Vigilius

ON SAINT VIGILIUS,

BISHOP AND MARTYR, IN THE ALPS OF TRENT.

IN THE YEAR 400 or 405.

PRELIMINARY COMMENTARY.

On the year and day of his death, the various Acts, the translations of the Relics.

Vigilius, Bishop of Trent, in the Alps (S.)

BY THE AUTHOR D. P.

This Saint, its Bishop, has rather often given us occasion to treat of the city of Trent, when from the Acts of his life he furnished knowledge of S. Maxentia his mother, The Acts, though not altogether primitive, on the 30th of April; of SS. Claudianus and Magorianus the brothers, on the 6th and 15th of March; and finally of the holy Martyrs Sisinnius, Martyrius and Alexander, on the 29th of May. Now his Acts themselves come to be exhibited in full; which would that they were held as sincere as those are confidently said to be which men present at his martyrdom wrote, and sent to Rome; just as he himself before had sent to Milan and Constantinople, written by himself, the passion of the aforesaid

Martyrs, accomplished in the year 397. Yet we have these from a Ms. of the monastery of S. Maximin near Trier far more sincere, yet ones nearest to them are given, than those which we have from a Ms. of the Carthusians of Cologne, and such as Bartholomew of Trent found four centuries ago, and fitted to the Legendary of Saints, compiled by himself, and transcribed by us at Rome from the Barberini Library. And so, these things being omitted, which we have sufficiently alleged in the Notes, we give the first one alone, which, if not altogether primitive, the others also being indicated. yet (excepting certain things added or changed toward the end, and perhaps the earlier lines) is nearest to the primitive. The same it seems Janus Pyrrhus Pincius of Mantua had, about to publish at Mantua in the year 1546 twelve books On the Lives of the Pontiffs of Trent; but he himself preferred to give the Life in his own more brilliant style, which would make the first book.

[2] The year of death all uniformly note, in the consulship of Stilicho, He died, Stilicho being consul, in the year 400 or 405 which the Consular Fasti suggest for the secular year 400, and again for the year 405. This second Consulship Philip Labbe chooses in his Chronological Epitome; because he thinks it established that the three Martyrs above mentioned were slain on the 6th feria concurring with the 29th of May around the new moon, which concurrence he does not find except in the year 403. The Acts written by S. Vigilius himself to Milan, which Labbe could have read, only say: But the day of the passion of the Saints, on the fourth day before the Kalends of June, on the sixth feria, at the dawning of the light: but this the same Saint seems to explain in the epistle sent to Constantinople, when he says, number 5, that the deed was done in the morning hours, the shadow of the sky suddenly yielding to the dawn. 3 or 8 years after SS. Sisinnius, Martyrius and Alexander. Therefore "the light dawning" you will interpret not as the moon, but the day; and that will not move you at all to establish this or that year, as Labbe did; who chose the year 403, because then the 29th of May concurred with the 7th day of the Moon. I on the contrary, from the age of S. Venerius, promoted at the earliest in the year 401 to the See of Milan in place of S. Simplicianus, to whom the epistle of Vigilius was sent, manifestly concluded that the Saints suffered in the year 397. Therefore Vigilius himself could have suffered in the secular year, in the first Consulship of Stilicho, and since "Stilicho for the second time" is not read, there is no reason why that death should be deferred to the year 405, unless you think three years do not suffice for the rest of his Acts.

