Secundus

ON SAINT SECUNDUS, MARTYR, AT ASTI IN ITALY, IN THE YEAR 119.

Preliminary Commentary.

Secundus, Martyr at Asti in Italy (St.)

Section I. The Acts of St. Secundus, his nobility, and sacred veneration.

[1] Asti is an episcopal city of inland Liguria on the Tanaro river, praised for its antiquity, wealth, populousness, and splendor of buildings; it is said once to have constituted a republic in its own right, and now under the title of its own County, with various subject towns, it is under the most Serene Princes of Savoy and Piedmont. From ancient tradition the people of Asti affirm Asti, a city of Italy: that the foundations of the Christian religion were laid in their city in the first century of Christ by St. Syrus, Bishop of Pavia, and his assistant and successor in the episcopate, St. Juventius, imbued with the Christian faith in the first century: about whom we treated on their feast day, the eighth of February, and about St. Syrus we shall treat separately on the ninth of December. Through the labor and industry of these Bishops the Christian religion is believed to have flourished so greatly that in a short time a great part of the city embraced it, but when persecution followed under the Emperor Trajan, under Trajan it had various Martyrs: threats, terrors, and exquisite torments prevented its progress, by which those are believed to have been killed whose bodies, in marble monuments in the same place where the relics of St. Secundus were hidden and preserved, have had and still have a common veneration and devotion with him. St. Secundus suffered under the Emperor Hadrian, who propagated the persecution of his predecessor Trajan, and under Hadrian, St. Secundus: and raged against many Martyrs, as we showed more fully on the fifteenth of February in the Life of Saints Faustinus and Jovita, the first of whom baptized St. Secundus.

[2] We have obtained various Acts of the passion of St. Secundus, hitherto unpublished; of these the principal ones are those which we ourselves have in a very ancient codex written easily seven hundred years ago, Acts of the martyrdom are given from various manuscripts: in which there still survive the Acts of Saints, and especially of Martyrs, more than a hundred, but the first leaves having been torn out, twenty-two are missing: at the end and as it were out of order are placed the Acts of Saints Marcellus, Bishop of the city of Chalon, and St. Desiderius of Langres, and Saints Speusippus, Eleusippus, and Melesippus who suffered (as they say) in the same place, so that the codex seems to have been written formerly in that part of Gaul. We have the same Acts of St. Secundus copied from a likewise very ancient codex of the Imperial Monastery of St. Maximin near Trier. We also found at Rome in the Vatican Library a codex marked with the number 5771, from which we copied the same Acts of St. Secundus, but which began at the third chapter. Other Acts of St. Secundus, copied from the very ancient parchments of the church of Asti, were sent to us by the learned man Philip Malabayla, formerly General of the Reformed Congregation of St. Bernard of the Cistercian Order, others are interpolated: a native of Asti and very learned in ecclesiastical matters. But in these Acts various things have been inserted which are lacking in other manuscripts and are less approved: of these we have relegated some to our Notes, especially to the third chapter; some which were found at the beginning we published on the fifteenth of February in the Life of Saints Faustinus and Jovita, page 820. Other Acts of St. Secundus, copied from a manuscript codex of the Charterhouse of Gamnitz, or abridged: were sent to us by John Gamansius, but they were entirely the same as what James of Voragine and Claude de la Rota had published: we have other manuscripts distributed into Lessons which were customarily recited at Matins. But all these were abridged from the larger Acts: of which kind also are those published by Peter de Natali in book 4, chapter 12 of the Catalogue, but not without many errors.

[3] In the manuscript Acts of Asti, Secundus is called a citizen of Asti, a valiant soldier and Count Palatine, distinguished by birth, adorned with rank, riches, and character. But in the other Acts he is simply called a certain illustrious man in the city of Asti, whether St. Secundus was from the Vettian family? named Secundus. Meanwhile Malabayla annotated the following in his Acts sent to us: Although the family from which this Saint came is not recorded in his Acts, yet a marble, which is still seen at Asti above the door of the house of the Maccioli with this inscription, persuades us to believe that he sprang from a family of the Vettian clan, which had adopted the surname Secundus.

To the Concordia of the College of Smiths at Asti. M. Vettius Secundus, in memory of the Vettian community, his sister.

Nor indeed does it matter that in the Acts this Saint is called only Secundus: for the Romans, and those who imitated their customs and manners (which the people of Asti did, having been granted Roman citizenship), even though they were accustomed to be called by three names, as the matter itself teaches: namely a praenomen, by which persons of the same family were distinguished from one another; a nomen, by which one clan was distinguished from another; and a cognomen, by which the various branches or lines of the same clan. These, however, were all used only in inscriptions, letters, and other more solemn nomenclatures. For outside these, each person was usually called by only one of them, as pleased them or their parents, or as had come into custom for some other reason, as can be seen in the family of the Plinian clan, also surnamed Secunda: from which, although both Plinys were called Gaius Plinius Secundus, the elder was nevertheless customarily designated by the name Pliny, the younger by the cognomen Secundus, as can be seen in the letters written by Trajan and others to the latter. Moreover, that the Vettian clan was noble, as this Saint is said to have been, is shown first by the magistracy of Prefect of Smiths, which this Vettius held; then by the castle built and named after him, still commonly called Vettia, and possessed by that clan until the year 1228, as is made clear by public documents. So far Malabayla; from whose family came the Bishops of Asti in the fourteenth century, Baldracius, and his nephew by his brother John, and in the sixteenth century Vasinus: so that even

for the sake of the people of Asti and the Malabayla family it seemed fitting to insert these things and leave the judgment to the reader.

[4] The day of the martyrdom of St. Secundus is consistently reported by all the Acts to have been the third day before the Kalends of April. Malabayla adds that all codices agree, martyred on March 30: as well as the ancient Lessons inserted in the Office of this Saint, and the very firm tradition among the people of Asti, and that therefore his feast is consistently celebrated on the thirtieth of March. The same is confirmed by Constantinus Felicius, who in his Martyrology celebrates him in first place, where he is venerated at Asti: and asserts that in the city of Asti it is a solemn feast, as for their Patron: the rest is largely taken from Maurolycus, who has the following: In the city of Asti, under the Emperor Hadrian and the Prefect Sapritius, of St. Secundus the Martyr, a soldier instructed by St. Calocerus in prison, and inscribed in the sacred calendars: who had buried Martianus, Bishop and Martyr of Asti (rather of Tortona). Hermann Greven in the Supplement to Usuard, and Canisius in the German Martyrology, record the following: In the city of Asti, of Blessed Secundus, soldier and Martyr, in the time of the Emperor Hadrian: who, after pitch with melted resin was poured on his head and into his mouth, completed his martyrdom by beheading and was buried by Angels. The same St. Secundus, Martyr of the city of Asti, is celebrated by the manuscript Martyrologies of the Cathedral Church of Prague, also in manuscripts: of the Monastery of St. Maximin at Trier, and the Carthusian convent of Utrecht, likewise Bellinus in the Martyrology according to the custom of the Roman Curia printed in the year 1498, and with him Molanus in the Additions to Usuard. But Christophorus Phrislebius adorns him with a longer eulogy: and adds a certain Prayer: but with their own Antiphons and Hymns for Lauds and Vespers we received two Prayers, of which we add the second, to satisfy the devotion of readers: it is as follows: O God, who adorned this day of your holy and most blessed Martyr with the rosy blood of his passion and the snowy brightness of his purity: grant, we beseech you, that, just as we humbly pray to him in your honor, so by his merits, through your generosity, we may deserve to obtain the forgiveness of our sins. Through our Lord, etc.

[5] Galesinius departed from this day and places him first on the nineteenth of March: At Asti, of St. Secundus the Bishop, according to Galesinius on March 19 and 29: who first instructed that city in the doctrines of the Gospel: about which likewise below. Then on the twenty-ninth of March he has the following: In the city of Asti, of St. Secundus the Martyr, about whom likewise above. He, instructed in the beginnings of the Christian faith by Blessed Calocerus, baptized by St. Jovita, and engaged in the duties of piety, for his zeal for the faith, by order of the Prefect Sapritius, was drenched on the head with boiling pitch and resin, and finally struck with the sword and crowned with the heavenly crown. See how the one he had called Bishop above, he afterwards calls only a Martyr. In the Notes to the twenty-ninth of March he says it was handed down about St. Secundus by Usuard, Canisius, and the Bergamo Annals. But for Usuard, Molanus in the Supplement to Usuard should be substituted: but both he and Canisius and Philip of Bergamo record that he suffered on the third day before the Kalends of April, that is, the thirtieth of March, so that some lapse of memory must be reckoned, in that he assigned it to the day before. Baronius followed in the Roman Martyrology and cites Peter de Natali, who meanwhile assigns it to the third day before the Kalends of April. Malabayla objects that the Acts of St. Secundus were not seen or not well considered by these.

[6] Dominic de Rovere, Bishop of Asti, in his testimony about the veneration of St. Secundus to be given below, records the following at number 6: a certain solemnity of his on the Thursday after the Octave of Easter: Whose feast, although it is appointed for the penultimate day of March, which often falls in the Lenten season (indeed even in Holy Week), has nevertheless been transferred and was and is solemnly observed both by the Clergy and by the people together on the Thursday after the Octave of Easter each year: but by the Clergy it is also celebrated and observed on the penultimate day of March itself. That Thursday, moreover, is a certain triumph among the people, with a prize proposed for those who race their horses most swiftly: which Thursday fell in the year of Christ 1606 on the sixth of April, which Ferrari therefore believed to be his feast day, as he was then preparing the Catalogue of the Saints of Italy, in which he gave a long eulogy taken from a manuscript Life. But Malabayla would say it was not well considered, various errors of Ferrari corrected: since Ferrari adds that it needs some correction, perhaps because it is recorded that he suffered on the third day before the Kalends of April, or because it had various things inserted by the people of Asti which are not found in our very ancient codices. Moreover, the same Ferrari assigned St. Secundus to the twenty-ninth of March and makes him a Martyr of Brescia. But that not even the Brescians themselves acknowledge such a Martyr of their own is witnessed by Bernardinus Faynus in the Heaven of the Church of Brescia, published in the year 1658, who at the end of the work records that in the church of St. Afra, St. Secundus the Martyr of Asti is venerated: and some of his relics seem to be preserved there. Finally, the same Ferrari in the General Catalogue of Saints assigns to the thirtieth of March the Translation of St. Secundus, which occurred under Pope Gregory XIII. But, as the History of the Translation to be given below records, it was made on the fifth of the Ides of April, the second Sunday after Easter, in the year of Christ 1581: so that I need not repeat the many ancient calendars which assign the thirtieth of March as his feast day, which Ferrari neglected: who, in order to defend one of his errors, committed very many more.

