ON THE HOLY MARTYRS CASTORIUS OR CASTOR, DIONYSIUS, NONNUS, SERENUS, QUIRIACUS, MILISSA, EUGENIA OR EUGENIUS, JULIAN, ASCLEPIODORUS, AND PION. AT NICOMEDIA IN BITHYNIA.
CommentaryCastorius or Castor, Martyr at Nicomedia (S.)
Dionysius, Martyr at Nicomedia (S.)
Nonnus, Martyr at Nicomedia (S.)
Serenus, Martyr at Nicomedia (S.)
Quiriacus, Martyr at Nicomedia (S.)
Milissa, Martyr at Nicomedia (S.)
Eugenia or Eugenius, Martyr at Nicomedia (S.)
Julian, Martyr at Nicomedia (S.)
Asclepiodotus, Martyr at Nicomedia (S.)
Pion, Martyr at Nicomedia (S.)
[1] This is the class of Martyrs which is exhibited in our Martyrology of Saint Jerome, written nearly a thousand years ago, in these words: At Nicomedia, of Castor, Dionysius, Nonnus, Cyriaca, Milissa, Eugenia, Julian, Asclepiodotus. In the Luccan and Blumian copies of the same Saint Jerome, Names in the ancient calendars, after Nonnus is inserted Serenus, and Quiriaca is written instead of Cyriaca. In the same Martyrology of Saint Jerome printed at Paris the names are expressed thus: At Nicomedia, of Castorius, Dionysius, Nonnus, Serenus, Quiriacus, Milissa, Eugenia, Julian, Asclipiodus, Pion: the last alone being added. But in this text Quiriacus and Asclipiodus are those who in others are called Quiriaca or Ciriaca and Asclepiodotus. The manuscript Martyrology of Cardinal Barberini, headless but very ancient, records the first five of these thus: At Nicomedia, of Castor, Dionysius, Nonnus, Serenus, Quiriaca. The Augsburg manuscript of Saint Ulrich has these four: At Nicomedia, of Castorius, Serenus, Eugenia, Julian. The same are read in the Labbé manuscript, but in our copy they are attributed to Nicaea. In the manuscript of the Queen of Sweden the first two are recorded: At Nicomedia, of Castor, Dionysius: whom Holstenius thence reported in his Notes on the Roman Martyrology. Notker adds a third: At Nicomedia, of Castor, Dionysius and Nonnus. In the Aachen manuscript, with no place added, these four are listed: Birthday of Saint Eugenia, Castorius, Serenus, Julian. But Eugenia alone is recorded in the manuscripts of Monte Cassino, Prague, Saint Martin at Trier, Saint Gudula at Brussels, the Carmelite house at Cologne, the Florarium of the Saints, and the Supplement of Grevenus to Usuard. In the Historical Diary of John Schmidt she is said to have been killed in Spain by the Saracens, concerning whom we shall treat with the Spaniards on the twenty-sixth of March, whence an easy error could have crept into that day or this sixteenth of March.
[2] The very ancient Reichenau Martyrology from this and the following class also made two groups with some intermixing of the Martyrs; and they are recorded thus: In Greece, of Castor, Nonnus, also intermixed with others Serenus, who belong here: then, At Nicomedia, of Pamphilian and Eugenius, Dion, Quiriacus. But on the contrary in the following class are found as having suffered in Greece, Pamphilian or Pampinus, Cyriacus or Cyriaca, and Cassion, for whom here Dion is read: unless one could understand as included in this class Pion or Dionysius, just as the one here called Eugenius could for others be the above-mentioned Eugenia. In the manuscripts of the ancient Usuard of Saint Germanus at Trier and of Marchiennes, the manuscript Florarium, the German Martyrology of Canisius, and the Supplement of Grevenus, the following is read for the next day: In the city of Nicomedia, of the holy Martyrs Eugenius, Pamphilian, Castor, and Serenus. Of whom Castor or Castorius and Serenus certainly belong to this class, Pamphilian to the following. In this class Eugenia is for others perhaps the Eugenius here mentioned. In the ancient manuscript of Saint Maximin the following is found: At Nicomedia, of Dionysius, Victorinus, who with others belong to the following day.
ON SS. CYRIACA, PAMPIAN OR PAMPHILIAN, CASSION, FLORENTIUS, AND JOVIAN, MARTYRS IN GREECE.
CommentaryCyriaca, Martyr in Greece (S.)
Pampinus or Pamphilian, Martyr in Greece (S.)
Cassiorius, Martyr in Greece (S.)
Florentius, Martyr in Greece (S.)
Jovian, Martyr in Greece (S.)
This is the third class of Martyrs in the ancient Martyrology of Saint Jerome: and indeed in the Parisian edition
the following is read: In Greece, of Cyriaca, Pampinus, Cassion. In the Blumian copy is read Cassionis, in the Luccan, Pampina, in ours Pampilian and Cyriacus. In the Augsburg manuscript of Saint Ulrich and the Parisian of Labbé there is a record of Casso and Pampinus. The latter in the Reichenau manuscript is called Pamphilian, who is also referred to on the following day in three manuscript codices and two printed ones, but intermixed with others, as we have indicated more fully in the preceding class. Notker adds two other Martyrs in these words: In Greece, of Cyriaca, Florentius, and Jovian. In the very ancient manuscript of Tamlacht, the names are indicated in this way: Curiaca, Sampilian, Castor, Jovian: who for others are Cyriaca, Pamphilian, Cassion, Jovian. There is likewise another Castor assigned to the former class.