ON ST. CHRISTINA OF PERSIA, MARTYR
CommentaryChristina of Persia, Martyr (St.)
The Greek Menology, published by Canisius from the translation of Sirletus, mentions her in these words: On the same day, Christina, having become a Martyr for the confession of Christ in Persia, departed to the Lord. From this she was transcribed into the Roman Martyrology by Baronius: In Persia, of St. Christina, Virgin and Martyr. The title of virginity, unknown to the Greeks, he took from his own conjecture. We learn more certainly the manner of her martyrdom from the Menaea, in which under this title -- "On the same day, the holy Martyr Christina, from Persia, was perfected by being beaten with whips" -- but the place of martyrdom is rendered uncertain to us by this manner of expression. For the rest, the manner of punishment and her homeland sufficiently distinguish her from others of the same name who obtained a similar crown elsewhere.
ON THE HOLY MARTYRS MAXIMUS, MARTIALIS, SILVANUS, AND BASILEUS. LIKEWISE CONSTANTINUS AND FORTUNATUS, SATURNINUS, ABUNDANTIUS, GRATIOSUS, IGNATIUS AND HEREMITA, LAURENTIA THE VIRGIN, ASELUS, HIPPOLYTUS, SPECIOSA THE VIRGIN, AURELIUS, FORTUNION, JUSTUS, EUSTACHIUS, FELICITAS, SEPTIMIUS, MARIANUS, BEBION, AND ROMANA THE VIRGIN, GATHERED IN GAUL IN THE ARCHMONASTERY OF ST. ANTHONY.
Year 1662
CommentaryMaximus, Martyr, in Gaul, in the Archmonastery of St. Anthony (St.)
Martialis, Martyr, in Gaul, in the Archmonastery of St. Anthony (St.)
Silvanus, Martyr, in Gaul, in the Archmonastery of St. Anthony (St.)
Basileus, Martyr, in Gaul, in the Archmonastery of St. Anthony (St.)
Constantinus, Martyr, in Gaul, in the Archmonastery of St. Anthony (St.)
Fortunatus, Martyr, in Gaul, in the Archmonastery of St. Anthony (St.)
Saturninus, Martyr, in Gaul, in the Archmonastery of St. Anthony (St.)
Abundantius, Martyr, in Gaul, in the Archmonastery of St. Anthony (St.)
Gratiosus, Martyr, in Gaul, in the Archmonastery of St. Anthony (St.)
Ignatius, Martyr, in Gaul, in the Archmonastery of St. Anthony (St.)
Heremita, Martyr, in Gaul, in the Archmonastery of St. Anthony (St.)
Romanus, Martyr, in Gaul, in the Archmonastery of St. Anthony (St.)
Prosper, Martyr, in Gaul, in the Archmonastery of St. Anthony (St.)
Victor, Martyr, in Gaul, in the Archmonastery of St. Anthony (St.)
Primus, Martyr, in Gaul, in the Archmonastery of St. Anthony (St.)
Laurentia, Virgin, Martyr, in Gaul, in the Archmonastery of St. Anthony (St.)
Aselus, Martyr, in Gaul, in the Archmonastery of St. Anthony (St.)
Hippolitus, Martyr, in Gaul, in the Archmonastery of St. Anthony (St.)
Speciosa, Virgin, Martyr, in Gaul, in the Archmonastery of St. Anthony (St.)
Aurelius, Martyr, in Gaul, in the Archmonastery of St. Anthony (St.)
Fortunion, Martyr, in Gaul, in the Archmonastery of St. Anthony (St.)
Justus, Martyr, in Gaul, in the Archmonastery of St. Anthony (St.)
Eustachius, Martyr, in Gaul, in the Archmonastery of St. Anthony (St.)
Felicitas, Martyr, in Gaul, in the Archmonastery of St. Anthony (St.)
Septimius, Martyr, in Gaul, in the Archmonastery of St. Anthony (St.)
Marianus, Martyr, in Gaul, in the Archmonastery of St. Anthony (St.)
Bebion, Martyr, in Gaul, in the Archmonastery of St. Anthony (St.)
Romana, Virgin, Martyr, in Gaul, in the Archmonastery of St. Anthony (St.)