[3] The day of the Martyrdom no Acts express: but the Church of Trent celebrates the feast of S. Vigilius on the 6th day before the Kalends of July, He is venerated on the 26th of July very probably as the Birthday. Such certainly Florus of Lyon seems to have judged it, when in his additions to the genuine Martyrology of Bede, he added the elogium of S. Vigilius, inscribed in the Martyrology of Florus, which however hitherto it has happened to no one to find entire: nor could we divine that it was written by him, unless after the words of Bede, containing the memorial of SS. John and Paul, there immediately followed in the Mss. of Tournai and Liessies; This man, when he had broken a certain idol in a certain place, sitting on the base of that same idol, and preaching the divine word, was overwhelmed by the inhabitants of that place with a shower of stones, and so was crowned with the glory of Martyrdom. Which words, then also of Usuard, as much as they have nothing to do with SS. John and Paul, or with the afterward-converted, and by Bede also named, Terentianus; so much do they make it certain that by the carelessness of copyists one line was omitted in the aforesaid Mss., conceived in words of about this kind: At the city of Trent, of S. Vigilius the Bishop, namely the Passion or Deposition: for from these words the briefer Usuard begins the elogium, and thus continues: who under the consul Stilicho, struck by a great shower of stones, completed his martyrdom. In place of these, in the present Roman one (that I may pass over the rest of the middle age) is thus read: At Trent, of S. Vigilius the Bishop: who, when he was striving utterly to root out the remnants of idolatry, struck by wild and barbarous men with a shower of stones, fulfilled his martyrdom.

[4] In the Acts, number 11, it is said, that the men of Trent, the venerable pledges of the glorious Prelate, on the third day of his passion … laid them in the basilica, Buried at Trent in the church built by himself which he, while living, had built at the Veronese gate. That church, if it was in the very place where the present Cathedral is seen, it will have to be said that ancient Trent was nearly twice smaller than it now is; and that from the river Adige, on which it lies, it extended no farther toward the South, than as far as the larger stream or brook or ditch, which now has its name from the turning of mills; and which, cutting through the city that now is, separates the Cathedral itself from the other greater part; where it will be permitted to conceive the Veronese gate, which now does not exist, the walls of the city being closed to the South; and this Pincius seems to confirm, fol. 8, where he says that Adalpretus the Bishop was buried about the year 1181 in the temple of D. Vigilius at the gate which leads into that part of the city which they call Borgo-nuovo. This is certain, that the aforesaid Cathedral, if it has not changed its site, has changed its form, on the 3rd day after death. several times renewed and enlarged; and what is consequent, that the body of the holy Prelate was translated more than once; all which changes the composition of the Acts here to be given preceded, presenting no indication of any change.

[5] Hildegarius is placed by Pincius as the twenty-first Bishop of Trent after Vigilius, and the one to whom this man is the eighteenth, the forty-third, The altar is renewed after the year 803 about the eight hundred and third year of Christ, who renewed the high altar of D. Vigilius, in which he laid the Relics of the holy Martyrs, but not also of Vigilius himself, so far as I conjecture. After this, the sixteenth, and in that order the sixtieth, Udalric II, in the one thousand and twenty-second year from the Christian salvation, and again after 1022, raised more loftily the underground and vaulted place in the temple of D. Vigilius, and the high altar, and repaired the whole church, and reduced it to a more elegant form. The sixty-seventh, Altemannus, and before 1130: who lived until 1130, restored the temple and consecrated it: and more honorably placed the Relics of Vigilius, Sisinnius, Martyrius, Alexander and other Saints. Hence therefore the Saint is buried in the church, which he himself indeed had built, but others after him had repaired and enlarged, in a marble monument, where such an Epitaph is read:

He receives the Athletes, souls glad to give themselves to the Lord, In the power of the Cross the herald of salvation grinds the idols. likewise a tomb with an Epitaph: For the zeal of the faith he is borne, dying, straight to heaven. The peoples run to the venerable obsequies of the father; By the homage of the throng he is buried in his own city.

Those who know the origin and age of Leonine verses will, not with difficulty, agree with me, that that Epitaph is not more ancient than the age of the aforesaid Altemannus, and that perhaps only half of it is here had, the other part being abolished, in which mention was made of the body translated into this new tomb.