[7] The veneration of St. Secundus, always observed on the thirtieth of March, his feast day, is confirmed by a miracle wrought on Guido, of the Counts of Valperga, appointed Bishop of Asti in the year 1292, The veneration of the day of the 30th proved by a miracle: which occurred. This man, says Ughelli, when he was once confined to bed with ailing feet, and the thirtieth of March was approaching, on which St. Secundus, the principal Patron of the people of Asti, had been crowned with martyrdom, began to be greatly distressed that he could not enhance the celebration of that day with episcopal functions. He therefore turned to the most Blessed Virgin and to St. Secundus himself, asking that they would deign to assist him. In the following night, therefore, accompanied by a retinue of St. Secundus himself and of Angels, the Blessed Virgin presented herself to be seen by him, and having healed the sores on his legs, restored him to health.

[8] We hesitated whether another matter should be indicated here or rather suppressed in silence, on account of certain Spaniards who claim this Secundus for themselves, whether there is some St. Secundus, Martyr at Asta in Spain? since once in Hispania Baetica there was a certain city called Asta, mentioned by Ptolemy and Pliny, today called Mesa de Asta, situated between the towns of Trebujena and Jerez de la Frontera. Tamayo Salazar lacked in his Spanish Martyrology a Saint whom he could put forward for the twenty-ninth of March: and behold, he had new Chronicles forged under the names of Dexter, Julian Peter, and Maximus, in which mention of this Martyr Secundus is celebrated. The name of the Tanagrus or Tanaro river near Asta Italica flowing toward the Po is also added, otherwise called Lethem by the Spaniards it is said: and why not also the Padus, otherwise called the Eridanus, and the Burmia or Bormia mentioned in the Acts of St. Secundus, found there together with the cities of Milan, Tortona, and Albenga, and the companion Martyrs Calocerus, Marcianus, Faustinus, and Jovita? The rest, which can be read in Tamayo and others cited by him, can be compared with what we give here, and St. Secundus will wisely be left to the Italians of Asti: and better monuments will need to be sought to confirm another St. Secundus Martyr for Asta Hispanica.

Section II. The year of martyrdom. Burial. Translations, offerings, temples.

[9] Galesinius assigns the time of the martyrdom of St. Secundus to the year 134, under the consuls Augurius and Sergianus; perhaps these are the ones St. Secundus was killed not in the year 134: whom others call Augarinus and Severianus and more correctly place in the year 132. But why Galesinius should determine it thus, he is silent. Certainly, just as in assigning the day of death, so in adding other circumstances he wrote with little consideration, since he makes Asti not far from Novara, when there are several and more illustrious cities that are closer, such as Vercelli, Turin, Casale, Tortona, Alessandria, Alba, and others: he says St. Secundus was baptized by St. Jovita, when all the Acts record that it was done by St. Faustinus the Presbyter. Hadrian was absent in Egypt, and from there went to Syria while the above-named were consuls. But we showed on the fifteenth of February in the Life of Saints Faustinus and Jovita, Section II, that St. Secundus was crowned in the year 119, under the Emperor Hadrian Caesar III but in the year 119: and Junius Rusticus as consuls, and that the Emperor Hadrian was present at Brescia and Milan in the preceding and that year, and appointed Sapritius as vicar of Antiochus, Prefect of the Cottian Alps; which can be read there.

[10] That Angels undertook the guardianship of the body of St. Secundus after his glorious martyrdom is established from the Acts: but in what place it was then committed to burial is not clear. Malabayla believes the body was not buried The body preserved in the Cathedral Church of St. Mary: in the place where he had been killed: because that place, designated for the execution of criminals, would have concealed so great a treasure less fittingly. We know from a diploma of the Emperor Charles the Fat, dated in the year of Christ 884, in the 9th century: and published by Ughelli under Joseph XIV, Bishop of Asti, that the treasury of the holy Church of Asti was burned by fire, in which various documents and charters were burned by the same fire: about which the Emperor was entreated with the utmost prayers, that for the love of God and the salvation of his own soul, his wife's, and his offspring's, and for the due veneration of the same church, which was built in honor of St. Mary ever Virgin and St. Secundus, where his buried body rests, he would deign to confirm all the various documents and charters of the same church. The predecessors of the said Bishop Joseph were Charles and Alduinus, when under Charles in the year of Christ 876, various possessions were donated to the priests who were guardians of the blessed body of St. Secundus in the city of Asti, and under Aldainus in the year 880 a restitution was made of many goods belonging to the church of St. Secundus. Afterwards the Emperor Otto II in the year 962, and the 10th: confirmed the privileges of the church of the holy Mother of God and Virgin Mary of the bishopric of Asti and of Blessed Secundus, where his sacred body rests buried with dignity and reverence. The same Emperor Otto in a diploma dated in the year 969, calls the church dedicated in honor of the holy Mother of God, ever Virgin, where the most sacred body of St. Secundus rests buried... and considering that the help of the same Mother of God, ever Virgin Mary, and of holy Secundus the Martyr should be continually implored, he ordered a decree to be issued, and then calls the same church the seat of the Bishop, where he also places the castle of the holy Mother of God and of holy Secundus of the aforementioned See.

[11] So far those diplomas, from which it is established that the body of St. Secundus

up to the times mentioned was deposited in the Cathedral Church of Blessed Mary. translated to the temple of St. Secundus: There was meanwhile another church built under the invocation of St. Secundus, as the special Patron of this city, and perhaps the one mentioned above under the year 880, to which the body of St. Secundus was afterwards translated: but at what time this was done is not clear: for the clause cited from a diploma granted under King Hugh in the year 938 seems to have been interpolated by later persons, and reads thus in Ughelli: Done in the suburb of the city of Asti, not very far from the Church of St. Secundus, where his sacred body rests. If the complete diploma existed, perhaps more would appear to have been introduced as errors. Concerning the body of St. Secundus still resting in the Cathedral Church of St. Mary in the year 969, it is made clear from the accurate diploma of the Emperor Otto II. There exists a diploma of the Emperor Henry III granted in the year 1041, in which without mention of St. Secundus, privileges are confirmed for the most holy Church of Asti, dedicated in honor of the holy Virgin Mary: so that one may infer from this that the body of St. Secundus had been translated from that church before that time.

[12] The thirty-sixth Bishop presided over the Church of Asti, Guidottus or Guidettus, under whom, says Ughelli, when a rumor spread that the body of St. Secundus the Martyr, the body was displayed to various people in the year 1213: the principal Patron of the people of Asti, was at Venice; some of the Canons of the Church of the same Saint, namely Alardus the Provost, Michael, Blandus Scarampus, William of Novara, Albert de Cathena, Conrad de Platea, and Master Artesius, determined to investigate whether perhaps it had been removed by some fraud: which they carried out in the manner described in a public document in these words. In the year of the Lord 1212, Indiction 15, on Tuesday, the seventh day before the Kalends of April, the aforesaid Lord Canons, having broken into the tower, finding two marble monuments and between them one of lead, they first opened the one that was of lead, so that they inspected the holy body from head to foot, entire, and saw it. Seeing it therefore and exulting in the Lord, they closed the monument again as it had been before, and afterwards opening the other one, which is on the right side, they found in it another body entire: but the third monument remaining closed, since they could not open it, they closed the tower again with exulting spirits. But when morning came, the women, finding the cement still fresh, cried out, saying: that the holy body had been extracted from there and stolen. Whereupon the whole city being troubled and agitated in equal measure, the venerable Father Bishop Guidottus with his brethren and the Podesta of the city, called Aimeric of Cremona, and many others, going to the aforesaid church, and opening the aperture which the said Canons had made at night in the above-mentioned tower, found the bodies of the Saints in it as we said above: and showed them clearly to both clerics and many laypeople. Whereupon, having closed and secured the opening, all with one voice gave praises to the most high Creator for the bodies found: to whom is honor and glory forever and ever. Amen. So far that diploma, which is cited below in the History of the Finding of the body, and this inspection is said to have been made in the year 1213, Indiction 1, which better agrees with Tuesday and the 26th of March, namely with the Solar cycle 18 and the Dominical letter F. Concerning St. Secundus, whose body is venerated at Venice, we treat below after the last Translation of Secundus of Asti.

[13] In the following centuries devout piety toward St. Secundus increased. Hence John, Marquis of Montferrat, when he departed this life on the eighteenth of March in the year 1384, on account of the singular various gifts offered to the church of St. Secundus: piety with which he was devoted to St. Secundus, chose for himself a burial place in his church and bequeathed many gifts to it. Magnificent gifts to the church of St. Secundus were also bestowed by Charles of Bourbon, Duke of Orleans, when around the year 1450 he entered Asti with solemn ceremony. And Gaspar Caprius, appointed Bishop of Asti in the year 1550, gave to the church of St. Secundus the arm of St. Maurice enclosed in a silver reliquary: all of which we have gathered from the same Ughelli, from whom we also add the following miracle: When in the year 1535, on the day sacred to St. James the Apostle, a priest was celebrating Mass at the altar of St. Secundus; when he came to the breaking of the most sacred host: where previously one part of the host adhered to the other, first both appeared moist; then it dripped blood, so that some drops fell into the chalice itself, some onto the paten, and the fingers of the celebrant were stained with it. The people standing around, astonished by the miracle, at the altar of St. Secundus a consecrated host dripped blood: were roused to look by the very hesitation and trembling that had seized the celebrant. But when the priest himself together with the rest turned to prayer, the original color was restored to the sacred species, and no further traces of blood appeared on the chalice or paten or fingers. When this miracle became known throughout Italy, Paul III granted an indulgence to all those who, on a day to be designated by the Bishop, contrite and confessed, would pour out certain prayers before the altar of St. Secundus itself.

[14] Baronius in his Notes to the Roman Martyrology asserts that authentic documents concerning the manifestation and translation of St. Secundus the Martyr were brought to him from the Church of Asti. The history of the manifestation of the body is given from manuscripts: We copied them at Rome, found in the library of the Fathers of the Congregation of the Oratory at the Vallicella, inserted in a codex of Father Gallonius marked with the letter L. We have the same from a manuscript of Asti sent to us by Philip Malabayla, and indeed found among the papers donated to us by Ferdinand Ughelli, who in Scipio Damiani, the fifty-first Bishop of Asti, records the same in abridged form. This manifestation of the body was made in the year 1471 on the thirtieth of August, with the testimony of the Bishop: which day the Church of Asti thenceforth celebrated with a solemn commemoration. Appended to this history is the testimony of Dominic de Ruviere, Bishop of Asti, given in the year 1580 concerning the ancient veneration and miracles of St. Secundus, for the purpose of obtaining permission to elevate and translate the body of St. Secundus: which permission having been obtained from Gregory XIII, a solemn translation was made in the year 1581 on the second Sunday after Easter, the fifth of the Ides of May. and the history of a double Translation: We give the said testimony from the aforementioned Vallicella codex and the history of the Translation from the manuscript of Asti communicated by Malabayla, compared with the account of Ughelli, and we conclude with the most recent Translation and deposition of the body, made on the Kalends of June in the year 1597.

