ON SS. CONSTANTIUS AND FELICIANUS, ROMAN MARTYRS, AT ANTWERP IN BELGIUM.
CommentarySt. Constantius, Roman Martyr, at Antwerp in Belgium.
St. Felicianus, Roman Martyr, at Antwerp in Belgium.
[1] The Carmelite Order, happily reformed and wonderfully propagated through the most holy Virgin Teresa, Two convents of Teresians at Antwerp has at Antwerp two monasteries of holy virgins, which took their names from their first inhabitants and foundresses: so that one is called that of the English, the other that of the Spanish; the latter receive their spiritual direction from religious of their own Order, while the former, subject to the Bishop alone, enjoy the original liberty of their institute (as they say). Both serve God with great edification of the whole city and with the rigor of regular observance. The latter founded by the Venerable Anna of St. Bartholomew Here our concern is with the Spanish alone (to use the old and common appellation, although now they are nearly all Belgian), who brought the most integral spirit of their original institute within the walls of Antwerp, supported by the favor of the Most Serene Princes of Belgium, Albert and Isabella, and under the leadership of the Venerable Anna of St. Bartholomew, formerly the familiar companion and associate of the holy Foundress herself. For she, as is narrated in her Life written by Chrysostom Henriquez, after a stay of nearly seven years in France, was sent to Belgium in the year 1611; and entering the city of Antwerp with three companions on October 29, 1612, she happily established that foundation where God had also appointed the end and rest of her labors — which she most happily attained, departing this life in 1626, within the Octave of the Most Holy Trinity.
[2] After her death, with new buildings Her death was followed by various prodigies, recognized and approved by episcopal authority as exceeding the powers of nature: among which not the least should seem the immense growth by which the community she had established was thereafter increased, both in the number of most proven religious women and in the convenience of buildings magnificently erected from their foundations for common use — the liberality of pious citizens vying for this purpose, to repay the gratitude owed to her whose effective patronage they had experienced twice, when they were in danger of losing their homes and hearths through the insidious machinations of the heretical Dutch in the years 22 and 24 of this century, and a church is built, into which had not the divine aid implored by the prayers of this holy Virgin driven them back. With similar success a church arose, dedicated to Joseph, the most chaste spouse of the inviolate Virgin; and that, in addition to the suitable instruments and ornaments of sacred furnishing, the protection and patronage of the Saints gloriously reigning with Christ might also be added to it, was effected in the year 1657, when the bodies of two Roman Martyrs, namely Constantius and Felicianus, were brought there. How and from whom they were received, we here append from the account of Reverend Father Frederick de Champs, Confessor of the aforesaid Virgins:
[3] "The relics or bones of St. Felicianus the Martyr in one casket, holy relics and the relics or bones of St. Constantius the Martyr in another, extracted by command of His Holiness from the cemetery of St. Cyriaca, by the Most Illustrious and Most Reverend Lord Marcellus Anania, Bishop of Sutri and Nepi, Vice-Gerent of the Most Eminent and Most Reverend Lord Cardinal Vicar in the noble City, were given as a gift to our Reverend Father Dionysius of St. Andrew, Procurator General of our Congregation of Discalced Carmelites, with the faculty of giving them to others, sending them outside the City, and placing and exposing them for public veneration of the faithful in any church or oratory (as is evident from the authentic letters dispatched at Rome on this matter on the twenty-second of February in the year one thousand six hundred and fifty-six; brought from Rome the original of which is preserved in the Archive of our convent at Brussels). They were finally given by the said Reverend Father our Procurator General to our Reverend Father John of the Mother of God, then present at Rome, with a similar faculty as above; and brought to Antwerp by the same, they were recognized and approved by the Most Distinguished and Most Reverend Lord Father Ambrose Cappello, Bishop of Antwerp, as is evident from the letters dispatched on the eighth of May in the year one thousand six hundred and fifty-seven, the original of which is preserved in the same archive. and recognized by the Bishop The same were afterwards donated and appropriated by the said Reverend Father John of the Mother of God to our convent and church of St. Joseph of our Discalced Carmelite nuns at Antwerp, sealed in five places with the seal of the aforesaid Lord Bishop, so that they can in no way be alienated from the said convent or church, as is evident from the letters of the same Father John of the
Mother of God, signed by his own hand and sealed, dated at Brussels on the twenty-sixth of May in the year one thousand six hundred and fifty-seven, which are preserved in the same convent of the said nuns at Antwerp.
[4] brought in during the year 1657 "Which relics were received by the said nuns, coming in procession with lighted candles to the door of the enclosure, and in the choir devoutly venerated by each one: afterwards adorned in caskets elaborately crafted of tortoiseshell and silver, and magnificently placed in the upper part of the main altar, exposed to the public veneration of all, crowned with silver-plated palms and miters, elevated in 1659 on the twenty-third of November 1659, they were solemnized for eight days with frequent concourse of people, the Most Illustrious and Most Reverend Lord Bishop Father Ambrose Cappello having granted and conceded Indulgences of forty days. He also on the first day celebrated a solemn Mass in pontificals in the same church with distinguished music; with which the solemn singing of the Mass was continued on the two following days, and for eight days litanies with lauds were sung, and various sermons were preached, and the solemnity was concluded with the solemn singing of the hymn Te Deum laudamus; and proposed annually on March 15 to the greater glory of God, the veneration and worship of the holy Martyrs, with great edification and piety of the people. The feast of St. Constantius the Martyr is most devoutly celebrated every year by the same nuns on the fifteenth of March, and that of St. Felicianus the Martyr on the twenty-sixth of April, with a double Office; and the reliquary of each with its relics is exposed on its proper day to public veneration and April 26 at the high altar: as on other more solemn occasions both are customarily exposed together with other relics."
[5] Memory in the Belgian hagiologion Both are mentioned on the aforesaid days by Baudouin Willot in his Belgian Hagiologion, published in French with Lille printings, around the year 1658 — that is, in the interval between the said translation and the solemn elevation of the aforementioned relics. To which we have nothing to add here, except to note that many Saints bearing these names are reported to have suffered both at Rome and elsewhere, and not a few of them are found in the months of January, February, and this very month of March already published. The Cemetery of St. Cyriaca Yet it was most prudently arranged that, since no plausible argument allows us to believe that these bodies which we venerate at Antwerp belong to any of those, days should be chosen which in the Roman Martyrology were entirely free of other Martyrs of the same appellation: and thus the occasion of confusion and error would be removed from the minds of the common people, inclined to such things. The cemetery of St. Cyriaca, moreover, from which these venerable bones were taken, situated on the Tiburtine Way in the Verano field, is reported to have been ennobled by the burial of many illustrious Martyrs, and especially of St. Lawrence, about which Paul Aringhi may be consulted in volume 2, book 4, chapter 16 of his Rome Underground.