CONCERNING SS. MONTANUS THE PRIEST, MAXIMA HIS WIFE, AND FORTY OTHERS, MARTYRS AT SIRMIUM IN PANNONIA.
CommentaryMontanus, Priest, Martyr at Sirmium in Pannonia (St.)
Maxima, his wife, Martyr at Sirmium in Pannonia (St.)
Forty Others, Martyrs at Sirmium in Pannonia (SS.)
[1] Sirmium, an ancient Roman colony and the Metropolis of all Pannonia, is situated in its lower territory not far from the river Save, a city distinguished by the births of the Emperors Probus, Valentinian, and Gratian, and the See of many, illuminated by the Christian religion from the earliest state of the Church, and ennobled by the blood of many Martyrs. Of these Martyrs, various ones have been listed in January and February, and others are mentioned on the preceding and on this day of March: in these there recurs that difficulty which we raised on February 23 in the Life of St. Serenus the monk and Martyr, whom some removed from Pannonia to Firmium, a city of Italy in Picenum, others to Sexti-Firmium, a city of Baetica formerly in Spain: which controversy is to be decided from the ancient Martyrologies. And first the very ancient manuscripts of Reichenau in Swabia and Rhinow in Switzerland have thus: Inscribed in Martyrologies as having suffered at Sirmium, At Sirmium, of Montanus the Priest: it is added in Rabanus, and of Maxima his wife. The double manuscript of the Queen of Sweden, of which one was prized by Holstein, the other formerly written in Franconia: At Sirmia, of Montanus the Bishop and Maxima his wife. The same is found in the copies of St. Jerome from Lucca, Blume, and Corbie, but Munatus is written for Montanus. But our most ancient codex of St. Jerome in Anglo-Saxon script has thus: At Sirmium, of Montanus the Priest, and Maxima his wife, and forty others. The same is read in the genuine Bede and they are said to have suffered almost at Sirmium. The Cassino and Altemps manuscripts would agree with Bede, except that they have Montio in place of Montanus.
[2] The manner of martyrdom is indicated by Usuard in these words: At Sirmium, SS. Montanus the Priest and Maxima, drowned in the sea. drowned, Thus almost all of Usuard's manuscript and printed copies; in some, Maximinus and Maximia is read in place of Maxima, and Maxima is called his wife, in the Centula, Vatican St. Peter's, and various other manuscripts. In the Martyrology printed at Cologne and Lubeck in the year 1490, it reads thus: At Sirmium, SS. Montanus the Priest and Maxima his wife, Martyrs, drowned in the sea: their bodies were found not far from the city. In other manuscripts they are said to have been cast into a river, not the sea: thus the Utrecht manuscript of St. Mary: At Sirmium, SS. Montanus the Priest and Maxima his wife: who being seized, were thrown into the river, and of forty other Martyrs. This is how Ado indicates. in a river, And near Sirmium, the birthday of St. Montanus the Priest, who with Maxima his wife was seized and hurled into the river: their bodies were found at the ninth milestone from the city and buried. The same is read in Notker, but by the fault of copyists or printers it reads "near Smyrnium," and should be corrected to "near Sirmium." The Trier manuscript of St. Martin adds companions: At Sirmium, of Montanus the Priest, who being seized, was thrown into the great river, and of Maxima his wife, and of forty other Martyrs. Nearly the same but without companions is read in the manuscript Florarium. The present Roman Martyrology agrees: At Sirmium, of the holy Martyrs Montanus the Priest and Maxima, who for the faith of Christ were drowned in a river. Comparing all these together, we conclude that by "sea" in Usuard and others, as often elsewhere, or a lake, is indicated a deep lake, from which water flowing down rolls into a nearby river: thus the Martyrs of Trier are said to have been cast into the sea, that is, a nearby lake, and the Salt Sea or Dead Sea in Palestine is called the Lake of Asphaltites or bitumen. Indeed among the Germans both lake and sea are translated into their language by the same words zee or mer, moer, more. Thus in Pannonia or present-day Hungary, the Lake of Sidler is called Sidlerzee: and the great sea or Ocean is likewise called zee: thus also in the city of Antwerp the principal square is called mera from the vaulted lake there, and in Flanders several lakes are named moeren. We therefore judge that these Martyrs were drowned in a lake near the city of Sirmium in Pannonia, adjoining the river or stream Save.
