CONCERNING ST. HERCULANUS, BISHOP AND MARTYR, AT PERUGIA IN ITALY,
IN THE YEAR OF CHRIST 547.
HISTORICAL COMMENTARY.
St. Herculanus, Bishop of Perugia and Martyr in Italy.
BHL Number: 3823, 3824
Section I. The sacred worship of St. Herculanus: His monastic life.
[1] Perugia Augusta, still celebrated for its ancient splendor, formerly counted among the twelve principal cities of Etruria, is now rather numbered among the cities of Umbria, where the Apostolic Legate administers justice to the subject Umbrians. The Patrons of Perugia are Saints Constantius and Herculanus, The Perugians venerate as the chief Protectors of their city and diocese, above the other Saints who flourished there, two of their own Bishops and Martyrs, Constantius and Herculanus, to each of whom (we ourselves saw in person) ancient temples are dedicated there. We gave a triple Life of St. Constantius on January 29. St. Herculanus is venerated on these Kalends of March with veneration extended through the octave, unless that solemnity is impeded by the Lenten season. The said Herculanus was killed under Totila, King of the Goths: killed under Totila, concerning whom almost the only certain things are those written by St. Gregory the Great, which we give below. Other Acts, which are commonly circulated, disagree so much in the circumstances of events and persons attached, and pull the mind in different directions, that we cannot easily see which writings to agree with. An older Bishop of Perugia, also called Herculanus, has been introduced, from whom another, older Herculanus is distinguished. who is asserted to have been crowned with martyrdom in the earlier persecutions under the Roman Emperors, and writers of even distinguished erudition, as will be evident below, commonly lend their assent. We ourselves, having traveled to Perugia, diligently investigated what we could establish on this matter: and we obtained the Acts and Miracles of St. Herculanus partly there, partly elsewhere, as well as the veneration inserted in various ancient Martyrologies; from all of which we bring forward the following, suspending further resolution either to November 7, on which the Perugians honor the older Herculanus with ecclesiastical office, or certainly to other days on which his various companions are recorded, distinguished either by martyrdom or by the holiness of their life.
[2] The older Martyrologies display on November 7 the worship and veneration of St. Herculanus, and without mention of any Roman Emperor under whom the elder may have suffered. Veneration of St. Herculanus on November 7. To give the reader greater clarity, we divide the account found in the Martyrologies into three parts; the first of these is: At Perugia, a city of Italy, the birthday of St. Herculanus the Bishop. The second: killed under King Totila. The third: whose body after the severing of the head was found on the fortieth day so intact and sound (others read "safe"), as St. Gregory the Pope writes, as if no cut of the sword had touched it. The first part alone is contained in three manuscript codices of Usuard: the Paris one of St. Germain, the Ghent one of the Society of Jesus, and another of ours written in Italy. Florus in the manuscript addition to Bede, and the printed Bede agree, as do Ado as published by Rosweyde and as written by hand in various codices, likewise the manuscript Martyrologies — the Vallicella one at Rome, the Vatican one of the Church of St. Peter, the Reichenau one near Constance in Swabia, and the one of St. Maximin near Trier. In some, the laurel of Martyr is added. The third part of the account, concerning the authority of the cited St. Gregory the Great, is found in manuscript codices of Usuard also of the best quality, another Parisian one of the said monastery of St. Germain, and another of ours, which Molanus used in his corrections of Usuard. The editions of the same Usuard augmented by Bellinus and Greven agree, as do the Lübeck edition of 1473 and the Paris editions of 1490 and 1535. Likewise the manuscript Ado of the monastery of Lobbes, our manuscript codex under the name of Bede, and finally the manuscripts of Utrecht, Prague, and others. Somewhat more briefly the manuscripts of Saint-Riquier and the Neapolitan one of Antonio Caracciolo. Everything, including the second part about King Totila interposed, is found in several manuscript codices of Usuard augmented for the use of mainly Belgian churches, along with the rather ancient manuscript of Hagenau, the manuscript Florarium of the Saints, and the Martyrologies printed at Cologne and Lübeck in 1490: with which the Roman edition of 1586 and the Basel Martyrology printed in 1584 agree. The current Roman has more briefly: At Perugia, of St. Herculanus, Bishop and Martyr. But Baronius in his Notes says: Concerning the same, Bede, Usuard, Ado, and other more recent writers on this day. His martyrdom is described by St. Gregory the Pope, Dialogues, book 3, chapter 13. Mombritius in volume 2 of the Lives of the Saints published his Acts. From these Acts several excerpts are read in the Viola Sanctorum printed in 1504. In different phrasing Maurolycus reports the same: At Perugia, of St. Herculanus the Bishop, whose body after the severing of the head was found on the fortieth day so united and unharmed, as Gregory writes, as if it had been untouched by iron. The same was published by Constantius Felicius citing Maurolycus, but he adds that his feast is celebrated at Perugia, of which city he is Patron, on the Kalends of March. Galesinius indicates the same: At Perugia, of St. Herculanus, Bishop and Martyr, about whom something was written on the Kalends of March. We thought these things should be said at greater length, because already on November 7 another Herculanus, Bishop and Martyr, is venerated, as we have said, whom they say was long before a Bishop of the See of Perugia.
[3] On these Kalends of March some more recent martyrologists again treat of St. Herculanus. Bellinus: On the same day, at Perugia, of St. Herculanus, Bishop and Martyr. and on March 1. Hermann Greven in his Appendix to Usuard: Likewise at Perugia, according to some, the Passion of St. Herculanus, Bishop and Martyr, who is placed on November 7. This notice is also found in the German Martyrology of Canisius. Maurolycus relates: At Perugia, under the Goth King Totila, of St. Herculanus, Bishop and Martyr. Galesinius at greater length: At Perugia, of St. Herculanus, Bishop and Martyr, whose head was cut off, and was found on the fortieth day after his death so joined that no sign of severance appeared. Similar things are related by Felicius, who makes him German by nation. Because the Translation of St. Herculanus is recorded on this day in the Roman Martyrology, Ferrari inscribed it in his General Catalogue. But that he suffered on the Kalends of March is written by Peter de Natalibus, book 3 of the Catalogue, chapter 163, and by Iacobillus on the Saints of Umbria. But the Martyrology printed at Florence in 1486 and the manuscript of Strozzi, not much more ancient, celebrate the Translation of St. Herculanus, Bishop of Perugia and Martyr: which Translation the Acts below in number 23 also report confirmed by miracles.
