ON ST. QUIRINUS THE TRIBUNE, MARTYR OF ROME, AT NEUSS IN GERMANY, IN THE YEAR 130.
HISTORICAL COMMENTARY.
Quirinus the Tribune, Martyr of Rome, at Neuss in Germany (St.)
Section I. Time of martyrdom: sacred veneration.
[1] From the Roman gate, formerly the Capena, now called St. Sebastian's after the nearby church of the same name, extends the famous Appian Way, formerly built by Appius Claudius, as Livy reports in Decade 1, Book 9, and extended as far as Capua, The Appian Way: and then by Julius Caesar as far as Brindisi, and restored with various monuments by Vespasian, Nerva, and Trajan. On this way various cemeteries of the ancient Christians were constructed; as, according to Onuphrius in the Inventory of the Cemeteries, at the first milestone for those going by the left fork, there is the cemetery of Praetextatus the holy Priest; in the cemetery of Praetextatus: in which the body of St. Quirinus the Tribune was buried by Christians, St. Quirinus was buried: when he had been crowned with martyrdom under the Emperor Hadrian and the Count Aurelian in the year of Christ 130, namely in the same year in which afterwards St. Alexander the Pope obtained the same palm of martyrdom, in the year 130: by whom he had been converted to the faith of Christ and initiated with holy baptism. From whose Acts, to be given on the third of May from various manuscripts, we select those things which pertain to St. Quirinus and propose them here to the reader.
[2] At Rome, of St. Quirinus the Tribune, report the manuscripts of the Barberini, Cassino, and Dijon. mentioned in the Martyrology: In the Vatican manuscripts of the church of St. Peter and the Vallicella manuscript of the Congregation of the Oratory the following is read: At Rome, on the Appian Way, the passion of St. Quirinus the Tribune and Martyr; it is added in the Cologne manuscript of St. Mary ad Gradus: the father of St. Balbina: about whom we shall treat on the following day. But the manuscripts of Centula and of St. Lambert at Liege need to be corrected, in which it is added: under the Emperor Trajan, when it occurred under Hadrian his successor, he suffered under the Emperor Hadrian: by whom the persecution begun by Trajan was continued. Greater eulogies are given by Usuard, Ado, and Notker, but not without blemish: since the first writes that he suffered under the Emperor Aurelian, who was only Count of both branches of the military, the other two record that he suffered under Trajan: the rest is from the Acts soon to be given. and the Count Aurelian: The more recent writers generally follow: Bellinus, Maurolycus, Felicius, Canisius, Galesinius, but the last doubles the error, when he records that under the Emperor Trajan his head was cut off by order of the judge Valerian. Those errors were corrected in the present Roman Martyrology: where the following is read: At Rome, on the Appian Way, the passion of Blessed Quirinus the Tribune, who was baptized with his whole household by St. Alexander the Pope, whom he had in custody, and under the Emperor Hadrian was handed over to the judge Aurelian, and when he persisted in the confession of the faith, after the cutting out of his tongue, the suspension on the rack, and the cutting off of his hands and feet, he completed the course of his martyrdom by the sword. Extensive eulogies are given by Vincent of Beauvais, Book 10, Chapter 33, St. Antoninus, Part 1, Title 7, Chapter 5, Peter de Natali, Book 4 of the Catalogue, Chapter 14, Ferrari in the Catalogue of the Saints of Italy, Francis Haraeus, Dubletius, Arnold Mandt, Dean of the Chapter of Neuss, where the body of St. Quirinus has long rested, Gazet, and generally others: omitting whom, we give the ancient Acts themselves.
[3] whether the tongue was offered to a hawk? The Martyrology printed at Cologne and Lubeck in the year 1490, intermixes some things not read in the Acts: namely that the Count Aurelian ordered his tongue to be cut out and offered to a hawk, which refused to take it: then ordered his hands and feet to be cut off and thrown to the dogs, who did not wish to touch them either. Seeing this, Aurelian ordered six pairs of oxen to be provided, and they dragged him to the place where the holy man was to be beheaded. Arnold Mandt notes concerning this Martyrology cited by him, that in a very ancient painting of the choir of the noble Canonesses of the church of St. Quirinus at Neuss, the tongue offered to the hawk is represented, and that the Masters of St. Quirinus (so they are called at Neuss, those who have charge of the sick whom a form of fistula, commonly called St. Quirinus's ailment, afflicts) assert that for this reason it is not permitted without grave danger and suffering to eat fowl or egg, as long as one is under the care of the Master and wishes to be freed from the said disease through the merits of St. Quirinus. Whether he was dragged to the place of execution by oxen or horses? The same author notes that it was said to have been depicted in those old panels, destroyed and burned by heretics, how six pairs of oxen dragged the body of St. Quirinus to the place of execution: but the painting of the temple which now survives shows horses; the conjecture being, perhaps born from experience, that for this reason of all animals only horses are afflicted with the said disease, and they are also treated with appropriate remedies, no differently than men. So far Arnold Mandt.