[15] Besides the two temples which at this time are dedicated to this St. Secundus in the city of Asti, and mentioned below in the History of the Translation, the temple of St. Secundus at Quadrigenti: a third is reported by Ughelli under Bruningo the eighteenth Bishop, and that one is established to be at Quadrigenti, in which church of St. Secundus in the year 938 the body of St. Dalmatius rested: and in a certain exchange then made, Bruningo Bishop of Asti, the Guardian, and three Canons of the church of Saints Secundus and Dalmatius of Quadrigenti subscribed. St. Dalmatius is venerated on the fifth of December. In the ancient Calendars of the Church of Tortona, the Office of St. Secundus was noted under the rite of a double, Relics at Tortona: and in the Synod of Tortona held in the year 1595, among the sacred relics of the Cathedral Church it is written: Of the bones of St. Secundus the Martyr.

ACTS OF THE MARTYRDOM, from four manuscript codices.

Secundus, Martyr at Asti in Italy (St.)

BHL Number: 7562, 7563, 7564

FROM MANUSCRIPTS.

CHAPTER I.

The conversion of St. Secundus to the faith. Journey from Asti to Tortona and Milan: his Baptism there.

[1] In those days, there was a certain man named Sapricius, very much a Pagan. He served in the palace as Chief Secretary of the Candidates. The Emperor Hadrian appointed him to act as vicar of Antiochus. He commanded him thus: We send you to the Cottian Alps to act as vicar of Antiochus, St. Secundus is instructed in the faith by St. Calocerus: so that whatever Christians you find, you shall punish with the sword. When he had entered the city of Asti, there was there a certain illustrious man named Secundus, who greatly venerated idols. He had learned many things from St. Calocerus, because he frequently came to visit him in custody. When he heard that Sapricius had entered the city, he went to greet him and said to him: Dearest brother Sapricius, what evil has that man done who is held in custody? Sapricius said: Our gods, whom the Emperor worships with great veneration, this man persuades men and women to despise as nothing: for I have found that in the city of Tortona there is a Christian named Marcianus, he undertakes to accompany Sapricius: and I wish to go there. Secundus said to him: If you think it worthy, I shall go along: because it is very necessary for me to come with you, because he was already greatly led by a desire for the faith, so that through the confession of St. Marcianus he might come perfected to his own city. Sapricius said: I greatly entreat your companionship. Secundus returned to his house, and when he found an opportunity, he entered to Calocerus in the prison, he is confirmed in the faith by St. Calocerus: and addressed him thus: Calocerus, pray for me to your God, who is in heaven, that I may be able to see his glory. Calocerus said: Secundus, go, and may the Lord of heaven be with you, and thus, as you hope, you will receive the baptism of Christ and come to your city and receive the crown of martyrdom. Then Secundus kissed the hands of blessed Calocerus, saying: Now I have deserved to kiss your hands. And when I have returned, may I deserve to receive your peace. Having bid him farewell, Secundus went to his house.

[2] Then Sapricius sent to him, that he should go with him to the city of Tortona, as he had asked. When Secundus had set out with Sapricius outside the city, a dove came and sat upon the head of Secundus. Sapricius said to him: See the sign of the heavenly Gods, setting out, he is honored by a dove: how they love you: they send these birds of heaven to visit you. Secundus said: This visitation is not earthly, but from heaven. When he had come to the Tanaro river, Secundus saw an Angel from afar walking upon the water and saying: Secundus, have faith, and thus you shall walk over the worshippers of idols. Sapricius turned to him and said: Brother Secundus, what kind of voice granted by our Gods do I hear addressed to you? Secundus said: Let us walk toward the desires of our heart. And when they had come to the Bormida and by the repeated address of Angels: river, Angels stood in the middle of the river, saying to Secundus: Do you believe in God, or do you still doubt? Secundus said: I believe the truth of his passion. Sapricius said to Secundus: What is this that I hear? Secundus said: You hear the voice indeed: but you cannot see the face of the one speaking.

[3] When they entered the city of Tortona, Blessed Martinianus met him at the gate of the city and said: Enter, Secundus, the way of truth; for you shall receive the palm of faith.

Sapricius said: Who is this man, At Tortona he deals with St. Marcianus: who speaks such things to us, as if from a dream? Secundus answered: To you indeed it seems to be a dream, but to me it is an admonition and encouragement. Sapricius said: What shall we do, how can we find these despisers of the laws of the most invincible Princes? Then Secundus said to him: I ask, brother Sapricius, that you give me public transport to Milan, to our glorious Prince. Sapricius said: Go, dearest brother, he sets out for Milan: reconcile yourself in the sight of our Prince. Then having received the transport, Secundus departed with two of his servants: and when he had entered Milan, at about the sixth hour, he began to torment himself as to how he might reach the holy Martyrs of God. And behold, an Angel of the Lord appeared to him, saying: Secundus, go outside the city to the right side of the wall, and I will bring Faustinus and Jovita to you. Hearing these words of the Angel, Secundus was filled with great joy, and went to the place, and the Angel of the Lord went to the prison and said: Faustinus and Jovita, by an Angel he is brought to Saints Faustinus and Jovita: Brothers and Companions of ours, come with me, because a wise man has come to you to receive the baptism of Christ: for he has been well instructed by Calocerus. Faustinus and Jovita said: We give thanks to you, Lord, because you have visited us and sent to us the salvation of your servant Calocerus. Then they arose with the Angel to the place where Secundus was: who, seeing them from afar, threw himself on the ground before them, saying: Redeem my soul from the hand of hell, that I may freely come to the King of heaven. Faustinus said: Lord God, look upon the faith of your servant, that he may attain his desire.

[4] And when these words of prayer had been said: behold, suddenly there appeared something like a Pillar of cloud emitting water. he is baptized in the water from a cloud: Then the Angel of the Lord said: Behold the water, Faustinus, which you desired. Seeing therefore, Faustinus, that God's command was at hand, since Secundus had come, took hold of Secundus and placed him under the flowing water, saying: In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit I baptize you. And raising him from the font, he sealed him. he is refreshed with the holy Eucharist: Then he gave him the Body and Blood of the Lord, saying: Go, endure, and receive the palm of justice in your city. And having given him peace they said: Let us hear a good report of the completion of the course of your faith, and they gave him peace again saying: Carry the Body mingled in the Blood of the Lord to our brothers, Calocerus and Marcianus, and let them know that you have been renewed through the font of the Lord.

Burmia, commonly Bormia, flows into the Tanaro below Alessandria.

p The Asti manuscript: whom we know to be renewed through the font of martyrdom.

CHAPTER II

The return of St. Secundus to Tortona to St. Marcianus; his martyrdom.

[5] Having prayed, he bade farewell and mounted the vehicle in which he had come that same day. And when he had come to the bank of the river Po, he began to be troubled in heart. And behold, the Angel of the Lord appeared to him again, saying: Carried across the Po by an Angel: Why do you doubt? Secundus said: I see myself held back by the river, and I am troubled as to how I shall cross. The Angel said to him: Mount your vehicle and come, follow me. It happened then that the Angel, suddenly sitting upon the horse, seized the bridle of Secundus's horse. And Secundus said to the servants: Wait here until it is light, and follow me. Secundus then went with the Angel, walking upon the water until they had crossed. Then the Angel said to Secundus: On the morrow Marcianus will receive the crown of Martyrdom: and you, go and bury him, because through him you will reach the crown of Martyrdom according to your desire. Secundus answered and said: by night he is led to Tortona, the gate of the city opening of its own accord: I beseech you in the sight of the Lord, that I may be able to find him in the body. The Angel said: Secundus, you will arrive in the city before Marcianus goes to his passion. Hearing this, Secundus was filled with great joy. Then the Angel of the Lord led Blessed Secundus throughout the whole night until he reached the city of Tortona: for it was near midnight. Secundus said: How can we enter the city? The Angel said: See, Secundus, your faith; behold, now the gates of the city will be opened for you, and I will lead you to Marcianus, that you may see him before he is led to his passion. Secundus said: I beseech you to do according to your word. Then the Angel said: Secundus, come, follow me. And they entered the city.

[6] Then Secundus said: Lead me to Marcianus, that I may greet him and deliver to him what was sent by Faustinus and Jovita. Then the Angel led him to the place where Blessed Marcianus was in custody. When they had entered the prison, they greeted Blessed Marcianus, saying: Rejoice and be glad, wise one and worshipper of God. he brings the holy Eucharist to St. Marcianus: Secundus said: Behold what the Lord has sent to you through Faustinus and Jovita. Receiving the Body and Blood of the Lord, Marcianus partook of it saying: May the Body and Blood of the Lord preserve my soul unto eternal life. Amen. And he kissed him saying: You will carry my peace to brother Calocerus: and rejoicing together they sang psalms with the Angel until dawn. And when they had prayed, they left the prison of Marcianus and said to him: Today you will wrestle with the devil and receive the palm of justice. Secundus said to him: But be mindful of me, when you have entered before the sight of the Lord. he commends himself to St. Marcianus: And when he had said this, he went with the Angel to the Church of the Lord, where the Angel of the Lord said to Secundus: I tell you truly, because the Lord has chosen your faith; for in these three days you will depart from the deceit of this world. But go now that you may see Marcianus fighting against the wiles of the devil. Then Secundus said: I beseech your help, and to the Angel his guide: that I may overcome the devil. And the Angel said again to him: Go in the name of the Lord Jesus, secure; for you will receive your petition. Hearing this, he was filled with great joy and went to his house.

[7] It came to pass on the morrow, at about the first hour, Sapricius sat near the temple of Jupiter and ordered Blessed Marcianus to be brought before him. St. Marcianus despises the idols: When he had come before him, Sapricius said: Marcianus, from what family are you, or what God do you worship? Marcianus said: Do you wish to know? For from my infancy I have worshipped with all fear the God who is in heaven. For the idols of demons I have always regarded as the mud of the streets, and those who obey them I have rejected as the dung of the earth. Sapricius said: Know that I was sent by the most invincible Prince on account of your faithlessness, that you should sacrifice or perish by the sword. Marcianus said: he is tortured with burning masses of iron placed on his belly: May the sword strike you, whose wound can never be healed. Sapricius said to the ministers: Bring masses of iron from the furnace and place them on his belly, so that his entrails may be cooked and he may rot. The ministers brought masses of iron and placed them on his belly, as Sapricius had ordered, and smoke came from his body like the fragrance of many burning spices. Marcianus cried out: What you do to me is nothing, for I do not feel the pains which you inflict on me. Sapricius said: Raise him from the ground, so that I may see how his belly is burned. Then the ministers raising him from the ground were amazed: and the masses fell and wounded the ministers, so that they could not move in any way. But Blessed Marcianus stood unharmed in the presence of the people, he remains unharmed: looking toward heaven and saying: Lord, deliver my soul from wicked lips and from a deceitful tongue. Thus the holy Martyr stood rejoicing, as if he had suffered nothing. For he was entirely clean and no mark at all appeared on him, so that all who stood by were amazed.

