea, Notary & Chancellor of the Confraternity
of the same Saint.
[451] With more peaceful possession &
better fortune about to enjoy a notable S. Forerunner's
Relic, Blood of S. John the Baptist Marcus Anthony Doria Prince
of D. Angri, which by himself & all his
family no less by Christian piety than
by nobility's & riches' splendor, illustrious
above all terrestrial treasures rightly deservedly
is esteemed. on the feast of Decollation fluid But that particle of the most sacred
Blood within an ampulla of transparent glass,
which each year from the first Vespers of the feast
of Decollation until the end of the Octave liquid
& sensibly fluid is seen; while
through all the rest of the year's course it is congealed, is believed from that to be
hard & immobile. Is indeed part
of that which at Naples in the Church of S. John in
Carbonara is found, in which each year
the same that effect miraculous is seen;
just as also in that which is preserved in
the church of S. George of the same city.
[452] Reports Gregory of Tours de gloria
Martyrum lib. 1 cap. 12, that when
John the Baptist by the craft of Herod through Herodias
the wife of his brother into prison was bound, at that time
from Gaul a certain matron to Jerusalem
had gone, for devotion only, that of the Lord &
our Savior the presence she might deserve: hearing
however that blessed John was being beheaded, about which Gregory of Tours. with rapid
course thither she hastens; & with gifts given she supplicates
the executioner, that to her the blood flowing to gather
he would permit. He striking, the matron
head cut off, the gore devout she received, which
diligently in an ampulla placed, to her country brought,
& at the city of Vasates, with a church built in his
honor, on the holy altar placed, & said
that in his time each year the same
miracle happened. Believable can it be that from
that be, both what at Naples in the aforesaid two
churches is preserved, as that which
has at Genoa the above-praised Anthony Doria
in his Oratory, private indeed, but magnificent.
[453] It helps here to subjoin another more recent miracle
to us from Genoa transmitted in the year 1694,
on the day XXVII November, which thus has. In the year 1694 again calmed tempest, On Thursday
XXV November about sunrise so savage
here roared a tempest, that for thirty
years no one known is to have raged
so horrid, since the cause was that shipwreck in the very port
made three vessels with grain, two with wine, one
with oil laden. But it pleased divine Majesty
hence the glory of himself & of S. John the Baptist
to augment: for his Ashes sacred had scarcely been
carried, the help from heaven for obtaining's sake,
into the bulwark of the port; when continuously
the winds to abate & the sea to grow mild thus began,
that several other ships, which now & themselves
about to sink were, the danger escaped.
[454] In the year 1700, XXV September, more recent
another to us was transcribed by our Fr.
John Stephen Flisco. as also in the year 1700 Some months before
with arisen a great storm, when had seen a Naucler
certain non-Catholic the solicitude of sailors, that
according to custom the sacred Ashes were brought to the port,
& had laughed at their (as he believed) simplicity:
as soon as with his eyes he saw the sudden change
(for his ship was most in danger)
money with other naucleri he contributed,
that a new silver lamp would be made,
which continuously burns before the sacred Ashes.
CHAPTER VII.
Certain apparitions of holy Baptist.
§. I. On that, by which the Saint commanded for himself at Pontecorvo a church to be built.
[455] Aquinum between the Campanian Episcopal city,
& the Liris river, a moderate
each interval lies a town, of Pontecorvo, Church founded in the year 1137
or curvi name having, which some wish was old Fregellae
to have been. To this around the 12th century beginning
an Archpriest presided a certain Grimoaldus,
among the Saints to be commemorated on XXIX September;
now already however as such indicated, To S. Grimoaldus the Archpriestate of Montecorvo, at
XXII & XXIX May, on which his two brothers are venerated,
SS. Fulcus & Eleutherius, of whose
age henceforth we shall be able more certainly, than we then have,
to pronounce. For with Grimoaldus exhorting
the people, to the fabric to him heavenly entrusted
in the year 1137 was cast it is said the first into
the foundation of a new church stone, by Guarinus
Bishop of Aquinum, to whom Peter Deacon of Cassinum
about the year 1125 by Ughelli's testimony inscribed
the Life of S. Constantius, & with Guarinus holding the Episcopate of Aquinum, also Bishop of Aquinum
in the 6th century, which would that for I September
it happen entire to be found! for so far
only we have its part. Would also be found
at the same time the Life of the aforesaid S. Grimoaldus,
which briefly by himself written indicates Guarinus's
successor, so far to us Anonymous, who
the aforetitled revelation consigned to letters, to
posterity's memory.
[456] Anonymous I said: not because he is unknown
Guarinus's successor immediate, who sat between
him & Reginaldus, for the year 1179
only known & surviving up
to 1192 (but the middle to conceive persuades so many
years' space) but because it is difficult to divine,
who, from the remaining in Ughelli series, to such writing
his hand applied: for all in it
referred up to the year 1297, Monks &
nearly Cassinese were, just as also the preceding four;
for among them then or most flourished studies
of letters. in the time of Albert the Archpriest there, Nor for discerning more closely the writer's
age, anything makes Lord Albert,
at whose expense, as is said in Lection III, of the present
houses the fabric nearly all rises:
for not here is understood the fabric of the church, which
it is credible in a few months or at least years was completed
was; but of the Archpriestal house &
of the Clerics serving said church, which could
long after the church been begun, not yet finished
have been. Longer certainly time elapsed indicates the same
Lection III while it praises the church, which today erected
is seen.
[457] Therefore with care laid aside of knowing by name
the Writer, as here is given from a Ms. into 9 Lections divided. enough for authority to conciliate
be his dignity Episcopal, & age not greatly
remote from the things to be narrated. Can also somewhat
for the matter make, that the written about those things
Relation in the old Mount-curvi Legendary in letters
(as they call) Lombardic, is found for
the use of the Matin Office with proper one Responsory
& Hymn, divided into nine Lections:
but so insipidly was made that division, with no held
reason of periods aptly to be terminated, that it appears
not to be from the first author; to whom also be imputed
ought not the very Codex's hiatuses & errors
so frequent, that I had necessity by conjecture
to supply certain things, to correct others, lest
too much by them be burdened the reader. Otherwise I the context
will divide continuing the already begun numbers,
& the whole relation here I will part in two; so that
the prior part, this Paragraph following, the revelations
contain; the second, in the miracles in that place
performed consume, & make another Paragraph;
before however to be memorized Silvester Ayossa,
Presbyter of Capua; by whose diligence the aforecited Ms.
ecgraph double, before these about XL years, to
the hands of our Bolland came.
[458] The first Lection, taking higher of the fallen
Angels exordium, thus begins. By manifold of perversities
kinds, & by importune of depravity instances,
by which against the human race
unwearied diligently rises up the ancient enemy, Demons of human felicity envious evidently
is shown, that with the torches of hatred he is inflamed,
& by the goads of envy urging he is tormented;
because man from clayey body bearing
material, & on the lowest of lands placed, the heavens
ascends; & that supreme beatitude
obtains, which he himself in pure & spiritual nature
in heaven created, by humility to retain knew not.