[4] St. Quirinus the Tribune and Martyr is commemorated at Rome on the twenty-ninth of March in the manuscript Martyrology of St. Martin at Trier: Recorded on March 29 and April 30: but on the thirtieth of April in the printed Bede, with the eulogy taken from Ado, which was done in the eleventh or twelfth century, after the body of St. Quirinus had been translated to Neuss, as will be related below. Bede is followed by Galesinius.
Section II. Acts of the conversion and martyrdom, from various manuscripts concerning the Life of St. Alexander the Pope.
[5] While Hermes the Prefect was held in chains in the custody of Quirinus the Tribune, the Tribune said to him:
What reason is there that you, an illustrious man judging in a sacred office, St. Quirinus speaks with St. Hermes about fleeting and eternal life: should not only wish to be reduced to this indignity; but also, lacking the honor of the Prefecture, should bear with equanimity being burdened with these chains as a private person? St. Hermes said: I have not lost the Prefecture, but exchanged it. For an earthly dignity is taken away and changed by earthly powers: but a heavenly dignity subsists with eternal sublimity. Quirinus said to him: I marvel that you, a prudent man, have reached such a degree of folly as to believe that you will have anything beyond this life: since the ashes of the human body are so reduced to nothing that not even they subsist. Hermes said: I too, before these years, used to mock these things, and used to say that this carnal life was the true one. Quirinus said to him: Make me prove it, so that if it is as you have believed, I too may believe. St. Hermes said: The holy Pope Alexander, who is held in chains, here taught me. Hearing this, Quirinus began to curse Alexander, saying: My lord, illustrious man Hermes, take back your Prefecture: return to your senses: take back your patrimony: take back your household and the furnishing of your house. and about St. Alexander the Pope: For my lord Aurelian, Count of both branches of the military, sent me for this purpose: that if you are willing to sacrifice, you may receive back your Prefecture, and also that you may vindicate yourself against those who, having enmity against you, insult your misfortunes. Hermes said: You did not allow me to speak to you the things which you yourself wanted me to say. Quirinus said to him: I asked you, saying: Make me prove that you believed rightly, and you named to me a magician whom I hold in chains and have shut in the depths of the prison: and therefore as soon as you named to me the name of a wicked man, by whom you were deceived, I could no longer listen to you. For I see you like a rustic, as though led astray by a Samardacus, who has deceived both you and himself, a most wretched man placed in chains and in darkness, and perhaps to be burned by fire for his crimes. But if he has any power, let him free both you and himself. Hermes said: The Jews, mocking our Lord Jesus Christ as he hung on the cross, said: If he has any power, let him come down from the cross and we will believe him. But he, if their heart had not been filled with the horror and filth of treachery, and had truly wished to believe, would without doubt have come down.
[6] Quirinus said: If you speak the truth, I will go to him, he loads St. Alexander with heavy chains: and I will say to him: If you want me to believe you are a true herald of God, and that the God whom you worship is true; either come to Hermes or let Hermes come to you, and I will believe everything he tells me. Hermes said: So be it. Quirinus said to him: I will go now and triple the chains and guards upon him, and I will tell him that I should find him at your place at dinnertime. And if he can do this for the whole night, I will believe what he can teach me. And when the Tribune had gone and said this to Alexander, and had tripled the chains with guards, at the first silence of night a boy appeared... and taking his hand, led him to a window which was closed: and as if it were a door, opened it and brought him to Hermes in the house of Quirinus, into a closed room. and finds him led by an Angel to St. Hermes: And Quirinus coming afterwards opened the room and finding them together, praying with outstretched hands, and seeing a burning torch, was terrified. And when they saw him become senseless, they said to him: Since from faith you had this resolution in your heart, that if you saw us, who were separated in body but were joined in spirit, bodily united, you would believe: behold, you have seen; believe. But lest you think that we showed ourselves to you freed from chains for the sake of our escape: tomorrow morning you will find us again as you bound us: because this was done more for the sake of your liberation, that you may believe Christ the Son of God to be the true God, he is urged to embrace the faith: who heard those believing in him: and whatever you shall ask of him, you will receive. Quirinus said to him: The magic arts could have done this. Hermes replied: Did we break out of prisons by our own will? But because you said you would believe if you saw us together: behold, you see us, whom you consigned to triple guards: believe. For the Lord Jesus Christ himself manifested himself by the signs of his benefits, when he gave sight to the blind, cleansed lepers, healed paralytics, drove out demons, raised the dead.