[6] In the thirteenth century, when more than half had advanced, the Veronese stormed and plundered Trent. whence the body could have been carried off in the 13th century Afterward Meinhard Count of Tyrol held the city by force for several years; and many other adverse things befell the city, among which the body of S. Vigilius could have been carried off, and transported to Milan; where already long since in the temple of S. Simplicianus the Relics of the three holy Martyrs, sent thither by the Saint, were held in great honor; and in the year 1159 a new translation was celebrated; as has been said in the History of the most recent translation, accomplished in the year 1596, number 19. But this last translation had been preceded in the year 1517 by the Invention, and brought to the Milanese; and a private Translation of the same, and of other holy bodies long since deposited there; when above the three coffers there described, a stone was set, dividing the middle altar; and above it two spacious tiles, of which one received the bones of S. Vigilius Bishop of Trent, among whom it is believed to have been found in the year 1507, without the head, which remained at Trent: in testimony of which thing Madruzzo, Bishop of Trent, when he presided over the Milanese state, (this was about the year 1566) was accustomed yearly to go to the church of S. Simplicianus on the feast of S. Vigilius, and there to sing Mass pontifically.

[7] Yet this was not enough for S. Carlo Borromeo, to believe for certain that the body of S. Vigilius himself was had at Milan: but with faith not certain enough: and therefore in the placing of the aforesaid bodies under the new altar, on the coffer to be placed at the Gospel horn, he willed only this title to be inscribed; The Body of Antoninus Archbishop of Milan. Many Relics of Saints, found in the high altar without a name. Puricelli adds, narrating the matter, That the latter was thus written: because within that same coffer divided through the middle, is contained the body of another unnamed Saint: which the Monks and other older persons thought to be S. Vigilius Bishop of Trent. Hence it appears that such an opinion is had from tradition alone, but not from some old writing, suitable for proving so great a matter against the men of Trent, for in the year 1620 it was still thought to be held at Trent. who believe the body of their holy Patron, or at least its chief portion, even now to be in their own keeping, under the high altar: at the side of which our Janning, in the year 1686, on the 26th day of August, visiting that church, found a title of this kind incised: Hither were translated the Relics of S. Vigilius, together with this ark, on the day month year 1620. Meanwhile no ark appears, perhaps closed within the altar, and the same as that above-mentioned: but the place left empty for noting the number of the day and the name of the month, and also the very form of the letters, make one believe that it is a most recent sculpture, engraved in that very place, where with the same words had stood a title painted in some color, but in the lapse of time washed away; whence it came about that the aforesaid number of the day and the name of the month could not be repaired, no more distinct memory of that thing surviving.

[8] Gennadius, Presbyter of Marseille, in the book On Writers chapter 37, writes thus: Vigilius the Bishop The writings of Vigilius, wrote to a certain Simplicianus, in praise of the Martyrs a booklet and an Epistle, containing the deeds of the Martyrs of his time among the barbarians. Which, although they be obscure, yet seem sufficiently to agree with those which under the name of this our Vigilius we have given concerning the aforesaid three Martyrs, as directed to Simplicianus of Milan and John of Constantinople. Greater darkness is shed on the aforecited place by Honorius of Autun, excerpting Gennadius (as he professes), in these words; Vigilius wrote to Simplicianus in praise of the Martyrs five books: for these things cannot at all be understood of the aforesaid booklet and Epistle. from which the books against Eutyches must be removed; Surely if Honorius, who flourished about the year 1120, saw such books anywhere, it is to be lamented that they thus perished at Trent, so that Bartholomew of Trent, scarcely a hundred years his junior, was ignorant of them; who however did not omit to commend the booklet and epistle, adding, In which both eloquence, and care, and catholic doctrine are commended. But perhaps the text of Bartholomew is not had entire, and he himself had put, from Honorius, that S. Vigilius wrote

in praise of the Martyrs five books; in which &c. It will also be permitted to suspect that Honorius confused the number of the books with their argument, and to this added the number which was that of other books, written against Nestorius and Eutyches; which books Pincius, ascribing them to Vigilius of Trent, runs out at length in their praise. But against him and others deceived in this, Baronius, Ferrarius, and others thereafter have long since judged; for the reason that both heresiarchs are later than Vigilius of Trent. And Baronius indeed, in the Notes to this day, names three other Vigilii, who flourished in that time in which that dispute was vigorous; yet he does not dare to determine that the books are to be ascribed to any one of them: but the men of Brescia dare it for their Vigilius, who is venerated on the 26th of September, when it will be permitted to examine their foundations. but those who feign a Lusitanian Saint must be exploded.