[4] Below in the Life from the Dialogues of St. Gregory he is said to have been led from the life of a monastery to the grace of priestly orders. Hence both Benedictines and Canons Regular count him among their own: as if in those times there had been no other form of monastic life. Cassian in the fifth century of Christ wrote in book 2, On the Institutes of Monasteries, chapter 2, by some he is believed to have been a Benedictine monk, that he had seen almost as many types and rules in use as he had beheld monasteries and cells. And in the sixth century of Christ, as the same St. Gregory testifies in the Dialogues, the monk Romanus, who brought bread to St. Benedict for three years in the cave at Subiaco, lived under the rule of Father Theodatus. Meanwhile, because St. Herculanus lived at the same time as St. Benedict, he is ascribed to the Benedictine order by Trithemius, book 3, On Illustrious Men, chapter 14; by Silvano Razzi on the Saints of Etruria, part 1, page 112; by Antonio Yepes in the Benedictine Chronicle under the year 546, chapter 2, whose Latin translator asserts that he gave the name of Todi to the Order of St. Benedict. Tuder, or Tudertum, is a neighboring city of Umbria, called Todi by the Italians, which seems to indicate this: others assert he was a monk at Perugia; but none prove that any Benedictine monastery had been established in those cities at that time. He is also ascribed to the Benedictine records by Dorganius, Menardus, Bucelin, and in the manuscript Sacred Contests by Constantino Gaetano, concerning whom Ferdinando Ughelli pronounces that he recklessly follows Trithemius. Gaetano's contest was published and refuted by Pennottus in his Tripartite History of Canons, book 2, chapters 18 and 19, and he shows by computation of years that at the time when St. Benedict began to found his monasteries, St. Herculanus was already in holy Orders of the Subdiaconate and Diaconate, and perhaps the Priesthood.
[5] Constantinus Ghinius in his Birthdays of the Holy Canons ascribes St. Herculanus to these Kalends of March, on which day he is honored with the ecclesiastical office of nine lessons among the Canons Regular of the Congregation of the Holy Savior, by others a Canon Regular. with three proper lessons assigned for the second Nocturn, formerly approved by Pius V, as Pennottus testifies, which begin thus: Herculanus, at Perugia in the cathedral church, taught the first foundations of religion by a certain Canon Regular of most approved life, and then made Bishop, is said to have reformed the regular observance in his Church to its former state. The proper Lessons which are recited by other Canons Regular with the approval of the same Pius V coincide, in which it is said that he received the first institutes of holy Religion at Perugia in the cathedral church in the monastery of Canons, and ascended to the perfection of regular discipline and of all virtues; and that as Bishop he relaxed nothing of the rigor of canonical discipline, and restored the regular observance, which had been somewhat relaxed, to its original state. Pennottus adds in chapter 18, number 8, that there is an ancient and constant tradition of the Church of Perugia that Blessed Herculanus reformed the clergy and established them with excellent clerical rules, and indeed constituted them to live in the canonical or regular manner. Moreover, the ancient Acts of St. Constantius, Bishop of Perugia, from the manuscripts of St. Gall, Perugia, and Baronius, published by us on January 29, relate that in the second century of Christ the Church of Perugia had its own clergy, and other Acts attached, by the author Giovanni Andrea Palazio, confirm this, in which
it is said that St. Constantius was elected Bishop by the whole clergy or universal clergy and people, moved by heavenly inspiration. Ughelli, cited above, judges that Herculanus was one of those ancient clerics who cultivated the regular life before St. Benedict. That the clergy formerly had their own cloisters or monasteries cannot be disputed among learned men. This Cathedral Church of Perugia was formerly in the suburbs, in the place which was called Mount Calvary or Caprasius, in whose adjoining monastery St. Herculanus is reported to have professed the regular life, and to have been led from the life of the monastery to the grace of priestly orders, according to the manuscript codices of the monastery of St. Peter, which confirm and explain the account of Pope St. Gregory. But what is now the Cathedral Church of Perugia, dedicated to St. Lawrence, is said to have been built by Bishop Roger in the tenth century of Christ, who transferred both his own See and that of the Canons from that suburban church of St. Peter, which was by then considerably dilapidated. Roger's successor is established as Honestus, from whom the Benedictines, or at least their first Abbot St. Peter, obtained the said suburban church of St. Peter with its cloister: which was rebuilt by him and dedicated by the Bishop around the year 969, with the approval of John XIII, who was then governing the Church as Roman Pontiff: as these things are narrated in the manuscript Life of the said Abbot St. Peter, to be published on July 10. This is the beginning of the distinguished Benedictine monastery among the Perugians, transferred to this Order a minimum of four hundred years after the death of St. Herculanus. That the Chapter of the Cathedral Church of Perugia was at one time of the Order of Canons Regular of St. Augustine, and that twenty-four Canons had long been established in it, we are taught in a Bull of Pope Julius II, given at Rome in the year 1512 and printed by Ughelli, by which he suppresses and extinguishes the regular status of that Church, and decrees that it should henceforth be administered by secular Canons: where there still exists a Cloister adjoining the church, and a Claustral Prior is appointed.
Section II. The homeland of St. Herculanus — whether Syria or Germany? Whether various Companions came with him? The time of his Episcopate and martyrdom.
[6] The Church of Perugia, although from the year 1512 it had secular Canons in place of Regulars, nevertheless observed the ancient custom of feasts from the rite of the Canons Regular: from which the office of St. Augustine with its Octave was celebrated until the time of Bishop Napoleon Comitoli, who governed the Church of Perugia from 1590 to the twenty-fourth year of this century; under whom the proper Offices of Saints Constantius and the first and second Herculanus, Bishops, were introduced, approved by the Congregation of Sacred Rites in the year 1605: but, as Pennottus asserts in chapter 18, number 3, the dispute had passed into a decided matter without the other side being heard. In the feast of St. Herculanus on the first day of March, everything is read from the Common of one Martyr, except the Lessons of the second Nocturn, which begin thus: Whether St. Herculanus came from Syria and under Emperor Justinian. In the year of human redemption 534, under Pope John as Supreme Pontiff and Justinian the Great as Emperor, a company of three hundred men assembled at Caesarea and Laodicea, cities of Syria, came to Rome on a votive journey. All of these, having venerated the basilicas of the chief Apostles, approached the Pontiff and narrated that they had come to Italy with the intention that, if circumstances required it, they would lay down their lives for the propagation of the Christian faith. At the Pontiff's exhortation they left the city, and separated in pairs from the entire company, they illuminated almost all of Etruria, Umbria, Latium, Sabina, and Picenum with the holy examples of their lives and heavenly teaching. Among these was Herculanus, the second of that name as Bishop of Perugia, who, after having led the monastic life with great praise in a monastery founded at Perugia according to the institute of the holy Father Benedict, was at last ordained Bishop of the Church of Perugia. So much for that. Iacobillus, in the Life of St. Herculanus, citing the ancient manuscript Lessons of the Perugian monastery of St. Peter and of the Cathedral Church of St. Lawrence, narrates thus: In the reigns of Emperor Anastasius and the Ostrogoth Theodoric, or earlier under Anastasius, and during the pontificate of St. Hormisdas, in the company of three hundred men he set out from Syria to Italy, was ordained Priest at Rome, and by the most holy Pontiff, together with St. Carpophorus the Priest, and companion of St. Carpophorus, who had been his countryman and fellow traveler, was sent to Perugia, to announce the true faith of Christ against the Arians and to bring sinners to repentance. So says Iacobillus in the Lives of the Saints of Umbria, printed in 1647, who, in assigning St. Carpophorus the Priest as the companion of St. Herculanus, reveals the trace of a further error.