[7] Hearing this, Quirinus said: Let Christ win my soul through you in this way: I have a grown daughter, he wishes to bring his daughter Balbina, who is ill, to the prison: and I wish to give her to a husband: her appearance indeed is adorned with beauty, but a tumor surrounds her. Cure her, and I will give her everything, and with you I will confess Christ. St. Alexander said to him: Go, go, and bring her to me in prison quickly: and take the iron collar from my neck and put it on her: and make her stay with the collar, and in the morning you will find her healed. Quirinus said to him: And you, since you are here in my house, how shall I find you in prison? Alexander replied: Go quickly: because he who brought me here will have me taken back there before you arrive. When he had said these things, he went out and began to want to leave open the place where he kept Hermes shut. St. Alexander the Pope and St. Hermes said to him: Lock it as usual. And when he did not wish to, they compelled him, and he locked it. And as they were bidding each other farewell in prayer, behold that little child with a torch opened the window for him, saying: Follow me. Within one instant of an hour he brought him back to the prison and replaced his chains and departed. But after one hour Quirinus came to the four guards he finds St. Alexander returned with the doors closed: whom he had previously placed in the depths of the prison. And when he had found them keeping watch, and all the locks intact and sealed as he had left them, opening them he saw St. Alexander, at whose feet falling down he began to cry, saying: I ask, Lord, that you pray for me, lest the wrath of God come upon me: whose Bishop you are. St. Alexander replied: My God does not wish anyone to perish, but converts sinners. For when he was placed on the cross, he prayed for those who crucified him. Then Quirinus, prostrating himself, said: As you commanded, behold my daughter, your handmaid.
[8] St. Alexander said to him: How many persons are shut in this prison? And he said: About twenty. he brings Saints Eventius and Theodulus: And St. Alexander said to him: Search whether there are any here confined for the name of Christ. And when he had searched, he found and reported to him, saying: Here is Eventius, an elderly Priest, and Theodolus, whom they say came from the East as a *Priest. St. Alexander said to him: Go quickly, and bring them to me with honor: But while you go and come, take the iron collar from my neck and put it on your daughter. Immediately Quirinus, taking all his chains, began to kiss the feet of St. Alexander, saying: With your own hands place it on her. And when he had placed it, Alexander began to urge Quirinus to go... But the father coming... found his daughter healed and began to cry, saying: he sees his daughter healed: Come out of this custody, Lord Alexander: lest perhaps, while you tarry here, fire may come from heaven and consume me.
[9] St. Alexander said to him: If you wish to do me a kindness, persuade all who are in the prison to be baptized, he brings all the captives: that they may become Christians. Quirinus replied: You Christians are holy: but of these, some are burglars: others adulterers and evildoers and persons guilty of various crimes. St. Alexander said to him: The Son of God descended from heaven to earth for sinners, and born of a Virgin, calls all to forgiveness. Do not hesitate, make all come to me. Then Quirinus said to all with a clear voice: Whoever wishes to become a Christian, let him come to me: and when he has been baptized, let him go free wherever he wishes. And when all had come to St. Alexander, God opened his mouth and he said: he is baptized with them and his household: Little children, hear me and believe... And when all had believed, and he had made them catechumens, afterwards together even Quirinus with his daughter Balbina and his whole household were baptized: and with all who were in custody having been baptized, the prison was opened and began to be like a church.
[10] Then the Record-keeper went to Aurelian and told him everything that had happened. Whereupon he in anger ordered Quirinus to be brought and said to him: I loved you as a son: summoned to Aurelian, he professes the faith: but you mocked me, deceived by Alexander. Quirinus said to him: I have become a Christian: do you wish to kill me? Do you wish to scourge me? Do you wish to cut me? I will be nothing else. For all who were in the prison I made Christians, and I released them, and they did not wish to go anywhere. I asked the holy Pope Alexander and the illustrious man Hermes to depart, and they did not wish to; and there they all are in prison, saying: If for our crimes we were going to die and perish, how much more should we offer our lives for the name of Christ? I indeed asked them to go out, all who were baptized, and I clothed them in white and new garments, because this too the Christian religion requires: but for martyrdom all are prepared to this moment, ready for their death, like a hungry leopard for a feast. Now begin to do what pleases you. after his tongue is cut out: Then he had his tongue cut out, saying: I take away your tongue: because you did not fear to reveal your secrets to me, and I will order you to be tortured in silence on the rack. Quirinus said: Wretch and unhappy one, free your soul: lest eternal punishments receive you. hands and feet, he is beheaded: And having been long tortured on the rack, he ordered his hands and feet to be cut off and thus to be beheaded and thrown to the dogs. But the Christians buried his body on the Appian Way in the cemetery of Praetextatus.
