Martyrs Fidelis

CONCERNING THE HOLY MARTYRS FIDELIS, FELIX, AND TWENTY OTHERS IN AFRICA.

Fidelis, Martyr in Africa (S.)

Felix, Martyr in Africa (S.)

Twenty other Martyrs in Africa (SS.)

[1] We conjoin these two Martyrs who suffered in Africa, though they are separated by most authorities, because the twenty companions are sometimes assigned to one, sometimes to the other, and indeed one seems even to be substituted for the other. The controversy will have to be settled from the Martyrological records themselves (for no Acts survive). First, very ancient Martyrologies record the feast of Fidelis alone, who suffered in Africa without companions, S. Fidelis, such as those of S. Jerome in the four copies commonly cited by us, as well as the Cassinese, Altempsian, Barberinian, Rhinaugiense, Rhinoviense, of S. Cyriacus, of S. Maximinus, and many others. In the Corbeiense one reads: "In Africa, the feast of Fidelis Magnus." But whether "Magnus" is an epithet of S. Fidelis or a companion in martyrdom is not clear from the silence of the others.

Rabanus lists him with companions thus: "On the tenth day before the Kalends of April, with 20 companions, in Africa, Fidelis and twenty others." Notker has the same. But with Fidelis omitted, S. Felix is substituted in his place, and indeed without companions, in the manuscript Martyrology of Queen Christina of Sweden, from which Holstenius chiefly published his Observations on the Roman Martyrology, S. Felix, likewise in the manuscripts of Augsburg of S. Ulrich, the Labbaeanum, the Brussels manuscript of S. Gudula, and the printed German edition of Canisius. The genuine Bede is lacking, but the Martyrology which exists under his name adds companions thus: "In Africa, the feast of Felix and twenty others." In the manuscript Calendar of the Church of Aquileia, the commemoration of Felix and twenty others is also proposed. Are these the same 20? In today's Roman Martyrology, mention is made of all of them thus: "In Africa, S. Fidelis the Martyr. Likewise S. Felix and twenty others." And in the Notes, Fidelis is said to be restored from the manuscripts, and Felix is given from Bede -- namely the printed edition -- and from Wandelbert, who thus joins him with others:

"Felix here adorns the tenth day, and Theodore with Julian, worthy of being celebrated with the distinguished praise of virtues."

Of the companions, Theodore of Antioch and Julian of Caesarea, we shall treat separately. Various conjunction with other Martyrs. In the manuscript Florarium and Ado of S. Lawrence near Liege, this conjunction is given: "In Africa, the Blessed Fidelis the Martyr. On the same day, of the holy Martyrs Felix, Julian, Caesareus, and many other Martyrs." Of Caesareus, who in other sources is called Caesarea, we shall treat below. Maurolycus has this: "At Carthage in Africa, of the holy Martyrs Fidelis and Victorianus": the latter is called Victorinus by Felicius, and is joined with Fidelis. But this pertains to another class of African Martyrs to be given below. Galesinius is silent about S. Fidelis, and places Felix before others to be assigned to various classes. Grevenus in his additions to Usuard has this: "In Africa, the Blessed Fidelis the Martyr. Likewise Primiolus, Felix." This is a companion to be joined to the Martyrs of Caesarea: to whom and to others Felix is joined in the Prague manuscript. In the third Tamlachtense manuscript, the name of Felix is found, and on the day before, of Felix and fourteen others. On the same day, Fidelis is joined to S. Saturninus and other Africans in the Cassinese manuscript and in Maurolycus and Felicius. Masini in his survey of Bologna reports under this day S. Felix the Martyr, because various relics of his are preserved in the church of S. Francis: but whence could it be established that they belong to this Felix?

CONCERNING S. THEODORE OR THEODULUS, PRIEST AND MARTYR AT ANTIOCH.

Theodore, or Theodulus, Priest and Martyr at Antioch (S.)

The ancient commemoration of this Martyr is clearly established: only in the form of his name is there some variation. The very ancient Martyrologies of S. Jerome in four copies, others of S. Cyriacus and of Queen Christina of Sweden, the former cited by Baronius, the latter by Holstenius -- likewise the Barberinian, Cassinese, Altempsian, Richenaugiense, Rhinoviense, and others, and with them Usuard and Notker -- report him in these words throughout: "At Antioch, of S. Theodore the Martyr." The same is read in the manuscript Florarium, and in Maurolycus, Felicius, Galesinius, and Canisius, who adds that he excelled in uprightness of morals, wisdom, and eloquence. In the Augsburg manuscript of S. Ulrich and of S. Maximinus, he is called Theodoricus; by Bellinus, Theodolus; in today's Roman Martyrology, Theodulus, and it is added in the Notes that more ancient copies attest to this reading: but these we have never happened to see. He is inscribed in the distich of Wandelbert cited above. Another Theodoricus the Priest, who also suffered at Antioch under Julian the Apostate, is reported in certain Martyrologies indicated above among those Passed Over, whom others also call Theodore, as does the Roman Martyrology, to which he is assigned under October 23.

CONCERNING SS. PAUL, JULIAN, JULIUS, AND SABINUS, MARTYRS, AT CAESAREA OR ELSEWHERE.

Paul, Martyr, whether at Caesarea or elsewhere (S.)

Julian, Martyr, whether at Caesarea or elsewhere (S.)

Julius, Martyr, whether at Caesarea or elsewhere (S.)

Sabinus, Martyr, whether at Caesarea or elsewhere (S.)

[1] In third place this band of Martyrs is proposed in the Martyrology of S. Jerome, but not in entirely the same way: for in our very ancient codex it reads thus: "In the Province of Carmilla, of Paul, Names in ancient Martyrologies, of Cessaria, of Julian." In the Lucense and Blumianum manuscripts, Caesareae or Caesariae is read in place of Cessariae. The Paris printed edition agrees, but after Julian adds Julius: the same is done in the Corbeiense manuscript, but Julianae is written in place of Juliani. In the Barberinian manuscript, headless indeed but very distinguished, these words are found: "In the Province of Carmilla, of Paul, of Caesarea, of Julian."

[2] We remain in doubt how many Martyrs are to be established -- whether only Paul, Julian, and Julius, with the first assigned to the Province of Carmilla and the other two to Caesarea; or whether Carmilla and Caesarea or Caesaria, what should be thought of Carmilla and Caesarea? or even Cessaria, should be taken as holy women. Luke Dacherius in the Index to the Martyrology of S. Jerome which he published omitted Carmilla among the names of the Saints, but included Caesaria. Florentinus in his Notes to the same Martyrology of S. Jerome scarcely doubts that the word Caesareae should be taken as referring to a Martyr, since other Martyrs who suffered at Caesarea are noted immediately after. But he considers the name Carmilla to be corrupt, since more exact geographers make no mention of it. While we look about on every side, this too occurred to us: that a transposition of words may have been made, as we have observed elsewhere, and that perhaps one should read: "In the province, that is the diocese or territory, of Caesarea, of Carmilla, Paul, Julian, Julius." For safety's sake, we place in the title only the last three of these: Paul, Julian, and Julius. Certainly in the Laetiense and Tamlachtense manuscripts, Paul and Julian are conjoined, but in the latter Caesaria was also placed before the others, and in the manuscript Ado of S. Lawrence near Liege and in the manuscript Florarium, Julian, Caesareus, and many other Martyrs are joined with the Felix reported above.

[3] Meanwhile the Richenouiense and Rhinoviense manuscripts have "of Caesarea, of Julian." Usuard in manuscript and printed codices, Julian is assigned to Caesarea, "In the city of Caesarea, of S. Julian," which is the same reading found in the Vatican manuscript of S. Peter's, Bellinus, Canisius, the manuscript Florarium, the Brussels Martyrology, and others. Maurolycus and Felicius added the title of Confessor, along with the Martyrology printed at Cologne in the year 1490: which was also done in today's Roman Martyrology. In the manuscript of the Cathedral Church of Prague, one reads: "In the city of Caesarea, of S. Julian. Likewise of Felix the Confessor." Whether, with Felix removed or transposed, the name Confessor adhered to S. Julian could be doubted. The Labbaeanum and Augsburg manuscripts of S. Ulrich also mention Julian and Paul with no place appended, and Julian alone is mentioned in another Vatican manuscript of S. Peter's, by Galesinius, and by Wandelbert cited above. The words of Galesinius are these, though much entangled: "In Africa also, of the most blessed Martyrs Felix, Theodore, Julian, Paul, and Dionysius, whose noble struggle and illustrious confession took place in that very Vandal persecution." The Martyrology of S. Jerome was written before that persecution. Then in the Notes, Usuard is cited, who assigns Theodore to Antioch and Julian to Caesarea and does not mention the others. Of Dionysius we shall treat presently.

[4] Two manuscript Martyrologies in Lombard script, one from the monastery of Cassino, Sabinus is added, the other from the Vatican library, numbered 5949, add another Saint, and after S. Theodore the Priest, without any place indicated: "Of Paul, Julian, and Sabinus" or S. Savinus, whom we add on account of the antiquity and use of those codices in various churches.

CONCERNING S. PROCULUS, CONFESSOR, BISHOP OF VERONA IN ITALY,

FOURTH CENTURY.

HISTORICAL COMMENTARY.

Proculus, Confessor, Bishop of Verona in Italy (S.)

Section I. The sacred veneration of S. Proculus. His era and that of SS. Firmus and Rusticus the Martyrs.

