CONCERNING SS. MARK AND TIMOTHY, MARTYRS AT ROME.
SECOND CENTURY
CommentaryMark, Martyr at Rome (S.)
Timothy, Martyr at Rome (S.)
[1] The Tables of the Ecclesiastical Roman Martyrology thus begin this day: At Rome, of the holy Martyrs Mark and Timothy, who under the Emperor Antoninus were crowned with martyrdom. Names in the Roman Martyrology. Ferrarius in his Catalogue of the Saints of Italy places them first on this day. Mark, he says, and Timothy at Rome under the Emperor Antoninus obtained the crown of martyrdom for Christ. For the rest, the manner of their martyrdom, together with their deeds, is unknown. Nor, as he adds in his Annotation, would any memory of these holy Martyrs exist in the Roman Martyrology, had they not been restored from the manuscript of S. Cyriacus through the effort of Cardinal Baronius, a most diligent man and one who has rendered the greatest service to the Church. Which he also admits was done by himself in his observations on the Roman Martyrology. But in the said Martyrology of S. Cyriacus only these are read: The ninth day before the Kalends of April. In Syria, of Eleusus; In Africa, of S. Romulus, of whom we shall treat below; and Eleusus is called by others Seleucus, and one Romulus suffered at Caesarea in Palestine, another in Numidia. We therefore judge that these were restored from another manuscript codex.
[2] Their contest in an epistle of Pius I. An illustrious testimony to these two Saints is exhibited in an epistle of S. Pius I, Pontiff, writes the same Baronius in the Annals at the year 166, number 1. That epistle was written, as is said there, to Justus, afterwards Bishop of Vienne, with this title: Pius, Bishop of Rome, to brother Justus the Bishop; where in the margin he notes as from a variant reading, Presbyter. Joannes a Bosco in his Sacred and Senatorial Vienne, chapter 2, cites the same epistle and considers it to have been written to Verus the Bishop. S. Justus is venerated on May 5 and S. Verus on August 1: at whose feasts this controversy can be more fully discussed: here it suffices to produce the epistle itself, which also exists in the first volume of the Councils, and it is as follows: Before you left Rome, our sister Euprepia, as you well remember, assigned the title of her house to the poor: where now dwelling with our poor, we celebrate the Mass. But concerning you, most blessed one, after you went to the senatorial city of Vienne, we desire to know what has happened, and we greatly wish to hear that you have already spread the seed of the Gospel. Those Presbyters who, educated by the Apostles, survived to our time, with whom we shared the word of God, called by the Lord, have survived to our time, and are held shut in eternal chambers. Holy Timothy and Mark have passed through the good contest. See, Brother, that you imitate them by following, and that you not be bound by the chains of the world. Hasten to hold the enduring palm with the holy Apostles: which Paul received through many sufferings, and Peter: from whom the Cross could not take away the love of Christ. Sother and Eleutherius, worthy Presbyters, greet you. Greet the brothers who live with you in the Lord. Cerinthus, the chief servant of Satan, has turned many from the faith. May the grace of Christ dwell in your heart. Amen. Thus far the epistle of S. Pius the Pope, whose sacred day is July 11.
[3] Moreover Timothy (these are the words of Baronius) whose
departure he announces, [whether Timothy is the brother of SS. Novatus, Pudentiana, and Praxedis, and son of S. Pudens,] whom he relates to have associated with the other Apostles; we consider him to be that very Timothy, the brother of Novatus, the brother of Pudentiana and Praxedis, and indeed the son of Pudens the Senator and Priscilla, of whom frequent mention has been made above: since he says that he suffered with Mark, there is no doubt that these are the same whose birthday on the twenty-fourth of March is inscribed in the ancient Ecclesiastical Tables. So says Baronius: but he had especially mentioned the said Timothy in the year 161, where he reports the epistles of the Pastor to him, and his to the Pastor. S. Praxedis is venerated on July 21, SS. Pudens and Pudentiana on May 19, and S. Novatus on June 20 with this eulogy: At Rome, the burial of S. Novatus, son of the Blessed Senator Pudens, and a Presbyter? and brother of S. Timothy the Presbyter, and of the holy Virgins of Christ Pudentiana and Praxedis, who were instructed in the faith by the Apostles. Gallonius also treats of these in his Life of SS. Pudentiana and Praxedis.
[4] In the city of Ferrara, in the church of the Society of Jesus, the sacred bodies of four holy Martyrs unearthed from the Roman cemeteries are preserved: one of these is a S. Timothy, a body of some S. Timothy brought to Ravenna, whom they believe to be that very one who is mentioned on this day in the Roman Martyrology as having suffered under the Emperor Antoninus: as is contained in a brief report published at Ferrara in the year 1655. The translation was made on May 30, when it may be discussed: for we do not acquiesce in the conjecture of those who think this is the Timothy who is celebrated on this day.
[5] A certain body of S. Timothy the Martyr, extracted from the cemetery of S. Callixtus outside the city of Rome by faculty obtained from Pope Paul V, was taken by Joannes Angelus Sanctinus of Rome; and given by him to the Illustrious Lord Perinellus de Perinellis, another to Madrid from whom the Most Illustrious and Most Excellent Duke of Poliano, Philip Colonna, Grand Constable of the Kingdom of Naples, having received it, it afterward came into the hands of the Most Excellent Lord Joannes Fernandez Pacheco, Marquis of Villena, then ambassador of the Catholic King to the said Paul V, and is now preserved at Madrid in the convent of sacred Virgins of the Order of S. Bernard, surnamed of the Most Holy Sacrament. The testimony of which, written on parchment, Tamayo Salazar attests that he saw and transcribed in his Spanish Martyrology, and as if it were the body of this Timothy of whom we treat, he brings all these things to March 24.
[6] The same Tamayo says that on this very day S. Mark the Martyr, the companion of the preceding, is honored with an anniversary cult, likewise of S. Mark's also into Spain. and that his sacred body is preserved in the convent of S. Mary of the Willows in Carpetania of the Order of S. Francis, which under the said Pontiff Paul V was taken from the cemetery of S. Sebastian outside the walls of the noble City and translated into Spain, the authentic testimony of which has been published by the said Tamayo. But it is difficult to prove that the said two bodies, unearthed from different cemeteries, are the sacred relics of these Martyrs of whom we have treated. And [whom it would be better to venerate on another day than that on which such names occur in the Martyrology.] in general we judge that those act most ineptly who, having received from Rome the bodies of holy Martyrs, without any other documents than those by which the title of Martyrdom is considered to be proven, have recourse to the Roman Martyrology; and if they find anyone of that name who suffered at Rome, they immediately boast that his Relics have been brought to them: when out of thousands upon thousands crowned at Rome, scarcely a few, and those already long since more celebrated through some veneration, have been transcribed into this Martyrology, which the Roman Church now uses. But it is incredible to say how manifold a confusion of sacred things flows from this source, while many Churches contend about the complete body of one and the same Martyr: which would not happen, if men would abstain from conjectures resting on no foundation, and being content to celebrate only the day of the Translation, would not inquire into the birthday known to God alone. And this counsel, taught by much experience, we have given privately to many who consulted us; but since it is approved by the sensible, we also willingly make it public here: and we recommend that it should always be followed, whenever the instruments of authentic letters, drawn up at Rome on the matter, attest to no other fact than whence, by whom, and when such a body was dug up as truly that of a Martyr: which is almost all that such documents usually teach.