ON ST. EDICTIUS, MARTYR, AT CAGLIARI IN SARDINIA.
CommentaryEdictius, Martyr, at Cagliari in Sardinia (St.)
[1] In that district of the city of Cagliari which is commonly called Estampache, a modest church is seen dedicated to the illustrious Martyr Ephysius, as we said in his Acts on the fifteenth of January. Beneath the church of St. Ephysius, Beneath it is a crypt venerable to the inhabitants, which they believe was the prison of the aforesaid Martyr. When, therefore, at the beginning of this century, the zeal for seeking holy Relics was fervent in Sardinia, and many were being found in various places of the aforementioned city, the Confraternity of St. Ephysius, considering the ancient sanctity of this place, judged that it could scarcely be otherwise than that some relics would also be found there, if the diligence of seekers were applied. Therefore, having first offered prayer to God and setting their hand to the work, they first found a marble column of moderate size, stained everywhere with blood; concerning which, accordingly, having no doubt that holy Martyrs had been scourged at it and had conferred their precious purple upon it, and at the sacred altar there, they decreed that it should be preserved among the sacred relics. And with spirits growing from the very success, they girded themselves to demolish the altar which stood there, most ancient, and which, venerated with age-old piety, served the frequent Sacrifice throughout the entire year; but especially on the day on which St. Ephysius obtained the palm of martyrdom; for it faces the vault or small chamber in which the holy Martyr was kept in fetters.
[2] The body of St. Edictius is found: The altar having been reverently demolished, a sepulchre was found beneath it, containing all the bones of a human body, together with a tablet of white marble, one palm wide and half a palm high, inscribed with clear letters in this manner:
Cross. S. EDICTIUS M.
WHO LIVED
XXIX YEARS.
When this discovery was made public, it brought great joy to the entire city, but especially to the inhabitants of the suburb of Estampache and the pious Confraternity of St. Ephysius; by whose care the venerable Relics were
placed in a skillfully made casket, covered with silk cloth with interwoven gold borders, decently transferred; and a day was appointed for the solemn Translation on the fourth Sunday of the Lenten fast, falling on the thirteenth of March, and on the 13th of March the Translation was performed, when in the very church of St. Ephysius a triumphal structure was erected and sumptuously adorned within the major chapel, and received upon itself the reliquary case; at which, while many torches blazed on all sides, Mass was sung with musical accompaniment, and Father Michael de Palatiis, a priest of the Society of Jesus, delivered a panegyric oration on the praises of this Saint.
[3] These things were done before noon; after it, when the Vespers psalmody had been completed (which the concord of musical instruments with human voices had made more joyful), he again addressed the crowded assembly on the same subject, a Capuchin, the author of this work; whose speech was followed by a processional pageant, to which the entire sacred Order had flocked: namely the Canons and Beneficiaries and remaining ministers of the Cathedral Church and of the other parishes; then all the Religious and the pious confraternities of citizens with their respective banners, elevated upon the high altar, and a very great multitude of every sex and condition; which pageant, with the explosion of many bronze cannons resounding throughout, having set out from the church of St. Ephysius and been led around the suburb, returned to the place from which it had departed; and the sacred chest with the holy Body was raised into a cabinet prepared and adorned for this purpose above the table of the principal altar, where it has since been religiously preserved and venerated.
[4] Thus far Squirrus, book 3 of the Calaritanum Sanctuary, chapter 18; adding that no one should doubt that this Saint was of Calaritanum origin and one of the companions of St. Ephysius, who, under the tyranny of Diocletian, having been killed by torments in the prison itself, in the year 1616, was buried there by his fellow soldiers. Whether these things can be drawn from what has been said so far, the reader will judge. More worthy of credence is what Dionysius Bonfant writes in his Triumph of the Saints of the Kingdom of Sardinia, book 12, chapter 33, that this discovery of St. Editius (for so he writes the name) occurred in the year of the restored salvation one thousand six hundred and sixteen.