[1] The memory of S. Proculus among the Veronese is illustrious on account of the churches dedicated in his name, one outside the city walls, the other within the city itself, in which, besides the sacred remains of Proculus himself, the bodies of seven other holy Bishops of Verona are attested to be preserved by Augustinus Valerius, Bishop of Verona and Cardinal of the Holy Roman Church, Name in the sacred calendar, December 9 in his Ancient Monuments of the Church of Verona, folio 82, and he asserts on folio 10 that the feast of S. Proculus, which among some is celebrated on December 9, is the feast of the Dedication or Ordination of S. Proculus, as is clear from the ancient Psalmist of the Church of the Holy Apostles. Moreover, on the said December 9, in today's Roman Martyrology one reads: and March 23. "At Verona, S. Proculus the Bishop, who in the persecution of Diocletian, buffeted and beaten with clubs, and expelled from the city, was at length restored to his Church and rested in peace." Against this, Ferrarius objects in the General Catalogue that nothing is done at Verona for S. Proculus on December 9, but on March 23: on which day he celebrates him both there and in the Catalogue of the Saints of Italy. Galesinius reports him on both days. Maurolycus also, Grevenus, and Canisius have his commemoration on December 9. Peter de Natalibus preceded them, book 1, chapter 49. Ferdinandus Ughellus in his Italia Sacra, volume 5, on the Bishops of Verona, column 559 and following, relates these things about him.

[2] S. Proculus, the ninth Bishop of Verona after S. Zeno, lived in that very time when Diocletian and Maximian were ruling, Eulogy from Ughellus, and at Verona, through the Praetorian Prefect Anolinus, they were raging against the Christians and imprisoning at Milan the Saints Firmus and Rusticus, citizens of Bergamo, who were to be subjected to ever greater tortures. Proculus therefore, although aged, aspiring to the palm of martyrdom, went to the Prefect Anolinus, confessed Christ in a free voice, declared himself a colleague of Firmus and Rusticus, and omitted nothing that might seem likely to provoke the tyrant. But Anolinus, considering that the old man was raving from his desire for suffering, had him beaten with fists and clubs and cast out of the city. He was brought to his own people, who were hiding in a cave, and consoled them, and informed them that Firmus and Rusticus had soared to heaven through martyrdom... Moreover, Proculus, having departed from Verona, intending to travel to the holy places of the East, was seized by idolaters, beaten, and sold; but shortly afterward given his freedom, having performed many miracles on his journey, he returned to his Church, and after many labors and miracles, departed to heaven on the tenth day before the Kalends of April, around the year of the Lord 305, a man of extreme old age, reaching nearly his hundredth year, and was buried in the crypt with his predecessors, which they afterward consecrated in his name. To his tomb this epitaph was later added:

"Here I quickly grew old; already a longer life has preceded me; and may I live long in better years."

"The body of Bishop Proculus and the relics of the holy Martyrs Cosmas and Damian, and also of Martin the Confessor, rest in peace."

[3] Thus Ughellus, drawing especially from the Acts of SS. Firmus and Rusticus, He is reported to have lived under Maximinus, around A.D. 236, and from the ancient Lessons of the Church of Verona and the Roman Martyrology -- namely, not as to the day of martyrdom, but that he lived under the Emperors Diocletian and Maximian. Against this is opposed the Martyrology of the Cathedral Church of Verona, in which one reads at March 23: "On the same day, of S. Proculus, Bishop of Verona, who in the time of

Maximinus followed the most blessed Martyrs Firmus and Rusticus, in the Veronese Martyrology, desiring to be crowned by martyrdom together with them, but at length, driven out by the soldiers, rested in peace." It is added in Valerius that S. Proculus, the fourth Bishop of Verona, lived in the year of the Lord 236. The same opinion is held by Baptista Perettus in his History of the First Four Bishops of Verona, page 25; Ioannes Franciscus Tintus, book 5 of the Nobility of Verona, chapter 4; Hieronymus Corteus, book 2 of the History of Verona, page 57; and several others cited by Perettus. At that time, after the murder of Alexander, Maximinus, born of a Gothic father, was reigning, having been made Emperor the previous year and killed the following year, 237. The words of the cited Martyrology are believed to be taken from the Acts of SS. Firmus and Rusticus, Martyrs, to be elucidated on August 9. We have these Acts in four versions: first, as transcribed from a leather-bound codex and in Acts preserved at Verona which exists at Verona among the Conventual Friars Minor of S. Firmus the Martyr, in whose church the bodies of SS. Firmus and Rusticus are recorded as lying in the aforesaid Veronese Martyrology. These Acts begin thus: "In those days, when the most impious Emperor Maximinus was reigning in the city of Milan, a great persecution of Christians took place." And: "There was a certain man named Firmus, a citizen of Bergamo," etc. Soldiers sent with a Quaestor brought him, and entering the city of Milan they reported to the Emperor Maximinus that they were present, etc. Afterward the Martyrs, unharmed amid their tortures, said they had been rescued from the punishments inflicted by the most impious Maximinus and Anolinus, minister of the devil. Finally, they were beheaded under the Emperor Maximinus and his Councillor Anolinus. At the end they are said to have been martyred under the Emperor Maximinus and his Councillor Anolinus. Where a marginal correction indicated by an asterisk suggests that Maximianus should be read.

[4] Second, the same Acts survive as edited about two hundred years ago from ancient codices by Boninus Mombritius, with this opening: Under Maximianus in the Acts in Mombritius, "When the most impious Emperor Maximianus was reigning in the city of Milan, a great persecution of Christians took place. There was a certain man named Firmus, of Bergamo," etc. Then Maximianus ordered the arrested SS. Firmus and Rusticus to be placed in the custody of his Councillor Anolinus. They later gave thanks, being unharmed amid the punishments inflicted by the most impious Maximianus and Anolinus, minister of the devil. They were beheaded under the Emperor Maximianus and his Councillor Anolinus. Finally, these Acts were composed under the most impious Emperor Maximianus and his Councillor Anolinus. The third Acts were sent to us by Ioannes Gamansius, a priest of our Society, transcribed in his own hand from a notable parchment Passional manuscript in the Bodecense manuscript, which he found in the monastery of Bodecum of the Order of Regular Canons of S. Augustine, in the diocese of Paderborn in Westphalia, in which, on folio 45 of the month of August, they began with this opening: "When the most impious Emperor Maximianus was reigning in the city of Milan, a great persecution of Christians took place, and many, on account of the name of the Lord, crowned with glorious martyrdom, entered the heavenly kingdoms. In those days there was a certain man named Firmus, a citizen of Bergamo," etc. They also acknowledged that they had been rescued from the punishments inflicted by the impious Maximianus and his minister Anulinus. The fourth Acts we have from the Utrecht manuscript of S. Saviour, and the Utrecht manuscript, but abbreviated, with this opening: "When Maximianus was emperor, there was a certain man named Firmus, a citizen of Bergamo," etc. Here then are three sets of Acts in which Maximianus is found: and this reading is supported by the very ancient manuscripts, the Martyrologies of the Cathedral Church of Arras and of the monastery of S. Martin at Tournai, in these words: "At Verona, the passion of SS. Firmus and Rusticus, who after fire and other tortures in manuscript and printed Martyrologies under Maximianus and his Councillor Anulinus were beheaded." These are indicated more briefly by Notker, a monk of S. Gall, thus: "In the city of Verona, of Firmus and Rusticus, who suffered in the time of the Emperor Maximianus and his Councillor Anullinus." These same things are found in the printed Bede, and likewise, though in somewhat longer or varied phrasing, in Maurolycus, Felicius, Grevenus, Canisius, and in the manuscript Florarium of the Saints: to which is added the Roman Martyrology in these words: "At Verona, of the holy Martyrs Firmus and Rusticus, in the time of the Emperor Maximianus." Finally, Peter de Natalibus, book 7, chapter 42, composed a long eulogy beginning thus: "Firmus and Rusticus, Martyrs, suffered at Verona under Anolinus the Proconsul in the times of the Emperor Maximianus."

[5] Having thus set forth these matters, it remains to inquire what cause or reason seems to have moved the scribe Cause of the error, when the Acts of SS. Firmus and Rusticus were being copied in the leather codex three hundred years ago -- or perhaps later or earlier -- to judge that Maximinus should be substituted, when Maximianus was read everywhere in the remaining codices throughout the world. On account of Anolinus, Praetorian Prefect of Maximinus. Certainly, having weighed all things, we judge that he came upon the Acts of the two Emperors called Maximinus, written by Julius Capitolinus up to Constantine the Great, and there read that in the presence of Maximinus, already abandoned by his soldiers, Anolinus the Prefect of his Praetorian Guard and his son had been killed: and as though no other Anolinus had existed in the world, he conjectured that Maximinus should be substituted for Maximianus, as if both had previously lived in the city of Milan -- the one as Emperor, the other as his Councillor -- as the Acts establish that both were present there. But on the contrary, it is clear from Julius Capitolinus himself and from Herodian, a contemporary writer, that Maximinus during the entire period of his reign, but neither was at Milan, and therefore also his Praetorian Prefect, never came to or saw Milan. For after Maximinus seized the empire when the Emperor Alexander and his mother Mamaea were killed near Mainz, he pursued the expedition against the Germans begun by Alexander, and crossing the Rhine, so ravaged the interior of Germany that he boastfully wrote to Rome that four hundred thousand German settlements had been burned and so many captives taken that Roman lands alone scarcely sufficed, etc. Then, intending to wage war on the Sarmatians and desiring to bring the northern regions as far as the Ocean under Roman dominion, he came to Sirmium. Meanwhile Gordian father and Gordian son assumed the purple in Africa, and were hailed as Augusti by the Roman Senate: then all friends of Maximinus were killed, and he himself and his son were declared public enemies. Then Maximinus, who had not yet seen Italy as Emperor, marched his army toward it in a rage, and meditating nothing but slaughter, was killed by his own soldiers in the siege of the city of Aquileia along with his son; after Anolinus, Prefect of the Praetorian Guard, had been killed before him, as we have said, who as guardian of the Emperor's person was constantly in his company.