[7] Baronius in his Notes on November 7 asserts concerning St. Herculanus that Vincent Herculanus, Bishop of Perugia, seemed to him more inclined to the opinion that there were two Bishops of the same name of the same city, because (as he says) in the Acts of Saints Carpophorus and Abundantius the Martyrs, who suffered in the times of the pagan Emperors, mention is made of St. Herculanus, Bishop of Perugia. Baronius says Vincent told him this in person while he was in Rome. Saints Carpophorus and Abundius (above called Abundantius) are venerated on December 10, In the Acts of the latter, an arrival under Julian is recorded. and Baronius notes that their Acts are found in Mombritius, volume 1, from which we give the beginning, which is as follows: In the times of Julian, the most cruel apostate, the most blessed Anastasius from the regions of Syria, with his two venerable sons, namely Euticius and Brictius, and his relatives and nephews — Abundius, John, Theudila, Isaac, Carpophorus, Lawrence, Proculus, and Herculanus — set out, and after a long weariness of sea and land, protected (as none can doubt) by heavenly clemency, at last approaching the city of Rome, entered the house of the most holy Bishop Urban: the most blessed Urban, according to the voice of the Teacher of the Nations who says "God loves a cheerful giver" 2 Cor. 9:7, received them joyfully as guests, filled them with nourishment of body and soul, and urged them to stay with him for some time. Meanwhile he elevated Brictius and Carpophorus to the dignity of the Priesthood, and Abundius and Lawrence to the Order of Deacon. So much for that, to which the same caution must be applied that Baronius used in the Notes to the Martyrology cited above, when he judged that in a manuscript booklet of miracles of St. Herculanus, the things which seem to have been prefixed at the beginning by someone else concerning the times of Julian the Apostate should be corrected: for the times of Julian and of Justinian, under whom the Martyr St. Herculanus died, are widely discrepant. In the same way, the times of Julian and of Pope St. Urban, who presided over the Church from the year 224 to the year 231, and death under Diocletian: are widely discrepant — if indeed his name is to be retained, since it is subsequently said: Saints Carpophorus and Abundius suffered martyrdom under the Emperors Maximian and Diocletian. But concerning the errors with which those Acts are bespattered, we treated on February 3 in the Life of St. Lawrence the Illuminator, Bishop of Spoleto, who is numbered above among these companions and whose death is placed around the year 576.
[8] Meanwhile, in the aforesaid proper Offices of the Church of Perugia, composed under Bishop Napoleon, these things are applied to St. Herculanus I, about whom the Lessons for November 7 begin thus: The same are attributed to St. Herculanus I. Herculanus, the first of this name, Bishop of the city of Perugia, Syrian by nation, together with eight blood brothers — Carpophorus, Abundius, Lawrence, Proculus, John, Theudala, Isaac, and Bractalis — and two paternal cousins, Brictius and Euticius, with Anastasius his paternal uncle as leader and master, came to Rome for the sake of religion around the year of Christ our Lord 300: all were received very kindly by the Roman Pontiff, who afterward dismissed Brictius and Carpophorus, being older, created Priests, Abundius and Lawrence as Deacons, and the remaining seven ordained as Clerics, to cultivate the Lord's vineyard in various places. Herculanus, by divine counsel, came to Perugia, where, upon the death of the city's Bishop, he was created Bishop of the Church of Perugia by St. Brictius, his paternal cousin and Metropolitan Bishop (who, as it is said, had received from the Blessed Peter, Prince of the Apostles, the power of ordaining Bishops). So much for that, to which similar things are found in Africanus Ghirardellius in the Life of St. Abundius, Deacon and Martyr, published by him in 1620, whose arrival is referred either to the year 300, where he numbers Herculanus among these brothers and considers that they came from Syria to the shore of Ostia, and from there entered the Roman roads not far from the City in the year of restored salvation 300, under the Princes of the Roman Empire Diocletian and Maximian as Augusti, were most kindly received, nourished for several days with heavenly as well as bodily food by Bishop Urban, a man of saintly morals ... elevated to the Priesthood were Brictius and Carpophorus, to the Diaconate Abundius and Lawrence, the seven remaining younger ones to the Clerical state. And then, after the martyrdom of their uncle St. Anastasius, and after imprisonments and torments inflicted on others, they are said to have been invested by Bishop Brictius — John with the Bishopric of Spoleto, Herculanus with that of Perugia — and then to have suffered martyrdom under the rule of Diocletian and Maximian, and Herculanus, the glory, parent, and Bishop of Perugia, after cruel tortures, was pierced with a lance by a soldier of the governor — earlier than the most famous Bishop of the same name and city. Similar things are found in Giovanni Battista Braccesco in his book On the Two Herculanuses. But quite different dates for the time of their arrival are established by Felix Ciatta in his History of Perugia, Battista Piergilius in the Acts of St. Vincent of Mevania, the above-cited Iacobillus, and with them Ughelli in his Bishops of Perugia, whose words are: St. Herculanus, the first of that name, Syrian by nation, from the city of Antioch, a foster-child of St. Peter the Apostle, nephew or cousin of Brictius the Apostle of Umbria, came to Italy in the last times of the Emperor Caligula, or to the year 57. and directed by St. Brictius, with St. Peter the Apostle so advising, to the Umbrians, was ordained the first Bishop of Perugia in the year 57 of salvation. And then he is said to have suffered martyrdom around the year 90 under the most cruel persecution of Domitian. Which matters we have said must be discussed more exactly elsewhere.