Note* others say: Deacon
Section III. The body of St. Quirinus translated to Neuss. Honor shown to him. Miracles.
[11] Neuss, by some called Nussia, is an ancient and distinguished city under the jurisdiction of the Archbishop and Elector of Cologne, Neuss, body translated: not far from the left bank of the Rhine, on the river Erp, below Cologne, from which it is distant about forty thousand paces. The principal temple there has an illustrious college of Canons, and is sacred to St. Quirinus the Martyr,
for which reason Gelenius mentions it in the Agrippine Fasts under the thirtieth of March. But more fully under the thirtieth of April, sacred to the translation of the holy body, on which day the manuscript Martyrology of Brussels at St. Gudula records the following: April 30: At Rome, on the Appian Way, the elevation of St. Quirinus the Martyr, whose passion is celebrated on the third day before the Kalends of April. In the manuscript Florarium the following is read: In the territory of Cologne, at the town of Neuss, the translation of St. Quirinus the Tribune and Martyr. The ancient Cologne Martyrology, printed in the year 1490, records the following in first place: At Neuss on the bank of the Rhine, in the territory of Cologne, the translation of St. Quirinus the Tribune and Martyr: whose venerable body the noble and religious Lady Gepa, Abbess, having petitioned the Supreme Pontiff, translated from Rome to her city of Neuss and honorably placed in her monastery. The same things were printed at Lubeck in the same year in the Doctrinale of Clerics, and are reported by Greven in the Supplement to Usuard, and Canisius in the German Martyrology. Molanus in his Additions to Usuard writes the following: At Rome, of St. Quirinus the Tribune and Martyr. Although the passion of this Martyr beloved of God and precious was made on the third day before the Kalends of April, it is here, however, festively recalled, when the sacred relics of his body were translated from the city of Rome to the city of Neuss on the Rhine.
[12] Arnold Mandt, Dean of the Chapter of Neuss, in his History of the martyrdom, translation, and elevation of St. Quirinus, printed in the German language at Cologne in the year 1619, records that this donation was made to the Abbess Gepa by Pope Leo IX, in the year 1050, by Gepa the Abbess of the monastery: in the year of Christ 1050. Gelenius adds in the Agrippine Fasts under the thirtieth of April that Gepa is believed to have been the sister of Leo IX, which others generally do not admit. Gabriel Bucelinus in his Sacred Germany writes that the said monastery at Neuss was constructed one hundred years later the monastery at Neuss built not in the year 1150: than these sacred relics had been deposited there, but in his usual manner he cites no authority for his statement. But at Neuss, at the Gospel side of the high altar, in the church of this monastery there hangs a tablet with this inscription, which we received from there, and Werner Teschenmacherius published in Part 2 of the Annals of Cleves, in these words: In the year of Christ 855, Indiction 3, Everhard Count of Cleves, and Bertha his wife, a noble matron, but in the year 855: daughter of Duke Louis of Bavaria, and also Leuthard Count of Cleves and Berengar Bishop of Toul, their sons, established two congregations of Churches, one of Canons at Wischel and the other of Canonesses at Neuss, under Günther Archbishop of Cologne and Lothair Emperor of the Romans, grandson of Charlemagne through Louis the Pious. In the aforementioned German history, Arnold Mandt commemorates the honors shown to St. Quirinus by God, by Angels, by Saints, and by men: the first of which are narrated as having been shown in his conversion, martyrdom, burial, and heavenly coronation: the others concern the Translation and are to be related here.
[13] When therefore, he says, the Abbess Gepa had received the sacred relics of St. Quirinus from Pope Leo IX, there a solemn reception in honor of St. Quirinus was made: and was translating them to Neuss with the greatest joy of heart, the Clergy, Senate, and people of Neuss came to meet her in triumph and jubilation, partly at a distance from the city, partly at the gates themselves, partly in the streets and the church itself. It was then established by common consent of all that both his feast day, the thirtieth of March, and especially the thirtieth of April, on which that Translation was completed, should be celebrated annually with all solemnity, and St. Quirinus should be adopted as the special Protector and Patron of the city. and annual celebration: Temples, altars, and images were therefore erected to him, and the principal church of the city also, its name being changed, was dedicated to the same St. Quirinus and has been named after him to this day. temples and altars erected: There followed an innumerable multitude of pilgrims flocking from all directions, and a manifold offering of rich votive gifts. Nor were divine benefits lacking, obtained through his patronage, various diseases removed, pilgrimage: and especially wounds, ulcers, or fistulas, thence called St. Quirinus's ailment: for which purpose even in this time, after the relics were dispersed, water is poured into the mausoleum miracles: in which they were preserved, and this water is sought far and wide against various diseases and especially against the one which we said is called St. Quirinus's ailment. The pilgrimage is especially famous on the thirtieth of April, when also water is exported in the greatest quantity.
