ON SAINT PACIANUS, BISHOP OF BARCELONA IN SPAIN.
AROUND THE YEAR 390.
CommentaryPacianus, Bishop of Barcelona in Spain (S.)
[1] Saint Pacianus is extolled by the praise of very many writers, but nearly all of them with the same words, drawn from St. Jerome, who in his book On Illustrious Writers, chapter 106, reports the following: Pacianus, Bishop of Barcelona among the ridges of the Pyrenees, a man of refined eloquence, and distinguished both by his life and his discourse, Notice in St. Jerome concerning the books published by St. Pacianus: wrote various short works, among which are the Cervus and Against the Novatians. And he died under the Emperor Theodosius, already in extreme old age. So reads our manuscript codex. In the printed codices, in place of the words "of refined eloquence," one reads "in chastity and eloquence," and Cervus is written in Greek as Κέρβος, or Λέρβος, an equally doubtful word. Omitting these details, Honorius of Autun in his book likewise On Ecclesiastical Writers, chapter 107, has only this: Pacianus, Bishop of Barcelona among the ridges of the Pyrenees, distinguished both by his life and his discourse, wrote various short works against the Novatians under Theodosius. There survive, both separately and in the Libraries of the ancient Fathers, three letters against the Novatians addressed to Sympronianus, who was infected with the stain of Novatian heresy; a Paraenesis or Exhortation to penance; and a short book or sermon on baptism addressed to faithful catechumens. These works are discussed by Bellarmine, Possevinus, Miraeus, Labbeus, and others who treat of Ecclesiastical Writers.
[2] That Saint Pacianus had been joined in marriage before his priesthood, we infer from the same book of St. Jerome, chapter 132, which writes the following: His son Dexter, Praetorian Prefect: Dexter, son of Pacianus, of whom I spoke above, distinguished in the world and devoted to the faith of Christ, is said to have composed for me a universal history, which I have not yet read. The same Jerome in his Apology against Rufinus writes that he was asked by Dexter, his friend, who administered the Praetorian Prefecture, to compose for him a catalogue of the authors of our religion. Whence he dedicated the aforementioned book to him, beginning the prologue thus: Jerome to Dexter. You urge me, Dexter, to follow Tranquillus and to arrange the Ecclesiastical Writers in order, and to do for our writers what he did in enumerating the illustrious men of pagan letters — that is, from the Passion of Christ to the fourteenth year of the Emperor Theodosius, to set forth briefly for you all who have committed anything concerning the Sacred Scriptures to memory. So much for that passage. For the rest, concerning the Chronicle published under the name of the aforementioned Dexter, we have treated at length in the common Preface before the first volume of February, chapter 4.
[3] Concerning the time of the life and death of St. Pacianus, it can rightly be established from what has been reported that he flourished in the fourth century of Christ, and departed this life around the year of Christ 390, death around the year 390, and thus two years later, when Theodosius was in his fourteenth year of reign, St. Jerome could have known that he had died in extreme old age. The day of death is assigned in the sacred calendars to the ninth of March, which is confirmed by Peter de Natalibus, Book 3 of his Catalogue, chapter 187. Pacianus, he says, a Bishop, name in the calendars on March 9, Pontiff of the Church of Barcelona, flourished as a man distinguished for his chastity, renowned for his life and discourse; he compiled various short works, among which is a well-known book against the Novatians. In the time of Theodosius the First, worn out by extreme old age, he met the end of his life on the seventh day before the Ides of March. So says Jerome in his work On Illustrious Men. But Peter de Natalibus has paraphrased these words in his own style. Usuard in all copies, including the manuscripts, writes the following: In the city of Barcelona, Saint Pacianus the Bishop, who in the time of the Emperor Theodosius met the end of his life in a most good old age. Nearly the same is found in Ado, Notker, Bellinus, Maurolycus, Galesinius, Canisius, and others; and these are set forth in the present Roman Martyrology as follows: At Barcelona in Spain, Saint Pacianus the Bishop, distinguished both in life and in discourse, who in the time of the Emperor Theodosius, in extreme old age, met the end of his life. The same Ghinius recorded him among the birthdays of the holy Canons, and on March 2. and Tamayo Salazar in the Hispanic Martyrology. But on March 11 he is inscribed in the Martyrology published under the name of Bede, in whose genuine codex no mention of him is found on either day, nor indeed in Florus in his supplement to that Martyrology. On the same eleventh day he is listed in the Calendar of the Évora Breviary printed in 1548, as also in the manuscript Martyrology of Usuard among the Neapolitans, somewhat augmented and altered, and in the manuscript codex of Cardinal Barberini.
[4] That a chapel and altar are dedicated to Saint Pacianus at Barcelona is indicated by Francisco Diago, Book 1 of his History of the Counts of Barcelona, chapter 12, Chapel and altar at Barcelona: and that Juan Dimas Lloris, Bishop of Barcelona, established in 1595 that the feast of Saint Pacianus should be celebrated annually under the rite of a first-class double on March 9, First-class double Office: and assigned revenues by which both candles and other altar ornaments might be procured, and a stipend given to the Canons and Clerics who celebrated that feast at the altar of his chapel. The veneration of this Saint was subsequently increased by the Diocesan Synod held in 1600 under Ildefonsus Coloma, then Bishop, when the feast was commanded to be observed with all servile work forbidden, feast for the people. as both Diago and Antonius Vincentius Domenech report in his General History of the Saints of Catalonia, who at length censures the negligence of the ancient writers for not having committed the remaining illustrious Acts of Saint Pacianus to writing.