[9] Pennottus in chapter 19, number 5, testifies that he found in a manuscript booklet of the history of the Ring of the Most Blessed Virgin Mother of God, which is preserved with the highest veneration among the Perugians, Whether St. Herculanus II was born in Germany? offered to him while he was giving the Lenten sermons in the cathedral church, that St. Herculanus had come there not from Syria but from the regions of Germany, or Alemannia. We indicated above that he is held to be German by nation by Felicius in his Martyrology. Ughelli also calls him a Teuton by nation. Let this suffice concerning his homeland.
[10] Concerning his first exercises among the Perugians, the following is commemorated in the proper Offices of the Canons Regular of the Congregation of the Holy Savior in the Lessons of the second Nocturn: Herculanus, at Perugia in the cathedral church, taught the first rudiments of religion by a certain Canon Regular of most approved life, and having afterward made his profession there, ascended to such perfection of humility, promoted from the monastery to the Episcopate, charity, and regular observance and of all virtues, that upon the death of the city's Bishop, by the unanimous consent of all
he was elected in his place at the demand of all: in which See he conducted himself so energetically and devoutly that no business and no difficulty of affairs could ever draw him away from divine praises and the solemnities of Masses, and he reformed the regular observance in his Church to its original state. So much for that. In the same way Ughelli says he was by profession a Canon Regular of St. Peter at Perugia, distinguished for holiness of life, and reluctantly assumed to the Bishopric of Perugia in the year 534, around the year 534, and that, imitating the first Herculanus, his predecessor, he governed the Church of Perugia with wonderful skill and piety. Iacobillus indicates the same year of receiving the episcopate: but these things are reported on the basis of conjecture alone.
[11] Concerning the year of his martyrdom, his Acts in Mombritius begin with these words: In the seventeenth year of Justinian, Herculanus, Bishop of Perugia, suffered martyrdom by the severing of his head by King Totila. [His martyrdom was not in the 17th year of Justinian's Empire, the year of Christ 543 or 544,] Justinian was made Emperor by his uncle Justin while the latter was ill, in the year of Christ 527, in the consulship of Mavortius, and according to Theophanes on Easter Sunday, the fourth of April, in the fifth Indiction: from which inauguration the time of his empire is reckoned in the Alexandrine Chronicle. Justin survived until the Kalends of August, and upon his death Justinian reigned alone: whose seventeenth year of empire falls partly in the year of Christ 543 and partly in the following, so that according to the Acts in Mombritius St. Herculanus would have been killed either on November 7 of the earlier year 543, or on the Kalends of March of the following year 544. Under this year the following is read in Sigebert's Chronicle: Herculanus, Bishop of Perugia, is martyred by King Totila by the severing of his head: but after death his head was found united to his body. Since, however, Perugia is said, as will be evident below from St. Gregory, to have been besieged by the Goths for seven years and captured before the seventh year had ended, that period must be reckoned from the eleventh year of Justinian, the year of Christ 537, in which Procopius writes in book 1 of the Gothic War that Constantianus, one of Justinian's commanders, captured Spoleto, Perugia, and other towns surrounding them. That was the third year of the Gothic War, which Procopius asserts began in the ninth year of Justinian's Empire, and he reports that Perugia was captured by Totila in the thirteenth year of the Gothic War, that is, the year of Christ 547, with these words: In the meantime winter passed, and the end of the twelfth year of this war was at hand, but after Perugia was captured by Totila in the year 547, which Procopius himself wrote. But Totila had long since sent forces to Perugia, which, having pitched camp around the walls, besieged the Romans most fiercely, and since they perceived that necessities were failing them, they sent to Totila begging him to come to them at once with his entire army: for they thought that with their forces joined, Perugia and the Roman garrison of that town could more easily come into their power. After delivering a speech to his men, Totila led his army toward Perugia. When they finally arrived there, the barbarians pitched camp as close to the walls as possible and encircled the city with a siege: and then, although it is not added, they gained possession of the city. For, as Totila had said in his speech, Cyprianus, who was in charge of that place and the Romans, had been taken out of the way, and to the other evils of the multitude was added a scarcity of necessities.
Section III. The Martyrdom of St. Herculanus: his church and various Translations of Relics.
[12] Philip Ferrari in the Catalogue of the Saints of Italy under November 13, concerning St. Floridus, Bishop of Città di Castello, who was ordained Priest by St. Herculanus, has the following: Floridus, born of religious parents at Città di Castello, having been orphaned, St. Floridus was consecrated Priest by St. Herculanus, offered himself and his possessions to the Church. Enrolled in the number of clerics, soon made a Deacon, he came to Perugia, at the time when Totila was laying waste everything with sword and fire in barbarous ferocity, together with St. Amantius the Priest, to St. Herculanus the Bishop: by whom he was kindly received and ordained Priest ... Meanwhile, Perugia having been captured and St. Herculanus beheaded, he returned to his homeland, nearly in ruins ... Made Bishop ... he becomes Bishop of Città di Castello summoned to Rome by Pope St. Gregory together with Blessed Amantius, when he had returned from there to his homeland, he began to shine with holiness and miracles. Similar things are related by Iacobillus on the Saints of Umbria under the same November 13, and by Ughelli among the Bishops of Città di Castello, who add that the Cathedral Church is dedicated to these Saints Floridus (who is called Florius by Ughelli) and Amantius. Tifernium is now called Città di Castello, situated at the foot of the Apennines near the river Tiber, the chief town of an ancient county, now subject to the Apostolic See. The same authors report that Pope St. Gregory writes about these Saints in book 3 of the Dialogues, chapter 35: yet in that place, in the editions prepared by Gillot and Pamelius, and corrected by order of Sixtus V, one reads: from whom another Floridus, Bishop of Todi, is distinct. Floridus, Bishop of the Church of Todi. And Giovanni Battista Possevini counts St. Amantius among the Saints of Todi, and transcribes his Life from this passage of St. Gregory. Ughelli also numbers Floridus as the ninth among the Bishops of Todi, whose successor is said to be Sabinianus, an intimate of Gregory the Great, who attended the Roman Council celebrated by him in the year 595. Meanwhile Baronius in his Notes on September 26, on which St. Amantius is venerated, asserts: from whom did St. Gregory learn the martyrdom of St. Herculanus? Concerning whom St. Gregory writes in Dialogues, book 3, chapter 35. In that place an emendation has been made from what was read as "of Todi" to "of Tifernium." For Floridus, whom he mentions there, was Bishop of Tifernium, celebrated for holiness, whom the people of Tifernium honor most honorably as their Patron. This indeed is attested with sure faith by the ancient records of that Church. The same Baronius under the year 546, number 2, asserts that St. Gregory learned the martyrdom of St. Herculanus from the same Floridus of Tifernium, which is related in his own words immediately below among the Acts.