[14] There is also of great value a reliquary made of solid silver, variously gilded, silver reliquary: and adorned with beautiful statues or images, which in public processions, or whenever it is judged useful to implore the divine mercy, is carried around by the principal nobles of the city. The insignia, moreover, insignia of the Abbey and city: not only of the Abbey but also of the city itself, present in their public seals the image of St. Quirinus; which is also impressed on the coinage that is minted there, and carries the knowledge of this Saint far through other regions: indeed even the gate through which one goes to the Rhine has taken its name from St. Quirinus. When in a solemn inauguration the Archbishop and Elector of Cologne is led into the city, gate of the city: as supreme Lord of the place, or also the Lady Abbess, that triumph is conducted from the gate of the Virgin Mother of God to the church, altar, and relics of St. Quirinus. solemn inauguration of the Prince: The same is done in the solemn reception of any Emperor, King, or Legate of theirs. Thus in the year 1475, when, after a long siege by the Duke of Burgundy, and of the Emperor Frederick: the Emperor Frederick had liberated the city, he himself after the Papal Legates and his own Imperial Counselors made a solemn entry in the said manner. At which time those knights and servants of St. Quirinus: who in the said siege had rendered vigorous service were created by the Emperor as knights of St. Quirinus, by which designation the citizens of Neuss themselves were then called servants of St. Quirinus. A Confraternity of St. Quirinus was formerly erected there among the citizens, Confraternity: but in the year 1616 it was renewed and endowed with various privileges, indulgences, and graces, to which even the principal members of the Clergy and nobility wished to be enrolled: indeed they also give the name of St. Quirinus to their children in holy baptism. the name given in baptism: So far Arnold Mandt.
[15] We have an ancient Legend, printed in German at Cologne in the year 1485, in which the conversion and martyrdom of St. Quirinus are extensively related, and then the following is added: Afterwards the body of St. Quirinus was translated by a certain Abbess to a certain city near the Rhine, a monk afflicted with the disease of fistula: called Neuss, where he shines with many miracles. It happened at one time that in a certain monastery of the Order of St. Benedict a monk had long remained ill from the disease of fistula, which is also called St. Quirinus's ailment, and as a suppliant he asked his Abbot for permission to go on pilgrimage to St. Quirinus. The Abbot replied that it was not permitted for monks to undertake pilgrimages, and therefore he denied him such leave. But the monk again and again pressed the Abbot, permission to go on pilgrimage denied: to grant him this permission: but it was absolutely refused to him. When meanwhile the said disease of fistula grew worse, he set out for Neuss without the permission of his Abbot, and at the relics of St. Quirinus, having obtained full health, coming to Neuss he is healed: he was returning with joy to his monastery: when the Abbot denied him entry to the monastery, adding that he could not believe St. Quirinus to be a Saint or Martyr of Christ, who would confer health on a disobedient monk contrary to the rule of Christ. This benefit was not from God, whereby health was brought to the body and destruction to the soul. If Quirinus were truly a Saint, let him return the monk to me in the condition in which he left the monastery. Having said this, the former disease attacked the monk, he relapses: from which he had been freed. And when this was reported to the Abbot, Now, he said, I plainly believe that Quirinus is a saint and Martyr of Christ, and he permitted the monk to enter the monastery. On the following day, however, he encouraged all the monks to pray for the sick Brother: and with prayers poured forth he is healed again: and when prayers had been poured forth, the sick man obtained perfect health. In which event three miracles are to be observed: first, that St. Quirinus conferred health on the monk even though he was disobedient; then that the same Saint, on account of the sin committed against obedience, chastised him by inflicting the former disease; finally, that after prayers were poured forth by the rest of the monks on his behalf, his former health was restored. So far the author of the said Legend: which things are also found in the codex of Lives of the Saints, printed at Cologne in the year 1483, and two years later at Louvain.