[8] Sapricius said: What do you say, Marcianus? Come, come and sacrifice, that you may be able to live. Marcianus said: May my God, whom I serve in my spirit, confound you. steadfast in the faith of Christ: Sapricius said: If you served the God Jupiter, we would greatly venerate you. Marcianus said: He whom you call the God Jupiter burns in hell in the gnashing of teeth, where a place is prepared for you. Sapricius said: Either sacrifice, or

I will have you punished by the sword: and through you I will instill fear in others. Marcianus said: I will sacrifice to my God a sacrifice of praise, and I will surround his altar with all his Saints he is led outside the city: who serve him. Sapricius, filled with anger, said: Take the despiser outside the city and cut off his head: for I will cleanse this province of despisers of the laws. Then Marcianus was taken away and led outside the wall, and he thus entreated the Lord: You, Lord, will preserve me and guard my soul from my enemies. beheaded and buried by St. Secundus: And suddenly a voice came to him from heaven, saying: Marcianus, come to the dwelling prepared for you. Then Marcianus placed his knees on the ground and the executioner cut off his head. Secundus then sent and seized his body, and with all care buried him.

f The same: touched.

CHAPTER III.

Torments inflicted on St. Secundus at Tortona. Journey to Asti under Angelic guidance.

[9] It was reported to Sapricius that Secundus had buried Marcianus. But Sapricius did not believe it, St. Secundus refuses to go to Sapricius: until he sent his household servant to his house, to ask him to deign to come to him. Secundus sent word to him thus: How can I come to you, whose hands are full of the blood of the Just? The servant reported these words to Sapricius. Who again sent his Counselor to him, saying: What are you suffering, that you send me such messages? Come to me: I will tell you what sentence I gave to Marcianus. But Secundus said to the one who had been sent: Go, tell him: The punishment which you inflicted on Marcianus is for him a crown of justice: but you see how you can escape. The Counselor reported to Sapricius everything he had heard from Secundus. Then Sapricius was greatly moved and sent to Secundus a third time and said: You are not unaware that there are sacred commands he is guarded in his own house: that all despisers of the laws be punished by the sword. You, as far as I can see, are a participant of all who despise the laws of our Lords; and he ordered him to be guarded in his own house, so that it would be known to no one, until the next day.

[10] Rising at first light, Sapricius ordered Secundus to be brought before him, so that he might hear him privately. Blessed Secundus therefore entered to Sapricius: who said to him thus: Secundus, before Sapricius he professes the faith of Christ: have you not read what is commanded concerning despisers of the laws? Blessed Secundus said: I have read of your sacrileges, by which you shed innocent blood: but a hand from heaven seeing this will bring his wrath upon your unbelief. Sapricius said: Now as far as I can see, you profess yourself a Christian. Secundus said: Truly I say and pledge myself to be a Christian. Sapricius said: As far as I can see, you desire a cruel death on account of that name. Secundus said: The death which you promise me is owed to you. Sapricius said: Secundus, listen to me and withdraw from this vanity. Secundus said: May that vanity persevere in me. Sapricius said: Before it becomes public, come and sacrifice, and you will be illustrious among us and possessing your riches. St. Secundus said: Sapricius, the riches of this world are nothing before God: but you, depart from me, because I serve my God with my whole heart.

[11] Then Sapricius, greatly angered, ordered him to be stripped, to confound him. When he stood naked before Sapricius, he said: Listen to me, Sapricius, stripped of his garments: because now you will see your own confusion. And turning to the Lord he said: Lord, who made heaven and earth and the sea, make a sign so that Sapricius may see and be confounded. And suddenly the Angel of the Lord appeared and said to him: Receive, Secundus, this garment of the Lord, because it has been sent to you from the paradise of God; and this is a sign to you, that sinners will not see it: he receives another from an Angel: but for Sapricius a death is prepared which he cannot escape: you, endure well for the name of the Lord whatever you will suffer. When the Angel had said these things, he departed from him. Sapricius indeed heard the voice: but did not merit to see his appearance.

[12] Then Sapricius in anger ordered him to be suspended on the rack and tortured until his arms were disjointed. But holy Secundus cried out: terribly tortured on the rack: Hear my prayer, Lord, give ear to the words of my mouth: for strangers have risen up against me, and the strong have sought my soul, and have not set God before their sight. For behold, God helps me, and the Lord is the protector of my soul. Sapricius said: See how great is the stubbornness in you, that you see your body disjointed and realize that you are near death, yet you call upon I know not what God. Secundus said: Sapricius, how much you did to St. Marcianus, and he held you as nothing: behold, now also you have had my arms disjointed, soon he is restored whole: and now you see me restored whole in my entire body by the Lord, to your confusion and that of your father the devil. And Blessed Secundus was standing free from all torment. Then Sapricius, seeing that Blessed Secundus confidently called upon the Lord, beaten with clubs he feels nothing: ordered him to be beaten with clubs: and while Secundus was being beaten, he cried out thus: Sapricius, why do you suffer such madness against the servants of God? What you do to me is nothing: nor do I feel anything in my body, because the Lord is my helper. The ministers beating him grew weary: but the holy Martyr felt nothing.

[13] Then Sapricius said to the ministers: Take him away and lock him up until morning, he is confined to prison: that my soul may be satisfied in this. The ministers took Blessed Secundus and put him in custody. When he had arrived there, there arose in the prison a bright shining light. And behold, the Angel of the Lord came to him, saying: Rise, Secundus, and gird your loins, by an Angel he is led to Asti: and come, I will lead you to your Creator. Then Blessed Secundus said: I give thanks to God most high. And when he had gone out of the prison together with the Angel, the Angel took him and placed him where Blessed Calocerus was, and the Savior with him. But when Blessed Secundus saw him in custody, he threw himself on the ground he is comforted by Christ appearing to him: and worshipped, saying: Lord, deliver my soul from this world: that the enemy may have no power over me. Then the Savior said: Fear not, Secundus, for I am the Lord your God, who will snatch you from the hand of Sapricius, and will cause you to receive the crown together with Calocerus. Then he blessed them and ascended into heaven. And Secundus was rejoicing with Calocerus in prison.

And that he should arrange for a church to be built in the same place, just as blessed Peter designated the foundations of that Church. But Christ, returning from the prison, after he had blessed his Martyrs Calocerus and Secundus, came to his Apostles: and with them ascended into heaven. These things in those Acts, to which Malabayla notes the following was appended as an appendix: Then, when the vision given to the farmer had been made known, many began to come with devotion to the place itself and to give immense praises to the Creator.

And after the passage of time the Emperor Constantine came there, and Pope Liberius came from Rome, to whose knowledge the above-mentioned vision had come, and he arranged for a monastery to be built in honor of the Savior and the Apostles: where the same Pontiff appointed a certain religious man named John as Abbot, whom he had brought with him from Rome. This Liberius, by his letters, to those visiting that church on the fifteenth of July, granted for each visit a plenary remission of the third part, and if they should happen to die in that year, of all their sins. Malabayla adds that there came into his hands a Bull of Julius II dated in the year 1511, in which the same Indulgences are confirmed: and the tenor of the letters of Liberius is inserted in that Bull in such a way that it appears they existed at that time. Among other things, moreover, this Pontiff affirms that he had received from trustworthy reports of the Emperor Constantine that most evident signs had been displayed by the holy Apostles at the same church. Constantine the Great flourished nearly two hundred years after the time of the Emperor Hadrian and the Martyrdom of St. Secundus. Then after the death of Constantine fifteen years had elapsed before St. Liberius was created Pontiff, so that Constantine could not have seen a church built by him. But that Julius III in the year 1553, on November 23, transferred the indulgences granted by Pope Liberius to the church of St. Mary the New, Ughelli records concerning the Bishops of Asti, page 574. But granted that Constantine and Liberius came there, about which there is no trace in ancient writers, it does not follow that the first designation of the temple occurred in the time of St. Secundus, more than two hundred years before it was built.

CHAPTER IV

Torments inflicted at Asti. Martyrdom. Burial.

[14] It came to pass in the morning that Sapricius sent ministers to the prison to bring Secundus. They came and found the prison sealed as they had left it, When St. Secundus is not found in the prison: and they opened it: and found no one inside. Being very afraid, they fled to the temple of Jupiter. It was reported to Sapricius that the ministers had fled to the temple of Jupiter on account of Secundus: because they had not found him. Hearing this, Sapricius sent to them, saying: By the immortal Gods, there is no need for them to fear: Come and let us go to the city of Asti, because I have one in custody there through whom I will make all fear and return to the worship of our Gods. Then the ministers came to the Praetorium: and seeing them, Sapricius said: Why were you afraid? Do you not know that the magic art has perverted many, Sapricius departs for Asti: who have deserted our Gods and turned themselves to him who hung upon the wood? And when he had mounted his horse, he said to his staff: Follow me: for he was moved by great fury.

[15] When therefore he had come to the city of Asti, he ordered his tribunal to be prepared and Blessed Calocerus to be brought before him. Saints Secundus and Calocerus are brought before him: But when the ministers had come to the fortress to bring Calocerus, they found St. Secundus with him. With great haste they reported to Sapricius, saying: Secundus is in the prison with Calocerus. Hearing this, Sapricius ordered both to be brought before him. When they stood before the sight of Sapricius, Sapricius said: Secundus and Calocerus, truly our Gods know that you are their despisers: therefore they do not allow you to die separately: but now either sacrifice or you will certainly die together. Secundus said: I am the servant of my Lord Jesus Christ, who grants me this, that I do not fear the death of this world. For I tell you truly, Sapricius, that in our breast you will be able to accomplish nothing. Sapricius said: Sacrifice, that you may be able to obtain pardon. Calocerus said: We sacrifice to our God and worship his holy name everywhere, because his praise is sweet. Sapricius said: You say your God exists, whom no one has seen, for these are the Gods whom we worship, and they are seen at every hour, and whatever is asked of them, at that hour it is granted. they mock the Gods: Secundus said: What foolishness I see in you, Sapricius, that you make God equal to your gods of stone and wood, which grow old and fall to the ground and deteriorate. For surely a poor man, when he sees his god rotted, makes firewood of him, and then thinks to make a new one. But we worship our Lord Jesus Christ, who is from the beginning true God and will be without end.