[13] What St. Gregory wrote is copied by others everywhere: Vincent of Beauvais in his Speculum Historiale, book 21, chapter 26; the body was brought to the church of St. Peter, Peter Equilinus in his Catalogue, book 3, chapter 163, who adds: They brought the body within the city and honorably buried it in the church of St. Peter the Apostle — as those things are expressed in the proper Offices of the Canons Regular of St. Augustine. In the Lessons which we said were prescribed for the Cathedral Church by Bishop Napoleon of Perugia, the following is added: Astonished by this miracle, whether a boy was then raised from the dead? the clergy honorably buried the body of the holy Bishop in the church of Blessed Peter on Mount Calvary: and when the body of the same boy, which was already consumed by worms, had also been brought there, the boy revived as if roused from sleep. There, after various miracles of every kind had been performed, when the body of the holy Bishop had lain for a long time, it was finally translated to the Cathedral Church, where it is now venerated with great veneration and piety of the whole people. So much for that. Concerning the boy raised from the dead, an ancient testimony is brought forward of an inscription carved on marble in the temple of St. Herculanus about four hundred years ago, in these words: In the name of the Lord, Amen. 1297, in the time of the Lord Pope Boniface VIII. Blessed Gregory relates in the Dialogues, book 3, chapter 14, the beheading of St. Herculanus; his body was buried in this place, and with him an infant, whom the Lord raised from the dead through the merits of St. Herculanus. Praise to Christ. So says Caesar Crispoltus, book 1 of Perugia Augusta, chapter 18.
[13] The church of St. Herculanus given to the Barnabites. The church of St. Herculanus was formerly erected on that spot outside the wall where his body had been thrown down after the slaughter. The aforesaid Crispoltus describes its structure: Bishop Napoleon restored it when it was greatly collapsed, and in the year 1607 gave it to be inhabited by the Clerics of St. Paul, or Barnabites, having built a fitting house and added an income from which they might sustain their lives. The same Crispoltus explains this more fully in book 1, chapter 29.
[14] The body of St. Herculanus was translated several times: first to the Church of St. Peter, on the fortieth day after his glorious martyrdom, His body was translated to the churches of St. Peter, then St. Stephen, as we said above. Afterward, around the year 936, if the time has been correctly observed by Ughelli, Bishop Roger translated the body of the same St. Herculanus from the ancient church of St. Peter outside the walls to the parish church of St. Stephen within the walls, which was given to the Dominican Fathers, who erected a new church dedicated to the same St. Stephen. then St. Lawrence: But the sacred bones of the Martyr Herculanus did not rest there long, and Bishop Honestus, Roger's successor, is said to have brought them to the Cathedral Church of St. Lawrence with great solemnity: where a great part of the bones is still preserved under the high altar, and another part was translated to the church of the same St. Herculanus and deposited under the high altar, as Iacobillus asserts. a part brought to the church of St. Herculanus: This Translation was made in the year 1609, on May 17, having obtained from Pope Paul V the faculty with a plenary indulgence of sins; for which solemnity the Litanies and prayers to be said in the procession were then printed there: and in the Litanies after "All you Holy Innocents" the patronage of St. Herculanus is invoked repeatedly, then of St. Stephen, St. Lawrence, and other Saints. some feast on May 5. Iacobillus observes that some feast of the Translation of the body of St. Herculanus is celebrated on May 5. Masinus in his Bologna Illustrated, under March 1, indicates that some of his relics are preserved at Bologna in the Collegiate Church of St. John on the Mount.
[15] Bernardinus de' Nobili of Campello (to whose eminent learning and kindness we owe a great deal, and we rejoice that we enjoyed his conversation in the city of Spoleto, and discussed at length with him the History of that city, which he was preparing for the press) sent us a distinguished document about the two St. Herculanuses, and in it inserts, translated into Latin by himself, what Braccesco has in Italian about the relics of both Herculanuses, testimony concerning the relics of both St. Herculanuses. discussion 4, page 49, as follows: To confirm the conclusion more firmly — namely that there were two Herculanuses who were Bishops of Perugia, one under the Caesars, the other under Totila — a final argument can be adduced: which I myself heard, as if from an authentic document preserved in the archive of the city of Perugia, namely that since it was held for certain from St. Gregory that the body of St. Herculanus had been intact with the head, although severed, yet by divine power joined again to his body, and that it was first buried in the church of St. Peter of the said city, and from there likewise entire translated to the Cathedral; afterward, however, many centuries having passed, in the year 1378, it was divinely revealed that in the Church of St. Herculanus of the castle of Antignola, in the territory of Perugia, there lay hidden an arm of St. Herculanus with a not inconsiderable part of the rest of the body, and that with solemn pomp and a great concourse of the people, magistrates, and clergy, the aforesaid relics were translated from the said castle to Perugia — from this an effective proof arises that there were two Bishops at Perugia, and that the head and arm found at Antignola are those of the first St. Herculanus, while the intact body which at that time, as also
at present, was resting in the Cathedral of Perugia, is that of the second Herculanus. Which things are also confirmed by the public voice and testimony of many men worthy of both reverence and trust, from both the clergy and the people, whom I heard with my own ears at Perugia on this day, February 10, of the year 1586 — especially from the report of the Reverend Lord Adrian Pandelochus, beneficed cleric of the Cathedral, and of Lord Pompey Pellini, a man of outstanding learning, dignity, and trustworthiness, and an illustrious writer of Perugian histories — who without doubt affirmed to me: the former had heard it from his father Philip, an old man of ninety-three years; the latter from Lord Ludovico de Sensis, a Canon of Perugia, and many others — that when they had been present at the translation of the coffin of St. Herculanus from the place where it previously was to the high altar of the said basilica, they had seen, when the casket was opened, the entire intact body of St. Herculanus, and next to it a great heap of bones of the other St. Herculanus, translated from Antignola. So far Braccesco, from the translation of Bernardinus de' Nobili of Campello.