[9] Georgius Cardosus, in the Lusitanian Hagiology, devises two Vigilii of Trent, both Bishops; of whom the latter, a Confessor only, is said to have written the aforesaid books. But the men of Trent acknowledge no such one: but that the former, on the faith of the Pseudo-Dexter, together with his mother and brothers is said to have come from Lusitania, born at Coria of the Vettones, that deserves to be exploded rather than refuted; and therefore Henschen scarcely deigned to touch upon it in passing on the 30th of April. Meanwhile Tamayo turns and turns again that fiction, in March and April; so secure of an assertion so insipid, in June, that he thinks a truth so certain to himself needs no further proof: who however elsewhere often shows that he does not believe everything to that Dexter: which he does much more freely, when that Dexter does not make for his purpose.

ACTS

From the Trier Ms. of S. Maximin.

Vigilius, Bishop of Trent, in the Alps (S.)

BHL Number: 8602

FROM THE MSS.

CHAPTER I.

His studies, episcopate, the Gospel preached to the Gentiles through him and others.

[1] The most sacred praises of the Martyrs are to be set forth with manifold proclamations, that their deeds may rouse even sluggish souls to advancement, S. Vigilius imbued with letters at Athens, learning how watchful Priests, for the love of their Lord Jesus Christ, like eager warriors, poured forth their blood, who for them or for us all offered himself to God the Father: by whose example taught, they themselves vicariously purchased the souls of men, having displays of virtues in the habit of believing. Of whom one in those days shone forth, Vigilius, by birth a Roman, a citizen of Trent, educated at Athens in liberal letters, given over from infancy to serve Christ with devotion of mind. a Returning therefore from his studies from Athens, or the city of Rome, he settled in the city of Trent, to fulfill the purpose of holy religion, by God already ordained in the Apostolic manner Bishop of the said city, the third from the first. b For, being about twenty years of age, the clamor of the people rushed upon him, because they had learned that many miracles had been shown by him in the name of Christ. He is acclaimed Bishop at Trent in the 20th year of his age, But while he opposed the excuse of his age and youth, the more he accused himself, the more he was exalted by the clamors of the crowd, who excelled even those older in age in sanctity.

[2] After this, the Bishop c of the Church of Aquileia, having been invited, consecrated the Blessed Vigilius Bishop, outside d the walls of the city of Trent, to govern the same See. He is ordained by the Bishop of Aquileia: But having entered that city, by preaching the law of the Lord, the number of believers among the converted people increased daily. But when he had catholicly converted the whole city, he placed a church e within the walls of the city to the Lord; and there he completed a refuge of Christ, in which, continuing in prayer, healing the languors of the sick, he cured those oppressed by demons with the impression of the standard of Christ: he is famous for miracles: whose fame too flourished through the neighboring cities. In which times the crowds of peoples placed outside the city, worshipping vain images, their gentile heart being softened, by the grace of the Holy Spirit, the same man teaching, were converted to the faith of Christ daily: until his whole Diocese was united in the catholic faith. Among whom even his own parents, converted by his preaching together with their brethren, f served the Lord faithfully.