[16] Famianus Strada, on the Belgian War, begins the eighth book of the second decade with the expedition to Neuss, and narrates that on the day when the feast of St. Quirinus was being celebrated with a solemn market at Neuss, On the feast of St. Quirinus the city is captured by the Calvinists: the Count of Meurs, having introduced many of his soldiers disguised in merchants' clothing into the city, and upon a certain trumpet signal those who were waiting outside being alerted, attacked the guards at the gates, and with few citizens being ready for defense, captured the city and plundered it for no less than three hundred thousand florins, and handed it over to the Truchsessians, with a strong garrison under the command of Frederick Cloet imposed for its government. Alexander Farnese, Prince of Parma, having been summoned by Ernest of Bavaria, the Imperial Elector of Cologne, recovered by Farnese: hastened with his army to Neuss and began to besiege it from the Kalends of July in the year 1586, and toward the end of the same month the city was taken by force and plundered, and by a fire that broke out was so devastated that of the four parts of Neuss, with three parts torn by fire or leveled to the ground, scarcely one remained. Which part, however, was believed to have survived the voracious flames by the special help of the heavenly powers. in the fire part of the city saved on account of the relics of St. Quirinus: For in the house at which the fire, having devastated the rest, first stopped, the body of St. Quirinus was discovered, which had long been removed from the impiety of the heretics and was religiously preserved by a Catholic citizen: and it was understood that the end of the fire was made from that point, and by an illustrious proof the veneration of the Saints was shown by the reverential element, especially in that city whose destruction was not inconsiderately believed by many to have come from the violation of the Sacred Relics. Farnese in his letters to the Catholic King acknowledged an unseen hand of God in that fire, whence it happened that in the city where a few months before the body of St. Quirinus, famous for the pilgrimages even of foreign nations, had been burned in the barbarous revelry of the Calvinists, that same city, with God avenging the injuries of the Saints, was punished with an inexpiable fire. These and other things Strada relates. There now hangs in the church of St. Quirinus at Neuss, on the Epistle side of the high altar, a certain monument: these decently enclosed in a chest: on which the following is read: The Relics of St. Quirinus, on the ninth of May, Thursday, in the year 1585, having been thrown to the ground by the barbaric fury of the Calvinists, a good part of them was collected on the same day by a certain citizen of Neuss and handed over to the Abbess and Chapter. That Abbess was, according to Arnold Mandt, the reverend and most noble Lady Elizabeth
Dobbe, who had a new reliquary made in good form and proportion: in which the Relics collected by the said citizen, after a due investigation was first made, were deposited.
Section IV. Various Relics of St. Quirinus and veneration in Germany, Belgium, and Italy.
[17] Various other Churches have obtained some relics of St. Quirinus, Relics at Cologne in the church of St. Pantaleon: and especially those of Cologne, of which Aegidius Gelenius makes mention in Book 3 on the Greatness of Agrippine Cologne, and first when in Chapter 12 he treats of the Abbatial Church of Saints Pantaleon, Cosmas and Damian, and Quirinus the Martyrs, in Section 3 he enumerates its sacred relics, and at number 8 he places a bust containing part of the skull of St. Quirinus and the jaw of the same with a tooth and a finger of the same. The transport of Saints Quirinus and Pantaleon the Martyrs is recorded in the manuscript Martyrology of the Collegiate church of St. Mary ad Gradus at Cologne under the fifth of February; but on the following day it is commemorated by Gelenius in the Fasts: Translation of the relics of Pantaleon and Quirinus the Martyrs at Cologne. of St. Alban: Another church there can be considered the parochial church of St. Alban, in which there is a silver reliquary containing two small bones of St. Quirinus, much venerated by the pious, as these are indicated in these words by Gelenius, Chapter 20, Section 2, number 6. In the same way in the Collegiate church of St. Gereon, the parochial church of St. Lupus, as well as of the Dominican Fathers, and the nuns of Blessed Mary in Bethlehem of the Third Order of St. Francis, there are some relics of St. Quirinus, and five others: which in the church of the Society of Jesus are of the size of a finger: as all these things can be read in the said Gelenius. The ancient Breviary of Cologne, printed in the year 1498, prescribes the veneration of St. Quirinus the Martyr on the thirtieth of April, and contains many rubrics if there were a concurrence with a Sunday, Saturday, or the Ascension of the Lord; and adds this Prayer: O God, who gave the palm of victory to Blessed Quirinus your Martyr, Prayer in the Cologne Breviary: grant us through his intercession to overcome the evils of the world and to hasten always to the promised joys of your vision. Through our Lord, etc. The same Prayer is contained in the Breviaries of later editions.