[1] The month of June of the year 1662 was underway when, returning from Italy, which we had traversed in search of the Acts of the Saints, we traveled through Gaul. At its first entrance there was nothing that could greatly detain those passing through places where the sacrilegious fury of the Huguenots had left scarcely any sacred antiquity remaining in manuscript codices; so that we were content to visit and become acquainted with certain monasteries more celebrated for ancient piety. we made a digression there, And indeed, after surveying the solitude of the Chartreuse, nothing more worthy presented itself to which we wished to divert our path than the most celebrated Archmonastery of the Antonine Order in the diocese of Vienne, where the body of that great patriarch of monks had for so long been held in veneration, and whose Translation to those parts we remembered had been set forth in our work under the seventeenth day of January, and the very institution of the Order named after him had been unearthed with remarkable diligence.
[2] Moreover, our appearance proved most welcome to those pious ascetics also for this reason, with great courtesy, that they remembered the truth of their possession of the venerable Body, against the Arlesians who arrogated to themselves the same possession, had been defended at Rome by nothing more than the presentation of our January volume, which the Supreme Pontiff had ordered to be examined and consulted. Therefore, among other offices of religious hospitality, the reliquaries were all shown to us with particular kindness; the relics of the Saints shown to us among which were three notable ones of new workmanship, fashioned from skillfully sculpted wood overlaid with silver and gold sheets; one larger, the length of a human body, the other two smaller, for the notable adornment of the greater and lesser altars. The bodies of about fourteen Saints, complete, and equally notable Relics of as many others, were said to be contained in them, received partly from Rome and partly from Sardinia.
[3] and documents promised: As for the authentic documents concerning them, which would give an account of each one -- through whom, from where, and when they had been received -- we had no leisure, being in haste, to examine them more carefully; especially since the Religious themselves professed their willingness to undertake that labor and to send an accurate commentary on all of them which could be inserted into this work. But whether it was the distance between the places that caused either our letters written to them, in which we asked that their promises be fulfilled, or their replies to our letters, not to be delivered, or some other impediment intervened, we have so far obtained nothing that we could present to the reader. Therefore, on this day on which St. Maximus the Martyr is venerated there with the rite of a double feast, which have not yet been delivered: we have listed them all together, received from the table of proper Offices given to us at that very place, showing the feast days assigned to each of them; of which some appear to be taken from the Roman Martyrology, as some Saints of that name are found to have suffered at Rome; others were selected at discretion. For it is altogether rare that a time or day of Martyrdom is found attached to those bodies which are now brought forth from the Roman catacombs; and the same generally holds for the Sardinian ones, which we would have preferred to be distinguished from the Roman ones, for reasons to be found in the Prolegomena to February, chapter 5.
[4] First for us, then, is Maximus, on this day when no one is recorded as having suffered Martyrdom at Rome, we give them all here together with Maximus, to be venerated on this day, much less anyone so named. Nevertheless, this notwithstanding, if the other evidence holds, we shall not hesitate to number him among the Roman Martyrs, since we are certain that the names of those now being unearthed are wrongly sought in the Martyrology. In Sardinia, Dionysius Bonfant presents two stones found inscribed with the name of Maximus; of which the first, on folio 126, bears no marks of Martyrdom, nor could it be known whose body it was. The other, on folio 227, does appear to be that of a Martyr thrown to the lions, but who suffered on the fifth day before the Kalends (of an uncertain month). To Martialis is assigned the fifteenth day of March, then three others in March, and the twenty-eighth to Silvanus; the reasoning for both is the same as for the first, as far as the Roman Martyrology is concerned. In the Sardinian inscriptions recorded by Bonfant, none of these names are even mentioned. We gave Basilius as one of the Roman Martyrs on the second of March, when the Antonines celebrate their feast; but we have no basis for saying he is the same. Moreover, this name too is unknown among the Sardinian names.