[3] But having gathered his Presbyters and Deacons, he thus addressed them: Dearest Brothers, it is not necessary for us, though they are still rustic heathen he preaches also at Brescia and Verona; to hide away the talents of the Lord committed to us in a napkin, like a single lazy servant, with singular caution; but as good servants, increasing the Lord's gains, we ought to present them doubled at the coming of our Lord, that we may merit to enter into His joy. Choosing therefore from his side, men proved in faith he ordained, directing them to the Bishops of the cities of Verona g and Brescia, saying to them: Lords and most holy Brothers, do not neglect the word of the Lord, in which Christ in His Church ordained Rectors. Go forth therefore, preach the word of the Lord earnestly, lest that ancient serpent any longer bind to himself the souls of men, for whom Christ also our Redeemer died. with the consent of the diocesans; Who answering said, that they could not by themselves alone undergo so great a danger. But the Blessed Vigilius hearing this said: I am ready to die for God, who deigned to suffer for us the torment of the Cross: nor do I endure to sell to others a crown prepared for me. To whom inquiring they gave such an answer: Go therefore into the interior parts of our cities, over which thou hast set us, with us about to go, and acquire for the Lord souls which are still held captive, showing them the way of salvation. With divine regard therefore holy Vigilius animated went out to the territories of the men of Verona or Brescia, and acquired for Christ a multitude of rustic peoples through baptism, more than thirty churches being founded.

[4] He sends preachers to the men of Anaunia; But the aforesaid men of God being left there, whom he had promoted to the Pontifical Order, he himself returned to the interior of his city's territory, leading with him certain ones, namely Sisinnius and Alexander, future Martyrs worthy of God, men most Christian in religion, Cappadocians by nation; who coming from regions across the sea, had tarried some time at Milan. With whom not long after, having entered the city of Anaunia, h he acquired in it a very great crowd of Christians for the Lord, a Church being founded, who being carried off by Martyrdom, thence returning to his own, he left the aforesaid Saints of God there, to convert the remaining part of the Pagans: but at the instigation of the ancient enemy, while the holy Men earnestly exercised the office enjoined upon them, the citizens of Anaunia, kindled with wrath, the servants of God being seized and bound with chains, and macerated with torments to the failing of life, half-dead committed them to the fire to be burned up. But they, rendering thanks to God, breathed out their spirit; in which place too their most holy bodies, pressed down, were burned up, as their deeds i contain.

[5] But the Blessed Vigilius, intent on pious works, watching for God, saw in spirit k their precious souls being borne by Angels into heaven. Kindled with which ardor, he himself succeeds them, and converts the barbarians: he himself began to burn in the ardor of Martyrdom, that he might be a sharer of their crown: and, the journey seized, with one of his Deacons he sought Anaunia. Whom his own wished to hold back, saying; Whither, Father, dost thou go, who hast not yet united to Christ all the sheep committed to thee by thy pious word? But raging in spirit he could not be held back: and coming to a certain river, he said to his Deacon: Let us cross this unshod, that we may approach naked a naked people; whose going is not yet directed into the way of peace. But when he had come to the place where the precious bodies of the holy Martyrs had been burned, he gathered their relics in clean linen cloths; and returning to the city of Trent, honorably laid them in a church, consecrated to their name by the l Lord Himself. m

[6] After a little while at last, when (as has been said) he had now converted to the faith of Christ those whom he had found Pagans in the Veronese and Brescian territories, about to go to the Rendena valley still Pagan, and the Trentine; one place alone had resisted him, set in the Mountains, exceedingly rugged, beset with crags steep on this side and that, having a valley in its ascent sloping down a declivity, whose name is Rendena; n through which too the course of a certain river glides down, which aforesaid place was always hostile to the Christian religion. For it was the property of a certain rich man, having there a wretched ruinous loss, namely the bronze image of the devil, dedicated to Saturn; whom the rustic folk, ignorant of the faith, worshipped as a God, where Saturn was worshipped, as if holding the rights of the underworld. Which the Apostolic man, the holy Prelate Vigilius, having learned, thus again addresses his own: Why stand we here all day idle, hired so early? Let us go into the vineyard of our Lord, about to labor for His joy: and fortifying himself by signing himself with the standard of the holy Cross, he directs his journey toward the gate of his city, called the Brescian, reaching to the bridge, up to the river o nearby washing the city.