For deservedly for his pride, from
the empyrean, that is from the heaven fiery in which he was,
with others was cast down into this air dark,
with all his perversity's consorts,
as John in the Apocalypse says; A Dragon
from heaven falling drew with him a third part
of the stars. Because lucifer, greater than others,
not fell alone; but with him many others,
who to him in malice consented, & those falling
this dark air chaos received. & partly in the aerial region hanging,
For neither was it granted to them to dwell in
heaven, which is a bright & pleasant place; nor
on earth with us, lest too much men they should ensnare;
but according to Apostle Peter's sentence,
In a dark prison: which indeed prison to them
until the time of judgment is allotted: after
judgment indeed into the pit shall they be thrust of hell,
at the voice of the Lord, saying, Go you accursed
into the eternal fire, which is prepared
for the devil & his angels.
[459] Credible however it is & verisimilar seems,
that some of them are now in hell,
or that they descend there daily for
tormenting souls, partly to hell thrust with Lucifer, which they bring into
hell & detain tormenting. But that
of many the souls there are punished, from this
is established, that Christ descending to hell,
the just who there were held drew out, the impious
there left; according to that of the Prophet, That
every violent plundering with tumult, & garment
mixed with blood shall be for burning
& food of fire. But Lucifer immersed
in hell is believed, & there is said
bound from that time, when in the desert &
in the Passion Christ he tempted, & vanquished by
him departed. not except about the end of the world to be loosed, The first also man by
him is said to have been tempted, & vanquished; but by
the second man, that is by Christ, overcome
& into hell thrust until the times of Antichrist;
when shall be what in the Apocalypse is read,
Satan shall be loosed from his prison; when
shall be completed years a thousand, & he shall go out &
shall seduce the nations; & there shall be such tribulation, that,
if it can be done, shall be moved even the elect.
There shall be given to him power of tempting men, whom
now they have to themselves accomplices, who with him
fell, as has been said in the dark prison
hanging.
[460] They assume sometimes bodies thin
& foamy, in which b they can suffer;
nor however by death are they dissolved on account of
aerial bodies' nature by which they are vigorous: men
to tempt by nature's subtlety they can,
if by good Angels & by God himself they not be
prohibited. Obstinate indeed so they are in
malice, to men meanwhile in diverse ways are troublesome, that good will to have or
good to will they cannot: whence to evil
always prompt, always to men to harm
they strive: whose will when depraved it is,
& act perverse, & by consideration of their
fall, & of so great beatitude's loss stimulated;
& with grave envy, of man's assent
to the glory from which they had fallen, with ardor
burning, cunning to men ambushes by diverse
efforts they prepare. God however just & supremely
good, from equity of justice, & of goodness piety,
to the machines of their perversity the defense
of his benignity opposes; that what in men's
detriment & ruin they themselves machinate,
supreme goodness God in their advantage,
& of salvation exaltation piously turns.
461] In the time when of Sicily, Apulia & Land-of-labor, [Thus in the time of Roger K.Roger c King renowned, Magnificent
triumpher, by glorious war & triumphal
victory the peace within Italy's nearly borders
obtained, with God helping, was reforming;
& while still the enemies of peace the royal commands in mountain
refuges were retreating; & was peace rough &
precarious, to robbers' & rapacious minds
hateful; a certain man poor & simple, of Pontecorvo
by birth, by name John, drawing
from Honey his surname, on the borders of Pontecorvo,
near d a river, a certain land, with a hoe
as far as he could, to cut was busying himself. Him alone,
to the field work solicitously incumbent,
the cunning enemy the devil in human effigy attacked
was. There was indeed of the river on the margin, by a demon solicited a rustic, poor,
near him not a small willow trunk,
on which Satan sat down, a silver cup
in his hands carrying: & he began the man with bland
to himself to attract speech; & many things to him offering
with mouth false, more many studiously promised.
The man however of extreme poverty possessed,
& by daily heavy rake's labor depressed,
between joy placed & fear,
silver desiring, faith to promises applying,
horrid & insubstantial abhorring; the place
considering, the precipice fearing; between hope
& fear he began not a little to go solicitous.
L. II.
[462] But omnipotent God's piety copious,
which the humble looks upon & the poor blessed
calls; who himself transforms into the poor, & offered
to the poor as to himself tribute by hundredfold
multiplicity repays; who to have mercy
upon the poor commands & needy, & souls of the poor
makes saved e; his Forerunner & Baptist,
most blessed namely John, to
one's liberation directed; by S. John appearing he is freed; whom for announcing
the nations' redemption long before
he had sent. And the Saint the most miserable man,
now going, now & soon to the devil approaching,
with sacred hand snatched, & from
the purpose of mortal stepping turned away; the malign
& fierce spirit cursing & threatening,
with such of waters' sound, of the word
alone's impulse, him to the river's depths submerged,
that further from very many men heard
to have been is memorized.
[463] The man however, by what he had seen stunned,
in what he had avoided rejoicing, with mouth trembling &
voice subdued, said to the Saint; Who indeed
art thou Lord? Who art thou most loving, through
whose protection so near precipice I deserved to escape?
And the Saint to him; I am John
the Baptist, that thee from Satan's ambushes I might free,
from the jaws of Behemoth thee I might draw out, who
with me present from the mouth of hell very many drew out,
from the demons' torments with me seeing not
saying: Go to Grimoaldus the Arch-priest
of Pontecorvo hastening, & orders in that place to be erected a church for himself, & exhort
him, that in three works he exercise himself,
which he began: in which if to persevere he shall study,
by the gift of the supernal bestower the crown of life he shall receive
with the elect: & so let him study, & so the people
let him exhort, that in this place a house to my name
be constructed, in which the vows of the faithful be paid,
& in which my Lord Christ
to the bodies & souls' languors confer
with customary benignity healing.
[464] These said, melted into the thin breezes,
he departed; & remained long the man broken & stupid.
Marvelous God's virtue, marvelous power, which the invisible,
when has in good pleasure, visible
shows; & conversely, the visible when
he wishes invisible renders; whose Angelic excellence worthily to be praised of celestial dwellers & of earth-born
spirits to the fulfillment of his ministry
Angels (that is, messengers) he makes, according
to that of the Prophet. Who makes his Angels;
spirits, & his ministers a burning fire.
To Angels indeed are compared by the Lord
the spirits of men from flesh absolved, when to the Sadducees
doubting of the resurrection he says; In
the resurrection however they neither marry nor are given in marriage;
but shall be as Angels of God in heaven.
Although B. John himself be an Angel, by
God to his only Son for himself promised, when is said;
Behold I send my Angel before
thy face, who shall prepare thy way before
thee. But whether an Angel, as by the Lord's mouth
is asserted; or man, as by men
& sacred Scriptures is asserted, by the assertion
of anyone is noted; with worthy is of copious
praises' heraldings to be exalted, & by the prerogative of merits
immense to be venerated.
[465] None, as I think, of Angels for
preparing the only-begotten Son of God's ways, of greater
dignity by ministry shone forth: to no one ever
of Angels or men of greater dignity &
merit more excellent testimony the majestic
Lord's truth itself rendered. unequal to himself acknowledges the Writer. But who indeed
I? & what so great presumption's temerity,
that about most blessed John the Baptist to speak I undertake?
about the secretary & assessor of the heavenly Bridegroom
I speak; in whose praises' series to be pursued,
the Saints', the secrets celestial penetrating, studies
failed, & of Doctors most excellent most studious
ingenia less having were found.