[16] Hearing these things, Sapricius ordered the ministers to heat pitch and pour it over resin. Sapricius said to the holy Martyrs: Calocerus and Secundus, before the torments that have been prepared are applied to you, agree with me and sacrifice, and you will be free from punishment. Calocerus said: You will not see us grieved in any way. drenched with boiling pitch and resin: You, go away: because you will not be able to harm the servants of God. Sapricius said: Bring them, so that they may see the torments prepared for them. The ministers brought pots with pitch and resin. Then Sapricius ordered them to be poured on their heads. And as the ministers poured, it bounced back from them and did not touch the Saints of God at all. Again he had boiling liquid brought, and drinking it they are not harmed: and ordered it to be put into their mouths. And as the ministers poured, they were delighted and exulted with great joy, saying: How sweet to our mouths are your words, Lord. And Calocerus said to the people standing around: Brothers, see that Sapricius does not seduce you with the punishments he inflicts on us; for we do not feel his torments at all: but you, look to your Creator, and turn to him, and worship him who is in heaven, who made you, and do not worship gods of stone and wood, in which there is no salvation. Secundus is torn away from St. Calocerus: Hearing this, Sapricius ordered St. Calocerus to be beaten with rods and returned to prison; but Blessed Secundus he ordered to undergo the capital sentence. Secundus seized Calocerus and kissed him in the presence of Sapricius and the people. Seeing this, Sapricius, moved with fury, gave Calocerus the sentence that he should soon receive the end of death at Albenga. Then they went outside the walls of the city, and raising their eyes to heaven they said: Lord, show mercy to your servants, and grant that before your sight we may see Faustinus and Jovita, and also our brother Marcianus. And they bade each other farewell.

[17] When this was done, Secundus went with the executioner to the place, he is beheaded on March 30: where he placed his knees on the ground and entreated the Lord, saying: Lord, receive my spirit, that I may deserve to find grace in your sight. And his head was removed by the executioner, on the third day before the Kalends of April. And behold, there came the sound of many singing psalms, and great lights were seen. When the pagan people saw such wonders happening in the place where Blessed Secundus had been beheaded, they all wanted to go there and see, he is buried by Angels: but they could not on account of the Angels of God, until they had buried Secundus and ascended into heaven. And the peoples seeing this magnified God on high, to whom is honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.

HISTORY OF THE MANIFESTATION of the Relics of St. Secundus.

From three manuscript codices and Ughelli.

Secundus, Martyr at Asti in Italy (St.)

BHL Number: 7567

FROM MANUSCRIPTS.

[1] From the most ancient times in the city of Asti, Catholic men built a basilica in honor of the illustrious soldier and glorious Martyr Secundus: which has been fortified with various privileges of Roman Pontiffs and Emperors, In the temple of St. Secundus his body is preserved: on account of the same sacred relic resting within it, and to this day is seen to be collegiate with an assembly of Venerable Canons, laudably persevering in divine worship, and is publicly and commonly called by the inhabitants and citizens the church of the Saint by antonomasia, from the same glorious soldier Secundus, with no name added, except that by excellence the church of St. Secundus is understood. In the middle of this sacred temple, moreover, an underground vaulted crypt is seen to be supported by stone columns in the most ancient manner: and two altars also exist there, of which one, situated between the middle columns, has a surrounding wall extending behind from both sides, in the manner of a small chamber enclosed on all sides without any entrance, whether large or small, in the manner, that is, in which the churches of the City of Rome are known to contain within such crypts the enclosed Relics of the holy Martyrs, with sacred altars erected above: so in this, I say, sarcophagus rests the holy body of the soldier. But when, with the passage of time, many began to doubt in which part of the same sacred temple the holy body of the glorious Martyr rested, a vain rumor began to arise which on account of the doubts of some it was decided to investigate: in the city that it was no longer there, but that the same body was held at Venice. Amid these obscurities and easy objections, although many piously believed that it was kept deposited there, the Most Reverend Bishop of the same city, named Scipio de Damianis, eagerly desiring that the truth should shine more clearly into the light, solely for the praise of God and the glorious Martyr, began to discuss with the Provost and Canons of the same Church, whether by some means the holy body could be found: adding that if ever from some indications something of this kind should appear, they should immediately make it known to the same Prelate.

[2] When they had conferred about this search as stated above, and perhaps seemed remiss, in the year 1471, after the fall of a stone from the wall of the crypt: almighty God wished to give a beginning to this matter. For when on Wednesday the twenty-eighth of the month of August 1471, on which the feast of St. Augustine, Bishop and Confessor, occurs, at a late hour a Scholarius of the said church visited the same church according to custom, and had come to the said crypt to inspect

whether anyone had hidden there with the intention of stealing something, as had sometimes been done before; he sensed a fall of stone and morite from the wall by which is enclosed the lead monument, in which the body of the same Saint rests, and the two other marble sepulchres. The Scholarius immediately reported this fall to the aforesaid Provost, who on the morrow, namely on the feast of the Beheading of St. John the Baptist, reported it to the aforementioned Prelate, who himself on the following day, namely the penultimate day of August, on which was the feast of Saints Felix and Adauctus, proposed to celebrate Mass and ordered that it should also be celebrated by the aforesaid and other persons as well, a Mass of the Holy Spirit: August 30, three mausoleums found: and thus at last, with no other person being brought in, the investigation was reached through them, with the day already drawing toward evening. Wherefore, with lights now lit, reverently entering the same crypt, and digging wider the hole from which the stone had fallen, they clearly saw the aforesaid three mausoleums existing there in the aforesaid order. Of these, therefore, the middle one, namely the one of lead, bound and constricted with three iron bands, on that side of it which faces the north, in the middle is found the body of St. Secundus with the head: the Prelate ordered to be tested and opened with iron instruments. But since, with the earlier monument obstructing from the same side, the narrowness of the opening could not be widened; to accomplish this conveniently, after searching on this side and that, and taking counsel: and seeing a certain iron grating, on the eastern side of the same crypt and church, fixed from the top of the vault and downward to the ground into the walls of the same little chamber, and moreover seeing the history of the same holy Martyr painted on the same wall from ancient times, the aforesaid Prelate instructed the Canons of the same church that on that same night, the grating having been removed, they should dig out the wall, so that the middle lead coffin could be more freely inspected. When this was done and reported to the same Prelate, on that same night the aforesaid Prelate, coming again to the place, very clearly perceived the Relics of the entire sacred body, now freed from their bonds, lying stretched out at length in the lead mausoleum, with the head indeed; not however still united with the supine body, but as though truncated from the body and set upright again, just as it had been deposited in the beginning.

[3] For all these things to be more cautiously and securely examined in the silence of dead of night, the doors of the temple twice opening of their own accord: when it had been ordered that the doors of the church be secured with locks, they were soon found open: and when they were closed again by command, a little later, with those who were present growing angry together with the aforementioned Prelate and Canons against the Scholarius, it was discovered that no one had caused this opening, and that it had happened a second time as well. Also one of the principal citizens, very devoted to the same Saint, a man truly upright and trustworthy, the noble Gabriel Bulla, coming at that very hour from the place of Corte-Comazzo to a certain house of his near the city, and lights seen above its pinnacle: saw great lights above the pinnacle of the same church, shining so brightly that they provided light for him to complete his journey.

[4] After these things were done in order for the time being, the aforementioned Prelate, providing in his prudence that more deliberation should be had on the morrow as to what remained to be done in the matter: a great crowd of people gathers: he orders every entrance to the same crypt to be closed off, lest the people be stirred by the amazement of the event, as described above, when laypeople came who were accustomed on individual days to visit the same crypt or shrine for the veneration of the Saint. But while the workmen labored at this closing and the work was not yet finished, laypeople were present in the morning who could in no way be prevented from entering the same crypt. Hence a rumor soon sounded and grew strong among the people, that the holy and glorious body, which according to the aforementioned error was said to be among the Venetians, had most recently been disclosed and wished to be manifested to its own city: the lame and various others are healed: which having been spread that very morning of the Sabbath everywhere and incredibly publicized, citizens and residents began to flock together, and not only citizens but also from that very day on individual days from the suburbs, and successively continually from neighboring cities and towns and estates, bringing the broken and wounded, also those lying on pallets and those weakened in their eyes and infected in various other members, and also demoniacs and those suffering from the epileptic disease; great joy of all: of whom a great part (even of those who could not sustain themselves by any means except by the assistance of another or a staff) soon began to walk on their own, leaving their staffs in the said church as testimony of the health they had obtained: who, although not all, because it could not be done on account of the crowd, many of them nevertheless were recorded in writing by public notaries, with witnesses also present, in the style and order which will be set forth below. Amid all this, while everything was thus being made known, the entire people jubilated, exulted, and rejoiced, and at nearly every miracle the Clergy rang the bells, and the aforementioned Prelate went to the church of the same Saint, intending to celebrate the solemnities of the mysteries on the following Sunday: and there in the square before the doors of the church, since the infinite multitude of people could in no way be contained within the compass of the temple, he ordered a sermon to be preached in honor of the same Saint: announcing moreover a procession to be solemnly made on the morrow; in which many more of both sexes were present.

[5] [from the annals it is known that the sarcophagus had been opened in the year 1213:] Indeed, for the greater clarification and undoubted manifestation of the sacred relic — I will not say discovery, but more truly manifestation — after many resplendent miracles, books of annals were brought by citizens to the aforesaid Prelate: from which it was clearly discovered, both through the writings of the Syndics of the city who were at that time, and of other honorable men who recorded in writing things worthy of note in their time, that the same sarcophagus of the said underground crypt had been opened on another occasion by the Canons and other citizens specially appointed and chosen for this purpose: when, that is, the doubt was not about the body, whether it was deposited there, but whether it was held entire or not: and just as all of them attested, having found the body of the Saint, closing the opening of the little chamber, they restored it again to its original state, doing this secretly in the silence of night, had a suspicion of the body's removal then arisen? in the current year 1213, Indiction 1, on Tuesday, the seventh day before the Kalends of April, the bishopric then being governed by the Most Reverend Guidettus of blessed memory. But on the morrow those devout women, who were accustomed on individual days to visit the place itself for the veneration of the Saint according to custom, seeing the new repair of the wall, suspected that the body of the glorious Martyr and soldier had been removed by theft, and with such clamors they disturbed the entire city: and hence moreover that vain rumor of those asserting that the body of St. Secundus existed among the Venetians could plausibly have arisen: the same error being easily colored and strengthened by the fact that among the Venetians also the body of another St. Secundus exists, not indeed a soldier and Martyr, but more truly a Bishop and Confessor, in a certain monastery of nuns, according to the praiseworthy and probable testimony of many, and especially of a certain Venerable Priest now dwelling in Asti, who was frequently engaged in the same monastery in serving at divine worship: to verify which he added that the head of that St. Secundus was not beheaded from the body, as the head of this St. Secundus the soldier appears to have been, and thus the holy Church confesses through her holy sacred history.