[7] He imparts to the people of Trent the last Communion. But the people and the chief men of the city, leading him beyond the crossing of the bridge, and bidding farewell, having returned to the city, he himself went forward with the men of God, namely Claudianus and Maugurius p his brothers, and Julian the Presbyter, and stretched toward the destined place. To whom, when all the people of the Christians, converted by his teaching, had run, asking that they might receive from his sacred hands the consecration of the body and blood of his Christ; he himself, up to the place where the aforesaid idol was set, fervent with faith, in the struggle of the contest offered the victim to Christ. Thus the same Priest of God, hastening to receive the palm of Martyrdom, like a most renowned soldier, avoiding the losses of battle, after the end of the war accomplished, is granted the palm of victory among those present, by the proper Lord of the Kingdom.

NOTES OF D. P.

381 or even earlier, S. Valerianus appointed (concerning whom on the 27th of November), and he held the See about 10 years. But let us grant, that in the first years of his Prelacy he ordained Vigilius, only twenty years old, as Bishop; he would have been born about the year 361.

p By others Majorianus, as already said: concerning Julian the Presbyter nothing further is read, nor (so far as I know) is he held a Saint.

CHAPTER II.

The Martyrdom of S. Vigilius, the body brought back into the city. The Acts sent to Rome.

[8] But the Saint himself, looking up into heaven, within the sacred solemnities of the holy Sacrifice saw the glory of God, and said: O Christ, I give thee thanks, God being rightly invoked, because what I desired from thee, I have found: for behold with my eyes I see in thy right hand the things which are prepared for me. These things all standing around him heard him saying with a clear voice: but seeing nothing at all, only with tears they heard him pursuing such words. The mysteries therefore being celebrated, and the crowd of the faithful having communicated in the holy Sacrifices, rushing upon the aforementioned idol, he broke it into small pieces, S. Vigilius overthrows the idol: and cast it into a river by the name of Aroa: and sitting upon the base of the shattered image, he confidently spoke to those standing around the word of God.

[9] But the savage crowd of rustics dwelling in that place, learning of his coming, and the breaking up of their idol; wherefore the roused crowd an assault being made, they rush upon him with swords and stones and clubs in a sudden incursion. Whom the Blessed Prelate, coming from afar, despised as so much refuse: but they, puffed up with diabolical swelling, with a great shower of stones strike down the Saint of God, the structure of his holy head being broken, and his brain scattered. But the most blessed Martyr, his face wet with blood, looking up into heaven, overwhelms him with stones, giving thanks to God, and bidding farewell to his own, sent forth his spirit. In which place of the passion of the man of God, the Christians afterward, by his merits, founded a Church, b an altar being dedicated upon that very stone.

[10] But the Presbyters and Deacons, who had come with him, The companions carry the body back to Trent, although they had received a hail of stones, a multitude of blows, (yet none of them suffered the bruise of any wound; nevertheless they did not lack their reward, aided by the patronage of the Confessor:) gathering the mass c of the holy body, placed upon the horse on which he himself had sat, hastened to carry it back swiftly to the city, in which, God being the author, he had performed the Priesthood; experiencing very many signs of miracles, in whatever places they rested. Therefore when they had come to the river by the name of Sarcha, a great crowd of the people d of Brescia, with an array of arms, meets them, feared by the demons, to carry off by force the most holy body of their Apostle. To whom the men of Trent resisting, a certain vessel of the holy man being moreover given for a blessing, leading the most holy body, before they had come to the city, already the demons were confessing the Saint's coming, saying through the mouths of the possessed; Behold the holy man, the Martyr of Christ Vigilius, returns with triumph, who expels us from our own seats. Crying these things in common hearing, at the coming of the sacred body, the enemies being put to flight, the persons are restored to their proper creator.

[11] But coming to the town, a great running-together of the neighbors was made to his obsequies, the citizens receive him honorably: with their Priests, the people of the Christians: and so the venerable pledges of the glorious Prelate, on the third of his passion, with great glory and aromatics they laid in the Basilica, which he, while living, had built at the Veronese gate. Some too of the Salonitan merchants trading in the same city, wiping up with a clean linen cloth the blood streaming from the sacred remains, near the place called Vela, f returning to his homeland, for the sake of memory of the holy man, carried it with him: where g now Christ, through His faithful one, unceasingly works very many remarkable signs to the praise of His name. the collected blood is carried to Salò; But the deeds of the blessed man were written down by those who were present at his Martyrdom, and (as was the custom) for the grace of corroboration they sent them to the Pope of Rome, h that they might be inserted among the sacred memorials of the Martyrs: the Acts sent to Rome, which the venerable Apostolic Bishop receiving, subscribing, adjudged all worthy to be held in memory.