Nor of praise needs the dance human, who by the founder
of all things & Lord of all, by
divine prudence universally is among men's
sons sent before, of unspeakable praise's eminence
presignified. Nor was this religious of Lord
Albert's pure intention, at whose expense
& judgment of the present houses the fabric nearly
all rises, & of possessions not small
part, for the poor's use about to serve grew; nor
persuaded the spiritual & heavenly man's anxious
instance of prayers; not except that the apparition of the Baptist
of the Lord & Forerunner, which above, although
with rough & uncultivated speech I have pursued,
& of the miracles at least a particle by faith's assertion
to be pursued, in such style as I could, veridical
yet, to posterity's memory I leave,
which divine Omnipotence in praise of his Precursor
exercised; & men's pitying
distresses, to the pious piously, to its own with proper dignity
came to aid. To the proposed therefore narration's
series our mind's study we recall.
L. IV.
[466] After abandoned by either spirit
was John that one, surnamed Honey, from his innermost
precordia he began anxious to think, what
he should do; with himself in the praetorium of his heart, To the vision to be manifested the rustic delaying, in the palace
of his mind he was acting saying; Shall I cover with silence,
what the Saint to me to be propagated so
constantly enjoined? Shall I conceal silently such
great immense benefits, which his to me
grace conferred the Saint? Shall I be ungrateful
to the benefit? unsuited to life's giver, disobedient
to him, who me from body's destruction freed?
who me from the jaws of pale death drew out?
To be silent indeed not should I be, I confess, &
to cry out by me rather should be I attest: but
to face to me adversity will be objected of fortune,
to forehead to me of extreme poverty calamity
will be opposed: will argue of lie me the unbelieving
people; for the purpose of repelling hunger, & advantage
to be gained, to be pretext groveling
will assert.
[467] While these things within himself long mind's chamber
silent he turns, while with many of thoughts'
waves he hesitates, according to Apostle James,
was made similar to a wave of the sea, which
by wind is moved & is carried around. to another appears the Saint & orders a painter to be sought, Preferred
the man beginning to eternal life's advantages
shame temporal, & for days covered
few the glorious vision, & presumed
for some time the vision not to execute salutary.
The Redeemer however, who men's salvation
always watches over, who to such whom he redeemed,
of Angels & Saints' custody prepares;
the same most blessed Baptist John sent
to a certain man of Ambrifia, f Projectus
by name on one night putting forth voice, & to him
through vision thus spoke: the rustic indeed to be rebuked. Go quickly
to Pontecorvo, & to him whom at the entrance
of the city thou shalt have meeting, thou shalt say: Mandates
to thee through me divine Baptist John, that the Church
which to his name to be built are
the Ponticurvenses, with thine own hand thou paint,
& the decoration of sacred images to apply
do not delay. Then, after
the city thou shalt have entered, a man certain
to find study who is called John Honey;
& him of incredulity harshly thou shalt reproach,
because to our vision admonished to obey
he despised, whatever to him after the first
apparition I had enjoined: & because
unmindful of God's benefits, to his praise glory
he did not give.
L. V.
[468] But the man of g Ambrifia, to the Saint's
salutary admonitions diligently acquiesced; & rising
at dawn, with staff taken, to Pontecorvo
by straight way was walking. But on the suburb's
walls of the bridge's middle a man certain
he found: from whom after salutation, by what
he was called name he inquired. But he,
Robert the painter me, The found painter prompt himself shows; he says, they call.
When indeed this the Ambrifian had heard, immediately
he understood this to be, whom the Saint to be found
would be had foretold: & with received of the vision faith
full, made also more spirited, with prompter
address he says to him; Mandates to thee most blessed
God's Precursor, John the Baptist, that
within their own borders to his name will build.
The man however very much exulted at the announcement, &
what he had been admonished with voluntary pledge
he promised. Preceded therefore the Ambrifian,
& the city entered, John Honey
he found; & what to him had been enjoined seriously
he revealed.
[469] These heard John that with incredible joy
exulted, & what he himself secretly to some
with blush had revealed, lest (as has been said)
as an impostor in the future for the unprecedented
he be refuted as a liar; exhorted in companion,
now no annexing little delay, began rejoicing
with voice heraldic, what to him the Saint had enjoined
to proclaim: & taking by the hand
the man, with cheerful face, with swift step, to the Archpriest
together they go; & with the rustic he goes to the Archpriest: & all to him
narrating in order, as had been commanded,
to him faithfully exposed. But he, as he was mild,
benign, simple & sweet, listened:
& faith full to the made commands applying,
whatever to himself by B. John had been mandated,
to his breast he bound, & with great mind,
& with pure heart he studied unanimously to fulfill.
For in the three works, to which him B.
John wished to be encouraged, namely of fasting, of prayer
& of alms, so himself devout exercised,
& so himself laudably formed, that in the year
seventh after the flesh's mass deposited,
through him very many deigned to work the Lord,
which we summarily in a small book have touched
to posterity's memory to be left: in
the admonition however of the people & zeal for the Church
to be constructed so himself prompt & exercised
he exhibited, that in the exhortation in such
work's exercise, Bezeleel or Ooliab could
be esteemed.
[470] The people therefore by admonitions allured, by threats
terrified, by speech excited, with mind equal, with will
concord, unanimously runs; & in the year
of the Lord 1137 Episcopal consigning,
& with stone's placing by Lord Guarinus, whom adhering are cast the foundations
of recordable memory Aquinas Bishop, our predecessor,
humbly implored, & as
by sacred Canons' institutions is cautioned
is, solemnly accepted, near the place where the aforesaid
apparition heavenly was exhibited, a church
which today erected is seen, with devotion
full is built: for in that same place, which
most blessed Christ's Baptist with sacred footsteps trod,
on account of the river's alluvion, by no means
to be constructed could. in the year 1137. On account of that however of footsteps'
reverence & of so great a Vision's memory
to be preserved, an arch is fabricated
of stone, & under it erected an altar, on which
to the highest Lord the Sacrifice of praise is offered
h.
NOTES BY D. P.
lacking in the original, neither hereafter scrupulously to distinguish, but in either case parenthesis [] about to use.
his brother succeeding in 1102, the Dukedom of Apulia first occupied in the year 1127,
King of Palermo crowned in 1129: but the vision itself could in 1156 have been
made.
Baptist of Christ blessed John, help us, who thy apparition
cultivate: & grant us to enjoy celestial gifts. v. Who on this day
to a certain man appeared, & him from diabolical persuasion freed.
Help us &c. Besides this no other Responsories are noted; because
probably they were from the ordinaries of the feast of Decollation to be taken.
Here however note how unaptly is made the section of period, not yet completed.
corrected Robert; but soon it will appear those distinguished should have been. Pons-curvus however, a city seems said because of amplitude, by which already then perhaps it surpassed or equaled Aquinum.
h It pleases
here to append a Hymn placed at the end of the ninth Lection; which although neither
metrical nor rhythmic is, yet some modules apt for singing
preserves; & perhaps in the Dedication of the church composed, to the Author
of its history foreshone for the same more fully to be explained.
