CONCERNING SAINTS ARISTION AND LUCINIUS, BISHOPS AND MARTYRS.
CommentaryAristion, Bishop and Martyr (Saint)
Lucinius, Bishop and Martyr (Saint)
[1] After the martyrdom of Saint Lucius the Pope is recorded, various other Martyrs are appended in different Martyrologies; in most, nine hundred anonymous ones, about whom we shall treat presently. But these two whom we now present are recorded in the most ancient manuscript Martyrology, which we ourselves found in the most celebrated Archmonastery of the entire Benedictine Order at Monte Cassino, written in the ancient Lombard script; in which only the following is read: "On the fourth day before the Nones of March, the Birthday of Saint Lucius, Pope and Martyr, and of the Holy Martyrs Aristion and Lucinius, Bishops." Saint Aristion, Among the ancient disciples of Christ there was an Aristion who rested at Salamis in Cyprus; of whom we treated with the Roman Martyrology on the twenty-second of February, but we have nowhere read that he was either a Bishop or crowned with martyrdom. another, a disciple of Christ, As we said in that place, on the second and third of September an Aristion, Bishop, is recorded, who, having been tested by fire, departed to heaven, and perhaps at Alexandria; another, a Bishop and Martyr. but no argument presents itself for why we should consider him the same as the Aristion proposed here, especially since this one is said to have suffered on a different day and together with Lucinius, also a Bishop; and furthermore we have found no Lucinius, Bishop and Martyr, up to now. We celebrated on the thirteenth of February Saint Licinius, Lucinius, called by some Lucinius, Bishop of Angers, but a Confessor. another, a Bishop and Confessor. To one who considers everything, it perhaps occurs that these two Bishops were the leaders and standard-bearers of the nine hundred Martyrs who are venerated on this day; but since that is uncertain, we have determined to treat of them separately and of the others separately. There will one day be others who can shed greater light from other manuscripts, for whom we are happy to have shown the way in our customary manner.
CONCERNING THE NINE HUNDRED AND TEN HOLY MARTYRS OF ROME.
Commentary910 Martyrs of Rome (Saints)
[1] The Martyrology of Saint Jerome, printed at Paris, inaugurates this day as follows: "On the fourth day before the Nones of March, the Birthday of nine hundred Martyrs." The same is read in the other Corbie manuscript, for the first was also taken from that monastery. In the old Roman Martyrology of Rosweyde, after the cult of Lucius the Pope and Martyr is indicated, there is added: "And of 900 Martyrs, 900 Martyrs, who are buried in the cemetery near Saint Cecilia." Thus after Saint Lucius it is recorded in the Martyrologies of Usuard, Ado, the printed Bede, Notker, and many others, as also in the present Roman Martyrology, with these words everywhere: "Likewise at Rome, on the Appian Way, of nine hundred Martyrs, who are buried in the cemetery near Saint Cecilia."
[2] Others vary the number of these athletes. In the manuscript codex of the Monastery of Saint Cyriacus, for others 910, much commended by Baronius, the Birthday of nine hundred and ten Martyrs is celebrated. The Cassinese and Altaempsian manuscripts agree. And it seems that this number should also have been written in our most ancient manuscript of Saint Jerome, though through the fault of the copyist the greater part of the number has been cut off and only this remains: "On the fourth day before the Nones of March, at Rome, of ten Martyrs." In the Vatican manuscript of the archive of Saint Peter, only eight hundred and ten are indicated; for others fewer: and with the ten omitted, eight hundred are recorded in the manuscripts of Saint Jerome at Lucca and Blume, as by Florus in his supplement to Bede (for in Bede himself this day is vacant), likewise in the manuscripts of Augsburg, Tournai, Liessies, Labbe, and Saint Martin of Trier; with which Wandelbert agrees in this verse:
"Then Lucius the Pope shines on the fourth by a precious death, and the excellent company of eight hundred Martyrs."
In the other Vatican manuscript of the archive of Saint Peter, as also in the Aquicinct manuscript, only two hundred are read; in the Aachen manuscript, eighty. We, with the principal authorities, judge that there were nine hundred, and indeed also ten, since the lesser number is easily omitted.
[3] Ferrarius adorns them with this brief eulogy: "These were slain at Rome on one day for the faith of Christ, by a great example of faith and Christian constancy. Their bodies were reverently buried by Christians in the Cemetery of Callistus near Saint Cecilia, on the fourth day before the Nones of March, buried in the cemetery near Saint Cecilia: and the faithful venerated them with fitting devotion." Nearly the same is read in Peter de Natalibus in his Catalogue, Book 3, Chapter 175. In the aforementioned manuscript of Saint Martin of Trier, the bodies of these are said to have been laid alongside the body of Saint Cecilia. Paul Aringhus, in Book 3 of his Roma Subterranea, Chapter 14, treats of the cemetery near Saint Cecilia in these words: "That part of the same cemetery, which is called the Cemetery of Callistus, in which the sacred body of the most noble Virgin and Martyr Cecilia was deposited and whose memory still flourishes, was called by no other title than the Cemetery near Saint Cecilia." He first proves this from the Martyrologies already cited, then confirms it thus: "The Acts of Saint Urban in the manuscript Lateran Codex also attest this, in which concerning the forty Martyrs deposited there, this is recited: 'Polemius the Priest collected their bodies, and where Cecilia, the Martyr of Christ, was, there he buried them.'" So it reads there; on account of which we are not a little amazed that, although so many bodies of Holy Martyrs have been translated from the Cemetery of Callistus to many churches throughout the world, this day has not been assigned more often to their veneration.
[4] Galesinius annotates concerning these nine hundred Martyrs that their martyrdom falls in the year of the Lord 260, under the consulship of Valerian III and Gallienus, in which consulship Saint Cyprian was likewise crowned with martyrdom. But on the contrary, Baronius observes at what time did they suffer? that among the ancients nothing at all is recorded concerning the time of their passion. "If anyone," he writes, "assigns a time and adds the Consuls, he seems to do so by his conjecture alone"; which conjecture Ferrarius also criticizes. And we are often compelled to do the same, since notwithstanding these objections, others easily draw the same Galesinius to their side, even though he frequently errs in assigning the very Consuls. Thus, since Valerian III and Gallienus were Consuls, the year of Christ was 255, and three years later, under the Consuls Fuscus and Bassus, Saint Cyprian ended his life by a glorious martyrdom on the fourteenth of September -- on which day Galesinius praises in his Notes the Life written by Pontius the Deacon, in whom he could have found these Consuls.