[6] Returning, however, to where we digressed, so much did the doubt grow strong among the people from that outcry of the women, miracles in the year 1471: that the Most Reverend Bishop Guidettus, who then was the Most Reverend Bishop of the city, was compelled, under the testimony of many citizens mentioned, with his brother Canons assisting him, and the Podesta of the city, named Aimerius of Cremona, to open the same sarcophagus again, and to make most clear proof to the people that the body of Blessed Secundus still existed there, in the serious order, as I said, which is contained more fully in the said books and annals. The miracles, however, or cures, divinely wrought in this manifestation of the holy body in the year 1471, which from the said day of the 30th of August to the 22nd of November of the same year it was possible for notaries to record in the Acts, we report here summarily from the same Acts for the sake of brevity. Three held for dead received life; nine blind, of whom some were deprived of one eye, most of both, received sight; three lame received the ability to walk, two mute received speech, one deaf received hearing, one simple-minded received a sound mind, five paralyzed and one contracted received the free use of their limbs; five who suffered from long-standing fistulas, four from epilepsy, two from dropsy, two likewise from leprosy, one from cancer, one from paralysis, two from gout, three from dysentery, five from hernia, three from scrofula, three likewise from kidney stones, two from a wasting fever; one finally, nearly suffocated by catarrh, suddenly and beyond all natural power received full health. All these things being wrought by that heavenly spouse of the Church militant, most glorious, who often pretends to his bride to stand for a time as though hidden behind the wall, and remote and invisible; but sometimes, as in our time, he deigns to appear mercifully to her in his holy companions and soldiers, as if through certain windows and lattices, benign and wonderful, giving according to the Prophet virtue and strength to his people. Blessed be God forever and ever. Amen.

[7] In memory of this manifestation and of the miracles which were then wrought, feast on August 30: a feast was established to be celebrated annually by the Church of Asti on the thirtieth of August with the following prayer. Almighty and merciful God, who, since you provide daily proof of your power with new miracles, willed that the body of Blessed Secundus, so long hidden from us, should become known by divine revelation, first to the people of Asti, then to others flocking from all around; Prayer: hear us propitiously and grant that we, whom you have deigned to gladden with the joyful manifestation of this unexpected Saint, may be continually aided by his prayers before you, and by your mercy be preserved from the pestilential disease. Through our Lord, etc.

These are given from the Asti manuscript, and Ughelli under the said Bishop Scipio.

The following are only in the said Asti manuscript.

ON THE ELEVATION OF THE BODY

Episcopal Instrument.

Secundus, Martyr at Asti in Italy (St.)

FROM MANUSCRIPTS.

[1] Dominic de Ruviere, by the grace of God and the Apostolic See, Bishop of Asti and Count, for the future memory of the event. It befits our pastoral office that the things in the house of the Lord be rightly governed and preserved, and that things which become uncomfortable or unseemly through the injury of time That due honor may be maintained for the sacred Relics: should be restored more fitly and handsomely to the glory of God. Hence it is that many bodies of Saints have been buried in peace: but the age and unsuitable locations of the aforesaid bodies hasten their destruction, even almost to the consumption of the Relics. We, however, admonished by the divine word that we should praise God in his Saints, have always judged it fitting that their bodies, among the other things in the house of the Lord, should be guarded from all injury; lest the nations say, They have given the dead bodies of your servants as food to the birds of the sky, and the flesh of your Saints to the beasts of the earth. Since therefore in the Collegiate church of St. Secundus, called the Market church, in this city, from time immemorial the body of St. Secundus, Martyr and Patron of the same city, has been venerated and is venerated by the faithful of Christ, existing in an underground vaulted place beneath the pavement of the choir; we also proposed to venerate it, as is fitting, which we have done many times. But having seen and considered from outside the place itself in which there is danger lest age and prevailing humidity may have been able and may continue to cause the lead coffin, in which the body itself is preserved, and likewise the body itself, to suffer damage or to be broken into pieces; desiring that the body itself should be so arranged that it may be more fittingly guarded and venerated in the future, [the Bishop wishes the place of the deposited body of St. Secundus to be examined:] with sounder construction being added if need be; having had a conference with our beloved sons in Christ, the Reverend Provost and Chapter of the said church, we deliberately came down to this one opinion: that the underground place itself and the compartment in which the body itself has been deposited and hitherto preserved, and all other things existing around it, should be inspected, and provision should finally be made that it may be preserved more fittingly and more honorably in the future, to the glory of almighty God and the honor of St. Secundus.

[2] Wherefore, embracing this common desire and often revolving it in our mind, we decreed to carry it out with the greatest zeal. And since a holy matter must be treated in a holy manner, with God favoring us, on the feast day of St. Matthew the Apostle and Evangelist, the twenty-first of September, the fourth day of the Wednesday of the Ember Days, around the twenty-second hour, in the most secret manner possible, with the church closed on all sides, September 21: and having summoned to us in the sacristy of the said church for this cause the Magnificent and Reverend Julius Pelleta the Provost, William de Ruviere the Cantor, Gabriel Lupo, John Angelo Tursano, Albert de Ancellis, Augustine Lombardo, and George de Zabaldanis, being Canons, prominent men having been convened: and also the Venerable Franceschinus de Massariis, Augustine and Hilary de Altariis, being Chaplains of the said church, and being present with us besides them the Magnificent and Reverend Paul de Ruviere, Doctor of both Laws, James Andrew, also de Ruviere, Canon, and the Venerable John Andrew de Bona, being Chaplain of our Cathedral church, and John de Berronus and John de Ardella our Chaplains, and the Reverend Friar Gaspar Bugato of the Order of Preachers, all being priests: with other secular persons also being present with us, necessary for the requisite service, and after a brief discourse was made by us concerning the matter to be discussed and executed: in solemn procession: all those priests, except the aforesaid Religious, by our order put on a surplice with a stole placed over it; we, however, assumed and put on Pontifical vestments: and having given each one a lighted torch of white wax, with the Cross raised, we went in procession toward the underground place itself. After we arrived at the door existing next to the upper altar of St. Secundus, which was opened with a key, he descends to the compartment: having made a fitting prayer there, that door was opened by our command, and having begun the Litanies, we descended by the steps existing on that side, and saying them alternately, we entered the underground place itself, adorned with pavement: and we came to the place where the body itself is deposited: and the Litanies being recited there on bended knees to the end, and prayer also being made, by our order there was also unlocked a small door, constructed in the middle of the wall from the pavement to the vault, by which the compartment of the said body was enclosed, fitted with hinges and opened with a key: which being opened, an iron grating was found everywhere inserted into the wall, and inside a concavity, like a cupboard, containing three compartments, namely the middle one of lead, in which the aforesaid body has been preserved, the others on either side of stone.

[3] he finds it corroded with a hole: Then, inspecting the lead compartment itself more carefully by the splendor of so many lights, we found it, not without grief of our spirit, on account of age and humidity, as we had already feared, on the side first facing us, on the left side near the grating itself, open through corrosion and the age of the lead, more than a palm's width: and as we understood, through that hole wreaths, attached to staffs, were from time to time put in by the Sacristans and custodians of the place, brought by pious Christians, so that they might in that way touch the glorious body. Which hole we clearly recognized to be unseemly and unfitting for that reason, and with the cover disjointed: and providing an occasion for disjointing the body itself and breaking the bones. Likewise the cover of the coffin, disjointed and open on the same left upper side and hanging concavely inward, and finally the whole coffin threatening to fall apart, we perceived. For which reason we judged that the grating itself should be removed, and taking a hammer in our own hands, we began to demolish the wall around the grating for its extraction and removal: and since the coffin itself is long and quite tall, and the place so narrow that it is impossible to inspect it conveniently, we committed the extraction of the coffin itself, for an easier inspection, to Master Antonio de Piantanuda, a Milanese mason and resident, and Master John Secundus de Cortellarijs, an iron smith, a citizen of Asti: and with the wall removed: who both, having applied their tools necessary for their work and those of other laypeople appointed for this purpose, proceeded to the raising of the same grating and the extraction of the coffin; meanwhile, with us and the aforesaid priests kneeling before the place itself, alternately reciting the seven Penitential Psalms. The grating then having been removed and the coffin extracted, which was surrounded by iron bands, a particular prayer also being made and the bands themselves being cast off and the cover of the coffin being removed, various whole bones and a whole head were found there; bones and head of St. Secundus found, placed in a wooden coffin: and near the opening or hole, of which was spoken above, fragments and dust of other bones. And the head was reverently kissed by us and the other aforesaid priests and the remaining laypeople present there, and then we collected the bones, and deposited them with the head in a wooden coffin, which we left in that place, to be kept until it should be otherwise and more honorably provided: and leaving a lit lamp there, we departed in the name of the Lord, the door having been locked, near the altar of the Lord Secundus, of which above.

[4] When, however, afterwards and recently in the same church the choir was changed and rearranged, that the Translation of the said Body may be made: yet within the former and old place, and an altar newly constructed in the middle of the said place of the choir; the translation of the said body and bones was requested of us by the said Reverend Chapter, in the same underground place, yet not far from the former place: so that it might be placed under the same new altar, with sounder construction and a suitable compartment being provided, which they judged could be done through an appeal to our Most Holy Lord the Pope, also with the distribution of a portion of the treasury of holy Mother Church to be obtained, and to be bestowed on the faithful of Christ who devoutly visit the body itself as it is, or who transfer themselves to the same place, according to the dispensation of the said Supreme Pontiff, and with the faculty of extracting the body itself from the same place and carrying it through the city for a greater incitement of popular devotion. according to Roman prescription: We, however, willingly consent to this translation, with the Supreme Pontiff first being consulted, for the sounder and perpetual preservation of the same relics, which seems necessary to us. Whence the aforesaid Reverend Chapter wrote for this matter, as we are informed, to their agents and procurators residing in the City: from whom it was said they received the reply that this matter would easily be brought to the desired end, if first proof were made of the truth and reality of the body existing here, as was said above.