HYMN.
Of Christ the Herald let us venerate the day,
We in this temple to himself consecrated
With consonant voice equally singing
Praises let us speak.
For today the Lord's Baptist
Through God's command came into this place,
And ordered a House to be consecrated
To his name.
A certain rustic while here was alone,
With his rake the earth was turning over:
Suddenly the evil spirit approaching,
Him called.
A silver cup in his hands he bore,
Calling him many things he promised,
Saying, Hither come, & thee with many gifts
Greatly I will enrich.
Soon needy he detained by poverty
To go wished, but feared the river:
For if in the depth of water he were held,
His life would end.
The Saint suddenly the Lord's Baptist,
Quickly hastening freed him;
And by his command the malignant spirit
Submerged in the wave.
Immediately of Christ the Lord the Precursor
The rustic to the Clergy of Pontecorvo sent,
That for himself a temple to make they hasten,
In that place.
Which heard with joy filled
The Clergy, & all the people into one,
The house aforesaid worthily constructed
To Holy John.
Glory to the Triune let us resound to God,
Who such to us has given a Patron,
That his ample pardon he give us,
Now & in the age, Amen.
§. II Miracles of S. John the Baptist at Pontecorvo.
L. VII.
[471] In the very ecclesiastical structure from the beginning,
while the foundation is cast, While the church is being built, several miracles happen. materials
for the remaining work necessary are prepared;
the fame of so glorious an apparition is diffused,
& with swift flight all the vicinity traversing,
by divine indeed impelled breath,
grateful began to be held, & celebrated in minds of all,
with full devotion glorious. There is therefore unanimous
from neighboring habitations of the people with
exultation concourse, of the languishing most, that
by the gift of grace, by the merits of the Lord's Baptist, copious
in his exhibition, with restored health
they might obtain. And because hope leaning on heavenly things, to faithful
Christ's promises bound, neither could be defrauded,
nor ever cassed prostrated; with overflowing
divine piety's opulence, healings
are there to very many variously infirm
restored; & to the tearful of those acclaiming
petitions, by the gift of pious commiseration granted.
For coming to the place, Adolescent in his whole body contracted where recent still
cast foundation's structure projected, an adolescent
certain, of Campania birth, by name
of the Castle which is called Ripa, long there of the Forerunner
of the Lord's help with mind eager
with tearful prayers begged; that from
the abundance of merits of the most worthy Intercessor,
before the immensity of divine propitiation,
mercy he might obtain; that by the benefit of the most holy
Bestower, by the desired through to be desired Bridegroom
celestial's bedfellow of mournful prayers' instance
he might attain; & to his members natural
would be rendered offices, which by his hidden judgment
divine were by providence from the mother's womb's
emission denied. For there were hands
to him dried up entirely & desiccated, of nerves' moisture
lacking, so by curving bent,
that to any necessary office
uselessly they were stretched. Feet also, thighs,
& calves, the form indeed of natural complexion
of men to glances exhibited, but
for walking, even with one staff, in vain
they would try.
[472] By a little donkey hither as carrier he had come; & to ascend
which & to descend of another always with help
he together needed. Long, I say, prayers tearful, & by a little donkey conveyed;
long groaning he poured forth voices; but
to divine Munificence it did not please, to Providence
it did not seem fitting, that around the work still unfinished
therefore having passed days, from hope of health fallen,
by the same by which he had come vehicle, to his own
returned house. while with cure despaired he returns, But on the first night succeeding
the day on which he had returned, so by divine gift &
by B. John's merits made was healthy, that
at supreme morning by straight way walking, a donkey
he prepared; & with placed upon him of the best
of land's fruits, & more than just him pressing
with goad, recalling that at some time him
to urge he could not to running, or step
to restrain accustomed; with happy course already said
he came to the construction, & gave to the workers
what he had brought; & before them, who a little
before him weak had seen, & [now
saw] entirely healed, rejoicing here
& there leaping, it suddenly receives. the attained health to all
alacritously was showing. These seeing with
him equally all of opulent God's clemency thanks
with immense cries rendered. The man
however to God's benefit was not according to the measure
of his faculty ungrateful: for indeed
for very many in which he lived years, that place devout
with offerings to visit came, &
of perceived health to God at certain times
to render thanks did not appear forgetful.
[473] A woman certain by name Bona, of
the Castle neighboring which is called Field b of
Honey, for time not modest with sciatica
infirmity was tormented. The nerves to her of either
thigh had withered; Woman from sciatica long bedridden nor at all to walk
could she or to sit; always however to lie
with condition most miserable was compelled. This
woman the aforesaid most blessed John's apparition
learning, with full began intention
to trust, that if the place she could visit,
in which the Lord's Forerunner is said to have appeared,
immediately to former health she would be restored. She made
therefore herself thither, but with difficulty to be brought;
nor was defrauded of her desire. For after
the ground she found, after with extended
arms the earth with kisses she smoothed, in the place is cured. through which
lately God's Baptist had walked, through which
with sacred feet footsteps had fixed; immediately is swift
by God's commiseration healthy made, that immediately
after thanks giving, running & leaping
home with joy she returned; & always
mindful of the conferred benefit, the Church, which
there in honor of B. John built is seen,
each year while she lived, with
gifts & in her own person visited.
[474] A Ponticurvensian matron certain, while
in field works something she desired to do,
to a neighbor entrusted, Woman the lost daughter two years old, to her fellow-tribeswoman's custody
with maternal solicitude left. Who after
necessary in fields had completed work, the affection
of a mother under her breast preserving, return
her as soon as she could for her daughter hastened; that
when returned to the home of the fellow villager, of whose faith
she had entrusted her, about the daughter with mind already trembling
she might inquire. Suddenly she, by just complaint
disturbed, while the entrusted to her daughter to the mother
to render she could not; said: Alas me miserable!
me grieving! More than usually, more
than just me today of the household care
curious necessity occupied: therefore what to her happened
(for perhaps she hid entirely) most miserable
I know not. I fed her now hanging on my arms,
softly I shook, & with gentle whisper
that she would sleep I effected: afterwards, [whether by
another] she awakened c crept, or had been maliciously
or amicably withdrawn, with household occupied
business, with excessive exhausted labors,
(which to say I am ashamed) I know not. everywhere in vain seeks & laments: But the mother
anxious now, now of the daughter's death with mind struck,
through piazzas & streets began as a lioness
to run: to all whom she could see,
she proposed about her daughter exceedingly furious
complaint, nor enough eyes faithful she thought were to be believed;
but whatever was indicated of hiding place with thrust in
arms that she might be made more certain she overturned.
And when all the vicinity & neighboring houses
with quick course she had searched, nor whatever
of the daughter she had ascertained sign; & when with torn
face, hair loose, & beaten breast
with fists, dissolved entirely & broken, home
her by relatives' hands she was being carried;
& she sat in customary manner, of friends surrounded
by crowds; some, but discordantly, about
the girl what sinister had happened were averting. And
because, as the Apostle says, In his own
sense each abounds; each as to him came in
mind, the misfortune which to happen could
confessed. And so that most eloquent man Cicero's
in Rhetoric d proposition is approved:
If thou hesitate & cease, better is that this to thee come,
what an angry wife thinks, than what
propitious parents.