[16] Iacobillus in the Catalogue of notable Relics preserved in Umbria asserts that at Perugia in the Cathedral Church, deposited for the veneration of the citizens under the high altar, are the head and one arm with other relics of the body of St. Herculanus, the first Bishop of Perugia; deposited under the high altar: likewise half the body of the second St. Herculanus, the other half of which we said was brought to the church dedicated to this Saint in the ninth year of this century. The same Iacobillus, in the same place, number 2, adds that in the church of the Society of Jesus there is the body and head of St. Herculanus the Martyr, extracted from the Cemetery of Priscilla, and with Pope Clement VIII granting permission, brought from Rome to Perugia and resting under the high altar, another body of St. Herculanus the Martyr in the church of the Society of Jesus. and that he is the Herculanus whom the tablets of the Roman Martyrology celebrate as killed at the Port of Rome on September 5. When we were at Perugia, unless our memory deceives us, we understood at our own Society's college that these sacred relics had been those of some anonymous Martyr, and that the name of Herculanus had been imposed on them out of pious devotion toward St. Herculanus. Which we certainly did not much approve, fearing lest at some point a greater scruple should arise about the certainty of the relics we have just mentioned, if some should conjecture that, out of a similar devotion toward St. Herculanus, the name of St. Herculanus was also imposed on the above-mentioned relics brought from Antignola to Perugia.
Section IV. The Acts of St. Herculanus.
[17] When we were at Perugia toward the end of the year 1660, and visited the monastery of St. Peter, Whence these acts were transcribed. having been most kindly received by the most devout Benedictine monks of the Cassinese Congregation, we found in an ancient manuscript Legendary the Life of St. Herculanus, but mutilated by a torn page: which, having brought the book to the college of the Society, we transcribed, and give here. But we warn the reader that what is narrated at the beginning about Julian the Apostate is plainly fabulous, and what is added about his companions is now commonly referred by more recent writers to Herculanus I, whom they say suffered under Domitian: which things are comprehended together in the following number; the rest can more safely be referred to St. Herculanus who suffered under Totila. Furthermore, the reading of the first part was prescribed for the day of the Translation, and that of the latter part for the day of the Beheading of St. Herculanus. Here are the Acts themselves.
[18] In the times of Julian, the most cruel apostate Emperor, St. Herculanus, Syrian by nation, came to Rome with his eleven blood relatives by divine disposition from the regions of Syria: who, although they were joined by the bond of flesh and blood, nevertheless the love of the spiritual bond of religious perfection united them more powerfully and closely: for they maintained the purpose of holy religion in the fervor of the Spirit, whose names are these: John and Tedula, Isaac and Abundius, Carpophorus and Lawrence, Proculus and Paractilus, and Anastasius with his two sons Euticius and Brictius. Companions of St. Herculanus, When St. Anastasius was converting many pagans to the faith of Christ and consecrating them with the holy font of baptism, the priests of the temples reported to the Emperor Julian that Anastasius with his two sons and nephews had come to Rome and had converted many to the teaching of the Christian faith. Hearing these things, Julian, filled with fury, ordered that Anastasius with the others should be brought before his presence: and having found them grounded and steadfast in the faith of Christ, he ordered them to be beaten with knotted clubs and thrust into prison and continually tortured with hunger. Afterward, however, the wicked Emperor ordered them to be taken from prison and led to the Salt Waters, and to terrify the others, he had the head of Blessed Anastasius cut off in the aforesaid place. Then the rest, departing from the city of Rome, came to the place called the Via Cornelia, where, exhorting one another and giving the kiss of peace, Euticius left his brother Brictius in the region of Terni, and himself went to the region of Bolsena, and there led the eremitic life for many years. Brictius, however, with his other brothers came to the region of Valeria, to the city of Spoleto, having left Proculus in the colony called Narni, above the castle of Casulanum, in which there was a most holy man Vulcianus: with whom St. Proculus, leading a spiritual life, obtained such grace of Christ that, ordained to the priesthood by him, before the sun rose over the earth he would hear Mass being sung in heaven, and thus afterward St. Proculus would offer the sacrifice to the Lord. Of this most glorious fraternity and fellowship, the aforesaid Anastasius was the director, and he formed it with the word of doctrine and holy morals: among whom St. Herculanus, filled with divine grace, shone most brilliantly like a lamp shining on a candlestick. Therefore St. Brictius, Metropolitan of the See of Spoleto, seeing Blessed Herculanus adorned with many prerogatives of merits, the Bishopric of Perugia, at the suggestion of the divine Spirit, ordained and consecrated him Bishop of the city of Perugia.
[19] Raised, therefore, from the monastic life to the Pontifical Chair, he pursued the same gravity of morals as before, and the same humility in all things. For he carefully fulfilled the office of Pastor imposed upon him, and inviolably observed the vow of religion. governance of his subjects, For holding the office of a provident Pastor, he carefully governed the flock committed to him with the rod of direction and equity, and continually preaching Christ our Redeemer who suffered and died, he confirmed by his exhortations many who were still wavering in the faith. A most wise and most holy extirpator of vices and a zealous planter of virtues, he continually watered his aforesaid flock, like a kind of spiritual nursery, with the streams of divine words. Since a good Pastor must feed the people committed to him not only with spiritual food but also with bodily food when the time of need arises, therefore this Saint, embracing pitiable persons and the poor in the bowels of charity, was merciful to orphans as a father, works of mercy: and as far as his powers allowed, a mother to them, and stretched out his hands to the poor. For he was a pious defender and reliever of widows, orphans, and others unjustly oppressed, whom he mercifully assisted in the injuries inflicted on them; he clothed the naked, fed the hungry, and gave drink to the thirsty. He received the needy and the poor with a cheerful countenance, and when he was sometimes unable to extend his hand to them, he extended his compassion and his soul had sympathy with the poor: a despiser of temporal things and a lover of poverty, he did not want to have temporal goods except to distribute in alms. But he always strove to increase the heavenly treasure, which is not tarnished by rust nor corrupted by moth, through works of perfection. Devoting himself to fasts, vigils, and prayers, he fought against the desires of the flesh, desiring to please God, the giver of all good things, without ceasing. He strove to extirpate the worship of idolatry with all his might, which had not yet been fully extinguished in the hearts of some. Hence he destroyed the temples of demons and consecrated basilicas of Christ, churches erected: in which, continually celebrating the sacred Masses, he diligently enlarged the divine worship. And to set his household as an example to others, he established the clergy of the cathedral church to live in the canonical manner. Clergy instructed in good morals. He commanded all the clergy of his diocese to fast on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. How greatly the zeal for God and fraternal charity had inflamed him was most evident in this, that he laid down his life for the flock committed to him, according to the word of the Savior: The Good Shepherd lays down his life for his sheep. John 10:11