[5] Wherefore the same Chapter humbly petitioned us he takes a full account of everything: to take depositions from the older and trustworthy citizens of Asti, worthy of faith, concerning and about the truth and reality of the said body, which has been venerated by all the faithful in the said church and is presently venerated, even from such a time and hitherto that no memory of men exists to the contrary. Likewise that miracles flourished and flourish through the intercession of the said Saint, vows and offerings: that his feast is solemnly celebrated by the Clergy and the people together: and that it was held and considered, and is held and considered without doubt by all, that the body itself has been up to now in the said church and in the aforesaid place mentioned above and preserved in the lead compartment: and that there and in the church, to the altar dedicated to St. Secundus, the faithful of Christ flock, out of devotion and vows, venerating the same Saint: and that all the aforesaid things were and are true, well-known, and manifest; also with the addition of the usual clauses, and more or less and thus or otherwise, as the witnesses shall say; and that thence concerning the aforesaid matters and the statements of the witnesses, testimonial letters in due form should be granted to them by us. We, who follow with benign favor the just wishes of petitioners, having therefore called and established before us the Magnificent and Reverend William de Ruviere, aged about seventy years, now Cantor; and Albert de Ancellis, aged forty, of the Canons of the said Collegiate Church aforementioned; and also the Illustrious Lord Anselm de Asinarijs, sworn witnesses having been brought: aged seventy-two, Master Lord Octavian Cacherano, aged seventy-six, the Noble Peter Boano, aged sixty-six, and Lord John Angelo Ruscono, aged sixty-two years, as they respectively stated, and appearing before

all citizens of the said city with evident appearance, called for the summary depositions to be taken (which we also took, as follows), who by means of an oath on the holy Gospels of God, each of them one after another, having touched the scriptures at our direction, said and deposed that it was and is true: namely that always, from the time of their memory and before, they had seen, and had heard said by their parents and by other ancient citizens, and that it was so held and regarded both by the same citizens and their elders and by innumerable persons from other neighboring places, both of the dominion and County of Asti and beyond the same city, he asserts that the body of St. Secundus is there: especially those coming together, dwelling, and being present on the Vigil and feast of St. Secundus the Martyr: that the body of the said St. Secundus was and is venerated in the same Collegiate church of St. Secundus, called the Market church, by the faithful of Christ of both sexes and of whatever status, rank, and quality: and that for the said Saint and for his veneration there exists an ancient altar in the same church, altar: and above it a full and adorned image of him in the form of a man, images: with other likewise full images of other Saints on either side: at which altar they saw offered in honor and veneration of the said St. Secundus, especially on the days of the Vigil and feast of the same, many and almost infinite offerings of wax, offerings being made: such as torches, full images, half-images namely from the middle of the body to the head, arms, heads, and legs, and also money, from individual persons and likewise from confraternities coming there at that time.

[6] the feast being celebrated annually among the people, as for a Patron: Whose feast, although it has been appointed for the penultimate day of March, which often falls in the Lenten season, has nevertheless been transferred, and was and is solemnly observed both by the Clergy and the people together on the Thursday after the Octave of Easter each year: but by the Clergy it is also celebrated and observed on the penultimate day of March itself. They also said that formerly vigils were kept in the aforesaid church by persons of both sexes on the night before the said feast on Thursday, which however have now been and for many years have been prohibited: and on the day of the transferred feast itself, by the Magnificent Lords the Praetor and Decurions of the city, at the hour of the High Mass, beyond the offerings already mentioned, there is offered in honor of the aforesaid Saint, who was always held and is held as Patron and Protector of this city, two prizes being offered: a prize of crimson velvet with the insignia of the Most Serene Duke of Savoy, Count of Asti, and of the community and other officials, and another prize of similar velvet for the solemnity of the feast among the people, with similar insignia: which, with the favorable applause of the entire people and of outsiders coming for this feast, is displayed for running and given to him who exhibits the horse of swiftest course. Which two prizes the same Most Serene Duke was accustomed to provide, as they also used to provide, and all, except the said Lord Albert, saw to be provided, offered, and effectively displayed for the aforesaid purposes, both by the predecessor Princes in the same County to the aforesaid community and by the community. Moreover they said that behind the same altar and on the Gospel side there is a door, by which one descends to the place below and underground by several steps, and one goes into the same vaulted place, which takes up half the choir of the said church: where and within the wall constructed there, it has been held from time immemorial and before, and is held openly and publicly by them and by all citizens, [and that there is a very great concourse of people to the underground place where the body is:] that the body itself is deposited and preserved: and the place itself is constructed in the manner of a chapel, enclosed on all sides, except in front of the small door, attached to the wall and existing before the iron grating, by which the entrance and touch of laypeople is prevented: and that they themselves were all there many times, with many other and innumerable persons, both citizens and outsiders, flocking together on the said days of the Vigil and Feast, for venerating the body and obtaining pardon through the intercession of the said Saint: but that on account of the multitude of persons they could not remain long, but having gone around the place they exited through the other above-mentioned door, on the other side opposite; in which place and before the aforesaid iron grating (from which the concave place appeared all the way to the wall itself) at that time many lights were kept in veneration of the said Body. Likewise that very many miracles were reported, obtained through the intercession of the said Saint thus invoked by vow: votive offerings of donors: from which vows many presentations and offerings of various wax images were seen by them and many others, as was said above: and furthermore a large head with part of the back and chest is seen, a silver image of St. Secundus: and that the same Saint is in such veneration in this city, that the same Collegiate church is commonly and popularly called the Saint's, with no name added, except that by excellence the church of St. Secundus is understood: and that concerning all and each of the aforesaid matters there is public voice and fame.

[8] In particular, moreover, beyond the aforesaid, the aforesaid Reverend Lord William the Cantor, Lord Octavian Cacherano, and Lord Peter Bovano said that it is also true that many years ago, when a certain Imperial Colonel, named the city was freed from enemies by the aid of St. Secundus invoked: Fabricius Maranaldus, came with a powerful army and cannons to assault this city, to conquer and capture it, the citizens could not then resist his forces, since the city was unprepared: whence, as was commonly said at the time, it was held and believed that the said St. Secundus had been invoked for their protection and help: and that it was therefore held for certain that by his prayers and petitions it was miraculously brought about that the army itself, after having demolished the walls with the said cannons so that the enemies could enter without impediment or opposition, suddenly retreated and fled, with no one pursuing, but terrified only by a voice heard in the air above the army, which voice signified this, namely "indietro, indietro" (that is, "back, back"), which the said Lord Peter said he then understood from a certain Captain of the said army, captured by the citizens while he wished to enter through the said breach, who was named Priamus Inviciatus of Alessandria, who then openly confessed that he had heard that voice uttered: and that had they not been terrified by that voice, the aforesaid soldiers would easily have entered the city, since the citizens were unable to resist, and both he and the aforesaid Lords William and Octavian said that this was publicly reported by others.

[9] The same Lord Octavian added that he saw the body itself of the Lord Secundus placed in a lead coffin, existing between two marble compartments, in which it is said from ancient times that there are two bodies of other Saints, the body was shown about sixty years ago: and which three compartments, namely the marble ones and the lead one, exist in the said underground place, and that he saw the body itself once some sixty years ago, when there lived the Reverend Lord Bartholomew Cacherano his uncle, who was Provost in the said church: and that the lead coffin was opened by raising the cover on the side toward the feet with wooden pieces in the manner of locks, and toward the head, the rest remaining on the coffin: which display he said was made with the greatest veneration, with many lights present, and that few persons entered the place to see the aforesaid body, and only those of some rank: and that at that time he saw with the said body the head still with hair, which seemed to him to be fair, and that the said head was missing only the tip of the nose, because in the rest it showed a superficial skin. And the aforesaid Illustrious Lord Anselm, who exercised for many years in this city the office of Treasurer, in the name of our Most Serene Duke (which office thereafter for many years elapsed and hitherto has been and is exercised by the Illustrious Lord Charles his son), [from the generous endowment of the Dukes of Savoy a Mass is sung on Wednesday for St. Secundus:] says that at that time annually from the revenues of the treasury, by order of the said Most Serene Duke, he continually paid the said two prizes and gave them to the community for the aforesaid purposes, and paid out to the Reverend Chapter of the said Church also annually a charitable donation, which was customarily given in the amount of ten gold scudi in the name of the said Most Serene Duke for the Mass which is solemnly celebrated each Wednesday at the aforesaid altar of St. Secundus, from the devotion of the same Most Serene Duke and his predecessors: and that this had also been continued and continues.

[10] He says further that he heard and understood from a certain John Anthony his father, who, as he said, died at eighty years of age, from the falling of bricks from the wall: that at a certain time the particular place where the body itself had been deposited was unknown; whence it happened that while in the same underground place, from ancient custom, with the intention that it could be there, although hidden, a lamp was kept burning, a certain Priest, who had charge of the same lamp, having attended to it wished to leave the place, and then heard a brick or tile fall from the wall, and returning to the place, put the same brick back in its former position; and wishing to leave and exit a second time, he heard and saw two other bricks falling, and returning, he likewise put them back; but wishing to exit a third time, he saw and heard many more bricks falling, from which he began to wonder and at the same time to fear lest there be a collapse of the church: and leaving the place itself, he warned the Reverend Canons of the aforesaid church about this matter, who themselves also wished to see the falling bricks and tiles; and moved by similar amazement, they went to the Most Reverend Bishop then of the noble family de Damianis, the coffin of the body found with a document: residing in the city: and having given him notice about this, the same Most Reverend Bishop with the Clergy went to the same place. He also says, the said his father, that there the lead coffin was seen and a document written on parchment was found, and that it could be read there, namely in the coffin, that the body of St. Secundus was there: and which coffin the said Lord Anselm said he saw two or three times at different periods, when he had gone there for the veneration of the said Saint, as others also went and had gone, as has already been said: but that he did not see the body. And likewise the said Reverend Lord William said that at the time when the King of France held this city and County, he saw many times noble Frenchmen

come to venerate the same body: and that he himself saw many times the said lead coffin, in which the said body was said to be preserved in the said place, both in the time of the Most Reverend Scipio Rotario, of happy memory, and of the Most Reverend Gaspar Capris, Bishops of Asti, our predecessors: and once, forty years ago, he saw in the same lead coffin the head and bones: and both he and the said Reverend Albert stated that each Wednesday of every week, with a particular signal of the larger bell, a Mass is sung at the upper altar of the said Saint in the said church, out of devotion to the Most Serene Duke, on the occasion of which a charitable donation of ten gold scudi is given annually by the Lord Treasurer of Asti to the Reverend Chapter: and that at the time of the feast of the said Saint and through the Octave, in the said church and in the Cathedral, as we ourselves know, [and that the Office is celebrated under the double rite throughout the whole diocese:] a double Office is celebrated as for the Patron of the city, which is also celebrated and observed in our entire diocese. And the Reverend Lord Albert said that the Reverend Lord de Ancellis his uncle, then Canon in the said church, was Sacristan and custodian of the aforesaid place where the lead coffin exists for twenty years, during which time, and after his death for three years, during which, as he said, he was also sacristan and custodian, as his said uncle had been, he said he saw four or seven times in the same lead coffin, as was said above, existing between the two marble compartments, bones of the body and the head with the lower jaw united to the upper jaw, and with teeth; and that he saw his said uncle in the said place from devotion or by some person's vow celebrating the sacrifice of the Mass many times: and that he the deponent likewise celebrated there on a portable altar.