L. IX.
[475] Then with weeping & wailing all the day passed,
it happened that a noble Knight
of the aforesaid city, to a little brook
suburban, that he might water his horse, at twilight
to turn. in a little brook submerged But his horse the front
feet in the water placing, blowing & trembling
stopped; & pressing with spurs Lord
despising, backward rather to yield was trying.
Indeed the Knight with curious inspection
considering, what indeed it was that the horse so
harshly stimulated water to enter shunned;
suddenly among brambles, which in the brook were, cloths
he saw, a certain man finds, & them his horse to have trembled
he recognized. With broken therefore from a neighboring tree
gradually to draw through the brook he began: & when
to himself heavily he had drawn, a girl to be
dead he found; & of the aforesaid woman, from
importune inquiry which he had heard, the daughter
to have been he noticed. The lifted then from the water
girl with swift step he led to the mother, & thence drawn out brings to the mother:
saying; See if this is thy daughter, or not:
& he narrated in order how her in the brook
he had found. But when the mother her daughter to be
own with sure truth recognized, cries multiplying,
weeping redoubling, the sad breast severely
stabbed; & since by ancient superstition
of popular folly by very many is observed,
lest the dead into castles or cities e
be brought; to the Church of blessed Mary in
the suburb dedicated, with straight step she is led, & there
through the whole night with mournful funeral is watched.
[476] But after & he, who founded the earth
& remains, by whose ordering perseveres
the day, that one namely to whom all things serve, of the following
day the vicissitude to lands by order
restored; & when in that was, she the next day commended to S. John the Baptist that should
the deceased to the grave be carried, to prayers'
suffrages herself betook the mother, & Most Blessed
John the Baptist of the Lord with innermost precordia
besought; that hope to her one & sole of posterity,
that is the only daughter, alive be restored
& healthy: (for then the aforementioned most blessed John's
apparition new, solemn & celebrated by
all neighboring peoples was held:) & when
the mother prayers heartily anxious
multiplied, seemed to yawn the girl; revives. & namely
from sleep awakening, the arms above the head
extended, & with opened eyes alive is found.
All the surrounding people having seen the miracle
marvelously trembled, & the Lord's Baptist
for some space with praises acclaimed;
& to the present Church, newly built,
with the girl resuscitated & mother, about to give
thanks all with devotion ran;
& with hymns & oblations to the most blessed John
unanimously paid, the people to their own with
all exultation returned.
NOTES BY D. P.
e Custom
this not only to the Gentiles, but also to the Jews customary of carrying out the dead,
nor except in the pomerium of burying, even among Christians for several centuries
lasted, & lasts even today in various places through Germany, where Cemeteries
commonly Gods-acker, that is Field of God outside the walls are. And this usage, on many & good reasons relying, better perhaps preserved would have been.
§. III. Other visions in various places & to diverse persons offered.
[477] Caesarius of Heisterbach in the Cologne
diocese Monk lib. 8 cap. 48,
having promised to subjoin, Monks of Clairvaux to the Saint very devoted the head flames of S. John the Baptist, whose
memory celebrated is through all the Church,
some visions, cap. 49, 50, 51
& 52 consequently thus writes. In Clairvaux
indeed of his Nativity he was born, & on
this account by parents John was called. Above
the rest of the Saints he loves him; & as often as anything
to him pertaining is sung, as is
the Canticle of his father Zacharias, there to his voice entirely
he does not spare. On a certain night, when the same
Canticle in the choir he was chanting, & it had come
to that Versicle, And thou, child, Prophet
of the Most High shalt be called; a certain Priest
standing in the opposite choir, a flame from his head
to rise saw: he is called moreover
William, & is a religious Priest, to whom
many things divinely are revealed. Who having said Matins
approached Lord Sygerus Prior, &
what about Brother John he had seen, to emit seems. he set forth.
Whom immediately called the Prior saying; Tell me
Brother John, what didst thou think in Lauds,
when was begun the Canticle, Blessed
be the Lord God of Israel? To whom he answered:
Believe me, Lord, I was thinking;
If were in heaven thy voice, never would it grow hoarse,
& always God would praise with the Angels.
And the Prior: What didst thou have in heart within that
Versicle; And thou child, Prophet of the Most High
shalt be called? To which again he answered;
So kindled was my heart in that hour to
the memory of S. John the Baptist, whom much
I love, that scarcely myself I could contain for joy.
And recognized the Prior, that the flame the same
from the heart of the adolescent into heaven ascending.
In the year preceding (that is 1221) this vision by
the aforesaid Prior of Clairvaux, to the Prior of Claustrum
was recited, from whom I that learned.
[478] Related to me Lady Irmingardis,
Mistress of the Island of S. Nicholas, in the year preceding,
known marvelous love toward the aforesaid Lord's
Precursor. Of a Nun More than all Saints
him she loved: nor was enough for her about him to think,
him with services & prayers to honor, to her co-sisters
his prerogatives to preach; nay
even, to perpetuate his memory,
to versify about his Annunciation, Nativity,
& joy of parents: lettered indeed
she was, & therefore in verses to pursue she strove
whatever about his sanctity she read. All
also persons secular, similarly affected with whom she spoke,
she warned & asked, that their children
John or Zacharias they would name; women
indeed Elizabeth. And when about to die she was,
John Monk of Claustrum her visited;
& knowing her affection for S. John,
he said: Aunt, when you shall be dead, what kind
of Mass do you wish I sing for your soul,
for the Deceased, or of S. John the Baptist?
To which she without any deliberation answered;
Of S. John. And when to extremes
she had come, having compassion on the Sister serving her,
she said: Go, Sister, upon the upper room, he himself is present in the hour of death. & rest
sleep was resting, of this kind a voice through
sleep she heard: Why here liest thou? S. John
the Baptist is below with Sister Hildegunde;
this was her name. At which voice
the Nun awakened, with neglected
garments in her chemise descended, & now her
to have expired found: around whom such most sweet
odor was, that she did not doubt there to be the presence
of S. John, who the soul of his loving woman
to choirs would associate Angelic.
[479] He told to me another vision,
than those two more pleasant, Two about his & Evangelist's excellence quarreling which to himself by the Mistress
of the House, in which it was seen, he said had been recited.