[6] Another Anolinus must therefore be sought, or certainly if none other could be found elsewhere, these Acts would prove that there was another, to whom Onuphrius Panvinius, book 4 of his Antiquities, chapter 5, says a broad jurisdiction was given, speaking of S. Proculus. "In his time," There was under Maximianus a Consul named Anulinus, he says, "Firmus and Rusticus, citizens of Bergamo, were beheaded at Verona by Cornelius Annulinus, Consular Governor of Venetia and Istria." In their Acts it is said that Anolinus set out from the city of Milan to the parts of Venetia, and ordered his ministers to bind Firmus and Rusticus and bring them to the city of Verona... and they delivered them to the soldier Cancarius, who was the Vicar of the city of Verona: and they told him, according to the command of Anolinus, not to give them water until he himself should come, etc. In the year of Christ 295, under Diocletian and Maximianus, the Roman Consuls were Nummius Tuscus and Annius Cornelius Anulinus. Then, when Diocletian was Consul for the eighth time and Maximianus for the seventh, that is, in the year 303, Anulinus as Proconsul of Africa presided over the contest of the Martyrs of Abitina who suffered at Carthage, and Proconsul of Africa, as the Acts illustrate from manuscripts published by us on February 11, and formerly cited by S. Augustine and Optatus of Milevis, whose words we gave there. To the same Proconsul Anulinus of Africa was presented S. Felix, Bishop of Tubizacum, whose Acts were published in the Contests of the Martyrs on January 15, which we shall give on October 24, to which day Surius also assigns them. Behold, under Diocletian and Maximianus, an Anulinus who was Consul why not also his Councillor at Milan? and Proconsul of Africa: why then, if not the same man, could not at least someone from the same family have been Anulinus, Councillor of the Emperor Maximianus, and have resided with him at Milan, and have presided over the trial of the said Martyrs? Moreover, Eusebius in his Chronicle testifies that Maximianus laid down the purple at Milan.

Section II. The Acts of S. Proculus.

[7] What is contained about S. Proculus in the above-cited Acts of SS. Firmus and Rusticus, we insert here, and it is as follows in the Bodecense manuscript, from which we prefer to give it, since the other Acts are sufficiently known in Italy. "After six days, Anulinus having entered the city of Verona ordered a herald to proclaim that all the people should assemble for the spectacle. When the Blessed Bishop Proculus heard this, S. Proculus hides, who on account of fear of the Pagans was hiding with a few Christians not far from the city wall in his monastery, that Anulinus had arrived to examine the soldiers of Christ there, he spent the entire night vigilant in prayer, beseeching the Lord that he too might deserve to be joined to the fellowship of those Martyrs. And rising in the morning, he informed the Christians that he wished to walk to the city and visit the holy Martyrs of God. When therefore he had come to the house of Cancarius, where SS. Firmus and Rusticus were, he kissed them with joy, He approaches SS. Firmus and Rusticus, saying: 'Welcome here, brothers. Be strengthened therefore in the Lord Jesus Christ, and receive me with you into this contest: for I desire to become your companion, that our will may be one and our struggle one for the Lord, so that we may merit to enter his glory and praise his name with the Angels forever.' And they said together, 'Amen.' Meanwhile, Anulinus ordered his ministers to bring the holy Martyrs before him: who, coming at a run to the house, found Bishop Proculus seated with the Saints of God, and mocking, they said: 'What does this old man want with those who are about to be condemned now?' Bound by lictors, he is brought before Anulinus. The Blessed Bishop Proculus answered: 'They are not to be condemned, but to be crowned by our Lord Jesus Christ: and would that I too might merit to be numbered among them, for I am a Christian, just as they are.' And saying this, he held out his hands to the officers, asking to be bound. And they bound him. Therefore, when Anulinus was seated at the tribunal and no small multitude of the people stood before him, the holy Martyrs Firmus and Rusticus were brought in, preceded by Bishop Proculus with his hands bound behind his back. And when they had been presented to the gaze of the Judge, he asked who that old man was who preceded the Saints. The officers answered: 'Of his own free will he offered himself to us to be bound and brought here.' He is beaten and cast out. Anulinus said: 'Do you not understand that he is delirious with old age?' So the officers, releasing S. Proculus, assaulted him, so that they struck his face with their palms: and thus they cast him out of the city. He went away sorrowful, because he had been separated from the holy Martyrs. And coming to his own people, he told them what had happened to him."

[8] Thus the manuscript Acts; what was his subsequent course of life is indicated thus by Augustinus Valerius, folio 41. On his journey to Jerusalem, "When the persecution of the impious against the Christians had subsided, having entrusted the care of his Church to the Priests, and selecting a few men to accompany him, he undertook a journey toward Jerusalem. On that journey he was captured, bound, beaten, he is captured and sold: and finally even sold. However, he was by no means broken by these adversities but rather rejoiced, and did not cease to exhort his companions to endure all hardships together with him. Finally set free, when on his return to Verona he stopped in Pannonia, he miraculously drew forth a spring from dry ground by prayer. For when he had ordered his excessively long beard to be shaved and the tonsure of his head to be properly arranged, he draws forth a spring: to the astonishment of all, because nowhere in that place was any water to be had, without which this could not be done, that spring gushed forth at his very prayer: and since no razor was at hand, with a dull knife, as the servant of God the Bishop commanded, his attendant companions gently and easily shaved off the old man's hair by another miracle. The blessed Bishop Proculus baptized very many of those who were traveling in that region, he baptizes many: who had been converted to the faith of Christ by the miracle of this spring, in that same spring. At length the holy Bishop returned to Verona, and finding that his Priests had persevered in their duties and had doubled their talents, he urged them to set before themselves yet greater things. And since he could not depart this life by martyrdom, worn out by fasting, constant prayers, and vigils, he dies March 23, he died on the tenth day before the Kalends of April, renowned for miracles and virtues. His body was buried in the church dedicated in his own name." So it is written there; and these things, contracted into a compendium, are found in Ferrarius's Catalogue of the Saints of Italy and in Panvinius, book 4, Antiquities of Verona, chapter 5: but the latter omits what is inserted about the shaving of the beard, yet asserts that he is said to have drawn forth a spring from otherwise dry ground by prayer with a truly wonderful prodigy on his return journey. These things, however, are also omitted in the compendium related above by Ughellus: who also indicates that he traveled to the sacred Eastern places, while Panvinius relates that the old man set out on a journey toward the neighboring cities.

[9] But at what time is uncertain. How long S. Proculus lived after peace was restored to the Church is uncertain, as is also what number Bishop he was, and what predecessors and successors he had. Panvinius judges, in chapter 7 of said book 4, that from Bishop Probus, whom he places as eleventh, until the year of Christ 760, the order of the Bishops of Verona is not continuous: who was successor to whom is unknown: the times in which the individual ones lived, with six exceptions, and the deeds of each are most obscure and uncertain: and accordingly he suggests their bare names in alphabetical order. We judge the same should be done for the early Bishops as well, at least for most of them. Hence Ughellus reckons Proculus, whom Panvinius established as fourth, as the ninth: the one names his predecessor Agapius, the other Zeno: of whom it is established from ancient Acts, to be elucidated on April 12, that he was adorned with the palm of martyrdom under Gallienus. But whether one or another Bishop should be interposed between Zeno and Proculus, who can say? For Panvinius acknowledges in the passage already indicated that these matters, concerning the succession of Bishops, are oppressed by the darkness of antiquity through excessive age and the fatal negligence of our forebears. From this darkness the Acts of SS. Teuteria and Tusca, Virgins, will someday have to be rescued, S. Tusca, Virgin, is believed to be the sister of S. Proculus, of whom the latter is believed to be the sister of Bishop S. Proculus and is venerated on July 10; while Teuteria is said to have come from Britain and to have lived with S. Tusca, whose feast day is May 3. One may read what is found about these in Valerius, folio 20.

Section III. The discovery of the body, from the Italian of Baptista Perettus.

[10] When the Brothers of that confraternity which was established under the invocation of the Most Blessed Virgin in the church of S. Proculus In the year 1492, while restoring the confession of S. Proculus, were devoting all their efforts not only to adorning their altar consecrated to the same Mother of God but also to the entire church; and had undertaken to restore and repair the underground oratory, which we call the Confession, ruined and filled with debris from the ravages of time: it happened that when they removed one altar positioned toward the north, they found a coffin in which they judged, from clear indications, that certain bodies were enclosed: all the more so because they had already heard the ancient report that many Saints had been buried there. Then, removing two other altars, three coffins are uncovered under demolished altars: one of which faced the East and the other the North, having cleared away the rubble and excavating the earth more deeply, they struck upon large stones placed in confused order. And when these too had been removed, they uncovered those stones which appeared to be the lids of burial urns; and scanning their inscriptions, they recognized that the bodies of the Bishops of Verona, Euprepius, Cricinus, Agapius, and Proculus, lay hidden there.

