CONCERNING THE HOLY MARTYRS OF ROME: JULIUS THE BISHOP, ROTUS, AND TWENTY-SEVEN OTHERS.
CommentaryJulius, Bishop and Martyr at Rome (Saint)
Rotus, Martyr at Rome (Saint)
Twenty-seven companions, Martyrs at Rome
[1] The Martyrologies of Saint Jerome at Lucca and of Blume have the following in second place: "At Rome, the burial of Julius the Bishop, of Rotus, and of twenty-seven others." In the Martyrology of Saint Jerome printed at Paris, the following is added: "At Rome, the burial of Julius the Bishop, of Rotus, and of thirty-nine others." The names and number of these Martyrs in the Martyrologies. These are found with Rotus omitted in the other Corbie manuscript, written more than eight hundred years ago. The Augsburg manuscript: "At Rome, of Julius, Rotus, and twenty-seven others." The Vatican manuscript of the archive of Saint Peter: "At Rome, the burial of Julius the Bishop and twenty-seven others" -- which are read without any companions in the manuscripts of Tournai and Liessies; for the Caius and Sisinnius who are appended belong to the great class of Martyrs to be listed below. The Cassinese and Altaempsian Martyrologies have the order of the Martyrs confused: "At Rome, on the Appian Way, of Julius the Bishop, Lucius the Bishop, ten Martyrs, and twenty-seven others." From these words, "on the Appian Way" is to be referred to Lucius the Bishop; the "ten Martyrs" to the other nine hundred who suffered at Rome; and thus the veneration of Julius the Bishop and twenty-seven others is to be set apart in this class. In the manuscript of Queen Christina of Sweden, also published by Holstenius, one reads: "At Rome, in the cemetery on the Appian Way, the burial of Julius the Bishop and twenty-six others." The Reichenau manuscript: "At Rome,
in the Cemetery of Callistus, of Julius the Bishop, and the birthday of eight hundred Martyrs, and elsewhere of Rotus, Archelaus, and Palatinus."
"The Cemetery of Callistus and the Appian Way" can again be attributed to the eight hundred Martyrs, and Rotus can be added to Julius, with "elsewhere, of Archelaus and Palatinus" following. By the same reasoning, in our manuscript Martyrology of Saint Jerome, after the said Roman Martyrs, there is added: "Likewise at Rome, of Julius the Bishop and twenty-six others, and elsewhere of Fatus, Ancilaus, etc." -- where Fatus seems to be the one called Rotus by others; and then one should separate: "Elsewhere, of Ancilaus, etc." In the same manner, twenty-six others are joined to Julius the Bishop in the manuscript of Saint Martin of Trier. But the manuscript of Ado at Saint Lawrence near Liege and the manuscript Florarium of the Saints present Julius the Bishop without companions. Finally, the Labbe manuscript joins several together with these words: "At Rome, the Birthday of the holy 800 Martyrs (about whom we have treated above), of Julius, Rotus (of whom mention is made here), Lucius, Caius, Fortunio, Gregory, Adrian." Of these, Adrian is the Martyr of Nicomedia; the rest are from the great class of Martyrs. In the printed Bede, another companion is joined, but through error: "At Rome, the burial of Julius the Bishop and Nicomedes, and the passion of the holy Adrian with thirty-three others" -- where one should read "And at Nicomedia, the passion, etc.," as those words are found in Rabanus with this correction.
[2] Variant readings and doubtful notes. The Martyr Julius the Bishop, whom we have thus far presented from eighteen different Martyrologies, is honored in the Centula manuscript with the title of Confessor. In the manuscript of the Monastery of Saint Cyriacus he is called Julianus in this manner: "At Rome, on the Appian Way, of Saint Julianus the Bishop and twenty-seven others." In the Aachen manuscript the following is found: "And the burial of Julius the Bishop, or rather of Lucius the Pope." But since no Martyr Julius or Julianus is found among the Bishops or Pontiffs of Rome, a scruple arises from those Martyrologies: whether Saint Lucius the Pope should be substituted for Julius, or whether we should posit Saint Julius, Pope and Confessor, who died on the twelfth of April in the year 352. But since the aforesaid companions are not joined to him, it seems rather that he came to Rome from elsewhere with them. Thus various Bishops of other Churches died at Rome, from among whom on the first of February we gave Saint Ignatius of Antioch, and on the sixteenth of the same month Saint Onesimus of Ephesus, and indeed on the eighth of the same February Saint Paul, Bishop of an uncertain Church. All of which we indicate more precisely so that occasion may be given to others for investigating the truth further.