Two Nuns were & still
are in Lutere, monastery of the Trier
diocese, of whom one specially loved
S. John the Baptist, the other indeed S.
John the Evangelist: who, as often as they came together
among themselves, about their majority contended;
so that the mistress sometimes scarcely
could them restrain: for she of her beloved
privileges in the midst proposed, to which this
of her beloved with prerogatives strongly opposed. are restrained with both to them appearing, On a night
certain before Matins, S. John the Baptist,
to his loving woman in sleep appearing,
thus said: Sister, know S. John the Evangelist
to me equal to be. Never a man
more chaste was than he, in mind together & body
virgin. Him Christ to the Apostolate chose,
him beyond the other Apostles more loved,
to him the glory of his Transfiguration showed,
he most blessed on the breast of Jesus at supper reclined,
he the dying assisted; & the Baptist the Evangelist, to him a virgin
Christ a virgin a virgin Mother commended;
he beyond the other Evangelists higher flying,
& the eyes of his mind on the wheel of Divinity more fully
fixing, his Gospel thus began
was; In the beginning was the Word &c. wrote
also the Apocalypse, than which nothing in celestial
figures is more obscure: very many for Christ
he suffered torments, scourges, boiling oil,
exiles. Behold, on account of these & many other his
privileges, equal to me he is. In the morning therefore
call thy Sister before the Mistress; &
falling before her feet, ask that she forgive
thee, that so often her thou hast exasperated for my cause.
Who at the matins signs awakened, of
such clear vision to think began.
[480] But said Matins, when the other
to sleep had given herself, The Evangelist the Baptist extolling. S. John the Evangelist through
vision was present, & under the sense of these words
his loving woman addressed: Sister, know
B. John the Baptist far greater to be than me:
Among them born of women with Christ as witness, has not
risen up a greater than he. Himself a Prophet, & more
than a Prophet, by an Angel was announced,
from a sterile mother contrary to nature conceived, in
the womb above nature sanctified, in the wilderness
without all sin lived; which about me
cannot be said, who to gains gaping, among
seculars secular secularly lived. The Savior,
whom in the womb he knew, among the crowds
to himself coming with finger demonstrated, & in
the Jordan with sacred hands baptized. He the heavens
saw opened, the Father hearing in voice,
the Son seeing in man, the Holy Spirit
in the form of a dove: at length for justice martyred
he was. Whence today thou shouldst call thy Sister
before thy Mistress; & thus her
to ask, that to thee she forgive, because so often her
thou hast exasperated, me contentiously to the Lord's Precursor
preferring. In the morning singly to the Mistress
they come; what they saw they expose,
then together prostrating themselves, & from each other
(as to them had been commanded) pardon asking,
with mediating Mother spiritual, were reconciled;
with her warning, that henceforth about the merits of Saints
they should not contend, which to God are known.
[481] Just as celestial citizens visit, with
much consolation those loving them; so sometimes
with much invective & blows, Is castigated a Canon those
despising them. A Canon certain was in the church
of Bonn, who frequently with his companions
Nuns at Diskirchen was wont to visit:
nor was in that visiting anything
of religiosity, but levity & danger of souls.
For as often as it was necessary him to enter
the cloister, which in honor of B. Peter & S.
John the Baptist is dedicated; he was passing
with erect neck, nor even one time before the altars
bowing his head. without reverence On a certain night the venerable
Baptist, in sleep to him appearing, &
with grim face on him looking, thus said: And thou
unjust, so often through my Oratory passing,
never anything to me hast exhibited of honor, passing the altar of the Saint. that
at least even one time the neck thou wouldst bend before
my altar; & raising his foot so strongly he thrust
him in the belly, that, both from terror of the rebuke,
& from pain of the striking, he awoke.
From that hour he began to be infirm, & gradually
with the belly swelling dropsical to become;
& thus going on, until with the disease prevailing he died.
And if you wish to know, John is the name
of him. Perhaps from this very thing the Saint more was disturbed,
because the very equivocation of his name
nothing of reverence to his heart had impressed
concerning himself.
[482] Thus far Caesarius to whom, as to substance
of the penultimate vision, consonant is what James of Genoa
in Hist. Lombardica, Various apparition of both Johns: by others called Legenda
Aurea, num. 80; & from him Durandus in Rationali
Divinorum Offic. l. 7 cap. 42 thus narrate: There were
two Doctors of Theology, of whom one John
the Baptist, the other indeed John the Evangelist
preferred. At length on this with solemn
disputation indicted, each very solicitous
was authorities & efficacious reasons
to find, by which his John he might
prefer. Coming however the disputation's
day, each of the Saints to his emulator appeared,
& to him said: Well agreed we are
in heaven, about us do not dispute on earth.
Then they to one another & all the people the vision
made public & the Lord blessed.
Thus both equally, with the middle between themselves
Christ, proceeding on the feast of Annunciation
saw B. Veronica of Binasco lib. 4 of the Life cap.
23, on XIII January by us illustrated. Thus by both
accompanied the God-bearer Virgin saw Cyriacus
Abbot, in the Author of the Spiritual Meadow
cap. 46.
[483] We gave on XXIV May the Life of S. Martha,
of her whose this day's son S. Simeon the Younger is venerated,
& who in the 6th century with him Antioch of Syria
with her miracles illustrated. seen the Baptist with S. Timothy: She, as is narrated num.
8, when at some time nocturnal in customary manner prayers
was offering to God, & to him thanks paid through
the hands of him than whom there has not risen up a greater among
them born of women, John the Baptist; falling
into sleep, was deigned a vision of him, appearing
together with S. Timothy S. Paul
Apostle's Disciple, & they conversed
as friends are wont; she heard also S. John
such saying to her: I thee at all
time defend & fight for before God,
nor ever will desert.
[484] Indeed even the whole nation of the Lombards
under his protection to be, after Theodelinda the Queen the church
of Monza to him had dedicated, on more than one occasion
declared the Saint. For when their King Rotharis,
deceased about the year 651 in the same Monza next to the basilica
of B. John the Baptist had been buried; after
some time a certain man with unjust cupidity
inflamed, the same appearing rebukes the violator of the tomb to him commended, his sepulcher by night opened; &
whatever in ornaments of his body he found,
took away. To whom B. John through a vision
appearing, him vehemently terrified, & to him
said: Why didst thou dare the body of that man
to touch? Though he was not rightly believing,
(as one stained with Arian heresy's perfidy)
yet to me himself he commended. Because therefore
this to do thou hast presumed, never into my
basilica thereafter shalt thou have entrance. Which
so also was done: for whenever
he wished B. John's Oracle to enter,
immediately as if by a very strong pugilist his throat
was struck, & so suddenly backward he was thrown impelled.
Thus Paul Warnefridus Deacon of Friuli lib.
4 de gestis Longobardorum cap. 48 & adds:
The truth in Christ I speak: this to me himself
reported, who this very thing with his own eyes done
saw.
[485] The same then lib. 5 after narrating Grimoald
King's of the Franks into Italy having crossed victory,
not far from Asti's city walls
obtained about the year 663, & the Lombards he protects against the Greeks, as wishes
Baronius; cap. 6 treats of the expedition of Constantine,
of the Greeks then Emperor, Italy from the Lombards'
nation to draw desiring: who the sea
having crossed, at Tarentum landed: previously however
to a solitary certain, who of Prophecy spirit
to have was said he went; studiously from him
inquiring, whether the Lombards' nation
which in Italy dwelt, to surpass & obtain
he could. on account of the basilica & by Theodelinda R. built, From whom when the servant of God a space
of one night had asked, that for this very thing the Lord
he might supplicate; with morning made thus to the same
Augustus he answered: The Lombards' nation
to be overcome now by anyone cannot, because
(Theodelinda namely Garibaldi's of Bavarians King's
daughter) the Basilica of B. John the Baptist in the Lombards'
borders built, & for
this very B. John for the Lombards' nation
continuously intercedes: but will come a time,
when that Oracle itself will be held in contempt;
& then that nation will perish. Which thus
to have been done we have proved: because before the destruction
of the Lombards (in the year 774 when
Charles King of the Franks their King Desiderius
at Pavia besieged from the kingdom to yield compelled) the same
B. John's Basilica, which certainly in
the place which Monza is called is established, through
vile persons to be ordered we have seen; so that
to unworthy & adulterous, not for life's merit,
but for rewards' giving, the same venerable
place was bestowed.