[11] Lest therefore any disrespect should be committed by lay hands against the reverence due to them, in the Bishop's presence, the coffins are opened, the Bishop was summoned to the church: who, first raising his hands and eyes to heaven and imploring the favor of God and the Saints, ordered the stones to be removed. When this had been done according to his instruction, on the twenty-third day of March in the year 1492, so great and so wonderful an odor was diffused throughout the entire church from the opened tombs that all the aromatics of the East seemed to the bystanders to be gathered and breathing there. In one of them, the body of S. Proculus is found with other relics. It was decided first of all to open the monument of S. Proculus; whose body was found without its head, wrapped in the whitest linen, and beside it, as the inscription also signified, were placed relics of SS. Cosmas and Damian and of the most celebrated Confessor S. Martin.

[12] As for the head, Father Donatus Avogagarus, speaking of this discovery made in his own time, without a head, which is believed to be at Bergamo: says that the report had been spread among the people of Bergamo that they held it among themselves in great honor, in exchange for SS. Firmus and Rusticus, their citizens, who are held among us -- we who have dedicated four most noble churches to them and venerate them with distinguished devotion: although there are those who hold that the head which is at Bergamo belongs to that Proculus who, moved by the admirable miracles of S. Valentine, Bishop of Interamna, turned from the study of secular letters to the true philosophy of Jesus Christ, in which he made such rapid progress that by the command of the Consular Governor Leontius, for the confession of the faith, he offered his head to be cut off by the sword at Interamna.

[13] His image miraculously impressed on the stone. Nevertheless, divine providence ensured that the people of Verona could not complain too much about the absence of their holy Pontiff's head: for by a truly stupendous miracle, on the stone that covered the body, the complete image of the body and head was visible, no differently than in a mirror, sketched by the hand of no other artisan than divine power: and beholders therefore contemplated his glory in the image thus expressed and were invited to render praises to God. Moreover, upon the very breast of the sacred corpse was found a tablet inscribed with these letters: "HERE RESTS IN PEACE THE BODY OF PROCULUS THE BISHOP." And on another stone which rested upon the aforesaid one, the following other letters were read: "HERE I QUICKLY GREW OLD; ALREADY A LONGER AGE HAS PRECEDED ME; AND MAY I LIVE LONG IN BETTER YEARS."

[14] The body of S. Agapius in the second coffin. Afterward, when in that coffin which had been uncovered first toward the north, no indication appeared of a human body enclosed therein, and the coffin itself did not seem to the Bishop to match the proper dimensions: they nonetheless removed the massive stone that covered it, and all the bones of a body already consumed were found beneath it, as intact as if they had recently been placed there: and in the coffin itself these letters appeared carved: "HERE RESTS IN PEACE THE HOLY BISHOP AGAPIUS." In the third, SS. Euprepius and Cricinus. In the other coffin, which faced the south, one read: "HERE REST IN PEACE THE BODIES OF THE HOLY EUPREPIUS AND CRICINUS." And it was a great wonder to all who beheld these bodies to see that, though hidden underground for so long, they were not yet consumed.

[15] They are carried solemnly in procession, April 8. Thence solemn processions were proclaimed for the clergy and people; and the most holy bones, their own weight in no way burdening those who carried them, as if they followed of their own accord, were taken from the places where they had lain hidden and exposed to the public veneration of all for an entire three days; with all the ceremonial rites that are customarily observed in such sacred functions. Nor were the pious citizens wanting in their duty, vying with one another to contribute money with which a suitable place might be prepared for housing the sacred relics. Concerning this discovery, Hieronymus Segala, the Procurator at Verona of Count Ioannes Bevilacqua, Testimony of a contemporary author: who at that time was residing in the castle from which he took his title, wrote a letter signed on the twenty-seventh day of March in the year 1492, which I preserve in my possession, and it reads as follows: "Again in S. Proculus, the bodies of four holy Bishops have been found, namely of S. Euprepius, the first Bishop of Verona established by S. Peter; of S. Agapius the Bishop; of S. Cricinus the Bishop; of S. Proculus the Bishop: upon which S. Proculus there rested a slab of ophite marble valued at three hundred ducats, and beneath this slab they found another marble one, on which, though never carved, the image of S. Proculus wonderfully appears, as if in a kind of sudarium," etc. Many other relics were also found, six or seven feet underground, beneath the high altar that is lower down: and for this reason a most beautiful solemn procession was instituted by the entire clergy.

[16] Another record of the same discovery is found in a chronicle written by the hand of Blasius, a notary of Sestio, likewise of another who mentions the same events, residing in this city, who was present and noted these things: "Note how in the month of March in the year 1492, around the end of the month, there were found in S. Proculus of Verona the bodies of SS. Euprepius, Agapius, Grichinus, and Proculus, all Bishops of Verona, and they were shown to all the people and to anyone who wished to see them. And on the eighth day of April of the same year, which was Lazarus Sunday, a devout procession was instituted from the Cathedral to the church of S. Proculus, in which I participated; and I saw again exposed at Easter and kissed the said relics: which were exposed to the view of all for three days, and again at the feast of Easter, which fell on April 22, and on the following days. Moreover, those four bodies were found underground with inscriptions attesting to their authenticity."

[17] The aforementioned ophite slab The double sepulchral stone of S. Proculus: now serves as the high altar in the church of S. Proculus, and is eight feet long and three feet and six inches wide: of the marble on which the Saint's image had been impressed, nothing is known today: for the stone that is seen embedded in the wall behind the high altar of the underground oratory, opposite the coffin of S. Proculus, marked with green and red spots, four feet and as many inches long, one foot

and eleven inches, and said to have been found at the bottom of the coffin when the body of S. Proculus was taken from it; a third stone, placed beneath the body, also held in honor, although it is held in honor as a relic, enclosed within a wooden cabinet whose door has a painted image of S. Proculus, it cannot be said to be the one in question, which represented the stature of the Saint no differently than the Lord Christ's form is represented by his burial shroud, commonly called the Sudarium, and preserved at Turin.

[18] Decree concerning the magnificent furnishing of the monuments. In the same year (as may be seen in the book of provisions of the magnificent city of Verona, marked L, folio 49), in the council of the Twelve and the Fifty, assembled on June 29, a vote was taken concerning the bodies of the four recently discovered Veronese Bishops; and it was decreed that, as befits this magnificent city, they should be honorably placed in the church of S. Proculus, and to this end four citizens should be designated who, together with the Rector of that church and the Duumvirs to be chosen from the quarter of S. Zeno, would ensure that the said bodies were placed with due honor, administer the offerings, and provide for all things necessary to the matter; as we see today has been put into effect in the underground oratory of the church: where his body rests in a most beautiful coffin behind the high altar dedicated to SS. Cosmas and Damian, with the sepulchral inscription reported above.

c. April 14.

d. February 24.

Section IV. Miracles following the discovery: relics, churches.

[19] Of the prodigies that occurred after the public exhibition of the sacred Relics, The power of walking is restored to a disabled woman, two are especially worthy of mention: by which two noblewomen were freed from the most grievous infirmity through the intercession of these Saints. One of these suffered from such great debility of the entire body, and especially of the feet and shins, that she could in no way manage to walk without the assistance of another. But as she was a woman of great faith and fervent piety, when she heard with what eagerness the entire populace was running to view the bodies of the Saints, she too wished to be brought there, firmly hoping to obtain her health. Prostrating herself on the ground before them and fixing her tearful eyes upon the earth, after she had completed her prayer, she felt that she had been heard by God: and rising to her feet, she praised him who is magnificent in his Saints, and hastened to return home rejoicing, whole and firm, without anyone's assistance.

[20] To another, the use of her eyes is given. Another woman, no less distinguished for her modesty than for her nobility, from birth had such swelling of the cheeks that she could not open her eyes except with the aid of her own or another's hands: and she likewise, brought with similar faith to the same place as the first, when she had obtained that a particle of the shroud that covered the bones of S. Proculus be applied to her cheeks, mingling many sighs with tears as she prayed, received free use of her eyes, whether for seeing things near or far, and no longer required anyone's assistance.

[21] In a great drought, Nor should it be passed over in silence here what brought the greatest benefit not only to this city and its territory, but also to the cities and fields in every direction nearby. At the time when the sacred relics were discovered, there was such a shortage of water, the rains failing, that the very rivers were nearly drying up, and in those places where there was no supply of fresh water, many animals were perishing of thirst: whence a great fear had seized everyone lest that most unusual drought should bring about a great scarcity of crops and cattle, unless the benign prayers of the Saints should avert the impending evil. Recourse was therefore had to the accustomed remedy, namely to the axe that severed the necks of SS. Firmus and Rusticus (the Veronese call it the spina), which in a similar necessity, when carried about by the Bishop, accompanied by the Clergy, the people, after supplications with the sacred spina and the Religious of all the monasteries, is wont to obtain rain from heaven. But this year, when this had been done not once but a second and third time, the prayers were still not answered. Therefore all devotion was turned to visiting the body of S. Mary the Consoler, whose intercession our ancestors remembered had scarcely ever been invoked in vain. And supplications to S. Mary the Consoler, instituted in vain, And at that time, as it happened, it had been removed from its place for the purpose of restoring the high altar. And so the Bishop, seizing the occasion, who had come there in solemn procession to offer supplication, wished the sacred Relics themselves to be displayed for the people's viewing, in order to rouse them to more intense prayer.