[20] For in the aforesaid times, when Totila, King of the Goths, was devastating with barbarous ferocity, by sword and fire, most of the captured cities of Italy, he came with a great and immense army to besiege the city of Perugia: which, carefully exploring on all sides, Italy is devastated by Totila: when he saw that it was so strongly fortified by the nature of its location, the construction of human works, and the multitude of warriors that he despaired of being able to capture it by war, he decided to take it by a prolonged siege. Having therefore left a great part of his army at Perugia, Totila himself with the rest hastened quickly to the siege of Rome, and placed his camp at the third milestone from the city, in the place called Merulus. The Gothic army which had remained in the siege of the city of Perugia besieged it for seven continuous years, as Blessed Gregory narrates in the book of the Dialogues, saying: book 3, chapter 13
[21] Floridus, a venerable man, Bishop of the city of Todi, narrated to me a very memorable miracle, saying: The most holy man Herculanus, Perugia is captured, my foster-father, was Bishop of the city of Perugia, who from the life of a monastery was led to the grace of priestly orders. In the times of the perfidious King Totila, a Gothic army besieged the same city for seven continuous years, from which many citizens fled who could not bear the danger of famine. In the seventh year, before it was finished, a Gothic army entered the same city, abandoned by the citizens, as was said, because of the danger of famine, with almost no one resisting. Therefore the Count of the city, who was in command of that army, sent messengers to King Totila, inquiring what he ordered to be done with the Bishop and the people. To whom he gave this command, saying: First cut a strip from the Bishop from the crown of his head to his heel, and then cut off his head; and destroy with the sword all the people who are found there. Then the same Count, having led the venerable man Herculanus up onto the city wall, beheaded him, the head of St. Herculanus is cut off, and after he was already dead, cut the skin from head to heel, so that a strip seemed to have been taken from his body, and immediately threw his body outside the wall. Then certain people, moved by the piety of humanity, placing the severed head against the neck, together with one small infant who had perished there, committed the body of the Bishop to burial beside the wall. When, forty days after that same slaughter, King Totila had ordered that the citizens of that city, who had been scattered wherever they could, should return to it without any fear, those who had previously fled the famine, having received permission to come, returned. But not unmindful of what kind of life their Bishop had led, they sought where his body was buried, so that they might inter it in the church of Blessed Peter the Apostle according to due custom. When they had come to the tomb and dug up the earth, they found the body of the boy, who had been buried at the same time, as one would expect on the fortieth day,
corrupt with decay and full of worms; but the body of the Bishop was as if it had been buried that very day, found after 40 days with the head united to the body. and what is still to be venerated with great admiration: his head had been so united to his body as if it had never been severed; so that no traces of the cutting appeared. And when they turned it over on its back, examining whether any sign of the other incision could be shown, the entire body was found so sound and inviolate, as if no cut of the sword had touched it.
[22] And so, rejoicing together with the greatest joy at so great a miracle, the aforesaid citizens on the mount called Calvary, in the church of Blessed Peter the Apostle, laid the body of the venerable Bishop and Martyr with hymns and praises, and there the aforesaid boy, teeming with worms, was raised from the dead by Blessed Herculanus: a dead boy is raised: and he lived for seven years after his resurrection, and thus departed from this life and was buried in the same church. For many years afterward Blessed Herculanus, left there, displayed some evidences of his merits to the people who sought them.
[23] Since therefore it was fitting that the body of so most holy a man should be placed in the city which he had governed and in which he had received the palm of martyrdom, it pleased Roger, the venerable and devout Bishop of the same city, the body is transferred into the city, and the entire clergy and people, to have it translated to the aforesaid city. The plan having been formed and confirmed, and a three-day fast having been proclaimed, with ... his oracle is sought by many from distant parts, and although the day of his translation had been unknown for a long time, afterward Blessed Herculanus revealed it most clearly through many miracles performed on such a day, the day of Translation is March 1, and on the Kalends of March it is celebrated solemnly and honorably: and not only on the day of his Translation, as was said, but even to the present day, Christ the King, for whose love he suffered, clearly displays many and great miracles through his holy merits.
So far those Acts, in which the things narrated about the boy were not written by St. Gregory. The rest has been sufficiently explained above.
Section V. Various Miracles from the manuscript Legendary of the Church of Orvieto.
[24] Although only a few things have been written about St. Herculanus, nevertheless through those things which have been written, what sort of person he was and of how great merit can be understood. For since among the holy men who lived with St. Brictius, some were also Martyrs and others most holy Confessors, Blessed Herculanus was chosen and established as Bishop of Perugia: The sanctity of Blessed Herculanus is known from his works, of how great sanctity and virtue he is believed to have been, whom among such men and with such men we know to have led his life and conduct. And since many men were most holy by confession alone, without the shedding of blood, with faith preceding a religious life, there is no doubt that St. Herculanus was most excellent in the holiness of virtues, since from monastic life he was led to the episcopal office, and suffered many mortifications of prisons with Brictius, and persecutions of the wicked, and many dangers and labors for God and the practice of the faith; martyrdom, at last he ended his life by martyrdom.
[25] The miracles also, which God worked through him, provide evidence that he is most worthy among others. For although we read that our Lord worked many miracles through holy men both before and after His coming, and miracles, because they were especially necessary for the conversion of the faith at the beginning of the nascent Church; yet through no one of the Saints do we read that so many wonders have been done as human bodies in various parts of the world have experienced through the merits of St. Herculanus. For no one knows or is able to narrate one by one how many and how great benefits almighty God has conferred on all who implore the power of the most blessed Herculanus and seek his aid. wrought throughout the world; Indeed, on the sea and in various distant parts of the earth, very many, not knowing the place where he rests, but only invoking his name, have received health and have escaped from dangers. But what shall I say of the multitude and magnitude of miracles wrought far from the sepulcher of St. Herculanus in France, England, Germany, Hungary, and in many other places — when even those wrought at the sepulcher, or for those who, before coming to venerate his memory, or after they had departed, were heard, are innumerable? For all the clergy and laity of the city of Perugia are unable to remember all the miracles that were done and seen in that very place. Passing over also those who secretly in their own homes, rejoicing with bowed head for their recovered health, and not knowing or neglecting to render praise to God and St. Herculanus before the people, departed: nor at the memorial of St. Herculanus, but after they returned home, they made known the power of the Saint which they had received.