[12] At the same time at length the Barbarian people of the Alemanni, having slipped from the sheath of their habitation, was laying Italy waste. About to go to meet whom, the Caesar i of the Roman Empire, gathered an army contracted in the gird of war: to whom the Pope thus spoke: Good Emperor, take to thyself the deeds, newly discovered, which being unfurled as a standard, of Vigilius the Martyr, Bishop of the city of Trent, that his power may be made plain among the peoples. Which the Augustus receiving with the highest joy, handed over to be borne by a soldier upon a standard, trusting in the clemency of God, and in the most gracious intercession of His beloved. Therefore when the nearness of the enemies had approached, so was the power of Christ shown in the deeds of the Martyr, that the adversaries, turned to shameful flight, all the booty being left, scarcely the very fewest escaped the slaughter of the sword. the barbarians laying Italy waste are routed. Returning therefore with triumph from the war, and the barbarian slaughter wrought through the Martyr, the deeds of the holy man being transcribed from the Latin tongue into Greek k by the Pope of Rome, taking with him some of the same's Relics, returning to Constantinople, l he carried them, having experienced very many benefits of God, by the aiding merits of the Saint. m

[13] At last the Blessed Vigilius, Bishop of the city of Trent, the glorious Martyr, suffered, The year of death. in the time of Theodosius and n Honorius the Augusti reigning, Stilicho o being consul of the city of Rome, and also Hormisdas p Pope of the Apostolic See; but God and our Lord Jesus Christ reigning, to whom be glory with God the Father in the unity of the Holy Spirit, unto the perpetuity of ages of ages. Amen.

NOTES OF D. P.

entrance for those going into the city. Thus he, and adds, that there are those who wish it to be read Villa, not Vela: and that there are two places of this name; one not far from the castle of Stenico, 20 miles from the city; the other set apart from this in the valley of Giudicarie, under the parish of Bleggio; and that through each there is a passage from Rendena toward Trent; that way shorter, but more difficult; this way longer, but more convenient. But Buso di Vela, as it is nearer the city than that, so is it more fitting to our account.

p The same Acts add; But while S. Vigilius shone with these and other miracles, Theodosius conferred on his Church the Lagarina valley with Ursinicum; the Emperor Conrad, Bauzanum with the County of Ritenori; Riva with the whole Giudicaria; and various others bestowed various things. But the vengeance of God so pursued his slayers, that they became hateful to all. So that even today at Bergamo, where his church is set on a mountain near the castle, the Bishop withholds his blessing from some, because they are said to have been of the stock of the slayers: all which Bartholomew too describing, adds the place from Gennadius On Writers. The first donation, made by Theodosius the Writer, may have been to the church of Trent, while Vigilius was still living, since in the year 344 the Emperor was at Milan, where soon in the following year he died. But the Lagarina valley is here called, commonly Val di Leder, so that perhaps it should be read Ladarina, beyond the Sarca and Benacus. Ursinicum the maps do not have. Bauzanum, which Conrad gave at the beginning of the 10th century, seems to be Bolzano on the borders of Tyrol, 25 miles above Trent, toward the North; but that the County of Tyrol itself was here added to it under a corrupted name, I would scarcely dare to say; although it is the fief of the Bishop of Trent. Pincius adds, that Conrad II in the year 1027 gave the County of Trent, but in the following year the lovely Valley, to the church, and restored Bolzano, citing an author who had seen the documents. Riva, commonly Riva, lies at the head of Benacus, at an interval of 8 miles, and from there onward extends the Giudicaria, with the Rendena valley: but this would have been the gift of Charles IV, after the middle of the thirteenth century.