[22] The bodies of SS. Euprepius and Proculus are brought forth, But when not even this availed, the Bishop, setting before himself the example of the Ninevites, ordered fasting to be joined to prayer, and new supplications to be instituted at the recently discovered bodies of the Saints, which he wished to be dressed in pontifical vestments and thus carried through the city. Two of them were therefore fitted out in proper attire, namely the holy Euprepius and Proculus, and raised up on magnificently draped biers publicly with a great number of candles shining before them, and a sweet harmony of musical instruments. Who could describe the vows, and soon rain is obtained, who could describe the prayers poured out around those sacred bodies by the people, with weeping eyes and bared heads? And behold, when the processional pageant was finished, the sky suddenly began to grow disturbed, to be covered with clouds, and a most copious rain to fall, filling the hearts of the sorrowful with joy all the greater as the noise of the descending waters was louder. When these had fallen with equal force throughout that entire day and the following night, they gradually diminished, and not long after, ceasing entirely, they restored the parched fields, now abundantly watered, to their former vigor and fertility, which had been nearly despaired of, and provided a copious remedy for the necessity of animals and humans alike. But when the rain first began to be felt, it is scarcely possible to describe what applause there was within the church, as they ordered the incense of frankincense and other most sweet odors to be spread around the sacred bodies, repaying their benefactors in whatever manner they could.

[23] Relics of S. Proculus under various altars of the city. As for the Relics of S. Proculus, certain particles had long since been placed in the altar of S. Helena, which used to be in the church of the Holy Apostles; likewise in the altars of the monastery of S. Angelo and of the church of S. Felicitas, when they were consecrated in the year 1175, on November 3; and also in the high altar of S. Maria Antiqua, when it was consecrated in the year 1185. Now, however, various relics of the same Saint are preserved in the churches of SS. Andrew and Thomas the Apostles and another of the Most Holy Trinity, and a fourth of S. Michael outside the gate; they are also preserved in the monasteries of SS. George and Sylvester. A statue in his own church: In the church of S. Proculus itself, on the wall to the left side of the Marian altar, the statue of the Saint himself is conspicuously elevated, in pontifical vestments, with a pastoral staff and an open book, on which these letters are inscribed: "GOD CHOSE ME, PROCULUS, FROM THE SEED OF AARON." Below, the following inscription is read: "This was made at the order of Dominus Brunamontus, Archpriest of this church of S. Proculus, 1392."

[24] Under the same title, another church was built in ancient times on the bank of the Benacus between Manerba and S. Felix in the diocese of Verona: which is now being restored because of the extraordinary devotion of the people who flock there in great numbers to venerate the Saint annually. Another church in his honor on the bank of the Benacus. Finally, the Church of Verona proposes this common Commemoration for him and three of his predecessors.

PRAYER. Almighty and eternal God, who by the beginning of saving preaching of Thy blessed Confessors and Bishops Euprepius, Cricinus, Agapius, and Proculus, Common commemoration of the four Saints, didst deign to bring us, Thy servants, to the knowledge of Thy name: grant to Thy suppliants that we may be aided by their prayers and merits before Thee, we who, first healed by their teaching, merited to receive the foundations of the Catholic faith.

CONCERNING S. FINGARES OR GUIGNERIUS, S. PIALA THE VIRGIN, AND COMPANION MARTYRS IN BRITAIN.

AROUND A.D. 450.

Preliminary Commentary.

Fingares or Guignerius, Martyr in Britain (S.)

Piala, Virgin and Martyr in Britain (S.)

Companions, Martyrs in Britain (SS.)

[1] The author of the English Martyrology, Wilson, in his second edition of the year 1640, says: "In Cornwall, Name in the English Martyrology: the commemoration of S. Fingaris the Martyr, son of Clito, King of Ireland, who, converted to the faith

through S. Patrick, Name in the English Martyrology: and refusing the dignity of Prince and the crown offered after his father's death, crossed over to Cornwall to embrace the solitary life, where, slain out of hatred for the Christian religion by Theodoric, King of Cornwall, he died around the year of Christ five hundred." So he writes for this March 23 -- not February, as Colgan cites him -- and relying on this erroneous citation, he believes him to be the same as Finchanus or Finchadanus, whose burial or veneration at the place called Ard is mentioned for February 23 in the Hibernian hagiologies, the Tamlachtense and others. Moreover, regarding the time of martyrdom, he rightly corrects Wilson and establishes that it occurred around the year 450: the passion at the time of the Patrician preaching, which we gladly accept. For since Fingaris's departure from Ireland took place at the beginning of the Patrician preaching, he must have returned to his homeland within fifteen or even fewer years, when he found his sister there still a virgin, and negotiated concerning her endowment with paternal estates and placement in marriage.

[2] Patrick came to Ireland in the year 433, and within twenty or fewer years, traversing the entire island in his preaching, before the baptism of the seven sons of Amalgaid, he imbued most of the peoples, kings, and princes with the Christian faith: among whom were the seven sons of Amalgaid, King of Connaught, as is stated in his Life: those very ones, it seems, who are read here to have first scorned the Saint when he announced the mysteries of the faith, and who are called kings in the broader sense of the word. They are all named in the Tripartite Life, where their baptism is also narrated, as well as their advanced age before baptism, at which they both had adolescent sons and resisted Patrick stubbornly for some time, as may be sufficiently gathered from what is to be read there: yet among them no one bears the name Clito, but rather Abild or Olilt (for the Irish both write and pronounce this name in various ways) of whom Olilt is wrongly called Clito, who might be identified as the father of S. Fingaris here designated, and by the author of the Acts, Anselm, or by the writer of the brief notes he used, who was more ancient, or by the imperfect memory of the populace, from whose tradition the matter was received, distorted into this form through the corruption of the first letter -- all the more easily because the Saxons were accustomed to call the sons of kings Clitones, as the French call them Dauphins: as may be seen in Spelman's Glossary and in what we have on S. Edward for March 17. Indeed, Colgan notes that the name Fingaris itself is not purely Irish as regards its final syllable: Fingar is Guinger in the British tongue, while Guignerius, and perhaps more correctly Guingerius, appears to be the same name according to the British dialect: for just as the Irish say Fin for "bright, shining, white," so the Britons used Guin or Win in the same signification, as may be known from what was said regarding the Acts of S. Guingualoeus.

[3] Veneration among the Armoricans on December 14. Having thus set forth these matters, based on fairly probable conjecture, it must be examined where and by whose agency the slaughter of these Martyrs was perpetrated. Albert le Grand believed that Cornwall of Lesser Britain was stained with their glorious blood: perhaps because he found a synopsis of this passion in the ancient legendaries of the Cathedral of Vannes and the Collegiate of Folcoet, and its feast is celebrated on December 14 in the parish of Loc-Eguigner, situated in the commune of Ploudiry, about midway between Leon and Brest, slightly off the road beyond the little river of Brest; whose patron S. Guignerius is, and whose name seems to be formed from his name. Albert's opinion could be thought to have some support from the very name of the commune, if one wished to interpret Ploudiry as the "Parish of Theodoric": in the way that the Teutons abbreviate Theodoric as Dirick. We must nevertheless stand by the Acts, which indeed say that the monastic life was led by the Saint in Armorican Britain; He suffered in the island of Britain. but that on his return from a visit to Ireland through Greater Britain, he found the crown of Martyrdom there with his entire company. For as regards the Armoricans, besides the fact that they generally share the same Saints with the insular Britons, it could have happened that the relics of S. Guignerius were transferred to them on the day on which they now venerate him, by those who, compelled by Saxon arms, abandoned their ancestral homes and migrated to this neighboring continent of Gaul.

[4] As for the conjecture derived from the name Theodoric: Theodoric the tyrant, perhaps Coroticus, if the time of martyrdom truly falls within the Patrician period, it has no bearing here: for just as this name was entirely unknown to Gaul before the irruption of the Goths, so too to Britain before the arrival of the Saxons. Wherefore it must be said without question that our Writer, accustomed to Saxon vocabulary and not sufficiently distinguishing the periods, rendered the British Diry as Theodoric: or that this name was received in a corrupted form from Coroticus or Cereticus. For we do not seem to have spoken without plausibility in the preface to the Patrician epistle, that to the other cruelties of his which S. Patrick inveighs against, this slaughter also may be numbered: for although he was not precisely the King of Cornwall, he was a most fierce enemy of the Irish neophytes, and from his Ceretic territory he could have made a raid into Cornwall in the manner of a marauder, and perpetrated that massacre.

[5] The author names himself Anselm; and he must be ancient: Author of the Acts, Anselm, for the membranes of the Victorian Library at Paris, inserted after page 68 of codex 975, evidently exceed four hundred and more years in age: yet nothing therein attributes the writing to the celebrated Saint of that name, Bishop of Canterbury, who departed this life in the year 1110 and is venerated on April 21. Therefore we did not believe we could safely present these under his name: whether the Bishop of Canterbury? although Ioannes Picardus, a Religious of the monastery of S. Victor, undoubtedly did so in his edition of the Anselmian works; led, as he professes, by the facility of the flowing style shining forth in the other writings of D. Anselm; and although Theophilus Raynaudus followed this judgment, when he had the same work reprinted at Lyon, cleared of commentaries inserted by outsiders into the sacred books, as well as Colgan.

[6] This Theophilus complains about Walsingham, the collector of the Florilegium of the Saints of Ireland, whether March 23 is the day of the passion? that he added no light to this history, and did not even record the day of the martyrdom to be commemorated: but what Walsingham either could not do or omitted, Colgan amply supplied; although he was mistaken in designating February 23 instead of March 23, from Wilson. If anyone should think that Wilson did not find but chose that day at his own discretion, as he sometimes did elsewhere, we have nothing with which to defend it; yet we retain the certain veneration of S. Guignerius from Albert le Grand: and because we believe the day reported by him to be one of translation rather than passion, we think we may adhere to Wilson until we are taught something more certain from another source.