[26] O Blessed Herculanus, how much you are a desirer and helper of human salvation, since God at your prayers bestows so many benefits that even those for whom they are obtained cannot narrate them: for they cannot be counted, and I inquired of many, yet I could not hear about all of them. To the lame he gives the ability to walk, to the crooked straightness, to the blind sight, and to each limb God restores health at the invocation of St. Herculanus: and he expelled many demons bodily health given. even before the demoniacs came to the holy body, and three demoniacs, who previously were howling and suffered while being led, demoniacs freed, once freed, praised God and St. Herculanus. This also contributes to the magnitude or multitude of the virtues of St. Herculanus, that he healed many who were crippled and many who were sick or injured in some part of the body, about whom there was no confidence that they could be healed. And it was so incredible that many, not looking to the power of the Saint and the miracles of God, said that they would then be healthy and restored when fire became water, or what is naturally cold became hot, or snow became a black stone: and so they did not believe they could be restored to health, just as a lamb could not be stronger than a wolf, or a mole swifter than a tiger, or a sparrow larger than a kite: and therefore they despaired that healing could happen, and safely (as though what they said would never happen, nor would they be forced by their vow to carry out what they had vowed) they promised they would leave the world on this condition, incredible things wrought, when they saw them restored to health. O God, immense and to be feared by all! These things are incredible to us which are easy for You: these things are to be marveled at by us which, as far as Your power is concerned, are to be held in no admiration at all. For what is wonderful or incredible if You heal a part, when You make the whole; or if You restore things made, when from nothing You more wonderfully accomplish many things; or if we think of the heavenly things You have made, why do we marvel at the things done in man? Therefore, believing that You can do all things, and believing, praising You in all things, let us say: Blessed be the Lord in His gifts and holy in all His works. And therefore, Christ, You are proclaimed wonderful in Your saints, because You give them the power to do what You do, just as You Yourself in bodily presence promised Your disciples, saying: These things and greater than these you shall do. John 14:12 For Peter did greater things than God had done while dwelling in the world in bodily form, since by his shadow alone he healed many sick people. It was also greater that St. Herculanus raised a boy full of worms on the fortieth day after his death than that God raised Lazarus after four days: a boy raised from death after 40 days: which we read was done by no other Saint, namely one dead for so long a time raised, except by St. Peter the Apostle, who raised a certain man whom he had sent beyond the mountains to preach, already long dead, by his staff alone sent to the corpse.
[27] That so great a power of working wonders has been attributed by God to the Saints, and that the Saints work miracles in various parts of the world, is not without cause. For God, who descended to earth for the salvation of the human race, and made man of the Virgin Mary, suffered for us the gibbet of the cross, admonishes us in many ways we are aroused by miracles to live a holy life: and exhorts us to be good, lest we perish: because through His preachers and divine Scripture He teaches us to turn from evil and do good, not for His salvation but for ours. The Holy Spirit also, as most good, visits our hearts and generates in us thoughts of good works, which carnal pleasure often destroys; indeed He sometimes sharpens us with adversities, so that we may be drawn back from evils; sometimes He entices with good things, so that an evil mind, having received a benefit, may come to its senses; sometimes also through the merits of Saints He works miracles and hears the prayers of supplications, so that especially those who are heard may recognize that they are guilty and would be ungrateful if they are not corrected from their vices, at least through the bodily benefits bestowed; and that others who see such great power done by the Saints spiritual gifts should be sought. may strive through good works to go to their fellowship; and just as we make prayers and offer oblations and encircle altars so that Saints may intercede for bodily health, so we ought to implore the Saints for spiritual health. But many brothers, if they are sick, endeavor to go to the bodies of Saints to receive bodily health, who, when they are healthy, do not wish to move a foot to implore the aid of Saints for the salvation of their souls. But let us, brothers, always venerate the memory of St. Herculanus, whether healthy or sick, and with pious devotion let us beseech him for health, so that by his merits, by which we know he healed many bodies, he may intercede for our souls to be saved with the Divine clemency: of whose miracles, those which I myself saw, or heard reported by those who had seen them, and whose wax figures or other signs I observed hanging in the church and above the altar, I shall write down a few.
[28] The most holy Herculanus therefore, wishing to reveal his virtues, which he had many times and in many cases worked in secret, for the salvation of souls, so that, as he had been a Bishop of sanctity while he lived, so his merits, made known, might in a way admonish people to abandon their sins. In the year 1109 he performed a most manifest miracle In the year 1109 a woman gravely ill in her breast, when he healed the breast of a certain woman: who, lying in childbirth, one night saw the most hideous spirits rushing upon her; in the morning she felt a swelling and the greatest pain in her breast. But after she had hoped to be healed by a medical remedy and had the swelling opened by an iron instrument, the breast became fistulated and the evil resulted in a much greater swelling and pain, and the more anyone treated her, the more she grew worse, and it had grown so much that it now touched the rib of the chest; also from the bottom of the chest up to the neck, the whole body, front and back, had swollen. The woman, despairing of her life,
had therefore already despaired of her life; for twenty-four continuous days she had lost the ability to sleep and eat, and had abandoned all medicine, except for the probe, which she had in her breast half a span long. Finally, however, expecting death, admonished in spirit, she began to implore in her heart — not by mouth, because she could not speak — the merits of St. Herculanus. healed by the help of St. Herculanus. Already by the mere imploring of her heart, her tongue returned to its function; she began to feel better, and immediately summoned the Procurator of the altar of St. Herculanus to come to her: through whom she sent a cloth for a corporal, a wax breast with her votive offerings to the memorial of the most holy Herculanus. On the following night, she who had been unable to sleep for twenty-two days began to sleep healthfully, and while she slept (which is wonderful to tell) both her breast was loosened and the probe came out by itself: in the morning her breast was so healed that scarcely a sign of a scar appeared in it. Which miracle, when I heard of it, I did not believe, until I heard from the woman herself, with many others standing by, that it had happened thus, and I also saw the healed breast with my own eyes, which the woman, rejoicing with her husband and praising God and Blessed Herculanus, showed before many. O Blessed Herculanus, how well you did when you began to manifest your miracles by first healing a breast, because in the divine Scripture breasts signify the abundance of teaching, and you wished to reveal your miracles for the exhortation of a holy life, and just as a person is nourished with milk and from it takes nourishment, so from your miracle a person, inspired, may take instruction in doing good.(c)
Notes:
(a) This was St. Maternus: concerning whose raising from the dead, see the Life of St. Valerius, Bishop of Trier, chapter 1, on January 29.
(b) Probe. Or "tasta," which signifies a tent, that is, a linen pledget such as surgeons insert for treating wounds: who also call their probe — an instrument devised for exploring the depth of wounds — "tasto" in Italian. Both words come from "tastare," to touch lightly, which passed from Teutonic and Lombard "tasten" into Italian.
(c) The remaining miracles are missing.