[18] Not far from Cologne, about twelve thousand paces distant, is the most illustrious and most powerful monastery of Siegburg of the Order of St. Benedict, veneration at Siegburg: founded by St. Anno, Archbishop of Cologne, around the year 1060; in which the devotion and veneration of St. Quirinus seems to have flourished almost from the beginning of its foundation: which is prescribed in the ancient Missal of the Church of Siegburg, written at the expense of Brother Gerold in the year of the Lord's Incarnation 1181, and continues to this day on the thirtieth of April. Various Provostships depend on this monastery, of which one is in the village of Millen, not far from Sittard, in the western Duchy of Jülich near the Meuse river: in the Provostship of Millen: the origin of which place was described to us by James Kritzradt, a priest of the Society of Jesus who lived long at Sittard, as follows: that the Counts of Loon, Lords of the castle of Millen, formerly summoned the monks of Siegburg, there a chapel sacred to him: and from their own allodial and entirely free land and goods founded a place for three persons: the first chapel was small and sacred to St. Quirinus: there was no neighboring village, only a few remote houses: gradually, through the frequent pilgrimage of people from as far as Holland, the place grew into a larger building through the pious zeal of the Counts of Loon, relics: and thence the village of Millen, named from the castle, arose: moreover, the shoulder blade of St. Quirinus is preserved there: likewise the said ancient Missal was brought there from Siegburg by the Lord Cortenbach the Provost. There is also another parchment Missal there, much more ancient, as it appears: at the beginning of this is written in German characters: The Feast of St. Quirinus at Millen is to be kept on the last day of April. In the said Missal there is a proper Mass of St. Quirinus with the following sequence.
[19] Let the creature sound forth praises to the highest Creator with voice and purer heart. sequence from an ancient Missal:
Who calls the predestined, and places the called by faith in the heavenly court.
By him therefore the divine man Quirinus was pre-elected before the ages of the world.
He has received a name fittingly, which the grace of Christ divinely confers.
For Quirinus is a healer, a great bosom of piety; while the Pilgrim seeks him, he leaps forth healed by faith.
He puts to flight and calms all disease and pain, on account of the sacrosanct ardor and honor of the Christian faith.
With the heart he believes, with the mouth the Saint confesses, and is mocked by wicked men.
Hence, while he is deprived of his tongue, without a tongue he utters praise, rejoicing in the Creator.
Then suspended, broken by whips, and reduced to pieces, having obtained the diadem of life, cut in all his members.
Thus a polished living stone, a stream of compassion, now inclined to the salvation of all the sick.
Let them drink therefore with full faith from the vein of so pure a font, that the chain of diseases may leave them by his merits:
That through him, restored to the desired health, anointed for God, they may celebrate worthy praises.
Precious Martyr of God, commend us earnestly to the grace of Christ the King.
That from the disease of sins and the wounds of vices we may be absolved speedily.
There is another sequence, also with musical notes.
Let praise be given to Christ, and let Quirinus be commended with his daughter Balbina, another:
While he healed her tumors, Alexander declared the wonders of Christ.
By which sign thousands of pagans are baptized and strengthened in the faith.
The father, rejoicing, weeps and is baptized by the Pope together with his household.
Whom the Prince Aurelian, a mad man, slew, ready for wickedness.
Tongue, hands, feet are amputated from him; he suffers the tortures of the rack;
After the torments he is beheaded, and by Christ the power of the Martyr is declared.
He gives heavenly aid to the sick, driving away the plague of fistula and all harmful things.
May this Martyr beseech you, through whom you work such powerful miracles, O Christ.
That with him in blessed life we may enjoy through infinite ages of ages.
And this first Prayer before the Epistle is prescribed: O God, eternal King, Prayer: in whose honor the noble and glorious Martyr Quirinus nobly fought through the military service of martyrdom: grant that we, who recall the venerable memory of his most holy Passion, may through his merits continually serve you under the dominion of your fear and love. Through our Lord. There are also paintings there so ancient that they scarcely appear to have been made within a century and a half. ancient paintings: One contains a multitude of pilgrims, the other a bier with the image of St. Quirinus, who in both is depicted here losing his tongue, there his hands, then being dragged by horses.
[20] There is another Provostship of the same monastery of Siegburg in the town of Tolpiacum or Zülpich, to which the Provost of that place, the Lord von Horrich, translated around the year 1630, relics at Tolpiacum: the jawbone of St. Quirinus, the Patron of the same place, received with the great applause of the citizens, and venerable to this day: where annually the water of an entire well is drawn out and consecrated and blessed, and thence the horses of the surrounding places are commonly given to drink, with notable benefit to good health, as the said James Kritzradt indicated to us from the mouth of the said Provost, in a letter written on the fifteenth of June in the year 1666. In the ancient Missal of the Church of Mainz, veneration at Mainz: printed in the year 1493, a Mass of St. Quirinus is prescribed for the thirtieth of April with its own prayers, in which Quirinus is called Bishop and Martyr. But in the Breviary of Mainz, printed two years later, the error about the episcopate having been left aside, the Prayer is thus recited: Almighty and eternal God, we humbly implore your majesty, that, aided by the merits of Blessed Quirinus your Martyr, we may deserve to attain the joys of eternal happiness. In the Calendars of two manuscript Breviaries which formerly had use in the same region of the Rhine, the veneration of St. Quirinus is indicated on both the thirtieth day of March and of April.