[7] S. Hia, January 25. At the same time when Fingar crossed from Ireland to Britain with his companions, S. Hia was also conveyed thither by a wondrous miracle, as is narrated in these same Acts. Concerning her, Camden seems to speak in his description of Cornwall, page 140: "The northern shore, piled up in a long stretch of sandy mounds from the very promontory of Belerium, extends to a town projecting into the sea on a sort of tongue, called S. Ives; it takes its name from Hia, an Irish woman who lived here in singular sanctity, formerly called Pendinas: and it adopted its name for the bay below it, into which the little river Haile flows; which is called by sailors Ivesbay." Wilson, from the Martyrology of Suben, records her under January 25, and attests that various churches and other monuments erected in her honor still survive: but he calls her Itha. Colgan follows Wilson. We have passed over her name in silence, since we had nothing about her beyond what is said here.

ACTS

Author: Anselm.

From the Paris manuscript of S. Victor.

Fingares or Guignerius, Martyr in Britain (S.)

Piala, Virgin and Martyr in Britain (S.)

Companions, Martyrs in Britain (SS.) BHL Number: 2988

BY ANSELM.

PROLOGUE.

You ask faithfully enough, dearest friend, that the admirable life of the holy Martyr Guignerius and his companions, which you previously retained in brief notes, and the triumph of his victory, be set forth for you in a fuller narrative. I desire, devout man, to comply with your devotion: and though not worthily, as the great deeds of mighty acts require, yet according to the capacity of my talent I shall be occupied, intent upon the praises of the Saints. For the praise of the soldier is the glory of the Commander, and when the virtues of the Saints are narrated, the glory of Christ is proclaimed. Let devotion therefore promise what knowledge denies; and trusting in the aid of the Saints, let me presume everything from their merits, what ability does not promise, nor be confounded by the poverty of my eloquence; since he demonstrated that the kingdom of God does not consist in the elegance of speech, who chose the unlearned and fishermen to proclaim his glory.

CHAPTER I.

Cast into exile, Fingar devotes himself to God's service, having built an oratory.

[1] To S. Patrick, The glorious Confessor of the Lord, Patrick, while he was dwelling intent upon holy works in the parts of Cornwall, was admonished by an angelic voice to go to the island of Ireland, there to preach the faith of Christ. Then the faithful and prudent servant, having understood the Lord's vision, arose without delay and sought the place foreordained for him by God, in no way fearing the ferocity of the barbarous and unbelieving people. When his arrival was made known by spreading report, seven kings of that island, together with the priests of idols to the conversion of Ireland, divinely sent, and chieftains and no small multitude of that people, came together to meet the Saint. The Saint, attacking these men with integrity of faith and full of devotion to the Lord, began to preach to them the Gospel of Christ with confidence, and to proclaim salvation in Jesus. But since a vessel full of wormwood, unless the bitterness is first expelled, does not admit the sweetness of another liquid, those men, still filled with the spirit of pride, would not receive the doctrine of salvation: but observing his humility and noting the simplicity of his clothing, they utterly despised the holy and truly Apostolic man hiding within.

[2] Fingar stands up. Among the aforesaid kings, there was one nobler and more powerful than all, named Clito. He had a son, an adolescent of good character, called Fingar, foreknown by divine election and already filled with the grace of the Holy Spirit. He alone out of all of them, rising for the holy Patrick, received the man of God with what honor he could, and yielded to him, and made him sit in the place where he himself had been sitting. The angry and severe father, inflamed with great indignation against his son, and therefore banished by his angry father, saying that he intended to destroy the worship of their gods and introduce through S. Patrick the new law of the Christians, expelled him from the kingdom and disinherited him from his father's land. Several young nobles of Ireland, bound to him by the sweetest love, departed with him as fellow exiles, and by land and sea arrived in Lesser Britain.

When the ruler of Britain heard that new settlers had arrived, he ordered them to be brought before him, inquiring diligently who they were, for what purpose, and whence they had come. They answered that they had been driven from Ireland: and after seriously setting forth the reason for their banishment, they asked that, by his clemency, he would grant them a place and permission to dwell in his province. When the Duke had learned of the noble birth of the young men, and at the same time recognized the cause of their exile, with the greatest generosity assenting to their request, he granted them as much land to inhabit as one man could ride around in a day; and he ordered that they be held in veneration, and judged that Fingar especially should be honored. Having therefore obtained the Lord's grace in all things, they were loved by all, honored by all, and the new guests began henceforth to live familiarly with the natives.

[4] But since the supreme providence of God now wished to bind his recruit Fingar more closely to his service, he is separated from his companions while hunting, he set him apart by such an artifice. Going out to hunt one day with his companions, the dogs began to pursue a stag they had found. When it fled with the speed customary to that animal, the dogs pressing hard, Fingar alone with the dogs, leaving his companions behind, pursued the fleeing stag. What more? He caught the stag, killed it, and stripping its hide, cut it into pieces limb by limb and loaded them on his horse, as though intending to return to his companions, who had lost sight of him when a mist descended. But when he wished to wash his blood-stained garment and bloodied hands, looking about in every direction, he could find no water: and having fixed the point of his labarum in the earth, with his spear he draws forth a spring, a most welcome stream of an unexpected spring flowed out. He marveled at the streams of the new water and attributed the deed to the power of him who gave drink to the ancient people by striking the rock. Let this deed be compared, if you will, with the ancient miracle of S. Clement: except that the latter discovered the hidden treasure of the spring by the foot of the Lamb, while this one found the bubbling vein by the sharp point of his weapon.

[5] At length, when he was preparing to wash himself at the spring, bending over the water, he noticed through the reflection the beauty of his handsome face (for he was very comely and fair of aspect), and began to praise God and bless him, and he resolves to serve God alone, who had bestowed such great grace upon him. And from that hour, pledging to serve him with all devotion, he removed the bridle from the horse's head and let it go free wherever it wished. He himself, however, hiding among the rocks under a certain cave, lived for some time on acorns of the oaks. His companions, scattered throughout the area, sought him with all diligence, and when they did not find him, returned very anxious and sorrowful to their dwelling. The lord of Britain, when he heard that Fingar was missing, summoned his companions to himself and demanded to know [His companions, suspected of killing the man who did not appear, are ordered to search for him:] what had become of him, or what had been done to him. And committing them bound to custody, he threatened, swearing that he would kill them all unless they told him the truth, supposing that they had killed him in a quarrel or dispute. But why would they have killed a man for whose love they had left their native land, endured infinite labors, and tolerated many perils of land and sea? In the end, the grief they felt for him showed them to be not murderers but true friends, and such as should be trusted not for hatred but for friendship. Having explained, however, how he had departed from them during the pursuit of a stag, they offered to search for him again, saying they would show the places where they had lost their companion, if he would send men who knew how to search for him more skillfully.

[6] They went, and having found him with much labor, he was brought with honor into the presence of the Duke. The Duke grants him a place for an oratory. And when the Duke, delighted at his discovery, kindly inquired the reason for his action, he answered that he was entirely devoted to divine service, and could by no means ever return to the duties of the secular world: if, however, by his kindness the Duke would grant him a place where, having built an oratory, he might serve God more quietly, he would gladly accept it. The benevolent Duke, consenting to favor his wish, assigned him a place; and moreover, he granted the entire land that he had previously conceded to him and his companions for habitation, free from all tribute, as a perpetual endowment. The chosen one of the Lord, Fingar, therefore entered the place designated by the Duke's clemency, where he leads an eremitical life, most amply endowed and enriched with estates and possessions, and with his whole mind and devotion intent upon the dwelling of the heavenly throne, he established an abode of sanctification in which God would be perpetually praised. The servant of God thenceforth girded himself more strongly for greater works: he subdued the flesh, strengthened the spirit, and by persecuting himself, perfected himself in the Lord.

CHAPTER II.

Having rejected the inheritance, he sails to Britain with many and is distinguished by miracles.

[7] After some time, admonished by angelic exhortation, he was commanded to return to his birthplace. Warned by an Angel, he returns to his homeland. When he had returned thither, supported in all things by the Lord's protection, he found Ireland subjected to the laws of Christ, glorying in the confession of the Christian name, and entirely washed with the holy laver. The servants rejoiced to have received a Lord, the Christians a patron, the faithful a companion: they asked him, since his father Clito had died, to assume the kingship, desiring to have such a defender, by whose providence the kingdom would be governed and the still-new Christian religion protected. "To you," they said, "apart from our desire to have you as a supporter of the Christian faith, honor is due from royal lineage; to you the inheritance belongs; to you the possession falls by hereditary right." Then he said: "Spare me, dearest ones: once I have been dedicated to Christ; I have vowed to serve him alone; I cannot henceforth return to the offices of the world: for no one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God: no one who serves God entangles himself in worldly affairs, that he may please him to whom he has devoted himself."

[8] And when those who asked pressed on with pious importunity: He refuses the proffered scepter. "In vain, brothers," he said, "do you labor with such entreaties: for I cannot be detained with you any longer. But if you wish to act according to my counsel, choose an industrious and faithful man, one of the nobles of the homeland, by whose providence the kingdom may be governed and the religion of the Christian faith protected: and give him my sister Piala in marriage together with the kingdom." For the most illustrious virgin Piala was the daughter of the most noble King Clito, sister of S. Guignerius, regenerated in Christ through the laver of purification. Those instructed by the Saint's counsel therefore spoke to the sacred virgin about a bridegroom: to whom she, His sister Piala also refuses the marriage, entirely grounded in the love of Christ, answered: "My bridegroom is Christ, who by his grace has chosen me as a partner of his kingdom; to him I have pledged my faith, which I ought not to violate: and therefore I cannot accept any other bridegroom besides him. I despise the glory of this kingdom, which ought not to be called glory since it cannot be free from misery; and I yearn for the kingdom that the Lord Jesus Christ promises, where there is no sorrow or sadness, but perpetual pleasure and everlasting joy." The Saint, seeing that the virgin's purpose was solidified in the love of Christ, constant in her vow of virginity, so that she could by no means be persuaded to consent to marriage, said: "Leave her, brothers, and do not strive against the good pleasure of God: he himself so willed it, and so foresaw it would be. Let us commit this kingdom to God's providence: he himself according to his will shall provide a guardian and defender." And bidding farewell to all, he prepared for his departure. Seven hundred and seventy men followed him, and seven Bishops, and with her brother and a great company crosses to Britain, whom S. Patrick had begotten for Christ through the water of incorruptibility; filled with God and instructed in the divine law, desiring to be companions of his blessed pilgrimage in the Lord: among whom was the aforesaid virgin Piala, sister of the blessed Guignerius. All therefore, united by holy fellowship in the Lord, proceeded together with their patron to the shore: and finding a ship according to their wish, they all boarded the vessels together.