[11] certain testimonies are adduced concerning these things: Finally all the aforesaid affirm that the things respectively said and deposed by them, each thing being fittingly and duly related to each person, were and are true, well-known, and manifest in this city: giving the reasons for their knowledge, also when asked, that they saw, heard said, understood, and did, as was respectively said above, testimonial letters therefore concerning the aforesaid matters, both as done by us and before us, and as said and testified by the aforesaid witnesses, and that the said Illustrious Lord Anselm and the Magnificent Lord Octavian and Lord Peter were and are among the Decurions of the city and the Noble John Angelo, a citizen, as aforesaid, and that all those named above are of good reputation, condition, and fame, we deemed it proper to grant the letters thus requested, and we grant them by the present letters, given and done in the city of Asti in our Episcopal Palace on the seventh of December 1580, in the ninth year of the Pontificate of the Most Holy Father in Christ and our Lord Gregory, by divine Providence Pope XIII.

A. Monellus.

HISTORY OF THE ELEVATION of the Relics of St. Secundus.

From the Asti manuscript and Ughelli.

Secundus, Martyr at Asti in Italy (St.)

FROM MANUSCRIPTS.

[1] Although indeed, by so many and such long-continued miracles, the occasion for doubting whether the body of the most holy Patron of the people of Asti rested in that sarcophagus seemed to have been removed, That the problems regarding the body of St. Secundus may be resolved: a twofold concern had nevertheless entered the minds of its custodians: one was that the part of the pavement under which the sarcophagus itself lies is open to those walking through the church: and thus the place, to which one should approach only on bended knees, was trampled by the feet of all. The other was that when, to satisfy the pious curiosity of princes visiting the place, the lead coffin in which the body of St. Secundus itself lay had been opened from the upper part, the same body, resting in a more humble place, appeared to be daily dissolving. The Bishop of Asti at that time was Friar Dominic a Ruvere of the Order of Preachers: who, to address the first inconvenience, had the choir of the same church changed from the ancient to the modern form: the main altar is placed above the sarcophagus: namely so that the main altar, formerly placed at the head of the choir, would be placed at its entrance; with the seats of the Canons transferred behind it. By which arrangement it happened that the main altar itself occupied that very part of the pavement which had the sarcophagus beneath it.

[2] To remedy the other inconvenience, he judged that an altar should be erected in the sarcophagus itself, and that the lead coffin, together with two other marble ones containing the Relics of other Saints, should be placed above it. having received the faculty from Gregory XIII: Before, however, he undertook this elevation of the Sacred Relics, so that all things might be done in order, he consulted the Supreme Pontiff Gregory XIII: transmitting at the same time public documents by which the truth of all the same Relics was most fully established. And Gregory, assenting, also granted a plenary Indulgence to all those who, their sins being expiated by confession and refreshed by holy Communion, should attend the solemn procession to be made on the occasion of the said elevation, or should visit the same church on that day. On the fifth of the Ides of April, the procession having been announced, the sarcophagus is elevated: on the preceding day the Bishop, together with the Governor of the city and the principal members of the Clergy and citizens, enters the crypt: and having opened the sarcophagus, he orders the lead coffin to be brought out from between the marble ones and placed in an open area: the body extracted: then, with the cover removed, they discover that the bones of the sacred body, which in the manifestation related above were still seen to be covered with skin, were then so stripped of skin and flesh that they scarcely adhered to one another: the head also, on which in some places fair hair had appeared, was completely bare of hair: and the lower jaw, then still attached to the upper, was entirely disjointed.

[3] On the following day, which was a Sunday, with the greatest solemnity that could be arranged, placed in a new coffin: and with an incredible throng of people from outside, the sacred body, enclosed in a new coffin, was carried on the shoulders of the Canons, first processionally to the Cathedral church, where the Bishop assigned a rib of the Sacred Body to the Canons of the same Cathedral, to be placed among the other relics. a rib given to the Cathedral Church: Thence to the church of St. Secundus of the Red Tower, in which the Savior had visited him when he was detained in prison with St. Calocerus, they proceeded, and there the same Bishop gave to the religious inhabiting the same church, from the Order of Servants of Blessed Mary, a finger of the same Saint, a finger to St. Secundus of the Red Tower: under similar conditions. Finally it was carried back to the church from which it had been taken: and placed upon the high altar, to satisfy the piety of the people, for the time being. On the following day, however, it was placed upon an altar constructed higher within the crypt itself, below the sarcophagus, in the middle of the same marble coffins: since it had previously been established from the records of various writings, the body is replaced: and from the statements of sworn witnesses, outstanding in age, dignity, and authority, that the bodies enclosed in these two coffins had always been held as relics of Saints: and that they had had a common veneration and devotion with the body of St. Secundus, next to other relics: which was exhibited there whether by nine-fold prayers around the sarcophagus itself, or by the offering of lights, or in any other manner. A stone was placed upon the coffins themselves, brought closer to each other, inscribed thus: HERE REST THE BODIES OF THE SAINTS.

TRANSLATION OF THE BODY of Saint Secundus the Martyr.

Secundus, Martyr at Asti in Italy (St.)

How the body of St. Secundus was brought from the same crypt to the place where it now rests, we briefly explain. The pavement of this church was so low and damp that it caused no small inconvenience to those entering it for the purpose of prayer. When therefore it seemed necessary to raise it with imported material, and the descent into the crypt would thereby become more difficult, lest the sacred body be deprived of its accustomed devotion, a plan was made to translate it to the main altar of the same church. When the Most Serene Dukes Charles Emmanuel and Catherine of Austria approved this, in order to make the translation more celebrated and at the same time to satisfy their piety toward the holy Martyr, having invited the entire nobility of the realm, and having obtained through their Legate from Clement VIII a plenary Indulgence to be gained by those who should attend the procession, they went to Asti. On the first day of June, therefore, which was a Sunday sacred to the commemoration of the most sacred mystery of the Deific Trinity, Mass having been celebrated with solemn rite by John Stephen Agatia, Bishop of Asti, in a most solemn procession, with the same Most Serene Dukes assisting, and the entire Nobility following them, and an almost infinite multitude

of peoples coming from all directions, the sacred body, enclosed in a silver coffin newly wrought, was carried through the whole city: and having been carried back to the same church, it was enclosed within the main altar in such a way that through certain openings left in the same altar, and others in the same coffin covered with crystal, the sacred Relics could be seen. By which arrangement it was also provided that full proof should be made that the body of this holy Martyr was in no way the body of another St. Secundus, though likewise a native of Asti, which is preserved and displayed on an island near Venice, called St. Secundus after him.

On St. Secundus, whose body is preserved at Venice.

Secundus, Martyr at Asti in Italy (St.)

[1] After these matters had been so carefully set forth concerning the body of St. Secundus the Martyr of Asti, we were not content until we obtained at Venice everything that existed there concerning the translation and miracles of the body of St. Secundus. In this matter the Reverend Father Geminianus Ganzerla, Provost of the Professed House of the Society of Jesus, rendered faithful service to us, and the things we subjoin he himself copied by his own hand from parchment and sent to us on the thirtieth of September of the year 1667. The Miracles of St. Secundus the Martyr, which among the nuns of Saints Cosmas and Damian, by the Reverend Father Vicar Friar Dominic D. Urceis, Preacher, in the year of the Lord 1608, were discovered, having been previously obscure, and brought to light, were set forth in the following order.

[2] When a ship was being steered from Venice to deposit the body of this holy Martyr in the church of the holy Prophet Jeremiah, The body is divinely detained on the island of St. Erasmus: and the sailors could never reach the City on account of the great storm, with waves crashing on all sides and a contrary wind blowing, having left the boat to his power, it immediately and miraculously came to the shore of this island, which was called St. Erasmus. When all acknowledged that this could not have happened except by divine agency, and the sailors placed on the bare ground the lead coffin in which the body of the athlete Secundus was being carried, healing water springing up against diseases: in the place next to the church where a small well is seen to this day, water immediately sprang from that dry and parched well, which, when drunk by the sick suffering from any disease and languor, bestowed health.

[3] A certain soldier, illustrious with knightly nobility from the city of Asti, a toe carried to Asti: when he learned that the body of the holy Martyr had been secretly brought to Venice, went to that city and, having found the tomb, took a toe from the foot of the Martyr and brought it back with him to his homeland; found tied to the body at Venice: but when he decided to celebrate solemnities on account of its acquisition, the toe not being found, he went back to Venice and found it tied to the foot of the Martyr, and repented. A boy of four years, A mute is healed: who was entirely unable to utter words and speak, was ordered by his mother to touch with his tongue the members of this holy Martyr, and he produced speech. Another man of Asti, when he knew that his adolescent son had been abandoned by the doctors and was near death, and a dying person: was touched by the greatest grief and came to Venice intending to visit the Martyr's tomb, and on that very day received his son back in health and safety.

[4] women in childbirth are helped: A certain noble Matron in the regions of Gaul, when she had a child entangled in nature and could not give birth to him at all, asking some Venetian merchants whether they carried with them any relic of the Saints, they offered her a piece of the garment or cloak of this soldier, and as soon as she touched the garment, she immediately brought forth the child alive. The same woman sent candles to Venice to touch the body of the Martyr, which, having been brought to Gaul, are to this day held in veneration among pregnant and parturient women.

[5] Sailors, when they were shaken on the sea with the greatest terror as the waves swelled, a storm is calmed: having lowered by a thread a piece of cotton or a candle which had touched the bones of this Martyr, often, with the sea growing calm and the storm and strong wind ceasing, were delivered. Also when the sea surged around the island and a thick fog prevented those passing by from finding the way, also by a light appearing from the tomb: so that they could in no way direct their boat to the intended place, a light was seen by the sailors on the top of the tomb, and from the storm and the foggy journey they were received onto the island, and often escaped dangers again and again. a serious illness is cured: A woman, detained for a whole year by a grave illness, when she could not rise from her bed by any human help, making a vow at the tomb of this Martyr, immediately felt health, and visited the temple the next day in good health.

[6] Ferdinand Ughelli places St. Secundus as the fourth among the Bishops of Asti, whom they say, when he had departed this life, Whether the body of St. Secundus the Bishop is at Venice: was buried in the Church of Asti, then carried to Venice, and is honorably preserved on the island which is called St. Secundus from his name. So far Ughelli: but Ferrari in the Index to the Catalogue of the Saints of Italy has the following: Secundus, Martyr and Patron of Amelia, June 1. Body at Venice in its own church or at Amelia in its own church. Meanwhile the same Ferrari in his Notes to the eulogy of St. Secundus on the first of June indicates that the body of St. Secundus is said to be now preserved in the church of Gubbio, which Jacobilli also asserts in the Index of the Relics of the diocese of Gubbio after volume 3 on the Saints of Umbria.