[21] In Belgium, in various places, the benefits and miracles of St. Quirinus are held in great esteem, and in Belgium at Parc near Louvain: and specifically in the famous Premonstratensian Abbey of Parc near Louvain, in which city a history of the Life and Translation to Neuss and of the miracles, printed in Dutch under the care of the Abbot himself, exists: at the end, moreover, the following is added: When various Belgians, having made a pilgrimage to Neuss, were freed through the intercession of St. Quirinus from various tumors, swellings, and other miseries, the sacred memory of St. Quirinus was erected in various places in Belgium, among which the Abbey of Parc near Louvain was preeminent, in which a great multitude of the sick was healed through the invocation of the holy Martyr Quirinus and the use of water blessed in honor of the same Saint. To promote this veneration, many Bishops and Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church granted various Indulgences to those flocking to the said Abbey of Parc, so that they might there honor St. Quirinus. The Most Holy Roman Pontiff Urban VIII also, in order to renew the veneration of St. Quirinus, granted a plenary Indulgence to all Christians who, truly penitent, having confessed their sins and being refreshed with the holy Eucharist, on the last day of April or the first day of May should visit the sacred relics of St. Quirinus or his memorial in the church of Parc, and there pour forth prayers to God in the customary manner for peace among Christian Princes, the extirpation of heresy, and the exaltation of our holy Mother the Church. Arnold Rayssius in the Belgian Sacred Treasury, treating of Parc of the Premonstratensian Order near Louvain, asserts that relics of St. Quirinus the Martyr are preserved there, whose most solemn visitation among the Premonstratensians is on the day before the Kalends of May and on the Kalends of May themselves, on the occasion of miracles more frequently produced, relics there: especially of hearing difficulties, infected legs, etc. The same Rayssius observes that half the arm of St. Quirinus the Martyr is preserved in the Charterhouse of Roetgen near the town of Sierck, the elbow bone of St. Quirinus in the Franciscan Friar Minor monastery of Lille, certain bones of St. Quirinus in the Collegiate Church of Tongres, and at Roetgen: and finally a bone of St. Quirinus the Martyr in the Premonstratensian monastery of Floreffe. at Lille: But whether all these are relics of this St. Quirinus, we are unable to judge.
[22] at Tongres, Floreffe: St. Quirinus is venerated in the village of Hoochle in the diocese of Bruges, one mile from Rousselaer, with a continuous concourse of pilgrims throughout the year, but especially on his feast day, the last day of April and throughout the entire Novena, in which a Mass from an ancient foundation is sung daily. A Confraternity in honor of the Saint was established more than a hundred years and more ago. Veneration at Hoochle: His chapel is as ancient as the temple. From Artois, Lorraine, and all parts of Flanders people flock there, to be freed from ulcers (especially of the neck, which they call the ulcer of St. Quirinus) or from any kind of disease. A young man of Ostend, who was lame, here received the ability to walk on the first day of his pilgrimage, as the crutches he left behind testify, and the fresh memory of the living. A Lorraine noblewoman likewise signified with ample gifts and letters that she was healed of an otherwise incurable ailment of the leg. A great Lord in England, on account of health recovered through the help of St. Quirinus, once sent vestments of golden cloth for the Deacon, Subdeacon,
and Celebrant, sent by vow, as the same items, preserved from the heretics, bear witness. These things we found described by Rosweyde in his notes. In the district of Brussels also, on the road that leads to Ghent, and near Brussels: after leaving Brussels and traveling the distance of one league, a small village appears on the right, called the chapel of St. Quirinus, and very well known for the frequent pilgrimage of the citizens and neighbors of Brussels, especially on the feast day itself, on account of similar graces of similar cures customarily obtained there at the Relics and invocation of the same Saint. Relics at Bologna:
[23] Masini also in his survey of Bologna records under the thirtieth of March that certain relics of St. Quirinus the Martyr are held in veneration in the church of St. Martin the Greater and St. Thomas of the Market. After writing these things, and at Rome in the church of St. Balbina: we found in the History of the Stations of Rome published by Pompeius Ugonius that in the church of St. Balbina his daughter, from ancient tradition it is believed that there are the bodies of St. Balbina and St. Quirinus and five other unknown persons: but Octavius Pancirolus is silent about these relics in the Hidden Treasure of the City, Region 9, Church 25. Perhaps some bones were preserved there. Concerning this church we treat in the Life of St. Balbina.