[486] The Queen Theodelinda's History in the year 1613
wrote in Italian & published at Milan in the year 1613,
Bartholomew Zucchi: where when he had taught from
Paul the Deacon, how she with second nuptials
joined to Agilulf Duke of Turin, not only
the kingdom to him conferred, by which peace also with the Romans she reconciles: but also from Pagan Christian,
from enemy of Roman church friend
made, with peace with S. Gregory Pontiff concluded on
the feast of S. Gervase & Protase, published however, on
the Birthday of the Precursor, to this in Monza a church
built; where Zucchi alleges Blondus Dec. 1 lib. 8
writing, that she founded & endowed it,
that vows she might pay, by which to B. John the Baptist
herself she had bound, if a male she should bear; then
from Ascensiana of Paul the Deacon's edition produces
the Lombards a Patron to themselves him had assumed in
solemn that Basilica's dedication in the year 595,
into these words conceived: That John
the Baptist himself be for us intercessor to our Lord
Jesus Christ, wherefore him for themselves Patron they choose, we all
unanimously promise, to him every year, on
the day of his nativity, that is VIII Kal. of July,
of our resources to transmit honorably
to his Oracle, that through his intercession
we may have help of O. L. Jesus
Christ, both in war, & in other places
all, wherever we shall go.
[487] But these things while are absent from better Mss. to
which exacted edition of Grotius, I fear lest a more recent interpolation
it be. which also indicates the title, Similarly I would not believe
of the same time, but much more recent to be
the title, on white inscribed marble, which in rhythm,
later to Latin Poetry transferred, conceived
proposes Zucchi cap. 21.
Founded this temple, with much virtue venerable
Theodelinda powerful, of the kingdom's diadem strong:
For herself, for her sons, vowed with mother's sweetness,
To Christ's Baptist, to whom is consecrated this place.
Here of our nation she wished the head to be of becoming
Lombards, & such a Patron to prepare.
A far later age these things savor, & rather
are to be believed, placed in the 10th or 11th cent. not to be older than the marble itself whence described
were: this however I would say to have been sculpted & placed
after the beginning of the 13th century, when was being built
& this from the people's sense then received, when
Otto III defined the same to be the head of Lombardy
& seat of the Italian kingdom.
[488] I judge, the Lombards' Kings
before Theodelinda, if a stable somewhere Seat
they had, at Monza had: & this was to be
the cause, Was that city the Nation's royal seat, why the first of Christian rite she in
the nation church in that city built; to which also a Palace
she added, in which after her son's quick death
of the kingdom's administration deprived, royal yet cult
she survived until the year 628. The same
also cause was, why there buried also Rotharis
was: although either he himself or some of his predecessors
of the Lombards the Royal seat transferred
to Pavia: for this to me persuades Agilulf &
Theodelinda's daughter Gundiberga to Rodoald Rotharis's
son & successor married, who, as reports
Paul cap. 49, like her parent, just as
she at Monza, but Pavia then preferred, so this within the Pavia
city a Basilica in honor of B.
John the Baptist built: which wondrously with
gold & silver & veils she decorated, & with things
each excellently enriched; in which also her
body buried rests. where also the Goths their royal seat had had. The royal seat also
his at Pavia had King Liutprand, & finally,
to pass over the intermediate, of the Lombards' Kings
the last Desiderius: where also of the Goths
in Italy Kings their previously had palace,
equally as at Ravenna, in established is.
[489] S. Frances of Rome Let close this whole argument the to S. Frances
of Rome offered Vision in the year 1432
on the Birthday of S. John day, which is in the order of the rest,
by her Confessor received, & IX
March by us produced, Vision 35. After
the Servant of God in the chapel of the most precious Sacrament
received Communion; then, says
he: Her happy spirit, herself remaining in
immobile ecstasy, was led in customary manner into
one most splendid light & greatest,
in which she saw a lofty & most precious throne,
on which of our Redeemer Jesus Christ
resided the most holy Humanity in human
form: for that very blessed soul, on account of excessive
clarity from the throne proceeding, another
to see could not. And the celestial Queen under
that high throne lofty with other glorious
spirits both Angelic & human existed.
She also saw the glorious John the Baptist
honorably as one of the Patriarchs
under the throne of the celestial Queen existing: &
she saw & heard all the glorious spirits praising
the Savior, she hears the Saints praising God for graces granted to the Baptist, & thanks rendering
for the graces to John the Baptist by God conferred:
both that him Forerunner & Angel
he made, & also for the sanctification in
his mother's womb, & for the most austere penance
in his boyish age in the desert, &
for his preaching; & because Himself
the Savior he deserved to baptize, & for other
several graces to him by our Redeemer granted.
They were praising also the celestial Queen
for so great charity, when she visited Elizabeth,
Mother of blessed John the Baptist, & for the labor
undertaken by the very glorious Queen
with Elizabeth being & to her ministering,
until that glorious Baptist she bore,
whom that celestial Queen in her hands
received: which praises that blessed
soul in ecstasy being was saying. Which
finished, the glorious Baptist to blessed Frances
said: O soul, who hast been led into such
who thee made so fortunate: this
is of such love's profundity, of which each
can have a part: therefore he made himself
to be crucified, that us hither to himself he would lead, &
possessors he would make of so many & such goods.
Rejoice therefore, O soul, & learn this
way of so great abyss of love: unite thee with him,
because it will inflame thy heart, nor a quiet place
shalt thou find, until thou comest to him.
Rest therefore thy mind, lest thou go
vacillating, fix thee in benign love, who
to thee gave so great joy, & will make thee so
burning with fire not consuming; &
will make thee with his love full, nor shalt thou desire
any thing, than with him to remain.
Render thee to him conformed, & thou shalt be rectified in
his divine love, in which wholly thou shalt be submerged: to love full of confidence.
but thou canst not have fully, while in body
thou dwellest.
ON THE MANY HOLY MARTYRS
AT ROME THROUGH FALSE CHARGE OF FIRE KILLED.
A.D. 64,
HISTORICAL COMMENTARY
On the cause, manner, place & time of this martyrdom, & beginning of cult.
The Many Martyrs under Nero at Rome (SS.)
BY THE AUTHOR D. P.
With Consuls C. Lecanius Bassus & M.