[5] then those commemorated through the remaining months: The rest named in the title above are listed in this order, to be venerated like the aforementioned under the rite of a double Office. Constantine and Fortunatus on the twelfth of February, Saturninus on the thirteenth, Abundantius on the sixteenth, Gratiosus on the twentieth, Ignatius and Heremita on the twenty-sixth of the said month. In April, Romanus is noted for the fourth day, Prosper for the sixth, Victor for the eighteenth. In June, Primus is celebrated on the twenty-first; in July, Laurentia the Virgin and Martyr on the eighth. The sixth of September is assigned to Aselus, the twenty-fifth to Hippolytus. To October are assigned Fortunion, Aurelius, and Speciosa the Virgin: the last to the twenty-fourth, the second to the twenty-sixth, the first to the thirtieth day of the month itself. The thirteenth, fifteenth, twenty-third, and twenty-eighth of November are designated for the annual Office in honor of Justus, Eustachius, Felicitas, and Septimius respectively. The Kalends of December are occupied by Marianus, Belio precedes the Nones of the same month by one day, and Romana is finally celebrated on the third day after the Ides of the same month.
[6] Of all these, Eusebius, as I said, Felicitas, and Marianus obtained their feast on the same day partly from Rome, on which some saints of the same name are found in the records of the Roman Martyrology; so that we may suspect that their bodies were received from Rome. But the names of the rest brought from there were such that no Saint of the same name was found to have suffered at Rome; and therefore the day was chosen which seemed more suitable and less inconvenient for maintaining the regular course of the ecclesiastical Office. And from this it would follow that Fortunatus, Saturninus, partly received from Sardinia: Abundantius, Maximus, Romanus, Victor, Primus, Hippolytus, Justus, and Eustachius -- names not unknown in the Roman Calendars among those who suffered at Rome -- belong to persons brought from elsewhere than Rome. For the rest, there is not even room for guessing. For among the Sardinians whose names were carved on stones and had been found when Bonfant was writing, there is none who does not either bear a different name or have a different day of death inscribed; so far is it from the case that any among them bears a certain mark of martyrdom under the same name and day.
[7] Moreover, just as year after year new Martyrs are unearthed from the almost infinite number of those who watered Roman soil with their blood -- some anonymous, some distinguished by a clear mark of their name -- so too we think it happened in Sardinia that, as the desire for searching grew with success, very many were dug up and dispersed through various Churches of Europe, after Isquerdus and Bonfant had written; so that it is not surprising that they did not mention them. Let it suffice to have hinted at these things so far, so that those most devout men, when they have read this, may wish to apply some diligence to ensure that those whom they themselves honor with such solemn Office may become known to us as more than mere names, to be brought through us to the knowledge of the rest of the Christian world, together with their respective documents.
[8] The relics of the holy Triplets are said to be there, We would also wish to have some certain information from the same persons about that ancient chest, which, covered with cloth of gold thread, they said contained the bodies of the Triplet Martyrs, namely Speusippus, Eleusippus, and Melasippus; and, if documents exist, to have them brought forward by which it could be shown that those or a part of them are truly in their possession. For we treated of these Saints on the seventeenth of January, and there in section 2 we showed from the author of the Life of St. Anno on the fourth of December in Surius, and from the lessons customarily recited at their feast at Ellwangen in Swabia, that these sacred pledges had been transferred there by the Blessed Duke Hariolph, founder of the monastery of Ellwangen. Although this need not necessarily be understood as referring to the complete bodies, about whom we would wish to be more fully informed: the Antonines would not seem to act amiss if, having inspected the chest which is in their possession, they would examine the bones stored within, determine how many and what bodies they appear to be, and inform us; so that they may not become suspect to anyone of false or rash veneration, nor through the contention of multiple parties vying over the same Relics may the due veneration of the Saints at either location be diminished; since their authenticity can be reconciled in multiple ways, if it is established what and of what quality they are at each location.
[9] We would be surprised that in the printed table of Offices given to us no mention is made of these Martyrs; but neither does it contain the most solemn feast of St. Anthony, their more ancient veneration, whose body, enclosed in an elegant tomb of ebony and silver, we do not doubt they truly possess. Therefore we are compelled to believe that the said table pertains only to those Saints whose solemn translation into the three above-mentioned chests had been made on one and the same day a few years earlier, and therefore the notice had not yet been inscribed in the books and breviaries of the monastery; which therefore had to be given separately in printed form to those who would sing and recite the canonical Office there -- which was unnecessary for those whose feast they had already long celebrated in the same monastery as their own.