Proculus

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."^f 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 ^gLazarus 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^h 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^a 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,^b 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,^c on November 3; and also in the high altar of S. Maria Antiqua, when it was consecrated in the year 1185.^d 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^e 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.