Licinius Crassus, The burned city's odium from himself to remove Nero, that is in the year of the vulgar Era 64, XIV Kalends Sextilis, or XIX July,
on which day formerly the Senonian Gauls had inflamed
the captured city;
most savage at Rome stirred up a fire for nine continuous
days lasted; as it fully Tacitus describes
lib. 15 Annal. Happened this with such Nero's
with the people infamy, because by manifest was established
arguments by his order let in, & spread
& to be extinguished prohibited had been (as Suetonius,
Dio & others write, & sufficiently openly indicates
Tacitus himself) that that opinion by no arts could be
extinguished. Christians to be accused he makes Therefore for abolishing the rumor, says the same
Tacitus, Nero substituted as accused, with most exquisite
punishments afflicted, those whom on account of crimes hated the populace
Christians called… Therefore first
were seized those who confessed (rather were feigned to confess,
because they confessed themselves Christians) then by indication
of them, or rather suborned for this in the manner
Neronian of accusers, a multitude immense,
not so much in the crime of fire, as in hatred
of the human race, were convicted. This namely
was to be his Christ had foretold, You shall be hated
by all men because of my name. & most cruelly to be killed,
Adds Tacitus, & to those perishing were added mockeries,
that with skins of beasts covered, by tearing of dogs they might perish;
or to crosses affixed, or to be burned,
& when the day had failed, into the use of nocturnal light they would be turned.
[2] The last manner of cruel butchery looked upon
Juvenal Sat. 1 when he said,
Put Tigillinus, with a torch you will shine in that,
In which standing they burn, who with fixed throat smoke.
To which place an old in Pithou's Glossographer,
Tigillinus if thou shalt offend or accuse, him
namely the same, with many of them fixed & burned, in whose for this from Nero suborned
estates the fire had broken out by Tacitus's testimony, alive
thou shalt burn, just as in Nero's spectacle,
to the people from his own evil's sense to be diverted exhibited,
of whom he had ordered candles to be made, that they would shine
for spectators, with throats fixed,
lest they curve themselves. But how fixed? Hear
Seneca, who these very things either watched, or (if cruelty
abominating to be present he was unwilling) from spectators
had heard, Epist. 14 expounding, what through
force of a more powerful happen evils, beyond natural
formidable; in which & driven through the middle
man, who through the mouth emerges, a stake;
Σκολόπισμα the Greeks called: Impalement
now we say, by Hungarians today still in usage
against rebels punishment. Thus moreover fixed Nero
with torch, papyrus, & wax overclothed, says
the same Glossographer, & thus fire to be applied
he ordered.
[3] in his Vatican gardens, His gardens to that spectacle had offered Nero,
says Tacitus, & consequently across the Tiber outside
the city, opportune for averting the people from the mournful
of such great a ruin's sight, proves our Donatus, lib. 3
de urbe Roma cap. 23, From the Obelisk, which near
the Sacrarium of S. Peter's temple before Sixtus V
erected, the middle once of the gardens' circus, in
which it had been placed, designated. For, according
to Pliny lib. 13 cap. 11, a third Obelisk
was in the Vatican of Caius & Nero Princes
circus: & Tacitus lib. 14 shows, enclosed
in the Vatican valley a space, in which horses Nero
trained: for also to charioteer he wished, by Suetonius's testimony
cap. 22, & this he did with placed in the gardens beginning;
in those certainly which there he had from Domitia
his aunt's inheritance; where then crucified S. Peter. for which then most ample
others to himself he designated, in that city's space which
with buildings empty the flames had made. In that therefore place,
in which in the following year soon to be crucified was Christian
all church's Prince Peter, This although in August month done, with his blood
dedicated that of the first Christians at Rome
immense Multitude; & that not on one nor certain day,
but several consequently, & verisimilarly throughout
month's
August beginnings all. Closer yet to the very Apostles'
Birthday to move, & to it to premise
their memory it seemed to those, who Gregory
XIII by order the Roman Breviary to be reformed;
or rather, for Usuard's Martyrology shorter,
assumed both here & elsewhere liberty, to those, of whom
none in the sacred Fasti existed a day, &
yet known sanctity was, a convenient day to assign.
The formula of commemorating them this
pleased, after the indicated Baptist's Birthday.
[4] At Rome the commemoration of holy Martyrs,
who under Nero Emperor, from the authors of the Roman of today: of
the city's burning through false accusation accused, with various
death kind by the same were ordered to be
most savagely killed: of whom some with beasts' skins
covered, to tearings of dogs were exposed;
others to crosses affixed, & others to burning delivered,
that when the day had failed, into the use of nocturnal
light they would serve. Were these all of the Apostles'
disciples, & first-fruits of Martyrs, which
the Roman Church, fertile field of Martyrs,
before the Apostles' death sent to the Lord.
Michaël Angelo Lualdi, who in two
tomes, in the year 1651 at Rome published, in Italian
described the Propagation of the Gospel through the West,
of the 2nd Tome's book 2 whole he spent on the Martyrdom
aforesaid to be illustrated, through Chapters altogether
forty-six. To us not is at leisure to be so prolix,
nor laboriously to be demonstrated I think, either true
Martyrs they were, or of Roman Martyrs
altogether first. who rightly first-fruits of martyrs they named, A multitude also
immense thus killed, to asserting Tacitus not
will doubt to believe even Dodwell himself, who among
Cyprianic dissertations, one placed XI in
order, on Martyrs' fewness in the primeval
church's persecutions, & on the faith of Acts
& Martyrologies. See him refuted
in passing in the Critics of Pagi, at the aforesaid year
num. 31, simul & demonstrated (about which elsewhere
to have doubted me I recall) that a universal persecution
was thereafter followed by saying Orosius lib. 9;
First Nero at Rome the Christians with punishments
& deaths afflicted, & through all Provinces
with equal persecution to be tortured mandated.
[5] Of those however, who then everywhere suffered
Martyrs, very few to our came
notice; although passed over in older Martyrologies, nor verisimilar is it, in first everywhere
consternation to anyone into mind to have come
these things in writing to commit; that here we must flee
not to the malice of those, who in following
centuries with worst used diligence, that of triumphs
ecclesiastical monuments to abolish. Clement
indeed the Pope is ascribed, that for collecting
Martyrs' Acts Notaries by region he ordered: which long after to be written first began,
but such Notaries, at the highest
instituted under Domitian were; when under Vespasian
& Titus more quietly acting Christians, with public
again persecution were vexed. Through those however
Notaries, both the day of each & manner of punishment
to be known to be transmitted to posterity could, & material
to be prepared for the first Martyrologies' writers, of whom
most ancient altogether is that, which Hieronymian
we call. This if had known Michael
Angelo aforepraised, & how recently of these Romans'
Commemoration was inserted into the Fasti,
or how was augmented that which today we use Martyrology;
nor most ancient of all & first,
& under S. Clement begun
this he would have believed, nor persuaded himself cap. 22,
month & day of Neronian cruelty certainly to be held
in that designated. This however I know not how
even to think he could, most recently however the Roman. since he knew the burning
of the city to have begun XIX July? Did he perhaps esteem,
that all eleven months waited Nero,
that by laying upon his crime Christians from himself
he would remove of the deed's odium? But if this cannot
be thought; & from Tacitus is established milder previously
of bestowals & sacrifices remedies were tried,
with which not succeeding it came at last to Christians
let; not before the month of August surrounded
by false charge Christians to have been, ought indubitably
to be held.