[9] S. Hia, conveyed across the Ocean on a leaf. They had already sailed a little distance from the land when behold, a certain virgin named Hia, born of noble blood, arrived at the shore, desiring to be united to the blessed company of the Saints: and seeing them already far removed from the shore, she was tormented by excessive grief; and fixing her knees on the ground, raising her hands and eyes to the heights, she devoutly sought counsel from heaven. And relaxing her gaze slightly downward, she beheld upon the waters a small leaf; and extending the staff she carried in her hand, she touched it, wishing to test whether it would sink. And behold, before her eyes it began to grow and expand, so that she could not doubt that this assistance had been sent from God. And strong in faith, boldly mounting the leaf, she was wonderfully borne by the power of God and reached the other shore before her companions. We need not hesitate concerning the works of God: for he who mightily divided the Red Sea for the people to cross, who opened the Jordan for Elijah, and who made Peter walk upon the waters -- he himself conveyed his Virgin as he wished. The companions, having set their sails, cutting through the ocean waves, arrived by a prosperous course in Cornwall, she precedes them, at the port called Heul: where the sacred virgin Hia, conveyed by the power of God, had already preceded them. And disembarking from the ship, they found a certain habitation not far from the shore, in which a certain holy Virgin was living enclosed; and S. Guignerius, not wishing to disturb her, Guignerius, leaving her behind, after greeting the Virgin, they moved to another place to take their meal. Where, when the Saint saw that water was lacking, with full confidence in Jesus Christ, having first offered prayer, he fixed his staff in the ground, and immediately the clearest water sprang forth for the Saints to drink.

[10] After the meal, setting out from there, they came to a certain

village called Conetconia. There a certain faithful and God-fearing woman, named Coruria, showed them no small kindness. For since her dwellings could not contain all of them, he is kindly received by a pious woman, nor did they have straw on which all might rest, she uncovered the houses and furnished the thatch with which they were roofed for the Saints to lie upon. The woman, full of charity, gave them one cow for food: which being killed, and its meat duly and carefully prepared, all ate together. At length, when the supper was completed with thanksgiving, the holy Fingar ordered all the bones, stripped of flesh, to be gathered into one place, and the hide of the same cow to be laid on top. Then he invited all the Confessors of Christ and he restores her property intact by a miracle who were with him to prayer, saying: "Let us pray, brothers, that God, for whose love this most dutiful woman served us this cow, may restore it to her." And when the prayer was completed, before the eyes of all, there stood a cow, more beautiful than before. Then he ordered that milk from it be brought to him: and having drunk it, he simply besought God that the vein of milk, more copious than in other cows, might be tripled in this one. Which is narrated to have been accomplished not only in that cow, but in all that descended from it. When morning came, as they were now wishing to set out on their way, looking back they saw all the dwellings thatched and repaired, restoring everything to her in better condition, as if they had never been uncovered. Then the faithful, who were following in the footsteps of Christ under the leadership of S. Guignerius, seeing the wonders of God multiplied at every place, were more and more strengthened and confirmed in the faith and love of Christ. And rightly did Christ need to strengthen his witnesses with such consolations and comfort them, whom he had disposed to crown shortly through the palm of martyrdom. When morning came, they set out and made their way through certain wooded places.

CHAPTER III.

The Martyrdom of S. Guignerius and his companions.

[11] Report had already sounded in the ears of Theodoric, King of Cornwall, that a Christian multitude had arrived in his land; The tyrant attacks the innocent, and the God-hating tyrant, fearing that they might wish to convert his people to the faith of Christ, having gathered his soldiers, rushed to the place where he knew the Saints to be, more savage than a wild beast. He does not wait for a reason, does not seek an explanation, does not wish to hear a word: but coming unexpectedly from behind, suddenly the bloody lion, assailing the sheep of Christ, slays, butchers, and lays them low. The Saints are cut down, mutilated, torn apart, and some with their heads severed, others inhumanely run through with swords, others slaughtered -- all in a single day made Martyrs of Christ, by the shortcut of sacred death all equally received the prize of eternal life.

[12] S. Fingar, who happened at that time to be separated a little from his companions, was sitting in a certain valley waiting for those who followed: Guignerius, having gone ahead, where, having fixed in the ground the staff he carried in his hand, as soon as he drew back the elder bush toward him, a fertile spring burst forth from the earth: which, handsomely enclosed by a double stone on either side, ceases not to flow in copious stream to this very day. And suddenly hearing a tumult arise in the company, wondering what it was, he hastened back to the Saints: returns to encourage his own, and seeing the victims of Christ being slaughtered on every side, and the enemy's sword running confusedly through the limbs of the Saints, he said to the few who were with him: "Behold, brothers, here is the place of our rest; here God has determined to put an end to our labors. Come therefore, brothers, and let us gladly be offered up for him who gave his life as a ransom for many. Let us not fear those who kill the body; but rather him who has power to cast both body and soul into hell." And going to meet the tyrant, he said: "You do the works of your father, son of the devil." And the tyrant said to him: "You shall not escape my hands; you shall not flee the sword." And extends his neck to be cut off. Then the Saint, joyfully offering an acceptable sacrifice to God, having fixed in the earth beside him the staff he carried in his hand, fearlessly stretched out his neck to receive the blow of the striker. The most savage tyrant, seizing his sword, mightily struck his bare neck and, cutting off his head, made him a Martyr of Christ. And immediately the trunk of the sacred body picked up from the ground the head that the executioner's blade had severed from its neck; and carried it to a hill not far distant from the place, walking on steady knees with his own hands.

[13] There was a certain village situated on the slope of the same hill: in which, when he heard women quarreling, the head from a contentious place, he cursed the place with perpetual strife: that those dwelling therein should never cease quarreling among themselves. Whence, as is reported, the land, though fruitful, remains nevertheless uninhabitable; retaining the grace of fertility in one respect, but subjected to the curse of the Saint in another. The holy Martyr, therefore, not wishing to rest in that place because of the tumult, he carries it to another: taking up his head again, carried it to another place, where he laid down his bloodied head and carefully washed it (in which place a most welcome spring ceases not to flow in a continual stream to this day). And carefully taking it up again after washing, he carried it once more to another place: which place is separated from the one in which the holy Martyrs had suffered a spring from the blood by a small intervening space of a certain wooded glade. The place that received the stream of blood flowing from the body of the Saint immediately opened up and produced a fertile spring, which is shown to this day to those who see it. One of the soldiers, moreover, wishing to seize the holy Martyr's staff from the place where he had fixed it nearest to his passion, saw that from the forked branch a double leaf had already burst forth: a tree sprouts from the staff: and terrified by so great a miracle, he did not dare to touch it. To this day there can be seen, as a testimony to the Saint, a lofty (so it is said) tree, raised from the staff by the power of God, but of what species it is, is unknown.

[14] The bodies of the Saints still lay unburied across the field: a countryman is roused by a vision and behold, on a certain night, the witness of Christ, in the same manner in which he had carried his own head in his arms upon the hill, appearing to a certain man named Gur three times in a vision, admonished him to bury him. The man, waking, narrated the vision in order to his wife -- namely, how the Saint had persuaded him concerning the burial. But the woman dissuaded him from doing it, lest he incur the king's wrath and on that account deserve the sentence of death. On the next day, however, going out into the field to hunt with his dogs, and by a miracle is roused to action, he found a stag which, pursued by the swiftness of the dogs, fled and fell down at the burial mound of the holy Martyr, as though seeking the protection of his holiness: the dogs ceased barking and pursuing the stag, and, all their ferocity relaxed, lay down together with the stag, as if venerating the Saint. The man contemplated the great spectacle, and with his mind struck and returned to himself, reflecting on what he had seen by night, he concluded that he had been led there by divine guidance: and taking up the body of the most holy Martyr, he buried it with what veneration he could. Then diligently searching the field for the bodies of the holy Martyrs, just as they lay, he buried them in the field.

[15] After some time, when the vineyard of the Lord of Hosts, A church is built over the tomb: that is, the Church, had begun to occupy the borders of Cornwall, a basilica was begun by the devotion of the faithful above the tomb of the holy Martyr. And when the craftsmen who were laboring on the work of the oratory lacked necessities and no one was supplying them, the Saint, remembering his own who devotedly served his honor, appearing by night in vision to the provincials round about, admonished each one to bring food and necessary assistance to the workers. He came at length to a certain man who had an untamed bull, admonishing him to lead it to the workers and give it to them for food. When morning came, the anxious man, thinking about the Saint's command, began to consider how he might subdue the stubborn and very proud animal, food for the workers is provided by divine aid, and bind it with straps and lead it where the holy Martyr had commanded. And mounting his horse, going out to find the bull, he saw the formerly untamed animal now standing, by the power of God, most gentle, before the doors; and walking of its own accord before its master, it went gently by the direct route to the place where the craftsmen were laboring on the work of the oratory. The beast was slaughtered, and seeing that the Martyr's help was at hand, they applied themselves to the work all the more devoutly thereafter.