[3] There is also Firmium, a city of Italy in Picenum, which we have said elsewhere is not sufficiently distinguished from Sirmium in Pannonia through some slight error of a manuscript: thus here in the Barberini manuscript is read: wrongly ascribed to Firmium, a city of Italy, At Firmia, of Montanus the Priest and Maxima his wife, and in the Vatican of the church of St. Peter: At Firmium, of Montian the Priest and Maxima his wife. Perhaps Peter de Natalibus favors this, who in book 3 of his Catalogue, chapter 233, has this: Montanus the Priest and Maxima the Virgin suffered in the town of Furnium: who while confessing Christ the Lord with a living voice, were seized by unbelievers and bound with iron chains, both were drowned in the sea on the 7th day before the Kalends of April, as Jerome testifies in the Martyrology. We accept the testimony about the said day; but Maxima is called by him a wife. Whether she always lived with her husband in virginal continence, we do not read elsewhere, which at least is believed to have happened when he was ordained Priest.
[4] Because indeed the said Sirmium in Pannonia has been destroyed, and that region groans under Turkish tyranny, some Saints of this city have been transferred to Spain by those or to Sirmium or Sexti-Firmium in Baetica. who recently fabricated a Chronicle under the name of Flavius Dexter: in which at the year 100, number 5, these words are read: At Sirmium in Spain, the holy Martyrs Montanus the Priest and Maxima, most illustrious Martyrs of Christ. Rodrigo Caro in his Notes on Dexter, folio 22, asserts there was no Sirmium in Spain, and Tamayo de Salazar agrees at March 26, and they wish Sexti-Firmium to be substituted, and Tamayo adorns them with a long encomium and some added Acts, and establishes that they were crowned with martyrdom in the hundredth year under the Emperor Trajan: which, lacking proof, we are unwilling to reject at greater length. I refer the reader to what has been said on a similar topic on February 23 about St. Serenus who suffered at Sirmium in Pannonia.
[5] We add the forty companions or soldiers, whom from the principal Martyrologies of Jerome, Bede, and others we have shown suffered together: and Wandelbert confirms with this couplet: The seventh remembers Montanus with his holy wife, and at the same time suffering with the fortieth Martyr. We said above in the preceding class that Monatus or Monitnus, who is Montanus, is joined to various Saints whom we then treated. Whether Jocundus should be joined, Of the others we inquire here, and first in the Martyrology of St. Jerome printed at Paris these words are read: The 7th before the Kalends of April. At Rome in the cemetery of the same on the Lavican Way, the birthday of St. Castula, of Syrmia. At Syrmia, of Munatus the Priest, Maxima his wife, Jocundus. Luke Dachery, who published that Martyrology, in the index considers both to be Saints, both Syrmia and Jocundus. But we fear that Syrmia was formed from the name of the following city, by the fault of the copyist, and therefore should be omitted. We would add Jocundus as a companion, were it not that above in the preceding class we treated of St. Jovinus, who is called by others Junius, Juninus, Juvinus — why not also Jocundus? Maurolycus adds another for us in these words: At Sirmium, a city of Pannonia, SS. Montanus the Priest, Demetrius the Deacon, or Demetrius the Deacon. and Maxima the Virgin, under Maximian drowned in the Save river under the Governor Probus. The same is read in Felicius. Galesinius adorns them with this eulogy: At Sirmium in Pannonia, of the holy Martyrs Montanus the Priest, Demetrius the Deacon, Maxima the Virgin, and forty others, who having completed the contest for the faith, were finally cast headlong into the Save river under the Emperor Diocletian, and were given the heavenly crown. Canisius follows Galesinius in the second edition of the German Martyrology, or whoever augmented it. After the Martyrology of Maurolycus there is added the Topography of the Holy Martyrs of Christ by Primus, Bishop and Theologian of Chalon, formerly composed in the year 1450, in which under the entry Sirmium these words are read: Here Irenaeus the Bishop with Montanus the Priest and Demetrius the Deacon, under the Emperor Maximian and the Prefect Probus, are Martyrs at the Save river. The Acts of St. Irenaeus, Bishop of Sirmium, killed under the Governor Probus of Maximian, we illustrated from Greek and Latin manuscripts on the preceding day, March 25. Perhaps similar accounts of these Martyrs existed which have not yet been found. Seven Virgins who suffered at Sirmium are venerated on April 9, to whom are joined in the distinguished Barberini and Tournai manuscripts of St. Martin, Demetrius the Deacon, Hilarius, and Concessus: who in the first place are celebrated as having suffered in Sirmia in the very ancient Martyrologies of Reichenau and Rhinow. Therefore we omit St. Demetrius here, who is joined to others, and will treat of him on the said April 9.