[16] The wound of one of them is healed. Another memorable and noteworthy miracle is reported to have occurred during the construction of the same basilica. One of the craftsmen who were laboring on the work struck the axe, and it was broken and divided into two pieces. The agitated man began to swear and protest that he would do no more work. When the superintendent of the work heard this -- a good man who had taken up the care of the basilica for God's sake and had devotedly dedicated himself to the service of the Saint -- he began to console the man and to soothe his sadness with gentle words: and taking the pieces in the name of Jesus Christ and joining the broken parts together, immediately by the merits of the glorious Martyr the tool was fitted and consolidated; so that no trace of the fracture appeared any longer. God was praised and blessed by all in common: and the man who had sworn he would do no more work, strengthened by so great a miracle, now persevered more firmly in the work.

[17] But since I have begun to narrate the virtues of the Saint, I believed this should be inserted into the account, Violators of the sacred stone are punished, which strikes fear into unbelievers and admonishes everyone about reverence for the Saints. When two soldiers, in contempt of the holy Martyr, urinated upon a certain stone to which the anchor of his ship had been fastened, divine vengeance struck both of them at once. For both were seized by a demon: one of them chewed his tongue to pieces between his teeth, while the entrails of the other were entirely expelled through his posterior; and thus both expired in a horrible manner. Behold, from this it can be sufficiently perceived with what great reverence God wills the Saints to be honored, whose contempt he ordains to be expiated by so strict a judgment. Upon the sarcophagus of a certain venerable Bishop, likewise sacrilegious fornicators, who had been one of the companions of King Clito, a certain

corrupter dared to defile the lap of a certain woman; and like dogs, inseparably coupled in the very act of turpitude, they could by no means be separated from one another. They were at length brought to the memorial of the glorious Martyr Guignerius, where by the merit of Christ's witness and the intercession of the faithful they were freed.

[18] The sacristan of the holy Martyr, moreover, had a cow: which when certain wicked men had stolen, and cattle thieves, as they were leading it away, they suddenly saw two burning lights upon its horns; and terrified by such a spectacle, returning the next day, they gave back the cow to its rightful sacristan and, entreating both for satisfaction of their offense and for pardon, gave another cow as well. Earth taken from the Saint's tomb with faith and devotion, through the merits of the Martyr, drives away sicknesses and restores health. These things I, Anselm, servant of Christ Jesus, concerning the passion of the Saints and the virtues of the precious Martyr Guignerius, have set down in brief style according to the testimony of those who told the tale; epilogue of the author, that the faithful who glory in his spiritual title may have readings with which to occupy themselves and learn the brave deeds of their own Patron: and for this reason I have added my name at the end, that through the merit of the Martyr and the prayer of the faithful I may deserve the mercy of our Redeemer Jesus Christ our Lord, who with the Father and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns throughout all ages of ages.

CONCERNING SAINT DOMETIUS, MARTYR, FROM PHRYGIA.

UNDER JULIAN.

Dometius, Martyr from Phrygia (S.)

[1] Of this Martyr, whom the printed Menaea call Dometion, we would know only the name from the Menologion printed in Canisius, from which it passed into the Roman Martyrology, and from the manuscripts to be cited below, as well as the manner of martyrdom completed by the sword from the aforesaid Menaea: were it not for the aid of the illustrious Menologion composed by order of the Emperor Basil, otherwise Dometion, copied by us from the codex of the monastery of Grottaferrata, with the following eulogy appended to his contest, indicated by way of title thus: "The contest of the Martyr Dometius." It is as follows.

[2] Dometius, Martyr of Christ, lived under the tyranny of Julian, born in Phrygia, a Phrygian by homeland, who, seeing that many adhered to the tyrant and, daily renouncing Christ, worshiped idols, was deeply grieved and troubled in spirit, unable to bear his sorrow. On a certain day, therefore, when equestrian games were being held and sacrifices were being offered to impure demons, he could no longer contain himself, but inflamed with divine zeal, he went forth into the middle of the circus, anathematizing Julian the apostate, spitting upon the worshipers of idols, and mocking the falsely so-called gods. Wherefore he was seized and thrown into chains, brought before the Emperor, and after enduring many torments, was confined in prison: whence within a few days he was brought out, and ordered to deny Christ. When he refused to obey, he submitted his sacred neck to the sword and was beheaded.

[3] And constant in the faith, he is slain by the sword. These things are somewhat obscurely indicated in a rather obscure distich in the Menaea, with no mention of time or homeland, but with some indication of military rank, under this title which Maximus Cytheraeus transcribed: "The holy Dometion is put to death by the sword." The distich is as follows:

"This man, seeing a terrible sword-bearer, Is seized with desire to conquer by the sword, Dometion."

Where, reading "to conquer" for "is conquered," the distich may be rendered into Latin thus: "Seeing a fierce swordsman, this man desires to conquer Dometion by the sword."

CONCERNING SS. PELAGIA, AQUILA, EPARCHIUS, AND THEODOSIA, MARTYRS AMONG THE GREEKS.

Pelagia, Martyr among the Greeks (S.)

Aquila, Martyr among the Greeks (S.)

Eparchius, Martyr among the Greeks (S.)

Theodosia, Martyr among the Greeks (S.)

[1] The printed Menologion, and from it the Roman Martyrology, report these Martyrs jointly with Dometius: Some join them to S. Dometius, as also does a manuscript codex of the Ambrosian Library in Milan, marked with the letter O, number 148. Similarly the Clermont manuscript Synaxarion, and two Mazarine manuscripts, but under the twenty-fifth day, with this formula introducing some division: "The contest of the holy Martyrs Dometius and Pelagia, Aquila, Eparchius, and Theodosia." Also to March 25. All of these could therefore have been believed to be companions joined to Dometius, were it not established from the eulogy that he was a Phrygian by race and suffered under Julian, neither of which we dare assert about the others.

[2] They are wrongly assigned to Spain. The more audacious, who under the venerable names of antiquity -- Lucius Dexter and Julian of Toledo -- insipidly thrust forth their own fantasies, seeing this noble crown of Martyrs inscribed in the Roman Martyrology under the leadership of Dometius, wandering about without any designation of place or time, claimed them for Spain; because they had set this rule for themselves, that they would refrain from carrying off to themselves no Saint whom they hoped could be claimed with impunity. Following them in his Spanish Martyrology, Tamayo invented for them both a prolixe eulogy and still more prolixe Acts from his own brain, in the pseudo-Julian chronicle, although in both he had found nothing but bare names, assigned to the year of Christ 300 and the persecution of Diocletian, to which Pseudo-Julian, number 140, prefixed these words: "In Lusitania, near Braccara of Brigantia, which was formerly called Juliobriga."

[3] And the similar fraud of L. Dexter. These are rightly criticized by Tamayo, because they place Juliobriga in Lusitania, when no one doubts it was in Cantabria: but he wrongly wished us, having rejected these, to yield without question to the no more trustworthy Pseudo-Dexter, who assigns Tarragona in Spain to their names, as though to an older and better-informed source. For Matthaeus Raderus also most truly pronounced concerning this in his Analecta appended to his most learned commentaries on the Epigrams of Martial: "This Chronicle is nothing other than a hodgepodge of fables, partly recently invented, partly confirmed by the falsehood of fame continued for several centuries. The Spaniards indeed have their Annius of Viterbo, and already long ago had Julius Mercator, the most insipid fabricator of the Decretal Epistles of the Roman Pontiffs, which Baronius shows were first brought from Spain in the year of Christ 865, and frequently exposes their impostures; as the aforesaid Raderus is also more than once compelled to refute in the same place what Dexter and his champion Bivar have written."

[4] This we too are compelled to do on almost every day, The most unworthy imposture of fabricated works, not without nausea and indignation, that such license in lying has been exercised in the most sacred matters by men who profess a special devotion to sacred things; and that they have offered the otherwise most worthy name of their nation to the tongues and pens of rival foreign peoples for ridicule. Arthur du Monastier, although by no means a severe critic of authors that serve his purpose, when he enrolled Pelagia and Theodosia in the sacred Gynaeceion and added Aquila to them (as though this too were a woman's name), dared to cite no other source than Pseudo-Dexter: nor do sensible and learned men in Spain judge otherwise, whose opinions on the matter we have heard, and we rightly prefer them to vain ambition, especially when compelled by the very evidence of manifest falsehood.

[5] At Bologna, relics of a certain S. Aquila, Certain relics of a holy Martyr named Aquila are preserved at Bologna in the church of S. Stephen, brought, as far as one may conjecture, from Rome: but these we can safely believe belong to another person. Because, however, this name was found nowhere else in the church's calendar except with the added designation of the Thebaid, Asia, or Mauritania, the custodians of that church thought that this day, on which Aquila occurs without a specified location, was the only one left to them that they might assign for the veneration of their relics: by no means to be confused with the one here reported, following the common error of those who, having consulted the Roman Martyrology, if they happen to find the name of some Saint, and the circumstances expressed with the name do not entirely prove it belongs to someone other than the one whose relics they received, think it pious to believe and say that these relics are his: although nothing is more dangerous for introducing intolerable confusion and ruinous to the veneration of the Saints. This statement ought to hold good elsewhere as well, and it suffices for it to be known on what basis Antonio Paulo Masini inscribed this name in the calendar of his survey of Bologna for the present day.